KATHAM️
Honouring a week-weekend joint's communion with a biennial joint... This is another humble offering of my simple ongoing seva to identify & share the dominant Eigenmode(s) of the day with you so that we can all access & effortlessly resonate with these energetic modes! If these possibilities intrigue you, you've arrived at the right place! #SyPforSDHN presents #ResonateWithEigenModeOfTheDay as it continues publishing on LinkedIn... for dozens of previous articles in this series, visit my FB page: https://lnkd.in/gXDyJRC
Without a single ☝️ exception, all is one for the wisdom personified <jnani> within us. Yet, the devotion personified <bhakta> within us, wouldn’t wanna miss out on the mesmerising beauty in variety. To ignore either one of these two immense potencies, that everyone of us is fully capable of relishing at different times, is to live just half a life... alas, what a poor choice many even in the spiritual path unfortunately make!
So what’s the optimal compromise between both the unifying jnani & the diversifying bhakta that each one of us actually is, knowingly or unknowingly? It’s in honouring above all the joints <sandhyas> between the seemingly diverse aspects of even day-to-day regular life that practical Sanatana Dharma excels in. And that’s how the jnani & the bhakta in us see 👁eye-to-eye👁!
Thus, we honour every one of our perceivable bodily, spatial &/or temporal joints. For example,
- decorating <dharanam> a sample of our ~360 ‘orthopaedic joints,’ by applying <dharanam> holy markings on the major ones such as our neck, shoulders, elbows💪, wrists etc., which unite our 206 bones🦴 into a single skeleton, & thus our body into a single organism (note: babies 👶🏻 are naturally unifiers <🧘♀️yogis🧘♂️> who, for instance manage to reduce the number of bones 🦴 from ~300 to 206 by fusing some of them, beyond joints... way to go kiddos, teach us more!);
- bowing down in reverence <vandanam> to each ‘day’s joints’ by performing our 🙇♂️ sandhya vandanam 🙇♀️ around sunrise🌄, noon🕛, sunset🌅 & midnight🕛, as they unite the day into a single entity, involving one complete rotation of our 🌏 Earth around its own axis;
- engaging in austere penances <vrata> during each ‘week’s joints’ by conducting our 🙇♂️ Monday <Soma-vaara> & Friday <Shukra-vaara> worships <aradhana> 🙇♀️ of nothingness <Shiva> & its dark energy <Shakti>, respectively at the two junctions of the weekdays with the weekends. Alternatively, this could be everythingness <Vishnu> & its bright energy <Lakshmi>, for those who prefer that viewpoint, at times. In this case, Mon-Tue would be dedicated to Shiva-Shakti, heralding the week, & Fri-Sat to Lakshmi-Narayana, heralding the weekend. This flexibility is admissible as all’s fair in love, war & Sanatana Dharma;
- revelling in lovely 😊 devotion <bhakti> at the ‘fortnightly joint’ <Shukla to Krsna paksha> within the same month by indulging in our 🙇♂️ full moon 🌕 <Pournami>outpouring🔥 <homa> & 🧖♀️re-juvenator🧖♂️ <pu-ja> 🙇♀️, uniting the two fortnights into a single lunar month;
- dissolving in deepening wisdom <jnana/vijnana> on each ‘monthly joint’ by offering 🙇♂️ new moon 🌑 <Amavasya> libations <tarpanam> 🙇♀️ honouring our genetic🧬 unity at the end of every month, & thus uniting the 12~13 lunar months into a single year (sometimes 13 because certain lunar years have an extra month <adhika maasa> inserted in-between to catch up with the 365-day solar year);
- immersing in a month-long spiritual practice <sadhana> throughout the first of the two ‘biennial joints’ <uttara- to dakshina-ayana> by relinquishing doership & abnegatingily 🙇♂️ June-July ♊️ <Aashaada> surrendering <sharana-gati> 🙇♀️ from the summer solstice peaks of our devotion <bhaktiyin uchcha kattam> in the Tropic of Cancer♋️ as the ongoing month Aashaada unites the two semesters into a single entity called a “year,” involving one complete revolution of our 🌏Earth around the sun☀️;
- embarking on a month-long inner pilgrimage <yatra> throughout the second of the two ‘biennial joints’ <dakshina- to uttara-ayana> by🚶♀️trekking🚶♂️ December-January ♐️ <Margashira> 🙇♂️declaring oneness with the universal <aham brahmasmi> 🙇♀️ from the winter solstice depths of the Tropic of Capricorn♑️ as we’d have already dived sufficiently into the bottomless bhakti reservoir, literally falling in love😻 & it’d then be time for rising in wisdom once again, like a phoenix;...
Well, the above list can go on... moreover, each entity can be divided/subdivided in multiple ways into a different number of parts... number theory at play... but this suffices for now... to resonate with today’s dominant Eigenmodes! Read further to discover what they’re.
The underlying point is that joints are sacrosanct in uniting not only the breathtaking collage on the spatio-temporal canvas but also in bringing together the synchronised dance of the the multiple paint 🎨 brushes, namely the limbs of yoga (raja, karma, bhakti & jnana), integrated into saankhya yoga, which in turn unites every-thing into no-thing!
Today, the first of four consecutive Fridays in the ongoing lunar month <Aashaada Shukra-vaara>, heralds the glorious invocation of our own omnipresent energy reservoir <Shakti> overflowing with motherly love & material prosperity, in accordance with the eightfold 🎯 targeted <ashta-Lakshmi> principle discussed y’day. Lighting a rock salt lamp 🪔 <diya> is considered auspicious as the energy of everythingness <Lakshmi> emerged along with immortality <Amrita> from the salty🧂 ocean 🌊. We shall discuss about her other such multi-plet siblings on another day!
A sample of this Aashaada Shukra-vaara‘s omnipotence <Shakti>, & how we can actually access & benefit from it, is powerfully demonstrated atop the Chamundi hills in Mysuru. Those who think that Mysuru gets crowded only during Dasara should check it out on an Aashaada Shukravaara like the one today! Private 🚙 vehicles 🚗 are banned uphill on these overwhelmingly jam packed days. Complimentary bus rides from the makeshift base parking station at the Lalita Mahal (a palace-turned-hotel) Helipad are sacrificed by those ardent devotees who’d like to ascend the sacred hill on foot.
Typically accessed by lakhs of devotees every Friday of this particular lunar month, sensible social distancing norms due to COVID-19 this year have dampened the celebrations at this mystical location. Nonetheless, it actually brings up an opportunity for us to wake up & access it all... right here, within us. That which we search & research for outside is nothing more than a bunch of rays of their very source already deeply embedded in us.
It’s also Agadi Naara-ayana Bhagavaan’s b’day <jaya-nti> today. May his blessings be upon us all to successfully✌️<jaya> undertake the human <Naara> journey <ayana> to realise our true potential <Bhagavaan>.
Adi shakti, para shakti, maha shakti 🕉,
Ichcha shakti, kriya shakti, jnana shakti 🕉
AUM aim hreem kleem sri Chamundayai vichche swaha!
