The Power of Fire

Today, through the courtesy of abc News, I watched the the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in London. The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, the presiding bishop of the American Episcopal Church, delivered an amazing sermon that included the following references to the revolutionary power of fire:

“French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, one of the great spirits of the 20th century. A Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a mystic. In some of his writings, he said from his scientific background as well as his theological one. In some of his writings, he said as others have, that the discovery or invention or harnessing of fire was one of the great scientific and technological discoveries in all of human history. Fire to a great extent made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby made human migration around the world a possibility, even into colder climates. Fire made it possible, there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no industrial revolution without fire. The advances of science and technology are greatly dependent on the human ability and capacity to take fire and use it for human good.

Anybody get here in a car today? An automobile? Nod your heads if you did, I’m guessing, I know there were some carriages. But those of us who came in cars, the controlled harnessed fire made that possible. I know that the Bible says, and I believe it, that Jesus walked on the water, but I have to tell you I didn’t walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Controlled fire in that plane got me here. Fire makes it possible for us to text and tweet and email and Instagram and Facebook and socially be dysfunctional with each other. Fire makes all of that possible and de Chardin said that fire was one of the greatest discoveries in all of human history. And he then went on to say that if humanity every harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captures the energy of love, it will be the second time in history that we have discovered fire.”

Let me draw a parallel with the beliefs in Hinduism. For Hindus, Fire is considered as most sacred. Called Agni in Sanskrit, fire is central to all vedic rituals. In the Rig Veda, Agni is the first of the cosmic gods to be invoked; The very first sloka (verse) of Rig Veda reads:

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम् ।
होतारं रत्नधातमम् ॥१॥
Agnimeele purohitam yagyasya devamrtvijam |
hotaaram ratnadhaatamam ||1||

Roughly translated, Agni meele means “I praise Agni.” Purohitam yagyasya means “the priest of the sacrifice.” Devam means divine and rtvijam is the priest who officiates at the sacrifice. Hotaram refers to the priest who invokes -the Invoker. Ratnadha means “the one who bestows the jewel of ecstasy or the inner physical, mental and spiritual wealth, the nectar”; tamam is the superlative of Ratnadha. So, in short, the first verse in the Rig Veda dedicated to fire god Agni means:

“O Agni, I praise Thee,
O priest, O divine minister
Who officiates at the divine Sacrifice,
Who is also the invoker, the Summoner,
Who most bestows the divine wealth upon us.”

About two hundred verses in the Rig Veda extol the virtues of Agni. We embody Agni, the flame of aspiration, in our hearts. All forms of fire are associated with Agni including the sun, lightning, sacrificial fire, domestic fires, and the digestive fire (jaataraagni) which is within all living beings. Fire is considered a witness in Hindu ceremonies such as marriages. Fire is used to cremate the dead in the Antima Sanskar – the final rites. Fire is an unique element as it cannot be polluted. To keep the fire burning at home, we light oil lamps.

The Persians too built fire temples on their mountaintops and echoed similar thoughts in their most ancient scripture, the Zend Avesta: “We worship the Fire, the son of God, the holy lord of the ritual order. And we worship all the Fires and the mountain that holds the light. And we worship every holy celestial spirit and every holy earthly spirit.”

Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon highlighted the power of fire. It matches well with the basic teachings of Hinduism. To quote Rig Veda again,

“O Agni! Master Strength! O Leader! You gather around all the peoples of the world and bind them together. You burn bright in the high seat of Revelation. You bring us all the Riches.”

Om Agnaye Namah! I worship Agni! May the Power of Agni continue to serve us as a source of constant inspiration and enlightenment!

Revered Number Nine

The Number Nine (9) seems to have some unique characteristics. It is called nau (in Hindi), nava (in Sanskrit), neun (in German), and neuf (in French) – all sounding somewhat similar. Nine is the highest one-digit number in a system of numbers using base 10.

In Hinduism, the number nine is most revered. We often use the words Nava graham, Nava dhanyam, Nava dwaram etc. Nava graham means the nine planets. Nava dhanyam refers to the nine important grains that are consumed as food. Nava dwaram refers to the nine holes in a human body.

We have the Goddess Navadurga in Her nine forms (Kumarika, Tri-Murti, Kalyaani, Rohini, Kaali, Chandikaa, Saambhavi, Durgaa, and Bhadraa).

Jewellery is often made up with one or more of Navaratnas – the nine stones (pearl, ruby, topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire, and Go-medha) each of which represents one of the 9 planets. Some people wear rings with all the nine stones embedded in gold.

Human sentiments are described as “The Navarasas.” The nine emotions are Shringara (love/beauty), Haasya(laughter), Karuna (sorrow), Raudra (anger), Veera ( heroism/courage), Bhayanaka (terror/fear), Bibhatsya (disgust), Adbutha (surprise/wonder), and Shantha (peace or tranquility). These are the emotions that humans display in various situations.

Navaraatri refers to the nine nights that we celebrate in the worship of Devi; Navaamsam is the most important sub-divisional chart that we use in conjunction with Raasi chart in matching horoscopes.

The auspicious number 108 is nothing but a multiple of nine. The number of chapters in Bhagavath gita is 18. Mahabharatha war lasted for 18 days. The number of steps at Sabarimala is 18. The number of puranas are 18.

The number of Nakshtras (stars) is 27 – a multiple of 9. The number of dasaas (planatery periods) is nine.

Playing with figures; if you add and re-add the single digits of the resultant obtained by multiplying any number by 9 will always be nine too. Example say, 263x 9=2367. Then adding the digits, 2+3+6+7=18. Again, adding the digits 1+8=9.

If you write a three digit number and add the the three digits and subtract the sum from the number,the sum of the balance will be nine.The largest number that you can write with just 3 digits is 9 to the power of ninety-nine.

When a two digit number is reversed and subtracted from the greater one the sum of the digits in balance is nine.

The list seems endless.

Welcome to Spring!

Ah! At last, the bright spring is here. Mercifully, after a long-drawn winter, God’s colorful Canvas is changing. The mounds of snow have melted. The lawn is getting greener cleansed with lovely snow drops. The sun is shining beautifully and the temperature hovers in the pleasant sixties. No drug has as much soothening effect as a sunny spring day.

I see a new lustre in the leaves of the potted plants kept inside the home for the past few months. It seems they were long waiting for this glorious day. The banana trees have grown taller with long light green conical shoots.

It is time to take a walk around. You cannot feel the spring’s magic on you by watching the TV or playing on the iPad. One needs to step out, smell the fresh air, take time to wander around and watch the transforming landscape. On some trees, I was happy to see nice little flower buds peeping out of leaves. Who taught them the seasons and the secrets of life?

Hindu Puranas describe vividly the beauty of the seasons. Here is a nice verse from Srimad Bhagavadam.

हरिता हरभि: शष्पैरिन्द्रगोपेच्श्र लोहिता ।
उछ्हिलीन्ध्रकृतच्छया नृणा श्रीरिव भूरभूत ॥11॥
haritā haribhiḥ śaṣpair indragopaiś ca lohitā
ucchilīndhra-kṛta-cchāyā nṛṇāṁ śrīr iva bhūr abhūt

The newly grown grass made the earth emerald green, the indragopa insects added a reddish hue, and white mushrooms added further color and circles of shade. Thus the earth appeared like a person who has suddenly become rich.SB 10.20.11

At this time, I recall the following Sanskrit poem that I learnt in school:

काकः कृष्णः पिकः कृष्णः को भेद पिककाकयोः
वसन्तसमये प्राप्ते काकः काकः पिकः पिकः

Kakah krishna pikah krishna, Ko bheda pika kaka yoho?
Vasanta samaye praptey, Kakah kakah pikah pikaha!

The crow is black, and the cuckoo is also black
What, then, is the difference between a crow and a cuckoo?
When spring arrives, the crow is a crow, and the cuckoo is a cuckoo.

Last spring, a sparrow couple built a nest in our porch over a lamp shade. As they made a mess of the place, I removed the the first nest they built. Undaunted, they came again and started rebuilding. I watched with great pleasure the way they built a cosy home and later raise a family of three young ones.

Let’s enjoy the spring in full bloom. As William Shakespeare said, “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

Welcome to Spring!

The Essence of Vedas

A common question that is frequently asked by many people is:

What is the essence of Vedas and what do they really teach us?

Jagadguru Kanchi MahaPeriva (the 68th Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam) has answered this question in very simple terms. I am sharing the gist of it.

“The principle on which the Vedic religion is founded,” observes the Sage of Kanchi, “is that a man must not live for himself alone but serve all mankind.”

MahaPeriva goes on to say: “All Vedas have one common goal though there are differences among their adherents. What is the goal? It is the well-being of the entire world and all creatures living in it, and the uplift of the Self of each one of us and its everlasting union with the Ultimate Reality.

We may take pride in the Vedas for another reason also. They do not point to a single way and proclaim, “This alone is the path” nor do they affirm, “This is the only God” with reference to their own view of the Supreme Being. Instead, they declare that, if one adheres to any path with faith or worships any deity with devotion, one will be led towards the Truth. The scripture of no other religion speaks thus of the many paths to liberation. On the contrary, each of them insists that the way shown by it alone will lead to liberation. The Vedas alone give expression to the exalted view that different people may take different paths to discover the one and only Truth. The Vedas reveal the One Truth to us in the form of many deities. Vedas form the one scripture as the source common to the different sects and schools of thought in the Hindu religion.”

“The Vedas hold out,” declares the MahaPeriva, “the ideal of liberation here itself. That is their glory. Other religions hold before people the ideal of salvation after a man’s departure for another world.”

To repeat, the ultimate teaching of the Vedic religion is liberation here and now. After all, what is the purpose of any religion? Our Acharya answers this question too: “If an individual owing allegiance to a religion does not become a jnanin (knowledgeable one) with inward experience of the truth of the Supreme Being, what does it matter whether that religion does exist or does not?”

The Vedas that constitute the scripture common to all and which reveal the Godhead that is common to us also teach us how to lead our life, and- this is important- they do us the ultimate good by showing us in the end the way to become that very Godhead ourselves. They are our refuge both here and the hereafter and are the source and root of all our different traditions, all our systems of thought. All sects, all schools of our religion, have their origin in them. The root is one but the branches are many.

The Vedas are the source not only of various divisions of Hinduism, all the religions of the world may be traced back to them. It is our bounden duty to preserve them for all time to come with their glory undiminished.

Critics call this Dharma ritual-ridden without realizing that the rituals have a higher purpose, that of disciplining you, cleansing your consciousness, and preparing you for the inward journey. In a word, chitta – suddhi is the means to a higher end. From work we must go to worklessness.

The Power of Prayers

Four years ago, I had one of my natural eye lenses scooped out, fortunately by an eye doctor. The surgeon filled the evacuated space with a fine artificial lens. My eye ball could not tolerate the insertion of a foreign element and protested with pain. The least expected was the strong protest by some of my other body nerves in sympathy with the aggrieved eye. The net result was that I suffered acute pain and distress the like of which I have never experienced before in my entire life.

Specialist consultations and prescriptions followed to mitigate the pain. It seemed to me that the side effects of these prescriptions were more powerful than the intended main effect. They caused more pain, acute discomfort and considerable embarrassment.

The question that I asked myself – How do I get over this pain and distress? Do I visit another doctor and get more prescriptions that might add to my misery? The easiest way seemed to be just keep praying for relief. At best, the prayers could help mitigate the pain without any money or more side effects, and at worst, they could be just a worthless waste. As a kid, I have seen the pain caused by a scorpion sting miraculously softened by an elderly person chanting mantras and caressing the affected part. I also remembered that the famous Carnatic musician Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar regained his lost voice by praying to Lord Guruvayurappan. So, instead of following the advice of the medical specialists, I took the risk of moving away and chose my own path – the path of prayers.

I wondered what exactly is meant by the word “prayer.” Browsing the internet, I learnt the word “prayer” comes from the Latin precarius, which means “obtained by begging, to entreat.” In praying, we believe that there is a power greater than ourselves that can help us. It is the act of raising hopes and minds to a higher unseen power.

How to pray? There are different ways – silently as if in a meditation, or chanting known mantras, with a specific plea in the mind. For many, prayer is a part of a larger religious practice. I chose to pray silently in my mind chanting repeatedly some of the mantras that I was familiar with. Pacing frequently at home, I did it hundreds of times earnestly pleading for relief.

Lo and behold! Relief did come mysteriously! The pain softened. Divine grace led me to an unknown general physician whose diagnosis of the cause of my pain was precise.

My experience over the next few days was fascinating. With new medication, the pain gradually melted away. Continued prayers brought me the much-wanted solace. The rapid healing that took place reinforced my faith in that unknown, unseen higher power – you may call it by whatever name you like.

One need not search for a temple to pray. The temple is within you. Hinduism supports the concept of God within you, making it very easy to pray, anywhere, anytime. In this context, I recall a relevant Sanskrit verse from the ancient Kathopanishad that I taught online in the ‘SanKatha’ program:

​एको ​वशी सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा एकं रूपं बहुधा यः करोति l
तमात्मस्तं येनुपश्यन्ति धीरास्थेषां सुखं शाश्वतं नेतरेषाम् ll
– (कटोपनिषद 5/12)

The one Supreme ruler, the universal soul within all beings, is the one who makes one form manifold. Eternal happiness belongs to those wise men, who perceive Him within themselves, and not to others. (Kathopanishad 5/12)

As Jesus made unambiguously clear, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21).

Earth Day, April 22

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. It is an environmental event that is most widely celebrated across the globe. On this day, events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.

Nature is a direct expression of the Divine. In Hinduism, we always rever Mother Nature through various Sanskrit mantras that praise and offer prayers to the five elements (pancha bhutaani), rivers, mountains, trees and animals. Our ancestors saw Nature as being a manifestation of God in different forms. There was, therefore, a gratitude towards nature’s elements. Earth (Prithvi or Bhooma Devi) was always respected. We often witness a Bhoomi Puja being performed when ground is broken for the construction of a building. Water is worshipped daily. An oil lamp is lit daily to signify the presence of agni-fire god. Throughout the long history of India, Hindus have always shared a fascination and respect for the elements of Nature and animals.

The relationship between Hinduism and the environment is strong. There are many authors who have described this relationship and the literature on it is vast. Dr. David Frawley, an eminent American Hindu Vedic teacher says, “No religion, perhaps, lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as does Hinduism. It believes in ecological responsibility and says like Native Americans that the Earth is our mother. It champions protection of animals, which it considers also have souls, and promotes vegetarianism. It has a strong tradition of non-violence or ahimsa. It believes that God is present in all nature, in all creatures, and in every human being regardless of their faith or lack of it.”

As an energy and environmental professional with decades of international experience, I strongly support ideas and projects that aim to respect nature and encourage the use of clean energy, particularly solar. If we can implement some innovative green projects and make changes in our behaviors towards Mother Earth, then we would be able to make our planet a much better place to live in. You may find some information on my projects in my professional website www.consultsubi.com.

We have a responsibility towards the future generations. Taking care of the Earth is not merely a responsibility – it is indeed a privilege! It is sad to see the abuse of Mother Nature at many places. Let us resolve on this Earth Day to respect the environment and spread awareness of its importance.

The Sleeping Saint of Sajjangad

On a trip to the city of Satara in Maharashtra, I grabbed an opportunity to visit nearby Sajjangad (meaning “Fort of Good People”). It is a picturesque hilltop fort where the great saint Samarth Ramdas lived and attained Samadhi.

Samarth Ramdas was a 17th century saint and the spiritual Guru of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Samarth Ramdas was a great devotee of Lord Ram and Hanuman.

Believed to be born on Ramnavami day in the year 1608 CE to Suryaji Pant and Ranubai, in the Jamb village of Aurangabad District, Ramdas’ birth name was Narayan Suryaji Thosar. Because of his deep devotion to Lord Ram right from his childhood, people named him Ramdas (Servant of Ram). He acquired the prefix ‘Samartha’ meaning “capable or proficient” much later.

Ramdas firmly believed that Lord Ram and Hanuman provided good examples of courage in adversity. He established numerous temples of Hanuman in various towns and villages of Maharashtra. Walking up the hill to the top of the fort, I observed at least 11 orange-colored Hanuman idols installed on the side rocks.

The story of Samartha Ramdas Swami is most inspiring. He was not a mere saint who indulged in blind Bhakti. He synthesized material and spiritual life by stressing on dedication to work, shrewdness, and above all faith in Ram and Hanuman. He is most remembered for his Advaita Vedanta spiritual text called Dāsbodh (दासबोध) in Marathi language that provides spiritual advice on how to lead one’s life.

Realizing the crucial need for self-governance among the people, Samarth Ramdas raised an organization of highly devoted workers for the upliftment of society. He taught the youth on how to unite and fight the enemy. Inspired by the great social work done by Ramdas, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took ‘Guru Upadesh’ from him at a place called Chaphal sometime in August 1649.

In 1676, Samarth Ramdas moved from Chaphal to Sajjangad. Within the Sajjangad fort, Ramdas installed exquisite Panchaloha idols of Shri Ram, Laxman, Sita and Maruti specially made and brought from Thanjavur (under Maratta rule at that time). I was fortunate to see these idols nicely decorated and worshipped by hundreds of visitors.

According to historical information, Ramdas spent the latter part of his life in Sajjangad. He lived the life of a selfless saint and used to constantly chant the the 13 syllable mantra of Lord Ram – “Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram”. Before taking the simple sathvic lunch (offered free to all devotees), this mantra was recited by all in chorus. There was joy pervading all around while reciting this short and sweet Rama Mantra.

The story goes that after fasting for 5 days in front of the Rama, Laxman, Sita and Hanuman idols, Samarth Ramdas peacefully breathed his last in Sajjangad on Magh Vadya Navami, 22nd January 1682.

One of the most powerful gurus in Indian history, Samarth Ramdas Swami now rests as an eternal Sleeping Saint of Sajjangad continuing to inspire millions of people around the globe.