Namaste ! Wishing all a very Happy Vishu, the Malayalam New Year and a Tamil New Year as well! May this New Year bring every one, every kind of happiness, joy and prosperity! Tadasthu! So, it is!

Best
Swaroopa🌺

Happy Vishu Image credits - Pixabay.com

From now onwards, I planning to write every now and then, when inspiration strikes, so that I can concentrate more on my store, business, and  spiritual mentoring/ astrological services. No, I am not stopping the blog. But the next leg in my journey of business and entrepreneurship is demanding my attention.

As all of you may have guessed by now, I do have some spiritual gifts that I want to share with clients and customers. Order a reading and see how I can help to transform or transmute your thoughts and mental aspirations to newer and more wider panoramic perspectives. You and I will together figure out newer paths, perspectives and idea forms.

Once more, wishing all a Very Happy Vishu - Best, Swaroopa🌺

In this new year to help people, I am putting a sale on my readings. I have reduced the prices drastically 70-80%. Hope people take advantage of this price reduction. 

As life was interfering, I was not able to write for the last three weeks. Also, the personal readings on my store are catching up slowly. That also keeps me away from writing. But I decided this week, I need to write and post a blog. As per the amazing response and comments I got for Moola, a Kethu ruled nakshatra, this time I thought I would tackle Ardra or Thiruvathira(i) in Malayalam/ Tamil, a Rahu ruled nakshatra. And today of all the days, the nakshatra under which I am writing this blog post is exactly Thiruvathirai or Ardra in the lagna of the current place chart where I am. Lagna is the physical form taking shape of the Ardra blog.

Numerology: We have discussed Rahu many times. According to my perspective, Rahu is the grand illusion of the material world or Maya. Every human and even celestial beings get tied in this rope. We all have heard the sage Narada in Hindu mythology. There is a story even he got duped by the illusion of the material world and found himself in tremendous hassles. So think about us, mere humans. But Rahu is not bad as well. He can be the greatest healer as Dhanwantiri himself. The nakshatra Sathabhishek ruled by Rahu is 100 healers in its highest energy. But in the lower form Rahu can be a cheat and takes action with deceit. Rahu behaves according to the mind he is associated with. The mind decides, a cheat or the highest healer. From this, we can realize how important Moon or mind is in Vedic astrology.

Betelgeuse, tenth brightest star in the sky and the second brightest star in the Orion constellation Image credits - Adam Block/Steward Observatory/ University of Arizona, via Wikimedia Commons

Without a good Virgo house, it is pretty much impossible to write with deep logic and rationality. Therefore, many scientists, doctors, healers and writers have placements in Virgo. As Ardra is the sixth nakshatra, this Virgo energy can have an underlying say with this lunar mansion. Due to the debts and diseases angle, the person can have a feeling that they may fall victim to debt or diseases. This constant worry and stress may bring eventually the physical manifestations as well. We will come back to this worry/ stress nature later. 

In the ancient system of numbering from Krithika, this nakshatra comes as the fourth. Four is solid foundation, four legs of a table or the four pillars of a house. But many times, the six energy of worry overtakes this foundation energy of four.  From the number four to six, including the number four, it is three numbers- 4, 5 and 6. Four being the foundation number of home, the worry and stress the person would communicate to their family members, as Ardra comes three nakshatras later. Three is the number of communications. Above stressing themselves, they would unfortunately stress others as well.

As Mercury is logic and Rahu works very well with the logical energy, they would come across as very logical in their concept and ideas. But the concept itself would be stress or worry invoking. Later we would discuss, the energy of Ardra is of chaos and confusion. Due to this truth, the person would like to talk about current politics (6 energy of every day), hassles in the family (4 energy), current politics (chaos) or about wars going on like the Ukraine war or the pandemic news (confusion).

Orion Constellation Map - Image credits - Torsten Bronger derivative work: Kxx,via Wikimedia Commons

Constellation, house and symbolism: Ardra comes from 6'40° to 20° Mithuna or Gemini in the star Betelgeuse. It is the tenth brightest star in the sky and the second brightest star in the constellation of Orion. As the star itself is bright, the Ardra people can be the central attraction of a pleasant chat in a huge group of people and can talk up a storm (the storm God Rudra). The brightness of the star makes sure Ardra folks are known by the people in the community and they have a persona of brightest among a lot of people. But due to the worrisome/ stress bringing nature of Ardra, Rahu, the lord of confusion being the ruler, they would have no clue about this innate brightness.

Rahu is a charmer and a magician. As the nakshatra comes in the third house of communication with Mercury as the ruler of the house, they can use words and logic ruled by Mercury to talk and charm their way into other people's hearts. People would accept the person as very friendly and very jovial. But this is for the sixth house of every day job and matter. For the home folks of four, it may not be always the charm and joviality. It can be stress or worry. But the unfortunate part is the person themselves are two hundred times more stressed. Only the overflow stress finds others.

There is another reason for this. Gemini is the sign of twins. The dual nature is inborn and inherent. If the outer twin is calm, the inner twin is flustered. If the inner twin is calm, the outer twin is flustered. According to the graha that gets placed in this nakshatra these dynamics plays out. Moon getting placed here, the mind brings two natures. If it is the Sun, the personality or ego brings this double nature. If Mercury gets placed in this star the communication and logic would have two very different flavors. When one twin is conducting the business or talk, the other twin can create play or ruckus. The person would flip-flop between the twins.

Rahu, the dragon head eating the Moon (mind) with a gusto Image credits - សុខគឹមហេង, via Wikimedia Commons

The same Ardra is symbolized by a tear drop as well as a diamond. The tear drop shows the pain and the stress they have in their mind or life due to this star. Inside the person is very pained and crying about something and that inconsolable tears are manifesting as stress on themselves and others. I know Ardra people who due to this stress eating them are not able to sleep or exist calmly. But if they can overcome this pain, capture the will power of Mars (Kuja) the person from a flimsy teardrop would transform into diamond of a person- strong, sharp, tough and not flustered by simple every day happenings of the sixth house energy of Virgo. Virgo energy is there due to the sixth star.

But as the star is ruled by Rahu, the Maya or illusion part becomes a constant friend in their life. Only when that Rahu's head can be cut by the inner truth as Vishnu, the person can find deep inner peace and calm stance in their truth. The diamond or will power (Kuja) also brings another aspect. Kuja is Kumara (the youth) whose another form is Karthikeya. The spear of victory, Vetrivel of Karthikeya was given to him by his mother Parvathi, whose another form is Durga. Rahu, the energy is ruled by Durga. This shows using the will power as tough as a diamond laden spear, the person needs to cut through the illusion of Maya to reach their inner truth of the heart. This inner truth would bring the blessings of Durga whose another name is Vishnumaya. Vishnumaya is the illusion or yoganidra (meditational sleep) the person has that is covering their inner truth - Vishnu.

Mythology: Now why the person is stressed and worried? The answer to this comes in Hindu mythology. Sathi, Daksha's daughter married God Shiva, which was against the wishes of her father. Even though Shiva was God, Daksha's who was very rich thought otherwise. In his perspective Shiva was penniless living in the icy peak of Mount Kailasa within the mountains of Himalayas with deer skin for his dress, ash for accessory and demons (Bhootaganas) for company. Daksha didn't consider that Shiva was a God, enlightened and deeply aware about the workings of the Universe itself. In his eyes, Shiva had no value and was irrelevant.

Shiva roaming the worlds carrying the body of Sathi
Image credits - See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons

Seeing Sathi coming on a bull with the demons (Bhootaganas) accompanying her, all the invitees started laughing at her. To add insult to injury Daksha started scolding Shiva saying how incompetent and worthless his son-in-law was. Sathi already upset she was getting laughed at further insulting her husband by Daksha became salt being rubbed on the injury. She became angry, bold and blazing. Remember this is the same energy of Shakthi who in Sanga period took birth as Kannaki. I have written a blog on it. First, she communicated she was not the daughter of Daksha any more. Even though she loved her dad nothing was going to stop her from defending her consort. She became angry like a wildfire, started standing up for her consort and gave a piece of her mind. As Shiva had already forewarned her and due to the truth, that she didn't listen to that loving advice, she was also hesitant to go back to Kailasa. In that anger and pain, she created a fire through meditation and self-immolated herself.

The question can come, she too was a Goddess and could have charred the whole yagna hall using her meditational power. Most probably there are back stories to back up this act. But I do have a few points that poke the head of patriarchy here. Did Sathi needed permission to see her father from her spouse? Didn't she have her own inner power and was she a will-less person between two loving males in her family? Sathi herself is Shakthi or energy incarnate. Couldn't have she changed the outcome of the story with her meditational power? But it is a mythological story and questions may be irrelevant.

Anyway, as soon as Sathi died in the meditaional pyre, the bull - Nandi and the other demons ran to Kailasa to inform Shiva this information. Shiva who was heartbroken, enraged and fuming as a wild-fire rushed to the yaga hall with his Bhoothaganas. There he started doing the Thandava or the dance of death of an enraged and angry human of a husband. His demons started to kill the invitees, poke the eyes out or maim the limbs. Heads rolled, eyes popped and trunks got detached from limbs. In that angry dance Shiva plucked a lock of hair from his head and beat it on the floor. From that the terrible, angry dark Goddess Kali (here, Kali becomes the daughter of Shiva as he created her) and the terror of an asura, demon Veerabhadra took form. They started devouring on the invitees, sages and humans.

This Thandava dance and the chaos in the ritual hall is the underlying energy of Ardra. Here Shiva was so strong he created two personalities Kali and Veerabhadra. Shiva was raging like wildfire and angry, from a meditative Shiva he transformed into the ferocious and fear invoking storm God, Rudra. This is another aspect of Ardra that the person becomes angry and volatile like Rudra, if they are flustered. This is the energy space of the nakshatra. But that anger and rage can be controlled by the person if Durga as well as Karthikeya are invoked. Remember, Shiva accepted wisdom or jnana from Karthikeya later.

Urdhav Tandava by Shiva, Tanjore temple Image credits - tommy, via Wikimedia Commons

How to tackle this energy? The first point we need to keep in mind is that the person is extremely powerful wherever and whichever planet gets placed in Thiruvathira. Shiva is a very powerful God - the masculine incarnate. Above this he is enraged and very angry. So, only a powerful Soul who can handle this energy would take birth in this star. But the person themselves may have no realization about this truth. This is due to the fact, Rahu rules this nakshatra. The inner and personal truth of Vishnu is kept hidden under a veil of the illusion or Rahu. Others could feel this underlying power and energy while the person themselves would have zero idea or clue. Rahu would mask it.

The person would feel they are a victim of circumstances as the energy is the chaos of the ritual hall. A lot of people have been invited to watch the yagya or show in the physical life. All have some complaints, hassles or worry. Remember some invitees have no limbs, some no eyes and some no life itself. So, all the people who bring experiences into their life would have complaints or worries of their own. As Shiva also came with Bhootaganas, some friends or acquaintances could bring the cheat or deceiver energy. If the person is deeply unaware, they themselves can embrace the lower energy of Rahu.

Many can be highly wise or knowledgeable as Rahu in his highest form is a magician of a healer. But in lower energies Rahu is the wheeler dealer of a gambling pit or Black Jack table. Rahu is already a very volatile shadow energy and above that Shiva is another terror of an energy. Think of both the energies and that of the anger of Sathi, the anger of Daksha and the making fun of Sathi by others. All these once a while would poke their heads in the person's life. They can hurt others by their comments, digs or devaluation in an unaware state. Daksha poked at Shiva and his perceived incompetence. But in truth the same Shiva also is a yoga or meditation incarnate. This again brings the dualism of the twins of Gemini. One twin behaving like one way and the other twin behaving the other way.

Head of Rahu cut by Vishnu as Mohini Image credits - Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Usually, the person brings some deep sadness or pain from a past life. The root cause of this pain is kept in the heart or the subconscious mind. The person themselves may have no clue about this or may not even have access to this information in this lifetime. The access to this information many times is tied up to the grace we bring from previous lifetimes - Purvapunya. According to the fifth lord and Ganesha who rules the body of the snake - Kethu, the person may get access or not, to transform the situation. As this energy sits within the subconscious mind or DNA, it attracts similar experience to the person.

They would try to fix the situation but may get more and more entrenched in it. Because the root energy of some long-lost dynamics is sitting within the core of the person in the DNA or the subconscious mind. The person must realize this is an energy from a past life, start to do self-work, take the spear of a will power, cut the head of confusion, chaos, anger, illusion and rage - Rahu. Then through thorough self-reflection go deep within to the ancestral/ spiritual realm of Kethu with the help of Ganesha - wisdom, Karthikeya - will power, Durga - inner intention and find the inner or personal truth for oneself - Vishnu. All these divine energies can be used as per one feel to cut out the confusion of the Rahu ensnared mind (Moon) or another graha.

The chaos and confusion they feel others are bringing to them is not outside, but the deep root cause sitting within. The energy of being made valueless or devaluation either happened in a past life or in the very early childhood. In the above story the energy of devaluation comes. Daksha devalued Sathi as well as Shiva. Somehow and somewhere the Soul would get devalued and they would start to feel they are powerless and valueless. But remember this is a very powerful Soul - A Shiva as storm God Rudra who is doing a Thandava. 

They may feel they are powerless, are getting devalued and being taken to task. In truth, it is the ancestral and spiritual guides who are taking them to task to make them realize their own truth of how powerful of a Soul they are. This work of finding their inner power is cut out for them by the ancestors. Until they themselves realize this, people loads and loads would come to complain, bring hassle and even put them down. The answer to their deep pain lies not outside but deep within their core. Because of the devaluation they feel, they also devalue people who try to bring value to them. A person who feels no value can't accept the value another gives. Unfortunate truth.

Rudra Shiva Temple Statue, Tala Image credits - Post of India, GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons

This is just a small snap shot of Rahu ruled Ardra nakshatra. The key of truth to their peace and calmness lies within the ancestral and spiritual realm with Kethu. If we truly want to see an inconsolable Soul who is deeply pained, angry and always finding chaos/ confusion as their guest for life, find an Ardra ruled human. We can get a glimpse of the angry Thandava of Shiva as the storm God Rudra with Veerabhadra, Kali and Bhootagana for an ensemble. It is indeed a tough energy to tackle and only a very strong Soul could handle it. Hope, Ardra realizes this and becomes humble/ effective to work at this. Ego, arrogance and selfish rides would propitiate the lower energy of Rahu.

Wishing every Ardra to find the deep joy and peace their Kethu can provide. I can just wish. The inner work is theirs to do. That is always a personal choice and free will!

Thank you for reading! Hope all of you are doing great and keeping your loved ones and yourself safe. As previously discussed, we are not yet out of the woods regarding the pandemic or the many different variants. We may have to live with the virus as any other diseases like flu, malaria, cholera or the common cold. Eventually hopefully every human would develop immunity against it. We may have to find ways to boost our immunity, improve our physical, mental, emotional health and live with the pandemic as another every day happening. I wish you good and safe weekend, and I'll see you in two weeks! 😉

Next post: Lunar mansions - Effect on the mind!
Image Credits - Image Credits -  Swaroopa website, Pixabay.com, Wikimedia Commons

In this new year to help people, I am putting a sale on my readings. I have reduced the price of my readings drastically 70-80%. Hope people take advantage of this price reduction. 

Last week, we discussed what are the true intentions behind my Swaroopa Store. The concept called Swaroopa or 'Authentic Self' itself started from an epiphany I was graced to have in late 2016. Before that I was living a life where my mind was saying something and my heart was prodding to do another thing. When we have two entirely different realities existing within us there is always an inner tussle and ensuing inner fights. But the person would have absolutely no clue about this truth. Only the mind becomes a jumbled mess where the person is not able to figure out the head or tail of who they are.

I have lived a reality of knowing only a very small sliver of myself for 45 years. It took me seven to eight years of internal work and self-reflection to figure out this dynamic. When I started my inner journey any time I used to contemplate on the question, "Who am I", a sinking feeling used to embrace me. At that time, I used to feel fearful of this feeling of shifting sands beneath my legs, as if there was no solid foundation. 

Because that was the truth. The identity I had built until then was from my rational mind, the scientist, a person who loves biology. This was the truth and a fact as the time for the deeper reality to emerge was not ripe yet. If we realize, a person becomes aware of their true nature only when the exact time arrives. Before that they would have no awareness and no experience would be provided as well. But there would be a deep feeling that something is missing. This surface reality is known as the illusion or Maya in Vedic Philosophy.

Maya or the Cave: Greek philosopher Plato has described this as the Allegory of the Cave where humans are chained to a wall their whole life. From here they are watching moving images projected onto the wall by the shadow of a fire behind them and give these images life. In this scenario, the humans have no clue they are within the cave or chained. This is the exact concept I perceive as Maya in Vedic philosophy. The everyday human is living a life within a cave of their physical existence chained to smaller perspectives and watching the everyday happenings on walls of their minds. The greater truth of their reality is outside this mental cave within the heart.

The Swaroopa Website Image credits - Swaroopa

The sinking feeling, I had was the truth as there was only a foundation of surface level sand in this reality. It was imperative to go fully within that quick sand (of course metaphorical) and get immersed until we hit the true reality of our heart - the solid foundation of our inner truth to build upon. It is almost impossible to understand our own deeper truth without mindfulness and inner contemplation. When our own mind as logic and rationality puts a thick veil on our awareness how can we know our deeper truths?

I was always under the impression there was a very separate reality than what we are living. That is a wrong perception. I had to uproot this notion. The true reality is not different from what we live. It is just deeper. From the logic or rational mind, we live only 20% of what we are meant to live. The remaining 75-80% is kept within our heart and emotions. According to my perspective, a person living from the mind is only able to access 20% of what they are meant to experience. The remaining 80% is locked within their feelings and emotions. 

In the late 18th and early 19th century logic and rational thought process were given much importance, the 20-25% rational mind saw amazing growth as science, rationality and facts. Yes, this logic is very important. Because without the logic, the mushy realm of emotions cannot be made sense of. But when we embrace logic alone, we are also losing 75-80% of our essence tied up within our heart and emotions. Now, we would be able to understand the march of humans to the psychologists and mental health providers. When humans are functioning from 20% of their mental capacity, it is a given that the person becomes mentally tired and confused very fast.

Vedic philosophy: Therefore, in the ancient Indian philosophy the mind and its total capacity was given much importance. The mind and mindset build as well as breaks lives. Mind is the bridge between the inner spiritual realm and the outer material realm. If we have noticed, why are some people able to use their minds to terrific extents like Nikola Tesla or Abraham Lincoln and others can't even figure themselves out or their lives? Mind you, Tesla or Lincoln didn't come from rich families, they didn't have the support of wealthy parents or uncles. I have read when Tesla alighted the ship in New York harbor he had four cents in his pocket and few of his poems. Same way Lincoln had to do hard labor throughout his childhood and youth.

The illusion or Maya Image credits - Pixabay.com

How were they able to achieve what many of us only can dream of? This is because they found a way to use their minds to a much higher potential. But then we could ask, if they can use their minds so well, maybe we can as well. But if we are keeping eighty percent of our emotions locked up within our hearts and using only twenty percent of the logic, how can we ever get to that greater potential? This is the cave of the material reality we as humans are living. 

Once a while in a moment of quietude or reverie we feel there is something much greater that we are missing. This leads to that innate longing every human is doing. A search for that unending happiness or joy all through our life. If we can perceive it, everyone is doing this search for some long-lost moment of joy. But the mistake is we are searching outside for that kept deep within. This cave and its reality are our logical mind and the outer reality. The Sun outside the inner cave is deep within in our heart. The concept of the inner cave outside and the Sun within. The concept needs to be looked from an inside out perspective.

But if the mind is littered with unwanted thoughts, ideas and emotions, the human never figures out the inner cave as well as the inner Sun. For this task, the mind, the logic as well as a clear thought process is needed. Unfortunately, after some unsuccessful search people take comfort in material things that ranges from alcohol, drugs to shopping and foods. Anything that keeps our mind addicted and takes away its sharpness is a block to finding the deeper inner potential.

A sharp mind is needed to unravel this greater potential that is stored in the spiritual dimension above and beyond space and time. First to access this realm we need a clear mind and thoughts. Above that to take an idea, capture, process and bring it into the reality of the three-dimensional material world ruled by space and time; the mind and thoughts must be ever clearer. For such deep inner work a large amount of time, energy, effort and mind is needed. In this rush for making something out of our lives who has the time to rest, contemplate and relax?

Plato's Allegory of the Cave Image credits - 4edges, via Wikimedia Commons

Many of these great men and women found themselves in their lives with a lot of quiet time in their hands. At that time, they allowed their minds to wander to the possibilities that may be there for their grasp. The question arises, if they were able to capture such a huge potential for themselves, why can't we who are also fitted with a mind and thought process?

The reality of a custom-built mind: As humans we find ourselves getting educated in schools, universities and group settings. From around four years onwards we are finding ourselves within groups of humans. For a society to function well such groups and educational methods are needed. Within each school or college, we can give individual attention, but with 7B+ humans and a lot of young people in this world, individual education impossible.

But the truth is each mind and thought process is custom built for that person. An artistic person would have a creative mind and a logical person, a rational mind. But every book, concept or idea in this world is written by another mind. If we keep on reading ideas, books and concepts of other minds/ leaders, which mind is there to read ours. See the paradox each human is living? We as a human race are busy reading other minds whether as spiritual books like Bhagavad Gita, Bible or Quran or other self-help books.

For myself, I did the same thing. From 2001 to 2015, I was on a self-help book reading trip. I read so many self-improvement books, all the concepts started to become a mush in my head. Which idea to follow, which concept to embrace and what action to take? There are a billion ideas and concepts out there. But every single one of them is an idea or thought that came out of another mind. Suddenly one day it dawned on me. If I am meant to always embrace ideas or thoughts from other people, why have I been given my own mind and thought process? A very valid question, correct?

Isha Upanishad, Verses 1-3 Image credits - Ms Sarah Welch, via Wikimedia Commons

This was the thought that started my inner search and thought process. If we are meant to absorb ideas and perspectives from all other outer leaders and teachers, why are we given our own minds and intellects? It is enough for a few leaders to have their brains and minds in that case. All of us could follow those leaders and just keep our minds/ brains locked away in safe deposit boxes.

Instead, the truth is every person is born with a custom-built mind that would work perfectly for their life. That mind may not work for another life, but it is going to work for them as they were born with it. Now, there are some Souls who find themselves with a challenged or broken mind. Unfortunately for them they have other struggles or experiences to go through. This blog post is for that ordinary human being who is trying to make a good life on this Earth plane. If the person is not meant to use their mind, why were they fitted with such a mind. This is a very apt question to ask.

The Swaroopa Website: When such a thought arose in my mind, I was brought to the realization a lot of people in this world are living lives not capturing their full potential. Many have no idea who they are and what their mind like. My question to myself in late 2016 was why have not anyone thought about it? Why are people living their lives reading books written around 1500 or 2000 years ago? Yes, many of the concepts are beautiful and very worthy. But how can books or concepts written a thousand years ago work for this very modern, digital age. Why are young people always trying to look up to another outer leader instead of deeply trusting and following their minds and ideas?

Isn't there something wrong here. Aren't we keeping our minds and brains locked up within and using another's thoughts and ideas? Who is going to write about this? Suddenly it came to my mind- "Yes, these thoughts are given to you because you are meant to write about it". That is how I took up my pen to write a blog. But the blog is one side of the puzzle. Not everyone is ready to sit, read a blog and self-analyze. Some people may be interested in getting a personal Vedic horoscope analysis. So, I need to open a store and Swaroopa Store was born.

A peaceful mind of innate joy Image credits - Pixabay.com

Is humanity as a whole deemed to be turned outside and wile away their time when in truth they were always meant to use their mind and thought process. Is it enough to sit and read outer books that were written thousands of years ago? What about the inner book sitting within each one of us? If we don't realize this truth today in 2022, then when? Isn't it high time to access our own in-built capabilities, minds and brains, so that our lives work for us? Within the society, community and family shouldn't we live exactly as ourselves? Authentic? Swaroopa website is a very tiny attempt to make people aware of these deep truths sitting within each human. An extremely tiny attempt at that - My Swaroopa website! 😊🙏

Thank you for reading! Hope all of you are doing great and keeping your loved ones and yourself safe. As previously discussed we are not yet out of the woods regarding the pandemic or the many different variants. We may have to live with the virus as any other diseases like flu, malaria, cholera or the common cold. Eventually hopefully every human would develop immunity against it. We may have to find ways to boost our immunity, improve our physical, mental, emotional health and live with the pandemic as another every day happening.

I wish you good and safe weekend, and I'll see you in two weeks! 😉 

In this new year to help people, I am putting a sale on my readings. I have reduced the price of my readings drastically 70-80%. Hope people take advantage of this price reduction. I would write a post about this on my Facebook page, profile, Instagram and other groups soon.

Today I am writing about my Swaroopa store and the intentions behind creating it. Even though I created the company three years ago and the store two years back, I never wrote about it here or discussed my intentions. This post is about that. Let me elaborate on my thoughts and perspectives on my store.

True potential: As all of you know, I started this blog four years ago. This career and creativity came as an afterthought of an epiphany I was given after the disastrous crash of my previous career and a subsequent midlife identity crisis. The one and only thought that bubbled up - "Have you ever considered your spiritual gifts?" Just a one-pointed question and nothing else. I had to figure out everything from scratch, the blog, where to blog, what to blog, how to blog and what topics to discuss. I was terrified and fearful. But in the last four years, a procession of concepts came through my mind and fingertips, I have deeply realized humans as a whole have not even scratched the surface of their true potential.

This true potential for all humans doesn't fully exist in the physical or even the mental realm. So, from a logical mind accessing the physical resources provided, we can never access this total potential. This has to be accessed from the spiritual dimension through our emotions. The blessing or the curse of this concept is, the potential and ideas have to come through the mind. The mind has to become a crystal clear and smooth channel with deepest clarity for thoughts. 

As you all may know, I intuitively feel that a higher Self or a Soul exists and most probably each Soul has spent many lifetimes (again my intuition, cannot prove) before coming into this current one. From those lifetimes most probably, we have carried essences of those experiences into this lifetime. In Vedic- Indian philosophy these essences are called Vasanas- tendencies or patterns we carry from other lifetimes. Above this, we also find ourselves prisoners to patterns, habits and behaviors our ancestors or family carried. So, basically a human above being prisoner to physical or mental patterns, is prisoner to even emotional or spiritual tendencies. This is the Allegory of the Cave, Plato has elaborated according to my perspective. As long as we are not aware of these patterns or tendencies, we are prisoner to them, without self- knowledge or in a dark light-less cave and are not even aware of it. In a cave and not aware of it.

Astrologers, those who deeply understand astrology can understand this spiritual or emotional hang ups. These are hang-ups or knots or thought processes that is keeping the human stuck, stagnant in an essence or energy that is not working for their current life. The current moment leads to the future moment yet to come, which also would not work. That essence could have worked for a previous lifetime or past. But may not be for the present time, day or age. The human is stuck in a stagnant pool of energy or essence. They could only feel, something is not right and life is not flowing. But why or what or how, they would have no idea. Now, the astrologers who don't fully understand these dynamics, use their knowledge of astrology to their advantage, make the individual fearful of Karma, bad energy or the doom and gloom that is going to fall upon the querent's head. 

The Swaroopa Store Image credits - Swaroopa

As long as the deeper emotional and spiritual reality is not worked out to make it lighter and easier, the true potential and inner gifts are blocked. In other words, the person is just living from a 20-30% of their true potential. The remaining 70-80% is stuck within the emotional and even more in the spiritual dimensions. Let me take my example. I was stuck in a career that gave me a lot of science knowledge and rational thoughts, but never truly worked for me. The surface level physical and mental reality. 

But there was a deeper emotional and spiritual reality of astrology, spirituality, philosophy, metaphysics, mythology and the tons of inner masters and guides whom I never listened to, for around forty-seven years of my life. Astrology was just a random chart analysis for a friend or family member, spirituality was the mantras I used to pray every evening, mythology was the beautiful temple visits I used to enjoy and philosophy was the random book or website I used to read. My deeper reality sitting untouched. When 70-80% of the energy of my ideas and thoughts were stuck in this deeper reality, how can the science and the logical mind work fully to its true potential? It didn't. I was always stuck and stagnant with my career/ creativity and finally everything came crashing down in my late forties. This led to inner work and this very different career. 

Now, let me write the following concept. As all of us know, we live in a three-dimensional physical reality. In this reality everything has a form and occupies a space. We have a physical body, that occupies a space. The car moving through the road occupies a space. This is the reality of the physical world. This world also is ruled by another dimension- time. The physical body has a time of maximum hundred to hundred and ten years. Same way everything has the dimension of time attached to it within this physical body and world. Meetings, collaborations, engagements all have the time criteria. Same way, all physical things like phones, computers, milk, bread, animals, trees all have the essence of time attached to it. Limitedness! The limit kept by our physical body and the time attached to it.

The physical reality I consider as the third dimension. Fourth is the aspect of time. But once a person from the physical body goes back to a Soul state or spirit state after death, there is no limit of time or space. What if, this is the spiritual realm of ascended masters, spirit guides, ancestral fathers/ mothers, Gods and Goddesses. The concepts I write or that comes in Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Quran or Guru Granth Sahib most probably comes from there. According to me, this is the reality from an inner fifth dimension that can bring limitless potential to each human. Of course, my thought process and idea.

Swaroopa.net website Image credits - Swaroopa

Seeing the trees as well as the forest: Now, give this a thought. What if a human can live a very physical life of "seeing the trees" but also a very spiritual life of seeing the forest as well? In other words, having a full physical life with utmost potential with the help of a very vibrant inner spiritual life. Mind you, the life is still lived by the person. But instead of randomly seeking the opinions and thoughts of hundred outer persons, seeking the opinion and thoughts of the one single person - You for you and I for me. But these thoughts and ideas are not just from a shallow 20% of a surface level mind but from such a depth, it traverses the third dimension of space, the fourth dimension of time and gets the guidance from the fifth or a higher dimension where the person is provided with a set of guides and teachers. Inner teachers, guides and masters.

These spiritual beings most probably are much mightier and lighter beings compared to the heavy three -dimensional realities we live in. The guidance they give many times we may not capture or understand. In other words, when they are speaking Latin, we are speaking Greek. So, the first point is the person needs to reconcile any unresolved baggage of emotional, mental or spiritual hassles they had in this life or brought from other lifetimes. (As I mentioned before, I intuitively feel, there are other lifetimes.) Because a very clear channel of inner communication is needed. For this inner work, becoming okay and free of heavy emotions, mental or spiritual hang-ups is a must. Otherwise, it is positive the person cannot understand the incoming concepts or ideas.

Once the channel is clear, then, the next hassle is learning the language of the ascended beings. Even if the person is sixty or seventy years old, without learning the language, which many times is extremely specific to the mind of the person that is communicated to, the channel is broken. This language and idea exchange also happens through the bridge, which the human has to create within their mind called Antahkaranah. I have discussed the concept of antahkaranah before in my mind series. There are many steps and many rungs in the spiritual path. 

It is not easy or a walk in the park. Spiritual work is the most difficult work there is, as no other person can do it on our behalf. A robot or an AI cannot be employed to do the work. A computer cannot do it as there is no precedence or how to go about it. None. Each day, each minute and second, the person is opened to new concepts, thoughts and doors. It is a constant evolution. Hence in Hinduism and Buddhism, the process is symbolized as the gentle, continuous opening of the thousand petal lotus, the highest chakra in the physical body- Sahasrara. Towards these intentions of helping people to access their highest potential, I write my blog, has my website connected to the blog and in the last two years opened my store. The same purpose of helping people to achieve their Swaroopa, authentic Self and capturing their highest potential. It beautifully aligns with my own Dharma of using my spiritual gifts and insights to help people.

The Swaroopa Blog Image credits - Swaroopa

It is a truth, the potential that the three-dimensional mind brings is much limited compared to the potential that is enshrined for each one of us in the spiritual dimension. If we again take my experience, I was happy just to have a regular, ordinary biotechnology job, which my mind helped me to pursue. A good career, but a very limited one. I would just gradually progress in the rungs of my career, if I am lucky enough to have good bosses. A mirage many times. But in this current career, I cannot perceive any limits except my own energy, battery or bandwidth of my mind, and the time I need to do something. Above that time to engage and interact with other human beings. This of course is part of the physical reality.

As this area of life and life guidance is very tough, many people don't want to take it up or are hesitant to take up. But it is a truth, the potential each one can have is unlimited, if the spiritual channels are helped to be cleared and opened. What if there is a person who can mentor, guide and be a torch while the person is trying to capture their own unlimited potential? Instead of the person walking the tough forest of the spiritual path alone, a hand that has a torch that shines some bright lights so that the person is able to walk without worry or fear about inner demons or dragons. (Carl Jung as well as Joseph Campbell has elaborated on killing the inner demons or dragons.)

This is where I can use my spiritual gifts to help clients, so that they can above capturing their three -dimensional reality of a mind can even capture the reality of the limitless potential of their own spiritual reality.  For this I use a mixture of my intuition, insights and astrological knowledge. I even use Hindu mythology, Vedic philosophy and my own spiritual guidance. I am not a coach, but a spiritual mentor and guide. The client or the person getting my astrological readings would have to walk the path, take charge of their purpose and bring in their will power. The inner work and path are supposed to be walked by the client. But I would use all my spiritual gifts and insights to help them to unravel their own emotional and spiritual hassles, so that they are able to access their own clear channel of inner communication.

Swaroopa - Authentic Self that leads to the highest potential Image credits - Pixabay.com

I deeply feel the freedom and joy of walking my own authentic and original path. I would like a lot many people to enjoy the same deep inner freedom, joy and bliss of being an authentic human here, now in this physical life walking their own path. Why wait for that bliss -Ananda in the afterlife or in another life? But here, in this life, as early as possible by working on and reconciling all the inner emotional or spiritual issues. As I write this, Sunlight is pouring into my room through the window. The symbolic sign of the bright and light inner Sun shining brilliantly. My Swaroopa store is an attempt to help a lot of people to capture their own brightest inner Sun to become their own most authentic Self- Swaroopa! Hope people would use this service and my spiritual knowledge/ insights to make their own life and path brighter, lighter and joyful. To embrace your own deepest Swaroopa!🌺

Thank you for reading! Hope all of you are doing great and keeping your loved ones and yourself safe. As previously discussed we are not yet out of the woods regarding the pandemic or the many different variants. We may have to live with the virus as any other diseases like flu, malaria, cholera or the common cold. Eventually hopefully every human would develop immunity against it. Just yesterday read an article that Israeli research has found that Vitamin D deficiency affects how severe the disease is. Like this we may have to find ways to boost our immunity, improve our physical, mental, emotional health and live with the pandemic as another every day happening.

I wish you good and safe weekend, and I'll see you in two weeks! 😉 

In this New Year of 2022, I want to wish all my blog readers a fantastic and wonderful 2022. May our every wish, desire, aspirations and intentions take root, grow to a massive Oak or Banyan tree, bloom and produce every kind of fruit to its fullest potential. Tadasthu! So, it is!🌹

Happy New Year, all! Image credits - Pixabay.com

Newer doors and newer aspirations: We as humanity are in the middle of a pandemic with newer variants, vaccines, regulations, dynamics and newer status quo every day. Every new year is a burst of fresh energy that we can use towards our advantage. We can ask that the humans have set the calendar and a new year is going to come around every January. True. The calendar was set by the humans. But thousands or millions of minds at the same time are thinking about a new year. That is a huge ball of energy.

Every mind when it thinks is bringing in a thought form into the Universe. This remains as a thought or mental form until the person intends, plans and takes actions on that particular thought or idea. That is the difference between a mental thought and a physical action. As long as the person doesn't intend and act, it stays as a mental form. For example, it was in early 2017, an idea for a blog or writing struck my mind. I had to think, intend, chart out the steps and take up the pen. Otherwise, it would have just gone back into the ether as yet another random idea.

Today when I stand at the point of four years and 230+ posts, I realize every step was a challenge to fight against my inner demons of self-doubts, fear, worry and low self-confidence. Every new step is indeed a tussle to find our footing in a brand-new area outside our comfort zone. But as humans we have a choice, either to stay stuck in some old energy dynamics or move our life towards newer vistas. Life is always presenting us with opportunities. But when we are deeply bogged down by everyday life of worry, struggles or rat race, many times opportunities get missed that life presents to us.

What makes a human different from a cat or a bird or a squirrel? They are living in the moment just trying to live that very second. Their brain is equipped for that. But a human has a well-developed mind and brain. That points towards the truth that more is expected from the humans. We also come equipped with many different talents and interests. If we are not meant to use them to our advantage, why are we provided with those gifts, talents or interests in the first place? Logical question, right?

New doors to fresh ideas, perspectives and aspirations! Image credits - Pixabay.com

Authenticity and deep awareness: This lead to the concept of deeply knowing and being aware of oneself and one's talents. This knowledge is stored in the inner sanctums of our heart. To access this, we need deep quietude or calmness of our mind, as the metaphorical heart lies behind the mind. But humans have always looked outside for guidance as that is how we have lived for the last 10,000 years. Guidance always came from outside through parents, teachers, guides and leaders. For a young child, this is a must. 

But in-between we also need to make effort to know who we are for ourselves. Otherwise, there comes a point where we would be actually living two realities. An outer reality from the logical mind and an inner reality from the heart. Many times, the person themselves have no clue about this deep inner reality because this knowledge is stored deep within, normal thought process may not unlock this door. For example, I was a research scientist for around forty-seven years of my life. The reality from my mind, as I had spent around twenty-five to twenty-seven years getting an education in science and biotechnology.

My parents are always very supportive of my aspirations. My mind was deeply interested in science and logic. Considering that as my truth, I went for science and biotechnology, never realizing there was a deeper inner truth locked within my heart. All through my young age my head was immersed in Hindu mythological stories, temple history and fantastical concepts. The clue that there was a deeper reality existent within me. It took almost four decades for it to come out.

Awareness about our Self, truth and innate reality! Image credits - Pixabay.com

What happens, when a person is living from the mind and not the heart? The outer world has seen the person through their mind. This is the identity the person has developed and shown to the world. Many times, they may be afraid or even ashamed to show the truth or the reality of their heart. This was I in the early 2000s. I was terrified even ashamed to speak about my interest in mythology, abstract philosophy, Vedic astrology or spirituality. Remember, I was the proverbial scientist with my logic, laboratory data and experimental analysis. How can a very logical person that too a scientist talks about God/Goddess energy, Soul, energy dynamics or abstract concepts that cannot be experimentally proven, but only be experientially felt?

The masks, we wear: This is what leads us to hide our true reality with a shallower mental reality of a mask. Unfortunately, in the modern world, many humans are forced to live such two realities- one of a mental or more outer reality and another of a deeper, truer reality. I have lived such a life for about forty-five years and I deeply understand the feeling of something is not completely real. Because the true reality is vying to come outside and show its face. No, it is not easy. In my case, I struggled with the decision to leave my twenty-five years of biotechnology education behind. It actually led to an almost identity-less state for me for around four to five years. A deeply painful state of not knowing who you are. Many times, the outside world and even close loved ones would have no idea, as all the work is within. In such cases, many instead of doing inner work take the help of pills, medicines or other avenues.

All through those years every other movie or serial or an advertisement would have a part where someone is removing their mask. It took me around six months to contemplate on this mask business to understand, my own higher Self was asking me to remove my mask of a scientist/logical person and start to live as myself- the truest person who has grown up with a deeply spiritual heart, but a very logical mind. To live our life as a very true and authentic being! Is it easy? No, not at all. Because until then, people have seen the masked version. A new identity wants to emanate. Not at all an easy task.

Many times, we have lived a life that has upheld very different perspectives, values and opinions. An overnight 180-degree transformation is practically impossible. This is because our behaviors, attitudes and habits are deeply wired within our subconscious through rote, everyday repetitions. Also, change especially of habits and behaviors are innately difficult. Above this, people around us may feel deeply irritated and uncomfortable to interact with this new person. They will feel like, who is this stranger within a very familiar physical body. This also lead people not to speak up and embrace this true authentic reality. Trust me, I have had my battles. 😅

The masks or personas, we wear! (Note, the color of the mask -maroon, here! 😊) Image credits - Pixabay.com

Another year of newer vistas: Therefore, every year is yet another chance to move more towards our own authenticity. What is authentic Self or Swaroopa? Each of us is born with an innate underlying nature. Living in a society or community, we start to wear a persona that is agreeable to all around us. When we start to operate always according to what others desire, we start to slowly lose our own innate desires, aspirations and ideas. Finally, we end up living a life others want.

But whenever we start to live truly as who we are, those who deeply love and care about us would respect our decision, support our newer perspectives and paths. Because they are loving the human we are, not the persona or the support/ help we provide. Being authentic we are also extending our innate true nature to others. We are not masking our true intentions or aspirations. For example, anywhere in this world or to any person I can say, yes my intentions are to write a blog, share my perspectives/ ideas and then develop a business where I can share my spiritual gifts for a fee. No masks, no hidden agenda or hidden costs. Just plain, pure, simple and true.

This is the energy of true spirituality. Spirituality, if practiced properly is very simple and elegant. There is no need for tassels, masks, decorations, toppings or agendas. The truth comes out as plain and simple. There is also a deep freedom in being true. The person starts to feel a lightness of being. If we realize, maintaining a mask or persona is hard work. Above maintaining the mask, we also have to suppress our true, authentic Self to the deepest layers of our being, lest it jumps out at very inappropriate places or moments. This brings in heavy lower energies that keeps a person tied to their persona or mask. Inner bondage from the heart and Soul.

Remember, being authentic, doesn't mean arrogant and egotistic. It also means while we respect our inner truth, we also respect the inner truth another person brings along. As our inner truth has a right to exist in this world, so does the inner truth of another. When we extend this respect to another's inner truth, we start to accept the person exactly as they are - religion, political party, perspectives and concepts included. Isn't it high time to get to that perspective in this chaotic, warring and highly divisive current world?

Lightness of being (actually a soap bubble)! Image credits - Pixabay.com

The beautiful and very simple concept of Live and let live - where we give respect and value to another's life, voice, perspectives, religion, party, and concepts as long as they are ready to respect and give value to ours. Reciprocity of give and take. If a human as a police officer had realized this concept and deeply understood that it is their duty and responsibility to protect another human. A human being a vulnerable individual who deserves to be protected, even today George Floyd would have lived. So, let us all strive to be authentic and true, while respecting and valuing the authenticity and truth of another. Rest in Peace, George Floyd! 🙏🌷

I have another announcement to make. From 2022 onwards, I am planning to write the blog once every two weeks. My intuition and spiritual guides are insisting it is high time I put more attention to my business and store. I am not stopping the blog, but instead of every week, I will be publishing a blog every other week. That way, I get ample time to concentrate on my business as well as the blog. Of course, life as Self, kids, parents, spouse, siblings, family, home, pets, friends, acquaintances and all the other aspects of living are always there. Just slightly shifting my focus to bring a newer aspect to the front and center. Definitely, I am continuing the blog and would write more concepts. For sure!

Now, the next post will be on February 4th, 2022 after two weeks. That way I am able to focus on my store and business as well. The idea of moving ahead with the store, business as well as the blog. All avenues covered. Thank you for being a regular reader of my blog. I write for you, that reader who wants to improve, find motivation and become the most authentic version of yourself. Highly motivated and taking responsibility for your own awesome life. Best!🌺

I wish you good and safe holidays, and I'll see you in two weeks! 😉 

Next post: The Swaroopa Store!
Image Credits - Image Credits - Pixabay.com

We as humanity are finding again at yet another year end, a time to think on all that we set forth or achieved in the last twelve months. A time of self-reflection and contemplation. As a group we are at the end of two years of very tough days of a pandemic. In truth, hasn't the pandemic forced us to concentrate on what is truly important in and for our life? I can see family and friends who are looking at their own life and dropping all the extraneous frills and tassels they have been carrying. Before proceeding any further, I want to wish all Happy holidays and a Merry Christmas! 🎅🎄

Wishing all holidays of joy, health and abundance!Image credits - Pixabay.com

For myself, I got introduced to this concept or thought of what is truly important in my own life in the early winter days of 2017. Until then, I was chasing a mirage of a fantastic job and a career. I only knew I wanted a good career in the science field. I had no clue which particular field, area of subject matter would work. 

I even have the experience of choosing an area called bio-process, in which I had minimal knowledge dropping the subject I deeply loved, molecular Biology. This was during my MTech days. I used to get great marks in Molecular Biology. But my thought was I already get good marks in molecular Biology. Instead, why don't I choose an area I don't have much knowledge about, bio-process for my six months of project work. That was a huge mistake and the next six months I struggled to my very limit. The result of a deep non-awareness of oneself and what one truly wants.

This was mid-1995. Those days I was operating from a very logical point of view. I had zero idea about the spiritual gifts or insights, I had. It took another twenty more years even to realize that there is a whole another layer that was sitting deep within my heart until then never opened or realized. The deep non-awareness of a human being about themselves.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Image credits - Pixabay.com

Self-awareness: What is the one thing that differentiates top leaders from others. I am not talking about the leaders who are full of themselves, arrogant and egoistic. But those leaders who are ready to listen, guide or lead others to a better position in their lives. What sets them apart from other ordinary beings? It is the truth or fact that they deeply know themselves. Someone else doesn't have to tell them who they are or what their interests are.

Self-awareness to know the talents or skills they bring and above that the weaknesses or flaws they have. If we realize, to know deeply ourselves first we have to work with our weaknesses, and rectify them, so that later the same weaknesses develop as our strength. For example, for a pretty long time in my life, I was a people-pleaser. In my younger days or thirties, even if I didn't agree with a concept or perspective, not to make a conflict, I used to align my viewpoints according to others. Soon enough in this aligning, I slowly started to lose bits and pieces of myself. This is because as we are not giving value for ourselves and our perspectives, energetically we start to lose ourselves.

By early 2010s, I had moved so far away from my own core, I lost myself in aligning to anyone or everyone who came into my life. It became a literal dance to please and get approval of everybody. I was twisting myself into a pretzel and even then, people used to find fault with me. My question then became- What even am I doing wrong? To make matters worse, my previous career of biotechnology stopped working and people at my work place was finding faults with me for pretty much everything.

Now, when I look back, I realize, I was deeply non-aware of myself or my deeper heart. My logical mind was all about biology and science. But my heart was craving for the younger girl days of me who used to read about moral stories, Hindu mythological stories or the fantasies of an Arabian story happening in Baghdad or Basra. I was known as a Pusthakapuzhu or book-worm within my family (😅). Many even used to think I was wasting my time immersing my head into books.

The awareness of our inner truth! Image credits - Pixabay.com

What happened to that girl who used to love books, concepts and perspectives? In my chase to make a career and have a great job, I had left everything the heart wanted and who I was at my core. People pleasing and total pursuit of rational mind finally brought me to a place where my career was not working anymore. I had to place myself at square one and start my career and life truths from scratch. Deep non-awareness of oneself and what they desire.

Inner truth: As humans, we come into this Earth with an innate nature- a base personality- who truly we are. This is the foundational space of the heart on which we have to build everything whether our values, education, career or life. This foundation has to be taken into account for everything. If this is not taken into account, eventually somewhere the faulty foundation would give away and whatever we have built on top of that comes crumbling down.

For example, think of someone who basically is an introvert or likes to have a quiet space always. This person if due to their rational thoughts pursue a career of stage and acting, they may have to put on a mask to maintain the persona of a star. Here the person starts to live two realities. One a personal quieter nature and the other a glitzy starry form. Remember, the basal personality is of a quieter nature. Such a person most probably would have a nervous system that does fantastic job at a life of calmness and peace.

Now, put this person in the middle of Hollywood, in the city of Los-Angeles. A very vibrant but a movie town. It is going to be personal or film galas, production sites and celebrity space. A lot of color, noise and chaos. Think about the nervous system this person has that is top class for a fine, elegant, but quiet nature. The nervous system is going to be so much stimulated and fired, the person would feel constant energy loss or lethargy. To fix this deep tiredness, they would start to roam around the neighborhood doctors and psychologists. 

The problem here is not the person, but the space they have placed themselves in. This is the struggle many empaths find themselves in. Their nervous system or nature is wired for quiet, contemplative nature and the constant barrage of noise and chaos takes a toll on their body, mind and the nervous system. We as humans know a lot about the physical world, mental world and even the emotional world. What about the spiritual and the energetic world?

The deepest of our inner dynamics. As we all know, human body is made of atoms and ions. Pure energy and the flow of it. As per our constitution, each of us enfold a particular level of energy, some with very high energy and some low. For instance, a sports personality especially Sagittarius or Aries or Leo ascendant would have a body that has a lot of fire or energy. Such a person would be fantastic for sports- as the fire of the body can be transformed into physical activity of the sports. But according to the sign, the sports would differ. An Aries thrives in spurts of energy, which would be terrific for a sprint or short-term sports like swimming. But a Leo is a fixed energy and can be used by a test cricketer or a marathon runner.

Now, think this Leo/ Aries person lives near a lake where book writing is the name of the game. They are going to become upset and angry as the enormous amount of energy is pushing them to do something more. Instead of looking at the lake, they should do scuba diving or boat steering. Because the energy constitution is asking to do more physical work. Like this the energy as well as the spiritual world has a big say on who we are and what we are meant to become. But without a clue of this aspect, we go and take the career or life our logical mind perceives to be the best.

The boldness of inner total truth! Image credits - Pixabay.com

Who are you? So, to understand this deepest essence we need to know who we are. From my own life, I can give example. Until forty seventh year, I had only awareness about my mental, logical as well as physical reality. Even though I used to pray, loved to go to temples or other worship centers and read upon mythological stories, I had no clue about my own energy or spiritual dynamics. In temples or while chanting mantras, I used to feel deep peace and joyfulness. But that is how you usually feel during praying, right?

But what if, in reality during the prayers I was very aligned with my inner nature and found the deepest inner joy. In such a case, instead of going back and forth between logical and spiritual mind, shouldn't I try to make my whole life peaceful and joyful by embracing the deepest truest nature of myself? If I can have peace and joy always, why should I go for chaos and confusion within my logical mind? The concept is extremely logical, right?

Again, back to the question of self-awareness. The question of Who am I? Only after knowing the answer to this question from a very deep sense of Self, we can stand confidently in our true nature and embrace our whole potential. I have written many times, as per my perception nowadays the logical mind is just twenty percent of the whole. Without knowing deeply, the other eighty percent how are we going to capture our total potential. For example, consider this. We know which University to go to. But we have zero clue what course we are going to take. In such a case, how are we ever going to finish our degree, right?

This is how it would be if we deeply know our logical mind and are totally clueless of our emotions and heart. The carburetor of the engine is damaged. But the body of the car is perfect and gleaming. Would we be able to take a spin of the car? Most probably no. Even if we did, the ride is going to be bumpy with every now and then, damage control. Now, extrapolate it to our life. Aren't many of us always having a bumpy ride with constant damage control? Why?

Because we are driving our car in the dark forest of life called Maya-illusion without headlights. The headlights or the torch is the knowledge of self-illumination to the question of "Who am I"? Without that knowledge of who we are, we would always be living a life lesser than what we were meant to be. Because as we don't fully know ourselves, we would always be choosing options that are lesser in value for ourselves. We don't know what our heart's desire is, so we will choose with the twenty percent knowledge of the logical mind. With such choices, the heart may be taken into account or not. If the heart is taken into account, the decision would go well. If the choice is against the heart, eventually the foundation would start to crack.

Who am I? Image credits - Pixabay.com

Our truth-our reality! I am writing this, after living both ways. Until late forties, I was just listening to my logical mind. From the last five years I first take my heart into account for the why and then take the mind into account for the how. Both are extremely important. But the truth of our heart is the torch for our life. This is the truth that the heart or the inner Soul desires.

As the Soul is going to vibrate at a particular energy, it is going to attract experiences that many times obstruct the reality of the logical mind. That is what happened in my life. My logical mind was saying science and biotech. But after my education life placed me in a position of no work visa to work or study, but a beautiful and elegant home where I had computer and more than ample time to pursue my hobby- spirituality, philosophy and Vedic astrology. The truth about science and biotech was my half-truth. My full truth was I was a deeply spiritual person who had accumulated most probably truckloads of spiritual gifts and insights through my previous lifetimes.

The Soul made sure the person is not wasting this lifetime just pursuing science and biotech alone, instead turn towards the true purpose or Dharma, I came into this life for. Mentoring, guiding and helping people using my spiritual gifts and insights. In between I, the person also has the freedom to write about a science or biotech post or blog. Not the twenty percent potential of a human, but the whole hundred percent. 

The Soul guidance would be, stand in this whole hundred percent of truth and now expand our life in every direction- the whole 360 degrees of expansion. My thought, if I was guided to do this, so can you or another person. The choice every single human has to make. To live our half-truths from our twenty percent of a logical mind or live the whole truth of the heart. The whole hundred percent of our inner truth. The truth, nothing, but the whole truth!

The Soul or heart always prods us through intuition or a gnawing undercurrent of a deep feeling. The person who is aware of their emotions notice that, become aware and takes step towards that. Others just discard it as a random feeling and go about their logical life, of course truth, but partial. The Soul sits within patiently waiting for the day the person takes notice. Until then, living the partial truths, we can agree, ignorance is indeed a bliss. Whether to be lightened of our truth or not- always a free will and personal choice, right?

The current global reality of Christmas and holidays! Image credits - Pixabay.com

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Thank you for reading! Hope all of you are keeping yourself hale and healthy. The appearance of yet another variant of the virus called O-Micron doesn't help a bit this scenario though. But when the Universe gives us surf waves of life, it is better to keep a surf board handy and surf through the waves of life, rather than getting bogged down by the small details of life. Any way all of us have to live. So, why not live joyfully surfing with a tune on our lips rather than carrying life as a heavy burden on our backs. Humming a tune is better than a load too heavy to carry, right?

I have another announcement to make. From 2022 onwards, I am planning to write the blog once every two weeks. My intuition and spiritual guides are insisting it is high time I put more attention to my business and store. I am not stopping the blog, but instead of every week, I will be publishing a blog every other week. That way, I get ample time to concentrate on my business as well as the blog. Of course, life as Self, kids, parents, spouse, siblings, family, home, pets, friends, acquaintances and all the other aspects of living are always there. Just slightly shifting my focus to bring a newer aspect to the front and center. Definitely, I am continuing the blog and would write more concepts. For sure!

I may take ten days off for the year end. As of now contemplating whether to do a post next week or not. In case I am not able to, I am wishing all a very Merry Christmas and Happy holidays! Stay safe and well, while enjoying the holidays and celebrations!

I wish you a good and safe weekend, and I'll see you next Friday! 😉

There is the personal Maya as well as the collective Maya or illusion. The personal Maya is when a person is deeply non-aware of themselves. The person may definitely know who they are from their logical mind. This is the family, education, the relatives, career and all other factors that decide who they are for this life. For example, from eighteen years I knew I was pursuing Biology and by twenty-five, I definitely knew I was a scientist following a path of research. This is the logical mind. But the same I had zero clue about a spiritual underground that was sitting beneath this logical structure. Such a person who is deeply non-aware of many parts of themselves, that greater essence, I consider as a spirit.

Awareness that brings out our Soul out of a spiritual practice Image credits - Pixabay.com

Take for example, Sun in astrology. Sun is self-illuminating and is considered the truth of the person. But this truth sits within the chart veiled by layers of aspect the person has. The Sun behaves very differently according to the mind and mindset of the person whose chart it is. In a lower vibratory level of energy, the Sun is the ego, arrogance and dominance. But in the chart of a person who is Self-aware and truthful, the same Sun comes out as truth, light and wisdom. Sun with same energy, but very different manifestations. All of that is decided by the tool the human is fitted with - their mind.

This can be elaborated with a concept. Take the king of Lanka who comes in Hindu mythology. Ravana! He was a scholar and highly educated person. Terrific in astrology, Vedas/ Sastras and in music. In astrology, he has written a treatise called RavanaSamhita (No, I have not read it.) and was a terrific Veena player. There is a story of him making Shiva happy with his Veena playing and getting boons from the lord. To depict his amazing knowledge, he was shown with ten heads. But the arrogance and ego of those ten heads brought him and his kingdom down. Being such a knowledgeable person shouldn't he have realized it was morally and ethically wrong to kidnap another's wife, keep her a prisoner and insisting her to marry him? Did all the knowledge help him to make the best decision for himself and his kingdom? No!

Ravana with his ten heads Image credits -Scan/photo by: User:Henryart (who is owner of the original painting/object/photo), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Modern life: That was the difference between the heads. One even though brimming with knowledge, was full of arrogance, ego and selfishness. The second one with abundant knowledge but having a heart to help another in the time of need. We can extrapolate all these stories into our current reality of modern world. Both Ravana and Sri Krishna were kings of their own countries, but the behavior that came out was very different. Same way, today countries, cities and communities have leaders. The question is what is the mind and mindsets of those leaders? Ravana with ten heads full of ego or Viswaroopa, having thousand heads but having a mind to be everywhere helping and supporting others.

Both of these personalities, as they were kings, can be signified by Sun in the horoscope. Sun is considered the king as well as the truth of the chart. But how is the Sun coming into manifestation? As a dictator or a people's leader? We can see this difference in the case of our physical star called the Sun also. Think about the early morning Sun in a temperate country during the spring- mild, refreshing and inspirational. Think about the same Sun in the middle of the day in the Sahara Desert among the sand dunes. Very different, isn't it? One gives life and Vitamin D as early morning Sun and the other would take away life, if we found ourselves with no place to rest in shade or a bottle of water. Same energy, but very different realities and manifestation.

Let us take this concept further. Think about two leaders, one, Ravana beating down as hate, anger, arrogance and selfishness. By the way, Ravana was a great king to his own people of Lanka, the rakshasas. His anger and evil deeds were towards others who were humans or kings of other places. We can relate this aspect to leaders who only help or encourage their own party or political group and use every evil and immoral deeds to choke the air out of the opposition through vulgar words, poisonous deeds (sometimes literal poison of words or needle). What kind of a leadership is it to bring oneself up by dragging the opposition through mud and dirt? What kind of a leader is that? Is that even leadership?

Krishna showing Arjuna, his Universal form, Viswaroopa Image credits - Konddiah Raja, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Knowledge and wisdom: This also show it is not enough to have abundant amounts of knowledge or information. Above that it is necessary to know how to use this knowledge towards our own upliftment or and of others. Let me, take an example from my own life. I have three Masters in Biology. A nice amount of knowledge and information about a subject area. But these degrees even though gave me knowledge, didn't much work towards my career. I actually wasted around twenty years trying to find a position in Biotechnology. If I hadn't changed my mindset, I could have very well wasted another thirty more years in this area.

But I realized that I had another option of going a very different direction where above spirituality, philosophy, astrology and mythology, I can even use my science and biotechnology knowledge to guide, mentor and inspire others. This blog post is about spiritual Hinduism, for that matter any religion or spiritual practice. Let me come back to that. Krishna, Ravana, Jesus or Allah, the stories and mythology happened thousands of years back. In this twenty first century modern world humans are still wasting their life in the name of religion and fights. 

Don't mistake me. I am every bit of a Hindu. But my practice of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is very confident to stand on its own two legs with integrity and character, and it doesn't need the crutch of bringing down, devaluing or putting down another person, religion or spiritual practice or any way of life, for that matter.  When I have deepest confidence in my own way of life or practice, why should I be afraid of another's way of life or practice? When one is confident, how can be they fearful of another and their practice, right?

So, what is actually the driving force of Hindutva or any fundamentalist movements for that matter, whether it is Islamic or another one? It is the fear that is the driving force. Fear that their way of life or religion would be destroyed or decimated. But if we are confident, very confident in our own practice, who can really topple us? For example, I have a very personal connection with the God Ganesha, Goddess Lalitha Tripurasundari and God Vishnu in the form of my manasaguru, Poornathrayeesa. A personal connection.

No amount of any one saying or debating with me is going to change that. No! Because my faith comes from my own personal experiences. I don't need any stories or mythology or boasting for that. I know these energies from my own personal experiences. But these experiences are mine and I cannot go and paste it on another. But to stand confidently in my spiritual practice, I need to know deeply these concepts and should have the intention of making it work for my life, career and creativity. Instead of taking these concepts whether from Hinduism, Christianity or Islam for oneself, whichever religion they are from, and making it work for one's life and bringing it out brilliantly for ourselves, what are humans doing? We are blindly believing our own personal religion/concepts and fighting with others for it. For myself, I will very much use any concept from any religion, if it works for me ethically, for my Dharma and my life. But I have zero intention of making another do what I am doing.

Co-existence of world religions Image credits - Pixabay.com

So, in such a case if we truly understand all the help, we can get to traverse this journey of life, why just keep it only with Hindu Gods. If at any juncture Mother Mary, Jesus or Moinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Rajastan, India can extend their help, why not? Right? That is the difference between spiritual Hinduism and Hindutva or Hinduism as a religion. Spiritual Hinduism or for that matter any true spiritual practice is open and deeply accepting of another. This concept is not for Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma alone. But for any religion with deep spiritual practice where the spirit or Soul comes as energy to lead the person.

This Soul or the Soul guidance come as the Gods we choose from whichever religion or practice we choose. For example, being a Hindu I know the energies of the Hindu Gods deeply. But as a spiritual person I would visit with as much reverence and respect, whether it is the Mahalakshmi temple of Kolhapure, Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, India or St.Patrick's Cathedral in NewYork, USA. Because from my perspective, the religion or spiritual practice should and must work for the human and not the other way around.

Take any fundamentalist movements for religion, power or politics, killing or hurting another human in the name of God or religion or politics is not okay. But removing every concept and becoming a person who just embraces the logical mind also is not okay. My question, then would be if I remove every experience, pooja, festival, rituals or get together my family or my group celebrated and stopped it, who am I? What is my identity? See, the difficulty people are having when they are asked to throw away everything because some leader decided to write some thoughts down in a book or a dairy.

This is where the concept of free will and personal choice comes into the picture. The freedom of will and choice for a person to choose how they want to live and lead their life as long as they are not hurting, killing or obstructing anyone. So, in my thoughts a Hindu has as much right to practice their religion, as a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Sikh or an atheist or an agnostic to practice their concepts. Then, nobody is wrong and everyone is right.

It is when standing in our religion or concepts and telling another is wrong, we also become wrong. Because we are choosing to embrace our own concepts and asking another to drop theirs? So, in such a case, we can have our free will and personal choice and another cannot have theirs? From this standpoint if we look at the world, anything that is not being allowed because another group thought it is not okay is totally wrong - whether it is Uighurs in China, Rohingya in Burma, Yezidis in Syria or Hindus or Muslims in many places of India. Because due to regional conflicts people are not allowed to live and thrive as they are and they want to be.

Co-existence of religions and humans Image credits - Pixabay.com

In between those fights we would glaze over real global issues like climate change, world hunger and poverty, disappearing resources and increasing population. The fights we are having now for religion and politics then would transform into fights for resources like Earth, water and air!  And those fights would be much more bitter and violent! So, let humanity try to find common grounds to work together to negate our issues and problems. My thoughts - Better late than never! 

I have another announcement to make. From 2022 onwards, I am planning to write the blog once every two weeks. My intuition and spiritual guides are insisting it is high time I put more attention to my business and store. I am not stopping the blog, but instead of every week, I will be publishing a blog every other week. That way, I get ample time to concentrate on my business as well as the blog. Of course, life as Self, kids, parents, spouse, siblings, family, home, pets, friends, acquaintances and all the other aspects of living are always there. Just slightly shifting my focus to bring a newer aspect to the front and center. Definitely, I am continuing the blog and would write more concepts. For sure!

I wish you a good and safe weekend, and I'll see you next Friday! 😉

Next week: Viswaroopa - An analysis!
Image Credits - Image Credits - Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay.com