It is just a matter of time

The seed is on the tree, the tree is in the seed,

For one to manifest into the other

It is just a matter of time.

God is in the man, Man is in the God

For one to manifest into the other

It is just a matter of time.

When Bhakti waters the soil of Knowledge,

Mind, the seed covering breaks open in time,

Discarding the veils of ignorance,

And there manifests the God in man!

The Star, the Sun and the moon of 2015

We started the New Year with a meditation on the midnight of Deceber 31^st 2014 in Tiruvannamalai. On the January first, Jeevatma and Pia Sofia invited interested people for Anandamandala meditation and a tarot card reading later.

At 11 am a few of us assembled together and had a wonderful Anandamandala meditation. Then Pia Sofia spread out the Tarot cards and each one of us picked a card. I got ‘The Star’, which is a very spiritual card. I was really happy. It can help accomplish nearly anything that I set out to do now. One can expect new opportunities to come flying into life if one is open to them. It also indicates that one is so in touch with spirituality that this is a great time to reach out to others, and to share the wisdom and joy. The efforts in doing so will be repaid many times over.

We came back from Tiruvannamalai and on Monday the fifth January, I was doing puja in my Reiki Academy. As I burned the camphor, the Sun suddenly peeped through the clouds and was shining brightly into my third eye. It was an amazing experience! After a moment it disappeared into the clouds again.

During the morning yoga time, I do upavistha konasana sitting between the wall and a pillar and there is a glass window in front of me. On three consecutive days from 6^th January, while doing upavistha konasana, the moon was shining on me and it was a pleasant sight. Later the position of the moon changed and I couldn’t see it.

I feel really blessed to get messages from the Star, the Sun and the Moon this year!

The tilting Trishul

Tiruvannamalai is a world renowned temple town in TamilNadu which is synonym to deepam(fire). Here Shiva (Arunachaleswar) is worshipped in the form of fire.

In Hindu mythology, Parvati, wife of Shiva, once closed the eyes of her husband playfully in a flower garden at their abode atop Mount Kailash. Although only a moment for the gods, all light was taken from the universe, and the earth, in turn, was submerged in darkness for years. Parvati performed penance with other devotees of Shiva, and her husband appeared as a column of fire at the top of Annamalai hills, returning light to the world.

Ramana Ashram is situated in Tirvannamalai, where Ramana Maharishi, the 20th century saint lived here and taught simple  methods of meditation to his disciples from all over the world.

We have been visiting Tirvannamalai for starting New Year in meditation since three years. This time on January first, we went to the temple early morning and the first food that we took on New Year was Prasad. While coming back, I bought a beautiful Shiva’s idol with trishul.

On our drive back, there were many temples on the way. I noticed the idol in only one temple, and it was a bigger version of the idol that I had bought. After reaching home, I kept the idol in my puja room. 

Next day morning when I entered the puja room, I noticed that the Trishul that was stuck straight on the wall was tilting in the direction of Shivji’s idol. That Trishul I had received as Prasad from Kedarnath some years back and all this time it was always remaining straight on the wall.

Thank you Lord Shiva for showing me your presence in my puja room! And I uprighted the Trishul on the wall.

Milk and water abhishek of Shivling

I have always followed my heart in doing spiritual practices. As I progress in my path, I keep getting different instructions to follow. At one point in time I was instructed to do milk and water abhishek for Shivling on Mondays. So on Monday mornings, after bath, before my routine puja rituals, I do this. I was having a small silver pot to take water for the purpose. For taking milk, I bought another silver pot.

Abhishek is a means of praying to the God, of connecting and communicating with the almighty. Milk is a sign of purity. Every drop of milk poured on the Shiva Lingam cleanses us and relieves us from difficulties and sorrows. So the practice is not to clean the Ling but the person itself. It washes all the sins from oneself and purify one's life.

Once my husband talked about this practice of mine to a relative who is well versed with shastras and puranas. He told that it is a serious practice and it is important that whatever quantity of milk is used, one has to pour 21/2 times water over the Shivling. On hearing this, I checked my silver pots. 

To my astonishment and joy, I saw that the larger pot that I was using for water carried two and a half times the quantity of the smaller pot, used to take milk. Whenever I buy things, I go by my feel, and I got the guidance to buy the exact sized pot for the milk!!

Message from the crow

I have been doing the pitrupaksha rituals for a couple of years now. It is a 16–lunar day period when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors (Pitrs), especially through food offerings.

This year (2014) we were traveling from 8^th to 18^th of September. There was a lot of work on coming back and I was too busy doing all that. On 23^rd morning, when I did my routine crystal gazing, I saw Raven, which happens to be my power animal. Later while we were getting out of the house to go to our clinic, I was a crow sitting on the branch of a tree in front of the house and it was tilting its head and looking at me. When I moved, it turned its neck to look at me. I tried moving in different directions, and it continued to turn to look at me.

I was sure that it wanted to convey some message. I was trying to decipher what it might be. Suddenly it struck me, the pitrupaksha dates are in September. I told the crow ‘Is it regarding the pitrupaksha? I will check the date today and will perform the ritual if the dates are not yet over. Ok?’ And then, the crow flew off.

I checked the internet and found that it was the last day to perform the ritual. After coming back from the clinic I did what was needed and mentally thanked the crow for reminding me.

According to Hinduism, the souls of three preceding generations of one's ancestor reside in Pitru–loka, a realm between heaven and earth. This realm is governed by Yama, the God of death, who takes the soul of a dying man from earth to Pitru–loka. When a person of the next generation dies, the first generation shifts to heaven and unites with God, so Shraddha offerings are not given. Thus, only the three generations in Pitru–loka are given Shraddha rites, in which Yama plays a significant role.

As per the sacred Hindu epics, at the beginning of Pitru Paksha, the sun enters the zodiac sign of Libra. Coinciding with this moment, it is believed that the spirits leave Pitru–loka and reside in their descendants' homes for a month until the sun enters the next zodiac—Scorpio, and there is a full moon. Hindus are expected to propitiate the ancestors in the first half, during the dark fortnight.

When Karna, the brave warrior whose acts of giving are legendary even today, died in the epic Mahabharata war, his soul transcended to heaven, where he was offered gold and jewels as food. However, Karna needed real food to eat and asked Indra, the lord of heaven, the reason for serving gold as food. Indra told Karna that he had donated gold all his life, but had never donated food to his ancestors in Shraddha. Karna said that since he was unaware of his ancestors, he never donated anything in their memory. To make amends, Karna was permitted to return to earth for a 15–day period, so that he could perform Shraddha and donate food and water in their memory. This period is now known as Pitru Paksha.

Later when I met my daughter she told that on Septembe 23^rd when she was having lunch, a crow came and sat in the balcony and started cawing continuously, which was not a usual thing there.. She didn’t have any extra food at that time, so just broke off a piece of chapatti and offered to the crow. And the crow stopped cawing!


October 2015

We were travelling in the last half of September and the first week of October. I felt that during the pitrupaksha dates we won't be home and was not feeling so good about it. We reached back home on 8th and started our routine from October 9th. On that day when I wascollecting flowers for puja in the morning, twice two different butterflies circled me. At lunchtime while coming out of my  clinic I put my hand bag over the shoulder and from the corner of my eye I saw something moving on the bag. I felt it was a lizard and took the bag off the shoulder immediately, to see that a butterfly was sitting on it.

Suddenly it struck me that the butterflies were trying to convey some message. May be about pitrupaksha? I checked the dates and saw that October 12th was the last day of Shradh dates for 2015. I did my rituals on that day, thanking the Universe for guiding me. The Universe never lets us down. It always gives us signs, we have to be just open to pick them up!

Harnessing the Heart Brain connection to enhance relationships

I was thinking of giving a workshop for the Past Life Regression Convention 4 and I was not getting any ideas. I wanted something that was very practical and which would help both the clients and the practitioners as well. My intellectual mind kept on working, but nothing was happening.

Once my husband and I were on our way to visit Khandoba temple. It is where Lord Shiva and Parvati incarnated as human beings. During the drive, suddenly there was a menu drop down in my mind. The title was the above one, ‘Harnessing the Heart Brain connection to enhance relationships’, and the whole concept, and the procedure details was clear in the mind’s eye.

I told my husband to stop the car immediately and get me a pen and a notebook since I knew the details were too much and I may not remember later. So sweet of him, he did what I asked and I noted down everything in detail. Then I used the technique on my clients, got results, and my presentation was scheduled on 10th August 2014 as a research paper for the PLRC4 in Pune

After the presentation many participants approached me and told, ‘The concept makes sense’, ‘I felt the difference when I applied the idea’, ‘It is so practical’. I was glad that the basic idea was fulfilled. Thank you Lord Shiva and Parvati.

Divine Call

I was on a flight to Ahmedabad during April 2014 when a dignified and friendly lady occupied the seat next to me. ‘Are you from Ahmedabad?’ she asked me.

‘Oh, no. I am just visiting Visnagar for a week’, I replied.

She had very beautiful and expressive eyes, so I asked, ‘Are you a dancer?’ She told no, but she seemed amused. It turned out that she was a high official working in Gandhi Nagar. We had a friendly conversation and just while leaving the aircraft, she gave me her visiting card and told, ‘If you need any help at all, please contact me. There is an Ayyappa temple near my place.’ I thought that the temple must be adjacent to her house.

Last year May my father left his body. During the previous month I had visited him for a week and spent the time exclusively with him, chanting mantras, doing meditation etc., I was his favorite daughter and we had a great time together. After his demise I used to get messages from him. He told he will come back into my life. Then another time he told me that he will give a definite sign while entering our lives again.

Coming back to April 2014, our festival Vishu was on 15^th. It was Hanuman Jayanti also on that day. Early morning we got the news of arrival of our grand child. I wanted to visit a temple. Suddenly I remembered the offer to visit the Ayyappa temple in Gandhi Nagar. I contacted the lady and she told it was ok to visit, even though she was having a hectic schedule.

My husband and I reached her office by 6 pm after about an hour’s drive to find that she was busy in a meeting. But she had informed her assistant about our arrival and she sent us in a vehicle to the Ayyappa temple. It was about 20 minutes drive. We reached the temple and as I entered, there was a huge pillar, on which it was written, ‘In the loving memory of Gopinathan Nair’. I got goose bumps on seeing it because my father’s name was Gopinathan. Even my husband was shocked to see it. I couldn't think of a clearer sign than this!

We came back to the office, she was still busy in the meeting and we had to return without meeting her. She served a very important role in my life, even though I couldn't meet her before leaving.