Can I have more than one Guru? -- II

Now about the advantages of having more than one Guru and whether it is absolutely necessary to have more than one guru.

It is not absolutely necessary to have more than one Guru.

You may be among the fortunate few who have found the right Guru and is happy in practicing the path shown by him. That means you are satisfied with your path and are not seeking any more. The progress in the path would be swift and smooth for such people.

But this does not happen to most of us. We are not satisfied by the path shown by one Guru. We seek further. It does not mean that you are showing disrespect to your Guru. Far from it. It is only that the you have the urge to seek and explore further.


We have all read stories of Saints and Sadhus who were directed by their Guru to go to another Guru for further studies. Let us see why it is many times necessary to have more than one Guru.

1. All Gurus teach the path by which they have achieved salvation. They specialize in one particular path. But it is possible that the path may not be in conformity with your leanings. One may also like to learn about other paths. The book "Choosing a path" by Swami Rama gives a bird's eye view of all the paths. But every path has many sampradhayas. So you have to seek a Guru whose sampradhaya suits your vasanas. As Sri Ramakrishna said "There are as many ways as there are men."

2. The Guru is supposed to identify the attitude/inclination/vasana of the disciple and direct him accordingly. Swami Sivananda directed Swami Chinmayananda to go to Tapovan Maharaj. But this requires intensive inter action between the Guru and the disciple. This rarely happens now. Most of us are followers or devotees of a particular Guru. We can not call ourselves disciples in the real sense of the term. If your Guru is able to identify your attitude and direct you to the path with which you are satisfied, then you are one of the few fortunate ones.

I will quote some examples.

1. You may have a liking for a particular God/Goddess whom you consider your Ishta Devata. But the Guru you are with may be specialised in the upasana of another Deity. There are some organizations which give Deeksha in a particular Mantra because it is their standard procedure. But people who have Ishta Devata who is different from that of the Mantra face problems.

2. The path shown by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi is one of pure Advaita. Atma Vicharam. But it is not suitable for every one. People who are basically Bhakthas who are initiated into Advaita mantra have problems.

In fact if we examine our beliefs most of us would find that we have adapted ideas from different sources. Gurus, books, newspapers, TV and Internet forums.

Jai MAA !!!

Kali Upasana and Animal Sacrifice

A question asked often is about animal sacrifice. Goats are sacrificed in Kalighat Kali temple.

Animal sacrifices were part of the Vedic yagnas. One of the main objections of the early Bhuddhists was about animal sacrifices in the Vedic rituals. Over a period of time the praactice of animal sacrifice has been discontinued. The Bali has been replaced with substitutes like pumpkins, guords etc. It has totally disppeared in Vaidic rituals. But it is a fact that Animal sacrifices were the mainstay of the Vedic Yagnas.

Animal sacrifices have continued for a longer period in Tantrik rituals and Folk Hinduism that is worship of the Village Gods and Goddessses. It continues today also. But the frequency is reduced and it is not a very common occurance. In Tamil Nadu animal sacrifices are common in the worship of Madan, Karuppanna swami, Kali, Mariamman and other goddessses. Mostly it is cocks and goats. But buffaloes are also sometimes sacrificed.

The ban on animal sacrifices which was brought by the Tamil Nadu government had to be withdrawn because of public pressure. One of the first acts of the communist government in Keral was to ban animal sacrifices. It was fairly common in Kerala. But even now you still have Kuruthi(blood) pushpanjali and kuruthi Pushpam offering in many temples.

Vegetarian food is preferred for those seeking the spiritual path because of its Sattvik nature. But animal sacrifices were common in most of the Yagnas and it is specifically mentioned in Krishna Yajur Veda which deals with the procedures for Yagnas.

Even today it is the tradition in many states to offer Animals as sacrifice to God. The only religion where animal sacrifice is forbidden is Christianity. What surprises me is that many of the people who argue against animal sacrifice do not think at all while eating mutton and chicken. The fact is that the sacrificial rites are definitely kinder to the animals than the procedures in abattoirs or slaughter houses.

Just because these are done by the common man does not give us any right to look askance at the practice. By doing that we are driving away people from Hinduism.

Hinduism is a parliament of religions ranging from Animism to Advaita. Everyone follows a path which suits his/her nature. We have to accept these traditions. We talk about tolerance or acceptance of other religions. But let us first practice tolerance of the various traditions in Hinduism.

Mantra Siddhi? What is it? - III

The main question is if Mantra Siddhi is not defined then why so much of importance is placed on it.

1. For giving Deeksha of a particular Mantra to a disciple or seeker, the Guru should have attained the Mantra Siddhi of that Mantra. That included Purascharana. Mantra Siddhi is what qualifies one to be a Mantra Guru. If the guru does not have this qualification the mantra will not fructify.

2. Mantras give power. The use of this power is called Prayoga. Prayoga or application is a subject which is rarely dealt with in the open. The application or Prayoga has a number of rituals which are kept secret and passed on from Guru to Shishya.

The common prayogas are Snake Bite cure, Curing of other diseases like Jaundice, Dhana Prapthi and Parihara Pujas. The Abhichara Prayogas are Vasikarna, Sthambana, Spodana, Ucchadana and Marana.

Before performing Prayogas the Mantrik has to attain Mantra Siddhi after fulfilling all the requirements of Purascharana.

Some of the Mantras do not require the performance of Purascharana.

Mantra Siddhi is thus the prerequisite for becoming a Mantrik. It is the basic qualification.

There were times when Mantriks were powerful. Some of the communities in India have controlled wealth and were more powerful than even the Kings because of their knowledge of Mantras and their uses. Fortunately those days are long past and no one has any use for Mantriks now. Except for for some love sick youngsters who seek Vasikarana.

And there is no money in it. Most of the procedures have been forgotten and the manuscripts have turned to dust.

Of course we do see some Sadhus and Religious teachers performing elaborate rituals for Mantra Siddhi. They need this to become Tantriks, Astrologers, and Gurus.

Extending the scope of the Blog

When I started this Blog in 2009, it was with the idea of exchanging views about Kali temple and Kali worship. At that time I was posting in other forums. Now I have almost stopped posting in other forums. Many of the forums have also closed down. Also I would like to consolidte the posts that I have made over a period of more than 10 years in different forums.

So this blog would now contain my thoughts on different aspects of Hindu religion.

Jai MAA KAALI !!!

Can I have more than one Guru? - I

Hrim

The question many of us have.

Most of the Gurus of the recent past and present would immediately say NO. They would quote some Sanskrit slokas to boost their point of view.

Let us see whether it is necessary or permissable to have more than one Guru.

The lives of saints would act as a guide for us here. Sri Ramakrishna's Tantric Guru was Maa Bhairavi Brahmani. His Advaita Guru was Tota Puri. But he remained basically a Bhaktha of MAA KAALI. Swami Chinmayananda was given sannyasa by Swami Sivananda. But his Guru later was Swami Tapovan Maharaj. This is the case with almost all the Saints and Teachers of Hinduism. Most of the modern day Gurus do not even name a particular Guru because they have learnt from many Gurus.

So it is permissable to have more than one Guru. In fact if one has to progress spiritually one does need the guidance of more than one Guru.

The question then arises is that if one can have many Gurus, why are the modern gurus opposing this and insisting on sticking to one Guru?

The answer is simple. POWER. The modern Gurus exercise control over their followers by insisting on absolute alligence to them. The Godmen/Godwomen also insist on this. What is being created are CULTS and not movements. If a follower takes on another Guru the original Guru would lose control. This theory of a single guru has been applied extensively in the U.S and other countries outside India where our Gurus go to accumulate wealth, fame and power.

This was also used earlier in India for the spread of the Guru movements some of which have even become seperate religions.

The biggest drawback of the single Guru alligence is the ban on original thinking. One is supposed to follow strictly in the footsteps of the guru. No change is allowed. This was not the case in the past. Great men like Adi Sankaracharya and Ramanujacharya did not blindly follow their Gurus. They thought independently and laid the foundation for philosophies which differed from those of their gurus.

We should never blindly follow any one. We should never lose our own thinking. Hinduism encourages original thinking. Many of the gurus and the orthodoxy would like to take away this. Hinduism has suffered because the orthodoxy had no answer to many of our questions. Their only answers are "This is how it has been done for ages" and "This is what our ancestors have done." Fortunately for us great men like Adi Sankaracharya and Ramanujacharya did not believe this.

Coming down to modern day practice, having a single Guru does create problems. The westerner who learns Hinduism from a particular guru does not face any problem. All that he knows of Hinduism is what is taught by a guru. There is no conflict. But in the case of Indian Hindus we come to know Hinduism from childhood. We imbibe the ideas of Hinduism from our parents, family and the environment in which we grow up. When you take on a guru you may find some of his ideas are in conflict with what you already believe. That is why NO Indian can give the absolute alligence that a westerner who is new to Hinduism can give. This is the reason why Westerners are preferred as disciples over Indians by the Indian Gurus teaching in western countries.

I shall post about the advantages of having more than one Guru and whetehr it is absolutley necessary to have mor than one guru.

Mantra Siddhi? What is it? - II

The Purascharana I was talking about is strenuous, time consuming and expensive. Assuming that it takes 5 to 10 seconds for performing the Ahudhi. That is taking the Ghee reciting the mantra and offering it in the fire. Assuming the short time of 5 seconds it would take 125 hours to perform the Homa. If you do it for 5 hours daily it would take 25 days.

I have taken 5 hours daily because sitting in front of a Fire for more than 5 hours is a problem. Even 5 hours is a tremendous strain. You move your hand from the ghee pot to the fire 3600 times. You can manage 2000 times daily. That would take longer to complete in 45 days. Of course the time for doing Tharpan.

Imagine the physical strain.

Again there is the job of keeping the fire going for days together. And the cost of the Ghee and Firewood.

Add to this the cost of feeding the Brahmins.

Thus Purascharana is very strenuous, time consuming and very expensive.

Still people do Purascharana, though not many. Why?

What is so great about Mantra Siddhi that one is willing to devote so much time, effort and money on that?

Or are we chasing a Mirage?

Jai MAA KAALI !!!

Mantra Siddhi? What is it? - I

According to the Tantric texts, to attain Mantra Siddhi you have to

1. Repeat the Mantra a specified number of times. Normally the number of letters in the Mantra multiplied by lakhs. For example for Navakshari (Navarna) Mantra it is 9,00,000 times.

2. Perform a Purascharana homa. The number of Ahudhis should be 1/10th of the repetitions. For Navakshari it is 90,000.

3. Tharpana of 1/10th of Ahudhis. Thus for Navakshari it is 9,000.

4. Feed number of Brahmins 1/10th of Tharpana. For Navakshari it is 900.

If you have done all this you will get the Mantra Siddhi.

Mantra Siddhi is important in the case of Krama Deekshas where you have to get the Mantra Siddhi of one Mantra before proceeding to the higher one.

But then let me raise a question which may seem basic, but which is not answered.

There is no book which defines Mantra Siddhi.

1. What do you think is Mantra Siddhi?

2. What do expect when you get Mantra Siddhi?

Fly through Air? Attain Ashtama Siddhi? Have Dharshan of the Mantra Devata? Some might talk about Kundalini reaching the Sahasrara or the Crown Chakra. Then what happens?

Are we aiming for something about which we know nothing?

Is Mantra Siddhi necessary for spiritual advancement?

Jai MAA KAALI !!!