Saturday, 3 October 2015

Faith and Religion


Faith and religion is something we are born into. Many say it is not a matter of choice. Then again, I have seen many intellectuals, writers, spiritual seekers and highly knowledgeable individuals legally convert to another religion. Kamala Das, Annie Besant, Robert Downey Jr, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, Orlando Bloom, J D Salinger, Michael Jackson and innumerable others are a microcosm of the examples of converts to other faiths.

Why do people do this? It can be to seek out for solace, comfort, to escape from the harsh realities of life, because of crises and issues, for strength, moral and spiritual support, political agendas, public relation stunts, inspiration, resonation of their beliefs in another faith, wanting something new, change, trends, media attention, fame, guru's and spiritualist's advice and the list goes on.

Faith and religion do not require labels. Some of the teachings and preaching across religions and practices are a mirror of each other as you can see above. Faith as such was meant to be a way of life, something to hold you together through the tough times, to guide you during doubt, to protect you when you fear, to strengthen you when you feel vulnerable and to instill a value based system.

Religion was not meant to be a destructive double edged sword like it is today. It was meant to connect us and unite us to be better individuals and a better collective society keeping in mind the multi factorial influence a religion or faith would have on our communities. Why then are we fighting over fault finding, pointing fingers, waging wars, shedding blood and discriminating based on the differences? Look at the tenets above and see what religion and faith's true purpose was meant to be.

- Dr Rathi Prabhu




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Siddhi and Spiritual Ascension































Spiritual Ascension or Energy accumulation or Siddhi is something that very many of us seek. We look for gurus, for spiritual courses, ashrams, yogis and those who possess powers or senses beyond our capability to guide us. But, did you know these powers, intuition and extra sensory perception, the ability to sense energy bodies, to see spirits, to ward off spirits, protective energy, healing powers, self healing capacity and several other spiritual energy powers are innate in our loving cohabitants of this planet, for a more common example of them? Cats and dogs.

Cats were worshiped in ancient Egypt. They are a very significant spiritual motif in Chinese Feng Shui. They are known to be able to sense emotion, pain, negative energy, spirit energy, to be able to see beings without forms and to dispel spirit forms. They can understand, connect and heal you. The same applies to dogs. They are not known as man's best friend just for their loyalty. There is a different level of perception which they are capable of. They can attune to cosmic vibrations and sounds. The ancient Egyptian god Anubis is worshiped as a protector. The egyptian cartouche card of anubis is given with attunement, initiation and siddhi from a guru these days to carry around in your wallet or to be placed among your things.

Apart from the innate spiritual energy, the universal life force mentioned above, you may ask how one can ascend spiritually? My experience was one where I was born into a lineage where my ancestors were spiritualists. Those born into such families have it by blood and karmic links passed down. Nature, animals, feeding the hungry [annadhaana] teaching for free [vidhyadhaana] nurturing other lives, taking care of family or someone in need, a virtuous life, positive thought-deed-action, absolving negative reactions/anger/hatred/jealousy by performing deeds of good karma and being genuinely apologetic for our negative thoughts or deeds are ways in which I sought to creating the foundation to a spiritual path. Energy ascension was initiated by growing up in spiritual and religious places [parent's choice and my liking as a child] visiting as many pilgrimages as possible, mantra siddhi, meditation and trataka practices in the first 8 years of life. Reiki, yoga, meditation, rituals, pujas, karuna reiki, advanced healing, crystals, fengshui, vastu,  divination techniques, initiations/attunements/siddhi from gurus from the 8th year of life [when energy centres are fully formed] I took up various advanced Siddhis and formal learning in this fields subsequently. These are ways in which a certain spiritual discipline sets your life path. I would say that it is necessary to have formal education discipline in spirituality, informal learning and guru dheeksha or learning from spiritualists. It creates a holistic form of true and complete spiritual learning.

It does not mean an individual has to begin early or lead a stringent pious life. An example of this would be Saint Valmiki who abnegated his old life to become a spiritual man. The same can be implemented in anyone's life at any stage. It is important to realize what can be changed and how. This is where it helps to seek out to spiritual experts and teachers or guides. A guru must be one who is formally educated in spiritual discipline, trained by other gurus and given dheeksha and someone who learns or ascends spiritually for life- a life long learner of spirituality and energy science. This is how you differentiate between those who just claim to have Siddhi and those who are educated, learned and given Siddhi in these fields. Most often we are destined to meet certain gurus or saints who are meant to walk us through the spiritual path. It is not us who find them but the universe that makes us find them. Runa- karmic debt, that we have to meet that individual at that time.

Siddhi or spiritual energy ascension can be possible by increasing the inherited or passed down spiritual energy from ancestors if your family lineage had rishis, saints or yogis. It can also be built over years with a spiritual foundation- through practice of yoga, meditation, trataka, kundalini, reiki, karuna reiki, traditional healing practices, chakra therapy, crystal therapy, mantra siddhi, homas, pujas, sevas and innumerable other practices. Most spiritual seekers take as many of these Siddhis as possible through guru dheeksha or learning under a spiritual guru or spiritual teacher. Some rare individuals are born with a higher level of spiritual energy and a radar, a compass to detect and grow spiritually. Spiritual Siddhi can also be handed down through family- from father to son or mother to daughter.

There are some practices where a bheeja mantra is given by a guru to a shishya, where it is to be chanted 24, 36 or 12 lakh times. The Mantra Siddhi transforms, cleanses, ascends and morphs your life and karmic personal energy. Homas, sevas and pujas are performed. Yoga, deriving energy from nature through worship, yogic life practices and meditation are followed. These are the ancient, highly auspicious forms of Siddhi practices which you can find in the Siddhar Systems, Aghoris, Rishis life biographies, Vedas and other sources. In Reiki, crystals. chakra, nature healing, wicca and certain other forms of energy which are religion neutral- years of practice can yield energy ascension abilities. Ultimately the path for you is chosen in consultation with a guru, to be guided through the process of what you want and where you wish to reach.

- Dr Rathi Prabhu