SRI HANUMAN 2010
Durga Prema @ Sri Hanuman
viernes, 10 de diciembre de 2010
martes, 7 de diciembre de 2010
miércoles, 3 de noviembre de 2010
martes, 2 de noviembre de 2010
jueves, 28 de octubre de 2010
martes, 19 de octubre de 2010
lunes, 4 de octubre de 2010
ON READING BOOKS
On reading books. Fragment of interview to Ramana Maharshi. “Who am I”, The spiritual teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Boston and Londres: Shambala, 1988.
Are there no other means for making the mind quiescent?
[…] Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, restriction on food, etc., are but aids [Guruji would say, “toys”] for rendering the mind quiescent.
Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when the chain is given to an elephant to hold in its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupied with a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countless thoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointed and strong; for such a mind Self-inquiry will become easy. Of all the restrictive rules, that relating to the taking of sattvic food in moderate quantities is best; by observing this rule, the sattvic quality of the mind will increase, and that will be helpful to Self-inquiry.
[…]
Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?
All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading. In order to quiet the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one’s Self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths [“Yoga and psychology”, Guruji]; but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
[…]
Are there no other means for making the mind quiescent?
[…] Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, restriction on food, etc., are but aids [Guruji would say, “toys”] for rendering the mind quiescent.
Through meditation on the forms of God and through repetition of mantras, the mind becomes one-pointed. The mind will always be wandering. Just as when the chain is given to an elephant to hold in its trunk it will go along grasping the chain and nothing else, so also when the mind is occupied with a name or form it will grasp that alone. When the mind expands in the form of countless thoughts, each thought becomes weak; but as thoughts get resolved the mind becomes one-pointed and strong; for such a mind Self-inquiry will become easy. Of all the restrictive rules, that relating to the taking of sattvic food in moderate quantities is best; by observing this rule, the sattvic quality of the mind will increase, and that will be helpful to Self-inquiry.
[…]
Is it any use reading books for those who long for release?
All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading. In order to quiet the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one’s Self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths [“Yoga and psychology”, Guruji]; but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.
[…]
sábado, 2 de octubre de 2010
NAVRATRI
Begins 8th October 2010
HOMAMS for NAVRATRI
BEGIN ON 8TH OCT '10
Durga Sooktha Homam
8th October 2010
Mahalakshmi Homam
12th October 2010
Saraswathy Homam
16th October 2010
NAVRATRI
The nine-day and nine-night festival, brings together all in the worship of the nine forms of Goddess Durga also known as Shakti /Devi. Navaratri is a festival of worship and dance for the Mother - who destroys evil.
Navratri
Navratri is a Hindu festival of worship and dance. The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit; Nava meaning Nine and Ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti/Devi i.e. the female aspect of divinity are worshipped.
Significance
The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence. These two periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother. The dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar calendar.Dasaharara, meaning 'ten days', becomes dasara in popular parlance. The Navaratri festival or 'nine day festival' becomes 'ten days festival' with the addition of the last day, Vijaya-dasami which is its culmination. On all these ten days, Mother Mahisasura-mardini (Durga) is worshipped with fervour and devotion.
Homams for Navratri
The following homams are scheduled to be performed this Navratri beginning 8th October 2010
Durga Sooktha Homam
8th October 2010
Goddess Durga is one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress.An embodiment of creative feminine force, she exists in a state of self-sufficiency and fierce compassion.Durga manifests fearlessness and patience.She is worshipped to avoid the negative effects and to improve efficiency.The Homam is performed to remove any obstacles or blocks in growth and is very useful for the attainment of success, wealth, prosperity, fame, removal of fear, health, longevity, fulfillment of desires, food, progeny, strength, removing ailments, removing danger and defeat in the hand of adversaries.
Mahalakshmi Homam
12th October 2010
Goddess Lakshmi's presence is enough to dispel all the darkness from the hearts of her devotees. She is worshipped for food, power, universal sovereignty, knowledge, power, kingdom, fortune, bounteousness, and beauty.
Saraswathy Homam
16th October 2010
This homam is performed for the Goddess of speech and learning, and who is the creator of Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas and who is associated with art, science and culture.
Participate in ALL THREE HOMAMS for just $99 (Rs.4390)
(inclusive of shipping by Registered Post/ Video CD)
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martes, 28 de septiembre de 2010
A LOS PIES DEL MAESTRO
Trataré de explicaros lo que el Maestro me dijo acerca de cada una de ellas.
Si un hombre hace algo que parezca perjudi¬caros, o dice algo que creáis que se refiere a vosotros, no penséis entonces: "Quiere ofender¬me." Probablemente ni siquiera piensa en vosotros, porque cada alma tiene sus propias tribu¬laciones y pensamientos, que flotan principal¬mente alrededor de ella. Si un hombre os habla colérico, no penséis: "Me odia, trata de herir¬me." Quizá otra persona o alguna otra cosa lo han contrariado, y porque tropieza eventual¬mente con vosotros, descarga su cólera en vos¬otros. Él obra imprudentemente, porque toda clase de cólera es prueba de insensatez; pero vosotros no os debéis formar de él un juicio equivocado.
Cuando seáis discípulos del Maestro, podréis poner siempre a tono la pureza de vuestros pen-samientos comparándolos con los Suyos. Porque el discípulo es uno con su Maestro, y debe pro-curar fundir su pensamiento con el Suyo y ver si coinciden. Si no están a tono, su pensamiento no es recto, y debe variarlo inmediatamente, porque los pensamientos del Maestro son per¬fectos, puesto que Él lo sabe todo. Los que to¬davía no han sido aceptados por Él, no pueden hacerlo del todo; pero pueden ayudarse mucho deteniéndose a pensar a menudo: "¿Qué pen¬saría el Maestro en estas circunstancias?" "¿Qué haría o qué diría el Maestro acerca de esto?" Porque no debéis nunca hacer, decir o pensar lo que no podáis imaginar al Maestro haciéndo¬lo, diciéndolo o pensándolo.
Aun al relatar habéis de ser verídicos, exactos y sin exageración.
Nunca atribuyáis intenciones a otro; tan sólo su Maestro conoce sus pensamientos, y él puede estar obrando por razones de que no tenéis idea. Si oís que dicen algo en contra de alguna per¬sona, no lo repitáis; podría no ser verdad, y aun cuando lo fuese, es caritativo callar. Pensad bien antes de hablar, no sea que incurráis en inexactitudes.
Sed verídicos en la acción; jamás pretendáis ser otro del que sois, porque toda pretensión sirve de impedimento a la pura luz de verdad que debe brillar a través de vosotros como la luz del sol brilla a través de un diáfano cristal.
Debéis distinguir entre el egoísmo y el desin¬terés; porque el egoísmo se presenta bajo mu¬chas formas, y cuando creáis que al fin lo habéis destruido en algunos de sus aspectos, surge en otro tan fuerte como siempre. Pero gradualmen¬te os irá animando tan por completo el pensa¬miento de ayudar a los demás, que no habrá lu¬gar ni tiempo para pensar en vosotros mismos.
También debéis distinguir en otro sentido. Aprended a reconocer a Dios en todos los seres y en todas las cosas, prescindiendo del mal que puedan presentar en la superficie. Podéis ayu¬dar a vuestros hermanos por medio de lo que te¬néis de común con ellos, esto es, la Vida Divina. Aprended a despertarla y a vivificarla en ellos, así los salvaréis de lo falso.
Si un hombre hace algo que parezca perjudi¬caros, o dice algo que creáis que se refiere a vosotros, no penséis entonces: "Quiere ofender¬me." Probablemente ni siquiera piensa en vosotros, porque cada alma tiene sus propias tribu¬laciones y pensamientos, que flotan principal¬mente alrededor de ella. Si un hombre os habla colérico, no penséis: "Me odia, trata de herir¬me." Quizá otra persona o alguna otra cosa lo han contrariado, y porque tropieza eventual¬mente con vosotros, descarga su cólera en vos¬otros. Él obra imprudentemente, porque toda clase de cólera es prueba de insensatez; pero vosotros no os debéis formar de él un juicio equivocado.
Cuando seáis discípulos del Maestro, podréis poner siempre a tono la pureza de vuestros pen-samientos comparándolos con los Suyos. Porque el discípulo es uno con su Maestro, y debe pro-curar fundir su pensamiento con el Suyo y ver si coinciden. Si no están a tono, su pensamiento no es recto, y debe variarlo inmediatamente, porque los pensamientos del Maestro son per¬fectos, puesto que Él lo sabe todo. Los que to¬davía no han sido aceptados por Él, no pueden hacerlo del todo; pero pueden ayudarse mucho deteniéndose a pensar a menudo: "¿Qué pen¬saría el Maestro en estas circunstancias?" "¿Qué haría o qué diría el Maestro acerca de esto?" Porque no debéis nunca hacer, decir o pensar lo que no podáis imaginar al Maestro haciéndo¬lo, diciéndolo o pensándolo.
Aun al relatar habéis de ser verídicos, exactos y sin exageración.
Nunca atribuyáis intenciones a otro; tan sólo su Maestro conoce sus pensamientos, y él puede estar obrando por razones de que no tenéis idea. Si oís que dicen algo en contra de alguna per¬sona, no lo repitáis; podría no ser verdad, y aun cuando lo fuese, es caritativo callar. Pensad bien antes de hablar, no sea que incurráis en inexactitudes.
Sed verídicos en la acción; jamás pretendáis ser otro del que sois, porque toda pretensión sirve de impedimento a la pura luz de verdad que debe brillar a través de vosotros como la luz del sol brilla a través de un diáfano cristal.
Debéis distinguir entre el egoísmo y el desin¬terés; porque el egoísmo se presenta bajo mu¬chas formas, y cuando creáis que al fin lo habéis destruido en algunos de sus aspectos, surge en otro tan fuerte como siempre. Pero gradualmen¬te os irá animando tan por completo el pensa¬miento de ayudar a los demás, que no habrá lu¬gar ni tiempo para pensar en vosotros mismos.
También debéis distinguir en otro sentido. Aprended a reconocer a Dios en todos los seres y en todas las cosas, prescindiendo del mal que puedan presentar en la superficie. Podéis ayu¬dar a vuestros hermanos por medio de lo que te¬néis de común con ellos, esto es, la Vida Divina. Aprended a despertarla y a vivificarla en ellos, así los salvaréis de lo falso.
A LOS PIES DEL MAESTRO
PRÓLOGO
Estas palabras no son mías: son del Maestro que me enseñó. Sin Él no hubiera podido hacer nada, pero con Su ayuda he puesto los pies en el Sendero. Vosotros también deseáis penetrar en este Sendero; y así, las mismas palabras que Él me dijo os ayudarán si queréis obedecerlas. No basta decir que estas palabras son bellas y verdaderas; quien desee lograr éxito debe hacer exactamente lo que ellas entrañan. Mirar la co¬mida y decir que es sabrosa no satisfaría a un hambriento: ha de comerla. Así pues, no basta escuchar al Maestro: debéis practicar lo que Él aconseja, atendiendo a cada palabra y fijándoos en cada insinuación. Si no advertís una indica¬ción, si no atendéis a una palabra, queda perdi¬da para siempre, porque Él no las repite.
En este Sendero se requieren cuatro cualida¬des:
DISCERNIMIENTO
CARENCIA DE DESEOS
BUENA CONDUCTA
AMOR
Trataré de explicaros lo que el Maestro me dijo acerca de cada una de ellas.
Estas palabras no son mías: son del Maestro que me enseñó. Sin Él no hubiera podido hacer nada, pero con Su ayuda he puesto los pies en el Sendero. Vosotros también deseáis penetrar en este Sendero; y así, las mismas palabras que Él me dijo os ayudarán si queréis obedecerlas. No basta decir que estas palabras son bellas y verdaderas; quien desee lograr éxito debe hacer exactamente lo que ellas entrañan. Mirar la co¬mida y decir que es sabrosa no satisfaría a un hambriento: ha de comerla. Así pues, no basta escuchar al Maestro: debéis practicar lo que Él aconseja, atendiendo a cada palabra y fijándoos en cada insinuación. Si no advertís una indica¬ción, si no atendéis a una palabra, queda perdi¬da para siempre, porque Él no las repite.
En este Sendero se requieren cuatro cualida¬des:
DISCERNIMIENTO
CARENCIA DE DESEOS
BUENA CONDUCTA
AMOR
Trataré de explicaros lo que el Maestro me dijo acerca de cada una de ellas.
domingo, 26 de septiembre de 2010
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
Questioner: What is happiness?
Maharaj: Harmony between the inner and the outer is happiness. On the other hand, self-identification with the outer causes is suffering.
Q: How does self-identification happen?
M: The self by its true nature knows itself only. For lack of experience whatever it perceives it takes to be itself. Battered, it learns to look out (viveka) and to live alone (vairagya). When right behavior (uparati), becomes normal, a powerful inner urge (mukmukshutva) makes it seek its source. The candle of the body is lighted [Estudio comparativo con la mención de “la lámpara del cuerpo” en los Evangelios, por ejemplo.] and all becomes clear and bright (atmaprakash).
Q: What is the cause of all suffering?
M: Self-identification with the limited (vyaktitva). Sensations as such, however strong, do not cause suffering. It is the mind bewildered by wrong ideas, addicted to thinking: “I am this”. “I am that”, that fears loss and craves gain and suffers when frustrated.
Q: A friend of mine used to have horrible dreams night after night. Going to sleep would terrorise him. Nothing could help him.
M: Company of the truly good (satsang) would help him.
Q: Life itself is a nightmare.
M: Noble friendship (satsang) is the supreme remedy of all ills, physical and mental.
[…]
sábado, 25 de septiembre de 2010
THE GURU
A great key is to establish an unshakeable connection with the guru. It is to nourish this connection to keep the flame lit. This was my path, that way I got realized. I connected myself with the guru through diksha (spiritual initiation). He gave me a mantra and during three years of purification I still forgot him and the marriage was still shaken by the samskaras - imprints from the past - that I brought in the form of vanity, selfishness and in the form of a series of wrong ideas about who I was; that made me forget Him until the moment when the connection was established permanently. My Guru and I became one, there were no more differences, the marriage became eternal; only one mind, one heart. Then I could remember that I am not a body, a name, I am not a story… I am eternal and I am here for compassion to help remembering this truth: you and I are one and in the deepest, you are pure bliss, light and love. If you believe that you are anything else that is not light and love, you are mistaken, you are identified with some thought.
So, cultivate that connection, dedicate yourself to your sadhana so that the field is created and prepared for the Guru´s grace act through you. This is what you can do: practice your sadhana, read sacred texts. This will help maintain awaken the divine memory so that you can put into practice the spiritual teachings that you have received. Sometimes teachings are transmitted in a very direct way, but not always you can bring them to your practical life because you get lost. And, in a day like today when you are excited about giving me a present I tell you that the best present you can give me is to practice these teachings in your life. This is the best gift. The best gift you can give me is to be happy, is to celebrate life, to commit yourself truthfully with joy, love and doing good…
I know that to have a commitment with good you have to be brave enough to face the evil inside of you and transform it; to be brave enough to identify your mistakes and your identification with your mental creations so that you are able to let them go.
Yesterday we were here and some people were sharing their experiences. One of them said: “I´ve realized I am a victim of myself”. Did you realize that? Great! What about now? Let it go now!
You should honestly ask yourself: Is that what I am? If I let go of this victim, will there be nothing left? When you ask yourself truthfully, you are already on the command of your personality. Your observer is present and is taking care of it. In this case the victim is only a small piece of your personality, a defense mechanism that you have created to defend yourself. This is not you; it is not your final reality.
This connection with the guru will, in the first moment, undo your false identity. The closer you get to the guru, the more you feel this fear of annihilation. If you are still identified with your mask it will be dissolved up to the moment when the truth of who you are starts manifesting itself. And the truth is that you and the guru are one. You are love, light, prosperity, health, happiness.
Happiness is the main signal that God is manifesting. What is the thing in the world that human beings most deeply want? To feel joy; and to feel joy you have to feel peace inside. This peace comes from God. God is the one who provides happiness and joy.
In a certain moment in the evolution journey happiness comes when you realize one or another thing; when you get something from outside. However, on further stages of the consciousness evolution what everybody expects is causeless joy; to be happy just because you are happy, because you breathe, because you are here, because you love… to be happy not because you need to be happy.
This is God answering your prayers.
So keep this teaching in your heart. Do not spend one day of your life without asking consciously for this connection with the divine; do not go not even for one night to your bed without praying to God to answer your prayers in the form of happiness in your heart. Never go to bed without Him. He must be your main lover. He should answer your prayers. God answers your prayers in the form of happiness.
The guru is an oasis in the desert. It is almost like a shooting star that passes very quickly.
How lucky you are! I know that it is great luck because I consider myself very lucky since I have met my guru again, since He found me. In the moments when I become more earthy and I become more individualized in the body I think “how lucky I am, how lucky!” Lucky for having listened the call since saints are constantly calling. All the time they are praying “prabhu aap jago, paramatma jago, mere sarve jago, sarvatra jago”. God awake! Which God? The one that is inside of you. Wake up! The God of love, love that is inside of you. May you wake up love. Wake up, wake up, wake up! Be free from this dream that you are miserable, a needy one that has nothing to give to nobody. You are love itself. You are the source of life. Wake up! God wake up everywhere.
Saints are making this prayer constantly. In a certain moment you get mature enough so that you are able to hear the call. Get up, go to the wise men and receive from them their holy teachings that will make you awaken. This is the call. I was lucky to hear that call and I received the grace. And I see that you also had the same luck to be here receiving the grace that will provide you with the dispelling of the shadows that bring forgetfulness, because if there is an evil thing in this world I would call it forgetfulness. Forgetfulness that you are a manifestation of the divine love and light. I do not get tired of speaking the same thing again and again. You are light, you are love.
The essence of my Sankalpa (promise) is to transform the play of suffering into the play of bliss. This is the essence of my play: the end of the play of suffering. That only happens when you remember your true nature and that God and you are one only. Then grace showers on your heart and you are taken by bliss and there is no more space for suffering.
So, my beloved friends, I am very happy that you were able to hear the prayers from the saints, the chanting that flows from my heart and that you were able to come here on this Gurupurnima. May you never lose the possibility of making pranam to a guru, or making a puja. Never forget that, until you are ready to make a puja every day and remember the guru every day.
Blessed be each one of you. May all beings, from all realms be happy, may existence provide them with all their needs. May all realize God.
See you in our next meeting.
NAMASTE
martes, 21 de septiembre de 2010
dear Disciples
Just to tell you how much my heart was fullfilled to be with you and appreciated the care you provided to me , those are precious moments .
soon to communicate with you
Aum Love and light
Sri Hanuman
if the eyes do not sleep , dreams vanishe by themselves . If the mind do not waste in differences the ten thousant things become only pure identity
Om,Jaya Gurudev !
sharing the text below
Vamaksepa
The Unorthodox Tantric Guru of Tarapith
Vamaksepa
(From a Bengali Amar Chitra Katha book image)
Vamaksepa, more than any other teacher in this group of biographies, could best be characterized as a "mad saint". He was throughout his life continually violating the normative rules of society and religious practice.
He was born in 1837, in the village of Atla near Tarapura (or Tarapith) in Birbhum, West Bengal, India. He was named Bamacara by his father, a religious man named Sarvananda Chatterji. He was the second son and had a sister who was later widowed. Because of his sister's religious zeal, she was called ksepsi, or madwoman.
As a child, Bama (or Vama in Hindi pronunciation) was subject to tantrums: when the Kali (goddess) image would not answer his prayers, he would roll on the ground screaming and crying. Thus, even as a child he was considered mad Bama, or Bama Kepsa.
He had little interest in studies, and the family was too poor to afford schooling for him. His father was a professional singer, and Bama would often sing songs with him. Bama's father was an ecstatic, falling into states of bhava (strong religious emotion) while he sang. While singing, he would sometimes forget who and where he was. Even when not performing, he spent so much time in bhava that his wife would beg him to pay some attention to his physical circumstances so they would not starve.
Bama described his father as a yogi. When Bama would role on the ground shouting "Jaya Tara" (victory to the goddess Tara) his mother became upset, but his father only smiled. His father also took Bama for his first visit to the burning ground (a place sacred to the goddess Tara) at Tarapith.
Bama took initiation from his family guru and had his sacred thread ceremony when he was sixteen years of age. His father died soon afterwards and his mother asked him to get work, to keep the family from poverty. However, he was absent-minded, and indifferent towards work and found it difficult to keep a job. He spent much of his time at Tarapith, the great burning ground and shrine of the goddess Tara. He spent days and nights there singing before the goddess' image.
In 1864, Brajabasi Kailaspati came to Tarapith as a monk (sannyasi) wearing sacred tulsi beads, and the red cloth of a renunciant. He violated traditional purity rules by eating with dogs and jackals. People thought him to be a powerful monk who practiced black magic (pisaca siddha). When Bama began to follow him and do as he did, the villagers began to refer to him as one without caste (he lost his Brahman priest status in their eyes and became an "outcaste").
Kailasapati was rumored to have brought a dead tulsi tree to life, walked on the flood-waters of the Dvaraka river, lived under water and flown in the sky. He was also said to have instructed ghosts and demons. Bama often saw ghosts and spirits assembled who would jump into trees and disappear into the dark when he was with his companion. Kailaspati explained that they had done meditation in this graveyard during their time on earth, but had died afraid and would come to him seeking advice.
Bama's actions became upsetting to the villagers. He saw a boy on the road who claimed to be the Narayana deity of one of the nearby houses. The boy asked Bama to take him with him and give him a drink. Bama dipped the stone idol given him by the boy into the river. Then he went back to the village collecting all the roadside statues of deities and took them with him installing all of them on a sand altar at the river's edge. The villagers were furious that their statues had disappeared, including a deity that had been inside a house. Bama hid in a hut, and blamed it on Narayana (the boy-deity he had met). Kailaspati returned the statues to the villagers who watched their statues more carefully after that.
In a dream, Bama saw the goddess Tara who told him to set fire to the rice paddy near the village. He set the fire and saw himself as Hanuman setting fire to Lanka (from the Ramayana). The fire spread through the village, and the villagers spent much time trying to put it out. In the midst of the flames he saw the goddess Tara, and he danced in ecstasy before her. He told the villagers he would atone for the fire by jumping into it which he did shouting "Jaya Tara" (victory to Tara). They could not find his burnt body, but he was seen later running into Kailaspati's hut. They wondered if he was a ghost, or somehow alive, or had learned magic and used it to protect himself from the flames. Bama later said he felt Tara's hands lift him out of the fire and throw him into the forest.
Bama's mother tried to have him locked up, as she thought him mad, but he escaped to Kailaspati. She feared Kailaspati and only watched from a distance. Bama called her "small mother" and the goddess Tara "big mother".
Bama took initiation from Kailaspati and saw a great light condensed into the form of the Tara mantra, which was his personal mantra. He saw a demoness with long teeth and fiery eyes, and later the environment was transformed- the bushes turned into mythical divine figures, and he heard the voice of Tara, who told him she lived forever in the "salmoni" tree, and that she would be its fiery light. The tree shot forth flames and he saw a blue light which took on Tara's form. Wearing a Tiger's skin, she stood on a corpse with four arms, matted hair, three eyes, and a protruding tongue. She wore snake ornaments, and an erect snake on her head. She embraced him and vanished at dawn. Some accounts say that this experience was preceded by a vision of Kailaspati walking on water in the form of Bhairava. Bama also learned about religion from Vedagya Moksyananda, who taught him religious texts - the Vedas, Puranas, and Tantras.
Bama was subject to mood swings, alternating emotional love and exhilaration, with anger and hatred. He would curse the Goddess Tara and her ancestors, throw bones and skulls, and frighten away visitors. He would call Tara stri meaning earthy women or prostitute, and said that she was a demoness who had harmed him and that he would have his revenge by calling down a thunderbolt upon her. He would rage and then sink into a trance.
Bama became a priest at Tara's temple at Tarapith, and his stay there was marked with confrontation. He roamed around the cremation grounds happily, making friends with the dogs, naming them, and sharing his food with them (very unacceptable actions for a Hindu). He would eat food to be offered to the goddess before the worship ceremony was finished thus making it impure and unsanctified. The caretakers of the temple were angry at this and beat him severely. He insisted that the goddess Tara asked him to take food in this way. After this, the temple owner, the Rani of Natore, had a dream:
She dreamt that the stone image of Mother Tara was leaving the temple at Tarapith and going to Kailasa. Tara Ma looked very sad, and tears were flowing down her face, and she wore no mark on her forehead. She was bewildered and emaciated. Her back was bleeding and full of cuts, and vultures and jackals followed behind her, lapping the blood from her wounds.
In fear, the Rani asked, "O Ma, why do you show me these terrible things, and why are you leaving us?"
The goddess answered, "My child, I have been in this sacred place (mahapitha) for ages. Now your priests have beaten my dear mad son, and as a mother, I have taken these blows upon myself. See how my back is bleeding, I am in great pain ... For four days I have been starving, because they have not allowed my mad son to eat my ritual food. So for four days I have refused to take their offerings of food ... My child, how can a mother take food before feeding her child? You must arrange for food to be offered to my son, before it is offered to me, at the temple. If not, I will leave there permanently.
Bama got his priest job back, and people began to visit him, to come as devotees, or simply to see him.
He performed worship after this, and a crowd gathered to see it. Bama did not follow the traditional rituals; he sat before the image and said laughingly, "So girl, you are having great fun, you will enjoy a great feast today. But you are just a piece of stone without life, how can you eat food?" He then ate all the food that was to be offered to the goddess and asked an assistant to sacrifice a goat- again without the traditional rites. He did not say any Sanskrit mantras, only a few in Bengali. He threw some leftover food to the image saying "there Ma, take that."
He took a handful of flowers marked with sandal paste and stood before the goddess. He cursed her and threw the flowers at the statue. He wet the flowers with his tears. Although the flowers were thrown with an attitude of abuse instead of reverence using mantras, they arranged themselves into a neat and beautiful garland around the goddess' neck, and the observers were amazed at the mantraless form of worship of the madman. He then went into trance which continued all day, and he emerged from it on the following day. He was not a priest who followed schedules- often the time for worship would have passed and no one could find Bama anywhere. He would later be seen in trance under a Hibiscus tree, on in the jungle, having arguments with the goddess.
Nilamadhava, a villager, wished to know if Bama was a saint, so he hired the prostitute Sundari to seduce Bama. On seeing her, Bama said, "Ma, you have come." He then began to suck her breast so vigorously that blood came out. In pain, Sundari began to shout, "Save me!" His devotees were shocked to see a prostitute there and told her to leave.
A variety of stories about Vamaksepa are told by Bengali Shakta devotees. They say that he drank liquor and ate human flesh from corpses, that he had supernatural powers, that he was in a continuous state of bhavavesa for his entire life. Perhaps the story most often repeated was his unique worship of the image in the Tara temple, when he took his own urine in his hand and threw it at the image, saying, "This is the holy water of the Ganges".
Alternative stories say that he answered a crowd's protests in response to his actions by saying:
"When a child urinates or defecates while sitting on the Mother's lap, is she defiled? Can a mother think that she has been defiled by her loving child?"
Another story told by many informants describes his mother's death ceremony:
Bamdeb was in the Tarapith burning ground, amid rain and thunder, meditating. Eight miles away, over the river Daroga, his mother died. Bamdeb knew instantly, for he heard her voice as she died. He swam the river during the storm to get her body and swam back with her body to get her cremated at Tarapith, a holy place. The family and relatives objected, but he would not listen and shoved them aside, taking the body. Ten days after her death, there were last rites and food for hundreds of people. Rain clouds gathered, and a storm broke. But Bamdeb made a circle with a bone, and no rain fell inside that circle. All around was pouring rain, but in the circle all was dry.
Because of his continuous bhava, normal etiquette could be rejected. He would share the food offered to him with dogs, jackals, crows, and low-caste people, all from the same leaf, and would eat temple offerings on the burning grounds, sharing them with whoever or whatever wished to eat. He would drink liquor from the broken neck of the bottle, or from a skull. Yet he became highly respected, and was called Sri Sri Baba Vamaksepa. It was believed that he had gained spiritual perfection, and had regained all memories from previous lives.
He was harsh to disciples who did not appear sufficiently dedicated:
One person came and asked for initiation, saying that he wanted to renounce the world. Bama told him to bathe in the river. When he returned, Bama gave him a kick and told him angrily to leave and never come back. Bama's disciples protested, and he told them that this man was still thinking of his business in Calcutta while taking his ritual bath.
He also had unique curing techniques; these stories, too, were told by several Shakta informants:
A person came to Bamdeb with a swollen scrotum. He had no money and said, "I am in great pain because of this". Bamdeb stared at him and then kicked him in the scrotum. At first the man doubled over in pain, but then he was cured.... When a devotee was bitten by a snake, Bamdeb took the poison into himself, and he turned blue in trance. He cured another patient by squeezing his throat, although it looked to his devotees as if he were trying to murder him.
His rituals were famous for their sacrilegious (ashstriya) character, but as they were done in a state of bhava, they nevertheless had great power- to cure illness, to stop epidemics and natural disasters, to affect the mood of crowds.
At the Calcutta Kalighat temple, while in a state of bhava, he tried to lift the statue of the Mother and take her on his lap. When stopped by the priests, he shouted, "I do not want your black Kali! She looks like a demoness coming to devour [someone]. My Tara Ma is beautiful, with small feet. I do not want your black Kali- my Akasa Tara is good enough for me." People would call on him, asking him to pray to their household images, to enliven them with his bhava. He would fall into trance when he visited their statues, and often he performed neither worship nor chanting of mantras. He would loudly call into the air for the Mother, and many observers saw the statue appear to take the form of a human being. He could create such a powerful mood that even sarcastic people who came to laugh at him found the scene impressive.
Bama, who practiced a form of kundalini yoga, was interviewed by Promode Chatterji. The author tells some of Bama's ideas in his book of interviews with saints: Tantrabhilasir Sadhu-sangha:
Ma (the Mother goddess) is asleep in the muladhara chakra and should be awakened- if she is not awake, who is there to give one liberation? Only she can do this.... The first sign of the awakening of Kundalini is that the person does not feel satisfied with the ordinary state of life- one gets a great urge within to get over this confinement. The awakening of Kundalini gives men great pleasure, a kind of pleasure that ordinary men never attain ... as you pass through and move from one chakra to another, you feel the manifestations of the varied bhavas of Kundalini Sakti. But what is important, as a result of kundalini Shakti's functions in every chakra, is the kind of bhava it creates, a different bhava in each place, and the feeling of these bhavas brings such a state of bliss that it cannot be described.
He felt that the soul departs the body through the spinal channel at death, through an aperture in the skull, and it enters a state of emptiness and peace, nirvikalpa samadhi. This is the home of Tara Ma, which is beyond the material world, the heaven worlds, and the home of Kali. Tara's grace is necessary to reach this state.
Even in later life, he retained the madness of his youth. He would walk through monsoon rain and thunder, calling on the Mother or cursing her. At one point, he gathered all the warm clothes and shawls that he could find, which had been donated by his devotees, and set fire to them. As the flames rose high up in the air, he began shouting happily, "See how bright is Tara Ma’s image in the flames." His followers tried to stop him, but he told them that he was performing the ritual offering fire (homa) with clothes.
Shortly before his death, he became withdrawn and spent most of his time in trance and meditation. He ceased to talk with his disciples, speaking only rarely about death and Tara Ma. His love-hate relationship with her continued until his death in 1911.
Bamaksepa was a Shakta with strong shamanic tendencies, who became the symbol of devotion for millions of Bengali Saktas. Divine madness was present in him from childhood, when he would have tantrums because the stone image of the goddess would not speak to him. He was associated with impurity (sharing food with jackals, eating the flesh of corpses, refusing to bathe, using urine in ritual, performing corpse rituals, and daily consuming wine and hashish) and shamanic powers (reading minds, acquiring knowledge at a distance, perceiving ghosts, spirits, dakinis, and yoginis, having skill in nature-magic and healing). His healings often incorporated aggressive acts: one patient was cured by being kicked in the scrotum, another by being strangled. His techniques of' worship also included aggressive elements: he would curse both goddess and devotees, and set fires in which to have visions. Yet he is the saint seen by many Saktas as the ideal child of the Mother, more faithful to his goddess than any other devotee.
Westerners may find it difficult to understand Indian devotional traditions where devotion creates both powerful positive and negative emotions. However from the Indian standpoint, true surrender to the god means total involvement and dependence on him or her for everything. The acceptance of negative emotions in devotion along with the positive ones leads to a kind of obsession where the concentration on the god becomes almost yogic. This same intense concentration is cultivated by the yogic practitioner but without the strong emotional component that is normally part of the path of devotion.
The erratic behavior can be interpreted in two ways from a tantric standpoint. The second or "hero" stage of Tantra where one has passed beyond normal human desires strives to break free of the moral conventions of society by ritually performing the five forbidden actions. Such ritual action is normally highly controlled and disciplined involving concentrated use of mantra and visualization. However, the mad saint dispenses with the "ritual" performance, and chaotically violates society's norms in order to break free of the conventional nature of normal human awareness to encounter the divine reality. Such strange behavior also has the added advantage of scaring away unwanted attention from the curious which leaves much time for spiritual practice.
A second interpretation is that the mad saint has entered the third stage of tantric development (divine bhava) where he is identified with the divine reality and therefore is beyond the human realm altogether. His behavior therefore obeys no law or pattern, and appears chaotic to outsiders. Clearly both stages are dangerous when looked at from the standpoint of societal norms.
The last point that might help outsiders make sense of the actions of a saint such as Bama is understanding of the primary goal of Tantra. Contrary to many western writers who believe that Tantra is mostly concerned with sexuality and sexual ritual, the more important goal of Tantra is to face up to the greatest spiritual challenge in life- the fear of death. Sexuality is a passion that tantrics become detached from by spiritualizing sexual activity through complex ritual behavior. In the same way, the powerful passion of fear whose root is fear of death can also be controlled through tantric ritual.
This is why so many tantrikas in West Bengal spend time at burning grounds meditating on corpses, sitting on cadavers at midnight, worshiping liminal goddesses of life and death (Kali and Tara), and communicating with ghosts. The constant involvement with death reduces and even eliminates the fear of death. It also concentrates the tantrika's mind on the fleeting nature of life, and motivates the tantricka to seek a state of consciousness that is beyond life and death, and beyond duality itself.
Bamaksepa embodies the unorthodox (sometimes referred to as left-handed) path of Tantra in Bengal. It is a chaotic path that combines the extremes of passion, and the union of the opposites of hatred and devotion, sacred and sacrilegious, and life and death.
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Vamaksepa
The Unorthodox Tantric Guru of Tarapith
Vamaksepa
(From a Bengali Amar Chitra Katha book image)
Vamaksepa, more than any other teacher in this group of biographies, could best be characterized as a "mad saint". He was throughout his life continually violating the normative rules of society and religious practice.
He was born in 1837, in the village of Atla near Tarapura (or Tarapith) in Birbhum, West Bengal, India. He was named Bamacara by his father, a religious man named Sarvananda Chatterji. He was the second son and had a sister who was later widowed. Because of his sister's religious zeal, she was called ksepsi, or madwoman.
As a child, Bama (or Vama in Hindi pronunciation) was subject to tantrums: when the Kali (goddess) image would not answer his prayers, he would roll on the ground screaming and crying. Thus, even as a child he was considered mad Bama, or Bama Kepsa.
He had little interest in studies, and the family was too poor to afford schooling for him. His father was a professional singer, and Bama would often sing songs with him. Bama's father was an ecstatic, falling into states of bhava (strong religious emotion) while he sang. While singing, he would sometimes forget who and where he was. Even when not performing, he spent so much time in bhava that his wife would beg him to pay some attention to his physical circumstances so they would not starve.
Bama described his father as a yogi. When Bama would role on the ground shouting "Jaya Tara" (victory to the goddess Tara) his mother became upset, but his father only smiled. His father also took Bama for his first visit to the burning ground (a place sacred to the goddess Tara) at Tarapith.
Bama took initiation from his family guru and had his sacred thread ceremony when he was sixteen years of age. His father died soon afterwards and his mother asked him to get work, to keep the family from poverty. However, he was absent-minded, and indifferent towards work and found it difficult to keep a job. He spent much of his time at Tarapith, the great burning ground and shrine of the goddess Tara. He spent days and nights there singing before the goddess' image.
In 1864, Brajabasi Kailaspati came to Tarapith as a monk (sannyasi) wearing sacred tulsi beads, and the red cloth of a renunciant. He violated traditional purity rules by eating with dogs and jackals. People thought him to be a powerful monk who practiced black magic (pisaca siddha). When Bama began to follow him and do as he did, the villagers began to refer to him as one without caste (he lost his Brahman priest status in their eyes and became an "outcaste").
Kailasapati was rumored to have brought a dead tulsi tree to life, walked on the flood-waters of the Dvaraka river, lived under water and flown in the sky. He was also said to have instructed ghosts and demons. Bama often saw ghosts and spirits assembled who would jump into trees and disappear into the dark when he was with his companion. Kailaspati explained that they had done meditation in this graveyard during their time on earth, but had died afraid and would come to him seeking advice.
Bama's actions became upsetting to the villagers. He saw a boy on the road who claimed to be the Narayana deity of one of the nearby houses. The boy asked Bama to take him with him and give him a drink. Bama dipped the stone idol given him by the boy into the river. Then he went back to the village collecting all the roadside statues of deities and took them with him installing all of them on a sand altar at the river's edge. The villagers were furious that their statues had disappeared, including a deity that had been inside a house. Bama hid in a hut, and blamed it on Narayana (the boy-deity he had met). Kailaspati returned the statues to the villagers who watched their statues more carefully after that.
In a dream, Bama saw the goddess Tara who told him to set fire to the rice paddy near the village. He set the fire and saw himself as Hanuman setting fire to Lanka (from the Ramayana). The fire spread through the village, and the villagers spent much time trying to put it out. In the midst of the flames he saw the goddess Tara, and he danced in ecstasy before her. He told the villagers he would atone for the fire by jumping into it which he did shouting "Jaya Tara" (victory to Tara). They could not find his burnt body, but he was seen later running into Kailaspati's hut. They wondered if he was a ghost, or somehow alive, or had learned magic and used it to protect himself from the flames. Bama later said he felt Tara's hands lift him out of the fire and throw him into the forest.
Bama's mother tried to have him locked up, as she thought him mad, but he escaped to Kailaspati. She feared Kailaspati and only watched from a distance. Bama called her "small mother" and the goddess Tara "big mother".
Bama took initiation from Kailaspati and saw a great light condensed into the form of the Tara mantra, which was his personal mantra. He saw a demoness with long teeth and fiery eyes, and later the environment was transformed- the bushes turned into mythical divine figures, and he heard the voice of Tara, who told him she lived forever in the "salmoni" tree, and that she would be its fiery light. The tree shot forth flames and he saw a blue light which took on Tara's form. Wearing a Tiger's skin, she stood on a corpse with four arms, matted hair, three eyes, and a protruding tongue. She wore snake ornaments, and an erect snake on her head. She embraced him and vanished at dawn. Some accounts say that this experience was preceded by a vision of Kailaspati walking on water in the form of Bhairava. Bama also learned about religion from Vedagya Moksyananda, who taught him religious texts - the Vedas, Puranas, and Tantras.
Bama was subject to mood swings, alternating emotional love and exhilaration, with anger and hatred. He would curse the Goddess Tara and her ancestors, throw bones and skulls, and frighten away visitors. He would call Tara stri meaning earthy women or prostitute, and said that she was a demoness who had harmed him and that he would have his revenge by calling down a thunderbolt upon her. He would rage and then sink into a trance.
Bama became a priest at Tara's temple at Tarapith, and his stay there was marked with confrontation. He roamed around the cremation grounds happily, making friends with the dogs, naming them, and sharing his food with them (very unacceptable actions for a Hindu). He would eat food to be offered to the goddess before the worship ceremony was finished thus making it impure and unsanctified. The caretakers of the temple were angry at this and beat him severely. He insisted that the goddess Tara asked him to take food in this way. After this, the temple owner, the Rani of Natore, had a dream:
She dreamt that the stone image of Mother Tara was leaving the temple at Tarapith and going to Kailasa. Tara Ma looked very sad, and tears were flowing down her face, and she wore no mark on her forehead. She was bewildered and emaciated. Her back was bleeding and full of cuts, and vultures and jackals followed behind her, lapping the blood from her wounds.
In fear, the Rani asked, "O Ma, why do you show me these terrible things, and why are you leaving us?"
The goddess answered, "My child, I have been in this sacred place (mahapitha) for ages. Now your priests have beaten my dear mad son, and as a mother, I have taken these blows upon myself. See how my back is bleeding, I am in great pain ... For four days I have been starving, because they have not allowed my mad son to eat my ritual food. So for four days I have refused to take their offerings of food ... My child, how can a mother take food before feeding her child? You must arrange for food to be offered to my son, before it is offered to me, at the temple. If not, I will leave there permanently.
Bama got his priest job back, and people began to visit him, to come as devotees, or simply to see him.
He performed worship after this, and a crowd gathered to see it. Bama did not follow the traditional rituals; he sat before the image and said laughingly, "So girl, you are having great fun, you will enjoy a great feast today. But you are just a piece of stone without life, how can you eat food?" He then ate all the food that was to be offered to the goddess and asked an assistant to sacrifice a goat- again without the traditional rites. He did not say any Sanskrit mantras, only a few in Bengali. He threw some leftover food to the image saying "there Ma, take that."
He took a handful of flowers marked with sandal paste and stood before the goddess. He cursed her and threw the flowers at the statue. He wet the flowers with his tears. Although the flowers were thrown with an attitude of abuse instead of reverence using mantras, they arranged themselves into a neat and beautiful garland around the goddess' neck, and the observers were amazed at the mantraless form of worship of the madman. He then went into trance which continued all day, and he emerged from it on the following day. He was not a priest who followed schedules- often the time for worship would have passed and no one could find Bama anywhere. He would later be seen in trance under a Hibiscus tree, on in the jungle, having arguments with the goddess.
Nilamadhava, a villager, wished to know if Bama was a saint, so he hired the prostitute Sundari to seduce Bama. On seeing her, Bama said, "Ma, you have come." He then began to suck her breast so vigorously that blood came out. In pain, Sundari began to shout, "Save me!" His devotees were shocked to see a prostitute there and told her to leave.
A variety of stories about Vamaksepa are told by Bengali Shakta devotees. They say that he drank liquor and ate human flesh from corpses, that he had supernatural powers, that he was in a continuous state of bhavavesa for his entire life. Perhaps the story most often repeated was his unique worship of the image in the Tara temple, when he took his own urine in his hand and threw it at the image, saying, "This is the holy water of the Ganges".
Alternative stories say that he answered a crowd's protests in response to his actions by saying:
"When a child urinates or defecates while sitting on the Mother's lap, is she defiled? Can a mother think that she has been defiled by her loving child?"
Another story told by many informants describes his mother's death ceremony:
Bamdeb was in the Tarapith burning ground, amid rain and thunder, meditating. Eight miles away, over the river Daroga, his mother died. Bamdeb knew instantly, for he heard her voice as she died. He swam the river during the storm to get her body and swam back with her body to get her cremated at Tarapith, a holy place. The family and relatives objected, but he would not listen and shoved them aside, taking the body. Ten days after her death, there were last rites and food for hundreds of people. Rain clouds gathered, and a storm broke. But Bamdeb made a circle with a bone, and no rain fell inside that circle. All around was pouring rain, but in the circle all was dry.
Because of his continuous bhava, normal etiquette could be rejected. He would share the food offered to him with dogs, jackals, crows, and low-caste people, all from the same leaf, and would eat temple offerings on the burning grounds, sharing them with whoever or whatever wished to eat. He would drink liquor from the broken neck of the bottle, or from a skull. Yet he became highly respected, and was called Sri Sri Baba Vamaksepa. It was believed that he had gained spiritual perfection, and had regained all memories from previous lives.
He was harsh to disciples who did not appear sufficiently dedicated:
One person came and asked for initiation, saying that he wanted to renounce the world. Bama told him to bathe in the river. When he returned, Bama gave him a kick and told him angrily to leave and never come back. Bama's disciples protested, and he told them that this man was still thinking of his business in Calcutta while taking his ritual bath.
He also had unique curing techniques; these stories, too, were told by several Shakta informants:
A person came to Bamdeb with a swollen scrotum. He had no money and said, "I am in great pain because of this". Bamdeb stared at him and then kicked him in the scrotum. At first the man doubled over in pain, but then he was cured.... When a devotee was bitten by a snake, Bamdeb took the poison into himself, and he turned blue in trance. He cured another patient by squeezing his throat, although it looked to his devotees as if he were trying to murder him.
His rituals were famous for their sacrilegious (ashstriya) character, but as they were done in a state of bhava, they nevertheless had great power- to cure illness, to stop epidemics and natural disasters, to affect the mood of crowds.
At the Calcutta Kalighat temple, while in a state of bhava, he tried to lift the statue of the Mother and take her on his lap. When stopped by the priests, he shouted, "I do not want your black Kali! She looks like a demoness coming to devour [someone]. My Tara Ma is beautiful, with small feet. I do not want your black Kali- my Akasa Tara is good enough for me." People would call on him, asking him to pray to their household images, to enliven them with his bhava. He would fall into trance when he visited their statues, and often he performed neither worship nor chanting of mantras. He would loudly call into the air for the Mother, and many observers saw the statue appear to take the form of a human being. He could create such a powerful mood that even sarcastic people who came to laugh at him found the scene impressive.
Bama, who practiced a form of kundalini yoga, was interviewed by Promode Chatterji. The author tells some of Bama's ideas in his book of interviews with saints: Tantrabhilasir Sadhu-sangha:
Ma (the Mother goddess) is asleep in the muladhara chakra and should be awakened- if she is not awake, who is there to give one liberation? Only she can do this.... The first sign of the awakening of Kundalini is that the person does not feel satisfied with the ordinary state of life- one gets a great urge within to get over this confinement. The awakening of Kundalini gives men great pleasure, a kind of pleasure that ordinary men never attain ... as you pass through and move from one chakra to another, you feel the manifestations of the varied bhavas of Kundalini Sakti. But what is important, as a result of kundalini Shakti's functions in every chakra, is the kind of bhava it creates, a different bhava in each place, and the feeling of these bhavas brings such a state of bliss that it cannot be described.
He felt that the soul departs the body through the spinal channel at death, through an aperture in the skull, and it enters a state of emptiness and peace, nirvikalpa samadhi. This is the home of Tara Ma, which is beyond the material world, the heaven worlds, and the home of Kali. Tara's grace is necessary to reach this state.
Even in later life, he retained the madness of his youth. He would walk through monsoon rain and thunder, calling on the Mother or cursing her. At one point, he gathered all the warm clothes and shawls that he could find, which had been donated by his devotees, and set fire to them. As the flames rose high up in the air, he began shouting happily, "See how bright is Tara Ma’s image in the flames." His followers tried to stop him, but he told them that he was performing the ritual offering fire (homa) with clothes.
Shortly before his death, he became withdrawn and spent most of his time in trance and meditation. He ceased to talk with his disciples, speaking only rarely about death and Tara Ma. His love-hate relationship with her continued until his death in 1911.
Bamaksepa was a Shakta with strong shamanic tendencies, who became the symbol of devotion for millions of Bengali Saktas. Divine madness was present in him from childhood, when he would have tantrums because the stone image of the goddess would not speak to him. He was associated with impurity (sharing food with jackals, eating the flesh of corpses, refusing to bathe, using urine in ritual, performing corpse rituals, and daily consuming wine and hashish) and shamanic powers (reading minds, acquiring knowledge at a distance, perceiving ghosts, spirits, dakinis, and yoginis, having skill in nature-magic and healing). His healings often incorporated aggressive acts: one patient was cured by being kicked in the scrotum, another by being strangled. His techniques of' worship also included aggressive elements: he would curse both goddess and devotees, and set fires in which to have visions. Yet he is the saint seen by many Saktas as the ideal child of the Mother, more faithful to his goddess than any other devotee.
Westerners may find it difficult to understand Indian devotional traditions where devotion creates both powerful positive and negative emotions. However from the Indian standpoint, true surrender to the god means total involvement and dependence on him or her for everything. The acceptance of negative emotions in devotion along with the positive ones leads to a kind of obsession where the concentration on the god becomes almost yogic. This same intense concentration is cultivated by the yogic practitioner but without the strong emotional component that is normally part of the path of devotion.
The erratic behavior can be interpreted in two ways from a tantric standpoint. The second or "hero" stage of Tantra where one has passed beyond normal human desires strives to break free of the moral conventions of society by ritually performing the five forbidden actions. Such ritual action is normally highly controlled and disciplined involving concentrated use of mantra and visualization. However, the mad saint dispenses with the "ritual" performance, and chaotically violates society's norms in order to break free of the conventional nature of normal human awareness to encounter the divine reality. Such strange behavior also has the added advantage of scaring away unwanted attention from the curious which leaves much time for spiritual practice.
A second interpretation is that the mad saint has entered the third stage of tantric development (divine bhava) where he is identified with the divine reality and therefore is beyond the human realm altogether. His behavior therefore obeys no law or pattern, and appears chaotic to outsiders. Clearly both stages are dangerous when looked at from the standpoint of societal norms.
The last point that might help outsiders make sense of the actions of a saint such as Bama is understanding of the primary goal of Tantra. Contrary to many western writers who believe that Tantra is mostly concerned with sexuality and sexual ritual, the more important goal of Tantra is to face up to the greatest spiritual challenge in life- the fear of death. Sexuality is a passion that tantrics become detached from by spiritualizing sexual activity through complex ritual behavior. In the same way, the powerful passion of fear whose root is fear of death can also be controlled through tantric ritual.
This is why so many tantrikas in West Bengal spend time at burning grounds meditating on corpses, sitting on cadavers at midnight, worshiping liminal goddesses of life and death (Kali and Tara), and communicating with ghosts. The constant involvement with death reduces and even eliminates the fear of death. It also concentrates the tantrika's mind on the fleeting nature of life, and motivates the tantricka to seek a state of consciousness that is beyond life and death, and beyond duality itself.
Bamaksepa embodies the unorthodox (sometimes referred to as left-handed) path of Tantra in Bengal. It is a chaotic path that combines the extremes of passion, and the union of the opposites of hatred and devotion, sacred and sacrilegious, and life and death.
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AMMA
ENTREVISTA CON AMMA
Una vida increíble envuelve a esta mujer, Amma, en la que muchos ven una guía espiritual. Su organización ayuda a millones de necesitados en India, un engranaje que ella alimenta recorriendo el mundo para abrazar a millones de personas. Con sus abrazos busca despertar el amor que, dice, “es el camino y la respuesta” para ser mejores.
Amma dice que cuando abraza busca despertar la inocencia dentro de uno, el amor que lo transforme.
Tanto la obra como la biografía de Amma resultan increíbles.
Las actividades del Math Mata Amritanandamayi (MAM) abarcan la educación, la salud y la ayuda humanitaria. Su organización ha construido para los sin techo 40.000 viviendas en 60 localidades de India, ha becado a 30.000 niños, ha plantado un millón de árboles, alimenta anualmente a dos millones de personas en India y 73.000 en Estados Unidos, dona ayuda económica a personas discapacitadas y viudas.
lunes, 20 de septiembre de 2010
TANTRA LESSONS
As we pointed out in the very first tantra lesson, this ancient system covers the full gamut of practices, overlapping into the many variations of yoga, as well as all the others systems of spiritual practice in the world. In fact, we could say that all systems have borrowed (or mirrored parts) from tantra, and most represent part of the whole of tantra. The same can be said for the Western slant on tantra, taking it as an approach to elevating sexuality to spiritual practice ("neo-tantra"). It is all well and good, but better to be aware of the whole, even as we exercise our inclinations in the parts.
In the end, our progress will not depend on how well we did with our tantric sexual practice alone. It will depend on how effective we have been in utilizing a well-balanced routine of across-the-board daily practices over the long term – deep meditation, spinal breathing pranayama, asanas, mudras, bandhas, samyama, self-inquiry, and so on. Tantric sexual methods have a role to play in this, and the approaches and techniques in these lessons have been designed to support a variety of lifestyles.
Our spiritual progress will also depend on how we have gone out and engaged in the world in our own particular way, infusing the purification and opening cultivated during our structured practices. While we may find inner silence (the witness) and a great amount of freedom resulting from our daily sitting practices, it will be through action in the world that we will find a full integration of the inner and outer aspects of human spiritual transformation. It is through engaging in daily activity that we move our perception of life from "I am That," to "You are That" and "All this is That."
There are two sides to the process of yoga, tantra, and the enlightenment journey, no matter what terminology may be used to describe it. It is always the same process, because it is always the same nervous system we are working with, wherever we may be in the world. The two sides are:
Abiding Inner Silence (the witness) – The quality of stillness that we uncover within ourselves through meditation and related practices. It is the revealing of our Self (big "S"). It is Self-realization.
Ecstatic Conductivity and Radiance (kundalini) – The energetic side of our existence, also called the life force, or prana. It is awakened and evolves through pranayama, physical practices (asanas, mudras, bandhas), and tantric sexual methods, which go directly to awaken the great storehouse of prana in the body, the sexual neurobiology in the pelvic region. Ecstatic conductivity becomes "radiant" as it carries abiding inner silence into daily activity. This is the natural marriage of stillness with energetic flow.
While we have focused on the sexual aspects in these tantra lessons, we have also focused on the full scope of tantra in the main lessons. This broad coverage of tantric methods is analogous with the eight limbs of yoga. The objective has been to provide access to all practical aspects of spiritual practice, which anyone can apply with good results in modern times.
If we have done our job as self-directed practitioners, we will find both aspects of human spiritual transformation occurring and merging in us, and in daily life. This leads to a state of freedom and great loving effectiveness while fully engaged in the world. We have called it an outpouring of divine love, and also "stillness in action."
It doesn’t matter where we begin this journey. We may begin with meditation, or postures and breathing exercises, or in devotional service to another.
For a many, it begins with sex. This is why the sexual aspects of tantra have received what some may consider a disproportionate amount of attention in the AYP writings. It is because so many are drawn to spirituality via the sexual experience. Without any training or organized routine of practices, many will still find a taste of spiritual ecstasy in sexual release. Harnessing and integrating this ecstatic quality into a full-scope system of spiritual practices serves to greatly deepen and expand the experience. With rising experience, we are spurred to go deeper into our own process of human spiritual transformation.
Yes, It begins with sex for many. There is a doorway in us leading from sensuality to spirituality. When we know how to expand sensuality into our higher inner realms, we will see it dissolve into full time ecstatic bliss, and then gradually transcended to something even greater than that. We have to keep going until we find out what That is. We can only do this by becoming It. That is the journey.
While we may find a great adventure and a lot of excitement while traveling the spiritual path, ultimately, we will move beyond fixations on sensory experiences, and on the myriad inner experiences that may accompany the purification and opening that occurs in us as we advance on the path of practices. This is a "moving beyond," not a pushing away, or an artificial renunciation. It may not even represent significant changes in our daily activities. But something changes, and that is what brings the enlightenment and the freedom. It is the gradual fading of identification of our awareness with the inner and outer objects of perception.
The permanent uncaused joy that arises within us exceeds the temporary joy we may have with objects in our physical, mental and emotional environments. In fact, our perception of all objects will fluctuate, seeming "good" at times and "bad" at other times. Meanwhile, the inner joy continues all the while, once we have cultivated it in practices. Eventually, our labeling and attachment to "good and bad" melts in the permanent inner silence and radiant joy that never change, no matter what may be going on in our life.
This is not a cold dispassion that occurs, but a radiant loving dispassion that is able to give much. It certainly enriches our relationships, and our lovemaking, whenever we happen to be engaged in that way. The further we move along in our spiritual evolution, the more effective the techniques of tantric sex become. It is like that with all spiritual practices. Less becomes more. A smile or a hug can set the cosmos in motion in waves of ecstatic bliss. At least from our perspective, it comes to be experienced that way. For what is existence anyway, except what we see it to be? The methods of tantra and yoga are about elevating our seeing to the infinite, and beyond.
We come to know existence as divine polarity in constant ecstatic union. Continuous divine lovemaking occurring within us everywhere. It is the paradox of the infinite unmoving divine, forever moving in creative expression. We find we are everything and nothing at the same time, expressing and transcending everything in the endless dance of stillness. We are That.
The guru is in you.
In the end, our progress will not depend on how well we did with our tantric sexual practice alone. It will depend on how effective we have been in utilizing a well-balanced routine of across-the-board daily practices over the long term – deep meditation, spinal breathing pranayama, asanas, mudras, bandhas, samyama, self-inquiry, and so on. Tantric sexual methods have a role to play in this, and the approaches and techniques in these lessons have been designed to support a variety of lifestyles.
Our spiritual progress will also depend on how we have gone out and engaged in the world in our own particular way, infusing the purification and opening cultivated during our structured practices. While we may find inner silence (the witness) and a great amount of freedom resulting from our daily sitting practices, it will be through action in the world that we will find a full integration of the inner and outer aspects of human spiritual transformation. It is through engaging in daily activity that we move our perception of life from "I am That," to "You are That" and "All this is That."
There are two sides to the process of yoga, tantra, and the enlightenment journey, no matter what terminology may be used to describe it. It is always the same process, because it is always the same nervous system we are working with, wherever we may be in the world. The two sides are:
Abiding Inner Silence (the witness) – The quality of stillness that we uncover within ourselves through meditation and related practices. It is the revealing of our Self (big "S"). It is Self-realization.
Ecstatic Conductivity and Radiance (kundalini) – The energetic side of our existence, also called the life force, or prana. It is awakened and evolves through pranayama, physical practices (asanas, mudras, bandhas), and tantric sexual methods, which go directly to awaken the great storehouse of prana in the body, the sexual neurobiology in the pelvic region. Ecstatic conductivity becomes "radiant" as it carries abiding inner silence into daily activity. This is the natural marriage of stillness with energetic flow.
While we have focused on the sexual aspects in these tantra lessons, we have also focused on the full scope of tantra in the main lessons. This broad coverage of tantric methods is analogous with the eight limbs of yoga. The objective has been to provide access to all practical aspects of spiritual practice, which anyone can apply with good results in modern times.
If we have done our job as self-directed practitioners, we will find both aspects of human spiritual transformation occurring and merging in us, and in daily life. This leads to a state of freedom and great loving effectiveness while fully engaged in the world. We have called it an outpouring of divine love, and also "stillness in action."
It doesn’t matter where we begin this journey. We may begin with meditation, or postures and breathing exercises, or in devotional service to another.
For a many, it begins with sex. This is why the sexual aspects of tantra have received what some may consider a disproportionate amount of attention in the AYP writings. It is because so many are drawn to spirituality via the sexual experience. Without any training or organized routine of practices, many will still find a taste of spiritual ecstasy in sexual release. Harnessing and integrating this ecstatic quality into a full-scope system of spiritual practices serves to greatly deepen and expand the experience. With rising experience, we are spurred to go deeper into our own process of human spiritual transformation.
Yes, It begins with sex for many. There is a doorway in us leading from sensuality to spirituality. When we know how to expand sensuality into our higher inner realms, we will see it dissolve into full time ecstatic bliss, and then gradually transcended to something even greater than that. We have to keep going until we find out what That is. We can only do this by becoming It. That is the journey.
While we may find a great adventure and a lot of excitement while traveling the spiritual path, ultimately, we will move beyond fixations on sensory experiences, and on the myriad inner experiences that may accompany the purification and opening that occurs in us as we advance on the path of practices. This is a "moving beyond," not a pushing away, or an artificial renunciation. It may not even represent significant changes in our daily activities. But something changes, and that is what brings the enlightenment and the freedom. It is the gradual fading of identification of our awareness with the inner and outer objects of perception.
The permanent uncaused joy that arises within us exceeds the temporary joy we may have with objects in our physical, mental and emotional environments. In fact, our perception of all objects will fluctuate, seeming "good" at times and "bad" at other times. Meanwhile, the inner joy continues all the while, once we have cultivated it in practices. Eventually, our labeling and attachment to "good and bad" melts in the permanent inner silence and radiant joy that never change, no matter what may be going on in our life.
This is not a cold dispassion that occurs, but a radiant loving dispassion that is able to give much. It certainly enriches our relationships, and our lovemaking, whenever we happen to be engaged in that way. The further we move along in our spiritual evolution, the more effective the techniques of tantric sex become. It is like that with all spiritual practices. Less becomes more. A smile or a hug can set the cosmos in motion in waves of ecstatic bliss. At least from our perspective, it comes to be experienced that way. For what is existence anyway, except what we see it to be? The methods of tantra and yoga are about elevating our seeing to the infinite, and beyond.
We come to know existence as divine polarity in constant ecstatic union. Continuous divine lovemaking occurring within us everywhere. It is the paradox of the infinite unmoving divine, forever moving in creative expression. We find we are everything and nothing at the same time, expressing and transcending everything in the endless dance of stillness. We are That.
The guru is in you.
sábado, 18 de septiembre de 2010
TRIPURA RAHASYA
Tripura Rahasya was considered by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi as one of the greatest works that expounded advaita philosophy. He often quoted from it and regretted that it was not available in English. As a consequence Sri Munagala Venkataramaiah (now Swami Ramanananda Saraswathi) took up the work of translation in 1936 as another labour of love, adding just one more English translation to his already extensive store. This was first published in parts in the Bangalore Mythic Society's Journal (Quarterly) from January 1938 to April 1940 and afterwards collected into book form, of which five hundred copies were printed and privately circulated. The Asramam has since taken over the copyright and made it one of their official publications.
The work originally in Sanskrit is widely known in India and has been translated into a number of local languages, but I do not know of any previous translation in English. It is regarded as one of the chief text-books on Advaita, the reading of which alone is sufficient for Salvation. Sri Ananda Coomaraswami quotes from it with appreciation in his book, "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
The work originally in Sanskrit is widely known in India and has been translated into a number of local languages, but I do not know of any previous translation in English. It is regarded as one of the chief text-books on Advaita, the reading of which alone is sufficient for Salvation. Sri Ananda Coomaraswami quotes from it with appreciation in his book, "Am I My Brother's Keeper?"
A PRAYER SALUTATION TO SRI RAMANA
A PRAYER SALUTATIONS TO SRI RAMANA, the living monument of Eternal Truth! The direct proof of the inexpressible! May Thy Holy Feet lead me into the Sanctuary of Sri Tripura! Blessed be Thy Holy Feet! Blessed Thy Presence! Blessed Thy dear ones!
Blessed all that relates to Thee! Blest be the Mother Earth on which Thou art!
Blessed be the Universe going round Thy Centre!
Love of Manicka Vachakar personified!
Essence of Gods and Sages taken shape!
Solace of the forlorn! Refuge of the oppressed!
Help to the meek! Voice of the mute!
Splendour of all! Reincarnate of the Vedas!
Hail to Thee! Thine is the Glory! Oh, Signpost of Peace! Limit of Ananda!
viernes, 17 de septiembre de 2010
jueves, 16 de septiembre de 2010
miércoles, 15 de septiembre de 2010
HAPPINESS
We always want to find happiness, but when we do, why do we have sadistic cravings for misery, unhappiness, heartbreak? Sadness that makes us revolutionaries, writers and poets. That gives meaning and depth to the minutest of our observations and thoughts. I crave to hear a sad song and have my heart sink a little in the almost comforting (and familiar) melancholy of the singers voice. Happiness makes you numb, unaware, almost apathetic. I remember a dumb blonde once said happy people don’t do bad things (like killing their husbands), but do happy people do good things? Or do they become too self absorbed and happy to bother any longer? I wonder what kind of people we need to be then, to bring change.
And how ironic and typical of us, to complain of happiness.
martes, 14 de septiembre de 2010
domingo, 12 de septiembre de 2010
viernes, 10 de septiembre de 2010
INICIACIONES DE DISCIPULOS Y DEVOTOS
MAÑANA SABADO 11 DE SEPTIEMBRE NOS REUNIREMOS CON EL MAESTRO SRI HANUMAN PARA CELEBRAR LA INICIACION DE NYDIA FERNANDEZ TOLEDO, LILLIAN ORTIZ GUEVARA Y EDUARDO A. FALCON (VASU) PARA FORMAR PARTE DE LOS DISCIPULOS Y DEVOTOS DEL MAESTRO EN PUERTO RICO. EL MAESTRO HA ESTADO CON NOSOTROS OFRECIENDO DISTINTOS EVENTOS EN LA ZONA METROPOLITANA Y TAMBIEN EN ALGUNOS PUEBLOS DE LA ISLA CON GRAN EXITO. LUEGO DE CINCO LARGOS AÑOS DE AUSENCIA HEMOS ESTADO FELICES DE COMPARTIRLO CON OTROS CENTROS DE YOGA Y CENTROS INTELECTUALES DE PUERTO RICO. AHORA LO VEMOS PARTIR PERO NOS QUEDA LA SATISFACCION DE QUE SE QUEDA EN NUESTROS CORAZONES. LO AMAMOS POR SU BONDAD, HUMILDAD Y GRAN CALIDAD HUMANA. LO VAMOS A EXTRAÑAR Y LO ESPERAMOS DE VUELTA MUY PRONTO.
jueves, 2 de septiembre de 2010
SRI HANUMAN, GURU, TEACHER AND YOGUI: RETIRO EN GUAVATE- CASITA AZUL
ACABAMOS DE REGRESAR DEL CONCIERTO MISTICO DE SRI HANUMAN EN EL CONSERVATORIO DE MUSICA DE PUERTO RICO EN MIRAMAR. BUENA ASISTENCIA DE PUBLICO INTERESADO EN EL TRABAJO DEL MAESTRO, QUIEN NOS OBSEQUIO CON BELLAS MELODIAS EN SU VOZ, INTERPRETACION MAGISTRAL DE UN SOLO DE TABLA QUE FUE MUY BIEN RECIBIDO POR EL NUMEROSO PUBLICO. ALGUNOS DE LOS ESTUDIANTES DEL CONSERVATORIO SE ACERCARON AL MAESTRO PARA PEDIRLE CLASES DE TABLA Y DE GUITARRA. EN FIN UN BANQUETE DE BUENA MUSICA, ESPIRITUALIDAD SUPREMA Y MAGISTRAL INTERPRETACION DE LOS INSTRUMENTOS QUE EL MAESTRO SRI HANUMAN DOMINA. NO PODEMOS DEJAR DE NOTAR LA BELLA PRESENCIA DE LA HERMOSA DURGA PREMA QUIEN TUVO A CARGO EL ACOMPAÑAMIENTO DE TABLA Y ARMONIO.
TODO UN EXITO Y NOS QUEDAMOS CON DESEOS DE ESCUCHARLOS DE NUEVO EN EL PROXIMO CONCIERTO.
BENDICIONES INFINITAS DE PARAMESHRAVI
TODO UN EXITO Y NOS QUEDAMOS CON DESEOS DE ESCUCHARLOS DE NUEVO EN EL PROXIMO CONCIERTO.
BENDICIONES INFINITAS DE PARAMESHRAVI
lunes, 23 de agosto de 2010
RETIRO EN GUAVATE- CASITA AZUL
VEINTICUATRO HORAS CON EL MAESTRO SRI HANUMAN
SRI HANUMAN ES UN MUSICO Y YOGUI NACIDO EN LA PROVINCIA DE GUREJAT AL NORTE DE LAINDIA. CRECIO EN PARIS DONDE TRANSCURRIO SU NIÑEZ. DESDE LA TEMPRENA EDAD DE 10 AÑOS, COMENZO SUS ESTUDIOS DE MUSICA OCCIDENTAL, ESPECIALIZANDOSE EN LA GUITARRA CLASICA Y FUE PREMIADO CON EL PRIMER PREMIO EN EL CONSERVATORIO NACIONAL DE PARIS. EVENTUALMENTE EL JOVEN MUSICO Y AMANTE DE LA VERDAD RETORNO A SUS "RAICES" REGRESANDO A LA INDIA. FUE ADMITIDO AL INSTITUTO DE YOGA DE BOMBAY BAJO LA TUTELA DE SRI YOGENDRAJI POR UN LARGO PERIODO DE ENTRENAMIENTO EN "HATHA YOGA" Y MEDICINA AYURVEDICA. LUEGO TOMO LA TABLA COMO SU INSTRUMENTO BAJO LA GUIA DE SRI KAURASARI DE BENARES.
SRI HANUMAN ES CONSIDERADO UNO DE LOS RAROS MAESTROS DE LA TRADICCION DE NADA YOGA (YOGA DEL SONIDO) EN OCCIDENTE. SU TRABAJO ES RECONOCIDO MUNDIALMENTE A TRAVES DE LAS GIRAS QUE REALIZA COMO MUSICO Y EXPONENTE DE LA CULTURA ESPIRITUAL DE LA INDIA.
FECHA: SABADO 4 DE SEPTIEMBRE HASTA EL DOMINGO 5 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2010
LUGAR: CASITA AZUL EN GUAVATE, PUERTO RICO
TEMAS: MEDITACIONES, KIRTAN, PASEOS POR LOS PREDIOS CON REPETICION DE MANTRAS,
CONFERENCIAS Y RECITAL DE CANTICOS SAGRADOS, CLASE MAÑANERA DE YOGA EN
CONTACTO CON LA NATURALEZA EN BELLO LUGAR APARTADO DEL MUNDANAL RUIDO.
NO SE LO PUEDE PERDER. ESPACIOS LIMITADOS. HAGA SU RESERVACION CON TIEMPO
INCLUYE TODAS LAS COMIDAS. FAVOR DE TRAER SLEEPING BAG Y SUS OBJETOS
PERSONALES.
COSTO: $55.00 PAGO ANTICIPADO $60.00 EN LA PUERTA
domingo, 1 de agosto de 2010
viernes, 30 de julio de 2010
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