Tuesday 28 June 2011

Viragya or Disinterest

The last 100 years of kaliyug is the auspicious confluence age or ‘purushottam sangam yug’. This period signals the end of ‘bhakti’ and the beginning of ‘vairag’ known as the period of disinterest. Disinterest means to burn the vices and to forget the trappings of science and this old world. It means to free yourself from the bondages of this old world and prepare for the new world by following the knowledge of the Gita or the elevated directions of God. The incarnation of Shiva in the confluence age is called Shivratri. To follow the directions of Shiva, the God of the Gita is to follow the most elevated path to receive the attainment of liberation and salvation. The Gita is the only scripture that is related in the first person as the direct versions of God, whereas all other scriptures are related in the third person and are in praise of God. This is the reason that the Gita is the only scripture preceded with the title ‘Shrimat Bhagavad’ and it is called the mother of all scriptures. All the others are but the leaves of the Gita.

The Incorporeal Trimurti of Shiva and the Corporeal Trimurti Shri Rama

This section will show a relationship between the Trimurti Shiva in the "path of gyan or knowledge" and Shri Rama and his three brothers in the path of ‘bhakti or devotion’. The Trimurti is God Shiva together with his three functionary deities Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar. God Shiva is the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Father, who is bodiless, incorporeal and whose form is a point of oval-shaped conscient light. The Supreme Soul is not subjected to birth and death and his residence is in Paramdham or Brahmlok. God Shiva incarnates only once in a kalpa and that is in the confluence age and his descent is celebrated as Shivaratri. Shiva descends when irreligiousness and unrighteousness prevail.

Shivratri launches the attack on Rawan and his vices. Shiva employs the assistance of Brahma for re-establishment of the new world order of Satyug. Shiva incarnates into Brahma and imparts the knowledge of the Gita to Brahma whose job is to impart this knowledge to humanity who is trapped in the jail of Rawan. This is why Brahma is called the "Father of Humanity". Brahma employed the services of Saraswati and created the yagya of the sacrificial fire of knowledge of the "Rudra Gita Gyan Yagya". Then the function of Shankar, also called Mahase, is to inspire the destruction of the evils perpetrated by Rawan. Shankar is always in a meditative posture creating the vibrations and atmosphere to fan the flames of the fires of Holika. He encourages the cooperation of the elements to perform "Shiva’s cosmic dance" to re-energize and purify the degraded environment by purifying the elements.

And then Vishnu whose role is to provide sustenance for the tapasui souls and to transform those who are making effort to escape from the chains of Rawan. These three deities reside in the subtle region and have subtle and angelic bodies of white light. Of the three, only Brahma, before ascension to angelic status, walked this earth in human form. Vishnu and Shankar will never assume human form or walk the face of this earth for they are only symbolic. Vishnu is the symbolic combined form of Lakshmi and Narayan. The four arms represents the two female and two male arms of Lakshmi and Narayan. This is but the same form of MahaLakshmi, the female version of the four-armed image. So Trimurti Shiva is incorporeal and cannot be seen with the physical eyes, but which can be visualized only with the spiritual eye or a divine intellect. The Shiva Lingam was created to portray Shiva, whereas all others are depicted in the corporeal human or subtle form. Shankar is an aspect of Shiva and they have different, distinct and separate roles.

The Story of Ramachandra and Sita.

Now we will examine Shri Rama and his family who are shown and related in stories with corporeal bodies. Let us look at the family tree with King Dasarath and his three queens Kausalya with Shri Rama as her son, Kaikeyi with Bharat as her son and Sumitra being the mother of Lakshmana and Satrughn. Mantara was the maidservant. Shri Sita was the daughter of Raja Janak and wife of Shri Rama. The word Janak means father and Raja means God. Thus Raja Janak is symbolic of the Supreme Father who is bodiless and incorporeal or " videhi". Vedihi means the one who does not have a body of his own. And who does not have a body of his own? God Shiva, Hanuman, Angad, Sugrim and Vali were of the Kapi tribe and depicted by the artists with features of that of monkeys. Rawan was the demon king of Lanka and shown with ten heads. Rawan was very clever but had great pride and ego and whose wife was Mandodari. Meghana was the son of Rawan, Kumbhakharna and Vibishan were Rawan brothers.

Who is Rama? Rama has two meaning. Firstly, Rama can represent the corporeal or sakar form in the name of Ramachandra as dialogued above. Rama also means one who gives comfort or "aram" similar to when we say Prahbhu, Ishwar, Allah, Raheem or Bandhu. Here Rama is bodiless, incorporeal or "nirakar" and one who do not take birth and rebirth. Bharat means fullness, complete, the embodiment of contentment with sufficient and enough for all. Lakshman is one who had his mind fixed with a firm aim and object of the self and is the embodiment of all this qualities of divinity like Vishnu. Lakshman always remains in the company of Rama and performs the role of a brother, a friend and an advisor. Satrughn means one who destroys the enemy.

The Ramayana speaks about Rama as incarnation. Rama incarnation was not alone. Rama incarnated with his three brothers, but none had the appearance with the four arms of Vishnu. However Rama was born with divine qualities and attributes worthy of divinity and he and his three brothers formed a corporeal Trimurti. Comparing the corporeal and incorporeal Trimurtis, Rama is like Shiva, Lakshmana role is that of Brahma who is always assisting Rama. Satrughna is like Shankara who destroys the enemy and Bharat as Vishnu who was always contented and gave sustenance.

The main story of the Ramayana is that of Sita and Rama. Rama was going to be given the kingdom and Mantara planted a negative thought in the mind of Kaikeyi. Now Mantara played the role of the mischievous mind. She created division and separation by creating negative and vicious thoughts as the name suggests. Mantara means thoughts like the mind with negative and positive tendencies. Kaikeyi demonstrates a weak intellect that was easily influenced by vicious thoughts and demonstrated jealousy, one of the female vices of Rawan. Kausalya demonstrated pure divine wisdom and is symbolic of a divine intellect or buddhi. Sumitra is quiet, very neutral, very natural as one with a personality who is very gentle and causes very little trouble. She demonstrated detachment. Dasarath represents the body with five sense organs and five physical organs, rath meaning a chariot or body. Sita represents the ‘soul’. It is said her birth was unnatural. Sita it is said appeared when her father King Janak was ploughing the field. This ‘field’ represents the field of action or "karma setra". Raja Janak means the incorporeal one from far away. So Sita represents the lost or kidnapped soul. Who kidnapped this soul Sita? It was Rawan but it was not a physical kidnap. Sita stepped outside the divine code of conduct as Rawan dressed as a Saddhu enticed her with the golden deer named mareechi. The golden deer is symbolic of the material trappings of the world. This entire family tree represents the soul and its three faculties of the mind, intellect and personality and how they are influenced by the vices associated with the sense organs. It is said that all of Rawan’s children and relatives died before him. What this means is that Rawan represents ego and that is the last of the vices to leave when you are in a stage of body consciousness. Anger, greed, jealousy and others leave for different reasons but ego remains unmoved. This is the explanation of the five pandavs and the dog who melted away on the mountains. Ego was the major downfall of Rawan. After Ram gave him a chance to rest and return and fight another day, many tried to persuade Rawan to seek Rama’s forgiveness and blessing, but Rawan refused because of false pride. The dog that accompanied them to the mountains is symbolic of the ego in man that hangs on to the last. The melting body is symbolic of the slow ascent from conquering body consciousness to complete attainment of soul consciousness. The snowy mountain reminds one of the slow and incognito melting of the snow that starts at the base and cannot be seen.

Rama in exile.

Let us look at the exile of Rama. He was banished in the forest and accompanied by Lakshman and Sita. While Sita was in the company of Rama and Lakshman, she is Lakshman Rekha, which is she was always disciplined and happy, but when separated there was immense sorrow. Lakshman Rekha simply means staying focused and keeping within the line or code of conduct. They all lived in the cottage called Panchawati. The cottage Panchawati is symbolic and means the body made up of the five elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether. The following saying captures the essence quote;

‘Chitti jal pawak gagan sameeran. Paanch wa kaie bana shareera.’

Temptation of the world separates the soul from Rama. Sita is symbolic of the soul and Rama is in search of Sita. Lakshmana accompanies Ram. Lakshman is symbolic of the fixed aim and object of the self. The jungle setting represents the kingdom of Rawan. All this symbolism simply means that the soul had become impure by rawanic influence. Paradise or heaven is now the jungle of thorns. The incorporeal Rama has come in the form of the Trimurti to rescue the "Sitas" trapped in the jail of Rawan and so Rama has hired the services of the Kapis headed by Hanuman, Angad and Sugrim to assist him. The Kapis here means the souls with monkey qualities who are transformed and are now assisting Rama. This is symbolic when it is said that Hanuman wrote the name Rama on every stone they began to float so that the army could cross to defeat Rawan. It is really the stone intellect of man now touched by the Shrimat of Shri Rama and now became divine in nature. The story of Ahelya is similar to this as it is said her husband turned her into stone but she regained her originality by Rama’s touch.

The Rudra Gita Gyan Yagya

But there must be a yagya and this is where Vishwamitra, the sage and advisor of Rama and friend of the world enters the play. He creates the sacrificial fire of knowledge. But the yagya has been sabotaged by Mareechi and Subahu as in the story. When translated, Mareechi means the golden deer, symbolic of the trappings of the material world called maya. Subahu means the forces of ignorance, the darkness of evil, those who are greedy and deceitful. So the incarnation of Rama is only symbolic, for Rama here is but the incorporeal, bodiless Shiva. But why was it necessary to write the Ramayana in metaphors and parables that today there is so much doubt and confusion. When Tulsidas wrote the Ramcharitas Manasas, he wrote it to spread spirituality, to capture the politics of the rule at that time in the sixteen century and to send a subtle message to all the Hindus, especially the women. The story of Sita was meant to send a clear message to all the women that they should not submit to the forceful lustful tendencies of the male ruling class. At that time, men were allowed three and four wives and the character Dasarath and his three queens were created to send the message in the form of story. In doing so, Tulsidas stories of Rama covered life in all the ages but the people did not understand the metaphors and parables. The corporeal incarnation of Shri Rama and his three brothers of the Ramayana are the incarnation of incorporeal Shiva and his three subtle deities in the confluence age. Their missions are identical and their characters and functions were similar. Hanuman asked Rama who he was searching for to which Rama replied.

‘Y ha Hari niche chare videhi. Kojat a phirat ham awat teri'.

It means ‘In the dark night, the demons have stolen the soul. We are searching for that. We are searching for the souls kidnapped by Rawan’. The spiritual interpretation is that all souls have been stolen and are in the jail of Rawan. The whole of humanity is in the jail of maya at the end of kaliyug. Sita is compared to the lost soul and Rama, the incorporeal, bodiless One has descended in the dark night in reference to Shivaratri, to recapture all souls from the bondage of Rawan. The ‘ratri’ in Shivratri means the dark ages of copper and iron.

Tulsidas Rama is the incorporeal, bodiless Supreme Soul, Shiva.

Rama destroyed king Vali and this was only possible by someone who was invisible as Vali reduced the power of any of his enemy by half. It is said Rama stood behind a tree and shot Vali but this is only symbolic. Rama here is incorporeal Shiva ‘the seed’ of the human world tree called the ‘Kalpa tree’. The seed of any tree is always underground and cannot be seen. Recall a similar story of the ‘boon and boast’ of King Hiranyakishapu and how he was invincible. The ‘boon’ stated that no man born of woman could destroy the king with any form of physical weapons, either inside or outside a house or in the day or night. This boon appeared to have made the king invincible. However, it was the bodiless Shiva also called Rama who destroyed him. Shiva, the Supreme Soul is bodiless and incorporeal and is neither man nor woman, as He is not subjected to birth and death or the bondages of karma. Shiva destroyed him at the confluence age, which is referred to as neither day nor night as the confluence age is referred to as the "dawn" of two kalpas. He destroyed the king with neither weapons nor force but with the power and shrimat of the Gita, referred to on the Ramayana as the ‘Brahma Astra’. Recall also, that Rawan and his brother Meghana resisted all other weapons, but it was only with the ‘Brahma Astra’, Rama was able to destroy them. All these comparisons show the spiritual similarity of these scriptures. It is but the stories and the rituals that fragmented all the worlds' religions.

The Origin of Hinduism

Having developed the spiritual connection of the Ramayana and the Gita and having shown that there is no difference in the spiritual teaching of the Hindu scriptures, the origin of Hinduism will be placed in perspective. First, each cycle consists of four major ages namely golden, silver, copper and iron in that order, each consisting of 1250 years each. The confluence age also called ‘purushshottam sangam yug’ meaning the most auspicious age. The confluence age overlaps the last 100 years in kaliyug and it begins with the incarnation and descent of Shiva and it is celebrated as ‘Shivratri. Shiva incarnates into Brahma and teaches him the elevated directions of the Gita that is necessary to destroy Rawan or maya. Brahma teaches this to others such as Saraswati and Hanuman. All those who imbibe and inculcate this divine teaching and become pure are mouth born progeny of Brahma and are called Brahmins. The Brahmins become the instruments of Shiva through Brahma to assist in the recreation and re-establishment of the new world of satyug or the golden age. The confluence age is the only time the ‘top knot’ Brahmins exist because their next birth is in the golden age and then they are known as deities. These deities exists in the golden age and rule as Lakshmi and Narayan for eight dynasties as Lakshmi and Narayan the ‘first to the eight’ as the maximum number of birth is eight in this age. Lakshmi and Narayan childhood days were those of Radhe and Krishna who when they got married became Lakshmi and Narayan. The deities followed the ‘Adi Sanatan Devi Devta Dharma’ known as the ‘original ancient deity religion’.

Lakshmi and Narayan rule ended at the end of the Golden age. Ramachandra and Sita then ruled the silver age that consisted of twelve kingdoms, as the maximum number of births is twelve in this age. Those who take birth in this age were known as ‘katriyas’ or the warrior clan. They were non-violent but warrior means that their purity had declined by two celestial degrees because they were still battling with perfecting ‘gyan and yoga’ in the confluence age. Then the next age is copper and the birth of Abraham. At this time the end of the silver age, purity had further declined and the vices of anger, greed, ego, lust and attachment known as Rawan or maya had entered the cycle. This is the reason Abraham had to introduce spiritual law to arrest the decline in spirituality. It is here Abraham introduced Islam and the Judaic religions. The end of the silver age saw the change of the ‘Deity religion’ into what is now called the ‘Hindu Religion’. So the origin of the Hindu religion is the deity religion and the Deity religion was established by Shiva through Brahma.

After Abraham who introduced Islam, then came Gautama Buddha who introduced Buddhism. Abraham and Buddha came 500 and 300 years before Jesus Christ. Christ introduced the Christian religion and at that time they zeroed the calendar counting and it became ‘before and after’ Christ written as B.C and AD. After Christ came Mohammed and he placed definite limits on Islam and his followers were called Muslims or Mohammedans. This was 500 years after Christ. Many other religions were formed after that, but they were offshoots of the main four tubes that emerged at the beginning of the copper age. Today there are virtually thousands of religions coming from the main four religions and every day many more are being formed. So the origin of the Hindu religion is the Deity religion that began 3000 years before Christ and it was established by the Supreme Soul Shiva through Brahma. It is for this reason that Brahma is called the ‘Father of Humanity’, but Shiva is the ‘Father of all souls’ making all humans ‘brothers’ and hence the concept of ‘brotherhood’ with one Supreme Father.

For the records, the maximum number of births one can take in the copper and iron ages are 21 and 42 respectively. There is one birth in the confluence age making number of births in the cycle to be a maximum of eighty-four. This is the reason it is said in chapter 4 of the Gita, the secrets of the Creator and creation are revealed, but only a ‘few out of million and a few out of that few’ will have that realization because of the confusion in caste, class and religion that has been created by the vices or Rawan.

The Ramayan written by Tulsidas was written with three main viewpoints. First it kept the spirituality. Secondly, it tactfully reported the political situation of Bharat at that time in an incognito way as the rulers then suppressed the practice of Hinduism. And thirdly, he was sending a clear message to Hindu women not to subdue to promiscuous eyes of the ruling class, using Sita as example in the jail of Rawan. Tulsidas developed the story to create a virtuous hindu wife and an immortal heroine in the life of Sita. Sita was created to be a faithful wife to send a message to all the hindu women that it is better to die than disrespect their marriage vows and dharma.

Tulsidas explained that the Ramayana is a story written to teach morality, discipline, virtues and spirituality to when he wrote in the final chapter of the Ramayana quote:

‘Ayse adham manuj kalloo. Satyug Treta nahi. Dwapar hoye kachook kupine’.

This means that degraded people like Rawan, Kardushan, Mareech and Subahu do not belong to the Golden and Silver ages. People of that devilish nature emerge in the cycle only in the copper age. Only a handful of people from this lot has the understanding of this. This is probably the most important explanation to clarify the many doubts and misconceptions of the order of the ages in the cycle. The incarnation of God, the concept of Rama and Rawan and the ascent and descent of mankind explains the true identity of Rama, Hanuman and Sita. This would also explain the true meaning of Hanuman which means the destroyer of ego or ‘abhiman’ with the ‘herbs of knowledge’ he carried called ‘sanjeevani booti’. There are so many contradictions in so many scriptures, it is no small wonder that we have so many major religions with so many branches, each one in war with each other. This is the main reason that over 80 percent of the wars are rooted in religious conflicts.

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