The painful saga of Bhojpur....

I have scribbled down some part of my memory from my way back …..just an attempt, hope it finds its expression!

Whenever I’m angry I feel like walking, long, very long walk on the streets with no purpose. I can walk from one place to another, one city to another, one state to another. Walking subdues anger. A long walk drains out the physical body and mind runs on minimal ego. The moment ego dissolves, there is no anger. Since if ego is not there, who will get angry ? If you observe closely, self-convincing mechanism is nothing but ego nourishment. For instance, if I have to convince myself (or defend myself) for some particular act, I will throw out reasons to justify my act which would replenish my ego. Unless, I let go ego, self-transformation will only remain theory. Good to be in books but tough to handle. Coming back to my point, walking - till your mind drops. The same principle applies when you go on a pilgrimage located at the top of the mountain. You need to walk till that point. This drains out all the thoughts from the mind and a person becomes receptive to the divine possibility. Possibly, this is also a reason that temples and shrines were built on the top of mountain ranges.

This very physical body is miraculous. I have heard that ‘physical body has a more deeper sense of memory than mind itself’. So, for instance, once we get-up from sleep in the morning, our body remembers how to walk, it doesn’t let us fall. It remembers the training. You might have heard that if you learn cycling, swimming or any such exercises, you don’t need to keep a memory of it. Body knows how to recreate it. Although, this may seem very obvious but body has a much more deeper sense of recognition. Consider the fact that I went to Himalayas, for once, my mind might forget but my body will never forget. It retains that memory. So, one should very consciously make a journey to such places. Very recently, I went to one such place that completely changed the way I look at life.

The place has a story associated with it. I would want to take you through with the legacy of that temple and then describe it more elaborately. While I narrate this story, I’m also recreating the story in itself and its characters. So, part of it is absolutely true with some garnished part which is not true (which I’ve added). So, what is true and what is not, I leave upto you. After all, life is all about finding the truth from the untruth. Isn’t it?

Once lived a King, his name was Bhoj. He was one of the wealthiest kings india has seen so far. He had all kinds of luxuries a man can think of. He had everything a human being can desire. He was so overwhelmed with his riches that now he felt like seeking the spiritual angle as well. He had gathered riches so now was his chance to gather spiritual blessings from god. So, he called upon a Yogi who was an enlightened being and asked for his opinion. In those days, Kings use to seek opinion from gurus and then the decision was taken based on those thoughts. The yogi was an established mystic with knowledge of all the five senses. He suggested the king to establish a shiva linga with all the seven chakras consecrated. This would mean that the linga will resonate the power of all seven chakras that a human body is capable of. The linga will in-turn be like a Yogi in itself without human form and mind. The idea struck the king and he ordered the entire force to start working upon the same. Yogi instructed that he would require 7 male and 7 female to complete the consecration. All 14 people along with the Yogi will form a triangle within the vortex of which tremendous energy can be generated. This energy is nothing but life energy in itself. It is the same energy that we get when we intake food or what we gather from sleep. Hence the process of consecration is called – praan pratishtha (putting life into a matter or space).

The process began. The idea was to build a temple where people can come, sit besides the linga and feel the power of 7 chakras. This would assist many in taking their first step towards spirituality. Lot of groundwork was needed to complete the process. Yogi had all the necessary knowledge that required to form the linga and to consecrate it with life energy. For every chakra, energy will be plugged into the linga and a lock mechanism will be applied. This lock will ensure that the linga will retain the energy for years to come. Though, destiny had its own way. While the consecration process was almost complete, another king who belonged to some different kingdom attacked that territory. During the attack, yogi lost his left leg and the process got stalled. The only way to complete the process would be to have the Yogi to dissolve himself and transfer his energy into the linga. Following which, his disciple would lock the energies and complete the process. The first step was taken. Yogi transferred all his energies into the linga but the disciple got so overwhelmed with the atmosphere and also with the fact that he lost his guru, he could not lock the chakra. This resulted in two things – one, the linga got cracked since it could not retain the energy and two the pain of yogi’s lost leg got transferred into the linga. Though the linga could only be 90% complete, it still resonates with tremendous power and speak volumes of the painful saga of that yogi’s unfinished dream.

The Linga at Bhojeshwar Temple

The place is Bhojpur, it’s in Madhya Pradesh. It is around 40 kms away from Bhopal city. The temple is located in a village and is at the top of a hill. One can even take a long walk to this temple from the city. I feel that  the idea to build the temple at the top of the hill would have been similar as stated earlier. So that, one can drop the mind and come empty. Fill the empty cup and return.

Betwa River

Nearby, flows betwa river which is the primary source of living of that village. A gush of mad winds blow in Bhojpur that encompasses the past and whispers the painful saga of its incompleteness. The tallest living linga throbs with such a powerful force that it nearly shakes every human being whosoever comes in contact with it. The temple is still incomplete. One can see that the pillars are broken and the carvings are damaged. Most probably they might have got damaged during the warfare. The operating charge of the temple is now taken over by Archeological society of India who is also promoting the temple. The temple opens at sunrise and closes by sunset. It is one of the tallest linga present in india. The architecture is beatific and attracts many visitors.

I was in such an awe since I have never seen such a magnanimous attempt of humanity. It was sheer brilliance that the linga stands tall and speaks of its painful saga. I realized that sitting there for a while was so overwhelming. One can go lost in deep trance since that place is so powerful and vibrant with energy. The silence of the village deepens the whole experience. It is so deep that it cuts one apart.

Damaged Relics

This unfulfilled dream was then finished by one of our contemporary yogi in the southern city of India, Coimbatore. It is known as Dhyanlinga temple. Dhyanlinga is 100% complete with all the 7 chakras intact and shines tall with thousands of meditators visiting the temple every day. I have been so fortunate to see both the lingas, sit beside them and share their legacies. Both the lingas only understand the language of silence which is devoid of any religion or caste. One can sit in the their presence and get dissolved as a soap bubble in air.

On my way back from bhojpur, I was thinking that someday I may lose my mind and lose all memories that I have gathered so far but my body will never forget the experience of coming in contact with such an engineering marvel. It will always take me back and invigorate me with the energy that shook the very fundamentals of my existence.

My Life Breath...

One thing that I like and can do effortlessly is to sleep….sleep for long hours. Sleep is one phenomena which is either not understood by modern science or totally misunderstood. What happens when go off to sleep? Have you noticed? Have you come upon a situation where you’re half asleep and half awake? Why one gets awake when all of a sudden someone turns on the light? All these questions are still unanswered. The way science works is to classify/categorize things. Let’s suppose I would ask a scientist to show me the beauty of a flower – what he might do next would sound utter stupidity but that is what science is all about. He might cut the flower apart into pieces  until he reaches to some bizarre part of flower from where he would say the flower adopts its color, scent and the rest of it. Is this what I was trying to know? And also, does this leave me in any further excitement to know more about the flower? Though, probably, the answer to this simple question is within each one of us, the beauty of the flower is in our eyes, its within us. Is it not? We all know the science of how we see objects- i.e. light falls upon that object, it reflects back and our retina does the trick which eventually makes us see that object. So everything is coming from within our own self. The seat of our experience is within us. Is it not true for rest of our senses? Be it taste, touch, visual sense. Everything eventually comes from within. Let me put forward one more proposition. If you touch a steel rod, how do you know that it’s made of steel? Only by touch you can sense it i.e. if we ignore the science behind it – atomic structure and all. What precisely happens is when we touch the steel rod, Our touch sensory helps to identify it as steel otherwise we have to rely only on mere mathematical chemistry equation that it’s made of steel. So, in essence, all our experiences are our own made. It’s coming from within- be it anger, sorrow, misery, love, pain, anything.

This is where my quest begins.

Himalayas is such a grand phenomenon that it would take human race eons to comprehend what it is. In the culture where I’m born, it is said that it is the abode of Lord Shiva himself (lord of destruction). No one knows from where he came from, there is no folk lore behind this hypothesis. Everyone just knew that this guy was simply there. For eons, he would have been there, no one knows. Why am I referring him? Precisely, my quest is all about to find him and somewhere within me I strongly feel that in finding him I might encounter my own self. I might find my own self. Shiva, is the lord of darkness. That is the reason Mahashivratri is revered across this country as the most grandeur of celebration. It’s the darkest night of the year. It is also said that whatsoever little we know about spirituality has come from Shiva. All the practices, methods, techniques has come from him. Hence he is also referred as ‘Adi Yogi’, the first Yogi.

Shiva used to meditate for long hours and at times even months, years. Nobody knew what he was upto. He would just close his eyes, sit still and used to get lost. Lost as if never to come back to senses. Many people in those times, thought he has intoxicated himself with some drug that makes him go crazy. So, this gave birth to a practice where people would intake weed, hash or some sort of drug to get into states of meditativeness like Shiva. Though, Shiva used to refute such practices. It was mere by practice that he would get into those states, there was no chemical substitute for that. Though, this was ignored and still today it is said that Shiva used to intake such intoxicants to get into frenzy states. There is a whole bunch of people who follow this ritual and you can find them in Himalayas. They are referred as Yogis from Shaiva panth (path of shiva).

This has got no technical reference to this critique though there is a mental connect. I somewhere felt I belong to this creed of people who claim to be walking on the path of Shiva. The way I’ve lived my life, very energetically and at some times at the peak of energies, I strongly relate myself to them. This path is the path of death. Shiva used to emphasize more on death as it’s the most sacred experiences of all. It is said that your entire life condenses into that very moment of death. Death is one of the biggest taboo in our society. Though for Shiva, death is the only reality. Precisely, that is also one of the reasons that Shiva is said to be smeared in ashes all the time. In this culture, body of dead ppl are burnt in an isolated place and ashes of the same is considered as Shiva’s belongings. This is why you might find Shiva idols in every hindu crematorium. He is the lord of destruction. Death according to him happens only at physical level, though the impressions on one’s mind stays forever. When the energy takes birth again, all the impressions get imprinted onto that physical body. This is what is usually referred as ‘Karma’. It is a belief, that we live according to our past karma’s and what we do in this life decides our next life journey. If I state this premise to be true, then I would want to dissolve my past karma’s and make some new karma’s very consciously. It is also believed that one can escape this cycle of Karma and infact this is essentially the path of Shiva. It requires lot of efforts (sadhana) on one’s part to achieve this goal and even many lifetimes.

Shiva is said to be all that which is not. We experience the sense of sound only while we’re on this planet. There is no sound in the universe. It is silence that is prevalent that sound. Have you noticed, what we use as a medium of communication is nothing but sound. Though, we have formed a language around it and interpret it in our own ways. It is eventually all vibrations. We as a human being are also nothing more than a vibration. Is it not? When we say someone doesn’t match to our frequency, what are we trying to deduce that person to? A vibration with some frequency? Is it not? Yes. If this holds true and if we all are nothing but vibrations vibrating with certain frequencies, then it’s not wrong to conclude that we can also device a mechanism to read such vibrations and know all that is in and around this planet. This device has been derived thousands of year back in this culture with lot of deep study and analysis. It is known as Yoga. Essentially, Yoga means union. Union with one and all that which is. With this union, meditation flowers and one can experience the oneness of this existence. There is a whole science dedicated towards this kind of wisdom. Only that we have ignored it for long.

Shiva reveres snake so much that he allows him to sit on his neck and his hood stands at the same height as of Shiva’s head. He considers him at the same level of preparedness as Shiva is. What he wants to convey out of this? Probably, there is something beyond which is more to the eyes. We see snake as a reptile being. Though, in this culture, snake is revered nothing less than Shiva himself. He is worshipped along with Shiva. It is also said that, a snake is as alert and conscious as Shiva himself. He knows everything at energy level not like how we understand about knowing things, but at energy level he knows everything. Let’s say for an instance, there is an earthquake that is going to happen in japan, now a snake at Coimbatore might already know it energy-wise since we just deduced that everything is vibration & if one can observe the snake for long and is sensitive towards their movement, he can interpret and know such things.

Science says that there is a pineal gland right at the center of your forehead where your two eyebrows meet. So, when light falls on this gland, it becomes sensitive and one can get awake even if he is in deep sleep. In this culture, this pineal gland is referred to as ‘Third Eye’ of Shiva himself. This is the center of all intuitions. If this gland gets activated then one can even see & experience things that are beyond usual sensory perceptions. Though, yogis who have known says it’s not your third eye. It’s not even like an eye. It’s an amalgamation of many nerves which is a high centric point of energy. If one can channelize his energies towards this point, it gets activated and is very powerful. Shiva is portrayed to have this point activated by symbolizing it as an eye which can open up visionary powers. It is also a belief that this point being so powerful energy-wise, it should always be kept cool. So, people who know applies sandal paste in the morning at this point to keep it cool throughout the day.

Anger is a disease. If you know that you’re suffering from a disease then you should try treating that. It can only happen if your mind learns to be still. A still mind is as clear as a river that reflects the grace of moon. One can see beyond usual things when such stillness happens. With a disturbed mind, there is no clarity, the picture of moon in a disturbed river water would not be clear and will only cause confusion. With clarity comes fearlessness. With clarity comes love. Shiva is the epitome of anger. When he becomes angry, he wants to do just one thing- destruction. He is said to be the lord of destruction. Though this anger is not what we experience in our day to day life. It’s the peak of all energies and its well within his control. Whenever he wants he can get it activated and only by his own will he holds it back. He is said to express his despondency by way of dance which is called as ‘tandav ntriya’.

Yet, it is said that he is the most compassionate of all. Shiva is the most arduous of all to comprehend since at one point he gets angry at the prick of a pin and at some point he is the most compassionate of all. If you can comprehend him with all his expressions, then one can experience life beyond physical senses. I’m yet to experience Shiva with all his expressions though all I can say is- I’m not a devotee of Shiva, he is my life breath…..