Tag: Spiritual

Divine anger, Narasimha and Narayan mantra
Healing · Mantra · music · Spiritual

Divine anger, Narasimha and Narayan mantra

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Narasimha, according to Hinduism, was the fourth avatar of Vishnu. In this form, Vishnu had the body of a man, but he had a head of a lion. This avatar of Vishnu is also a symbol of great strength. He is a form of divine anger. When evil increases beyond a limit, it is divine anger which restores balance on this Earth. Praying to God Narasimha is great for a person’s Manipur chakra, i.e., the energy centre of their identity. It strengthens a person’s confidence, belief in themselves and balances their ego. It helps them assert and keep their boundaries.

A beautiful Kundalini mantra by Nirinjan Kaur can help us balance our solar plexus and bring it to the strength similar to that of Lord Narasimha. Here is the mantra (translation below), listen to it for 40 days and see the difference in your self confidence :

Meaning of the mantra (taken from https://spiritvoyage.com) :

The Name of the Immaculate Narayan(Lord) is the Ambrosial Water.
Chanting it with the tongue, sins are washed away.

The Lord abides in everyone.
The Lord illumines each and every heart.
Chanting the Lord’s Name, one does not fall into hell.
Serving the Lord, all fruitful rewards are obtained.

Within my mind is the Support of the Lord.
The Lord is the boat to help you sail the waters of this world.
Chant the Lord’s Name, and the Messenger of Death will run away.
The Lord helps you see through the illusion of Maya.

The Lord is forever and ever the Forgiver.
The Lord blesses us with peace and bliss.
The Lord has revealed His glory.
The Lord is the mother and father of His Saint.

The Lord, the Lord, is in the company of simple people, i.e., the Company of the Holy.
Time and time again, I sing the Lord’s Praises.
Meeting with the Guru, I have attained the
incomprehensible object Nanak has grasped.

Moksha mantra
Healing · Mantra · Sanskrit · Spiritual

Moksha mantra

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In Hinduism there is a mantra called the “Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra”, this mantra is very useful for people who are suffering with physical ailments, for people who are about to leave their body, or those who have already left their body, or those who died in a sudden way, as well as, for the loved ones of the person who has passed away. It is usually chanted either 21 times or 108 times.

English : Om Trayambakam Yajamahe, Sugandhim Pushti Vardhanam,

Urvarukmiv Bandhanat, Mrityurmokshaya Mamratat.

Sanskrit : ॐ त्रयम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।

उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् म्रुत्योर्मुक्षिय मामृतात्

Meaning:

  • Om : Naad brahm – the sacred sound
  • Triyambakam : Three eyed Lord Shiva
  • Yajamahe: Worshiped in Yagya or sacred fire rituals
  • Sugandhim: Fragrant
  • Pushti vardhanam: Nourisher of health, wealth and life
  • Uravaruk : Cucumber-like – physical and mundane
  • Bandhanan: Bondage or fetters like
  • Mrityu : Death like
  • Mukshiya: Liberate or give Moksha
  • Ma : Me
  • Amritat: Divine nectar of life, serenity and prosperity

Om, Tryambaka (the three-eyed Shiva), fragrant nourisher of life. May we be bestowed with liberation from this cycle of life and death, just as a cucumber is severed from its bondage to the creeper.

This mantra was incorporated very beautifully in a Hindi movie called ‘Neerja’. The plot is based on a real-life event: Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization’s hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of the flight’s head purser, Neerja Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane; Neerja died trying to help save 359 of the 379 passengers and crew on board. Posthumously, she became the youngest recipient of India’s highest peacetime gallantry, the Ashok Chakra Award, as well as several other accolades from the government of Pakistan and the United States.

I see love
love · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

I see love

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I see love in the twirling leaves

I see love in the dancing breeze

I see love when you make the sky

your paint palette everyday

Some say that you rule by fear

But when I look, I only find love here

Perhaps they misunderstand

the fear is only an ego illusion

When they look closer they will find

in love, their ego dissolution

Golden Ocean
feel good · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

Golden Ocean

radhikab

God made you in the God mind

and then God threw his head back

and smiled.

A thousand suns filled the sky

and started setting one after another

in a golden ocean.

And that’s how you were made.

When I am gone
feel good · love · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

When I am gone

radhikab

When my body is dying

And my soul is on its way out

Take me near the trunk of that mighty tree

The one that was my refuge

The one that supported me

Let me lie near my beloved

And let my body rot in the mud

My soul can witness this union

What comes from the Earth,

goes back to the Earth

Let me help my beloved

Thrive a little more

Provide the nutrients

Of my flesh and bones

And when some birds come

To eat my eyes, let them

Let me give back to dear mother nature

For I have lived and only taken

And then when I become one

With the mighty tree

Maybe one day my son will

Pass by below me

Maybe he will touch the mighty tree’s trunk

And feel it’s leaves

Maybe in it, he will feel his mother’s touch

His mother’s love, care and protection

It’s all still there

Hafiz poem interpretation – What Happens
Hafez · love · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

Hafiz poem interpretation – What Happens

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Here is my interpretation of Hafiz’s poem ‘What Happens’

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you 
One of His wonderful, wild companions –

Like Hafiz.

In this poem Hafiz first describes someone who is falling in love – in the worldly ‘love’ sense – with another human being, with expectations of love being returned. This ‘great journey’ of love is what slowly makes this human being feel alive. In this love, we make a lot of heroic promises which we obviously break over time as this love/relationship becomes a mundane thing in our life. He says, God is truly amused at this childlike behavior of humans but God still appreciates that humans try to be noble, brave and saintly in the name of love.

Then he says, similarly a person might have another type of soul awakening to love – but this time, it could be to a divine type of love – one that is free of attachments and expectations. It is the deep need to love anyone whom you see hurting or suffering, the need to serve those who need help. What happens to a person like this? Hafiz answers this by saying that God will send you one of his messengers to help you out, to show you the way, to guide you. A messenger, just like Hafiz 🙂

Taken from  ‘I Heard God Laughing : Renderings of Hafiz’ by Daniel Ladinsky.

Image credit : me

 

Gibran poem interpretation – On Children
Khalil Gibran · love · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

Gibran poem interpretation – On Children

radhikab

Here is my interpretation of Gibran’s poem ‘On Children’

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, 
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 
and He bends you with His might 
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

In this poem, Khalil Gibran – who himself did not have any child, is giving a message to parents about their children. He says that the children who are born to you – are not yours, you as parents do not ‘own’ or ‘posses’ them. You and your partner have been chosen by God to be the channel for this life – body, soul and spirit – to come into existence. You are to give them love and care, you will take care of their needs until the time they can do it for themselves – but that does not mean that in return for this you indoctrinate them with your thoughts. If you let them have thoughts of their own, they will surprise you with their brilliance. He says instead of teaching them, we can learn from them and strive to be like them. He says that parents are the bow from which the children shoot forward as the arrows – and God is the archer, orchestrating all of this. He says, be glad – you have this joy of being a parent – do all you do for your children in that gladness. For as God loves the brilliant arrows being shot forward – he similarly loves a bow which is strong, balanced, grounded and stable. He is basically, asking the parents to be a solid foundation for the children; solve your own issues – so that you don’t shake up your child’s childhood by your own mental imbalances; grow up first – before you try to help them grow up.

Taken from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

Image credits : me 🙂

Ganapati Bappa Morya!
feel good · Ganesha · love · Poem · Spiritual

Ganapati Bappa Morya!

radhikab

My father chopped off my head

I died. He attached an Elephant head instead

And resurrected me – for he was the God Shiva.

I saw his regret and forgave him in a heartbeat

Adored, loved and respected him ever since.

This is how Lord Ganesha, came into being.

 

Do you think, you will be able to do that?

Forgive the one who chops off your head?

Can you forgive the car that cuts off in front of you in the city traffic?

The boss who makes you feel worthless?

The spouse who has no time to hear your heartfelt thoughts?

The parents who did not understand their sensitive child?

All those who make these tiny cuts in your soul – day in and day out?

Can you forgive them?

 

That is why Ganesha is God and we are mere mortals.

Let us pray, that God Shiva chop off our ego-heads

and replaces it with one full of wisdom and knowledge,

just like Ganesha’s and all our obstacles shall begone.

 

Ganapati Bappa Morya! Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Image credit : me 🙂

 

 

 

 

Marathi poem with translation – मनाचा आरसा (Mind’s mirror)
Marathi · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

Marathi poem with translation – मनाचा आरसा (Mind’s mirror)

radhikab

मनाचा आरसा

आपल्या सर्वांमधे असतो एक आरसा
हा कधी दिसत नाही
पण आपल्या असण्याची
जाणीव नेहमी करून देतो

ज्या भावना आपण स्वतःशी लपवतो
त्यांचं प्रतिबिंब हा दाखवतो
कधी स्वप्नांमधे,
कधी ह्या जीवनाच्या स्वप्नात

हा सगळं शोधून काढतो
आणि मग ह्या मोह-माये मधे
त्या भावनांना व्यक्त करतो
चांगल्या-वाईट परिस्थितीनमध्ये झोकतो

हे सगळं हा आपल्यासाठीच करतो
आपण आपल्या भावनांचे मान करावे
त्यांना शुद्रांसारखे दूर न ढकलता
त्यांच्यामधे पूर्णपणे एकरूप होऊन
त्यानां आपलाच भाग बनवावे
हीच या आरश्याची इच्छा

आरसा म्हणतो,
आरे माणसा, ज्या दिवशी
माझ्यामध्ये मला काहीच दिसणार नाही
त्या दिवशी मी फुटणार आणि
माझ्यासोबत तू ही मुक्त

राधिका

Here is a rough translation of the poem in English :
Inside all of us, there is a mirror – mind’s mirror
We cannot see it, but it makes it’s presence felt.
Whichever feelings we suppress,
This mirror shows us it’s reflection
Either in dreams or in this illusionary world that we live in.
The mirror pushes us into worldly situations
Where we are made to feel these suppressed emotions again
It does this so that we see this feeling, acknowledge it and make it a part of our own being instead of disowning it.
The mirror tells us ‘Human, the day I see no reflection in myself – I will get destroyed and along with me, you will be free from this cycle of Samsara (life, death and rebirth)’
Image credit : https://teejaw.com/self-reflection-can-be-good-for-you/