||O® bh¿rbhuva¡ sva¡ tatsaviturvareñya® bhargo devasya dhºmahi dhiyo yo na¡ pracoday³t ||

(May Almighty illuminate our intellect and inspire us towards the righteous path)
- Rigveda 3/62/10; Samveda 1462, Yajurveda 3/35, 22/9, 30/2, 36/3
Yajurveda

Volume - 3 Annual Subscription

Issue - 6 India: Rs. 60.00
Nov -Dec, 2005 Abroad: Rs. 600.00
Date of Publication: 01.11. 2005

On the eve of Gºt³ Jayanti

(December 11, 2005)

Let us contemplate on the following verses of Ïrºmad Bhagwadgºt³

Bhagwadgºt³:

Karmanyev³dhik³raste m³ phaleÌu kad³can |

M³ karmaphalheturbh¿m³ te saógostvakarmañi |
Yogastha¡ kuru karm³ñi saóga®tyakava Dhananjaya |
Siddhyasiddhayo¡ samo bh¿tv³ samatva® yoga ucyate |
(II – 47, 48)
(Thou hast a right to action, but only to action, never to its fruits; let not the fruits of thy
works be thy motive, neither let there be in thee any attachment to inactivity.
Fixed in yoga do thy actions, having abandoned attachment, having become equal in
failure and success, O Dhananjaya, for it is equality that is meant by yoga.)

We wish our readers a very Happy and Prosperous

‘Festival of Lights’
(November 1, 2005)
-Akhand Jyoti Editorial Team

Nov-Dec 2005 3
 Contents
1. Amrit Cintan :
On the eve of Gºt³ Jayanti. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 03

2. From Chief Editor's Desk

Humanity at the crossroads of an Epochal era change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05

3. Yantras – The Vedic Symbols of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 07

4. Youth Column :
Live Young! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 12

5. On the Mahasamadhi Day of Acharya Vinoba Bhave

My Mother. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 16

6. Signature Reflects one’s Personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7. Vedic Cosmology-6
Vedic Concepts and Modern Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

8. Ayurvedic Therapies- 6
Yoga and Ayurveda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

9. Companions in Solitude- 5
Nature’s Rudrabhisheka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

10. My Life: Its Legacy and Message-16

Establishment of Gayatri Tirth in Shantikunj, Haridwar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

11. Strange and Peculiar Marriage Rites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

13. Amrit V³ñº :

Don’t Ignore the Call of the All-Conquering Time – Spirit -II. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 46

4 Nov-Dec 2005
 From Chief Editor's Desk
Humanity at the Crossroads of an
Epochal Era Change
Dr. Pranav Pandya
H uman consciousness at individual and
collective levels has become a battlefield
between the forces of darkness and light. At
this moment, the hellish hordes appear to have
overpowered the legions of Light and the
global human scene is indeed dismal – as if
human consciousness were vicious at its very
core and is beyond redemption. An
unwavering faith in the ultimate triumph of
Truth over falsehood on the part of those few
who believe and consciously aspire for a
glorious culmination and upliftment of present
ego-driven, divisive human consciousness into
an illumined realm of effulgent Light is the
dire need of the hour.
It is true that there is a worldwide upsurge of
a reckless and wanton defiance and trampling
upon of all ennobling values of perennial
wisdom; and human psyche has become the
playground of all the degrading, perverting
and debasing impulses – crass selfishness,
unbridled sensual indulgence, violence,
terrorism and internecine conflicts amongst
social / religious / racial groups. Man’s wanton
acts of nature’s harmonies and rhythms have
given rise to retaliatory manifestations of
Nov-Dec 2005
nature’s wrath in the form of natural calamities
e.g. intercontinental Tsunami waves; Katrina
and other hurricanes and most recently the
horrifying destructive earthquake in Jammu
& Kashmir – cutting across man-made divisive
demarcations. Still we have to keep our faith
alive and unwavering in the ultimate victory
of Good over Evil.
Sages and seers of yore as well as of modern
times have envisioned the advent of golden
era of unity, harmony, understanding and love
for humanity during the early years of 21st
century. Some have even said that the ushering
in of the new era will be distinctly visible at
the beginning of the second decade of this
century – i.e. from the year 2011–12 – which
happens to be the birth centenary year of our
Gurudev Pandit Sriram Sharma Acharya; who
himself prophesied and worked for (and
continues working for from the invisible
realms) the descent of the unitive Pragya
Chetana (Illumined Intelligence) in human
consciousness. He has bequeathed to us, the
Gayatri Pariwar Parijans, the fulfillment of this
vision and mission. Let each one of us cleanse
our inner beings and open ourselves to become
5
torchbearers and willing instruments of this In the Hour of God cleanse thy soul of all self-
redeeming and transforming super- deceit and hypocrisy and vain self-flattering
consciousness, which has become an active and that thou mayst look straight into thy spirit
integral part of the Earth Consciousness. and hear that which summons it…..”

Sri Aurobindo, the seer and sage par
excellence, has called this Pragya Chetana as
super mind and has affirmed that advent of
the supramental age is imminent. He has called
the transition period as the Hour of God and
has described it thus in his illumined words:
“There are moments when Spirit moves
amongst men and the Breath of the Lord is
abroad upon the waters of our being; there
are others when it retires and men are left to
act on the strength or weakness of their own
egoism.
The first are periods when even a little effort
produces great results and changes destiny;
the second are spaces of time when much
labour goes to making of a little result……..
Let all Gayatri Pariwar Parijans listen to the
call of the Time-Spirit – the Hour of God –
and be its pure and puissant instruments. Let
the birth of New Year 2006 be the new birth
of our souls into the Light of the Spirit.
The Mission will be greeting the birth of New
Year with the Poornahuti of a grand Ashwamedh
Yagya (Dec. 29, 2005 to Jan.1, 2006) at Madurai
– the holy pilgrimage center of Divine Mother
Meenakshi. May it be the year of Hope,
Healing and Harmony for whole of humanity.
Love-filled greetings to all parijans and
readers of Akhand Jyoti.
- Dr. Pranav Pandya

The incident belongs to the days of Independence Movement. A Session of the

Kathiawar state public corporation was going on. Bapu was sitting on the dais
along with other leaders. Just then he happened to see an old man sitting at a
distance. Gandhiji felt as if he was known to him. After some time he could
recollect that old man had taught him in his childhood. Bapu immediately got
down the dais, went to the old man and after paying him respects, sat down
near his feet. He asked the teacher about the welfare of his family. After a long
interval the teacher said “Now you go to the dais. Leaders might be waiting for
you.” Bapu said, “No, no! I am comfortable here only. Now I don’t want to go
to the dais. Sitting here I will see all the proceedings. You please don’t worry”
After the meeting, the teacher blessed Gandhiji
saying, “Only a man who is without vanity, like you deserves to be called
great.”

6 Nov-Dec 2005
 Yantras
The Vedic Symbols of Energy
Like the Vastu Shastra, the use of “Yantras”, especially the Ïrº Yantra, Gañeïa Yantra, etc has
become quite popular these days. Exploiting the trends of mob psychology, several models of these
Yantras have surfaced in the market and, in tune with the culture of commercialization, some
have also become ‘logos’ of advertisements. It is pathetic to see that a super-science painstakingly
discovered by the dedicated efforts of the Vedic Rishis for spiritual, intellectual and worldly well-
being of mankind is being wantonly distorted and used so callously and often wrongly through
the Internet in the present so called scientific and technological age. “Akhand Jyoti” – The Light
Divine – is devoted to bring you the righteous knowledge extracted from authentic studies of
researchers of this occult science. This article attempts to introduce the readers to the subject
matter explaining the rationale behind the mystic designs of Yantras and their significance.

A mong the sacred symbols compiled/

designed by the Vedic Rishis, Yantras are
predominantly regarded as devices for
devotional s³dhan³s. These are used as tools
for mental concentration and meditation.
Keeping specific Yantra in specific direction in
the home and worshiping it and concentrating
upon it is said to have distinct auspicious
effects. A Mantra is the generator of specific
currents of sublime sound and its perceivable
manifestation, a Yantra is a monogram – a
spectrograph, of this sonic energy. In terms of
their spiritual effects, Yantras are like schematic
sketches of the contours or structures of divine
energy fields.
Use of Yantras as the object of s³dhan³1 enables
focused use of specific currents of cosmic
energy. Incidentally, the Sanskrit word for
machines, instruments or technological devices
is also “yantra”. As we all know, advanced
machines produce large-scale outcomes
rapidly. The Vedic Yantras are also attributed
in the scriptures, e.g. in the following shloka, as
source of beneficial results in short time. These
are like ‘super machines’ having components
as syllables, symbols and geometric figures that
encode cosmic energy currents.
Sarv³s³meva Siddhin³m Yantras³dhanmuttamam |
Dw³ra® ϳstreÌu Samprokta® Tasm³t Tat
Pariïºlyat³m ||
According to Sanskrit Grammar, the word
“Yantra” is derived from the conjugation of the
verb “yam” with suffix “tra” or with the verb
“tr³ña”. Both ways its implied meaning is
similar to that of Mantra and Tantra; viz, the
protector and liberator (from sorrows and
thralldoms) of the sincere devotee.
Like the idols of gods in the temples, Yantras
are revered and worshiped as symbols of
divine powers. Devi Bhagvat (3|26|21) states
–Arch³bh³ve Tath³ Yantram; meaning – a Yantra
symbolizes a divine power. Similar meanings

Nov-Dec 2005 7
are indicated in Nardiya Puran, Gautamiya
Tantra, Yogini Tantra and several other Vedic
scriptures.
Some Shastras (ancient Indian scriptures
derived from Vedic literature) prescribe that
a s³dhan³ should begin with the meditational
worship of a Yantra that represents the object
of devotion, because it would give quick
liberation from negative tendencies like
sensual lust, anger, etc, which are major
hindrances in the process of self-refinement.
Yantras are also referred as the abodes of the
divine powers of God. This is why most of
the Vedic Yantras are named after different
manifestations of God – such as, Ganeïa-Yantra,
Ïri-Yantra, etc. Which Yantra is placed in which
direction and how its worship and devotional
s³dhana is to be performed – the knowledge
of these constitutes a science in itself that has
linkage with the Vedic cosmology and
sciences of Mantra, Tantra and Vastu.
Fundamental Aspects of the Designs of
Yantras:
The sublime self-existent sound (O®) of the
cosmic pulse is affirmed in the scriptures as
the source of all creations of Nature and the
originator of all subtle and audible
manifestations of sounds (and hence all the
words). It is said to be the root of all Mantras.
Its syllabic structure (˙) symbolizes the seed
Yantra. All syllables of ancient Sanskrit,
Devnagri and other scripts have emanated
from this geometrical representation of the
vibrations of the ‘primordial sound’.
In the scheme of atomic structure of a chemical
compound, different letters represent single
8 Nov-Dec 2005
or multiple letter codes of different atoms (e.g.
‘C’ for carbon, ‘NH2’ for ammonia group, etc),
digits in the suffixes, straight lines and bars
etc, represent numbers of atoms, chemical
bonds and valences etc. A more evolved and
structured coding system seems to have been
used by the ancient Indian sages who invented
the designs of Yantras. The symbols and codes
used here have multiple meanings in terms of
physical, mental and spiritual elements and
expressions.
A dot (.) in the cryptography of Yantra
symbolizes absoluteness, completeness. In
terms of the manifestation of Nature in the
universe, it is a symbol of the nucleus of
cosmic energy and hence represents the power-
source of all activities and motion. In the
mental (psychological) domain it represents
the root of all desires and emotions. Its
spiritual implication is – pure knowledge,
enlightenment, ultimate realization. The
expansions of a dot in circular forms, in a
Yantra, symbolize related expressions in varied
forms. Combining the dots results in a triangle.
Different lengths of the straight lines joining
the dots, different angles between them and
the different triangular and other shapes
generated thereby together with free dots,
circles, straight, curvilinear, convergent and
divergent lines are the basic features/
components of the structure of a Yantra.
Everything that exists in the cosmos has some
size and structure – perceivable or
conceptualized – in subliminal, astronomical
or intermediate dimensions. Even the
invisible subtle entities have ‘shapes’ which
could be ‘seen’ through inner vision. A
mathematical genius visualizes abstract
concepts; this is how one mathematician is
often able to grasp the half-expressed and half-
imaginary ideas of some other mathematicians
of high caliber and communicates the same in
the abstract language of mathematics. The
sagacious minds of the Vedic Age had a deeper
insight to ‘see’ the invisible or sublime
elements of Nature and express them in a
universal language of symbols. They had thus
invented a coding system of symbols, signs
and alphabets (including digits) to represent
–the syllables of the seed Mantras associated
with the sublime fields of divine powers
(devat³s), natural tendencies of consciousness,
emotional impulses in a being, etc; and the five
basic elements (pancha-tatvas2), their etheric
vibrations and energy fields, and the states
and motions of enormous varieties of sub-
atomic, atomic and molecular structures
generated thereby. Specific configurations of
these codes were then incorporated in
different Yantras.
In the process of speech or vocal
communication, the expressions of face,
movements of hands and other body parts,
tuning and pitch of the voice and the type of
words spoken, etc all play important roles. In
introvert ‘silent communication’ (via
thoughts) or meditational prayers, all these are
projected in the mental domain, where the
expressions are seen and the words are spoken
and heard internally – voice is not physically
audible but the mind hears; it also sees the
shapes, movements of the associated things,
or characters in its imagination. This cycle of
‘audible to mental’ is reversed in the case of
written communication.
Nov-Dec 2005
The syllables (vowels and consonants) of the
ancient languages have originated from the
shapes that appeared in the imaginations of
finest of human minds after audio or mental
perception of different sounds and
expressions. Accordingly, savants describe
four broad stages of the evolution of written
scripts – Ideographic, Pictographic, Syllabic,
and Alphabetic. The highly evolved and
comprehensive languages like Sanskrit or
Devnagari also included Phonetic or
Phonographic components.
The primitive designs of many Yantras were
represented in the shapes of humans, animals,
etc. The sculptures and stone carvings at
Khajuraho (in MP, India), which due to lack
of knowledge are misinterpreted by many
people as artistic forms of erotic postures, are
in fact sculptural designs of these kinds of
mystic Yantras. One of the reasons for
designing Yantras in the human and animal
forms was – most people find it easier to
understand gestures rather than symbols or
to focus attention upon familiar objects rather
than abstract or geometrical complexities.
(Look, for example, the emotional linkage and
reverence the masses have with the graceful,
inspiring pictures and idols of manifestations
of God in human forms!)
Another reason for designing Yantras in this
form is that – the scriptures like Varnanighantu
regard every syllable as a symbol of some
manifestation of God :-
Sam³traka¡ Sarephaïcha Varñastats³nun³sika¡ |
S³nusw³ra-Visargo Hi P¿rña Devatvam—achhati ||
9
Meaning: A syllable (of Vedic Sanskrit –
Prakrat) combined with a vowel, nasal sound
[a®], visarga [a¡], or any phoneme, becomes a
symbol of a god.
As a Mantra is created by conjunction of letters
with phonemes, etc it is regarded as the source
(or, an abode or carrier) of divine powers.
Therefore a Mantra should also be represented
– in the associated Yantra – like a sketch of a
divine idol enshrined in a temple while also
taking care of correct positioning of each
syllable and symbol according to the symbolic
and geometric language of Yantras and also in
consonance with the fundamental notion of
‘energy fields’ coded by them.
Illustrative Example–The (Hrºm
Hrºm) Yantra
Hrºm Yantra:
In the standard geometric syllabic design of
the—OË¥ (Hrº®) Yantras, Yantra looks as shown
below in Fig 1(a) below.
The primitive sketch in human - like form of
this Yantra corresponding to its seed mantra
is shown in Fig 1(b). It is constructed as
follows:
Fig 1(a)
10
The syllable „U (H) symbolizes Lord Shiva; ⁄UU
(R) corresponds to HIS Power, which is also
the source of the immense vital spiritual force
(KuñÃalinº) hidden in the M¿l³dh³ra Charkra in
the human body. These together – Shiva and
Shakti are represented in O (H—); the vowels ß
(i) and ߸ (º) are the two ‘arms’ of the Absolute
Being symbolized by it; the manifestation of
Shiva - Shakti in the regulatory powers of
Nature becomes possible by means of these
‘arms’ (sublime causal forces). The vowels ∞
(e) and ∞ (ai) correspond respectively to the
symbols of the ‘nose’ (the root of the flow of
pr³ña – vital energy in Nature) and the ‘eyes’
(which make expansion and perception of
Light possible in this creation) of this Absolute
Being. The half moon with a dot (representing
the nasal sound êʘ (a®) on the top depicts the
moon on the head of Shiva and the holy
Ganges emanated from there.
Similarly, as in the human-form sketch of other
Yantras, the vowels ©U (u) and ™§ (¿) are the two
legs folded round in Padmasana (the sublime
basis or axis for balancing the ever-expanding
and dynamic cosmos); •Ê (o) and •ÊÒ (au)
Fig 1(b)
Nov-Dec 2005
correspond to the two ‘ears’ (which symbolize
the cosmic channels for transmission and
sensing of sound). The visarg sign : (a¡) maps
onto the ‘mouth’ of the Absolute Being; it
symbolizes the origin of sound and also the
inlet for reception and transformation of
cosmic energy. O®k³ra (˙) the symbol the
cosmic music of creation – N³da Brah®; is the
‘voice’ of this Yantra-symbol of Shiva-Shakti.
Most of the Yantras enshrined in the ancient
temples or places of worship under the Vedic
System are of the above type. The “Kheda
Brahma” temple and the “Shree Yantra”
temple of Dakorji in Gujarat stand as live
memories of these in the present times.
Broadly, the Yantras used for various beneficial
and spiritual purposes are classified according
to – the geometric elements, syllables and
symbols used in their design, the substances
used in making a Yantra as a physical object
from these conceptual designs, kind of place
where it is to be positioned, etc. In the next
issue we shall discuss these aspects with
guidelines on methods of using Yantras for
auspicious effects.
Notes:
1.S³dhan³: Devout endeavor of self-
transformation and spiritual elevation through
self-discipline.
2.Pancha Tatvas: The five basic elements of
the gross manifestation of Nature. Namely,
prithvº (all solid matter on or inside the earth),
jala (water, liquids and fluids), v³y¿ (air,
gaseous states), agni (source of fire and
energy) and ³k³ïa (the subliminal etheric
expansion and also the domain of existence
and expression of mental and emotional
faculties).

Are you really a human being?

Once upon a time a queen willed that after her death following lines be inscribed on her gravestone,
“An enormous fortune is buried under this grave. A person who is really poor and helpless may
dig up this grave and take it.” Thousands of poor and needy persons passed by that grave but no
one was so heartless that he would dig up the grave of a dead person for wealth. One very old
beggar was also living nearby that grave for many years. He used to point to the passers-by
towards that inscription on the grave.
Ultimately a person of insatiable hunger for pelf did arrive at the grave and got it dug up. He was
none other than the mighty king who had just conquered the kingdom in which that grave was
located. But he didn’t get anything inside except one stone on which it was inscribed, “Ask yourself;
are you really a human being? Certainly a person disturbing the dead in the grave for the sake of
money can never be a human being.”
When the disappointed king was returning from the dug-up grave, people saw that the old beggar
living nearby was laughing hilariously and saying, “I had been waiting for many years; at last I
could see the poorest of the poor on this earth”.
Indeed, no one can be poorer and helpless than a heartless person bereft of compassion – who is
always busy in search of material wealth. One day the same amassed wealth would ask him the
question - Are you a human?

Nov-Dec 2005 11
Youth Column
LIVE YOUNG!
[From: Angles Sing In Me – James Dillet Memorial Volume – with glad permission of the
publishers: Unity Books, Unity School, USA.
It will be our joy and privilege to publish excerpts from the best of Jim Freeman’s writings in
subsequent issues of Akhand Jyoti as special spiritual fare for minds and souls of our readers.
Jim Freeman (1912 – 2003) was a world-renowned mystic-poet of rare sensitivity. Microfilmed
copy of his poem: ‘I Am There’ was left on the Moon by the commander of Apollo XV Mission
Col. James B. Irwin in July 1971 – a unique honour to the seer-poet. – Editor]

A h, to be young forever! How people

have longed for that.
The fountain of youth! The elixir of life! The
philosopher’s stone!
Surely somewhere-in the guarded fruit of a
forbidden tree, the enchanted waters of a lost
well, a secret formula, an occult incantation,
the touch of a sorcerer’s wand, the creams
and potions from beautician’s vat - there is
something to free us from the tyranny of time
and keep us young forever!
It is an ancient dream
Today we are voyaging in space. One of the
dreams of the space age is that as we move at
rocket speeds time will but slowly gain upon
us. We may be able to move through time as
through space, even go backward and
become children again.
Space seems like a room where we can look
around us. But time is like an aperture
through which we peer at a peep show.
Today scientists write about space-time and
speak of time as if it were the fourth
dimension. Time is not the fourth dimension.
Time is the cross section of the fourth
dimension. It is the only way we three-
dimensional creatures can experience the
fourth dimension.
Eternity is the fourth dimension. Time and
eternity are related as a point is related to a
plane or a plane to a cube, if you can remember
your geometry. Time is a plane of the cube of
eternity. We can see time, but we cannot see
eternity.
Now we read the scroll a line at a time. But
the scroll is not a line at a time. It is entire - to
be grasped at a glance, had we the vision!

Time! One of the dimensions in which we live!
It winds forward and backward from the
present like a scroll, but as it is unrolled
before us it is rewound behind us so that no
more than one line is ever visible.
To rise beyond the plane of consciousness in
which we are caught and see eternity whole -
surely this is the true meaning of immortality.
This is the nirvana of Buddhists, the samadhi
of Hindus, the heaven of Christians.

12 Nov-Dec 2005
What is youth?
Part of being young, certainly, is to believe in
immortality. No one ever altogether believes
he can cease to exist; but when we are young,
we are certain that we have forever. Time is
no concern; we have our pockets full of it. We
spend it like a prodigal or give it away. The
hours stretch out before us endlessly. We may
fill them furiously with hubbub or the hardest
work, or we may spend a summer lounging
under a tree but living in the clouds.
When we are young, the most earthbound of
us spends part of his time in the clouds. For
youth is imagination, a time of quests and
questionings, a time when people dream
higher than they ever will again. The young
are all poets, though they may never scribble
a line. Their thoughts are poetry, for they think
in dreams. The logic of dreams is not of the
mind but the heart. So the young confound
their elders, who want them to be reasonable.
But because they are not lost in old facts, they
sometimes find new truths.
The young are always venturing beyond the
ends of the Earth - and not falling off. And
only those who dare the deep can scale the
height. The young may fall off cliffs but also
scale mountains. They may occasionally have
wrecks but also set new records.
The generations do outstrip one another,
Would you be young?
What are you doing to outstrip yourself and
your contemporaries?
Youth is faith. You cannot be bound by facts
and be young. Facts are the fences beyond
Nov-Dec 2005
which knowledge has not yet extended.
Someone young is always pushing through the
fence and enlarging the clearing.
The young annoy their elders by paying no
attention to the “Keep Off the Impossible”
signs with which age has littered the place. It
could only be a man young and free enough
to walk on air who would dare to walk on
water.
The young have faith in God within. They feel
God stirring. God is imprisoned but He will
stand free.
The young are rebels, divine rebels, indignant
at the iniquities and iniquities of the world,
refusing to submit to the ukases and usages
of age.
The young are incomplete, but they have the
passion for perfection. This is the keenness of
youth. They are the bow of longing fitted with
the arrows of desire, bent to the full by the
Archer of Life. Youth is a zest for the best.
To the young, forever is a moment and a
moment is forever, and they give themselves
to living it.
Youth is not a time of life but a time of being
alive. When we are young, we never walk if
we can run, and we can dance all night - and
do, in our thoughts at least. Oh, the dancing
thoughts of youth, playing leapfrog with the
ways of the fathers, turning cartwheels
through ancient complacencies!
To be young is to be full of vigor. This is
what we really want when we say we want
to be young again. We want to live at full
vigor.
13
Vigor has little to do with age, as youth has
little to do with years. Vigor is possible at any
age. Some men and women have more vigor
at sixty than at twenty and can still outwork,
outwalk, outdream, and outthink most
striplings. .
Vigor and youth are not gifts vouchsafed us
at any age. We win them by being vigorous
and youthful. Some are never vigorously
young. Some are youthful vigorous always.
In this world where scientists tell us there are
no absolutes, is anything more relative than
age?
How old was Albert Einstein at seventy? How
old was Thomas Edison at eighty? How old
was Charles Fillmore at ninety? How old was
Pablo Picasso? How old was Robert Frost?
Not long ago a lass of eighty- eight wrote to
me, “I am looking forward to old age.”
A rose-cheeked, straight-limbed lad of ninety-
five laughed when his children introduced us
and said: “Don’t believe them. They are lying
to you. I am not their father. I am their
brother. “
Time cannot wither a vital spirit. Age cannot
dry up the spring of mind. It is only when we
lose faith in our power to grow and settle
comfortably down that we begin to be old.
Age complains of youth, “Will it never settle
down?” But youth knows that life cannot
settle down. Life is a sea voyage. On a sea
voyage, to settle down is to sink.
14
The young do not know what lies ahead. Their
powers are untried. They have not found
themselves and their meaning.
But which of us has found ourselves and our
meaning? You may have made some island
port of commonsensible contentment, but is
this the port you started for? Is this all you
hoped to become? Can you remember the
dreams of your youth?
The young know that they have not arrived.
But no one has arrived. There is not one area
of life where we can say, “All has been done
that can be done!” The horizon stretches
endlessly in all directions. Youth is the jubilant
conviction that yet more is to be found - in
you and in the world. Youth is the power to
grow. This is the definition of youth.
Stone lasts for centuries by slowing down its
processes of change. Yet even the hardest
stone must at last disintegrate in the wild dance
of its atoms; its stone-stuff will become the
roots and leaves of plants, the bone and blood
of beasts.
But life is not like stone
On a warm summer night, corn grows so fast
you can hear it grow. On a sunny afternoon, a
muddy-colored wriggler crawls out of a pond,
fastens itself to a stem of grass, and while we
watch, emerges from its shriveled skin to soar
on wings that were not there an hour before-
a green-gold dragonfly. A living thing is like
a piece of music. It is not enough to listen to
the opening bars or closing chords. You have
to hear it played clear through.
Nov-Dec 2005
You cannot truly take the picture of a living
thing. It changes as the shutter clicks.
Will the caterpillar tell you of the butterfly?
Or the bullfrog of the polliwog? And how will
you know the man? By the babe, or the boy,
or the stripling, or the father of the family, or
the gray beard?
To live is to change. Nothing alive stands still.
A tree may rest in winter but only to gather
strength to grow again in spring.
Life is like fire
In the heart of every living cell, there is a fire.
In the heart of everyone alive, there is a fire.
Fire is change. It never stays the same two
seconds together. It lives only by growing.
What it touches, it consumes; but what it
consumes, it transforms.
When it touches a dead branch, the branch is
consumed and transformed! The dead branch
becomes dancing flame.
So it is with life. When life kindles inanimate
clay, clay can lie still no longer. It has to move
and grow and turn into a trout or a bird or a
tree or a bit of moss or a human being. It
becomes alive.
We cannot live like stone. We must live like
fire that lives by growing. This is the secret
of the never- flagging, everlasting vigor of the
sun. The sun turns its very atom- stuff into
fire and quickens the world around it into life.
O God, I pray You, let me like a living sun
catch fire with love and burn with Truth,
Nov-Dec 2005
igniting all I ever touch with the same love of
Truth that I have!
Of all Earth’s living things, trees have the
longest span of life. And of all living things,
they have the longest span of growth. If they
live a thousand years, they grow a thousand
years. Trees never cease to grow. To live is to
grow. If we Human beings would lengthen
the time of our lives, we must lengthen the
time of our growth.
You may think there is a limit to the growth
you can make.
This may be true of your body. But you are
more mind than body, and you are more spirit
than mind. In mind and spirit, who dares set
a limit on the growth one may make?
A redwood is tall, taking thousands of years
to reach its full height. Are you less than a
redwood?
Has God not said He created us in His image?
How tall is the image of God?
What dimensions has your mind? What span
has your spirit?
Are you grown up in your Godlikeness?
Oh, what everlasting livingness lies all about
us and within us yet to be attained! We are
spiritual striplings.
We are children of God. Youth is the power
to grow. To grow is to be alive. Would you
be alive?
Then live young!
- James Dillet Freeman
15
On the Mahasamadhi day (November 15) of Acharya Vinoba Bhave

MY MOTHER
[Published with glad permission of Kalindi Behan, the original compiler in Hindi (and
translated into English by late Marjorie Sykes) of Vinobaji’s Memoirs titled ‘MOVED BY
LOVE’ of Brahmavidya Mandir, Pawnar (Wardha).

It will be our joy and privilege to publish excerpts from these illuminating Memoirs of one of
the greatest sages of 20th century in subsequent issues of Akhand Jyoti for spiritual upliftment
of our readers. – Editorial Team]

The Ideal Devotee tears are not produced at will; they can come
only from a heart overflowing with devotion.

T here is nothing to equal the part my mother

played in shaping my mind. I have spent
time in the company of many good men; I
have read the books of many of the great,
filled with the wisdom of experience. But if I
were to put all that in one pan of the scales,
and in the other what I learned from my
mother of practical devotion, that second pan
would carry the greater weight of value.
Of course it is common enough for us ordinary
folk to shed tears on special occasions such as
Ramanavami or Krishnashtami, as we
contemplate the divine image we have
installed for the festival. But I have watched
the tears flowing every day, at the ordinary
daily puja, in a way impossible without a heart-
devotion. Of all my treasured memories of
Mother this is the most precious.

Mother was a really great devotee. She would
serve everyone in the house with their food,
and finish all her other household work, and
then before eating her own meal she would
seat herself before the Lord and carry out the
ritual of worship, offering the lights and
flowers in the customary way, just like
everyone else. But the devotion in her heart
was revealed when she made her obeisance
to the Lord at the end of the puja. Bowing
before him she would grasp both her ears and
pray aloud: ‘0 Lord of this boundless
universe, forgive me my faults,’ while tears
filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Such
Mother was an ordinary housewife, busy all
day long with her work, but her mind dwelt
continually on the Lord. She was in the
world, but the world was not in her mind
nor on her lips, and we never heard her utter
a harsh word. From the moment she rose in
the morning she would be repeating the
Name; as she sat grinding the grain she
would sing hymns to the Lord. All her songs
were songs of worship, and she sang them
with wonderful love and devotion. She had
a very sweet voice, and she would become
completely absorbed in her singing.

16 Nov-Dec 2005
I said to her once: ‘Mother, you must sing a
new song every day - it won’t do to have
yesterday’s song today or today’s song
tomorrow!’ So for six months she sang a new
song for me every day, so many did she know.
She was from Karnataka where her family still
lived, and she knew Kannada songs also,
besides Marathi.
Whatever Mother was doing, whether bathing
or cooking, she would be inwardly absorbed
in some devotional chorus or other, so much
so that one of the dishes occasionally got
salted twice over. She herself would never eat
until everyone else had finished and she had
completed her puja. I was usually the first to
sit down to the meal, but I paid very little
attention to the food: I simply ate whatever
was set before me and then went off. Then
my father would come and say that there was
too much salt in the vegetables. In the evening
Mother would tackle me: ‘Why didn’t you tell
me that the vegetables were over-salted?’
‘Why didn’t you taste them and find out for
yourself?’ I would reply. But that would never
have seemed right to her. How could she
possibly taste food until she had finished her
worship and made her offerings?
Mother had great respect for my father, but
she also took a lot of notice of what I said.
For example, she had resolved at one time to
offer to the Lord one hundred thousand grains
of rice. Every day as she made an offering,
she took a handful of rice and offered one grain
at a time, counting as she did so. Father saw
what she was doing, and said: ‘Why do you
do it In that way? Why not weigh up one tola
of rice and count the number of grains in that?
Then you can easily reckon up how many tolas
Nov-Dec 2005
will make one hundred thousand grains, and
you can add an extra half-tola to be sure you
have the full number.’ Mother did not know
what to say to this, so when I came home that
evening she asked me about it: ‘Vinya, this is
what your father suggests. What do you think
about it? I said: ‘Well, this offering of yours,
this hundred thousand grains of rice, isn’t just
a matter of accounts or arithmetic. It’s a matter
of devotion, done in the name of God and the
Saints. With every grain you count your mind
is fixed on the Name, so you should go on
counting one by one, I think.’ Mother was
very pleased and told my father about it. .
When the Nagapanchami festival came round
Mother used to offer puja to the Nag, and she
would ask me to make a drawing of the god
for her. ‘You can get a beautiful drawing in
the bazaar, Mother,’ I would say. ‘May be,’
she would reply, ‘but I don’t want their
beautiful drawings, I want your drawing.’ Such
was her affection for her son. So I would take
a small wooden plank and draw the Nag on it
with red kumkum powder.
Every evening Mother would set the milk for
curd, invoking the Lord as she did so. Where
was the need, I once asked her, to bring God
into the business? ‘Look Sonnie,’ she
answered, ‘of course we on our part do
everything we can, but all the same it will only
set well by God’s grace.’ She knew that there
is a place for both human effort and divine
grace.
The Teacher of Good Conduct
Mother insisted, when I was a child, that I must
water the Tulsi plant every day. One day after
17
my bath I came straight to the kitchen and sat
down for my meal. ‘Have you watered the
tulsi?’ asked Mother. ‘No,’ I said. ‘Then go
and do it now. I will only give you your food
when it’s done.’ That was her lasting gift to
me. She gave me so much else, milk to drink,
food to eat, and stayed up night after night to
care for me when I was sick; but this training
in right human conduct was the greatest gift
of all.
There was a jack-tree in our courtyard at
Gagode. I was only a small child then, and as
soon as I saw a fruit beginning to grow 1
would start asking when I could eat it. When
at last it was ripe Mother would cut it down
and fill a lot of leaf-cups with segments of the
fruit. Then she told me to take these as gifts
to every house in the neighbourhood. When
they had all been distributed she would seat
me at her side and give me some of the sweet
segments to eat. ‘Vinya,’ she would say, ‘we
must first give, and afterwards eat.’ She was
teaching, me some of the deepest truth of
philosophy, but she made it into a little rhyme:
Giving is God-like, Hoarding is Hell.
This teaching of hers made such an impression
on me that without it, I must admit, I might
never have had the inspiration to start the land-
gift movement.
If any of our women neighbours fell ill Mother
would go to the house and cook for the family.
At such times she would first finish the
cooking for our own household and then go
to the other house.
‘That’s selfish, Mother,’ I said one day. ‘You
take care of your own children and your own
18
home first, and the other family comes
second!’ Mother began to laugh. ‘What
happens?’ she said. ‘Our food is cooked too
soon, so it gets cold. I want those people to
have their food fresh and hot, so I go there
and cook it at the proper time. That’s not
selfish, it’s unselfish!’
When I was little I was afraid of ghosts.
Mother explained to me that ghosts would
never harass the devotees of God. ‘But if you
feel frightened just take a lantern with you
and go on repeating the Name of God.
Whatever ghosts happen to be there will soon
run away.’
One night during that time I saw a big shadow
on the wall. It was my own shadow, but I was
too little to know it. It seemed terribly tall,
the tallest man I had ever seen. Off I ran to
my Mother. ‘There’s no need to worry,’ she
said. ‘That fellow is your slave. Whatever you
do, he will do. If you stand up, he will stand
up too. If you sit down, so will he.’ I thought
I would try this out and see what happened. I
sat down, he sat; I stood up, and he stood; I
walked along, so did he; I lay down and he
lay down too. He was my slave, I discovered-
why be afraid of him? That was how Mother
rid me of fear of ghosts by faith, and fear of
shadows by commonsense.
God in Human Form
If a beggar came to our door Mother would
never allow him to go away empty-handed.
One day a very sturdy-looking beggar came,
and Mother gave him alms. I protested.
‘Mother,’ I said, ‘that man looks perfectly fit;
to give to such people is to encourage laziness.
Those who give to the undeserving are the
Nov-Dec 2005
worse for it themselves. Does not the Gita tell
us to consider that gift pure which is given at
a fit place and time to a worthy person?’
Mother listened, and then said very quietly:
‘Vinya, who are we to judge who is worthy
and who is unworthy? All we can do is to
regard everyone who comes to the door as
God, and offer what is in our power. Who am
I to judge him?’ To this argument of my
mother’s I have not to this day been able to
find a convincing reply.
My father often had a needy student living
with us in the house. When cold food was left
over from a previous meal Mother would eat
it herself, and if there was too much for her
she would serve some to me. For the student
however she always served fresh hot food.
This went on day after day, and finally I spoke
to her about it. ‘Mother,’ I said, ‘you tell us
that we ought to regard everyone as equal,
but you are still making distinctions yourself.
You never give that boy cold food, you always
give it to me. You are not treating us as equals,
are you?’
Mother answered at once: ‘Yes, you are right.
I do treat you differently from other people. I
am attached to you, I am partial to you,
because I still look upon you as my son,
whereas I look upon that other boy as God in
human form. When I can see you too in that
way, these distinctions will disappear.’
There is a custom of setting aside a small
portion of food at every meal as an offering
to God. One day I omitted to do this, and
Mother asked if I had forgotten. ‘No, I’ve not
forgotten, but I’ve been thinking. Five of these
portions make about a quarter tola of rice, so
that in a month of thirty days it adds up to
Nov-Dec 2005
about seven tolas. There are about thirty
million Brahmins in India, and that means that
in the course of a year about thirty million seers
of rice go to waste. It’s not right to throwaway
all that rice when there are so many poor people
in the country.’ ‘All right,’ Mother replied.
‘You are a learned fellow and I’ve no doubt
your calculations are correct. But my way of
reckoning is different. If you put that scrap of
rice by the side of your plate, the flies sit on
that and not on the food that you are eating.
The flies get something to eat, it’s a service to
other living creatures.’ I often reflected on the
meaning of what she said.
One day I was idly swinging a stick, striking
the wooden columns of the verandah. Mother
stopped me. ‘Why are you doing that?’ she
asked. ‘They are an image of God, why do
you hurt them?’ I stopped at once. In India,
the feeling that even a wooden pillar should
not be needlessly hurt is in the very air we
breathe. This reverence for all the creatures
of God is something Mother taught me from
earliest childhood.
As a child I was often sick and under medical
treatment. When Mother gave me the
medicine she used to make me recite a Sanskrit
verse, and one day I asked her what it meant.
She said: ‘It means, Look upon the doctor as
God, and upon his medicine as Ganges water.’
‘Might it not equally well mean that God is
the true healer and Ganges water the true
medicine?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that is also
a correct interpretation, but one has to be fit
for it; for the present, you had better look
upon the doctor as God.’ Two alternative lines
of thought, and truth in both of them.
19
Mother was not well-read but she was familiar
with the stories of the Saints in such books as
Bhakti-vijay. One day I commented that Saints
like these were to be found only in ancient
times; there were none such today. Mother
replied that there are Saints alive in our times,
but we do not know about them. ‘If there were
no saintly spirits to give the world the strength
of their austerities, how could it survive?’ That
was her faith, and on the basis of that faith
she taught me things which have been of value
to me throughout my life.
I myself became my Mother’s teacher in
reading. One day she was spelling out the
words in a book of hymns, letter by letter, so
that it took her at last fifteen minutes to read
one hymn. I was sitting in the upstairs room,
and I could hear her struggling with the letters.
In the end I came down and helped her to
finish the hymn. After that we read together
a little each day, and she was able to finish
the whole book.
Mother and the Gita
One early morning 1 was sitting in the upper
room reciting one of the poems of
Wordsworth. Mother heard me. ‘Why that
lingo, Vinya, at this time of day?’ she asked. I
told her the meaning of the poem. ‘It is a good
book I am reading,’ I said. ‘I know you would
never read anything bad,’ she replied, ‘and
even in English some good things must have
been written. You should read English too,
there’s nothing wrong with that. But in the
early morning you should read Sanskrit.’ She
meant that while other things might be read
at other times, only Sanskrit was fitting for
the sacred early hours. “
20
It was Mother who gave me my enthusiasm
for Sanskrit. When I was about to enter High
School there was a discussion at home about
which ‘second language’ I should choose.
Father suggested French, and I agreed. Mother
took no part in the discussion but she listened
to it all, and when I came home from school
in the evening and sat down to eat she asked
me which language I had chosen. ‘French,’ I
replied. ‘Shouldn’t a Brahmin boy learn
Sanskrit?’ she asked. ‘Of course he should,’ I
said, ‘but that doesn’t mean he has to learn it
at school.’ Nevertheless Mother’s words made
an indescribably deep impression on me, and
after that I began to study Sanskrit.
About 1915, I think, a man was giving
commentaries on the Gita in Baroda, and
Mother would go every night to listen to his
discourse. After a day or two she came and
said: ‘Vinya, I can’t follow what he says; can
you please get me a copy of the Gita in
Marathi?’ I did so, but when she opened it
and saw that it was in prose, she asked for a
verse translation instead; probably she found
the verse easier to read. I found that Vaman
Pandit’s Samasloki Gita (the Gita verse by verse)
was available and got it for her. But in a few
days she said that it was too difficult, she
couldn’t understand it. ‘What’s to be done?’ I
asked. ‘There is no simpler translation.’ Her
answer came like a shot: ‘why shouldn’t you
make a simple translation for me? You could
do it!’ It was Mother’s faith in me which made
me write my (Marathi) Gitai.
The Giver of the Ascetic Ideal
As a child I was full of day-dreams. I used to
dream of brahmacharya, so I gave up sleeping
on a mattress, wearing shoes and so on. One
Nov-Dec 2005
day Mother remarked: ‘Vinya, you do a lot of
playing at asceticism; if only I were a man I
would show you what real asceticism is.’ The
fact is that she felt the slavery of womanhood,
even though in our home Father gave everyone
their full freedom. I feel quite sure that she
was capable of doing what she said. Her three
sons all became brahmacharis. ‘Vinya,’ she
would say, ‘a virtuous life as a householder
brings salvation to one generation, but the life
of brahmacharya at its highest brings salvation
to forty-two generations..’ When she was
thirty-six years old, at her earnest desire, she
and my father took a vow of celibacy, as Father
told me himself after she had died.
prefer me to anyone else.’ But they didn’t
agree, so I absented myself, bathed, and sat
down to study the Vedas. From that day on
the Vedas took my mother’s place.
Some of my mother’s words have had such an
influence on me that I have included them in
my book Vichar Pothi (Random Reflections):
Vinya, don’t ask for big helpings. Remember,
Small is Sweet, Much is Mischief.
A stomachful of food and a cloth to cover the
body, that is all we need. Give ear to nothing
save the words of the wise, of gods and saints.

Mother died at the age of forty-two, on 24 In serving your country you show your
October 1918, at the same age as Tukaram, devotion to the Lord, but let there be songs
whose devotional hymns she so often read. I of devotion also.
was with her when she died, as it seemed to
Mother had the fullest faith in me, her son,
me, in great peace. I had asked, did she feel
and that faith has moulded me. When I left
at peace? ‘Completely at peace,’ she had
home my father, thinking it would comfort
replied. ‘For one thing, you are grown up, and
her, told her that I would be sure to come back
I have no anxiety either about you or about
after a little while. Mother did not agree.
your brothers, for you will look after them.
‘When Vinya says something he will not
For another thing, two months ago I had that
change,’ she said. ‘See,’ said the neighbours,
darshan of the Lord.’ She was referring to a
‘this is how modern boys behave; they care
visit to the shrine at Dakor two months earlier.
nothing for their parents,’ ‘What!’ Mother
Dakor is only four hours’ journey from Baroda,
retorted. ‘As if my Vinya would ever go off
but because of her household work she had
and get into bad ways! He will never do
never previously been able to go during all
anything wrong.’ To this day Mother is with
her twelve years in Baroda.
me; she is an abiding part of my life.
When the time came for Mother’s last rites to
0 Mother, you have given me what no one else
be performed I said that I would carry out all
has given, and yet even you did not give me
the ceremonies myself without bringing in any
in your lifetime what you are giving me now,
Brahmin from outside. The others, however,
after your death, I need no other proof of the
were against it. ‘Do you think your mother
immortality of the soul.
would have liked it?’ my father asked. ‘I feel
sure that she would,’ I replied. ‘She would

Nov-Dec 2005 21

S ignature reading is an interesting study. It
is supposed to reveal unknown
characteristics of a personality. Signature
analysts believe that while analyzing behavior
of a person, signatures are more revealing
than handwriting. While writing, several
thoughts run amok in the mind and lead to
variations in the handwriting. Signature, on
the contrary, is not subject to such frequent
variations.
There is an occult science behind the study of
signatures. Some signatures are very beautiful;
but it is not necessary that the personality of
such a person is attractive as well. It has been
observed that sometimes a person having
beautiful signatures is cruel and dangerous.
Contrary to that, a person having an irregular
signature could be very courageous and kind.
Signature of Mahatma Gandhi falls into this
category.
A person with extraordinary brilliance
normally writes the first letter of the sign in a
bigger font. This signature makes him well
established, influential and famous. The
signature having first letter in bigger font and
other letters as small, legible and beautiful
represent a hard working person. He attains
great heights by his hard work. It gives him
good position in the society. Some people are
not able to reach at the top even after putting
22
Signature
reflects one’s personality
best of their efforts; but this kind of people
show that hard work pays. Such people are
rich as well as intelligent. They shine their
family’s name.
Illegible and unclear sign, which are written
in hurry, are not considered good. These
people, like their signatures are unaware of
their capabilities. They neither understand the
meaning of life nor pay any attention towards
it. They are very lazy and do work without
showing any interest in it. Hence none of the
work done by them is good. In fact no one
likes to give them work. They are unauthentic
people unsuccessful in family life too. Their
married life is full of distrust and suspicion.
Signatures of a diplomat fall into this category.
It’s a well-known fact that diplomacy now-a-
days implies deceit and treachery with certain
rules. Such people’s life cannot be untouched
by this behavior.
A person having very small, illegible
signatures with spaces between the letters are
very cunning. They can cross any limits to
attain their selfish motives. Such people enjoy
politics because this area generally requires
people with selfish attitude. Some persons are
totally insensitive to human sentiments.
Signatures of terrorists fall into this category.
Generous and kind people sign with very light
hand. The simple lines of their signature exude
Nov-Dec 2005
the simplicity of their heart. They do not press
too hard while writing. This trait is displayed A monkey and a hyena were
in their personality as well. People with artistic
signatures are painters, artists, singers or walking through the forest when
authors. Those who put two horizontal lines
beneath the signature are very hard working;
the hyena said, “Each time I pass
but they are normally mentally weak and are by those bushes there, a lion jumps
worried constantly about their future. They
are so depressed sometimes that they even out of them and mauls me. I don’t
attempt suicide.
know why.”
Those who write the first letter of the name
followed by the surname and put dot or dots “I’ll walk with you this time,” said
below the signature are very lucky. Such
people take birth to reap the fruits of their
the monkey, “and side with you
previous birth. They are religious and soft against the lion.”
spoken. They are very simple and sensitive.
Hence they are very gullible. This is the only
So they started to walk past the
drawback in their personality. People who
write their full name as the signature are very bushes when the lion pounced on
special. Drawing a line beneath the full name
indicates their spirituality. They are full of zeal the hyena and nearly mauled it to
and they know how to use it best. They are
death. Meanwhile the monkey
very self-conscious. Whichever field they
choose, they start innovating in that. Such watched the proceeding from the
people are far away from selfishness and
egoism. They are very close to God. safety of tree that he had run up
Signatures exude unseen thoughts and
the moment the lion appeared.
emotions. Specialists use certain techniques to
analyze them. However by analyzing the
letters alone it is difficult to judge the
“Why didn’t you do something to
personality traits completely. One may need help me?” moaned the hyena.
some more supplementary techniques for this
purpose. Remember! Signatures do not create
Said the monkey, “You were
a personality. Personality is exuded through
the signatures. It is possible to change one’s laughing so much I thought you
personality by adopting righteous attitude
towards life and doing hard work towards were winning.”
self-refinement.

Nov-Dec 2005 23
Vedic Cosmology-6
and Modern Science
V edic writings are inclined to subtle and
profound use of symbolism with richness
of poetical image and mystic depth and
fullness of knowledge and expression of
spiritual experience of truth. This is what
enables encoding of limitless knowledge in
countable volumes of hymns and mantras in
the four Vedas and the consequent Vedic
treatises like the Upanishads and Darshanas.
The Vedic symbolism is reflected in the
allegoric story-type lucid style of the Puranas
as well. As the eminent chairman of the AIOC
31st Conference had put it –– “The Language
of God is the language of light, illuminating
intuition”. Therefore it is only the spiritually
enlightened sagacious intellect of the seers (the
rishis), which could decipher the Vedic
symbolism and explain its deeper import to
the scholarly minds and also expand the
relevant teachings for the welfare of the
masses.
Vedmurti Taponishtha Pandit Shriram Sharma
Acharya was the seer-sage of this era who
disseminated the light of spirituality and truth
of the Vedic knowledge to awaken the
divinity of human heart, wisdom of human
mind and grandeur of human culture – leading
to all-round progress of mankind. His Hindi
translations of the 4 Veda Samhitas, 6
Darshanas, 108 Upanishads and the entire
spectrum of Vedic literature, and over three
24
Vedic Concepts
thousands books and volumes written by him
in an easily comprehensible style stand as a
living testimony to the fact that Vedas indeed
contain beneficial and supreme spiritual
insights.
In his views 1 –– “Vedic symbolism is an
expression of the enlightened intelligence of
the rishis which conveys deep meanings and
preeminent knowledge”. Before attempting to
understand the implications of the Vedic
hymns and mantras we must first decipher the
Vedic symbolism. For example, in the present
context of Vedic Cosmology or Science of
‘Creation’ of Nature, understanding the
underlying meanings of the following
symbolic words is of utmost important. It
should be remembered that the script (and
hence the words) which we might find in the
printed collection of Vedic hymns today are
formed by decoding the ‘sonic signs’ or
‘phonetic patterns of ïruti’ used in the ancient
Vedic texts. This is why at times a ‘symbolic
word’ might appear to be familiar to us as a
word in modern Sanskrit language with
altogether different meaning; thus, leading to
a misinterpretation. For instance, the word
‘Âpa¡’, in modern Sanskrit means water but
what it (or more specifically the structure of
syllables pronounced exactly like it)
Nov-Dec 2005
symbolizes in the Vedic literature pertaining
to cosmology is different, as shown below:
1.Aditi
Aditi: It is referred as the light infinite, the
Aditi
mother (origin) of divine powers, the vast
cosmic intelligence in which knowledge and
force are unified. In terms of cosmology, it
symbolizes the coherent, joint impact of the
three fundamental elements of cosmic creation
– mitra, var¿ña and aryam³, defined below.
Anarvan is a synonym of Aditi in Vedic
Cosmology.
2. Âpa¡
Âpa¡: It indicates the stimulated, active,
collective state of mitra, var¿ña and aryam³.
This is what accounts for the manifested
dynamic state of Nature and hence is also
named as Salilam, Maya and Asat (the illusion
of seeing the unique, eternal sat in varieties of
ever-changing forms and actions in the world,
in the ‘manifested’ Nature).
3. Vrahatº¡ Âpa¡
Âpa¡: It represents that state of
activity of the three fundamental elements of
cosmic creations (sat, raj and tam) in which
other elements (including physical particles,
structures and eventually the chemicals,
compounds etc) are formed. Its other name in
Vedic terminology is the reflection of sat in
which raj and tam are manifested. It includes
the ‘plasma state’, which in the modern
scientific terms is defined as the highly
condensed energy state of (the components
of) the universe at the time of creation.
4. V—ata¡
V—ata¡: The activity of fundamental
particles does not result in any creation on its
own. Its existence and functions are subject to
the God’s Will (evolutionary impulse of the
unique, eternal, self-existent Cosmic Force).
Nov-Dec 2005
Thus, the active state of Âpa¡ defined above
either results in creation or gets entrapped in
the state of V—ata¡ – which corresponds to the
scientific term ‘Cyclic Reversible Reaction’.
5. Ïambar
Ïambar: This represents the eddy currents
and cyclic transitions in the fluidic state of
Âpa¡.
6. TwaÌÚ³
TwaÌÚ³: It represents the fundamental
radiations (energy waves) generated by the
evolutionary impulse in Âpa¡ that lead to vajra-
p³ta (occurrence of Vajra¡).
7. Vajra¡
Vajra¡: It symbolizes the grand Collision
of Masses in the Vrahatº¡ Âpa¡ (plasma).
8. Hirañya Garbha
Garbha: It represents the infinite
explosion (the Big Bang) in Vrahatº¡ Âpa¡ due
to Vajra-p³ta.
9. VaïiÌÚha
VaïiÌÚha: It symbolizes the charge-less
particles emitted from what is left in the
fundamental mass beyond mitra, var¿ña. It is
the ‘neutron’ in the language of Physics.
10. U̳
U̳: Marks the dawn of cosmic creation
and manifestation of Nature. (i.e. the state of
transition from equilibrium to non-equilibrium
of the sat, raj and tam gunas discussed in the
previous article of this series).
11. Nakta¡
Nakta¡: Marks the infinite absorption of
all creation, absolute destruction (end) of the
universe. (i.e. the state of transition from
dynamic non-equilibrium to static equilibrium
of the sat, raj and tam gunas discussed in the
previous article of this series).
25
12. Aïva¡
Aïva¡: It symbolizes physical manifestation
of energy and power in the universe.
13. Soma¡
Soma¡: It represents the cosmic radiant
energy (which is the source of all physical
mental and emotional experiences and
activities). Its sublime source is still, eternal
and omnipresent. Its physically manifested
form is what generates solar, lunar and other
kinds of lights and energy radiations from
different planets, stars and other huge balls
of activated mass.
14. Mitra-Var¿ña
Mitra-Var¿ña: These symbolize the
fundamental particles of opposite charges that
constitute the atoms of any mass; Var¿ña
represents the positively charged ‘protons’ and
Mitra the opposite, namely, the negatively
charged ‘electrons’. [In the poetic style of some
Vedic hymns, these are also mystically
described as –– mitra surrounds all nuclei of
existence and together with var¿ña (in the
nucleus) generates the beauty and perfection
of structure….].
15. Aryaman: In terms of vedic symbolism, this
force fulfils the happy impulsions of light and
harmony of the movement of infinite
knowledge and power of that pure Vastness.
It represents the (energy) radiations that
pervade in a mass apart from protons,
neutrons and electrons.
16. Matariïwan
Matariïwan: It is the colossal momentum
generated by the energy explosion of the Big-
Bang. It gives rise to the expansion of initial
mass.
17. Vaiïw³nara Agni
Agni: It represents the
ensemble force of all energies of Nature. It is
26
the heat of life, and creates the sap, rasa in
things. All the dynamic physical energies,
devouring, enjoying, purifying, preparing,
assimilating, forming become possible through
its force. It is the Will in vital spiritual energy
(pr³na), and the dynamic force in the bio-
energy. All of the signals of our nervous
system are assured of their action only by its
support. It rises and transfigures its powers
into the Maruts (symbolizing the energies of
mind).
18. Bh—agu
Bh—agu: It symbolizes the sublime content
of energy that is absorbed in the eternal ‘stock’
at the time of Nakta¡ (absolute destruction, end
of the universe). This is what maintains the
Dynamic Continuum necessary in U̳ – at the
time of cosmic creation (manifestation of
Nature).
19.Angirasa Apastama): It is said to
Angirasa (Apastama
Apastama
symbolize the supreme fluidic state of
activation of fundamental elements after the
collision of the mass in the Vrahatº¡ Âpa¡
(plasma). In scientific terminology, it is the
initial form of quark soup, etc in the Gutt’s
period.
20. Martanda
Martanda: It symbolizes the contracting
universe.
It is worth noting that these interpretations
of symbols are not arbitrary. The hymns and
mantras – in the Vedas (esp. the Rig-Veda) –
associated with them describe the
corresponding aspects of cosmic creation and
also delineate in coded formulae several other
secrets of cosmology and related sciences that
are yet to be unfolded by the modern scientific
research. Savants of Vedic literature as well
Nov-Dec 2005
as modern sciences have studied these hymns
and mantras at depth and elucidated the Vedic
symbolism for the benefit of the wider class
of readers. The recent book by Scholar Ram
Mohan Roy 2 is notable in this regard. The
reviews of this book by Dr. NK Rao 3 of
Missouri, USA further enlighten the
knowledge of Vedic Cosmology.
Roy summarizes for us the latest in modern
cosmology, from the versions of Big Bang to
versions of the Steady State models. He
summarizes their strengths and their
weaknesses, and then he adumbrates what he
believes (and provides evidence for) is the
model that the Rig Veda constructs. The rishis
of Rig Veda considered the universe to be
made of “fluid” (not as fluid as in water but
“the flow of matter particles”), and that it was
rotating. The rotation’s effect on this spherical
volume of fluid makes it take the shape of an
ellipsoid (the shape of an egg). In the standard
Big Bang model the universe is not rotating
but its constituents are. The Big Bang theory
has challenged the postulates of a steady state
model. The book provides quick but precise
summaries of those alternate theories. The Big
Bang model also proposes that the mass-
energy before the universe came into being
was concentrated at a single point. The Vedas
instead tell us that in the beginning there was
no mass-energy. It was a complete void. Ed
Tyron in 1973 put forward a theory that makes
the same argument.
The Vedic sages considered the creation of
mass-energy to be continuous and that it was
being created on the surface of the universe.
How a void can have a surface? Well, in the
Vedic model, the universe has a nucleus, which
Nov-Dec 2005
is at absolute rest. There is an axis of the
universe passing through this center around
which the universe is rotating. Space can be
divided into two, manifested and
unmanifested, and the creation of matter and
antimatter will continue as long as the
universe is expanding.
While in the modern Big Bang model the
universe can be open or closed, the Vedic
model suggests differently. And the cyclic
model proposed by scientists, that the
universe will expand and contract continuously
is also found in modified form in the Vedic
model. It suggests that each cycle is
independent of the other and there is no
limitation on how many cycles there can be.
The researchers4, 2, 5 also cite specific texts and
hymns (mantras) or their complete reference
in the Vedic scriptures with authentic
meanings and scientific implications using the
grammatical decomposition and liaison rules
with evidential support of ancient scholarly
works.
As remarked by Dr. Rao 3 –– “The work of
Roy2 is important in that he tries to figure
out the hidden meanings in the Rig Veda by
drawing careful analogies and comparisons,
and telling us when he is not sure of a
particular meaning of a particular word or
hymn. The living universe, Vivasvana, the
first pair of particle and anti-particle (matter
and anti-matter) are Yama and Manu, the
early part of the universe when the surface
tension was the most important force
constraining the expansion of the universe
the battle between these two forces is the
immortalized epic battle of Indra and Vrtra.
Radiation is Rudra, and the remnants of
27
radiation from the early universe, the cosmic
background radiation, is viÌa. Brhaspati
represents the expansion of the universe,
gr³mya is the recent scientifically discovered
subatomic particle boson, arañya is fermion,
and so on. All the claims in this research
treatise are buttressed by relevant hymns,
and the author also provides interesting
asides on how the myths and fables of other
cultures and religions were borrowed from
the latter ‘Brahmins’ and politically
motivated scholars and thus were
misconceptions and wrong or partial
interpretations of Vedic knowledge”.
It is a pity that many of us, the learned
generation of Indians, have chosen to accept
the misinterpretations without bothering to
study and reinvestigate the facts in the
precious treasure of our scriptures and get
directions from the Vedic knowledge, which
discovered science of life as a whole - not only
of matter or physical manifestation of Nature,
as we do now. If we seek, the Vedic science
can provide proper solutions to our problems
of today, guide the path of happy progress,
keeping complete harmony with Nature, and
also reward our scientific quest by deciphering
the Ultimate Truth.
References:
1.Acharya Pt. Shriram Sharma: (1955): Bhav
Abhivyakta va Parimarjit Hote Hein Partikon
Ke Madhyam Se. Akhand Jyoti (Hindi). Vol 7.
pp 19-21.
2.Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1999): VEDIC
PHYSICS: Scientific Origin of Hinduism.
Golden Egg Publishing, Toronto, Canada.
3.Dr. R.N. Rao: Reviews of the book by Roy
(www.indiastar.com/closepet5.html)
4.Sharma Bhavna: Vedic Srishti Vigyan. Amar
Granth Publications, Delhi. 2002.
5.Acharya Pt. Shriram Sharma: RigVed Samhita,
Vol. I-IV. Brahmvarchas Shantikunj, Hardwar
(India). 1994.

The great Buddhist saint Nagarjuna moved around naked except for a loincloth
and, incongruously, a golden begging bowl gifted to him by the King, who was
his disciple.
One night he was about to lie down to sleep among the ruins of an ancient
monastery when he noticed a thief lurking behind one of the columns. “Here,
take this,” said Nagarjuna, holding out the begging bowl. “That way you
won’t disturb me once I have fallen asleep.”
The thief eagerly grabbed the bowl and made off only to return next morning
with the bowl and request. He said, “When you gave away this bowl so freely
last night, you made me feel very poor. Teach me how to acquire the riches that
make this kind of lighthearted detachment possible.”
No one can take from you what you never took to yourself.

28 Nov-Dec 2005
Ayurvedic Therapies: 6
B oth Yoga and Ayurveda are scientific
disciplines of Vedic knowledge revealed
for the good of mankind and hence of every
entity in Nature. While Yoga is the science of
consciousness, Ayurveda is the science of its
physical manifestation in life forms. The
principles and theories of Yoga emanate from
the deeper science of Soul-Spirit and Supreme
Consciousness. Ayurveda deals with the Vedic
medical science of diagnostics, therapeutics
and maintenance of total health. Yoga focuses
on refinement and evolution of the individual
self and presents a comprehensive science of
s³dhan³ practices for this purpose. Healthy
and hearty state of the mind-body system is
the major focus of Ayurveda. Sound health
and purity of the body and mind is a
prerequisite for yoga-s³dhan³ practices and
therefore Yoga also encompasses the methods
of maintenance and enhancement of mental
and physical vigor by vital spiritual energy.
Thus, these two Vedic sciences share common
objectives and are mutually complimentary in
some respects.
Some scholars opine that Yoga is an integral
part of Ayurveda since its inception.
According to them, Yoga-science seems to
have been developed in order to study the
mind and mental health up to the deepest
Nov-Dec 2005
Yoga &
Ayurveda
depths of the inner-self; this would have
eventually evolved into a separate branch of
Vedic sciences. Their argument is based on the
implications of the ancient Ayurvedic
scripture “Charak Sanhita”. According to the
descriptions in this scripture, the gist of yoga-
shastra was present in the eternal knowledge
of Ayurveda, which is a sub-Veda. However,
despite this interpretation and belief, most
scholars regard Ayurveda and Yoga having
evolved separately in the same Age and in the
same country – namely in the Vedic Age and
in India. The Vedic sages-scientists (rishis) are
revered as the founders of the principles and
theories of both and also as the investigators
of their practical applications.
Dr. Ramharsh Singh highlights the
interrelation of Yoga and Ayurveda in his
scholarly volume entitled “Swastha Vratta
Vigyaan”. According to him Ayurveda is a
comprehensive Vedic medical science, which
encompasses multiple dimensions of wellbeing
– including the foundational pillars of duty-
bound, progressive and fulfilling life viz. –
dharma, artha, k³ma and mokïa. In the same
context, he also elaborates that Yoga primarily
aims at spiritual evolution of consciousness;
elevation of human self from the confined
peripheries of a ego-bound mortal being
29
towards the high realms of divine
enlightenment. Ayurveda is a total science of
life in the soul’s worldly existence and
expansion, whereas Yoga is a highly specialized
science pertaining to specific, namely spiritual
facets of life.
The incorporation of the teachings and
practices of Yoga and Ayurveda had been
prominent in the ancient Indian society of the
prehistoric times. Both the streams of
invaluable knowledge were quite advanced in
the early Vedic Age – the Rigveda period; both
had flourished independently. There is no
scriptural description of their overlap or
interdependent development in the Vedic Age.
The focus seems to have shifted to their
interdependent aspects and collective use only
in the post-Vedic period.
The Yajurveda mentions a great deal on
attainment of ultimate knowledge by yoga-
s³dhan³s . Mental concentration and
engrossment of mind all the time in deep
meditation upon God are emphasized here.
Ayurveda is referred in this Veda as a healing
science; certain divine medicinal plants and
qualities of expert Vaidyas (devoted experts of
Ayurvedic medicines) are also cited in the
Yajurveda. These descriptions also affirm the
development of Yoga and Ayurveda as
independent and complete sciences in
themselves – Yoga as the supreme science of
ultimate spiritual accomplishments and
Ayurveda as the holistic science of healthy life
and wellbeing. Thus, as per this Veda, there
appears to be no direct association between
the two despite common and implicit objective
of mental and emotional purity and peace.
30
The tradition of Yoga in the Samaveda is
focused more on attainment of divine light.
The teachings on Yoga explain here – how a
yogi reaches the highest state of spiritual
knowledge and self-realization by rigorous
practices of yoga-s³dhan³s. It also describes
the methods of yoga-trance for linkage of the
inner self with the Almighty. As per the
philosophy and science of Yoga highlighted
here, the yogis attain desired spiritual
purification and potentials by different kinds
of yoga - s³dhan³s and gradually focus the
scattered and diversified mental power and
attention by trance-meditation to unify it with
the impulse of omnipresent supreme
Consciousness Force.
Ayurveda is independently described here (in
the teachings of Samaveda) with reference to
the analysis of different herbal medicines and
their therapeutic effects. Plant medicines
(herbs) are also likened here with food grains
that are essential for sustenance of vigorous
life; it is further advised here to take some of
these in appropriate quantities everyday like
other food-ingredients.
The Atharveda cites Yoga as a means of
absolute salvation and the success of the tapa
of the yogis is prayed for in the hymns here.
The diagnostics of Ayurveda are elucidated
here with emphasis on identification and
removal of the root-causes of the diseases as
part of its holistic healing approach. Yoga, as
described here is the method of uprooting all
ego-centric urges, vices, worries, and fears of
the lower false-self.
According to the Atharveda (teachings),
dedicated adoption of the disciplines and
Nov-Dec 2005
practices of yoga-s³dhan³s leads to controlling
the pr³ña (vital spiritual energy, life-force)
and attainment of supramental knowledge by
its elevation. Enlightenment of the inner-self
by elevated force of pr³ña gradually helps
accomplishing higher levels of s³dhan³ and
attainment of absolute knowledge of the soul.
This is how a yogi reaches the ultimate
unalloyed blissful state of beatifying
realization of the Brah® – Eternal,
Omnipresent Supreme Consciousness Force
and Bliss.
Ayurveda is dealt in great detail in the
Atharveda. In fact, Atharveda is also
considered as the origin of this sub-Veda.
Apart from detailed description and
guidelines on the philosophy and
comprehensive approach of this natural science
of healing, rare knowledge of many medicinal
herbs is also revealed in Atharveda. Paeans
of the divine (healing) properties of several
herbs are sung in its hymns. The major herbs
cited here include –– Shyama, Rohini,
Prashniparni, Pippali, Apamarg, etc. Remarkably,
this Veda also mentions the existence of germs
(microbes) that infect and malign air, water
and body and spread several diseases. The
methods of destroying them and curing the
diseases by mantras are discussed in this
context. This mention of mantra-based therapy
indicates an intersection between Yoga and
Ayurveda.
The post Vedic scriptures – like the
Upanishads and Brahmanas – describe the
independent development and applications of
Yoga and Ayurveda in greater detail, together
with highlighting certain aspects that
correspond to their mutually supplementary
Nov-Dec 2005
nature. The philosophy and science of Yoga
dealt in the Upanishads takes in its sweep
mind and body systems as well, while keeping
the major focus on the sublime domains of
consciousness. In the former respect it is
concordant with the philosophy and principles
of Ayurveda. In particular, the Upanishads
analyze multiple dimensions of Yoga and its
linkage with human life at its deepest depths.
Different yoga-kriy³s1 and their effects are
discussed here at great length together with
the yoga-s³dhan³s.
The individual self, its manifestation in the
world and allied aspects of life, and also its
sublime origin together with immortality of
the soul and its unification with the Brah® –
all are discussed here in a logical and scientific
manner. The Upanishads are indeed
masterpieces of the majestic knowledge and
enlightened acumen of the Vedic Rishis.
Ayurvedic science is also cited here in the
context of the gross manifestation of the
individual self as a living being in the physical
world. Its (material) scientific aspects,
philosophy as well as techniques and modes
of healing are described here, indicating the
astonishing advancement of Ayurvedic
research and remedial procedures by that
time. For example, the mention of cutting an
organ of Rishi Atharvana and its replacement
by that of a horse in an Upanishad signifies
sufficient development and successful use of
surgery and organ-transplant technology in
Ayurvedic developments of that time.
Among all Upanishads, the Kathopinashad
explains the science of yoga in minutest detail.
Like the methods (e.g. virechana) of cleansing
the body system – regularly at specific time
31
intervals of weeks or months and before
medication – essentially prescribed under
Ayurveda for sustenance of good health, Yoga
also lays emphasis on bodily and mental
refinement and control. The Yoga principles
and practices of Yama, Niyama, Âsana and
Pr³ñ³y³ma fall under this category pertaining
to the physical body, and external activities
of mind and behavioral disciplines. The
internal Yoga methods of Dhy³na, Dh³rañ³,
Praty³h³ra and Sam³dhi supplement the
requirement of inner purification for spiritual
evolution of the self and eventual realization
of Brah®.
Ayurveda and Yoga both signify the
importance of clean body (externally and
internally) and pure mind for higher-level
attainments – be that vigorous health,
supernormal potentials or enlightenment of
consciousness. The Yama-Niyama of Yoga, as
described in the Upanishads are equivalent in
their effects to the Sadvrattas referred in the
scriptures of Ayurveda. The Âsana-Charakas
prescribed in the Ayurvedic scripture by Rishi
Charak are very similar to the physical
exercises of Yoga - Âsanas . These findings
indicate that despite being originated and
developed independently and for distinct
purposes, both these streams of Vedic Sciences
share a lot in common. The “Trishikh Bindu-
Upanishad” presents the similarity between
their principles.
The “Smritis” preach adoption of Yama-Niyama
as integral part of Dharma (Righteous Living).
Of the eight Yama-Niyamas of the Asthang
Yoga, Bramcharya – chastity of body, mind and
character – is referred as of utmost importance
for protection and growth of vital spiritual
32
energy; the same is stressed for physical and
mental vigor in Ayruveda as well. Ayurveda
underlines Brahmcharya as a universal source
of protection and remedy against all
infirmities and diseases. The ‘Smiritis’ also
describe the properties and use of herbal
medicines prescribed under Ayurveda. The
Puranas fall in the same tradition and deal with
both Yoga and Ayurveda. Research on the
scriptures and teachings of later times further
affirm the importance of Yoga and Ayurveda
and highlight their similarities and coherence
in several respects.
The Valmiki Ramayana cites Yoga in the
context of tapa 3 for mental peace and
enlightenment. The mention of miraculous
medicinal plants (like the life-saving herb
“Sanjeevani” which was brought from the
Himalayas by Hanuman) and surgery in its
several episodes indicates the advanced state
of (Ayurvedic) medical science at that time.
Mahabharata and Bhagvad Gita teach the
philosophy of Yoga in a scientific and practical
manner. Yoga (word meaning “union”) is
described here as the union of the Jºva
(individual ego-bound self) and the Brah®.
The yoga-kriy³s effectuate the control of the
perpetually oscillating and unstable tendencies
of the mind and thus open the path to
salvation. Knowledge of the Nishkama Karma-
Yoga is the most distinct and precious gift of
Bhagvad Gita to mankind. On the Ayurvedic
side, Mahabharata highlights several kinds of
mental disorders and toxic effects and their
remedies. There is a systematic discussion on
surgical means and mantra-therapy and
mention of experts in these fields in India
those days. Ashtanga Ayurveda is a unique
Nov-Dec 2005
gift of that Age, which augmented the synergy
of Yoga and Ayurveda.
Attainment of Bodhisatva is the ultimate
objective of the Buddhist Yoga. Lord Buddha
preferred Ashtanga path of Yoga instead of
the Hatha-Yoga. The healthy and calm state
of mind and body is essential for success along
this path. Therefore, the Buddhist monks are
taught to make use of specific medicines for
calming the mind. In several episodes of the
Buddhist scriptures like “Vinay Patak” there
is mention of use of ancient medicinal practices
for healing. The “Jainagama” scriptures of
Jainism cite the eight major components of
contemporary Ayurveda and its therapeutic
approach. Ayurvedic experts (Vaidyas) are
termed “Pranacharyas” here. Yoga in Jainism
is largely a system of s³dhan³ practices for
spiritual transmutation. It is also referred here
as the source of absolute control over mind
and body. The need of an adept guide (guru)
is emphasized here for guidance in both the
disciplines.
Simultaneous propagation of both Yoga and
Ayurveda was witnessed through the Gupta
period up till pre-medieval era. The “Charak
Sanhita” and the “Yoga Sutras” both were the
guiding treatises for joint development and
applications of both the sciences. However,
with the compilation of more specialized
volumes like Ashtang Sangrah and Ashtang
Hradaya, Ayurveda became principally the
science of diagnostics and therapeutics; the
complementary applications of Yoga became
a specific subject of study here. Yoga also
flourished with multiple branches, though
converging to ultimate focus on spiritual
elevation in the later ages.
Nov-Dec 2005
The scriptural descriptions of the Vedic and
post-Vedic times and scholarly works of the
later ages glorify the immense contributions
made by both Ayurveda and Yoga towards
the bodily, mental and spiritual wellbeing and
ascent of mankind. We can benefit from these
teachings and practices even today and enjoy
the nectar of purposeful and fulfilling life.
Interdisciplinary research in modern sciences
has opened up new horizons of technological
advancement. The same is also being
attempted for the medical sciences towards
the goal of total health today. Comprehensive
approach based on natural coherence and
common roots of Yoga and Ayurveda offers
promising results in this regard. The Dev
Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya, Shantikunj,
Hardwar has initiated innovative courses in
its post-graduate teaching programmes in
Yoga and Ayurveda as a laudable step in this
direction.
Notes:
1. Yoga-kriy³s – practices of yoga performed
physically – incorporating both mind and body
– e.g. certain pr³ñ³y³ms with mental
engrossment on the subtle sound of rhythmic
breath, etc.
2. Pr³ñ³y³ma – A yoga-exercise of controlled
breathing aimed at augmenting and
harmonizing the flow of pr³ña (vital, spiritual
energy; life-force).
3. Tapa – devout ascetic practices and self-
imposed penance for spiritual purification of
body, mind an inner-self.
(Ayurveda-Series will continue with a new topic)
33
Companions in Solitude – 5
Nature’s Rudrabhisheka
(Nature’s Worship of Lord Shiva)
[P¿jya Gurudev’s Travelogue of the Pilgrimage to the Him³layas - Continued]
T oday we reached Bhojwasa camp.
Tomorrow morning we have to set out
for Gomukh. Here there is no traffic. One
comes across pilgrims / travellers between
Gangotri and Uttarkashi. In camps also there
are crowds; but not so here. Today we are a
group of only six persons. Everybody has
brought with him his own tiffin. Though it is
called Bhojwasa (catering establishment) and
also has an inn; but there are no board and
lodging facilities, as are available at the lower
camps.
On looking upwards the mountaintop in
front, it seemed as if Himagiri (mountain
peak) was performing worship of Lord
Shankar by pouring water over it by its own
hands. The scene was celestial. From a great
height, a thin stream was falling down. Down
below, there was a nature-made Shivlinga. The
water was falling over it. While falling, the
water was getting scattered into tiny drops
and the sunrays falling on them were creating
an enchanting rainbow. One concretely felt
that Shiva was present in reality and the gods
were showering on Him flowers of all colours
from the Milky Way. The scene was so
captivating and engrossing, that the mind and
the eyes got glued to it. I kept on looking at
it until darkness pulled the curtain over it.
34
Beauty is the thirst of Soul. But how can it be
found in the mud of artificiality? People
decorate their homes with pictures of these
forests and mountains and feign to enjoy their
beauty. But none cares to look at the immense
beauty spread all over in nature’s lap. The
Himalayas are called the ocean of beauty.
Walking in these remote regions creates
heavenly vibrations in the soul, and one longs
to get lost in this boundless beauty.
Today’s scene was really nature’s wonder at
its best; but in my imagination I was getting a
glimpse of the celestial pleasure as if I was
seeing Lord Shiva right before me in reality. I
was inwardly feeling immense joy. If only I
were able to describe even a part of this joy
for the benefit of those who are not here, and
let them get the feel of this celestial joy by
reading these lines.
The Milestone
The same difficulty as was faced during the
journey from Uttarkashi in the beginning, was
faced again today. The widening and repairing
work of the road up to Bhatwadi camp was
going on. So the milestones were not there.
The road was steep and hence the journey
along it on foot was very exhausting. The way
all along surrounded with the beauty of the
Nov-Dec 2005
forest. Yet the delight and excitement it
generated in the beginning was diminishing
due to constantly seeing it all the twenty- four
hours of the day. The lonesome journey
through the unpeopled region was also getting
more and more monotonous. Anyone who is
used to the life of hustle and bustle in the
midst of people feels it difficult to bear the
pressure of solitude. When this loneliness and
hard physical strain tire the mind and the
body, the only desire is to know how much
distance has been covered and how much yet
remains to be covered. And it was not possible
to know in the absence of the milestones.
After walking some distance, it was usually
enquired from the travellers coming from the
other direction as to how far away the next
camp was. The distance to be walked was thus
estimated on the basis of that information.
Some travellers happened to be unresponsive
and would disregard the question and would
not answer. Some did not know the distance,
some would tell the approximate distance; but
their approximation differed by many miles.
So there was no certainty about the
correctness of the information given. It was
thus a hopeless situation for a lone traveller.
When travelling in a group of five or six
people, joyfully walking, talking and laughing,
the journey passes off without feeling any
strain but the difficult journey all alone is very
exacting. In such a situation the absence of
milestones was acutely felt during the journey
from Bhatwadi to Gangotri. In the absence of
the milestones the walls of the mountain was
whitewashed at places, and thereon the
distances were indicated in red figures like
25/6 and so on. It meant that the spot was 25
miles and 6 furlongs away from Dharasu. From
Nov-Dec 2005
the mileages of camps mentioned on the maps,
the distance to the next camp could be
assessed. In this loneliness this information on
the walls was very helpful. The entire journey
was completed in this manner. Each furlong
covered gave the solace that this much distance
has been covered and this much remained to
be covered.
Again, on the way from Gangotri to Gomukh,
there were no milestones or furlong stones
and the difficulty experienced on the way from
Uttarkashi to Gangotri was repeated. This
journey of 18 miles from Gomukh to Gangotri
was performed with great difficulty. The path
too was very hazardous. And to top it all was
the absence of the milestones that were the
travellers’ guide! While writing these lines, I
feel the distress all the more.
How insignificant is a milestone! Its cost,
qualification, ability, education, intelligence
etc., are all ridiculous. But it stands erect at a
fixed spot with a fixed duty. It never thinks
of moving from the spot. It knows only one
thing i.e. the distance from Dharasu to this
spot is so much. With this much knowledge it
has set out to serve. How useful its firm faith
proves to be. Innumerable travellers like me
get guidance from it and get relief from
worrying about the distance between the
places.
When a small piece of stone can serve to guide,
when a small earthen lamp of little value can
offer light in darkness and help save from
mishaps and dangers, should service-minded
human beings remain idle only because of
their ability, education, intelligence etc., being
little and limited? Everybody has some
drawbacks or shortcomings, but each one of
35
us can serve at least those among us who are
less educated, less intelligent and less
fortunate. Instead of indulging in useless talk
that such and such thing could be done if such
and such potentiality and ability were there,
would it not be better to do whatever we can
with whatever we are capable of to help and
guide others to better themselves? The
milestone knows only the distance between
Dharasu and Gangotri and nothing else. Yet
its service is not of any less importance. The
inconvenience and hardship caused by its
absence during the journey from Uttarkashi
to Bhatwadi is pestering me even in the midst
of the happy imagination of the joy. I am going
to have the Darshan (a view of the holy sight)
of Gomukh tomorrow.
Most of us are capable of serving humanity
better than the milestone. But the opportunity
to prove our utility will come only when we
firmly come forward with self- confidence and
dedication, with whatever ability we possess.
Own and Alien
Constant walking has caused blisters on the
feet. Today when I looked at the feet, there
were in all ten blisters of varying sizes. I had
worn canvas shoes hoping that they would be
convenient to walk on the hard terrain, but
they too caused two injuries. The small injuries
and blisters were whitish and the larger ones
filled with water inside were of yellow colour.
The walking became painful. It looked as
though the legs were expressing their
helplessness in walking.
The destination is far ahead. In any case I have
to reach at the appointed place by
Gurupoornima day, the full moon day of the
36
Hindu calendar month of Ashadh. What to do
when the legs are not in a fit condition?
Somehow I walked limping yesterday, but
today I feel it difficult. Some of the blisters
have ruptured and are becoming septic. If it
gets worse, walking would become extremely
difficult, and if I could not walk, I would not
be able to reach the destination in time. It
worried me the whole day. To walk barefoot
is also difficult. The entire way is littered
with sharp stone chips that pierce like thorns
into the feet and cause immense pain. A
solution was devised. Half of the ‘Dhoti’ was
torn out and divided into two pieces. Each
foot was bandaged with it. The shoes were
put in the bag. It worked. Slowly I started
walking.
On one side there were my own feet that
began to express their inability at my hour of
need, and on the other side was this bamboo
staff (lathi) which, God knows where it was
born and how and when it came to me, is
helping me like a brother. Like the old and
sick people, when they feel tired, are carried
by their near and dear ones on their
shoulders, this lathi, is lending me support like
one’s own relatives and friends.
The way beyond Gangnani camp was very
slippery due to rains. The path alongside
Ganga was narrow and the high mountain wall
stood beside it. On this perilous path, this lathi
alone helped to get over the difficulty. Had
this one too given way like the shoes, God
alone knows if I would have been here to
write these lines today.
The shoes that were bought with high hopes
have caused injuries. The legs that were relied
upon also expressed inability in this critical
Nov-Dec 2005
time. But this worth-less lathi proved to be so
helpful that I feel indebted to it to no end. I
feel like going on singing its praises.
Expectations from those that were one’s own
failed. It annoyed me much. But at the next
moment the thought of the faithfulness of
this unknown alien lathi, came to mind. It
gladdened me. Instead of worrying over and
cursing those that created trouble, why not
remember the one that has graciously helped
me reach here. Why think in terms of own
and aliens? In this creation of God all are
our own and all are aliens, too.
So Satisfied with So Little
Today all along the way I have been carefully
observing and pondering over the hazardous
life of the hilly people. Wherever small soil
patches measuring a few square feet are
found in the hills, they are made use of for
cultivation. Tilling the land using bullocks
is out of question here. So the job is done by
pickaxes. When the crop matures it is cut and
carried to their residences up above the hills,
where thrashing is carried out. Where there
are no streams, water from the valleys down
below is carried on heads or backs to the
mountain above. Mostly women do all this
backbreaking work including the collection
and carrying of firewood from the jungle
higher above.
These people have to climb up and down many
times more than we do on our journey that
tires us. They have no means of entertainment
either. They were clad in handspun woolen
or cotton clothes, mostly torn or patched. Yet
they were happy. While working in the fields
they were singing in chorus. Being not
Nov-Dec 2005
acquainted with their language, the meaning
of the songs could not be understood but the
joy and enthusiasm coming out of them was
easily comprehensible.
In comparison to the people here, those living
in the plains are many times better off in
wealth, education, food, shelter, clothing and
conveniences of all sorts. Comparatively they
have to toil much less. Yet they are unhappy
and dissatisfied. They always go on lamenting
their lot. In contrast, these people exude peace,
happiness and satisfaction by living on
whatever comes to their lot, after putting in
exacting hard work. Why this difference?
It appears that dissatisfaction is a tendency,
which is not due to lack of materials but on
account of greed. Greed cannot be satisfied
with materials. It is a bottomless abyss. Had
it not been so why should those living on the
plains with much more comforts than the hilly
people with so little, be unhappy and
dissatisfied? Why should the latter, with so
little, enjoy a peaceful and joyous life?
Having more means is not bad. They are also
necessary. But what is desirable is to be
satisfied with what one gets and not to indulge
in acquiring more than is required for leading
a decently simple life. And why remain
unhappy and dissatisfied by disregarding the
available gifts of God?
The path of modernity that we have adopted
for seeking the mirage of happiness by
spending more and more and still remaining
dissatisfied is not correct. It is amply
illustrated by these hilly people, though they
are unable to deliver lectures on it or write
thesis on this subject.
37
 My Life: Its Legacy and Message – 16
Establishment of
in Shantikunj, Haridwar
[Autobiography of P¿ jya Gurudev continued from the previous issue]
I returned from the Him³layas in 1972 to
Haridwar where I had already got a small
building named Shantikunj built earlier. It was
sufficient for the stay of M³t³jº and devkany³s
who were living with her. More land was
purchased and construction work was started.
The idea was to develop it into a RiÌi Âïram.
In the beginning living accommodation for
myself, my colleagues and guests, along with
a kitchen, was built.
This Âïram symbolizes Dev³tm³ Him³laya and
hence symbolic temples of Ganga, Uttrakhand
and seven RiÌis, and some other pre-eminent
RiÌis were built here. Within two years the
temple of Âdya-ïakti G³yatrº, wells and the
meeting hall were also built and Shantikunj
was turned into a tapasthalº (a centre for
spiritual pursuits). A small room for installing
the idol of G³yatrº M³t³ and the Akhand Dºp
had already been built earlier.
Twenty-four puraïcarañas of twenty-four lakhs
each were to be performed to awaken the
dormant energy (sansk³rs) of this land which
was lying barren since long. In the beginning
nine virgin girls performed jap for four hours
in the day and four hours in the night. Later,
the number of these girls was increased to 27.
38
G³yatrº Tºrth
They were all trained and taught by M³t³jº
and after a period of six years they all attained
the standards of graduation and post-
graduation. All these girls were suitably
married between the ages of twenty to
twenty-five years. Earlier, all these girls,
numbering more than hundred, were trained
in music and in delivering religious discourses
and were sent throughout the country in
batches of five for spreading the message of
the mission, especially in awakening of women
all over the country.
The work of moulding and preparing vibrant
and brilliant workers was taken in hand at
Haridwar and for this Pr³ñ praty³vartan camps,
Yug-ïilpº camps, V³nprastha camps of duration
of one month each were organized. The holy
atmosphere of Shantikunj, situated on the
banks of the holy Ganga and in the lap of the
Him³layas, surcharged with spiritual
vibrations, attracted and inspired hundreds
of persons who participated in the series of
small and big G³yatrº-puraïcarañas which were
started here for general category of s³dhaks.
Side by side, the training of self- sacrificing
v³nprasthis, who had dedicated their entire life
in the service of this mission, also continued.
All these s³dhaks were supplied with free food.
Nov-Dec 2005
The number of such s³dhaks continued steadily
increasing. The services of such self-
sacrificing, devout, full-time s³dhaks, who were
in conscious process of spiritual awakening,
were needed to revive RiÌi traditions by
engaging them in the spread of this
momentous missionary task.
Two hundred and fifty quarters were built in
Gayatri Nagar. A big hall to accommodate
about a thousand persons to listen to spiritual
discourses and a yagyaï³l³ with nine kuñds
were also built. Yagya is performed at
Shantikunj in the morning for two hours to
promote piety. It was so planned that the
permanent inmates of the Âïram and the
visitors participating in puraïcarañas may
jointly perform a puraïcaraña of twenty-four
lakh jap daily. A small press was also installed
for urgent work. In the meantime the
construction of the grand building of
Brahmavarchas Research Institute was taken
in hand. The completion of all these works
took about four years. In the meantime other
works which were necessary for the revival
of RiÌi traditions were also taken in hand,
according to feasibility.
Bhagv³n Buddha had organised vih³rs at
Nalanda and Taxila as great and world-
renowned centres of higher learning and
teaching, where inmates were trained and
deputed for delivering spiritual discourses
throughout the country and also in foreign
countries. Bhagv³n Adya Shankaracharya had
established four dh³ms in the four corners of
the country and he had tried to unite and
coordinate different schools of philosophy and
paths of spiritual s³dhan³, which were then
prevalent in the country. Both of them had
Nov-Dec 2005
initiated organisation of huge conferences and
seminars of Kumbha dimensions so that
important messages of the RiÌis could be
conveyed far and wide through the
participants. Both these activities were taken
in hand. It was decided to build and set up
temples and working centres in the form of
G³yatrº Ïaktipºthas and Prajó³ sansth³ns
throughout the country to spread the activities
and message of the Prajó³ mission in the
surrounding area.
Although it appeared to be a difficult task,
inspired and devoted persons took a pledge
and within a short period of two years 2400
Ïaktipºtha buildings were erected which are
being used as centres for spreading the light
and message of Yug-cetn³ from house to house.
This work is so vast and marvellous that even
the work done by Christian missionaries
stands no comparison with it. Churches,
temples and other institutions are built by
huge donations but our temples have been
built by small contributions made by devotees.
A campaign for running mobile Prajó³pºthas
was also launched. These are run by one
worker in a mobile push vehicle in his own
city or town and also in the surrounding areas.
Besides books, other articles are also kept in
it. Within a period of two years, about twelve
thousand such mobile Prajó³pºthas were
brought in operation. About one lakh persons
are being contacted and inspired every day
by these permanent and mobile Prajó³pºthas.
It was further arranged to celebrate four-day
annual functions of all these branches in which
at least a thousand persons could participate.
A team of four musicians and one speaker was
39
deputed in such celebrations from Haridwar
to convey New Year’s message to the
concerned centre. Jeeps were arranged for this
purpose so that the luggage of the workers,
musical instruments, loudspeakers etc. could
also be taken along with them. The driver of
the jeep is a trained mission worker. Every
worker is now being trained in the skill of
driving so that there may not be any difficulty
in this respect.
Most of the important literature had already
been published while I was living at Mathura.
After shifting to Haridwar, it was decided to
write eighteen volumes of Prajó³ Pur³ña in
Sanskrit, along with commentary and
illustrations and one folder of eight pages daily
to acquaint the people with the methods of
working of all the RiÌis. Four volumes of Prajó³
Pur³ña have already been published. Four
hundred folders have also been written. Most
of them have been published in Hindi and
other important languages.
In order to make arrangements for the spread
of the message in all important languages and
prepare trained workers in every region, a
school of languages and religious instructions
has been started in Shantikunj and it has
already started working satisfactorily.
The volunteers of this mission undertake
countrywide tours and inspire about ten lakh
devotees of the mission. The mission’s network
has been firmly established in Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa and
Maharashtra. Attempts are being made to
extend the field of operation and publicity,
within about four years time, to the remaining
40
regions of the country which could not be
touched so far due to language problems.
Indian migrants numbering nearly three crores
are staying abroad in about seventy-four
foreign countries. A successful scheme has
been launched to spread the ideology of the
mission amongst these migrants as well as
foreigners. It will be possible, in the near
future, to spread the light and message of the
mission through capable workers in several
foreign countries. There is hardly any country
inhabited by Indian migrants where a centre/
branch of this mission has not been set up.
In order to vigorously extend RiÌi traditions,
about a thousand self- sacrificing workers are
constantly engaged in this work. For this, a
Gurukul Ârañyak in the tradition of RiÌi
Jamadagni works regularly at Shantikunj. In
reviving Charak tradition, a garden of rare
medicinal herbs has been developed in
Shantikunj and research is being conducted
with the help of state-of the-art scientific
instruments. The theory of treatment by only
one medicine at a time is being followed here
and the same has proved very efficacious.
Thousands of persons have been trained so
far in light music through Yug-ïilpº vidy³laya
at Shantikunj and such trained persons are
running schools and preparing persons in Yug-
sangºt in their respective areas.
The earth is influenced by inter-planetary
atmosphere. Information about this is of great
importance. It becomes necessary to rectify
deviations in astronomical arithmetic after
every five thousand years. To revive this
science of Aryabhatta, an observatory
Nov-Dec 2005
(Vedhï³l³) on the lines of ancient instruments
has been built in Gayatri Nagar and planetary
observations, including those of Neptune,
Pluto, Uranus are made and an almanac,
unique of its kind, is published from here
every year.
A new project of mass moral education
through audio-visual media has been taken up.
Earlier, slide projectors were sent to all the
branches of the mission. Now the medium of
video is being utilized. Inspiring films on the
basis of music, poems, etc. and discourses of
eminent persons are being prepared and
projected through the medium of video sets.
A grand scheme of preparing a film to explain
the objects, nature and benefits of the
programmes of this mission is being taken in
hand and is going to materialize shortly.
The greatest creation of this mission is the
Brahmavarchas Research Institute. A
laboratory consisting of several valuable
scientific instruments and apparatus has
been set up here to conduct research on
synthesis of science and spirituality. It is
being staffed by workers who are graduates
and post-graduates in medical sciences,
Ayurveda, etc. and other branches of modern
sciences and who are also spiritually
oriented. Research is being conducted
specifically in the science of yagya. Its results
have been found to be encouraging with
regard to its healing impact on physical and
mental diseases, on animals and vegetation
and in refining environment and
atmosphere.
The health of all the participants attending
various camps at Shantikunj is examined and
Nov-Dec 2005
they are advised to do s³dhan³ accordingly.
This is a unique research laboratory, first of
its kind in the whole world. People are given
inspiration and training in different branches.
Other more important projects are going to
be taken up in future.
Millions of people of G³yatrº pariv³r, while
going for pilgrimage to Uttarakhand, begin
their pilgrimage by paying a visit to Shantikunj
and by applying its dust on their foreheads.
Considering it a Ïaktipºtha (a dynamo for
generation of spiritual power), they visit
Shantikunj and get anna-pr³ïan, n³mkarañ,
muñdan and yajóopavºt sansk³rs of their children
performed here. Arrangements have also been
made to perform ïr³ddha and tarpañ rituals of
pitras (deceased ancestors). People come here
in large numbers to celebrate their birthdays
and marriage anniversaries. A large number
of parijans come to Shantikunj, Haridwar and
Tapobhumi Mathura to get marriages of their
sons and daughters solemnized here as per
vedic rites and without incurring avoidable
expenses on dowry, receptions, pomp and
show and outmoded customs.
When I was entrusted with the task of
reviving the work of ancient RiÌis, I was in a
dilemma, as taking up so stupendous a work
in hand needed not only vast sums of money
but also thousands of committed workers of
high moral and spiritual calibre. All other
institutions have paid employees. But those
who are working in Shantikunj and
Brahmavarchas Research Institute are persons
who have come after voluntarily resigning
their highly lucrative technical posts. Some of
them take meals in Shantikunj kitchen; some
41
pay its cost from the interest of their bank There has been no occasion to ask for
deposits, while some are maintaining donations from anyone for undertaking all
themselves on their pension. Several persons these works. The mantra given by Malviyaji
swayed by emotions come to join but only about collecting handful of grain and ten paisa
those who understand the fundamental daily has brought this miracle. This work is
objectives of the mission and the ideology of bound to go on extending. A full-fledged high
its founder are able to stick and stay here school and an intermediate college and a
permanently. It is gratifying to note that more hospital are functioning at my birthplace,
and more sincere and devoted persons are village Awalkheda in Agra district, which I
getting continuously linked with this mission. left long back. The work at Mathura has
increased almost four times after I left it.
One will hardly find another instance where Slowly and steadily other competent persons
so many persons would be working for a have started shouldering my responsibilities.
mission day and night as volunteers without I am confident that this work will go on
taking a single paisa for their maintenance. increasing as time passes. It is the work of Riïis,
Only Shantikunj is lucky in this respect, where which will continue spreading like Matsy³vat³r
highly qualified persons with undergraduate, in this era of incarnation of Prajó³vat³r. I may
post-graduate and doctorate degrees in or may not choose to remain in this physical
humanities, science, medical science, Ayurveda, frame for long but my invisible astral self will
Sanskrit etc. are working as volunteers. Hardly go on accomplishing all the work which RiÌis
can one find such humility, service- have entrusted to me.
mindedness, industriousness and devotion
elsewhere as is found in these dedicated,
efficient and intelligent workers.
A Quaker had this sign put up on vacant piece of land next to his home: “This land will be
given to anyone who is truly satisfied.”
A wealthy farmer who was riding by stopped to read the sign and said to himself, “Since our
friend the Quaker is so ready to part with this plot, I might as well claim it before someone else
does. I am a rich man and have all I need, so I certainly qualify.”
With that he went up to the door and explained what he was there for. “And art thou truly
satisfied?” the Quaker asked.
“I am, indeed, for I have everything I need.”
“Friends,” said the Quaker, “if thou art satisfied, what dost thou want the land for?”
While others strive for wealth, the enlightened, being content with what they have, possess it
without striving.
Being well content with little, they are rich as Kings. A King himself is a pauper when his
kingdom does not suffice him.

42 Nov-Dec 2005

T he institution of marriage forms the
nucleus of social order. All social customs,
rituals, and conventions are built around it.
Different types of marriage practices are
prevalent in different parts of our country. In
other countries of the world, too, many novel
marriage customs exist, still surviving in one
form or the other, among other aborigines and
tribes. Many of these practices are really very
interesting and unique.
These marriages take different names and
forms in different parts of our country: for
example, ‘birhare’ and ‘paithu’ in Bihar, ‘golag-
dhero’ among Gujarati Bhils, ‘ghotul’ in the
‘sonds’ of Bastar and so on. In the ‘paithu’
custom, the position of girls is dominant;
they forcibly start residing, even before
marriage, in the house of whichever boy
they like. Marriage follows later. In the
‘golag-dhero’ practice of Gujarat a ‘swayamvar’
is organized on holi. Some ‘gur’ and
‘coconut’ is tied to the top of a pole. Around
this pole dance all the women and girls of
the village forming a circle and the men folk,
too, in an outer circle. In this competition,
winner is the man who is able to break
through the inner cordon of women and
take out the ‘gur’ and coconut. He gets the
privilege of choosing any of the women
present as his wife. But to reach the pole is
Nov-Dec 2005
Strange and Peculiar
Marriage Rites
a tough job. The women do everything
possible to foil him. Beating with brooms,
pulling hair, throwing stones, even biting –
all are resorted to.
In the ‘Motia’ tribe of north Garhwal and
Kumaon districts boys have full freedom to
select their life partner. When the barat reaches
the bride’s place the groom attempts to take
away the bride in a doli (palanquin) even
before performing any rite. There ensues a
mock fight between the two sides. The bride’s
side is ‘defeated’ and ‘bidai’ (farewell to the
bride) takes place. After a week or so, the two
sides reach a compromise, which is followed
by a feast and singing and dancing.
In the districts of Mymensinh, Gwalpara and
Kamrup of Bengal and Assam the ‘goro’ tribals
are known as ‘head – hunters’. Theirs is a
matrilineal system. The search for a groom
ends in selection of the boy whose garland
has the maximum number of skulls and who
gives the most ferocious look. In the ‘Khas’
tribe of Jaunsar Bawar of western U. P., the
marriage rites in themselves are not as strange
as their beliefs. The most unusual feature is
the existence of polyandry. After the marriage
of one brother, his wife is deemed to be the
wife of other brothers, too. This system is
called “Draupadi – Vivah”. Draupadi is
43
worshipped as a deity by the women here.
The marriage is celebrated by free flow of
liquor and other intoxicants.
Matching horoscopes is a common practice in
Hindu families. But the custom takes a very
odd form in the ‘Khog’ community residing in
Northeast frontier areas of our country. In this
community, the groom’s father searches for a
bride. After the marriage has been fixed the
groom and bride’s sides arrive with a cock
and hen respectively before a gathering of the
elders and other respected members of the
community. The priest cuts the tongues of the
two birds and tallies them. If the signs match,
the marriage is considered auspicious and is
approved. Other rites are in the community
tradition.
In the ‘Ahir’ caste of Kutch in Gujarat,
marriages are solemnized on only one day in
the whole year. They traditionally consider
only the thirteenth day of Baishakh as auspicious
supposedly because on this day Arjun and
Subhadra (sister of Sri Krishna) were married
and only on this day Krishna’s blessing bears
fruit. So the Ahirs organize the big community
wedding on this day where the numerous
couples are married according to their
different customs. The men folk too, like
women wear heavy jewellery in ears, neck and
feet. No ‘mantra’ or hymns are chanted but
four circumambulations of fire are made. Even
the death of very close kins and relatives
cannot postpone a marriage fixed for this day.
The ‘Encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics’
enumerates many types of marriages –
intercaste, intracaste etc. In ancient Britain,
polyandry was practiced. A woman had ten
44
to twelve husbands, one of which would be
her own brother. In Ireland, dowry had to be
paid by the groom. His father-in-law
exercised proprietary right over this dowry
for twenty-one years. In Irish history, there
is an instance of one King marrying his own
mother. His wives included his two sisters
too. According to F. L. Griffith, marriage
between brother and sister is common in the
‘Aakure’ community in Egypt.
W. T. Woodhouse has given an interesting
account of a Greek marriage. The bride is
decorated with multi -colored paints. Her
toys, dolls and various items of make-up also
form part of the dowry. If the agreed dowry
amount is not paid at the time of ‘bidai’ the
groom’s side realizes the same later on with
interest. A very unusual feature here is that
the bride’s safety and protection is in
proportion to the quantum of dowry. In Iran,
silver coins are given before marriage and
these hold a special significance during and
after the marriage. Here, too, ‘haldi’ (turmeric)
is applied to both the bride and the groom.
A book titled ‘Marriage in Japan’ throws much
light on the marriage parties in Japan and
Korea. In the ‘Taihasyo’ community of Japan
both the bride and the groom receive gifts of
wine, which they serve nine times each to the
other. Thereafter a grand feast is held. In
Korea, the bride is elder to the groom.
Polygamy is prohibited and remarriage takes
place only six months after divorce.
Sage Abraham’s work ‘Book of Delight’
contains details of Jewish marriage. A girl is
considered auspicious upto thirteen years of
age. Her consent is essential for marriage and
Nov-Dec 2005
to obtain this consent a variety of means are
resorted to which occasionally take the form
of full-scale festivities. In Israel, women give
seven blessings through songs in front of the
family deity.
W. B. Fowler has mentioned about marriage
rites in Rome in his research work ‘Religious
Experiences of the Roman People’. In Rome,
the month of May is considered inauspicious
and the first week of June auspicious for
marriage purpose. The bride wears a red or
yellow ceremonial headgear. Her hair are
arranged in four flowered bunches, which
is probably a throwback to some ancient
custom. Sacred thread is tied to the bride’s
left hand and the groom’s right hand. Then
they make rounds of the ‘yajna vedi’ and
other sacred spots. At the time of ‘bidai’ the
groom pulls the bride with jerk. This ritual
concludes the wedding. The bride is given
three silver coins of which one she dedicates
to her husband, one to the ‘yajna’ fire and
the third to the sky for the good of her future
life. Some famous women in history, such
as Caesar’s mother Julia and Cario Lance had
been married according to these rites.
According to J. Macaulay the Slav people of
Slovak still continue with the old custom of
winning a bride in battle. Two kinds of
preparations run side by side at the time of
DISCIPLE: “What is the Tao?”
MASTER: “Everything is TAO.”
DISCIPLE: “How can I get it?”
MASTER: “If you try to get it, you will miss it.”
No one is ever natural who tries to be natural; or tries not to try!
Nov-Dec 2005
marriage- one for wedding ceremony and the
other for battle. Only the winner gets to
garland the girl as his bride. Both the bride
and the groom are heavily made-up. The bride
is hidden out of view and the groom has to
search her out. After this a baby is put in the
lap of the bride as a mark of her own future
offspring. In Southern Russia, a hen is used in
place of the baby on this occasion. The bride
here is given a long hat to wear. She then ties
the hands and feet of her husband. Only after
this ritual the marriage is considered complete.
In Ambran and Ukimas group of islands the
husband has to live at his in-law’s place and
under the domination of his wife until he pays
back the value of his wife to his father in-law.
All the children born to the wife also remain
under the control of his father- in-law. In
Serang this dowry is collected from the groom
at the time of the bride’s ‘bidai’ itself. In Torres,
the bride’s father demands from the groom
all his future offspring in dowry.
Be that as it may, marriage is a long-standing
social institution at the core of which lies the
desire for progress of man, family and society.
So all of us should maintain the sanctity of this
institution through mutual adjustment and
cooperation. The values of sacrifice, patience and
tolerance in a marriage should be preserved to
make life happy, prosperous and fulfilling.
45
Amrit V³ñº
Don’t Ignore the Call
of the All-Conquering Time-Spirit-II
Translation of a discourse of P¿jya Gurudev on
“Mah³k³la Kº Puk³ra Ansuni Na Kareó”: Continued from the previous issue)

M y children, our Yug Nirman mission is
dedicated to the social, cultural,
intellectual and spiritual transformation. Our
hands may be weak, we may be small in
number, but our devotion to the noble cause
of meeting the call of the Time-Spirit is
steadfast. We shall run with our small buckets
of water to extinguish the fire around, to
quench the thirst of drying throats. Small
steps lead to great heights. I have drawn a
four-phase plan over the crucial period of two
to three decades of Yug-Sandhi to be
implemented for shaping a brighter tomorrow
for all.
Apart from the s³dhan³-sessions for spiritual
refinement of personality and training courses
on self-reliant education and moral-
upliftment, our ongoing local projects include:
self-refinement; social reformation; mass
awakening and education and eradication of
blind faith and evil customs through religious
platforms; total health; altruistic service;
alternative and eco-friendly solutions to
water, health-food and energy-resource
generation and management, revival of the
Rishi-Culture in modern scientific light, etc.
In addition, I have formulated four special
tasks for our participation in the mission of
Mah³kala. You might be well aware of the
Yug Nirman activities and may get further
information and guidance about it from
Gayatri Pariwar Centres. These pertain to
grass-roots work in the physical world. I have
talked to you about these at length earlier and
will continue to guide and provide help in
your efforts in any of our numerous activities
initiated at local levels. But what I am going
to talk to you today deals with the subtle
realms of consciousness.
The four experiments I will outline here
happen to be of successively higher spiritual
levels. Each is subtler than the previous one.
Participation in the first one itself will initiate
your spiritual growth and enlightenment. I
can’t promise of my presence in this physical
sheath till the completion of these. But rest
assured, I will continue to guide and support
you from the sublime realms till the
accomplishment of this unique project.
We have to work on many fronts, there are
many challenges to meet, many wrongs that
need to be rectified and set right. The most
challenging crisis of today is the crisis of faith
(³sth³-sankaÚa). Today’s man has become
‘intellectual’ at the cost of neglecting his
sensitivity. He hardly has faith in human
values leave aside the divine disciplines. Our
earlier generation was better and happier than

46 Nov-Dec 2005
us despite much lesser resources. For example,
my mother had no school education but the
sansk³ras (mental impressions) I imbibed from
her were sagacious and saintly, which a noble
guru gives to his disciples; as though she fed
me with great moral and ethical values of
personal and social import with her milk.
There are many great people like her, who
may not have any visible status or intellectual
distinctions but their being is pervaded with
virtuous tendencies.
Look at the other side, World history is
replete with instances where sharp brains,
erudite intellects have ruined civilizations.
Many of the global terrorist groups today pose
ever-new challenges before the super powers.
Isn’t their intellect as sharp as of the giants
amongst thinkers, scientists and
technologists? They demonstrate the extremes
of alienated intellect or brilliance without
human sentiments. Our single-track
materialist progress, narrow vision of success
and near total neglect or misinterpretation of
ethical values are making us more selfish,
arrogant and merciless and driving us
towards a dangerous edge of collective
extinction.
So the priority task in our hands is fighting
against ³sth³-sankaÚa. We will have to
accelerate the “Vichar Kranti Abhiyan”.
Dissemination of true knowledge, cultivation
and propagation of noble tendencies and
values via mass awareness and education
programs are key features of this. This
movement will gain great momentum with the
force of spirituality of the s³dhaks like you,
whose number is going to increase all over
the world; irrespective of their religions and
Nov-Dec 2005
nationalities the influence of saintly souls will
attract more and people towards spiritual
practices.
You will have to contribute to create the
favorable ambience for this divine awakening
of mankind. You should be more sincere and
regular in your daily japa and meditation of
the Gayatri Mantra with deeper faith. Add one
more practice in it from the New Year day or
your birthday. This appears similar to a
pr³ñ³y³ma but requires intrinsic feeling of
attracting the spiritual energy flow emanating
from the preeminent angelic aura of the
Supreme Force of Gayatri. Imagine and feel
through your heart that – as an infant sucks
milk from his mother’s breasts - your soul is
absorbing this elixir blessed by the Divine
Mother Gayatri and is getting surcharged with
immense energy for transacting your duties
throughout the day. In the night, you exhale
this pr³ña (spiritual vital energy) to expand like
a bow and purify the surroundings. You will
be given practical guidance and training here
to adopt this new spiritual practice. You
should also incorporate in the daily routine
the s³dhan³s of ³tmabodh for a few minutes in
the morning after getting up and tatvabodh for
a few minutes at night before going to sleep.
The second experiment is the Yug-Sandhi
Mahapuraïcaran for awakening of collective
consciousness. This would require thousands
(and progressively the millions) of dedicated
s³dhakas of Gayatri Up³san³ across the globe
collectively doing a specific meditation and
pr³ñay³ma at a particular time interval around
the Sunrise time. Like the superimposition of
sound waves and the resonance effect, the
collective flow of consciousness currents
47
during collective prayers and meditations
generates unique power, the impact of which
is exponential as compared to that of
individual prayers, etc.
The Vedic mantras are masterpiece discoveries
of our sages of yore who had access to the
occult science of the primordial sound as well
as its extrasensory vibrations in the
microworld and the cosmic expansion.
Collective chanting of mantras, as we do at
the time of a havan or yagya, multiplies the
physicochemical and psychological benefits
manifold. The Gayatri Mantra, the source of
the holy Vedas is an eternal mantra of Creation.
Its japa, with meditation on the rising Sun, is
essential for spiritual refinement. It inspires
spiritual illumination of intellect and awakens
the soul.
While crossing a bridge, the army columns are
advised to walk out-of-step and not in-step.
This is because the sound generated by the
in-step march of soldiers can break stout
bridges of iron. If the effect of superimposition
of ordinary beats of audible sound could be
so intense, then imagine the gigantic impact
of collective rhythmic repetition of the Gayatri
Mantra on the sublime fields of consciousness!
If several people chant the mantra in the same
rhythm, same pitch, same tune, same
amplitude as per the Vedic Codes, it generates
enormous energy. The collective s³dhan³
up³san³ with the Gayatri Mantra amounts to
grand churning of the subtle worlds. The
larger the number of devotees engrossed in
its japa simultaneously, the greater would be
the impact in generating waves of spirituality,
purification of the subtle world and the
48
ideosphere and awakening of the inner realms
of consciousness.
So the two major tasks we have to initiate are
– special experiments of Gayatri Up³san³ at
personal level and Mah³puraïcaran S³dhan³ at
the collective level. The reformative and
constructive welfare activities taken up by our
mission will continue with accelerating pace;
many social organizations would also
contribute in that regard. But these two
spiritual experiments need our special
attention and sincere participation as devotees
of Gayatri.
The third principal project for yug-sandhi is that
of Deva-Sth³pan³ and related higher-level
anuÌÚh³ns. This will be assigned to the
deserving s³dhakas amongst you to prepare the
desired atmosphere in your family for the
arrival of elevated souls.
Every incarnation of God brings along a team
of his associates in different forms as per the
need of the era. Lord Ram’s incarnation
appeared as the son of Dasharath and
Kaushalya, as the latter were rishi-souls. But
there were no other parents in the country
who were s³dhakas of that kind. So the divine
entities destined to descend on the earth took
the forms of Monkeys and Beers. No army,
no congregations of the people of Ayodhya,
could do what these groups of wild animals
did as associates of Lord Ram.
This time, there are no embodied giants or
demons to be destroyed. All the horrifying
inharmonies that threaten to shake the balance
of Nature have been inflicted by mankind.
Therefore the penance and the Herculean
Nov-Dec 2005
responsibility of rectification will have to be
done by the human race. All associates of
Divine Incarnation will also descend in human
forms. Many of the divine powers are keen to
arrive on this earth to support materialization
of the epochal plan of the Time-Spirit. Several
of the great souls who are at present existing
in the subtle bodies are also waiting to be born
as human beings to help lay the foundation of
a new world order, a new system suited for
the Age of Truth. The change will pick up
speed through the noble efforts of the beatified
souls charged with spiritual energies. But
where will they land? They would require
suitable parents and familial ambience where
they would be born in human form and get
the proper sansk³ras and ambience.
The likes of Hanuman, Bharat, Arjuna and
Bhim of the Ramayana and Mahabharat times,
Tukaram, Kabir and Tulsi of the Bhakti Age
and Gandhi, Nehru, Vallabha and
Shubhaschandra of India’s Freedom
Movement are the urgent need of today. But
they can’t be born to just any parents. It will
be a shame on humanity if no deserving
parents are found here and the great souls are
compelled to be born to undeserving families.
The awakened souls among you will have to
come forward to prevent this disaster.
Those couples amongst you who wish to have
noble-souled children will have to be s³dhaks
like Manu and Shatrupa. You will have to pray
like Kunti to invite angels in your laps. The
plans of Dev-Stath³pan³ followed by
observance of certain strict disciplines, penance
and spiritual practices (anuÌÚh³nas) with yagya
for specific duration are aimed at such a prior
preparation for welcoming these angelic souls
Nov-Dec 2005
waiting to be born as humans.. Those of you
who are willing to participate in this unique
experiment will be given necessary guidance
and training at Shantikunj; special
arrangements have been made for your stay,
where you would perform the s³dhan³ in the
sanctified atmosphere.
“Pariwar Nirman” (making and management of
ideal families) has been an important part of
the personal, familial and social development
programs of our mission. You all have been
trained in how to nurture noble cultural values
and sansk³ras in the children. Your purity and
devotion, your sensitivity and virtuous
conduct will help in corresponding molding
of your child’s personality. A mother is the
first teacher of the child. Howsoever great the
soul of the child might be, it is the responsible
mother and the adept ambience of the family
that help in manifestation of his/her
potentials.
The threat posed by falling familial values and
bonds of affection is no less than that of
terrorism. Both reduce the chances of survival
of human race. The root of falling familial
values also lies in degradation of the marriage
institution. The marriages which are like
business contract (as in the West), or which
are oppressed by the curse of dowry (as in
India) would only lead to increasing the
future generations of cunning hoodlums,
deluded drug-addicts or tyrants like Kans and
Duryodhana.
Our schemes of ideal marriages without any
barrier of caste or insane customs of dowry,
extravagant parties, etc aim at checking this
deterioration. It is a farsighted trend-setting
49
plan. Its propagation along with the
dissemination of the “Pariwar Nirman”
principles will expand the population of
virtuous children, teenagers and youth, who
will build the edifice of happy and bright
future.
Fulfillment of great visions is possible only
through Herculean efforts. Spiritual
endeavors of cosmic grandeur have become
necessary to meet the call of Time-Spirit in this
transitional phase of eras. The fourth
experiment planned by me falls in this
category. It is sublime in nature and beyond
your comprehension. It is the Sukïmikaraña
S³dhan³. It is a supernatural experiment of
subtlization of the pr³ña and cosmic expansion
of the individual self for spiritual activation
and illumination of the sublime realms of
consciousness and awakening of the Kuñdalini
of the whole human race. I am now devoting
myself in this endeavor.
|| OM SHANTI ||
Notes– Dev-Sth³pan³: Sacrament of invocation
and enshrinement of divine powers.
Japa: Rhythmic enunciation with mental
engrossment.
S³dhan³: Devout spiritual endeavor aimed at
inner refinement and elevation; it begins with
dedicated efforts of self-transformation
through control over mind and other internal
and external senses.
Up³san³: Devout worship or devotional
practice to enable the devotee recall and
experience Thy-Presence within and around
him. The word meaning of “up³san³” is ‘to sit
near’. In simple terms, it is a devotional
practice of sitting near God, i.e., having an
emotional proximity with divinity that induces
awakening of divine qualities hidden in the
devotee’s soul.
Vichar Kranti Abhiyan: An altruistic mission
aimed at revolutionary spiritual refinement of
people’s thinking and sentiments.

One of Junaid’s followers came to him with a purseful of gold coins.

“Have you any more gold coins?” asked Junaid.
“Yes, many more.”
“And you are attached to them?”
“I am.”
“Then you must keep this too, for your need is greater than mine. Since I have
nothing and desire nothing, I am much wealthier than you are, you see.”
The heart of the enlightened is like a mirror: it grasps nothing, refuses nothing, it
receives but does not keep.

50 Nov-Dec 2005