India - A Magnificant Search Light

||Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||

Aum Namo Narayanaya

India – a magnificent search light

Having returned from India a few times now, I have mentally prepared myself to the one question that many put forth upon meeting me on arrival. Has India improved in any way? I think what people fail to realise is that at face value India is like any other country with its multi-faceted challenges.

Yes, there is crime, suicide, poverty, etc. but also enormous development and economic improvements. Essentially, India is hard at work trying to meet the demands of its population like other developing nations of the world. But what is that ‘X-factor’ that attracts millions of people to her shores annually.

Deep in the heart of India runs an artery of spiritually oxygenated blood that pulses at various points with immense energy. These oases release energy of cosmic proportions giving much solace and peace to thirsty aspirants. It’s no wonder then, that despite the long arduous journey, millions of children answer the calling of Mother India to be suckled with her eternal amrith of ananda.

I consider myself blessed to have shared that soil with Gods, Saints and Sages who have done immense tapasya and sported many leelas on the vast geography of Bharat. She definitely presents herself as a magnificent search light under whose illumination one is able to find the self within the context of this creation.

My pilgrimage always starts with a visit to my Gurustan to pay my respects and make pranaams to my Guru. For this, I find myself in the heart of Kolkata the former capital of the British Empire. This state, acclaimed for producing Nobel laureates and world class thinkers, can consider itself most blessed for being host to The Holy Trio (Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda); Mother Kali and Ma Ganga. Kolkata is a sangam of spiritual consciousness. My first Shivarathri on the bank of the Ganga painted a new scene of tranquility and peace against the backdrop of my turbulent mind.

It was within this solitude that I understood the grace that flowed in these special oases that helped connect one to the super highway of spiritual consciousness. But that is just what it is, a junction or interchange. There is ultimately more to the journey than just the physical presence in a particular place.

The answers for these types of questions come to those who are brave enough to veer of the conventional framework of thoughts and ideas and latch onto inspirations from great thinkers like Swami Vivekananda in establishing your own idea, based on your experiences, devoid of weakness and superstition.

Golden Dome at Tirumala

It was at Thirumala, the earthly abode of my father Narayana - the all pervading one - that I collected the idea that the means to the ultimate goal is a process of evolution. Like the different avatars punctuate the journey from Thirupathi to Thirumala, I realised that my journey was to evolve to any understanding beyond this material existence. Through this material form, I could only perceive the Lord created out of the material elements. How can I see Narayana as He pervades this creation? With the limited faculties, the limitless cannot be seen.

My next port of call allowed me to munch on this revelation: Thiruvannamalai - the abode of Shiva and the home of the Arunachala Mountain. Here, hundreds of pilgrims, and thousands during special days circumambulate this mountain as a sadhana. This is known as girivalam. I undertook this girivalam at 04:00am, completing the 14,4km route with much contentment.

Mount Arunachala

It was during these 3,5 odd hours of sadhana, visting the 8 asta-lingams consecrated by Sage Agastyar and reflecting on the mythology that Shiva appeared here as a column of limitless light, I realised that my journey to Narayana has to be undertaken in the limitless form. This was a difficult task considering my name is not Mahadev.

Passing through Madurai and taking the dharshan of Mother Meenakshi in Madurai, I finally found myself at Kanya Kumari, a beautiful fishing town found at the cape of India and the home of Mother Kanya Kumari. However this place rose world fame after the great monk Swami Vivekananda graced its shores and meditated upon a rock, which legends say was the same rock the Mother did tapasya to Lord Shiva, for 3 days and nights.

Vivekananda Rock at Kanya Kumari

This sangam of 3 seas also plays host to a unique phenomena, where one can witness both sunrise and sunset in the same town. Hundreds gather each morning and evening with cameras and eagerness on their faces to watch Surya ride his chariot above the horizon and return to rest after a days work.

It was here that I myself after some contemplation understood with vast India behind me that as the sun rises and sets at this one point, that we are all created of that same divinity. As Surya Bhagawan rises in Kanya Kumari and sets in Kanya Kumari, that we all have come from God and will have to return to God. When Swamiji said “arise the sleeping millions to the divinity they are”, I understood, that in this form of mine there is a formless, and I am that formless that merely occupies this body. Shivoham - I am Shiva - pure , eternal and full of bliss. It is only because I identify myself with this body that I encounter all the limitations of world.  As Swami Vimokshananda so aptly deduced during His discourse at the Shree Veeraboga Emperumal Temple a week back; life is this journey where many have embarked without the slightest knowledge of the destination. But with the knowledge that I am divine, and that I am Shiva, I know that my only home is Kailas. Thanks to Mother India for shining the light of knowledge on me.

 With love and prayers always

Yogan