My new year gift

Hari Aum.

It is new year's eve today and I would like to wish all readers of this blog a happy and prosperous new year. May 2018 be a year of excellent spiritual progress for all of us, and may we all make strides towards the goal of spiritual peace, wisdom and bliss.

I would like to offer my first book "Balakrishna" for free as a new year gift to all readers. The Amazon website allows authors to provide their ebooks for free for a limited period from time to time and I am making use of this facility now.

I am offering the ebook for free download for a three day period starting from today (Dec 31) upto and including January 2.

I believe the stories of Lord Krishna contain a number of valuable teachings necessary to live a happy life here and hereafter and therefore feel this would be a good gift to give others. In addition, reading of the stories of God is one of the nine classical methods of developing devotion to God (which leads to liberation). I hope you will enjoy reading this book and that it will help you on your journey to develop the fortunate state of true devotion to God.

To read the ebook, readers will first need to download the Amazon kindle app- this is free. The link for this is here (you can select the Amazon website for your own country to access this):

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kindle+app


Once you have installed the free Amazon kindle app on your electronic device, you can download the kindle ebook Balakrishna for free for the next three days.

See links below for the Amazon website (again you check the site for your own country):

https://www.amazon.in/Balakrishna-life-Krishna-Srimad-Bhagavatam-ebook/dp/B077Y4Z3RM/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512856535&sr=1-6&keywords=balakrishna


Happy reading and happy new year!

Just to say, I am nearly halfway through writing the second book in this series (which talks about the adolescence and early adult life of Lord Krishna) and am aiming to publish this on Amazon in the next few weeks.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

How to pronounce the ashtakshara mantra of Vishnu

Hari Aum.

While devotion when chanting a mantra is extremely important for spiritual progress, correct pronunciation (as far as one is able) is also very useful. God knows when we are calling Him/Her via mantra chanting, and will respond even if the pronunciation is not perfect, if we do it with love and sincerity.

Having said that, a mantra is a special sound energy, it is the body of the deity in sound form. It is said to be the deity Him/Herself. It is a transforming vibration. Correct pronunciation of a sattvic pure mantra elevates and transforms the mind and body, even without any knowledge of its meaning- so say the Gurus/saints.

Therefore I will write a little here about the correct pronunciation of the ashtakshara mantra of Vishnu, namely Om Namo Narayanaya (based on my understanding of this). This mantra is a famous moksha mantra - it can grant everything, both material and spiritual. One can recite it to fulfill any desire, material or spiritual. The Gurus of course say that spiritual goals of everlasting peace, wisdom and bliss are the best.

In Sanskrit, there are long and short vowels. For example the short "a" and the long "aa". The "a" is pronounced as in "around". The "aa" is pronounced as in "far". The duration of pronunciation of a long vowel "aa" is supposed to be roughly twice as long as the short vowel "a" (in practice, we do not measure this precisely of course. But we say it in a way that sounds about right).

The Om Namo Narayanaya mantra contains three short "a"s and three long "aa"s. When written in Sanskrit, it is perfectly clear where the short and long "a" sounds are. It is less obvious in the usual way in which this mantra is written in English, namely Om Namo Narayanaya.

Let me therefore write this mantra in such a way as to reflect the short and long "a" vowels:

Om Namo Naaraayanaaya.

Namo is said with a short "a".
Naaraayanaaya is said with two long "aa"s followed by a short "a", then another long "aa" followed by a final short "a".

Whether chanting the mantra slowly or quickly, whether it is said mentally or vebally, the ratio of the short to long vowels needs to be about 1: 2. i.e. the long "aa" should last about twice as long as the short "a". 

Some common errors in chanting the Om Namo Naaraayanaaya mantra:

1. Chanting all the "a"s the same way.

2. Elongating the short "a" at the end of the mantra into a long "aa". i.e. saying Naaraayanaayaa (incorrect) instead of Naaraayanaaya (correct).

2. Deleting the short "a" at the end of the mantra entirely i.e. saying "Naaraayanaay" (incorrect) instead of Naaraayanaaya.

3. Some people even accidentally forget to say the final "ya" sound altogether and say Naaraayana instead of Naaraayanaaya. (This is incorrect- the "ya" at the end of Narayana, means 'to Narayana'. The mantra means salutations/namo to Narayana).

4. Chanting all the "na" sounds the same way. There are two types of "na" in Sanskrit. One is the usual "na" like in English, e.g. when you say "Number". The tongue is placed just behind the teeth when making this sound. Let's call this a 'soft na'.

The second type of Na is pronounced by the tip of the tongue hitting the roof of the mouth (the centre of the hard palate)- the tongue has to curl in the process of making this sound. Let's call this sound the harder "Na".

There are two soft "na"s and one hard "Na" in the mantra.

Let's write it to highlight these:

Om namo narayaNaya.

"namo" is said with a soft "na".
"narayaNaya" is said with a soft "na" followed by a hard "Na".


5. One final point,- the "o" at the end of "namo" is pronounced as a elongated "oo" (like the English "Oh" not as in "moo"). It's like saying "Oh" (h is silent of course) with a little elongation (similar length as the long "aa").

If we write the entire mantra again with the correct "a" and "na" sounds, it looks something like this:

Om namo naaraayaNaaya.

I would not recommend worrying too much about the various sounds in the mantra if one is not familiar with this and this causes stress. As far as possible, one can try and apply the above rules of pronunciation. But if it affects the joy of chanting, then don't worry about it. Narayana knows who you are calling when you chant this mantra, even if the pronunciation is incorrect.

If one can chant as perfectly as possible (completely perfect pronunciation is virtually impossible anyway) though, while keeping the devotional feelings intact, then that would be wonderful and very effective.

Here is a video from YouTube (see link below) of monks and disciples chanting the Om Namo Naaraayanaaya mantra at the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh (they chant this daily for one hour for world peace and the welfare of all beings). They nicely demonstrate the correct pronunciation of this mantra in accordance with the above rules of chanting. (Don't worry if you can't easily tell apart the two "na" sounds, this is more subtle. The two "a" sounds are of course easy to tell apart though).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igw2ALIiEW4


Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Start of purascharana four

Hari Aum.

I started my fourth purascharana yesterday. I am doing 11 malas a day for this purascharana as with the previous ones and expect that, by God's grace, this should be completed in about 22 months.

I am planning to write three further ebooks to complete the story of the life of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavatam in the coming months. Therefore I am not going to increase the amount of malas beyond 11 a day at present (I was considering this previously).  My Guru says that any form of remembrance of God whether chanting His names, reading or writing about Him is auspicious. I find that my spiritual life feels more balanced with a combination of practices including japa and also reading and writing about Him.

 Furthermore I hope that I am contributing something useful to society by writing these concise books on the life of Krishna. A number of the books already published are good but they are often rather lengthy and less suitable for busy people with a lack of time. I hope that the concise books I write will help people with a shortage of time to access the key spiritual teachings of Lord Krishna and hopefully inspire them to, one day, read the entire scripture in the original.

I plan to start writing the next ebook sometime in the next couple of weeks and hope to have this ready to publish within two months. This will be about the next phase of Lord Krishna's life as a married householder and ruler of Dwaraka. I am looking forward to reading and writing about this - writing on this subject is a very good educational experience for me.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Balakrishna book 1

Hari Aum.

It has been about eight weeks since I completed purascharana 3 and I will be starting purascharana 4 tomorrow on the auspicous Guru pushya yoga day.

The past five weeks have been very busy for me. I have been reading the life of Lord Krishna in the wel-known ancient scripture, the Srimad Bhagavatam. I then wanted to re-tell the story in a concise way for those who would also like to know about Krishna but currently lack the time to read the whole story in the original scripture.

I have therefore written my first book on the life of Lord Krishna as described in the Bhagavatam. This describes the childhood of Krishna upto eight years of age. I will be writing three further books to complete the entire story of Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavatam. The life of Krishna is filled with teachings of deep spiritual significance.

 This book is dedicated to my Guru, Swami Sivananda, who was a great devotee of Lord Krishna, and who is my inspiration to keep walking on the spiritual path.

 Therefore, I have decided to post this book on the Amazon website and will donate all funds from the sales of this towards the work of the charitable hospital run by my Guru's ashram in Rishikesh, India. I have worked at the hospital myself and have seen the genuine service that the doctors there provide to the poorest sections of society. The hospital provides free medicines, investigations and surgery- they do not charge patients for anything. It is a privilege for me to be able to support them in any way that I can. I have been making an annual donation to the hospital and will add any proceeds from the book sales to this.

I am therefore sharing the book here in case it is of interest to any readers. This book contains some very valuable spiritual teachings, especially on bhakti yoga, the path of devotion. A free sample can be downloaded from Amazon.

The book can be read either electronically as an 'ebook '- for this, readers will need to download the free Amazon 'kindle app' on to their computer/tablet/phone/electronic device. Alternatively, it can also be read as a paperback.

The book is available on Amazon (both ebook and paperback) in a variety of countries and I am sharing some of these here for the convenience of readers.



Amazon India

https://www.amazon.in/Balakrishna-life-Krishna-Srimad-Bhagavatam-ebook/dp/B077Y4Z3RM/ref=redir_mobile_desktop/259-6084780-2983614?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=srimad%20bhagavatam&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&qid=1512575797&ref_=mp_s_a_1_43&sr=8-43


Amazon USA

https://www.amazon.com/Balakrishna-life-Krishna-Srimad-Bhagavatam-ebook/dp/B077Y4Z3RM/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&dpID=51BgpnI6nOL&dpPl=1&keywords=balakrishna&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&qid=1512573756&ref=plSrch&ref_=mp_s_a_1_1&sr=8-1

Paperback

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1973508885/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513466670&sr=8-2&keywords=balakrishna+vishnupriya


Amazon UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Balakrishna-life-Krishna-Srimad-Bhagavatam-ebook/dp/B077Y4Z3RM/ref=redir_mobile_desktop/260-0810217-3047331?_encoding=UTF8&dpID=51BgpnI6nOL&dpPl=1&keywords=krishna%20book&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&qid=1512517598&ref=plSrch&ref_=mp_s_a_1_7&sr=1-7


Om Sri Krishnaya Namah
Om Namo Narayanaya

Hope you enjoy reading the book. I certainly enjoyed writing it (though it took quite a bit of work!).

Hari Aum Tat Sat

P.S.  I have tidied up this blog a bit today and removed some posts that were relevant when I posted them but are less so currently. I hope this will make for a better experience for those who read this blog.

Krishnashtakam: a meditation on Lord Krishna

Hari Aum.

I recently discovered the beautiful poem 'Krishnashtakam'. This consists of 8 verses (ashtakam) in praise of Lord Krishna and was composed by the great Guru, saint and poet Adi Shankara. He composed many exquisitely beautiful prayers including the Soundariya Lahiri, Mahishasura Mardini, and many more.

The Krishnashtakam is, in my view, one of Adi Shankara's most wonderful compositions. This brings to life the form of Lord Krishna in the mind's eye. As one recites these verses with knowledge of their meaning, one is effectively meditating on the form of Sri Krishna. One naturally would like to see the beautiful form described. Although we may not be able to see Krishna right away with our physical eyes, we can take comfort in His promise that He will be present where His name is sung. And Krishna's words are ever true as He is the embodiment of Truth itself. Fire may burn downwards, water may flow upwards, anything can happen but the words of Lord Krishna cannot be false. Let us therefore sing these verses knowing that He is with us when we call His names.

Krishnashtakam by Adi Shankaracharya

1. Vasudeva sutam devam (Salutations to the Supreme Being who is son of Vasudeva)
Kamsa Chanura mardanam (The Destroyer of the demons Kamsa and Chanura)
Devaki paramanandam (The supreme delight of Devaki)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

2. Athasi pushpa sankasham (The one who is radiant wearing  Atasi flowers)
Haar nupura shobhitam (Who is beautiful with garland and anklets)
Ratna kankana keyuram (Who wears a jeweled  bracelet and armlet)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

3.Kutilalaka samyuktam  (Who has curly locks of hair)
Purna chandra nibhananam (Whose face is beautiful like the full moon)
Vilasat kundaladharam (Who wears gleaming ear ornaments)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

4.Mandargandha samyuktam (Who is fragrant with the scent of mandara flowers)
Charu hasam charturbhujam (Who has a sweet smile, the four-armed One)
Barhi pichava chudangam (Whose wears a peacock feather in His crown)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

5. Utphulla padma patraksham (Who has beautiful eyes like a full-blown lotus)
Neelajimutha sannibham (Who is dark-hued like a rain cloud)
Yadavanam shiroratnam (Who is the crest-jewel of the Yadava clan)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

6. Rukminikeli samyuktam (Who is involved in sportive play with Rukmini)
Pitambara sushobhitam (Who is glorious in a yellow silken garment)
Avapta tulasigandham (Who is fragrant with the scent of the Tulasi leaves)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

7. Gopikanam kuchadvanda (From the chest of the gopis)
Kumkumankita vakshasam (Who is covered in kumkuma)
Shriniketam Maheshvasam (Who is the residence of the auspicous Shri and the divine Mahesha)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

8. Shrivatsankam mahoraskam (Who has the Srivatsa mark on His chest)
Vanamala virajitham (Who wears a garland of wild flowers from the forest)
Shanka chakra dharam devam (Who holds the celestial conch and discus)
Krishnam vande Jagadgurum (Obeisances to Krishna, the Guru of the Universe)

Krishnashtakam idam punyam (These sacred eight verses)
Pratharuthyaya yah pateth (When read by one in the morning)
Koti janmam kritam papam (Destroys their accumulated sins of crores of births)
 Smaranena vinashyati (Simply by their mere remembrance)

A most beautiful rendition of the above prayer (a group of women singing the song-  sounds like the gopis calling out to Krishna)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z89j6NR4aME

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh- a spiritual oasis of peace and bliss

Hari Aum.

We all have our favourite places we like to visit to experience peace and bliss. I will write about one of my all-time favourite spirtual places today- the Ashram of my Guru Sivananda, called the 'Divine Life Society' in Rishikesh. I have recently visited the Ashram and, as before, it has given me much-needed spiritual solace and inspiration.

Rishikesh is a small city located in the foothills of the Himalayas. The natural scenery here is lovely. The river Ganga majestically flows through Rishikesh- the river is beautiful and clean here and freezing cold even in summer. Simply looking at the placid flowing waters of the Ganga makes the mind peaceful and happy.

This city is filled with Ashrams, temples and seekers of God. There are people following every possible yogic path to attain God- from hatha yoga and jnana yoga, to bhakti yoga and karma yoga. People gather at the banks of the Ganga and chant sacred mantras in praise of the Divine at sunrise and sunset while lighting lamps and offering flowers- it is a beautiful sight.

Like many other parts of India, there is chaotic traffic on the roads with loud honking of horns, and unfortunately people have polluted the earth by throwing rubbish on the ground in some parts (the Indian government has recently launched a massive drive to clean India so hopefully this will change with time). Despite the chaos and mess, Rishikesh still maintains beautiful spiritual vibrations due to the natural scenery and the spiritual people present. The flowing river, the mountains, the Ashrams and temples all contribute towards the spiritual atmosphere.

Stepping into the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, from the road outside is like stepping into a different world. The chaos of traffic on the roads is suddenly left far behind. The Ashram premises are clean and well-maintained. The atmosphere here is immensely peaceful and uplifting.

Although the location of the Ashram on the banks of the Ganga makes it beautiful, what really makes it wonderful is the philosophy practiced here. Simply put the philosophy of the Ashram is that taught by Sivananda and is encapsulated in six simple words "Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise". 

 In the centre of the Ashram is the Vishwanath temple, where Krishna is worshipped along with Shiva, Rama and the Divine Mother. This temple is built on the spot where Sivananda is said to have had the darshan of Sri Krishna after long years of tapas (spiritual practice- japa of a Krishna mantra).

Near the temple is the 'Samadhi Shrine' where Sivananda's mortal remains were placed after he left his body in 1963. There is a Shiva temple here. Satsangs involving spiritual discourses, meditation and kirtan take place here twice a day and are open to all members of the public.

In the Samadhi hall, the  'Om Namo Narayanaya' and 'Om Namah Sivaya' mantras are chanted for 2-3 hours daily along with various other prayers such as the Vishnu sahasranama.

Then there is the 'Bhajan hall' where the Hare Rama mahamantra is chanted or sung 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without any break. The Ashram residents have a rota to ensure there is no break in the chanting. This chanting was started by Sivananda in 1943 during the second world war as a prayer for world peace. After the war, he said it must continue non-stop and his instruction has been carried out till the present (ongoing for about 74 years). In my view, this is likely to be a major reason why a third world war with nuclear weapons has not occurred yet despite many dangerous political situations. The sincere prayers of people such as those in the Ashram is a valuable protective force against the negative thoughts of the war-mongering people on this planet.

The Ashram has many more important activities some of which I will briefly mention here. They run a wonderful hospital providing free medical care and medicines for the poor. I have worked here briefly while visiting and can say this was a very inspiring experience. The Swami in charge of the hospital is a very kind elderly gentleman.

There is also a service to take care of people with leprosy- the Ashram provides food, shelter and livelihood for them. They run a home for people who have been abandoned by their families for various reasons (e.g. mental illness, social reasons and so on). They help provide education for children from poor families.

Aside from providing free medical and social support to the public, the Ashram provides spiritual teaching to anyone who is interested in the subject. They run a two month free course on Vedanta a few times a year. This provides a valuable introduction to the Gita, Upanisads and other sacred texts. They also have their own printing press and publish numerous books with valuable and uplifting spirtual teachings by Sivananda, Chidananda and other disciples.

There are many more activities- it is impossible to describe them all here (not least because I myself am not aware of every detail of the huge amounts of service to society that they do).

The people of the Ashram are generally come across as kind and helpful. Some of the Swamis come from eminent professional backgrounds- they joined the Ashram after retirement. Other Swamis joined the Ashram at a relatively young age in their early 20s and have dedicated their entire lives to the service of God and Guru. No matter what their background, the majority of them are humble and simple. Many of them are very well-read in the scriptures (the Gita, Upanisads, Bhagavatam and so on). They are generally ever ready to help sincere seekers who want to learn the techniques of meditation and yoga and study the scriptures.

The interesting thing about the residents of the Ashram is that they regard the extensive service to society that they do as worship of the living God in human form . Therefore they try to perform this service with humility.
As advised by the Guru, they reject the idea that they are doing others a favour by helping them. Instead, they try to cultivate gratitude to those who give them the opportunity to serve because this helps spiritual growth. This is a very wonderful attitude that is extremely rare in the world. It is a divine attitude that creates an atmosphere of peace and bliss.

During my recent visit to the Ashram, I asked a senior Swami who is a very kind person, what his formula to attain God is. (Theory is one thing, practice is another. I wanted to know what practice he does- for my own learning).
He is an extremely busy person, and is constantly meeting people all day who want different types of help with all sorts of problems, both material and spiritual. Despite this, he never seems to get tired and always has a kind smile for everyone. He is also remarkably humble despite his relatively senior position in the Ashram. He come across as a true bhakta of God and Guru.
I asked him, how on earth he finds time to formally worship God despite his busy schedule. He told me his secret is to dedicate every act to God while repeating the name of God within. He said to me his formula is to "Remember Hari, don't worry and be merry". He advised me to follow this formula too and I plan to try my best to do so. (Just to say, this is a different person to the Swami who has advised me in the past whom I have mentioned in other posts. Both of them come across as very good people and are extremely helpful).

He also advised me to keep up the purascharana practice and said that the practice of the name or mantra of God is extremely important to keep up daily. He told me that the mantra of Narayana is a 'brahma- astra', a powerful spiritual weapon to create goodness and destroy negativity. He advised me to repeat this mantra as much as possible.
I feel deeply grateful to him for this encouragement in the spiritual path and will continue my sadhana with enthusiasm. As I am currently in India on pilgrimage, I will start the next purascharana on returning home back to my usual routine in a couple of weeks.

I would highly recommend a visit to Rishikesh for any sincere spiritual seeker. The whole atmosphere is wonderful and uplifting. There are many Ashrams to choose from. Any sincere seeker is welcome to stay at the Sivananda Ashram (accommodation and food are provided free of cost- one can make a donation if desired but there is absolutely no pressure/request to do so. One needs to email/contact the General Secretary if one wants to stay in the Ashram).
 
Om Namo Narayanaya

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Spiritual path from the birth chart

Hari Aum

I am going to outline some basic principles with regard to seeing one's spiritual life from the birth chart.

In my previous post from March 2015 on this topic, I made an attempt to analyse the various ayanamsas and work out which one seemed the most accurate. As mentioned in that post, I have found the Raman ayanamsa to be the most accurate and use this to cast the chart. I use the Jagannatha Hora software. (I have deleted that post as I have no wish to debate with anyone over ayanamsas- each to their own.)

Key points when analysing spirituality in the chart:

1. The key elements of spirituality in the chart that need to be examined are the lagna, the moon, the fifth house and the 9th house. The lagna represents the individual self/body/personality, the moon represents the mind. Wth regard to spirituality, the fifth house represents mantra, intelligence, creativity and good karmas from past lives. Similarly, the 9th house represents dharma, spirituality, wisdom and Guru.

2. Connections between the lagna, lagna lord, moon and fifth and ninth houses is good for spirituality

3. The eighth house- this is the house of the occult, hidden mysteries of life, suffering and transformation through this. It is one of the moksha trikonas, along with the 4th and 12th houses. It is not uncommon for people with an interest in spirituality and the occult to have planets in the 8th house.

4. The twelvth house- this is the house of meditation and moksha. The influence of benefic planets here or aspecting this house is said to be auspicious. A connection between this house and lagna/moon can again give an interest in meditation and moksha.

5. Planets of spirituality- the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Ketu are important for spirituality. Moon/lagna/lagna lord aspected by Saturn can indicate a person with vairagya, non-attachment to worldly things. The association between Jupiter and the Moon/lagna can give an interest in spiritual life as Jupiter represents the Guru and spirituality. Sun is the natural indicator of dharma.

6. Ketu's influence on the lagna or moon can produce non-attachment and spirituality.

7. Charts- the main rasi chart, the navamsa and vimsamsa (d 20) charts should be analysed with regard to the above

8. How to find the ishta devata, the deity who leads one to moksha from the chart:

a) Find the atma karaka AK (planet with highest degrees in the chart).
b) Identify the sign in which AK is placed in navamsa or vimsamsa (there is controversy about which chart- I use both, but mainly vimsamsa based on what I have read on this subject).
c) Now look at the sign in 12th position from the sign containing AK. If there are planets in the sign, see which is the strongest. The higher deity associated with this planet is the ishta devata. If no planet is present here, take the lord as ishta devata.

9. I have read that planets in trines in vimsamsa indicate deities one will worship and found this to be pretty accurate

10. Yogas for spirituality -certain combinations of planets create 'yoga' which are regarded as good for spiritual life. These include hamsa yoga, tapasvi yoga, parivrajaka yoga, sadhu yoga, sannyasa yoga, dharma-karma adhipati yoga (these are well-described on other sites so I will not elaborate here).

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

P.S. I use the Raman ayanamsa for my vedic astrology readings. I have analysed some of the other ayanamsas including Lahiri, Pushya paksha and Yukteswar and find Raman ayanamsa works best for me. I appreciate that each astrologer has their own preferance with regard to ayanamsa and wish everyone the best with their work (have no wish to debate with anyone regarding this topic - each to their own).

Update: July 7, 2022: 

I had used my chart in this post as an example to illustrate how to apply some of the principles described above. Based on some new information that has recently come to light, some important elements of my chart have changed while many things have remained the same. As a result, I am removing the section on my chart from this post for now (as the old version is no longer accurate). I will write another post using my chart to explain these and some other principles of vedic astrology.

Please see the article below which explains some of the key principles of seeing spirituality in the chart along with the concept of the bhava chalit chart:

https://mantrayoga.blogspot.com/2022/07/vedic-astrology-bhava-chalit-chart-and.html

Completion of purascharana three

Hari Aum.

I completed the third purascharana of the ashtakshara mantra of Vishnu yesterday (i.e. 800,000 recitations). This purascharana was started in late Jan 2016 and therefore took about 20 months. I am very grateful to God and Guru through whose grace I feel I was able to complete this sadhana.

 As mentioned in a previous post, I am currently in the process of doing eight purascharanas in a row. After completion of the eight purascharanas, my plan is to then do an additional 10% of the total as a substitute for homam/tarpan/marjan (as advised by my Guru Sivananda in his book Japa yoga).


After each of the previous two purascharanas, I took a 'mantra holiday' of 6-8 weeks before starting the next purascharana. During the 'holiday', I continued the japa but reduced the number of malas compared to what I did during the purascharana. I found this helped to rest my mind and created motivation for the next purascharana.

Therefore, as before, I will be taking a 'mantra holiday' from today. I will do only 5 malas a day for the next 7 weeks instead of the 15 that I was doing until yesterday.
 Then somewhere in the second half of November next month, I will start my next fourth purascharana. I plan to do 15 malas a day during the next purascharana and this should take around 1 year and 4.5 months to complete.

During the coming weeks, during my mantra holiday before the next purascharana, I plan to read the description of the life of Krishna from beginning to end in the Srimad Bhagavatam. I will also do one mala daily of a Durga mantra for at least 4 weeks, starting the coming Friday. This is to offer thanks to the Divine Mother for Her blessing that I feel keeps me going on the path of sadhana.

As before, I dedicate this purascharana to peace everywhere. May the dharma of Lord Narayana prevail in all the worlds, may all beings think and act in tune with the Divine- and thus, may peace and prosperity prevail everywhere.

Om Lokah Samastah Sukhinoh bhavantu (May all beings be happy)
Om Namo Narayanaya

Hari Aum Tat Sat

P.S. Some people have written on this blog in the past to ask me what effects I have felt after the purascharanas so I will mention this here briefly (have also discussed this in a previous post).

I mainly feel more aware of the presence of God after doing the purascharanas. I remember God much more frequently now than I used to before starting this practice. The Gurus say that the way to God is to remember Him always. I feel I am improving in remembering God due to this mantra practice.

Also, I meditate on Vishnu in the anahata chakra (centre of the chest) while doing japa. So even when I am not doing japa, I feel aware of His presence there. The yogis say God resides in the heart of all beings. I am more aware of the God residing within me as a result of this practice. I feel able to turn to this God for help when I need it.

The purascharana practice has also helped me become more aware of the flaws in my mind such as anger, jealousy and other negative emotions  and I feel I am slowly and steadily gaining better control over these. I also feel an increase in some positive qualities such as compassion, patience, understanding and have a stronger desire to be a support to those in need.

I feel I have quite some way yet to go before I attain God. However I feel sure that each purascharana takes me one step closer and so I continue this practice, with the inspiration given by my Guru Sivananda.

 Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya. Om Sri Gurave Namah.

The Narayana upanishad and the ashtakshara mantra

Hari Aum.

I was reading the Narayana Upanishad recently and wanted to write about it here. This upanishad is from the Krishna Yajur Veda. It speaks of the greatness of Narayana and also of the glory of the ashtakshara mantra Om Namo Narayanaya.

I will share the main points mentioned in this upanishad and include a link (see below) to the Sanskrit slokas with English translation.

The Narayana Upanishad says:

Narayana is the creator, the maintainer and the dissolver of all creation. All creation emerges from Narayana by His will, remains in Him and then dissolves back into Him in accordance with His will.

All the demigods, humans and other living beings, the soul, mind, senses, air, water, fire, earth and space emerge from Narayana. He is space, He is time. He gives birth, He gives death.

He is the origin, the middle and the end of all things. He is everywhere, within and without.

Narayana resides in the heart of all beings.

In summary, all is Narayana.


Ashtakshara mantra of Narayana:  Om Namo Narayanaya

The Narayana upanishad talks about the greatness of the ashtakshara (eight syllabled) mantra of Lord Vishnu - Om Namo Narayanaya.

(Note- unfortunately this mantra is incorrectly written in many places including some temples, as Om Namo Narayana - missing the last syllable 'ya'.)

The Narayana upanishad says the following about the ashtakshara mantra:

-This mantra is most sacred. It is the king of all mantras

-When recited, it gives health, long life, prosperity and attainment of Vaikuntha (the abode of Vishnu, supreme consciousness)
-Recitation of this mantra grants liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

-One who recites this mantra in the morning becomes free of sins committed at night.
-One who chants this mantra at noon becomes free of the five great sins
-One who recites this at night becomes free of sins committed during the day.

-One who chants this mantra acquires the merit of studying all the Vedas

-One who recites this mantra attains oneness with Narayana

My Guru  Sivananda says that the recitation of a mantra creates the form of the deity associated with it. He says recitation of Om Namo Narayanaya creates the form of Narayana or Vishnu in the higher planes. Prolonged recitation of this mantra according to him, grants the darshan or vision of Lord Narayana.

My Guru says that all people are free to chant the Om Namo Narayanaya and gain the benefits. There is absolutely no restriction based on caste, gender, race or anything else. 

It is sad that some spiritual traditions restrict women and certain castes from chanting this mantra. The great sage Ramanuja climbed on top of a temple tower and loudly proclaimed this mantra to all, regardless of caste, creed or gender. Sadly some of the followers of this great liberal Guru now contradict his teaching and say that women and Hari-jans cannot chant this mantra. This is the result of the terrible ignorance of this kali yuga.

Once again, all great Gurus who attained God praised this mantra and said it can be chanted by anybody and will grant liberation to all.

Also, just to mention, every mantra has six parts that are described as follows as per my Guru Sivananda:

1. Rishi who first 'saw' the mantra (mantras are 'seen' in meditation, not created). The Rishi of the ashtakshara mantra of Vishnu is the rishi Narayana (one of the twin rishis Nara-Narayana).
2. Chandas or metre- the intonation in which the mantra is chanted. The metre of the ashtakshara mantra is Gayatri.
3. Devata, deity of the mantra: the deity of ashtakshara is MahaVishnu or Narayana
4. Beeja, seed syllable or essence of the mantra
5. Shakti- the shakti or power of the deity/mantra
6.  Kilaka- the 'pin' that plugs the 'mantra chaitanya' hidden in the mantra. Prolonged recitation of the mantra removs the kilaka or 'pin' and grants darshan of the ishta devata, the deity. Recitation of ashtakshara grants darshan of Lord Narayana.

Here is a link with recitation of the Om Namo Narayanaya mantra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IospxT7xl-I

See below for a link to the Narayana upanishad in Sanskrit with translation.

http://www.sathyasaiottawa.org/pdf/Vedam/Narayana_Upanishad.pdf

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Tuning the sitar string just right

Hari Aum.

I will write about the importance of balance in spiritual life today. I will share my views on how to continue long-term spiritual practices based on my own experience of what works and the obstacles.

We all know that sadhana is only successful if one is willing to work for a long time. The light of our sadhana needs to be steady and regular like the sun which rises every day. It should not be like a comet, which flashes dramatically in the sky for a short time and then disappears.

But how to sustain sadhana for years and years like the great yogis so that we can experience the benefits?

The secret lies in balance. Sadhana must be intense but yet it should be enjoyable. Now this may sound like a paradox. When we say intense sadhana, we usually mean that this should involve some suffering. Like standing on one leg for years, or fasting for months or some other self-torture. Yes some suffering and penance is inevitable in spiritual life. But one's sadhana must never feel like a type of self-torture or one will not be able to do it for long.

One needs to feel one's sadhana is enjoyable, one must slowly develop a love for it- so much so, that one desperately wants to ensure it happens every day. This way, no matter what the life circumstances are, one will ensure that one can do sadhana regularly.

So how to do sadhana daily without it feeling like a punishment, a torture? The key is balance, a sattvic approach.

One must take great care in building up a daily practice. The rajas and tamas elements in the mind will always try to mislead one.

Let me give an example relating to the obstructive forces of rajas and tamas when it comes to building a daily practice.

About 14 years ago, I was in my first year at medical school and the first term was over. An end-of-term examination was coming up and six weeks were given beforehand to prepare for this. There was a lot of material to learn and I was determined to do well in the exam. I therefore made a very tough timetable and studied hard for long hours every day without allowing any proper breaks.

As a result, after about four weeks of working like this my mind felt burnt out. I felt I just could not face looking at a medical textbook. Due to this burn-out, the final two weeks of the holidays were wasted as my mind felt unable to study. Fortunately the exam still went okay, but I learnt a serious lesson from this experience.
The mind must be handled carefully to get work out of it. One must work hard with proper breaks to give the mind time to recover so it will work efficiently. Needless to say, for the rest of my medical school examinations, I ensured a careful balance between work and rest and performed well.

I have applied this same rule to my spiritual life. The same rajasic part of my mind, which made me overwork and burn out on that occasion in medical school, tries to make me burn out in spiritual life. This side of the mind says "Do more, do more"- basically do an unsustainable amount of daily sadhana.

We all have this rajasic component in our minds. This side of our mind promises everything and does nothing. It tells us the sadhana we are doing is a mere nothing, one must do huge amounts that are unsustainable to succeed. The moment one tries to do this, the rajasic mind turns tamasic.
Like a chameleon, it rapidly changes colour and says "Oh I am too tired, this sadhana is too tough, I cannot do it, it is torture, I want to give up and stop".

This way the mind tricks one in to committing to a huge amount of sadhana which it promises it will do, and later it rebels and stops everything.

Stopping sadhana is a very unfortunate situation which must be avoided for success in spiritual life. So how to handle the danger of this rajasic-tamasic mind?

The answer is the sattvic approach. The middle way. The path of balance. One has to tell the mind- "Look here, I want to do sadhana every day for years, understand? So I will work every day, and I will rest and recover everyday. I will neither overwork, nor underwork. I will take the balanced approach, the middle way. This way I can continue sadhana for a long time".

Yogis give the example of tuning the sitar. If the sitar string is made too tight, it will break and you cannot play music (this represents rajas- overdoing it and breaking in the process).  If the sitar string is too loose and slack, again you cannot play (this represents tamas- not doing enough).

If the sitar string is tuned just right, you can play beautiful music (this represents sattva, the balanced approach). Similarly the mind must be tuned just right to get proper sadhana out of it. It must be handled carefully like musical instrument.

One must take on only that much sadhana which feels comfortable and enjoyable to do. If one enjoys the sadhana, one will do it daily. If it feels like a terrible pain, a tremendous strain, our mind will give it up at the earliest opportunity. And then we will be nowhere.

As my third puraschanara comes to a close (will be completed in about three weeks), the rajasic component of my mind has been inciting me to increase the number of malas dramatically.

Over the past six years, I carefully built up a routine of doing on average 11 malas a day. (Before I started my purascharana practice, in 2011, I was doing just 1 mala twice a day- so 11 malas a day was a big step for me.) It took me some years to become comfortable doing 11 malas every day without a break.
In the past few months, after very careful consideration, I increased this to 15 malas a day. This was because 11 malas felt relatively easy-  and although 15 malas daily requires some effort, it is still not a huge strain- I should be able to manage this every day if I am disciplined.
I intend to do the fourth purascharana at 15 malas a day so this will take 1.5 years instead of 2 years to complete (and therefore gives me more time overall for future sadhana).

However my old friend, the rajasic mind, regularly tries to sabotage my sadhana efforts. It says "Come on, what is all this nonsense of just 15 malas a day? What kind of tapas is this? Why don't you do 21 malas daily, then you would finish a purascharana in a year! Why not do 24 malas a day, then you would complete it in just 10 months. That would be great!"

I know that my current situation will not permit  me to do 21-24 malas daily- this is due to my work as a doctor and other home-related responsibilities. I am a japa yogi but I combine japa with karma yoga (my work/home responsibilies). Furthermore, my Guru Sivanada, advised a balanced approach- japa, karma, jnana, hatha yoga (not just japa yoga).

Therefore the balanced aspect of my mind says- "Wait, wait. Go slow and steady. Don't jump too fast and break your legs. Don't burn out. You find 15 malas a day comfortable although this is still an effort- stick with this for now. Do not increase or decrease the number of malas for the present". I trust this balanced side of my mind, I feel this is the sattvic side that provides the recipe for continued regular steady sadhana. This balanced approach has always helped me in the past, both in spiritual and material life.

I therefore ignore the rajasic side of my mind which promises me it will do huge amounts of sadhana daily, and later rebels and turns tamasic, refusing to do anything at all. I have seen this rajas-tamas play of my mind plenty of times before and refuse to fall for its tricks this time. However it is not at all easy to always recognise the tricks of one's mind and this is where prayer to God to ask for His/Her grace becomes very necessary.

I pray to God to keep me on the spiritual path, no matter what happens in daily life and no matter what tricks my mind tries to play. I feel it is only because of the grace of God that I have been able to stay on this spiritual path so far.

Now it is coming up to Navaratri time and I have taken a week off from work to recharge spiritually. I plan to enjoy this week by doing kirtan, reading some spiritual books, visiting  a temple or two and just be happy. I want to express my thanks to the Divine Mother for helping me get this far in my sadhana and to request Her help to continue until I attain God.

Aside from reciting the navarna mantra during this time, I will chant the saptasloki Durga and other hymns to the Goddess - basically I will just do what comes spontaneously from the heart (I am disciplined with my daily mantra japa so I allow my mind to be spontaneous when it comes to other sadhanas including this).

Happy navaratri to all. I wish you all the best of luck in tuning the sitars of your minds, to enable regular daily sadhana and attainment of spiritual wisdom and bliss.

Hari Aum Tat Sat



P.S. I am writing a little conversation here between the sattva, rajas and tamas components of the mind. This is intended as a caricature to highlight the absurd conflicting thoughts that can arise in our mind when it comes to starting and doing sadhana.  You may or may not experience something similar at times.

Let's say a hypothetical sadhaka thinks "Hmmmm, let me start doing 5 malas of japa daily. This is a good start as unfortunately I have not been doing any sadhana at all for a while and I want to attain God in this lifetime".

Immediately the rajasic mind wakes up and says "What! A mere 5 malas a day! Don't make me laugh! You will get nowhere with just 5 malas a day. You must do at least 50-60 malas a day- that's more in line what all the past great yogis did. Don't doubt yourself, you are fully capable of this, O hero!"

Then the sadhaka thinks "Well, maybe I would be doing too little going from 0 malas to just 5. Maybe I should do 50 malas daily. As they say, no pain, no gain."

The sadhaka then does 50 malas a day but this takes around 4-6 hours daily, and there is not much time for anything else. If s/he is living in a cave with no other people, this is fine. But if s/he is living in an Ashram or a house with other people, there will be some work expected from the sadhaka. The sadhaka struggles with finding time for Ashram/home/office responsibilities as well as japa. S/he gets exhausted after 2-3 weeks of doing 50 malas a day. Sleep has been reduced because the malas are done late into the night (cannot finish all malas in the daytime due to work in the Ashram/home/office). The sadhaka feels tired and exhausted and unable to concentrate properly on the mantra- the sadhana is not enjoyable and feels like torture.

At this point, when the sadhaka is feeling tired and sad, the tamasic mind attacks him/her. "What are you doing? There is no time right now for this kind of sadhana. It is better you stop this  nonsense now. Your seva/service in the home/office/Ashram is quite enough to worship God. No need to take the name of the Lord for hours like this. Utterly ridiculous! Where do you get such foolish ideas?"

The exhausted sadhaka then gives up the sadhana with relief and some sadness. The rajasic mind now berates him/her severely for stopping the sadhana- "What a complete failure you are! Such a little sadhana you could not do. Look what great sadhana the great yogis can do, and look at you. Where is the comparison! No point worrying about yoga and attaining God. Just live your life as a normal person- you are not fit for any tapas".
Note how the same mind which said the sadhaka was a great hero who could do great tapas, now criticises him/her severely and makes him/her feel like a complete zero. The poor sadhaka shrinks away feeling like a failure and and sadly contemplates giving up the search for God altogether.

At this point the sattvic mind intervenes and says "Friend, don't lose heart. You did not listen to me earlier because the rajasic mind sounded more impressive, but listen to me now. Just start doing a little bit of sadhana daily, something you can manage comfortably. Little by little, as you gradually grow stronger with time, you can increase the sadhana steadily. You are not a failure, neither are you a hero. You need to set some simple achievable goals for sadhana and do it while taking care of your life as a whole. Just start with the 5 malas a day you were thinking about- you will be able to do this easily and this will be a definite improvement on your current 0 malas a day! The name of the Lord is all-powerful and auspicious. Every little bit of japa counts towards your spiritual progress. Come on, let's get started!"

The sadhaka feels renewed hope, and this time resolutely ignoring both rajasic and tamasic components of the mind, says "Yes, I can do a little every day!". In time the sadhaka begins to enjoy the sadhana and continues this steadily for a long while, thus reaping the rich reward of spiritual progress.

Let us therefore listen to the balanced sattvic side of our minds, and try to ignore as much as possible the unrealistic rajasic side and the lazy tamasic side. May God and Guru bless us all in our efforts.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

The acid test of spiritual progress

Hari Aum.

Many of us who are on the spiritual path wonder whether we are progressing. Many people define spiritual progress in different ways. Here I will share the views of my Guru Sivananda on this issue.

The ultimate test of spiritual progress is not whether one can fly, has siddhis, can materialise things, have spiritual dreams, have interesting experiences in meditation such as seeing lights/colours and so on. All these things may or may not indicate spiritual progress. People who are not at all spiritual, who have no humility or devotion, can also develop such powers- these are not indicative of true spirituality.

However one thing definitely indicates spiritual progress- that is being able to forgive those who harm one. Let us examine this further.

It is said in yoga philosophy, that those people who:

1. Do good to those who do good to them, and do evil to those who do evil to them are average human beings. We have all experienced this. We like people who are nice to us, and dislike those who are  nasty to us. This is what we call 'normal' behaviour in society and the majority of human beings on our planet are like this. Such people have a mixture of sattva, rajas and tamas.

2. Do evil to those who do good to them are asuric/demonic in nature. Those who harm people who have done good to them are filled with rajas and tamas. Such people are also ultimately divine (we are all part of God) but have a long way to go to manifest the divine within them.

3. Do good to those who do evil to them are divine/saintly in nature. This takes a long time to develop. This shows spiritual maturity. This is the hallmark of every saint since time immemorial. This is the nature of those who have attained God, or those who are on their way to doing so.

The hallmark of true saints

The hallmark of a saint is not whether they can exhibit some magic tricks, read one's mind, walk on water, fly in the air or any of these things. A saint may be able to do all this, but this is not saintliness.

The hallmark of a saint is tremendous compassion which manifests as an extraordinary ability to forgive those who harm them.

Some famous examples are well-known. Jesus is regarded as a great yogi, a great master by those who walk the path of yoga. He may have walked on water, but this was not what made him a saint. His amazing saintliness shone through when he was treated most brutally by ignorant people who could not understand his greatness. Despite being treated in a most terrible way, he remained deeply compassionate and forgiving, even saying "Father forgive them, they know not what they do". This conduct revealed his divine nature to the whole world.

Similarly Buddha demonstrated great compassion. In his previous lifetime, before he became the Buddha, he is said to have seen a hungry starving mother tigress who was about to eat her own cubs as there was nothing else to eat. Buddha seeing this, offered his life to her so that the cubs would live. It was this wondrous compassion that was the hallmark of the individual who later became the great Buddha, the embodiment of love and wisdom.

In this context I will also mention a more recent example of compassion and forgiveness which involved my Guru Sivananda.
One evening during a satsang at my Guru's Ashram in Rishikesh, a man appeared out of the blue with an axe and tried to attack and kill Sivananda. He came close to Sivananda and would have succeeded but for the quick actions of some disciples who caught hold of him in time. The police were called and the man was arrested and spent a night in the local prison. The next morning, Sivananda visited the prisoner who tried to kill him in jail and worshipped him as a manifestation of God- he presented the man with garlands and sweets. He then requested the police to set the man free without any punishment- the police were not at all happy with the idea and said the man might return to try to kill Sivananda again. However Gurudev was adamant that he wanted no punishment for the man and he was released. This experience transformed the mindset of this man and he is said to have become a disciple of Sivananda and taken up spiritual life. This is the transforming power of compassion and forgiveness.

I will also briefly mention as interesting story of compassion from the Bhagavata Purana. A noble king called Ambarisha was a great devotee of God who he worshipped in the form of Vishnu. He had kept the sacred Ekadasi fast which is observed by devotees of Vishnu. He was about to complete the ritual by breaking the fast the next day when the sage Durvasa arrived. Now Durvasa was famous for his anger and tendency to put terrible curses on people who annoyed him.

Ambarisha greeted him and invited him to join him for a meal - kings would always show respect to great sages. Durvasa agreed but said he needed to bathe first and went off. Now Ambarisha had a problem. He needed to break the fast right away to complete the ritual of worshipping Vishnu. But if he ate before his guest, this would be disrespectful. So as a compromise, he decided to take a sip of water only and did not eat anything while waiting for Durvasa to return.
When Durvasa returned, he realised through his yogic vision that the king had taken a sip of water and broken his fast. He felt angry and insulted thinking that the king had broken his fast before he, the guest, had eaten. In great anger, he pulled out one of his hairs which he made into a demon- he ordered the demon to kill the king.
However before the demon could do anything, the mighty weapon of Vishnu, the great discus known as Sudarshan Chakra appeared and destroyed it. Then the mighty weapon turned on Durvasa to destroy him. Durvasa ran all over the three worlds, and then to Brahma and Shiva who both said they could not help him. He then went to Vishnu Himself and begged for forgiveness. Vishnu advised him to go and ask for forgiveness from the king Ambarisha. The king, on hearing about the unfortunate situation of the sage, immediately prayed to Vishnu to forgive him. Vishnu then withdrew the Sudarshan Chakra and the life of Durvasa was spared.

This story shows that a true devotee of God is one who has compassion and forgiveness in great measure like the king Ambarisha. And that people who have mind-reading powers and wander about as sages, such as Durvasa, may have siddhis, but they have no true devotion to God.

Krishna famously gives the definition of a true devotee in the twelfth chapter, called Yoga of devotion, of the Bhagavad Gita:

"He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain, and forgiving, ever content, steady in meditation, possessed of firm conviction, self-controlled, with mind and intellect dedicated to Me, he My devotee, is dear to Me"

This forgiveness of saints is born of great compassion, of great wisdom and understanding of the mindset of those who do harm. People who do harm to others are usually suffering themselves. They have ignorant ideas about right and wrong, they harm others and themselves too. They suffer terrible negative karmic reactions for their negative actions. The Divine Law of Karma gives them appropriate punishments for their cruel negative deeds.
A saint sees all this, and probably more. A saint can see when we are in the grip of rajas and tamas, negative thinking. They know the suffering we are going through, and the suffering that is to come to us as a result of our negative thoughts and actions.
Furthermore, a saint is ever rooted in God. S/he knows that their true essence is immortal soul, Atman, ever united with God.

As the Bhagavad Gita says, the soul, Atman, cannot be harmed in anyway by any force on Earth or elsewhere. Water cannot wet it, fire cannot burn it, the wind cannot dry it, a sword cannot kill it. It is ever immortal, ever blissful, full of wisdom and beyond the comprehension of the mind and intellect. So ultimately, saints who have experienced their true nature as Atman know that no harm can be done to them. However they are filled with pity for ignorant people who identify with the body-mind complex and try to harm them.

A true saint has three main qualities:

1. Wisdom- a saint has discovered his/her nature as one with God, is ever united with God. S/he rejoices in the bliss and peace of God experience, far beyond worldly conflicts and suffering.

2. Compassion- having attained the supreme heights of God-experience and eternal peace, saints feel compassionate for those who have not yet done so. They see the suffering of such people and try to help those who also seek to walk the spiritual path. They try to motivate people to walk the spiritual path. And they feel great compassion for those who turn away from the spiritual path and engage in negative self-destructive activity which leads to suffering.

3. Forgiveness- a saint understands the nature of human minds- its changeable nature, its impurities-  full of lust, anger, greed, jealousy, pride and delusion. So when deluded humans attack them, they who have reached a state beyond all attack, are filled with compassion for such unfortunate self-destructive beings. Because ultimately, it is not the saint but the one who tries to harm them who suffers.

The acid test of spiritual progress

So when we ask ourselves "Am I progressing in spiritual life?" we should consider- am I growing in compassion, forgiveness and understanding towards other living  beings? Not have I got siddhis/mind-reading and other meaningless powers.

One may have stood on one leg doing tapas for forty years, one may have given up food and drink and be living on air only, one may be doing japa all day long, one may be able to do the most impossible asanas and the most difficult pranayamas, one may have memorised all the scriptures and be able to quote them with ease, one may have acquired some siddhis like clairvoyance or mind-reading- all this matters nothing if one gets angry with others and has thoughts of harming them, if one is cruel to animals, birds and insects, if one has pride, jealousy and hatred for others.

All such magic tricks are worth nothing. The only thing that matters in spiritual life is character development. A spotlessly clean and pure mind, a heart that beats with compassion for all other living beings, an incredible ability to forgive and genuinely wish well those who harm one- this is the acid test of spiritual progress.

We may not be there yet, but if there is some improvement in our ability to forgive those who harm us, then we are progressing. If we feel genuine grief for those who suffer, and do not just stop here- if we actually start taking some action and do something practical for others on this planet who are suffering, we can say we are progressing in spiritual life.

If we lose interest in winning battles with others to prove who is right and who is wrong, we can say we are progressing in spiritual life. We must express our views of course if we feel they are correct but no need to force them down anyone's throat. Let people think, say and do whatever they feel they must- there are seven billion people on this planet and each has his/her own way. We are all free to act as we please, but we must then face the consequences of our actions as per the law of karma.

This character development may sound boring and dull, it may sound much less glamorous than having siddhis, clairvoyance, mind-reading and so on, but it is the only way to God. Only a spotlessly clean and pure mind and heart can attain God.

The purpose of all yogic practices is to purify the mind and heart and develop true devotion to God. Mantra japa and service of living beings is the formula advised by my Guru Sivananda for rapid spiritual progress.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Qualities of a good disciple: the pledge of purushartha (self-effort)

Hari Aum.

There are many Gurus out there. One chooses a Guru based on one's own character. One gets what one deserves.

Some disciples do not wish to do any sadhana. They want a 'quick fix', a fast route to samadhi with minimal effort. They are attracted by false Gurus who promise everything quickly and easily with  no effort. Such disciples end up nowhere ultimately -their lives are wasted being cheated by 'Gurus' who promise samadhi by giving a drop of water from their kamandalu (water pot of a sadhu) or similar cheap tricks. This is very unfortunate. 

Nothing worthwhile in this world comes free. One should always remember this.

In both material or spiritual life, good things comes to those who are prepared to work for them. A good student who works hard excels in examinations. A lazy student who hopes to pass by sheer luck fails miserably. People blame their bad luck for their failures. The truth is that they simply did not put in the effort.

The law of the universe states that you reap what you sow. If you sow hard work, you will get results. It may take time, but you will get your just deserts in time. If you sow laziness, you will get nothing in return.

If you give nothing, you will get nothing.

If you give everything, your whole heart and soul, you get everything. This applies to spiritual and material life.

As Thomas Edison, the well-known American inventor and businessman said, "Genius is 1 % inspiration (chance/luck), and 99% perspiration (hard work)".

Every genuine Guru attained wisdom by purushartha (self-effort) themselves. They worked very hard to purify their minds, to do tapas, to concentrate, to meditate and attain God. Look at Tulasidas, Mirabai, Jesus, Buddha, Ramakrishna, Sivananda and others. All worked hard to remember God constantly, to develop genuine love of God- and in the end, all attained God.

Such genuine Gurus, who themselves worked very hard, tell their disciples to also work hard. They tell the disciples that there is no short-cut. One must be prepared to put in the effort. Help comes to those who try.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Buddha: the embodiment of compassion

Hari Aum.

Today I would like to share my views on the Buddha. I have been watching a television series on the Buddha and feel inspired to write something about him.

My first contact with Buddhism was about 14 years ago (before I discovered my Guru Sivananda) when I read the Tibetan book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. This book greatly increased my interest in spiritual life.

Later, on the recommendation of a friend, I did the ten day Vipassana meditation course- this involves 10 days of complete silence while doing Vipassana concentration for around 10 hours a day. (Although I was about 21 years of age, sitting for 10 hours a day was no easy task physically- everything ached afterwards!). During the course, the teachers told us that we must exert ourselves to walk on the spiritual path. They said we must walk every step of way ourselves- there is nobody outside us ultimately who can help us. This message had a profound impact on me.

After the course, the teachers told us we must continue to meditate using the Vipassana method for at least two hours daily. I was a medical student at the time- I managed to find time for this (two hours a day seemed easy after the pain of sitting 10 hours a day!). I continued this practice until I discovered my Guru Sivananda- then I switched to mantra meditation, which I have stayed with ever since.

Coming  back to the Buddha and his teaching, who was the Buddha? There are many views. Some have no faith in him, they say he was an ordinary man. Others say he was an incarnation of Vishnu who was born to mislead asuras. Still others say he was an extraordinary being, a great world Teacher, a being of supreme compassion, an embodiment of love and wisdom. My opinion is the third of these- I regard him as a great Teacher, a great inspiration, an embodiment of love and goodness.

I was going to write a full piece on him, then I thought, let me first see what my Guru Sivananda had to say about the Buddha. I found some articles by him on the Buddha, and was delighted to find that my Guru's thoughts and feelings about the Buddha exactly match my own.

Therefore instead of writing my views on the Buddha, I will share my Guru's views here (see links below).

http://www.dlshq.org/saints/buddha.htm

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/buddhism.htm


I will simply summarise the views of my Guru here in my own words and based on my own feelings.

Buddha was a great being. He was born a prince, but renounced everything and became a hermit. He knew that true wealth lay within not outside. He abandoned home and pleasures, he practiced austerity, the middle path, and attained the spiritual goal of life which he called Nirvana.

His message was simple- he said that one should not waste time in pointless arguments such as "Is there a God or not?" "Why does this world exist?" etc. He said that life is short, and there is no time for useless arguments which do not lead one anywhere. 

Instead of arguing, he said one should exert and find out the truth oneself before the body dies- this will lead to eternal bliss and freedom from suffering.

The method prescribed to discover the truth of life onself is basically two steps:
1. Purify the mind
2. Meditate with the pure mind

All mystics from all spiritual traditions ultimately advise the above two steps as the way to realise the Truth and thus experience eternal bliss, and freedom from suffering. So did the Buddha.

The noble eightfold path:

For purification of mind, the Buddha prescribed the noble eightfold path. This is as follows:

1. Right views: having proper understanding of this world, including the suffering in life and the law of karma
2. Right aspiration: having a firm desire to come out of suffering, to attain the spiritual goal of  life
3. Right speech: purity in speech. i.e. speech that is truthful and non-violent
4. Right action: purity in action, i.e. action that is based on non-violence (ahimsa) and control of the senses (brahmacharya)
5. Right livelihood: doing work that is ethical in nature, based on principles of non-violence and truthfulness
6. Right effort: making a genuine and sincere effort to control the mind, to increase pure and sublime thoughts in the mind, and to eliminate negative impure thoughts- working to refine the mind and render it fit for meditation.
7. Right mindfulness:  becoming aware of the activity of the body and mind without associating the 'I' with them, observing them as a witness (sakshi bhav)
8. Right concentration or meditation: having attained purity of mind through practice of the above seven steps, the sharp and pure mind is in an ideal state to concentrate and thus pass naturally into the state of meditation. Meditation then leads to nirvana (or samadhi), the state of direct realisation of the spiritual truths of life.

(Note- yogis say you cannot make yourself meditate. You can make the mind concentrate, and then meditation can happen. It is the same with sleep. You cannot make your mind sleep. You can go to bed, turn off the light, make yourself comfortable and create an environment in which sleep can happen. It is the same with meditation. A pure mind that can concentrate well, creates an environment in which meditation can happen. And when meditation happens, samadhi can happen).

Self-effort or Purushartha:

One of the key messages of the Buddha that I love the most, aside from the non-violence and compassion, is the emphasis on self-effort. What the yogis call 'purushartha'.

In the Dhammpada, the collection of sayings of the Buddha, the Buddha says:

"Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft, even so the discerning man straightens his mind — so fickle and unsteady, so difficult to guard."

"Wisdom never becomes perfect in one whose mind is not steadfast, who knows not the Good Teaching and whose faith wavers."

"By oneself one must censure oneself and scrutinize oneself. The self-guarded and mindful monk will always live in happiness."

"One is one's own protector, one is one's own refuge. Therefore, one should control oneself, even as a trader controls a noble steed."

"Exert yourself, O holy man! Cut off the stream (of craving), and discard sense desires. Knowing the destruction of all the conditioned things, become, O holy man, the knower of the Uncreated (Nibbana)!"

Here is a link to the Dhammapada, a most excellent and practical manual for spiritual practice:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html

My Guru Sivananda also emphasised the importance of self-effort. He used to say "Do not say 'Karma (destiny), karma, my karma has brought me this'",

He said: 
"Exert, exert. Do purushartha (self-effort). Do tapas (austerity). Concentrate. Purify. Meditate. Do not become a fatalist. Do not yield to inertia (tamas)."

"Do not bleat like a lamb. Roar Om, Om, Om like a lion of Vedanta". 

A lot of people think that a Guru or God outside them is going to give them salvation. The Buddha and the yogis say otherwise.

They all say that Truth, God, whatever you want to call it, is within us. If you cannot find Truth in yourself, you will not find it anywhere- so said my Guru and many other Gurus.

Finally, the Buddha was the embodiment of compassion, of kindness. These qualities are the basis of spiritual life. He was born at a time when people troubled each other in the  name of caste and other divisions, when people killed animals in the name of sacrifices to God. He tried to put an end to these heinous and evil practices by declaring the importance of ahimsa or non-violence as the basis of a moral and spiritual life. 

Hail to the Buddha, the master who commanded his disciples to work for self-realisation instead of expecting somebody else to hand this to them on a platter. Hail to the embodiment of ahimsa (non-violence) and karuna (compassion).

During the Vipassana course we said the following to affirm our commitment to live the noble life outlined by the Buddha, to experience ourselves the truth of his teachings, and I will conclude by saying this now:

Buddham sharanam gacchami
Dhammam sharanam gacchami
Sangham sharanam gacchami

This means:
In Buddha, I take refuge
In Dharma, I take refuge
In the spiritual community, I take refuge.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

Method of worship of the Divine Mother: Sivananda's advice

Hari Aum.

There are many great spiritual traditions dedicated to worshipping the Divine Mother. Here I am presenting the advice of my Guru Swami Sivananda regarding this subject.

Sivananda says about the Divine Mother:

"The Mother’s Grace is boundless. Her mercy is illimitable; Her knowledge infinite; Her power immeasurable; Her glory ineffable; and Her splendour indescribable. She gives you material prosperity as well as spiritual freedom."

Sivananda says that, in some ways, the devotee can feel close to God more easily when worshipping God as Mother, rather than as Father. He says this is because, even in ordinary human life, mothers are perceived as being more lenient and forgiving whereas fathers are supposedly stricter and more distant.

He was a follower of Advaita Vedanta philosophy (non-dualism) established by Adi Shankaracharya. This philosophy says that all is God.

My Guru's method of worship of the Divine Mother is based on this philosophy. This says that while God is One, there are many forms of God, all of which are equal. One can attain God by worshipping any form of one's liking. The Goddess is one such wonderful form of the Supreme Being, and by worshipping Her, one can attain the supreme goal of spiritual life.

My Guru's method of worship of the Divine Mother is simple (there are no fancy rituals or exotic practices here). The path he advises is basically centred around mantra japa.  Because he himself was a japa yogi (he attained realisation through japa of the dwadashakshari mantra of Krishna). He says that one should worship the Divine Mother through intense japa and attain Her grace which leads to liberation.

The mantras for Goddess worship advised by Sivananda (written in his book 'Japa yoga') are:

1. For Durga: Om Sri Durgayai Namah
2. For Lakshmi: Om Sri Maha- Lakshmyai Namah
3. For Sarasvati: Om Sri Sarasvatyai Namah
4. For Kali: Om Sri Kalikayai Namah.
5. For TripuraSundari: Om Sri Tripura-Sundaryai Namah
6. For BalaParameshwari: Om Sri Bala-Parameshwaryai Namah
7. For  Gayatri: Om bhur bhuvah swaha, Tat savitur varenyam, Bhargo devasya dhimahi, Dhi yoyo nah prachodayat.

He says one should sit for japa in a room, or corner of a room, specially designated for this purpose. One should create an altar and place a picture of the Divine Mother on it. One should sit facing East or North during the daytime (and face North only at night. This applies to all sadhana to all deities for spiritual progress). This enhances the power of the japa. One should sit on the ground on a mat or cloth made of cotton, wool or silk as this is said to preserve body electricity. (As silk production involves violence -killing the silk worms by boiling in water etc- I avoid using this and personally prefer a woolen mat with a folded cotton sheet spread over it).

Then he says that one should light a lamp and burn incense prior to starting the japa as an offering to the Goddess and to create a sacred atmosphere. As kumkum is dear to the Goddess (as tulasi is to Vishnu and bhasmam/sacred ash is dear to Shiva), this should be offered to Her if possible. He says one can worship Her external picture or perform mental worship by visualising Her within the ajna chakra (space between the eyebrows) or anahata chakra (centre of the chest, heart chakra).

Sivananda also says that a crystal or sphatika mala is traditionally used when doing japa of Goddess mantras (though one can also use a rudraksha or tulasi mantra if desired).

He advises that spiritual aspirants keen on attaining liberation through worship of the Divine Mother should take up japa of one of the above mantras and do this regularly.

He advises extended japa practices such as an anushthana of 125,000 recitations or a purascharana of more recitations (similar to worship of other deities). He advises that the japa be continued until adequate purification is attained and the devotee obtains Darshan/vision of the Divine Mother and Her grace.

He also advises that the Goddess should be worshipped with recitation of the Devi Mahatmyam, Lalita Sahasranama and so on as per the devotee's ability. As a minimum, daily japa of one of Her mantras should be done. During Navaratri, he advises recitation of the Navarna mantra as much as possible.

In terms of the attitude with which to approach the Divine Mother, Sivananda says:

"Approach Her with an open heart. Lay bare your heart to Her with frankness and humility. Be as simple as a child. Kill ruthlessly the enemies of egoism, cunningness, selfishness and crookedness. Make a total, unreserved, and ungrudging self-surrender to Her. Sing Her praise. Repeat Her Name. Worship Her with faith and unflinching devotion."

"Perform special worship on the Navaratri days. Navaratri is the most suitable occasion for doing intense spiritual practices. These nine days are very sacred to the Divine Mother. Plunge yourself in Her worship. Practice intense repetition of the Divine Name, having a regular “quota” of repetitions per day, and the number of hours spent on it."

https://www.divyajivan.org/navaratri/durga%20puja.htm

He also says:

"Offer to Goddess Durga the animal nature, the Pashu, of your inner evil traits of passion, anger and greed.  Do not kill animals of the external world in the name of Balidana to the Goddess.  She wants your animal-man within. No Himsa (violence) should be committed on the excuse that it is for the Devi. You have no right or justification to hurt any living creature for whatever reason."

"Ahimsa (non-violence) should be free from all exemptions whether pertaining to class, place, time or circumstance.  Ahimsa is universal vow to be practiced absolutely.  No worship, no prayer, no act whatsoever in life can justify injury.  Even self-protection cannot justify murder.  You have to stick to the rule of universal love to the best of your ability, to the utmost extent possible.  The offering of the self, the surrender of the ego to the Divinity is the supreme sacrifice.  Nothing is superior to it.  Nothing can be equal to it.  This is the most exalted form of Divine worship."

https://www.divyajivan.org/articles/siva/devi_worship.htm 

My Guru, though himself a practitioner of Vedantic sadhana, also had great respect for another tradition of worshipping the Goddess- the way of Tantra. Both ways are said to be equally effective. I am sharing his article on 'Tantra yoga' below- this dispels a number of myths and misunderstandings surrounding the practice of Tantra that are prevalent today. Please note that he emphasises the absolute need for a Guru before embarking on this path.

He says: "The Tantra is, in some of its aspects, a secret doctrine. It is a Gupta Vidya. You cannot learn it from the study of books. You will have to get the knowledge and practice from the practical Tantrikas, the Tantric Acharyas and Gurus who hold the key to it."

"Yoga should be learnt from a Guru (spiritual preceptor). And this is true all the more in the case of Tantra Yoga. It is the Guru who will recognise the class to which the aspirant belongs and prescribe suitable Sadhana."

"The Tantric student must be endowed with purity, faith, devotion, dedication to Guru, dispassion, humility, courage, cosmic love, truthfulness, non-covetousness, and contentment. Absence of these qualities in the practitioner means a gross abuse of Saktism."

"Tantra Yoga is the saving wisdom. It is the marvellous boat which takes man safely to the other shore of fearlessness, immortality, freedom, and perfection, when practised with understanding under personal guidance of well-established Tantric Guru."

http://www.dlshq.org/teachings/tantrayoga.htm

Om Sri Durgayai Namah.

Hari Aum Tat Sat

How to choose a mantra to attain God

Hari Aum.

According to yogis, the great purpose of life is God realisation. Various traditions describe this state as a state of ineffable peace, bliss, wisdom, devotion to God and so on.

One of the great methods to attain God is though the practice of mantra recitation or japa. The first step is the selection of a suitable mantra. I will discuss this topic here. My views are based on that of my Guru Swami Sivananda.

The first thing to say is that a mantra itself is the deity. Mantra is devata. Therefore a mantra should be treated with the same respect as the deity it signifies. One should not casually start a little mantra practice, then discard the mantra and take up another, and keep changing mantras.  This shows an unstable mind and a disrespectful attitude to sadhana. One needs to approach the mantra with appropriate respect, understanding of its greatness and devotion. This is the key to success.

When it comes to attaining God through mantra japa, the Gurus say one should stick to one mantra alone. One should therefore ensure that one chooses the right mantra for oneself.

I have outlined some ways of selecting the right mantra for oneself below based on the Sivananda tradition.

Spiritual tradition:

The first question is whether or not one's spiritual tradition allows one to select one's mantra.

In some spiritual traditions, the Guru selects the mantra for the disciple. The disciple is not allowed to choose his/her mantra here. For example, this is the case in the Ramakrishna tradition.

In other traditions, such as that of my Guru Sivananda, the disciple can choose their mantra if they wish. But if they do not want to choose their own mantra, they can request the Guru to choose this for them.
Generally however, in the Sivananda tradition, the disciple chooses the mantra and then requests initiation into this.

So, if one does not yet have a Guru, or one belongs to a tradition where one can choose one's mantra, the following steps can be followed to choose a suitable mantra:

Two types of moksha mantras:

There are two broad types of moksha mantras. Those to God without form (nirguna) or with form (saguna). Both are equally effective and lead to the same goal.

A full list of nirguna and saguna mantras suitable for attainment of moksha is given at the end of this page (this list is as per my Guru Sivananda).

The first step to choose a mantra for attainment of moksha or God-realisation is to ask yourself which of these two aspects of God you prefer- nirguna or saguna.

Nirguna mantras:

If you prefer to worship the formless God, then suitable nirguna mantras for meditation include:

1. Om Soham (Soham means I am He)
2.  Om Tat Tvam Asi (Tat Tvam Asi means That Thou Art- is from the Upanisads)
3. Om Aham Brahma Asmi (Aham Brahma Asmi means I am Brahman)

Om is the Universal mantra. Its meaning cannot be described. It represents everything the mind can imagine and beyond. It is the essence of Brahman.

Saguna mantras:

 If you prefer saguna mantras, then before you can choose your mantra, you need to choose the deity. To identify the deity, follow the following steps:

1. The easiest way is to ask yourself who your favourite deity is. Is there a form of God that you like the most? If yes, choose a mantra of this form. See below on how to select a specific mantra.

2. If you do not have a favourite form, consider which form of God you appeal to when in distress. My Guru says this gives a clue as to which form of the Divine you worshipped in past lifetimes.  For example, when you are in pain and distress, if you say "Shiva" , this tells you that you probably worshipped Him in past lifetimes and His mantra will be suitable for you.

3. If neither of the above two options apply to you, then there are two further options:

i) Consult an astrologer who can tell you your 'ishta devata' from your birth chart. The ishta devata, is the form of God whose worship can take one to moksha. It is possible to see this from the birth chart.

ii) If you have a Guru in whom you have absolute faith and trust, you can consult them and ask them to select your mantra for you.

The sound of the mantra:

Now that you have chosen whether you want to worship the nirguna or saguna God, the next step is simple.

Basically, you have to find a mantra of the aspect of God you have chosen whose sound you really like.

You need a mantra whose sound you could be happy repeating all day every day. Because the key to success in mantra sadhana is regularity. Mantra japa is a direct path to God, especially for kali yuga, but it still takes time (not a day or two). It can take years of regular practice to attain God. And you will be spending a lot of time with your mantra to attain God through it.

Therefore you need a mantra that you can fall in love with, whose sound makes you joyful, whose sound evokes certain spiritual feelings in you, whose sound you will never get tired of hearing.

So this is the key: you should really like the sound of the mantra you choose.

Every deity has many mantras. E.g. For Krishna there is 'Om Sri Krishnaya Namah', 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya', or 'Om Sri Krishna Sharanam Mamah', and the famous maha mantra- Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

So for example, if you have decided you want a Krishna mantra, you should find some suitable mantras of His such as those described above, and then say each one aloud a few times. See which one feels the best for you to say.

If one mantra does not immediately stand out as your favourite, then take a few weeks or even months, to identify your favourite mantra.
Spend time doing a few malas of japa of some mantras and work out which one feels most natural, makes you most happy when repeating it. Then go for that mantra.


Mantra initiation or mantra diksha:

Once you decide you love a particular mantra, you should consider taking mantra initiation from a Guru. Guru is a very important requirement on the spiritual path. A true Guru is one who has attained God and will be your guide on your journey to God. He/She is a manifestation of God.

Mantra initiation is a very important step. My Guru says that an indescribable change happens deep inside the person who is initiated, whether or not they are aware of it.

But you should only take mantra initiation once you are absolutely sure about your commitment to the Guru and the mantra. Because initiation creates a deep and eternal link between you, your Guru, the mantra and the deity of the mantra.

At the time of initiation, your Guru sows the mantra in you, transmits a part of his/her shakti to you.

After initiation, it is said you are holding a chain which is the mantra- at one end is you, at the other end is God. This 'chain' of mantra, will lead you to God. It is to be revered. This link between you and the mantra and Guru is for lifetimes until you attain God. It is not for one lifetime only.

Once you choose your Guru and your mantra, and take initiation in the mantra from the Guru, you should never abandon the Guru or the mantra. This is the secret of success in spiritual life.

Abandoning recitation of a mantra after initiation is tantamount to insulting the mantra and the deity- this should not be done. If you are not sure about the mantra, do not get initiated, but just repeat it for a while without initiation and see how things go. Later if you feel sure about the mantra, you can take initiation.

So take your time in selecting the deity, the mantra and the Guru. All these three play a vital role in your attainment of moksha or God-realisation. It is therefore essential that you make the right choice for yourself.

If you have not yet found a Guru you have absolute faith in, you can simply start repeating the mantra without initiation. This also has a tremendous effect. When the time is right, the Guru will appear in your life and you will be able to get initiation in your chosen mantra.

Mantra purascharana:

Once you have chosen a mantra, and obtained initiation or diksha, traditionally the Guru asks that you perform a purascharana to 'activate' or establish the mantra in your being.

In practical terms, a purascharana is an extended mantra practice, so by doing this, you learn to integrate the mantra into your daily life.

You develop a habit of repeating the mantra daily. A certain amount of purification of character and spiritual development also takes place with the completion of purascharana.

More important than reaching a certain number of recitations, is the devotional feeling and concentration of mind with which it is done.

See the article on 'How to do mantra purascharana ' for further details on this practice.


Some final points:

My Guru Sivananda says that:
-Bija mantras should not be repeated unless one is advised to by a Guru.
-Sri Vidya mantras such as panchadashakshara and shodashakshara should be learned from a Guru and recited under their guidance only. One should never start reciting these on one's own without a Guru.

Most deity mantras will not cause harm even if mispronounced (see below). However bija and Sri Vidya mantras can cause harm if mispronounced. Furthermore, these mantras can rapidly awaken energies in one's being that one is not ready to handle, before one has reached the necessary purity of character. This can cause significant mental and physical health issues.

-Mantras such as Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Sri Durgayai Namah etc can be chanted safely with or without a Guru. These mantras cause no harm even if mispronounced. Although devotional feeling is more important than perfect pronunciation, one should learn to pronounce the mantra correctly as far as possible as this maximises the benefits of chanting.

A complete list of moksha mantras advised by my Guru Sivananda: 

These mantras are moksha mantras that lead to God realisation. (They can also be chanted for material gain if that is what one wishes). As per my Guru, these are perfectly safe to chant even if one has not yet found one's Guru. Mispronunciation of these mantras will do no harm. Recitation of these mantras creates spiritual merit, cleanses body and mind, destroys negative karma, develops devotion and takes one to God:

• Lord Krishna:
  • Maha-Mantra :
    Hare Rama Hare Rama
    Rama Rama Hare Hare
    Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
    Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
  • Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
  • Om Sri Krishnaya Govindaya Gopijana Vallabhaya Namah
  • Om Sri Krishnaya Namah 

• Sri Devi:
  • Om Sri Durgayai Namah 
   
• Lord Ganapati:
  • Om Sri Ganapataye Namah 
   
• Sri Hanuman:
  • Om Sri Hanumate Namah 
   
• Lord Hari:
  • Om Namo Narayanaya (Ashtakshara)
  • Hari Om
  • Hari Om Tat Sat 
   
• Jugal (Combined) Mantra:
  • Sita Ram
  • Radhe Shyam
  • Radhe Krishna
   
• Sri Kalika:
  • Om Sri Kalikayai Namah
   
• Sri Lakshmi:
  • Om Sri Maha-Lakshmyai Namah
   
• Lord Shiva:
  • Maha-Mrityunjaya Mantra:
    Om tryambakam yajamahe
    sugandhim pushtivardhanam
    uurvarukamiva bandhanaan
    mrityor mukshiya maamritaat. 
  • Om Namah Shivaya (Panchakshara)
   

• Lord Rama:
  • Om Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram
  • Om Sri Ramaya Namah
  • Sri Rama Rama Rameti,
    Rame Rame Manorame
    Sahasranama Tattulyam Rama Nama Varanane
  • Om Sri Sita-Ramachandradhyam Namah
  • Sri Ram
   
• Sri Saraswathi:
  • Om Sri Sarasvatyai Namah
   
• Lord Subramanya, Kartikeya:
  • Om Sri Saravanabhavaya Namah
   
• Sharangati Mantra (for surrender):
  • Om Sri Ramah Sharanam Mama
  • Om Sri Krishnah Sharanam Mama
  • Om Sri Sita-Ramah Sharanam Mama
   
• Sharada:
  • Om Sri Bala-Parameshvaryai Namah
   
• Tripurasundari:
  • Om Sri Tripura-Sundaryai Namah
   
• Vedantic Formulae:
  • Om Soham
  • Om Tat Tvam Asi
  • Om Aham Brahma Asmi

See below for a link to my Guru Sivananda's book called 'Japa yoga'. It has every detail needed for mantra japa practice. It has an even more detailed list of mantras for moksha than that provided above (see pages 54-55 for mantras in Sanskrit, and pages 59-60 for the same mantras written in English).

http://gurudevsivananda.org/japa.pdf

Hari Aum Tat Sat