THE VARNA SYSTEM: SPIRITUALITY, SOCIETY AND THE CHAKRAS

Have you noticed, in modern cities, especially in the so-called Third World, the proliferation of high-rise condominiums and suchlike? Impressive buildings, with ostenatiously wealthy people coming and going in plush vehicles. No one else can enter: security is tight.

Strangely enough, not much distance away, virtually in their shadows, proliferate slums. Shanties, sheds, huts, call them what you will. The very sight of them fills many of us with disgust. The smells ... good heavens. A clear demonstration of the haves and the have-nots. Let us look at how the Hindu society looks at the haves and the have-nots.

The Manu-dictated Hindu society was divided into four parts -- Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Each part had a pre-defined role, so-called attributes and functions, and DEFINITELY could not mingle.

What a hidebound way of looking at human beings. No wonder that today, the so-called lower classes are up in arms against the higher classes, and are clamouring for their place under the sun. And since they constitute the majority of the population  -- the bottom of the pyramid, as it is called -- their voice is strident and they are getting somewhere. Not quite at the pace that they might aspire, but there is a definite change.

The catch is that they don't know what to do with their new-found powers, and end up aping the very higher classes against whom they revolted. This is not without precedent, having been acted out in the communist Eastern Bloc, the USSR, China and elsewhere. When power flows to the downtrodden, they end up doing all those very things that they so hate in the upper classes.

How does this square up with spirituality? This is a spiritual blog, right? Why are we talking politics and anthropology? It all ties up. Be patient.

First, let's look at the varna system. Brahmanas had the role of being the spiritual backbone of society. Anything to do with God, they were the guys who performed the rituals, chanted the mantras, did the pujas, looked after the temples... They were also in charge of knowledge: the vedas, the puranas, the sundry other scriptures -- they were the custodians. The lower classes could not aspire to knowledge, to schooling... It was deemed dangerous for them. Hence the concept of Trusteeship.

The next on the rung were the Kshatriyas. The warriors. The rulers. It was their job to run the kingdom, to defend it against invaders, to dole out justice to the masses. The so-called gentile class, they were supposed to be role-models for the society at large.

Then came the vaishyas, the traders, the people who spoke the language of money. Their primary job, their dharma, was the multiplication of wealth. The more wealth they generated, the more would go to the Treasury in the form of taxes, so the kshatriyas and the vaishyas worked in close cooperation.

Last, the shudras. The people who did the labour. The society could not do without them. Indeed, they were the base of the pyramid, its foundation. without it, the structure would collapse. But looking down from the top, the brahmin could not relate to the foundation. There was disconnect. And the king in his throne could not relate to them either, and anyway, the life of a king is a lonely one.

Now, if you have an idea of the chakra system of the body, you would see where this is leading up to. The body has, broadly speaking, four varnas too.

The base of the pyramid -- connected with the bodily functions: survival of the individual. Procreation and survival of the species. The instinct of knowing what to do, and when. These physical attributes are connected with the so-called lower chakras. the mooladhara or basic, the manipura or sex, and the Nabhi or navel. the lower triangle.

Next comes the emotional functions. the concept of the individual. 'I'. I want this, that and the other. I love that person. I hate that person. I want to be the richest person in the world. I want to rule the universe. Broadly called the lower emotions. Then there are the higher emotions. The desire to serve one's family/society,  the desire to see people happy (even if only some people). These emotions are connected with two chakras -- the solar plexus, and the heart.

Next, mental functions. creativity. intelligence. understanding. discernment. decision-making. Connected with the throat (vishuddhi) and ajna chakras.

Last, spiritual functions. Connection with god. Intuition. Discernment between right and wrong. Bringing the blessings of god into the entire body. The spiritual preceptor. Chakras -- backhead, forehead and primarily, the crown (lalata, and sahsrara).

Going back to the societal varnas, is there a distinct correlation with the bodily functions? the higher triad = brahman, the ajna and throat to kshatriyas, the heart and solar plexus to the vaishyas and the lower triad to the shudras... There are more chakras involved, but let us not complicate things further.

The problem is, these chakras are not independent. They are supposed to be a team. And just like the varnas, the chakras have physical roles in the body, all of them, knowledge that such schools as Pranic Healing and Theosophy have brought into the public domain.

Once we start examining the roles of the chakras, we begin to understand the dangers of knowledge and power, as far as the object of the energy goes. For instance, knowledge of the vedas was shielded from the lower classes. They were not even allowed to chant a simple mantra: it was deemed dangerous for them. Going up the class system, little by little, information would be released to the people, at the appropriate time. In the brahmins, spiritual knowledge was included in the curriculum and the youth were integrated into the system at a very early age.

Looking at this practise from the energy or chakra point of view, it appears that spiritual power is dangerous for the lower chakras. Is that true? How does it work?

It is probably something like this. The energy in a chakra vibrates at a certain frequency. The mooladhara, for instance, vibrates at a frequency that is different -- and lower -- than a higher chakra, say the crown. Something like the different channels on radio.

If a radio-receiver is tuned to a certain frequency, it simply does not 'catch' anything at a higher (or lower) frequency. No problem, life goes on. But then, by external intervention, if a person tries to adjust this receiver, tries to tune it to receive signals of a higher frequency without suitably upgrading the hardware, what happens? Pfffttt. Something blows up. In one word, disaster, right?

Well, that is what happens if one tries to 'inject' spiritual energy into a chakra that is not ready, that has not been sufficiently prepared. or a person who has not been suitably prepared, to chant mantras or to meditate. Boom!

The catch is, the varna system has been linked to birth. You are born a brahmin or shudra, etc. In actual practice, it does not quite work like that. Your actions determine your position on the spiritual ladder. It is connected with the amount of light you have. And that comes from past WORK, spiritual, physical, financial, what have you. Boom. Reincarnation.

But all this work is connected not to the self but to humanity, to creation as a whole. Sacrifice plays a large part in it. Ahem ahem.

If you have not been sufficiently prepared and purified, so says Rishi Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras, the individual who puts his foot on the ladder of spirituality will find that the mire around his feet solidifies, and he gets stuck there. And like Lot's wife in the Bible who turned into a pillar of salt for looking back (signifying emotional/material attachments that pulled her back), or four of the Pandava brothers (and their wife, Draupadi) who dropped dead on their final march to redemption --- for looking back --- the spiritual aspirant cannot proceed any further.

So, in spiritual practice, especially if you are serious about progress, it is important to purify yourself of past baggage. It is this past baggage, the attachment, the "emotional ties" (good and bad, love and hate, joy and grief -- all of them) that prevent our moving on. It's like the ship that's our body has dropped anchor in the ocean of emotions.

There are many techniques for moving on from the past. The most effective one is forgiveness. Identify one person who has caused emotional distress, and forgive him or her from the bottom of your heart, with god as witness. Release them from your bondage (yeah, they're tied down too, unless you let them go) and pray that people you have hurt are able to forgive you and let you move on. Let's put this in words, shall we?

"To XYZ person (or persons), I forgive you for all the hurt and pain you have caused me. I also seek forgiveness for the hurt and pain I have caused others. Blessings of God be with them and with me."

This is your COMPULSORY daily ritual, for the rest of your life. If you want to progress spiritually, that is. Otherwise there is no issue, where you are is fine, you can stay there.

If you do a lot of meditation, or other spiritual practices, without sufficient (and regular) cleansing, what will happen? Why, simply, like Lot's life we mentioned earlier, the negative energies in your system start to crystallise. Before long, you would start to experience physical ailments such as arthritis or stones. The solution is not stopping the practices. Anyone who has practised heavy physical exercises for years and then given up all if it would know what happens: you just grow heavier and heavier, and more and more sluggish. That works on the energy field, too.

The solution is to be slow, systematic and simple. Do purifications every day. Diet, breathing exercises, physical exercises and forgiveness. Do meditation in moderation. Do not try to bluster it out by increasing the dosage to breaking point, because you are not going to fool anybody upstairs. They know how much you can handle, and if you push beyond that, things will happen to make you stop.

So the trick is to imitate the tortoise, not the hare. Plod away, and before you know, you've won the race. Congratulations.

Picture of slums in Brazil, courtesy Wikimedia.org

Black magic: are you guilty of it?

Once a person came to me for healing. She felt she was under black magic attack, and things were happening to her which simply could not be explained. She was lethargic, could not even get up from bed most of the time. There was no will to live, no will to do anything. She could not meditate, as that would make her sick with headaches and body pain.

She felt the attack was conscious black magic stuff, being done by her husband. Investigation proved that it was indeed the case, she was under attack, but by her husband's sister, for -- what else -- property reasons.

We countered with white magic, cut cords, shielded her. But whatever we would do, the attack would recur. It became clear that she had too much karma to work out. And that she needed to do stuff herself, others could no longer clean up the mess she had created.

What could be the karma that caused her to suffer black magic attacks? Clearly, she had done the same to another person, if not in this life, in the past.

The problem was that she could not do anything to neutralize her karma. She could not tithe, as she was dependent on her husband for money. She could not do any service as she could barely get up. Twin Hearts meditation made her sick. And so on. Whatever suggestion we made, she  had an explanation of why she could not do it. After a while, we had to give up on her. The karma was so severe that she had no choice but to suffer.

The case was an eye-opener of the severity of karma. It was also an eye-opener about black magic. What exactly is black magic?

This is basically the use of energy techniques to achieve negative ends. So even if one is a pranic healer, using the technique to, say, create obstacles to prevent someone from falling in love with an undesirable person, comes under black magic.

The black magic techniques themselves are potent, and the practitioners are highly secretive. But some interesting aspects are: the magician uses the energy of the person who is getting the magic done, the customer. The magic is transferred through an article, something physical, and is operative on the etheric level. The karma of the magical act seems to get devolved on the customer, not the person who is doing the magic --- that person's karma is also severe, but it does not seem to come from the individual acts. A person who attempts to interfere in an operational attack himself or herself comes under violent attack.

Amazingly interesting.

So what is the way out? How can we ensure that we at least don't come under such attacks?

The answer seems to be -- karma. We need to ensure that we do not incur the karma that can bring us under an attack. Which means that we should not practice anything that could cause another person harm, starting at a very deep spiritual level and all the way to mental, verbal and physical injury.

Easier said than done. Master Choa has taught us that as we evolve spiritually, our every aspect carries powerful energy with it. And things tend to manifest, right? We have all observed how we just have to wish for something, and it happens. Yes? How does that happen? Because when we create a thought, it carries enough energy (and good karma) to manifest, to materialize.

But the flipside is also true. That is, if we wish for something negative, it may also tend to manifest. This is particularly true of days on which we have forgotten to invoke, for instance. Oh, what a pain in the neck that person is. Many weeks later, we may start to get a pain in the neck whenever we see that person, or his name is mentioned! And we would not even connect up the cause and effect.

It's time to say Oh Oh. Because we are all guilty of this sort of thoughts. For instance, when Arvind Kejriwal was taking oath as chief minister of Delhi, god alone knows how many hundreds of thousands of people were thinking, "Ok, so he's become the CM, let's see how he manages to keep his promises." From there the next sentence, "He'll go the same way as everyone else," and to the next one "He'll also end up corrupt," come so quickly, that before we knew it, we were creating an entire scenario of Kejriwal's downfall.

Can you imagine how potent such a thoughtform would be? Do you wonder that the poor man fell ill two days after winning the election? Or that today he seems to be doing everything that millions of people said he would do anyway? That is the power of suggestion.

And unfortunately, it is not much different from black magic. The karmic consequences are just as severe.

We cannot be held accountable for the world, but our contribution to it is our very own individual responsibility. So it is important for us to watch our thoughts, speech and actions ALL the time. There can be no relaxation. Otherwise, unwittingly, we are ending up in an act that is little different from black magic in its results. At a higher level, it is called misuse of power.

Practise diligently. That is what Master told us in his last message for his students. Unceasing vigilance! Remember professor Moody from Harry Potter? Never let down yourguard.

Karmic obligation: bonds that keep us from progress

Karmic obligation: bonds that keep us from spiritual --- and material --- progress

Hari Warrier

A few days ago came the news that Mr Justin Beiber is giving his father a  handsome monthly allowance. Some said $10,000, some said $50,000. But anyway, everyone agreed that it was a hefty sum, and the father was having a blast.

The very same day came another news: a girl just out of her teens in the US (same age as Beiber? Close enough) was suing her parents; she had left home after she turned 18 because she was not willing to put up with restrictions on her personal life, such as a night curfew. But the purpose of the suit was not to question the restrictions: she wanted her parents to pay her an allowance that would take care of her personal life and her college expenses while she stayed on her own. The judge, in the first hearing, sided with the parents, but the case is continuing.

Two cases that put contrasting interpretations on the parent-offspring relationship. Who is right? Is the other person wrong? To understand this, we need to understand the nature of karma.

The law of karma is clear: what you sow is what you reap. Beiber senior must have done something right, to reap his allowance, right? Sure. But the parents of the suing girl had not done much wrong either: all they wanted was a good clean life for their daughter. But the child wants different.

What are these invisible ties that bind parents and their child together? Let us try to get a grip on this.

A child gets his or her body from the cells of the parents. The mother bears the child for nine months, suffering several pains and traumas. And  only the father knows the price of the midnight snacks that "womb service" entails!

As the child grows up, the parents do their best to give it a good life, better than  they had as children. Sure, some parents are bad, but mostly, they try to be good. They want their child to be a success in life.

All these efforts take the child towards a place from where s/he can launch a career, or strike out on their own. These are priceless efforts, efforts that cannot be repaid regardless of whatever the child does for the parents in later years. Master Choa Kok Sui, the founder of modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga, calls it karmic obligation. And he says, "neutralize karmic obligations, because that is the smart thing to do."

So, Justin Beiber's allowance to his father is a smart thing to do. It is a sort of part payment towards his parents' obligations.

What about the girl?

Karma ties us not just to our parents, but to several other people. So in the case of the girl, there is a boyfriend. "Undesirable" character, the news report said. Without  being judges about that, it is no rocket science to figure out that if their relationship has turned the girl against her parents, the "karmic ties" between the girl and the boy is surely stronger than the one between the parents and their child.

So what is it about this karma thing?

Karma is the energy that is associated with every action we take, every thought we generate, every word we utter. But, according to the Yoga Vasishtha, the interaction between the young Rama and his teacher Vasishtha, karma arises from the emotion that is attached to an action, thought or speech --- not from the act itself.

What does this mean? Well, the action or thought or words themselves do not generate a reaction, if they are not accompanied by an emotion.

So does that give a sort of inkling to the words uttered by Lord Krishna in the Bhagawad Gita, to Arjuna? "Dedicate your every action to me. Do nothing for yourself. Perform your duty and do not hanker after the fruits of the action. Perform, and let go." Or words to that effect.

Hey, that's not practical, we say. How can I just let go? If someone shouts at me, should I just lie down and let him walk over me? Or like Mahatma Gandhi said, if someone slaps me on one cheek, I offer him the other cheek? That's crazy.

Well, yes. But if we shout right back, will it end the matter? Or will it escalate into a slanging match?

On the other hand, if we respond (not react) with measured words, without "vomiting" out our emotions, is it more likely to settle the issue? "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind."

That is a line pregnant with meaning. Wind, or the breath, is the instrument that can help us climb above emotions. That's one of the points of esoteric significance behind the flute that is the instrument of Lord Krishna, by the way.

Hence the stress on pranayama in yogic and spiritual practices. Breath control. Actually, not control but regulation of breath. The introduction of a certain rythm and pattern into our breath for specific durations. Breathing exercises can be cleansing, or energizine, depending on the technique practiced.

This article does not try to address this aspect. Suffice to say that if we are serious about spiritual practice, and wish to learn proper breathing techniques, do, do let us have a teacher teach us. A qualified teacher whose own life has sufficient proof that  their techniques actually work.

So what will "practicing the wind" get us with regard to karma?

Emotions are a form of cyclone, whose vortex is rooted in a particular chakra of the body. Let us discuss chakras before we move on.

A chakra is an energy centre. It is like a regulator, that regulates the "voltage" of energy that goes into organs in its immediate neighbourhood. And it is involved with the inhalation and exhalation of energy into the aura of a person. It also has psychological and spiritual functions, but just physical "imbalance", say arising from habits such as a poor diet (pizza and coke, anyone?), excess alcohol consumption, smoking etc -- or even from a poor choice of words in expressing oneself (four-letter words that do NOT mean love, for instance)... can put the other functions such as emotional and spiritual, out of sync.

What all these do is to cause a certain friction within the chakra. It is no longer able to do its physical function properly. It slows down. And in turn, emotional, mental and spiritual functions get impaired.

Hey, what has all that got to do with karma? Didn't we start from there?

Well, it is like this. When the chakra gets affected, the emotional energies, which are described as "sticky" in nature, start "coating" each and every act, thought and word. Bingo! We have karma.

No, this does not mean that turning vegan will solve the problem. Nor will pranayama. Nor will both the above together.

Because karma has already been there in our system for eons, literally. We are like zombies struggling in a moth-eaten castle, coated with dust and cobwebs, trying to get to the door but can't see where it is.

Wind will only raise the dust. The cobwebs may move around a bit, but it will need a gale to get rid of the whole thing. And a gale, my friends, is not a friendly spirit that will restore life, it will destroy much of it.

There are techniques to rid ourselves of old negative karma. Service is the best one. Serve people, animals, nature, anything of God's creation. Start at home, serve your parents (Ha! Beiber). Service brings into our system what is called higher emotions. And the energy of higher emotions is not sticky, but actually cleansing (somewhere it is said, love can melt a stone... This refers not to real stones, but to the accumulated karmic dust of lifetimes that have crystallized).

Be consistent, and don't aim for the moon: remember what we said about starting a gale. It is the small acts that bring big returns.

Having done service, or looked after your parents, or fed poor people, or done whatever to generate new good karma, you can then pray to your favourite god or the absolute supreme god, to release you from past negative karmic obligations, especially towards the person concerned.

Arhatic Yogis would recognize the specific technique to "decree" good karma to neutralize past negative karma. That is the only way to clear our chakras of past muck, and bring fresh air and clean prana into our lives.

So what happens if we neutralize our karmic obligation, say towards a partner in a joyless marriage? That is the million dollar question.

Well, from our understanding, it is something like this: when there is a karmic obligation or bondage, the nature our relationship with the person concerned is completely dictated by the nature of our bond.

If it is a love bond, for instance, whatever the other person does, we find ourselves unable to respond rationally, even if it is something hurtful or even criminal. We go on being supportive, and live in the fond hope that the other person will love us, some day, and change their habits. And we take that illusion with us to our graves.

If it is a bond of hatred, we just as passionately hate the person --- but are still unable to shake free, and keep doing whatever s/he tells us to do even if we get hurt again and again, because of the bond.

If we neutralize that past karmic obligation, the bond falls off. It takes time, but it does indeed fall off. Freed of the yoke, we can develop a new relationship that is based on the reality of the present time. Or we can just move on, if there is no real NEED for a relationship. In either case, we are free of the baggage of the past. It is astonishing how the other person gets transformed as we do ourselves.

Mind you, the other person is still not free, and can only move on when they have neutralized their obligation. But that is not really our concern, even if the obligation is towards us. Let us clear OUR world, rather than try to meddle with the entire world.

If we don't neutralize the obligation, the bond remains. And there is no telling what the other person will be, in our future life... someone who hurts us, or lives off us, or is a hateful boss, or... the possibilities are endless.

Ok, I think we have got the gist of that. Hopefully. But the law of karma has two parts. As you sow... is only part 1. The second part goes, "Don't sow seeds whose fruits you do not want to reap." or words to that effect.

Wow, this is a toughie. You mean, I can't unburden my emotions and let loose at that idiot who completely cut me off with his car and left me stranded at a traffic light while I am running 10 minutes from my meeting and now my boss is going to skin me and..."

Well, in short, NO.

Not just that, we cannot even THINK ill of that person. Or scheme really vile things that we would like to do to him or her when we catch them up a dark alley.

Remember what we said earlier: it is the emotion that lends "sticky" to the act. And boy, is that emotional or what, the "skinning him and dipping him in boiling oil" routine.

So we ask: what about Arjuna, who was ranting and raving about facing his family and his teacher and his friends on the battlefield? Wasn't he emotional?

Sure, yes, which is why Lord Krishna took time out from the battle and gave him a lecture on Life, the Universe and Everything. When he came out of that lecture, Arjuna was not the same student who went into the classroom. He had absorbed the lecture. It oozed out of his pores. He had embodied the teachings. And so he fought.

On occasions, he still tripped. Like the time when Abhimanyu got killed, and he swore revenge. So he had his share of negative karma, and went to hell to pay for it. But on the whole, for the rest of the war, he only did what his charioteer, Lord Krishna, told him to do. Without exercising his veto right, without arguing. And hence, there was no emotion, no "entanglement", no cobwebs, and no karma.

At least, no fresh karma from then on.

A quick recap: Karma comes from the emotions that accompany our thoughts, speech and action. Relationships are governed by past karma. If we neutralize our past karma, we become free of the bond that ties us to a relationship, and become free to experience a relationship based on present reality.

If we don't neutralize the karma, not only do we continue to remain under bondage, we build on it, embellish it with present-life emotional experiences and traumas, and carry forwards enhanced and "improved quality" karmic bonds to future life times. We don't really want to carry with us all those irritating and downright ugly people in our lives into our future, do we?

And by the way, there is no escaping. If we sow seeds, we reap. Period.

Look, this is not saying that all this is easy to do. Of course it is not. But that is no reason for us to not TRY. Trying is the first step, constant practice the next. Remind ourselves all the time, stick post-its on our bathroom mirror, put a note on our cellphone wallpaper, try every trick in the trade and then some.

Let us also give ourselves reward points for doing the right thing, saying the right word, thinking the right thought --- AND for refraining from the wrong thing. We deserve it. We are all children of God. Children of the Most High. We deserve rewards. And who better to give it than ourselves?

But please, let us not cheat ourselves. Or cheat on ourselves. For Papa is watching. And there will be payback: Karma, most sublime.

Maha Shivaratri. Well, what about it?

Today is the day of MahaShivaratri. The whole day we will hear invocations to Lord Shiva. Chants, Mantras, Pujas, Offerings, Meditations, every possible means to propitiate the Lord will be in evidence today, ahead of the grand culmination of the Aarti and Jag Rata.

But what could possibly be the esoteric significance of the whole process? What is it about Shiva, literally? Or rather, energetically?

In the Indian Trinity, Shiva is portrayed as the weilder of power. Brahma creates, Vishnu protects, and Shiva destroys. He is the agent of power, the lord of Shakti, and the tamer of the Ganga, the one with the terrifying Third Eye. And today is His day, multiplying the power quotient manifold for all activities undertaken in His name.

But in Pranic Healing, Grandmaster Choa Kok Sui has described Shiva's role as "creative destruction". What does that mean?

Simply put, it means that the destruction is for a purpose. It is not annihilation, but transformation. Daksha was killed, but transformed into a devotee. Ganesha was killed, but transformed into the repository of wisdom. Asuras were killed, and transformed into his ganas, or worshippers.

In the tale behind the composition of the Soundarya Lahari by Adi Shankaracharya, it is said that the saint, who was a staunch proponent of Lord Shiva, established that there is Shiva, only Shiva and nothing but Shiva. But one day, while resting, he found that he could not move, and wailed, "I have no power (using the word shakti to designate power)."

The Goddess appeared before him, and asked, "What did you say? You have no Shakti? I thought you said there is only Shiva, and nothing but Shiva? So who is this Shakti?"

Shankara, it is said, became abashed, and spontaneously sang the praise of the Goddess. That is Soundarya Lahari.

But we digress. The purpose of narrating that story is this: the power springs from Shakti. The role of Shiva is to direct that power. Shiva is the centre or weilder of Purpose. With a capital "P".

Without Shakti, Shiva is described as no different from a Shava, or lifeless body. Without Shiva, Shakti is a rampaging destructive entity. Together, they bring what GMCKS describes as "creative destruction" --- destruction for the purpose of regneration, also called transmutation and spiritual transformation.

For instance, when the enraged Shiva, after the self immolation of his spouse Sati, created Bhadra Kali and Veerabhadra, the two went into a dance of death. There was much destruction, so much destruction, till Shiva was appeased and his anger spent. After that, the Devas approached him, and he revived Daksha.

Similarly, when Ganesha was killed, Parvati unleashed the dance of death. Till her anger was appeased. She only relented when the Devas revived her son, albeit with an elephant head.

Notice, in either case, that there is no "fresh" creation. There is only transformation. An elephant head + human body = Ganesha, and a goat's head + human body = Daksha. Meaning, there is no role of Brahma. There is only Shiva's creative transformation.

On the other hand, the Tandava of Lord Shiva, it is said to be creative. How can it be so?

The Shakti within our body is the Kundalini energy. When it is released, without the presence of Shiva, it goes into a dance of destruction. It brooks no opposition, like a dam burst open. Wherever it finds blocks and obstacles, it creates its own path. Kundalini energy is fertilizer, it is creative, it is the Amrit of the Universe --- but it is distributed indiscriminately in the body among Devas and Asuras. Master Choa calls it unsafe awakening of the Kundalini.

But when Lord Shiva does the dance, what happens is that the Kundalini is given creative direction. It knows where to flow. It is like the controlled opening of the dam's sluice gates. The Amrit goes to the Devas, and there is creation.

Remember the myth? Mohini (a female guise of Lord Vishnu, the preserver) appears among the squabbling Devas and Asuras, takes charge of the Amrit, and distributes it to the Devas. Only the Devas. And catastrophe is averted.

Remember, Master Choa tells us that Power without Love manifests as cruelty. And Love without Power is impotent. So Shiva and Vishnu operated together in that tale. As they do in much of our mythology.

How can we use this knowledge in our lives? After all, this is not about mythology, but about spiritual purpose.

Creative destruction. We can use that. We can identify our biggest obstacles (spiritual, of course). What is it within us that is preventing us from progressing, from reaping the rewards of all our spiritual efforts? What is it that is in fact that is preventing us from putting in the RIGHT spiritual effort? Are we wasting energy? Are we "nourishing" the demons within us?

Are we floundering purposelessly? Even in our spiritual practice? Especially in our spiritual practice?

So let us invoke the deity of creative destruction, Lord Shiva, to destroy within us all these negativities and blocks. Let us be specific about what we want to be eliminated from our system, to obtain the best possible benefit of today's energies.

Let us also be selective. Even if the energies are high today, let us not make a list of 100 negativities, but restrict ourselves to 2 or 3 crucial ones, especially ones where we seem to be making no headway.

Then let us do our practice, whatever it is, be it chanting the Maha Mrityunjaya or Om Namah Shivaya Om or blue triangles or salt water baths (or all of the above) or any other form of purification.

Having cleansed ourselves, let us then invoke for the blessings of spiritual progress, and do our meditations (or chants or any other form of energization, depending on personal preferences and habits). If we are Pranic Healers, let us do Twin Hearts meditation, invoking the energy of Love within us, and giving form to "Mohini". Let the divine energy spread throughout the body, going only to the Devas.

Then let us pray that these blessings are firmly and permanently anchored within our bodies, within each and every particle of our entity.

And let us thank Master Choa and all the higher beings for these blessings, and for all this information.