Onam: remembering the demon king

While revering the erstwhile ruler of the land, we may be missing the message concealed in the festival

Maveli nadu vanidum kaalam

Manushyarellarum onnu poley…

(When Maveli ruled the land, all the people were [treated] as one)

This little ditty is one’s childhood memory of the festival of Onam, the mainstay of the south Indian state of Kerala. The week-long festival would see the people doing their best to convey an impression that all is well in the world, as this is the time, as legend has it, that Mahabali, the grandson of Prahlada and Asura king who ruled the three worlds equitably, would return to earth to see that his erstwhile subjects were living well.

The story goes that Mahabali conquered the three worlds — Deva Loka, Bhumi or Bhuloka, and Paatala, the last being his "native" kingdom. Having ejected the devas, he ruled the three worlds with a firm but just hand. The devas approached Lord Vishnu, who, in the form of a Brahmin boy Vamana, inveigles Mahabali into giving away the empire as a pious gift, in the process enraging his own guru, Shukracharya, by defying his advice.

Sociologists and anthropologists see in this the tyrannical oppression of lower classes by the Brahminical classes, and social inequality, and whatnot. This is one way of looking at it, and not wrong altogether, but we must look beyond the obvious, and latch on to the spiritual, the mystical message in the story.

THE NARRATIVE

Mahabali is the grandson of Prahlada, who was the sun of Asura king Hiranyakashipu, who also ruled the three worlds. And his was truly an oppressive and regressive regime, in which the Devas hid in terror, saints and rishis were forced into worshipping the king, and humans suffered wanton slaughter.

After his emancipation (by death) at the hands of Vishnu in the form of Narasimha, Prahlada ruled the three worlds. Over the ages, he gives up his kingdom and eventually serves as a vassal to other asura kings, the last being his own grandson, Bali, whom he also nurtures and mentors.

The story of Bali is not dissimilar to that of other Asura kings who ruled the three worlds, but there was none of the cruelty or wanton killing the was the feature of the regimes of, say, Hiranyakashipu, or later, Ravana.

The main flaw of Bali was pride/arrogance, which eventually leads him to scoff about Vishnu to Prahlada, enraging the latter, who was a staunch worshipper of Vishnu.

The lord, as Vamana, describes Bali’s conquest of the three worlds as driven by greed, snatching the possessions of another, and seeking a position or station beyond his due — ahead of the appropriate time.

Bali’s treatment at the hand of Lord Vishnu, too, is substantially different from the fate of Ravana and Hiranyakashipu. Though Bali fails to recognise the Vishnu in Vamana, he does stick to his own codes and principles, and cedes his all to the little Brahmin boy in fulfilment of a vow, of which he still had room to wriggle out. He ends up giving up the Deva Loka and Bhumi Loka, and when pressed, presents his head to Vamana. The gesture pleases Lord Vishnu, who names him emperor of the Sutala Loka, with suzerainty over the entire nether world, called Paatala, which has seven kingdoms including Sutala. Moreover, he stations himself as the guardian god of Sutala, and promises Bali the stature of Indra in a future earthly cycle.

Prahlada himself ascends to Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Vishnu.

Paatala is said to be  beauteous beyond description, filled with jewels and wealth and luxuries of every kind — and why not, since it is built by such creators of illusion as Maya and Vishwakarma. The Puranas call the seven realms of Paatala “lower heavens”, more opulent than any other region of the universe, with a life of luxury and no disease, ageing or disease.

Paatala is not to be confused with Naraka — hell — which lies even below it.

This whole narrative, while apparently appearing to be celestial, refers to the visible physical world — because it is the perspective from which  we are looking at it.

Now, if we were to elevate our own point of view…

CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE 

The three worlds are the three lines of the celestial triangle in a human body, with each triangle bearing a triad in its own right.

The upper triad is Deva Loka, the middle, Bhuloka and the nethermost, Paatala Loka.

The Asuras are supposed to reign in the Paatala, and devas in Deva Loka, and humans are supposed to worship the Devas and shun Asuras.

But the humans, nestled in between these two powerful beings, actually swing between the upper and lower worlds.

The ego that seeks to rise and conquer the three worlds through brute force, to reach a station for which it is not yet ready spiritually, brings with it the instrument of its fall — pride and arrogance. The main symptom of this is an inability to perceive God when He stands before the person — the absence of discernment, or the absence of reason from its throne.

The one that takes shelter in God, bows his head and accepts the will of God regardless of what he himself wants, such a person gains access to the higher world, beyond the Deva Loka — Vaikuntha, the seat of Lord Vishnu or, in mystical terms, the Second Logos.

The life-purpose of the asura is to get enlightened at the hands of Vishnu (in the current era and earth scheme) and ascend to the Deva Loka.

BEHIND THE SYMBOLISM

Simply put, a negative entity is transmuted by the heart centre and rises to the higher chakras. Without the transmutation, if the energy of the lower chakras rise to the head chakras, it causes the disciple/ego to fall due to pride and arrogance.

The constant contest between the upper and the lower chakras for the control of the ego, is what is symbolised by the Samudra Manthan, or the churning of the ocean (the ocean is none other than the astral plane or the individual’s solar plexus centre).

Every time, Vishnu comes to the aid of the world. In each instant, the lower beings take recourse to power to conquer the Deva Loka, and have to be humbled, their pride broken. Interestingly, the ego never sees this coming, despite the previous instances of this same drama playing out. Consistently, the ego refuses to learn from the lessons of another ego. It has to be a personal lesson, nothing less will do.

FALL FROM GRACE

Where this whole thing wobbles in the so-called Varna system of Hinduism, is the assumption that a person’s spiritual attainment is reflected in his so-called caste, his birth status. And along with this, the society takes away from those it deems “asuras” — the lower classes and castes — the dignity to life, any facility that may allow them to rise in terms of standard of living, nutrition, education, medical care … even funereal rights.

And this tells us the state of the human race: Overall, we are very much an Asura society, bereft of the light of god, uncontrollably attracted to things of physical, emotional and mental beauty — in other words, the glamour of consumerism.

HARSH LESSON, IGNORED

Summing up, man, rather than choose to yoke himself to the light of God, chooses to chain himself to glamour in a dark, grey world, mistaking it for reality.

Onam is a stark reminder of this grim reality. Ironical, then, that we celebrate it every year with contrived gaiety and large-scale consumerism. Missing the woods for the trees. But that is precisely the nature of glamour.

GANESHA CHATURTHI: Some Underlying Spiritual Teachings

Hari Warrier

Ganesha Chaturthi is observed as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god with the engaging smile and a potbelly. 

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The story is a familiar one.

Parvathi, the wife of Shiva, was upset that her husband would keep popping up whenever she took a bath. She tried to get people to guard the door, but who would dare stop the lord of the realm? At her wit’s end, Parvathi decided that what she needed was someone who owed his existence and allegiance to her and her alone.

So from the sweat and dirt on her body, she fashioned the mud figurine of a boy, and breathed life into him. This boy she assigned the task of guarding the door while she bathed.

The essence of the story is that Shiva sauntered in as usual, was soundly repelled by the boy, and retreated nonplussed. No matter whom he sent to chase the boy away, everyone returned, thoroughly beaten up.

The skirmish develops into a war, and eventually the boy is slain. The mother is incensed, and releases her anger to destroy the world. Brahma brokers a truce, and Parvathi spells out her conditions: Restore my son’s life, give him a position in the divine pantheon, decree that he shall be worshipped before all other devas. The conditions are accepted, but the boy’s head cannot be found. He is bestowed the head of an elephant, and given the name Ganesha, and the leadership of the hordes of Shiva called Bhoota Gana. All is well that ends well.

This is highly satisfactory as a story, but bears reflection for the esoteric student.

Why, for instance, would Parvathi, the embodiment of Shakti, a celestial being, need a BATH? What on earth made her so dirty that she could actually fashion a statue out of her sweat and grime? If she had the power to threaten destruction to the entire creation, why on earth could she not keep her husband out of her bathroom? And how do celestial beings be man and wife — they are disembodied beings. And lastly, how can an elephant head sit on the neck of a little boy?

Good questions, right?

So obviously there is more to this story than what we are told.

To start with, Shiva is the will or power aspect of the Trinity, and represents the yang or Purusha principle in this narrative. Parvathi or Shakti represents the yin, the Prakriti. Purusha signifies the Spirit, and Prakriti, matter. 

On another level, Shiva is known as the Adi Guru or the first guru, and Parvathi the disciple, renowned for her bhakti towards Shiva and receiving teachings from Shiva. The yin bhakti of the disciple unerringly draws the yang of the Teacher, the Guru, towards her. The “bath” of Parvathi denotes the divine downpour as she is blissfully engrossed in meditation. 

In this narrative, as the Shiva energy descends down the sushumna, it encounters the ego — what we call Jivatma or the Incarnate Soul — and the disciple, lost in meditation, is unaware of this encounter. 

The ego, completely in the grip of Maya, knows itself as the spawn of the mother aspect, and is ignorant of his own true nature and the identity of his father. Naturally, he gets into a showdown with the interloper Shiva. After all, a sheath cannot contain two swords.

The Devas combine to help Shiva vanquish the boy. At this point, the boy does not even have a name. It is to be noted that the full Trinity participates in this battle. The ego is slain. 

Shorn of Hindu symbolism, the energy descending down the sushumna is the father aspect — the energy of the divine spark passing through the higher soul. The chakras signify the devas, who enter the aura laterally from various divine planes.

The story thus far signifies the improper awakening of the Kundalini energy, which threatens destruction of the entire creation — the bodies of the disciple. (For proper awakening, the ‘child’ must have the blessings of the father, and permit, so to say, Shiva calling on Parvati.)

With the intervention of Brahma (discernment, divine intelligence), a rapprochement is brought about between Shiva and Parvati, and the ‘child’ is restored to life — but now in a spiritually ‘elevated’ form.

The child’s elephant head signifies an awakened Kundalini (elephant symbolises the basic chakra. the boy having the head of an elephant signifies the energy of the basic travelling to the crown - awakened kundalini. The walk of an elephant symbolises the manner in which the kundalini energy travels up the spine, with a swaying motion, that is also similar to the slithering of a serpent). 

Now, the child and his Father are one. Before any deva, he is worshipped — that is, his real Self. Remember, the body is the temple of the soul. The soul worships god (divine spark) using the body.

The “hordes of Shiva” are called the Bhoota Ganas, hordes of the past/dead — this signifies the disciple’s past conditioning, the accumulated thought forms, the vasanas (tendencies), the prarabdhas (obligations) and the karmas. Isha, the soul/father aspect, takes charge of the “past hordes”, and becomes Ganesha (Gana + Isha) or Ganapati, who is worshipped ahead of the other Devas. This has reference to the chronology of linking chakras, which cannot be discussed in detail here.

The qualities of the reinstated Ganesha embody the proper awakening of the Kundalini — the elephant head symbolising the awakened Kundalini, the snake around the stomach the technique of synthesising and storing golden prune, his complexion and smiling demeanour signifying a pleasant disposition, or loving energy.

The battle of the boy Ganesha with the Devas is also reflected in the story of the battle of Luv-Kush with the army of Rama. However, since this tale is connected to the Love aspect of god - Vishnu - there is no blood and gore, and the boys become aware of their father, and their own true nature, relatively peacefully.

Jesus got crucified by the Romans and rose back up from the dead. “I and my father are one,” he said. The story is one of great suffering and piety, and no war of weapons.

The essence of the Ganesha story is that Shiva is the power aspect of the Trinity, hence the story is laden with the metaphor of destruction, which is not so much to be seen in the story of Luv-Kush, brought up by their mother sans any idea of who their father is.

The slaying of the ego is also symbolised in stories such as the killing of Vali and Ravana by Rama, the vanquishing of Mahabali by Vamana, and the destruction of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu by Varaha and Narasimha respectively. 

POSTSCRIPT: What about the Chaturthi in Ganesha Chaturthi?

Chaturthi means “the fourth”. In esoteric parlance this refers to the fourth chakra — the heart centre. The son is “born” in the fourth chakra — one chakra above the one it was ruling hitherto. 

Sree Krishna Janma Ashtami

 With the blessings of the Guru

Sree Krishna Janma Ashtami

By Hari Warrier

The eighth day of the month of Shravana, a new moon day, is celebrated as the day of the birth of Krishna.

To understand the festival, we must first understand Krishna.

What we know of Indian tradition tells us, among other things, that Krishna was the eighth avatar of Vishnu, the Preserver or the second aspect of the Trinity. That the primary purpose of his incarnation was the elimination of two leading villains of the period, Kansa (his maternal uncle) and Sisupala, a cousin. That his father Vasudeva took him to the house of Nanda and Yeshoda in the middle of the night soon after he was born, and that is where he grew up. That Krishna preserved the Pandavas and helped in the downfall of the Kauravas and several leading demons during his time on earth. That his dalliance with Radha in Vrindavan was an epic romance. That he was a fully awakened avatar, conscious of his divinity right from birth — unlike Rama of Ayodhya, who lived out his life like a gentleman. And that he died at the appointed time, wounded by an arrowhead made of a cursed shard of metal.

This is one level of truth, the commonly held belief.

Another way of looking at it is that Krishna was a fully enlightened soul, born with a certain purpose and fully aware of that purpose, rather than one who becomes enlightened during his lifetime. 

The destruction of villains, a common theme in most avatars of Vishnu, is rather curious when you consider that he is the deity of preservation.

It allows us to infer that preservation can be selective, that everything need not be preserved just because it is a creation of God — and that destruction is possible even by love. This is an important lesson, the lesson of the Sudarshan Chakra (the chakra that gives the ‘good sight’), which is the weapon of Vishnu that Krishna wielded openly in his life while at the same time remaining nonchalantly human — attacked, derided, disrespected, criticised, famously running away from battle —  and of course, dying of a minor wound.

Quite paradoxically, as a human, once he even takes Arjuna to Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, where the lord is in eternal slumber upon the coils of the celestial serpent.

Since all of this appear OBVIOUSLY ridiculous to a logical mind, we must approach this narrative, the life and times of Krishna, with more awareness and greater discernment. The arhatic approach. Let us see what the Teacher reveals to us.

Sree Krishna Janma Ashtami

Sree = Light

Krishna = Darkness, black

Janma = Birth

Ashtami = The eighth

“The birth of the light black on the eighth.”

This is what the literal translation of the phrase reads. If we recast the sentence grammatically, it becomes 

“The birth of the black light on the eighth.”

Let us walk backward on this.

Ashtami or the Eighth. It is commonly held that this refers to the eighth day of the month, the day on which the avatar’s birthday is celebrated. But the word “day” is not explicitly mentioned anywhere. So if we take the festival away from the phrase, we can rethink the meaning of the word eighth.

Esoterically, we know that the ancient spiritual system revolved around a seven-chakra system, the highest being the Sahasrara or the Crown Chakra.

In the Arhatic school, with its 11-chakra system. the Crown is the 11th chakra.

Interpolating from this, it appears that “eighth” refers to the equivalent of the 12th in the Arhatic scheme — which is the 12th chakra or the seat of the soul.

Let us hold this thought, for the moment, as a temporary truth.

Next is Janma or Birth.

Birth is an act given by a mother, after a nine-month pregnancy and the expense of labour. And there is the little matter of conception, as well.

From the use of the word birth, we must interpolate that all the accompanying procedure, too, must have happened previously — before the event of the birth.

What is born, then?

The black light. 

As meditation practitioners, we are aware of the extraordinary significance of the blue pearl. We are aware that in meditation, it often appears an iridescent dark blue, at times even black, and is located energetically in the middle of the head, in the area associated with the pineal gland.

We are told by the Teacher that it is the gateway to heaven. We are told that through the blue pearl, through the eye of the peacock, the meditator’s consciousness can pass out of the crown, and become one with his soul. In other words, the consciousness can reach the 12th chakra, or in the ancient tradition, the eighth chakra. 

Sree Krishna Janma Ashtami, thus, refers to the consciousness becoming one with the Soul — or soul realisation.

Krishna, born fully soul-realised, lives his life with awareness as a soul, slays his inner enemies, does his duty, abstains from violence except when it is required by his Dharma, practices celibacy and sacred sex — having only one son — and preaches the Dharma to Arjuna. 

Krishna, playing the role of the Guru of his friend Arjuna. In the Bhagavad Gita sermon, Arjuna plays the role of the Ego, who hands over the reins of his vehicle — the chariot drawn by five horses that signify the senses — to Krishna, his higher soul.

The slaying of Sisupala and Dantavakra by Krishna using the weapon Sudarshan Chakra (not all of Krishna’s enemies are slain by the chakra) is significant. These two are supposed to be incarnations of two celestial beings, Jaya and Vijaya, cursed to be born on earth and released from their curse by getting slain three times at the hands of Vishnu. Sudarshan or the “good sight” signifies “a glimpse of the Lord” or the slaying of the ego by the higher soul. 

Kansa, for instance, is killed by an eight-year-old Krishna in a wrestling bout. Not for him the emancipation that Sisupala gets when he is slain.

The death of Krishna himself, then, signifies the departure of a soul with no return — merging into the Logos.

It is interesting, perhaps even significant, that when we work backward from Sree Krishna Janma Ashtami, exactly nine months previously is Deepawali, the festival of lights, which celebrates the victory of good over evil and the return of Rama, the previous (seventh) avatar of Vishnu, to Ayodhya, the home of his father, from exile. In Biblical terms, the return of the Prodigal Son, in esoteric terms the return of the Son the soul to the home of his Father the Spirit — or God realisation.

Some coincidence, if we reflect on the word “janma”.

With gratitude to the teacher, offered for His blessings.