ज्ानाननदमयं देवं
Gnananandhamayam dhevam
ननमल स्फदिकाकृ नत।
Nirmala sphatikaakruthim
आिार सववमा वदयारां
Aadhaara sarvavidhyaanaam
हयथरिवम ् उपासमहे।।
Hayagreevam upaasmahe
Ans.: Prayer is asking God. Meditation is listening to Him. Prayer not closely followed by meditation is like asking and then turning our back and running away.
Dharana: One concentrates on a particular object. When smooth flow of concentration continues uninterrupted for a long time one is in Dhyana. The culmination of Dhyana is Samadhi. Divine commune happens by prayer and meditation like in between Nandi and Shiva. However, real meditation is the commune that happens between Nandi and Shiva. You have correctly defined as narrated in yogic text books but unfortunately inadequate to understand and implement.
Can we pray and meditate on it?
Yes. Westerners are mainly talking about meditation at specified hours and conditions. Meditation can be continuous despite being in action. Yes, meditation is more of shifting one’s state of Being with understanding. Doing is antithesis of meditation. Any doing is mind stuff. Being instead of doing. Meditation is an Existential shift. Not bodily or mental action.
But Naaraayana Sthothram (NS) is one step further. We all live in virtual reality(VR), a mithya jagat. Mr Eckhart Tolle beautifully explains how to wake up from second level of VR to 1st level of VR by shifting from past (atheetha) and future (anaagatha) to present (varthaman ). Whereas NS enlightens to shift from present to Presence, that is Eternal Moment (Nabhipadma). Past and future are like dream inside a dream, a second level dream, whereas present is first level of dream. Presence that is Witnessing Consciousness is Truth. When you live each moment as Presence, not affected by space-time unreality of past, future, and present, you start living True Life as True You. This is what first stanza of NS enlightens.
2. Does Self reward? Does Self punish? NO. It neither rewards nor punishes. Then who rewards or punishes?
Rewards & punishments are 1. our own (self’s) perceptions and 2. of our own making through perpetuation of karmas. Self is beyond both untouched by all such dualities. It is Self who by its thoughts and actions rewards and punishes itself and other selves. World is nothing but reflection of your own mind. Identity is self. ‘Yatha pinnde thatha brahmannde’. That is, as in microcosm, so in macrocosm. That is why Thatha says frequently analyze yourself by separating your body into atoms. He said that his Guru trained them to separate parts of body and assemble it again. Vinduism as told by Thatha is essence of all religions, all philosophies, and even also that of modern science. Quantum healing. Pray to Thatha to teach us how to do this atomic healing and atomic surgery. Since all are born from Vindhu, all are Hindus as told by Thatha.
No. We need to transcend that also and remain in that merged state where there is no thought or remembrance or forgetfulness. That is instruction of Thatha. When we are with Thatha all the 24 hours, I think it is possible.
Thatha says: One should treat himself / herself as servant to God and constantly engage in helping fellow human beings in some way or other. That is real Divinity. Mere chanting of names or running around to various temples alone will not be sufficient to please God or earn Punya. One should help other. To create something, you need one more thing. Only when two things unite another thing can be created. Hence male and female forms. All that we do will be reflected in our shadow. All our shadows are registered in space. So he can see that shadow in Space like we see photos and find out what we did and what we are doing.
Thatha can see our shadows in the space. That is why Thatha keeps telling that he cannot care for nicety etc. while meeting people. The moment he sees something negative or bad, it is his duty to remove / rectify. So when we tell people about Thatha, if they show interest in meeting him for some of their problems, we need to tell them clearly about his style of functioning. After hearing that also if they believe and they are ready to follow his advice, then only we should arrange for their meeting with Thatha. This is technique of Thatha of taking what you want from space, and discarding what you don’t want to space.
4. How do we connect this Pranayama with technique of taking whatever we need from space, including our own spare organs that are available in space, and leaving that which we do not want, in space? Elaborate on this so that we can understand easily.
All can do like Thatha provided that we all can reach and operate from that state in which Thatha is operating. Otherwise it is impossible. But it is very easy and simple. Thatha says we need to make each one of our inhalation and exhalation as Japa. It should go on uninterrupted, forever. That means if we practice it for 24 hours continuously then no need to do anything. It will be programmed in our system. Then everything can be done easily.
Thatha says: Everything happens here in this life only. No question of carrying any punya or papa or sin. Since everything is give and take game only. Whatever we receive in the form of help, good things as we wish is withdrawing from our credit balance. When we help others it may be repayment of dues or for accumulating credit balance for our use in future.
5. Do we carry our vasanas to the next birth or did we carry our vasanas to this birth?
Thatha says, ‘Adhaiye thooki pidichikittu nikkadhe!’ Do not cling on to what is said in that. Then you will be living all the time in an imaginary world imagining punishments. Thatha advises not to worry too much and / or waste our precious time and energy in research work. After hearing it, we need to obey his instructions to do so and dance to presence as suggested by Narayan Devotee. That is what Thatha also says. Let us enjoy everything since we are sent here as a tourist. Let us set aside all that we learnt through various books. Let us focus only on teachings of Thatha which are same as that flowed through Narayan Devotee from Divine forces. Live in presence.
Let us try to transcend all these mental blocks. Then only, we can live peacefully and blissfully. If we get stuck up with rituals, superstitions, customs and traditions which will not stand tests of time, science, logic or our Buddhi, then we cannot progress spiritually. As Paramahamsa Yogananda says, habits die hard. So lot of efforts from our side and grace from Divinity, mostly in the form of Guru or Thatha like saintly personality will only help to get rid of them. Making people change their approach and attitude to transcend these things is purpose of our forum. Desire and achieve for fun, just as a part of your eternal dance. But be aware that if it is fulfilled, you don’t gain anything and if not fulfilled, you don’t lose anything.
We need to protect our body from disease, keep our mind free from evil thoughts. This is Dharma. When you do it for yourself, you call it as duty. When you help others to do so that we call as Dharma. For your personal requirements, if you are not harming others that is Nyayam. According to you, whatever you feel as justice or nyaya, you follow it. Do not unnecessarily worry about so many definitions given by various people. Listen to your own intuition or consciousness. Lead an honest life without hurting others. Divine forces have said: Always honour your free will but not at the cost of others’ freewill. The first is Dharma and the latter is Nyaya .
But so beautifully explained by Thatha in simple words. What is nyayam (righteousness)? Nyayam, that is justice. We can also say justness and fairness as nyaayam. Thatha is telling that his messages are like bit-notices. Will flow in bits. But that itself is looking difficult to absorb and then reproduce. When showed a nice video of Mount Kailash to Thatha, he asked me who are all living with Siva there. I said His family. Then he asked where is Vishnu? I said in Vaikuntha. He asked me how to reach there. I said: You please tell us. Smilingly he is asking: Where is Jesus? Where is Buddha? Where are others? All Enlightened Beings are Omnipresent. Thatha is also explaining in the same way. Siva is not only in Kailash. He is everywhere. There is no place where he is absent. This looks so simple yet achieved by very little, if my guess is correct. Thatha please tell us how to keep our body free from disease and mind, free from evil thoughts. Thatha said: Only for the sake of discipline, such beliefs were created. Otherwise people will indulge in doing wrong things.
Answer for that from Thatha is that soul will merge with space after death. Again for rebirth it will enter a new body from space. Space is everything called as creator or God. It is only one which is beyond change or the one and the only permanent thing. All other things keep changing all the time. Solid or liquid or steam will not remain the same all the time. All forms will keep changing. One will get converted into another thing. This is what is happening. One should try to understand who he or she is. What is their real identity? Wherefrom they have come? Where they are going? What for they have come? Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. However, it can be converted from one form to another. Space is essential to understand all that it accommodates. Space is limitless. But all that it accommodates has limit. Each planet’s circumference is limited. Numbers of our breaths are limited. Everything has its limit. All that is unwanted are accommodated in space. Even the organ removed by a surgeon from some body when thrown will be lying in space only. If required, it can be found out. Remove all unwanted things / thoughts from you. You will become space. Be that space. If you become space, then you will know everything. As long as you limit yourself as a solid form with a name, you cannot understand anything.
Same teaching of Thatha was told by Divine forces also that we are sent here as Emperors and Empresses. But after coming here, we limit ourselves and start behaving like beggars. So I asked Thatha what about these Shastras, Puranas and epics which are telling that soul goes to heaven or hell and enjoys according to sin or punya etc.
Thatha simply said that they are all for TIME PASS to keep people engaged and under discipline. All that came into existence just to teach some discipline. For instance, Dasaratha had many wives. So Rama came to set an example as Eka pathni vratha, meaning one should live only with one wife. So-called Rama and Krishna called as Avathar Purushas, why did they leave after some time?
If they are Gods, how can they leave? If you hear that Sita came from earth, will you believe it and keep quiet? You should analyze with your buddhi. When man and woman give birth to another such human being, cow gives birth to another, crow gives birth to another crow, all species reproduce or multiply their own species, if Sita was born from earth, she should look like earth. How can she be a human form? Whatever is not acceptable to science and logic tests and understandable to your buddhi, you should not accept. Strong will extract work from weak. If you start doing research, it is endless. We all have come here as tourists and picnickers. Let us see and enjoy everything. Let us enjoy each other’s company. Let us not waste our time. Let us not get entangled or engrossed into impermanent things. Let us try to merge with that one and the only permanent thing, and try to remain as that permanent thing.
Most teachings of Thatha are same as that flowed through Narayan Devotee from Divine forces. So even though Thatha looks so simple and humble, since we are able to get him easily now, we should know and understand him well. We should not ignore his words. We should think and change our decisions even if they are contrary to what we think or decide, which is very important.
Om Thath Sath