Category: spirituality

God : Surya

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Indian culture lays great emphasis on worshiping the five gods. Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and His incarnations, Lord Ganesha, Ma Shakti and Surya (Sun-god). This article describes the Sun,in a human form rather than a divine being. He is the “pratyakshadaiva” – the only God visible to us every day.

The main deity of the Navagrahas or the Nine Planets of Hindu Astrology, he is also considered as one of the Navagrahas. Surya is often portrayed as riding a chariot driven by 7 horses or alternatively, by 1 horse with 7 heads. These 7 horses represent the colors of the rainbow and the 7 chakras in the subtle human body as well. Surya is sometimes shown with 2 hands, holding one lotus in each and sometimes with 4 hands, or a red man with three eyes and four arms holding a lotus, Sankha (conch), Chakra (discus) and Gada (mace).

Surya Devata in Hinduism, is considered to be an eye of the of Lord Sri Krishna himself.

SURYA is one of the three chief gods of the Vedas

Surya is worshipped by people, saints and even asuras or demons.Surya Devata is regarded as the Supreme Being among the followers of the Saura sect, which has now become very small and is almost endangered. The Sauras worship him as one of the five major forms of God.

Surya is worshipped in many forms. But two of the most common forms of the deity are Arka and Mitra.
Surya in the form of Arka is worshipped mostly in North and Eastern India. The very grand and elaborate Konark Temple in Orissa, the Uttararka and Lolarka in Uttar Pradesh, the Balarka temple in Rajasthan and the Sun Temple at Modhera, Gujarat, are all dedicated to his form of Arka. Yet another temple, the Balarka Surya Mandir built in Uttar Pradesh in the 10th Century, was destroyed in the 14th Century, during the Turkish invasion.

The other most common form of Surya, namely, Mitra, is found mostly in Gujarat. “Mitra” literally means “friend”.

Surya, also called as Vivasvata, had 3 queens, namely, Sharanya (also called Saraniya, Saranyu, Sanjana or Sangya), Ragyi and Prabha. Sharanya was the mother of Vaivasvata Manu (or Satyavrata, the present Manu) and the twins Yama (the God of Death) and his sister Yami. Later, she also gave birth to the Ashvin twins, who were the divine horsemen and physicians to the Devas. Being unable to bear the extreme radiance emitted by Surya, Sharanya created a superficial shadow of herself, called Chhaya. She asked her to act as Surya’s wife. In due course of time, Chhaya gave birth to 2 sons, namely, Savarni Manu and Shani (Planet Saturn) and 2 daughters, namely, Tapti and Vishti. Surya’s other wife, Ragyi, gave birth to their son, Revanta or Raivata.

Surya Deva’s sons, Shani and Yama, are the judges of human life and karma. While Shani Deva bestows positive or negative results for one’s deeds committed during one’s lifetime, Yama Deva grants these results after one’s death.

Surya bears great significance in the Mahabharata as well. According to this epic, Kunti receives the diksha for a mantra from the short-tempered sage, Durvasa. She was given the boon that whenever she chanted this mantra, she would be able to summon a Deva and also bear a child by him.
Without realizing its seriousness, Kunti tested the mantra, summoning Surya. As Surya was forced to fulfill the obligation of the mantra, she miraculously begot a child from him, while actually retaining her virginity. Not able to bear the thought of becoming an unwed mother, princess Kunti was compelled to abandon her son, Karna, who later grew up to be one of the greatest ever warriors and a central character in the battle of Kurukshetra.

Surya Deva is known to be strong, powerful and invincible. However, he too was once subdued by Hanuman, the greatest devotee and also the humble sevak (servant) of Lord Rama. He had an interesting episode with Surya during his childhood. A rather playful and mischievous monkey in his baalyaavastha (childhood), Hanuman leapt up to the skies and started chasing Surya, mistaking him to be a ripe mango! He kept pursuing the Sun, wanting to eat what he thought was the delicious fruit.

Later, when he realized that Surya was the all-knowing teacher, Hanuman raised his body and positioned himself to orbit around the Sun, also requesting him to accept him as a disciple. Surya refused, saying that he could never be in one place, as he had to constantly traverse around the world. An undeterred Hanuman continued to pursue Surya and kept pleading persistently. Surya then agreed and passed on his knowledge to Hanuman.

In this way, Surya emerged as a Karma Saakshi, the Eternal Witness of all deeds. So beware. HE IS WATCHING.

The Sun is the symbol of the Self-god. As the Self-god illuminates the mind, the intellect and the body, the Sun illuminates the world.But the Sun too is illuminated by the Atman. Who is the apprehender of the existence or non-existence of the Sun? It is your real ‘I’, your Real Self. Your real ‘I’ is blazing in the form of the Sun. In Yoga and other forms of energy transference ( e.g. Reiki) this “real self” or “Aura”, displays various forms of colours depending on the individuals’ mood and inner feeling. These colours are the seven colours of the rainbow, each depicting different mood.

Note1:

The Navagraha :
Ravi(Surya),
Chandra(Moon),
Mangal(Mars),
Budh(Mercury),
Guru/Bruhaspati( Guru of Devas )(Jupiter),
Shukra (Guru of Asuras)/(Venus)
Shani(Saturn)

Rahu,
Ketu

Interesting part of Indian Mythology is, Earth is not considered as a planet, since “she” is considered one of the three major worlds to live, Iha lok.The word “Iha”, means”to live here” The others being Swarga lok(Heaven) and Patal lok(Hell)

Note 2: The chants of the Navagraha are composed by Rushi(sage) Vyas (one of the rivers in India “Bias in Himalayas” is named after him.)

Note 3 :
Sahastra Chakra
Adnya Chakra
Vishudhha Chakra
Anahat
Manipura
Swadishhthan
Muladhar

Hindu Mythology

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

I watched movies like “The Mummy” over the weekend, and it got me thinking.

Why is Hindu mythology, not shared with anyone outside India ?

So this got me thinking, and I will be adding a new section in the blog.

Do check it out

For the want of energy

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Ever wonder why someone you met on a bus, a train, a park felt like he/she could be a good friend, or he/she  “clicked” ?

That is because of the Energy. More specifically, the frequency at which “you” vibrate.

To understand this concept, it is good to understand that everything in the universe, including the universe itself , is vibrating at a certain frequency. This frequency determines, whether that particular object can be termed as positive or negative.

So, for instance,if you sit besides a depressed person, that person is vibrating at a completely different frequency. You may be bound to feel a bit sad and depressed or angry and uncomfortable yourself, because both of you are vibrating at a different frequency.

Now wouldn’t it be best if we keep feeling better, happier more alive all the time ?

Well, simply vibrate at a best frequency. Vibrate at a frequency which matches that of the universe. Since, “The Universe” will be the one providing all the “Goodies” in your life.

Besides this, there are a few things which might give out indications about negative energy.

  •  In a room, you might feel dull
  • The paint from a room may start to peel off, or become faded. The walls may be cracked.
  • You might feel restless in a particular place or with certain people
  • Blushing, cold feet/hands, numbness, excessive sweating, continuous body pain , fear , etc
  • A lot of diseases in a particular place.

Negativity affects ourselves and everyone around us. It limits our potential to become something great and live a fulfilling, purposeful life. So keep it away from you.

Stay blessed.

Theory of Subconscious Mind

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

  This is an article I had written a while back. The topic is very near to my heart

The conscious mind only represents a mere 12% of the total mind’s capacity, and can only be concerned with, or hold one single thought at a time. To some extent it has control over our nervous system, and is responsible for the voluntary actions of our muscles.

The conscious mind is mainly active when we are awake and is responsible for our decision making processes, or rationalization and analysis. It decides what action we will take, often based upon past subconscious experiences, and constantly re-assesses a situation to ensure that a correct action has been taken.

The conscious mind has very little memory capacity, and therefore only deals with the ‘here and now’ situation.

The subconscious mind takes up the remaining 88% of our brain’s capacity, and could be compared to a massive computer system that stores all of the information regarding our location, situation, feelings, etc.

It controls our Autonomic Nervous System such as our heart beat, breathing, organs and glands – in other words all of the things we do not have to think about.

The subconscious mind has no reasoning power, and cannot reject anything that it is told.

The subconscious mind also has a perfect memory. In fact if you were to merely glance at a face of a passer by in a crowd, your subconscious mind would be able to recall every detail regarding that person such as his clothes, facial lines or wrinkles, everything that you saw.

As mentioned earlier, the conscious mind constantly refers to it’s counterpart for information. When a person is writing a word on a piece of paper, the subconscious mind will attempt to locate the correct spelling and then pass that information to the conscious mind so that it can instruct the muscles in the hand to act accordingly.

If a child constantly misspells a certain word, it is likely that, as the child grows older, the incorrect spelling will always be used. This is because the subconscious mind has recorded the incorrectly spelt word and has no way of knowing that it has been misinformed.

In effect, the subconscious mind is like a computer program that runs our body for us. It never sleeps and will continue to runs it’s program, such as digesting food, maintaining the body, healing cuts and bruises etc.

Whilst in a trance state, the subconscious mind will accept any suggestion it receives without question. Now comes the tricky part. Subconscious mind has no concept of right and wrong. For instance, a person who has spent his entire child hood seeing his father slaughter animals for the sake of fun and/or to fill his stomach, will keep thinking that there is no such thing as wrong in killing animals.

There are four states of awareness that our brain goes through. They are known as brain wave states and can be measured by a sophisticated piece of medical equipment known as an electroencephalograph machine (E.E.G.). This machine measures the electrical activity taking place within the brain, and enables scientists to ascertain what level of awareness a subject has achieved. ( Our good Doctor should be able to confirm that)

When we are wide awake and alert our conscious mind is fully active and ready to analyze any information it receives. If we are performing a difficult task that requires a lot of concentration out brain would almost certainly be in this state.

As we start to relax our brain wave cycles start to slow down.

Should this state of relaxation become deep enough, our brain would enter the next state. This state is often referred to as the meditative state, the daydreaming state, or the trance state. Although we are not actually asleep, we are also not really awake. We are aware of things around us, perhaps we can hear noises or people talking, but they appear to be very distant. In this state the conscious mind has effectively fallen asleep, and our subconscious mind remains in control of our Autonomic Nervous System.

In this state, any suggestions given to us would pass straight into the subconscious mind. The thin veil between the conscious and the subconscious mind is gone and they are now connected. With further relaxation, we would fall into a light sleep, from here we would normally fall into a deep sleep.

Under normal circumstances, we all pass through these four stages when we fall asleep, and then move back through them in reverse order as we awaken. However, if drugs are used to induce sleep, we will normally move straight from the first to the last state effectively missing out the other two. This may explain why continuous use of sleep drugs can cause nervous system issues.

Now let’s make things a bit weirder.

All the subconscious minds around the world are connected to each other. (Now comes the weird part) . If they are connected with each other then they should be able to share memories with each other, or communicate with each other, correct?

Well as a matter of fact they can. But for that you need to have control over your subconscious, which is not as easy as it sounds. Although you may send out messages to any person in the world. (Yes Telepathy does exist) Subconscious mind cannot be controlled (at least not that I know of), but it can be guided. That has to be done by the conscious mind. It is called Suggestions. You can use the power of suggestion constructively in a variety of ways. One of the most powerful techniques is auto-suggestion – OR affirmations.

You describe your intended desire to yourself, supported with a clearly defined mental picture of how that result would appear, along with the positive emotions associated with that end result. You repeat this process multiple times. Your body, mind and soul begin to believe and become comfortable with that new idea. The mental objections start to drop away. The world and your expectations begin to change before your very eyes. How? You may ask.

This is how:

Since every mind is connected, they start towards fulfilling the one wish/affirmation.

So in theory, all the wishes must come true. But that’s just in theory, because Karma too plays some part in the lives. Karma is after all past experiences, and such past experiences are stored in the subconscious mind.

Imagine, for example, that you keep telling your mind that every tree in the world is blue. Eventually you may start seeing the trees to be blue and you may end up in an asylum, but the tree remains green. This is because; your subconscious mind gets confliction information and thus generates error in processing the information. That’s Karma for you.

This weird relation between the conscious and subconscious mind has led to a lot of tinkering.

  • The ancient Yogies, for example, used to curse people to become rats, when they disturbed their mediation, and the person used to turn into a rat. The fact of the matter is, that the yogis’ mind had such force, that the person cursed started thinking in his subconscious that he was a rat.

 

  • It is found that people tidy up more thoroughly when there’s a faint tang of cleaning liquid in the air; they become more competitive if there’s a briefcase in sight, or more cooperative if they glimpse words like ―dependable and ―support — all without being aware of the change, or what prompted it

 

  • We are taught from young age to respect our elders. Now, when we were kids, we tended to look up to speak with our parents. So it is ingrained in our subconscious, that when we look up at someone, that person must be respected and or feared. This helps the politicians. Seen any hoardings lately ? They are huge. So huge, in fact, thatyou have to LOOK UP to see the face. You must be getting the point I am trying to make….

 

  • When we fall sick, it is our mother that takes care of us, and our father protects us from dangers, hence when we are in pain we say ― Ai ga! and when faced with danger , we say ― Bap re..!

 

  • Sonia Gandhi criticized Narendra Modi for allegedly slaughtering all those people years ago. Modi still won the election, with him issuing a statement either apologizing or justifying his actions. How ? well the voters must be corrupt right ? Exactly. But not in the way you are thinking. What Sonia(ji) unknowingly did was kept Modi(ji) continuously on the TV , bombarding the people with his image. Meanwhile Modi(ji) kept saying that he was winning the elections. End result mind says, ―Oh this guys is a winner , Vote for him‖.

I can safely say , that we has established the fact that our subconscious mind has better processing speed than our subconscious mind. It also has access to a lot of data. Many people block the answers to their desires by failing to comprehend the workings of their subconscious mind. When you fully know how your mind works, you will increase the measure of your performance substantially.

So in-case there is a problem which is proving difficult to solve , sleep on it. Let your subconscious wrestle the problems and pop out the solution. Whenever your subconscious mind accepts an idea, it immediately begins to execute it. It uses all its mighty resources and mobilizes all your senses , knowledge, mental and spiritual powers to that end. You can use this power constructively any time you choose.

By this time you may have realized that the title of the article is clearly contrary to what I had to say in the article. But again, our subconscious mind tries to find why something we strongly believe in, is proved wrong.

Thanks for your patience in reading the article. Earnest feedbacks are always welcome