Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti

Ancient seers have expressed spiritual experience in verse and in forms and deities that represent the profound secrets of life. One such embodiment of valour, beauty, and intelligence is Karthikeya, also known as Murugan. The word Murugan is formed from the divine trinity. He is present in us and around us in both form and formless aspects. I am also made of the same energy and so are you. All living beings are manifestations of this energy and are also sustained in it.

Life has three energies: Iccha Shakti, Jnana Shakti and Kriya Shakti. Valli,  consort of Murugan, represents Iccha Shakti, desire; Devasena, also consort of Murugan, is a symbol of Kriya Shakti, that is, action, effort; and Murugan is Jnana Shakti, knowledge.

Iccha Shakti forms the very basis of our existence. We need to develop the right attitude towards desires and understand its nature. When a person says, “I don’t want anything in this world,” that is also a desire.

When desires arise, observe them. What happens to your mind when the desire is fulfilled? What is the state of your mind when the desire arises? Were you happy, in anger or in haste? This will indicate whether or not to act upon them. This observation is possible when the mind is without craving or aversion.

Beyond mundane desires of food and shelter, the greatest desire in any being is to be free from bondage. When the desire is to move towards the divine, towards highest knowledge, it is said that Valli, the power of desire, becomes one with Murugan, the power of wisdom.

“Pazham Nee Appa” – you are the fruit – sang poetess Avvaiyar to Murugan, implying that Murugan himself is the fruit of knowledge. Nowhere else do we see such an instance where the devotee reminds the Lord of who he is!

Murugan represents Jnana Shakti. He is himself the secret. It is easy to tide over challenges in life when our mind is aligned with the divine, with Murugan. His vel, spear, reminds us to be deep-rooted in knowledge, broaden our perspective and have sharp intellect. His mount is the peacock, symbol of the mind. When the mind follows wisdom and is filled with divinity, it dances and is blissful. Murugan’s flag has a rooster. The rooster crows at sunrise without fail, and is a symbol of alignment with the rhythm of nature. All these are qualities that come along with the manifestation of Jnana Shakti in our life.

When you have the right desire and knowledge, it has to be followed by action. This is represented by Devasena, Kriya Shakti. The sign of life is activity. There are no actions in a corpse. However, actions need to be properly channelised.

Often a leader is chosen to channelise the collective energy of society towards particular actions. Here, it is important to choose the right leader. Murugan is a unique leader. He is both king and recluse. Only when you act from the space of helping the other without wanting anything for yourself, you can be a good leader. Actions in the collective consciousness that are done with respect and prayerfulness for the benefit of all, are represented by Devasena.

When both our desires and our actions are directed towards the divine, life becomes a celebration.

 

Message on the commencement of Navratri

There are some things you can do, you do them. And some things you cannot do - and the things that you cannot do, by thinking about it, it doesn't make them happen, you only make yourself miserable.

We get miserable looking at others behaviours - you cannot correct everybody and everything on the planet. Whatever you can do, you do and let go, in letting go you experience samadhi. Offering all the good qualities and bad qualities you have to the Mother Divine, you get into deep meditation. So, this is the time to take that deep inner spiritual rest.

Our mind is tired with desires and cravings, with do’s and don'ts, rights and wrongs. All these things are getting into our head and we get into a mess. This is the time to just drop everything. And when we can drop everything and repose in ourselves, then samadhi, deep meditation happens. And that is the basis of all success in life.

During Navratri, we pray to the Mother Divine and say ‘whatever is right it is your job to maintain it and whatever is wrong it is your job to correct it. I'm neither here to correct anything or desire anything, you know what is best for me’.

With this feeling of offering the past, the present and the future at the feet, to the infinite power, we repose in ourselves - that is Navratri.

We give deep rest to our mind, our soul - because our soul is longing for rest - it’s tired with
all these cravings, all the rights and wrongs and concepts that we are struggling with in our life.

So, enjoy Navratri.

Flipping boredom with meditation

People often get bored too soon. These days people are tired of being inside the same four walls or being with the same people or of eating the same dish! How to break the pattern of boredom in life?

When the mind is stuck in a repetitive pattern, boredom sets in. Our intellect rejects repetitions and struggles to break the monotony. A person of active and sharp intellect gets bored faster than one with a dull intellect.

When boredom sets in life, it drags down your whole energy. It leads to inertia. When you get bored, nothing appeals to you and you get into frustration, anger and even into depression. A bored person not only feels apathy himself or herself but also spreads it to everyone around. Would you like to spend time in the company of a bored person?

How can you create enthusiasm in yourself and in others? How to shift this tendency of the mind to resist repetitions which leads to boredom?

Repetitions create boredom only at the level of the intellect or the head. At the level of the heart, they create positive vibes. When you integrate it into your life, repetition doesn’t bore you. Nobody gets bored of brushing teeth every day, or of drinking the same tea every day! You watch the news every day, and yet you don’t get bored. People who chant with rosary beads or do japa don’t get bored of repeating the same mantra or prayer. But it’s easy to get bored of certain other things even if they are good practices. Unless you make it a passion or a hobby, you can get bored of things like doing workouts or walking, etc. very soon.

Repetition with emotion is exhilaration and repetition with intellect is boredom. No song or bhajan or ghazal goes without repetition; music cannot happen without repetition. So repetition can also energize you. That’s why I say boredom is also the bridge between your head and heart. When you are bored, know that you are in your head too much. Instead of looking for something new, something exciting all the time, embrace the repetition. It will act as a bridge for you to move into another dimension.

Meditation is the technique to move from the head to the heart. If you sit for a few minutes and embrace the boredom, you will slip into deep meditation. Use the moment of boredom to go inwards and dive into deep meditation. In fact, you should get bored with everything mundane! Then, you are enlightened. When you get bored with everything in life, you will suddenly find the Spring of Life. Nothing bores you anymore. You can keep experiencing the same thing again and again. Then the mind lives in the present moment and you are not stuck in past experiences or your memory. Your emotions wake up, your feelings wake up, and then comes a state of giving, of contributing. A giver is never tired. A taker gets tired easily. If you are looking for some joy, some charm, some excitement from outside, you are bound to get bored.

When people fall in love, they never get tired of repetitions. They say ‘I love you’ over and over again. Love loves repetitions. You are born with a beautiful intellect and a great heart. And meditation is the way to sync the two and flip the boredom.

Dispassion in the time of a pandemic

 

Social distancing during a lockdown is not necessarily a punishment. Silence and solitude are potent means for personal growth and self-renewal, a great way to nurture dispassion in ourselves. The natural tendency of the senses is to go outwards, and enjoy the whole creation. Right from the moment you wake up in the morning, you want to see, smell, taste, hear and touch. However, the ability of the senses to enjoy is limited.

How long can you watch the beautiful scenery? The desire to enjoy through the senses first comes in the mind, but the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited. Suppose you love pudding, or apple-pie; how much can you eat – one piece, two pieces, three servings? By the time you have the third serving, the same thing that was giving you pleasure, becomes painful. This is because our ability to enjoy is limited to our senses.

We can enjoy anything on the planet only when what we desire is available, there is the right attitude in the mind, and the senses are not tired. This is not often the case. Things may not be available like right now – during the lockdown that is in force to prevent spread of the coronavirus – and a lot of things that you want, may not be available in the market, or the state of mind may not be right or the senses may be tired, yet the mind is feverish about desires and the outcome of our actions. What can be done in such a situation?

This is where dispassion helps. Notice that after experiencing too much excitement, you want to be a little quiet and calm.

When you are in the grip of feverishness what do you do?

Have faith and confidence that the result will be much better than you can imagine. With faith, you can get rid of feverishness of action/ achievement. Feverishness can also be a hangover from over-activity. Then sleep, listening to flute music and cold-water baths can help.

Have dispassion and know the whole thing will be over one way or another, and it does not matter. Meditation and breathing can calm you down. Drop whatever you are doing and do something completely irrelevant, like while decorating your house, take a moment off to cut grass. When you are doing something very important, take a moment off to do something totally irrelevant and insignificant. This enhances your creativity. Relevant action keeps you bound to the action. Irrelevant action makes life a game.

Now, suppose everything is available. You are hungry, you want to have food, and you can enjoy it, but even that enjoyment is momentary. It stays for a few moments. See, a desire fulfilled causes frustration; a desire unfulfilled also causes frustration. What do we need to do? What is the answer?

The answer is to look inside. Go to the source of happiness. Then the senses are strengthened, you become content and things become available the way you want them. All three happen when the senses are turned inwards, and that inward turning of senses is called dispassion. Desirelessness, dispassion and samadhi are the deepest rest, a space where joy and beauty spring from.

Wake up the Divine in you

 

The Divine should be allowed to permeate. ‘Wake the Divine Up’ is an expression used. God is within each one, sleeping. It is said, first man wakes up and then the Divinity is awoken. For those in whom the Divinity is awoken, He is called a Saint. Wake up the God in you. He is not up in heaven somewhere, He resides within.

It is symbolised in the Hindu scriptures as Lord Narayana resting on the snake with His consort Lakshmi at his side. When Narayana is woken up, so is Lakshmi. Enlightenment is wakening the Divinity. Most important thing is to remember is that the means of being in Love is to be with someone who is in Love, being in the company of the Divine. When you are with an enlightened saint, you become like them. When grace comes, grab it! Often disgruntled people group together!

“Mahath” is what exists beyond the field of ego – in the whole creation. If ego is an atom, beyond the atom, the space is Mahath. Therefore, one who lives in this space element is called Mahatma. The company of one who is free can only give you freedom. Company of the rich will bring you riches. The company of the Divine will make you be in Divine Love. During the time of Jesus, only 12 innocent people knew Him, the others didn’t. It needs some sensitivity. Knowledge of the Divinity in Jesus also comes with grace only – even for that grace is needed. The ways of the Lord is very different.

You cannot demand the company of the saints. One gets it by grace only. It is purely the choice of the Divine to give Company. It's like the story of a nun reaching hell. The nun was sure there was a mistake and asked for clarifications with God. God confirmed her place in hell as he said, he didn’t want to be bothered by her, like she did on Earth!! But the taxi driver goes to heaven because he got his passengers to pray sincerely when he drove!! When we are in bliss, there is no separation between you and the Divine, there is no gap. Do not miss an opportunity to be in good company, satsang. This will awaken the Divinity within.