Radha-- the embodiment of devotion

 Hari Aum.

We are on the eve of the wonderful Navaratri or nine night festival of celebration of the glory of the Divine Mother. One of the most inspiring manifestations of the Mother, particularly for us as spiritual seekers, is Radha, the embodiment of devotion to God, the embodiment of single-minded concentration upon God to the exclusion of all else.

Radha was one of the cowherd women of Vrindavana (known as the gopis in Sanskrit). She lived at the same time as the Krishna avatara of Lord Narayana. She was an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. Her name is not explicitly mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam though there are some indirect references to Her as the gopi who inspired even the other gopis (who themselves were exceptional devotees). 

For example, it is suggested in the Bhagavatam, that She is the one whom Krishna singled out to walk with for a while after He disappeared from the sight of the other gopis due to their pride in feeling very special as His devotees. He left Radha too, albeit briefly, when She also temporarily became proud of His affection for Her.

 When Uddhava, Krishna's scholarly cousin, visited Vrindavana to convey a message from Him to the gopis, he noticed one particular gopi having a lengthy conversation with a bumble bee about Krishna! He was astounded to see that her thoughts were so centred upon Him that She connected everything around Her with Krishna and Krishna alone, even bees!

There are various theories as to why Radha is not directly mentioned by name in the Bhagavatam. One theory told to me by a Swami from the Ashram of my Guru in Rishikesh, is that Shuka, the sage and narrator of the Bhagavatam, regarded Radha as his own Guru. The mere mention of Her name would send him into a divine trance (the state of samadhi) and so he carefully avoided mentioning her directly to ensure he was able to narrate the lila (or divine play) of God! There are various other theories. However, the fact remains that She is regarded as the ultimate example of a devotee of God, of an instrument of God, of a true lover of God. (She is mentioned in other Puranas that narrate the lilas or divine play of the avatars of Narayana).

There are some humourous stories that have been told over the centuries about some interactions between Radha and Krishna. Many of them have an underlying spiritual message. One popular story, which Swami Sivananda also mentioned in his writings, is the story of Radha and Krishna's flute. 

When Krishna was growing up in Vrindavana as a cowherd boy, He created a flute out of bamboo. He used to play this and produce the most enchanting, spell-binding and moving music. It is the said that the soul-stirring music created by Krishna used deeply influence everyone and everything around Him, both animate and inanimate. People used to be mesmerised, and birds and animals too would stop and listen in a state of complete absorption. The trees would bend their boughs towards Him, the waters of the river Yamuna would pause flowing and even the stones on the ground would melt upon being exposed to this Divine music. Krishna carried His flute with Him everywhere and both He and His music were extremely dear to all.

One day, it is said that Radha and Krishna were sitting together in the forests of Vrindavana engaged in conversation. Radha then asked Krishna a question. Looking at the flute that He always had by His side, She asked Him why it was so precious. In a half-playful, half-serious way, She asked what great spiritual austerities this flute had performed that it was blessed to always enjoy His company and be constantly kept at His lips. Nobody got to spend as much time with Him as His flute, She declared!

Krishna is said to have been amused by Radha's question but of course, had a suitable response (I'm paraphrasing here but broadly, this is the gist of what they are supposed to have said)! 

In reply to Radha's question, Krishna smiled and said "Well Radha, this flute has a very special property that makes it eligible for My constant companionship." 

"And what is that, my Lord?" asked Radha impatiently. 

"Ah" said Krishna, "have a look inside it, what do you see?" He asked.

Radha peered inside the flute and saw nothing in particular, it was of course empty!

"Nothing" she said. "I don't see anything at all!"

"That", He said, "is the whole point! There is nothing there. It is empty."

"I don't understand" said Radha feeling puzzled. "Please explain!"

"Well", said Krishna "when the flute is empty, it means that I can breathe into it, and fill it with whatever music I please. The flute does not say, 'no not this, I want this or that'. It allows Me to play just as I please! Naturally therefore, I love it dearly. It is the perfect instrument for My purpose."

"Oh" said Radha, "Now I see!".

Sivananda and other Gurus say the flute of Krishna is an example of the perfect instrument, the way a true devotee of God should be. Empty of personal desires, wants and demands from God, empty of egoism (the sense of individual self, the lower self). When one frees oneself from the unhealthy clutches of the lower self, the lower mind with its endless desires and needs, the Higher Self or God which is ever present within us, can then express itself fully. 

We then become natural instruments of the Divine, our own true Self, which is the purpose for which we have been born. This is not easy to do, but it is the goal of spiritual life according to our Gurus since time immemorial. To live in the spirit of "Thy will be done", not "my will be done" is the ultimate aim of spiritual life, that we are all gradually evolving towards.

There is an interesting story about the gopis of Vrindavan that highlights their exceptional devotion and lack of egoism or personal desires, their 'flute-like' nature.

One day, Krishna was at one of His palaces in Dwaraka (the city that He ruled as King for most of His avatar on Earth). While He was here, the great sage and devotee, Narada, paid Him a visit. 

Now Krishna had left Vrindavana when He was a young boy aged about 11 years and had not been back. It had been decades since He had seen the gopis but He had not forgotten them any more than they had forgotten Him. They ever thought of Him, and He too kept them in His heart. He frequently extolled their greatness and their devotion to Him. Narada, upon hearing Krishna praise the gopis, privately thought that there were many great devotees of the Lord, including himself! Why then, he wondered, did Krishna seem to praise these women so much!

Krishna smiled seeing Narada's thoughts and decided He would demonstrate the exceptional nature of the gopis for all to see. Shortly afterwards, He announced that He had a terrible headache that was making Him feel extremely unwell. The palace physicians were called but they could not discover a cause and no treatment that they provided seemed to work. 

Krishna continued to look very unwell and lay down in bed. 

"Ah" He said "If only someone would relieve My pain". 

"We are all ready to do whatever is necessary to serve You my dearest" said His wives anxiously. 

His relatives, friends, attendants, subjects, devotees and everybody all affirmed that they were absolutely ready to do whatever He asked to relieve His suffering.

"Well", said Krishna "I feel there is only one remedy for My excruciating pain."

"What is it dearest?" asked everyone anxiously. "Tell us forthwith and we will assuredly get it for You!"

"The remedy", He announced, "is the dust from the holy feet of my true devotee. That dust is so immensely purifying that I am absolutely certain that it will cure this dreadful headache if only I can get hold of some and apply it to My head!"

"Dust from the feet of your true devotee?!" asked everyone. "We are all Your most ardent devotees, my dearest, but how can we provide You the dust from our feet! We are impure, we are beneath You. After all, You are the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Being. If we place our dust on Your head, it would be as though we are insulting You! And we could never do that! It would be a deadly sin. We would be condemned to hell for such a heinous act!"

" No, no, ask for anything but not this!" they all pleaded, looking most agitated.

"Well, there is nothing for it then" said Krishna. 

"I must suffer, that is all", He said, closing His eyes while looking extremely pale and unwell.

"No, no, we must do something! We cannot leave You in this condition" said everybody present, wringing their hands in agony and desperation but not knowing what to do!

"There is one thing you can do" said Krishna, slowly opening His eyes. 

"What?" said everyone, "Anything, tell us and we will do it!".

"Since none of you feel able to relieve My suffering, I'd like to request that a messenger be sent to Vrindavana. Tell the people there of My condition and ask if anyone can help provide the necessary solution that I have mentioned".

"Alright, we will send someone to Vrindavana", said those present, doubfully. (Who in their right mind, they thought privately, would be foolish enough to commit such a terrible sin!)

Narada was nominated as the messenger as he could travel about quite speedily (due to being blessed with special yogic powers).

He therefore rapidly went to Vrindavana and announced the sad news of Krishna's terrible headache and suffering. "He wants the dust of the feet of His devotee as a cure!" said Narada. "Who can provide such dust, there is nobody who would dare!".

The gopis of Vrindavana had been listening with great concern to the tale of Krishna's suffering. They immediately said "Take the dust from our feet in case it helps! We are happy to provide this for Krishna."

Narada turned to them in surprise and addressed them.

"My dear gopis", he said sternly, "do you realise what you are saying!"

"You are offering to place the dust from your feet on to the head of the Supreme Being, the most Holy of holies, the One who should be revered and worshipped! You want to place the dust of your feet on His head! Do you realise that you can go to hell for committing such a heinous sin?"

The gopis looked impatiently at him and said, "We don't mind whether or not we end up in hell, we just want Krishna to feel better! Make haste and take this dust and give it to Him as soon as possible! We are very worried hearing about His condition."

"Please hurry up!" they said, quickly placing some dust from their feet into a pot which they handed over to him.

Narada looked astonished at this behaviour which he regarded as very strange, audacious and inappropriate. However, he took the pot and hastened to Dwaraka. Upon arrival at Krishna's palace, everyone asked, "Well, did you manage to get the dust from the feet of a devotee?" "Yes!", said Narada and everybody was shocked and did not know what to make of it.

Narada then went to the bedroom where Krishna was lying, clutching His head with an expression of great agony, and said "My Lord, I have brought You the dust that You asked for!"

"Oh dear God, what a relief!" said Krishna eagerly reaching out for the pot. He proceeded to extract the dust and liberally applied this all over His head! He then lay back looking blissful and said "I feel so much better already. I knew it would work!" Everyone present was relieved but also mystified by these strange events.

"So", He said, looking at Narada out of the corner of His eye, "Who gave you this dust?"

"It was the gopis of Vrindavana" said Narada. "I tried to tell them that it was a great sin to offer to place the dust from their feet upon Your sacred head but they just would not listen! They kept saying how they were only interested in You getting better and that they did not care even if they ended up in hell!".

Krishna smiled and said "Well, Narada, I hope you can now see why it is that I regard the gopis as My greatest devotees. They do not care about themselves at all, they are not interested in whether they end up in heaven or hell. They care only about Me, to honour My will. And that is why, although I am here in Dwaraka, in truth, I am always with them, and they are always with Me. We are never apart for even a second. I dwell in them, and they dwell in Me".

Narada was silent as he reflected upon Krishna's words. He understood the teaching that he had been given and bowed his head in acceptance and gratitude.

It may be many lifetimes before we can attain the type of devotion that the gopis, and Radha in particular, had. But, the Gurus tell us, this is the aim of every true spiritual seeker. Not even liberation, they say, should be the goal. This type of devotion is the goal, this ultimate supreme devotion known as Parabhakti in Sanskrit. Once this is had, the Gurus say, everything has been achieved, both spiritual and material. There is nothing left to do. This state of being is the goal of human life according to the great spiritual teachers of both East and West.

Aspiring to cultivate this devotion, the yogis sing the names of God and recite His mantras. Desiring this devotion for God, the Sufi mystic twirls in dance and plays the flute. Longing for this devotion, people study, read and talk of God. Yearning for this devotion, people close their eyes and meditate upon God, fixing their gaze within. This devotion, is what many of us ask God to bless us with. For this is said to be that rare elixir of bliss, of love, of joy in life. There is nothing that can compare with this in all the three worlds say the sages and rishis of both ancient and modern times.

Therefore, as Navaratri approaches, let us ask the Divine Mother, in Her form as Radha, to bless us all with this rare emotion, this rare devotion that is described as being our true nature, the very essence of our souls, but yet, so difficult for us to experience at this present time. It is covered up by the layers of materialism and egoism that we have accumulated over so many lifetimes. Let us ask Radha to remove those layers. May our minds, inspired by Her, rest with love always at the feet of God. 

May the delirium of this material world leave us, may our minds stop being distracted by a million worldly thoughts. Let us be allowed to return home this time, in this lifetime itself. Home to the spiritual realm, our true home, where we have always belonged and where we still belong (this spiritual realm of course is a state of consciousness that is to be experienced while we are still alive on Earth, not merely a place to go after death). Let us all be blessed with true devotion to God in this very lifetime.

Om Sri RadhaKrishnabhyam Namah.

Om, Salulations to Divine Mother Radha and Lord Krishna.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Om Sri Gurave Namah.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

The 'right hand' and 'left hand' spiritual paths

 Hari Aum.

There are many spiritual paths in the world, both within the world of yoga (Sanathana dharma or Hinduism) and other religions. Externally, they may look quite different. The techniques used may appear different. Some paths may emphasise physical exercises and breathing exercises (yoga asanas and pranayana), others may place greater importance on contemplation of spiritual truths (jnana yoga), while yet others may extol the greatness of developing devotion through meditation on God (bhakti yoga). 

Freedom is given to every spiritual seeker to discover which path (or blend of paths) suits them best. The type of path one chooses depends upon one's own temperament, practices one may have already performed in previous lifetimes, family and social environment and so on. All of these paths, when practiced sincerely, can lead one Godward. So say the yoga masters of the past and present.

However, the masters tells us, that all of these paths are rooted, they grow in the soil, of yogic ethics. There is no compromise here. An absolute commitment is demanded from every spiritual seeker. The discipline of ethics is needed for the development of the spiritual heart, the spiritual mind. Without this development, all paths will lead only to failure. Ethics provide the firm and strong foundation of the building of yoga. Without this foundation, the building will crumble and turn to dust.

There can therefore be freedom in the selection and performance of spiritual practices. But no freedom is granted when it comes to the practice of the core yogic ethics. These are an absolute must on the spiritual path. They have to be practiced. There is no compromise. This is because ethics lead one Godward, while a lack of ethics leads one downwards, away from God.

The yoga masters, including my Guru Sivananda, have talked about two broad approaches in terms of yogic techniques. Both require an absolute commitment to yogic ethics (the most important of these being ahimsa/non-violence/compassion, satya/truthfulness and brahmacharya/self-control).

The 'right hand' path (known as the 'Dakshina marga' in Sanskrit) refers to the most commonly practiced, mainstream paths of yoga (as described above). It involves worship of the impersonal and personal aspects of God. It includes worship of God as Father and as Mother. 

God as Mother, in all Her aspects including as Kali, is worshipped among practitioners of the 'right hand' path of yoga. Traditional methods including mantra japa, puja, homam and so on are performed here while following yogic ethics.

There is another much less well-known, and much less commonly practiced, spiritual path known as the 'left hand' path (or 'Vama marga' in Sanskrit). This includes the path of 'Tantra'. This is a genuine path but unfortunately, very few genuine Gurus exist in this tradition. This path tends to be viewed as one which is filled with 'secretive' practices, regarded as 'forbidden' in society. It is said to involve practices which can appear sensual and even degraded (such as 'tantrik sex' which seems to have created much interest in the West today. The version taught in the West is not really 'tantrik' at all, and has nothing to do with genuine spirituality or even real Tantra. It is an invention by some people, that is all). 

As the yogis say, we currently live in the age of materialism, an age in which human consciousness and character are already significantly degraded compared to that of people in previous 'yugas' (long periods of time).

The degraded human consciousness with many flaws in character (including the tendency towards sensual indulgences, anger, greed, jealousy, pride and delusion) is already at risk of spiritual downfall. Such a consciousness can be repaired by a firm commitment to practicing yogic ethics while engaging in 'clean' spiritual practices such as meditation, mantras, selfless service, study of spiritual books and the like.

If the degraded human consciousness is exposed to degraded actions, involving sensual indulgences and unclean practices, it is at very serious risk of becoming even more degraded. The 'left hand path' is said to aim to use that which is forbidden or regarded as 'unclean' to reach God, by learning to see and experience God through such methods (as God is of course everywhere). 

This includes using materials traditionally regarded as impure for the purpose of worship e.g. blood. Also worshipping in unclean places such as cremation grounds. There is no doubt that meditation in a cremation ground may produce a feeling of 'vairagya' or detachment from the world; but this type of 'exotic' practice is not essential for that. One can contemplate death and develop detachment perfectly well even while living a regular life. Some practitioners of the left hand path also attempt to invoke and control negative energies or spirits with the aim of material gains. All this is spiritually unhelpful.

As the saints say, yes God is everywhere, yet we cannot eat mud, we can only eat food. God exists in mud as well as in rice, but we cannot eat both-- only the latter. Common sense is needed.

If human beings had an extremely pure, spotless consciousness and were filled with virtues, then both the right and left hand paths of spirituality could be used. However, the majority of us do not possess a spotless clean character. We all have two sides-- the light and the dark. These are ever in battle within us. The whole purpose of spiritual life is to strengthen the inner light and remove the inner darkness.

The 'right hand' path provides sure, tried-and-tested, traditional ways of strengthening the inner light and removing this inner darkness.

The 'left hand' path involves attempting to embrace the inner darkness, and trying to reach the light by going through the darkness. Unfortunately, this path is completely unsuitable for the majority of us as we simply do not have the character required to safely walk this path.

This is the reason why the majority of Gurus, including Sivananda, Vivekananda and others, practiced only spiritual methods related to the 'right hand' path. And the reason why they taught only this, and strongly advised their students to avoid the 'left hand' path completely.

It may seem cool and brave to try and embrace the inner darkness, but as we know, it is easy to get lost in the dark. One needs a true Guru to show the light. And true Gurus are rarely found on the 'left hand' path. Therefore, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of false 'gurus' teaching false practices that lead one spiritually downwards, deeper and deeper into darkness, until the inner light is virtually unseen. 

This is the 'spiritual underworld' we may say. Just as the 'underworld' in regular society in inhabited by people of dubious character who are willing to commit various crimes including robbery, rape and murder, the 'spiritual underworld' also has these. 

The 'spiritual underworld' consists of shady characters and shady practices. Things that invariably involve self-gratification of desires for wealth, pleasure and power. Seeking after wealth and pleasure, rather than self-realisation or spiritual liberation, these people perform various practices in secret that completely deviate from yogic ethics or any form of ethics. They perform the most degraded practices and encourage gullible members of society to do the same.

And unfortunately, many of the false 'left hand' path practitioners, have an obsession with the Divine Mother. They target Her as the object of their worship, their degraded practices. They seek to win from Her things such as name and fame, pleasure and power and even spiritual powers (called 'siddhis'). They dream of being rich and famous and of having the power to control people around them for their own benefit. True devotion is completely absent in them.

In constrast, the theme in their worship is the ego-- it is all about onself, one's material needs, fulfilling selfish personal desires, even at the expense of the welfare of others. This worship of the ego that dominates the majority of people practicing the 'left hand' path techniques masquerades as worship of the Divine Mother. 

They tarnish the fair  name of the Divine Mother by claiming that She is propitiated by their undivine, unethical practices. She never will be though. Because ethics form the heart of God, the heart of dharma/righteousness which is the heart of God according to true yogis and saints everywhere.

Some of these people, who are present all over India, call themselves 'tantriks'. True 'Tantra' is a genuine spiritual path, as I've already said, true 'tantriks' (or Gurus of the Tantra) are extraordinarily rare. Therefore, the majority of self-styled 'tantriks' are not tantriks at all, but people of dubious character who deludedly indulge in degraded practices causing their own downfall and that of the foolish people who follow them.

This brings me to the subject of Mother Kali. As the scriptures (such as the Devi Bhagavatam, the book of the Goddess) describe, Kali is the Goddess of Justice, of Divine anger against evil. She is produced from the Being of Mother Durga to fight demons, and symbolises our Higher Self which daily does battle against our lower nature. 

As the external appearance of Kali is ferocious, many false 'tantriks' seeking to propitiate Her for their own lowly ends, perform violent and even murderous acts, foolishly thinking that this is the best way to please Her. As I mentioned in my previous post, killing birds and animals to seek Her favour is the norm for them. Even worse, even more nighmarish, vile and diabolical, is the tendency of a few of them to arrange for kidnap and murder in the name of 'human sacrifice'. 

A tiny minority of self-proclaimed 'tantriks', who are basically criminals disguised as holy men, tell gullible villagers and others in various parts of Asia, that if they steal and murder a child or adult and 'offer' this to the Mother, they will acquire spiritual powers, become millionaires, obtain whatever they like and so on. Every now and again, the Indian papers write about some sad instance where so-called 'tantriks' instigate people with criminal tendencies to commit unspeakable crimes in the name of religion, particularly Kali worship. This is a tragedy.

As Sivananda said, as all Gurus and the scriptures say, Kali is the Mother who destroys evil, She is the Mother as the giver of Justice. Her punishment of people who engage in committting crimes such as the slaughter of innocent living beings in Her name will be terrible indeed. It will, however, be well-deserved. As the yogis say, those who show no mercy or compassion to others on Earth, will find that they do not receive any either when they ask for this from the Divine.

The wise opinion of Sivananda and other Gurus is for all spiritual seekers to stick firmly to the tried-and-tested, highly effective 'right hand' path of spiritual development. To stick to yogic ethics at all costs. Being truthful with oneself and others is essential, being non-violent and compassionate is vital, attempting to have some form of self-control is important. Being good and doing good as much as possible is the key. 

These Gurus advise us to completely avoid the 'left hand' path of attempting to embrace darkness. They also advise completely staying away from self-proclaimed 'tantriks' and their shady, unethical practices.

Glory to the 'right hand' path, the tried-and-tested path that has been followed by yogis and saints all over the world. 

May the Divine Mother Kali bless the world and clear it of Her false, self-styled 'tantrik' worshippers who deludedly perform vile, degraded, cruel and unethical practices in Her holy name. 

May She grant all spiritual seekers sincerity and the strength of character to practice yogic ethics, to develop spiritually and to attain liberation in this lifetime itself.

Om Sri Durgayai Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Kali, the beautiful Mother

 Hari Aum.

Om Sri MahaKalikayai Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

I would like to write a little about Mother Kali here. And about devotional practices that can be done to earn Her grace and blessings.

The yogis tell us that God is One. All names, all forms, and that which is beyond all names and forms, is God. 

God can therefore be worshipped in a variety of ways. Both with name and form, the personal form of God. Or without name or form, the abstract impersonal form of God. Beyond the personal and the impersonal is said to be a further manifestation of God that our human minds cannot even begin to contemplate. 

Basically, God cannot be ultimately be truly understood in any aspect by the human intellect- which is a relatively limited instrument. God can however be known and even experienced through the human heart, by which I mean the emotional heart, the devotional or spiritual heart, that aspect of the mind which feels love for the Divine. It is love for the Divine alone that allows us to perform spiritual practices, to draw closer and closer to God, until we are able to experience our true nature (that always exists even when we do not know it) as a part of God, as one with God.

Kali is a form of God as the Divine Mother (by the way, the name 'Kali' is pronounced as 'Kaali' and rhymes with 'Bali', the province in Indonesia; this is completely different from the Sanskrit phrase 'Kali yuga' which is pronounced as 'cully yuga' and refers to a specific period of time). As we know, human mothers generally have a great concern for the welfare of their children. They are capable of making great sacrifices and often take on suffering if required in order to nurture and care for their children. They also take steps where necessary to discipline their children when they are going wrong, and reward them when they are doing well. The welfare of the child is of paramount importance for the typical mother. Many human mothers feel happy when their children are happy, healthy, good human beings and express their full potential in life, often in service of society. 

This motherly love is seen everywhere in Nature. The mothers of many animals and birds also make great sacrifices to care for their children. They painstakingly create homes to raise their young, and travel long distances to bring them food, often risking their own lives in the process. They also often fight to protect their children from harm when attacked by others, and are again willing to give up their lives in the process. 

The Divine Mother is the origin of all these maternal feelings everywhere in the universe. She is the origin of everything. If Earthly mothers can be so concerned about the welfare of their children, what must be the level of concern of the Divine Mother, the Mother of all beings? The answer of course, is very great indeed. More than any of us can ever comprehend. Her ways are very mysterious. We cannot understand Her love, Her actions and Her wishes (unless She wants us to, that is). In general, She is a great mystery (as is God in any aspect). 

She has given us some advice as to how She would like us to live and worship Her, how we can draw closer to Her. It is no secret that the practice of ethics, such as the yogic yamas and niyamas (including non-violence, truthfulness and self-control), are pleasing to the Divine in all aspects, including Mother Kali. 

A human mother would be immensely distressed if her children fought and killed each other. There could be nothing worse, nothing more painful and upsetting. This world is designed to have a certain amount of suffering, as suffering propels the mind to seek the Divine. Creatures ruled by instinct, rather than intellect and heart, such as animals and birds, may kill and eat other as a necessity for their survival. They do not do it with malefic intent. They have been designed this way by God and they do what they are meant to do.

Human beings, however, are different. We have been given a human intellect and (hopefully) a human heart. The heart is very, very important in spiritual life. A heart which cannot feel the suffering of others is not really a heart at all. It is just an organ. Not a source of love, of any divine emotion. A stony heart, devoid of empathy for others, cannot take one towards God.

The anahata chakra, located in the centre of the chest, in the 'heart space' is said to be connected with the experience of unconditonal, divine love. This area is often meditated upon by yogis to open the heart space, to feel the presence of the Divine (who is said to reside in the hearts of all beings). This is a good place to meditate upon for those who wish to develop love for the Divine (and for the manifestation of the Divine as the universe).

Kali is first and foremost a Mother. Earthly mothers are a small, microcosmic representation of Her. Kali has love for all Her children, a concern for us, a wish to see us develop to our full potential, which for human beings, includes our full spiritual potential. She would be prepared to do anything necessary to wake us up, to rescue us from the misery of the cycle of birth and death. 

Like Narayana, the Divine Mother also appears when required to protect the forces of good and destroy the forces of evil in our world and in the various material realms of the universe (which include other types of beings). When the Mother is in Her protective form, wishing to protect the good, and vanquish the forces of evil, She takes on an appropriately formidable appearance. 

Mother Kali, like Lord Narasimha (the man-lion avatar of Narayana), is an extremely intimidating form of God. She is still the Mother, the Goddess whose nature is love, peace and bliss. But She has a job to do as Kali. And that job, is the destruction of evil. 

War is always hideous. It can become necessary though in certain circumstances. When injustice raises its ugly head, then justice must take a stand, must rise to the occasion, no matter how difficult, to combat injustice. This has happened many times in our human world, when people overthrow unjust regimes in their countries, the Second World War and so on. 

Kali is the force that supports us in our battle against evil in this world. She is the force that gives strength to the forces of good that combat evil in the world, both within us, and externally in the outside world. Evil is a hideous thing. The cruelty that it produces is dreadful. We see it all around us--in the form of rape, murder, war, all of which are sadly a part of life on this planet.

When the Divine decides to destroy evil, a suitably formidable and even divinely frightening form is required. This has the effect of intimidating that which is evil. Narasimha was very ferocious and frightening to look at when He manifested to destroy evil. However, at heart, He was still always Narayana, the peaceful one (known as Shantakara), the embodiment of love and dharma (justice), the One who is the God of love, Krishna. He just looked different externally, because this was necessary for the role He had come to perform.

Kali, too, looks the part. :) The part of a Mother at war, to protect Her children, to vanquish evil (She is a manifestation of Durga, another form of the Mother as warrior). She is the Goddess of war upon evil, and She demonstrates this beautifully in Her appearance. Her appearance reassures Her devotees that She will take care of them. That She will destroy the evil and suffering in their lives, and bless them with peace and bliss. 

In the scriptures, She is depicted as being a dark, beautiful, blue-black colour (like Krishna), and clearly displaying the trophies of Divine victory over evil. God in His/Her peaceful form, is often depicted as wearing a garland of sweet, fragrant flowers, representing aupiciousness and divine blessings. The Mother as Lakshmi, the other side of Kali, wears a lovely garland of lotus flowers. 

Kali also wears a garland. But here, She has abandoned the flowers, for the products of war-- She wears a garland made of heads, severed heads, the heads of evil forces. These heads can also be taken to represent the lower human ego. In wearing this garland, She assures us that She will take care of our lower ego (representing our negative qualities), remove this for us, so that we can experience our divine nature as one with Her, with God.

The Kali ashtakam (eight verses in praise of Mother Kali) describes Her intimidating yet beautiful form, as an awe-inspiring warrior Goddess, in the midst of battle against evil. It also declares that She is the bestower of bliss, one with a gentle smile (only for those She is protecting, not for those She is fighting!) and is a divine mystery (whom even the celestials or demi-gods cannot understand). It mentions that She is pleased by the practice of mantra japa, by puja and worship.

The worship of Kali has tragically been terribly perverted in some sections of society. I mentioned above that the human heart is vitally important in starting and walking the spiritual path. It is needed every step of the way.

Sections of society, who sadly seem to have somehow lost contact with their own hearts, have been performing a type of worship of Kali that can only be described as utterly brutal, monstrous and heartless. They do not understand that the war that Kali conducts is a war on evil. Not a war on defenceless, helpless beings. In fact, She manifests precisely to protect such helpless beings. She upholds dharma, justice and ahimsa. 

Although Ahimsa means non-violence, it can sometimes be a complex and nuanced subject. Standing up to evil, fighting evil for the cause of justice and goodness, is not contrary to ahimsa. It fact, it is a form of ahimsa. To remain silent in the face of evil, and to allow evil to reign, to allow cruelty to occur, is not ahimsa, it is himsa or violence. It is the tacit support of evil, a passive form of accepting evil. Remaining silent and inactive in the face of evil is a form of violence, a form of injustice or adharma. This will carry negative karmic consequences as does the active performance of evil acts. 

So Kali would expect us to act in this world to combat evil-- first and foremost, this means dealing with our own lower nature. We have to start with ourselves. And this is a lifelong mission until we reach the spiritual goal of liberation. 

Along with this, in our own spheres of existence, if we feel that there is something seriously wrong, some major injustice going on, we all have a duty to do our bit to resolve this. In practical terms, this may involve supporting a charity, writing a letter to an organisation or a politician, going on a peaceful protest and so on. This is a form of 'karma yoga', service of the Divine.

Kali is not pleased if we sit idle in the face of injustice that is happening right under our own noses (or even worse, if we participate in it). We are each exactly where we need to be, in terms of where we live, who we meet and what we do. The universe presents us with opportunities every day to grow spiritually. These are opportunities to develop the forces of good inside and outside of ourselves and to vanquish the forces of evil inside and outside.

A word of warning-- I am not suggesting that we try to constantly 'correct' others (that will only increase our own ego, which is unhelpful in spiritual life). People are responsible for their own actions and will face the results of those actions in accordance with the law of karma, as will we.

I am, however, saying that when there are obvious cases of injustice around us, such as bullying, harrassment, ill-treatment of people and also cruelty towards birds and animals, we have a duty to take a stand. As spiritual seekers, this is our dharma, our duty. This would be a beautiful and apt worship of Mother Kali, along with the performance of mantra japa, puja, homam and so on which are also very important.

On this note, I would like to draw your attention to a particularly sad example of the perverted worship of Kali which I feel, we all have a duty to help resolve. At certain Kali temples in the world, for example the Gadhimai temple in Nepal, people kill animals in huge numbers and offer them to the Goddess. 

They do this out of good intentions but clearly having completely lost touch with their hearts. As the newspaper article below describes, they do this saying "I want to thank the Goddess for helping me with my business, so I have killed this goat". Or "I want the Goddess to help me with some issue in my life, so I am offering Her this animal that I have killed".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/28/mass-animal-sacrifice-nepal-festival-protests-gadhimai-hindu

The theme in their reasons for killing animals as an offering is one of "me, me, mine, mine, I, I". My business, what I want, all about me, i.e. the lower self, the ego. They want to acquire something for themselves, their entire focus is on their needs, even if it costs the life or many lives of other beings.

There is no selflessness here, no compassion, no mercy, no kindness, no concern, no respect for the sacred life of another living being. No understanding that a Mother would never, ever want to see Her children (animals and birds are very much Her children, just as we are) killed. That She would not ask one child to kill another. That She is an embodiment of maternal feeling, of love, of compassion, of kindness.

It is very important for us to remember in spiritual life, that those who show no mercy, will not be shown any mercy. Those who show no compassion, will not be shown any compassion by the Divine. This is especially important to grasp when worshipping Kali, the Goddess of Justice.

The situation on our planet with regard to violence in religion is so extraordinary that one does not know where to begin. How on Earth, one asks, can people honestly believe that killing, bloodshed, and murder can please the Divine? Incredibly, this view is quite widespread in our world in many religions, whether it is the killing of animals or human beings. 

As we all know, every mainstream religion today contains a number of people who, completely misunderstanding their religion, erroneously believe that killing is a good way to please the Divine. And, they support going to war with other nations and the performance of rituals in accordance with this completely bizarre and incorrect way of thinking.

Mindless violence by human beings can never please the Divine, be it violence against birds, animals, humans or others. It is the most offensive thing to do spiritually. It is greatest sin. These acts of violence, murder and bloodshed are pleasing only to one force in the universe-- that which opposes the Divine. What some religions call demonic forces, and other religions call Satanic forces. 

These evil forces, which themselves represent cruelty of the worst kind, the lowest of the low in the universe, these alone rejoice when human beings are brutal, cruel and undivine, when people act as the agents of evil instead of as intruments of God. They lead us downwards, into the depths of materialism, spiritual ignorance, superstition and egoism. They tarnish the soul. They attempt to destroy our spiritual progress, our attempts to connect with the Divine within. Let us therefore invoke the Mother in keeping these negative forces at bay. Kali worship is particularly effective at destroying these negative energies within and outside us.

As Navaratri, the great festival of the Divine Mother approaches, I was reflecting that the following would be good ways to worship Mother Kali:

1. Mantra recitation: Navarna mantra or MahaKali mantra japa. I personally love the navarna as it includes worship of Kali/Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati together.

2. Offering ourselves to the Mother, recognising that She resides in each one of us, invoking Her presence within ourselves, asking Her to make us fit instruments for Her service.

The next points involve supporting those aspects of human society that uphold the forces of goodness, and attempt to vanquish forces of evil. 

3. Animal rights and environmental charities: supporting charities that oppose cruelty to animals and birds. Also nature conservation and environmental change charities that strive to prevent extinction of species and preserve the environment. One aspect of Kali is Nature. Protection of the environment is an important aspect of Mother worship.

4. Armed forces and related charities: supporting charities related to the police, security, army, navy and air force. 

People who work in these forces have dedicated their lives to protect others from harm and danger often at the expense of their own safety, security and even their own lives. They sacrifice their lives for others. (It is a tragedy that they are sometimes forced to participate in unjust wars due to the selfish wickedness of their political rulers). They are effectively agents of the protective energy of Kali in our modern world (when they act in accordance with dharma/righteousness).

Even in our day-to-day lives, we are indebted to our local police forces for maintaining law and order, for allowing us to sleep peacefully at night. We owe them a lot. Therefore, when they are injured or disabled as a result of doing their duty, we should certainly support them and their families.  Supporting charities that help veterans of war who suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) would also be a good idea.

4. Ending cruelty to animals and birds in Kali temples worldwide:

Let us support campaigns that aim to end the heartless, cruel, wicked slaughter of birds and animals in Kali temples. In Gadhimai in Nepal, and in certain temples in India for example in West Bengal and Assam, these practices of animal murder is prevalent. Let us do further research to discover which temples of Kali involve such practices.

And then, let us do what we can to end this wicked practice. Let us write to the temple authorities to attempt to persuade them to understand that this is not in accordance with the principles of our religion. They may not listen but let us try anyway. We do not lose anything in trying. And we know, that Kali is on our side.

Let us also write to politicians to persuade them to ban the slaughter of animals and birds for religious reasons. This is already the case in many states in India, but not yet in all. Let us educate ourselves on this subject, do some research into this, and write to the appropriate authorities to attempt to persuade them.

This would be pleasing to Mother Kali. The message that I received in my dream of Her in the past week (described in the previous post) was that She would like to see an end to humanity's cruelty towards birds and animals. Ending cruelty performed ignorantly and pervertedly in Her name would be an essential part of this.

I will certainly be doing the above actions myself. It is the beginning of a journey of Kali worship for me and I hope and pray for Her guidance in this. 

And, as She and Narayana are one, I feel that this will also be pleasing to Him. I recently discovered that, a day after my dream of Mother Kali, an aunt of mine, who has been an ardent worshipper of Krishna all her life, had a dream of Vishnu and Kali together (she belongs to the side of the family who have traditionally worshipped Kali for generations). An interesting coincidence; I see this as a sign that Vishnu and the Mother as Kali should be worshipped jointly by us. (As I tested positive for Covid a couple of days after the Kali dream, I am now burning up physically not just in dream! Got a temperature and a nasty cough-- am praying to Kali to resolve this soon, not least so that I can get started on the above projects!)

So let us worship the Mother this Navaratri in whatever way that we can. Let us do our best and leave the rest in Her hands. And let us remember, that practicing ahimsa (non-violence) and standing up against injustice and cruelty to living beings, is the greatest form of Kali worship, the best way to earn Her grace and blessings.

Om Sri MahaKalikayai Namah.

Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundayai Vicche.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Salutations to the Goddess of Justice, the loving Mother, the One who is the embodiment of dharma (righteousness), the source of wisdom, peace and bliss.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Crystals, healing and a dream of Kali

 Hari Aum.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am not really a fan of the passive wearing of stones, crystals and the like for healing or as remedial measures for karmic issues (seen in the Vedic astrology chart). The yogis say this is a lesser method than the recitation of mantras and heartfelt prayer and I would agree.

However, I recently discovered that crystals can be used with active involvement of the mind to amplify the effect of mantras, including those related to healing. 

It is not unusual to hear patients sometimes say that they were mostly well for a long time and then they experienced a run of bad luck. They describe going through an unpleasant period in life where a series of health issues occur one after the other. I would say my experience has been a bit like this lately. After years of mostly good health, I seem to be going through a not so pleasant phase. 

I have had a relatively healthy lifestyle for most of my adult life (normal weight, relatively good diet, regular exercise) but find myself facing one health issue after another these days. Some of them are pretty random and not that usual-- e.g. I found myself struggling to walk for a while due to developing 'tarsal tunnel syndrome' (much less common than its cousin 'carpal tunnel syndrome') completely randomly. I recovered from that only to develop a few bouts of infection (possibly pandemic related, possibly not). 

You know the saying, 'desperate times call for desperate measures'. I was feeling sick of being sick and thought I need to explore a new healing modality-- something targeting the 'energy body'. I did a course in basic pranic healing years ago and recalled a friend, who is an energy healer, telling me that crystals can be very helpful. 

I therefore looked up some online resources on this and purchased a book that had good reviews. I then bought a few crystals to start my experiment. The results were quite extraordinary-- good but not in the way that I had expected as I will explain ahead. Before I tell you about my experience with the crystals, I need to share a bit of information related to this.

I've already mentioned in previous posts that the Divine can communicate with us through our dreams. Before I go any further, I would like to state that each and every one of us, as children of the Divine, receives help and protection from our Divine Parents. Just as a mother loves her child, regardless of whether he or she is behaving well or badly, the yogis and saints of all religions tell us that we are loved by the Divine, very dearly in fact, much more than we know. This applies not only to us human beings, but also to all of Creation, including animals, birds and insects, and creatures in other realms of existence in the universe. The Divine therefore tries to help us, even when we are busy with our material lives.

Last year, in February, we were in the middle of the delta wave of the pandemic, perhaps the worst one in terms of mortality. Many countries were in lockdown and life was difficult for many of us. I too, like many people, was busy juggling childcare (my daughter was about a year and a half), household duties and professional work. My spiritual practice was continuing but with difficulty. I also had some mild health symptoms at the time that I dismissed as probably nothing serious (as I felt I did not have the time to look into this anyway).

I then randomly had a dream about the Goddess. In my dream, I had a dream in which I met the Goddess (no particular form, She was just the Divine Mother) along with a 'companion' goddess (In the Shakta tradition of Goddess worship, the Mother is said to have various 'shaktis' or companions who serve Her). 

In this dream within a dream, I had a fairly long chat with the Goddess. We discussed various things, none of which I could remember when I woke up. There was only one part of our conversation that I remembered-- She had told me to seek a specific type of medical advice. 

I was puzzled by the dream and Her medical recommendation. How peculiar I thought. Why would the Goddess come to me in a dream, and why on Earth would She ask me to get such specific medical advice, I wondered. Perhaps it is just my imagination, I thought. 

It is auspicious to dream of the Divine according to my Guru Sivananda so I was happy. But I did not take Her advice seriously, thinking it was probably just my imagination. I saw the dream merely as a sign that I should continue my spiritual practice. I wrote the dream down and did not think about it much afterwards. Until something specific happened some months later.

In October last year, the well-known nine day celebration of the Goddess known as 'Navaratri' took place. The final tenth day, known as Vijaya Dashami, is a day of great celebration, symbolising the victory of good over evil, of the Divine over the undivine. Like many other spiritual seekers, I too performed worship of the Goddess during Navaratri and had made plans for some worship on Vijaya Dashami. 

Sadly, it was not to be. I woke up on the morning of that day in mid-October in extraordinary pain, of a type I have never experienced before. I do not want to bore you with too much information about my medical issues, but suffice it to say, I ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with a condition that took months to recover from. I was told I was very unlucky to have this health issue (apparently can happen randomly to anyone in my age group), but also very lucky to get away without needing any surgery. 

I was completely stunned by this unlucky turn of events. It was then that I recalled the dream of the Goddess eight months previously. If I had sought the medical opinion that was advised in the dream, my condition would have been detected much sooner and I would not have had to face the significant health problem that I did along with the major disruption to my life.

I learned after that not to dismiss my dreams so lightly. Not to always doubt and question myself. I am often so concerned about not deluding myself in these matters that I end up going to the other extreme-- refusing to listen to the Divine. A bad idea as in this case.

Ok. So having shared that experience with you, let me now come to the present and back to the topic of cystals. 

The yogis say that crystals can amplify energy, both good and bad. They can be used for energy healing. Before using them, it is said that they need to be physically and energetically cleaned. Physical cleaning involves washing them with water (some say salt water). Energetic cleaning includes various methods such as exposing them to incense and also chanting mantras of God.

As you know, I am a fan of mantras. I trust nothing in the world so much as my mantra. I therefore held my little group of crystals in my left hand one day in the past week as I did my usual mantra recitation of the ashtakshara of Narayana (holding my Tulasi japa mala in my right hand at heart level). 

I visualised Narayana within me (in the anahata heart chakra) and prayed to Him for help and healing both for myself and for all. I asked for His blessing that the crystals would be cleansed and charged with His holy mantra that I was reciting. I prayed that these crystals would help to heal me and all those who needed healing in the world. I felt nothing special during this practice except a strong feeling that the crystals had been blessed.

Now, many people who use crystals for healing say that they can be held in the hand or even placed on the different chakra points on the body to enable healing. When I went to bed that day, I was exhausted. I thought I would try my luck with placing these crystals, that I had meditated with earlier, on the main chakra points on my body. I did so intending to combine this with some ashtakshara mantra japa but accidentally fell asleep.

I then went on to have some dreams of the Divine. In one dream, there was a battle between Rama (the avatar of Narayana) and Ravana (the demon-king) though weirdly, it was happening in a domestic setting (in a home including my extended family). Rama was slowly winning the battle. This dream was mildly disturbing (as it was a battle after all and all battles between good and evil have an element of stress associated with them) but not too scary. I woke up in the early hours of the morning after this, quickly wrote it down on my phone (as I tend to do with these sort of dreams) and then went back to sleep.

The next dream was much more dramatic and peculiar. Once again, I had a dream within a dream that involved meeting the Goddess. This time, She came as Kali, the fierce, evil-destroying, protecting form of the Divine Mother. 

(As I mentioned in recent posts, I have switched over to worshipping the Mother as in Her sweet and gentle form as Lakshmi (as advised by a spiritual mentor). I have never been a regular Kali worshipper though She is the ancestral deity on my father's side and has been worshipped by my family for generations (we have a small temple for Her on our land in Kerala, India). I always felt the Mother is One, and by worshipping one form, I worship all Her forms. I have not done any Kali worship for many months.)

Anyway. In the dream, I felt She manifested within me (in the dream within the dream, that is). I could not see Her entire form but could feel Her (a bit like you can feel your heartbeat but cannot see it). And She was very wrathful. She was angry with humanity as a whole. She spoke with a powerful voice with a lot of force (I had goosebumps later as I remembered Her voice as I wrote this dream down after I woke up) and there were two reasons for Her anger. 

Firstly, She was very angry about the killing of birds and animals by human beings. Two, She was greatly angered by our attempts to alter human DNA (in a way that was against Divine will). Although I could not see Her complete form, I was somehow aware that She had raised Her right hand in front of Her with Her index finger pointing (as if for emphasis). As She did this, She said that She could destroy the entire world in a second (if humanity did not improve that is). As She said this, in the dream I felt my upper arms were burning.

I felt very afraid seeing Her wrath. I feared that I might burn up myself due to Her anger. Though I was fearful and therefore struggling to think properly, I tried to calm Her by addressing Her by Her peaceful names-- I said "Lakshmi, Sita, Shanti". 

I had the thought in my mind that I should not call Her by Her name 'Sati' (which represents an avatar of Hers where She burned Her body in a yogic fire). After this, She calmed down and the experience ended.

I then woke up in the dream (was still dreaming). And found myself on a ship with other people. There was a lot of killing going on there-- I could see birds and animals being slaughtered in large numbers by people. I then told them of my experience with the Goddess. They did not take what I was saying seriously. 

I then felt Kali returning and found myself raising my own hand in the dream as I spoke with force. I said that She had said that She could end the world. I had asked Her for forgiveness on behalf of myself and the world. They then seemed to listen on some level. I then woke up from the dream into real life.

Needless to say, the dream of a wrathful form of the Goddess saying She was extremely angry with humanity and would end the world (if things did not improve) was very disturbing. I wrote it down feeling goosebumps all over myself. 

I then found myself asking various questions-- is this for real? Did She really come? Is She truly angry? Why did She come to me? (I am an ordinary doctor, I do not have any influence over animal slaughter and weird genetic experiments in the world!). What should I do now? 

I felt I needed advice from someone who knows more about these matters. By the way, although I have been vegetarian for nearly two decades and do not particularly like animal slaughter, I am not an animal activist in my normal life. Neither of the two topics raised by the Goddess in my dream are subjects that I think much about in my regular daily life (I was not even particularly aware that there is active experimentation going on into manipulating human DNA in a way that has never happened before).

I had previously already arranged for a priest from a local temple to come to my house on the morning, after the night during which this dream took place, in order to perform a MahaMrityunjaya mantra havan for my health (which is still bothering me). He is also a devout worshipper of the Divine Mother. 

When he came, I told him what had happened and asked him for his opinion and advice. He seemed to think the dream was real. He said that the only one who would know what this meant and what to do about it was the Divine Mother Herself. He advised me to pray to Her to give me some indication as to what She wanted me to do. I agreed to do so.

We then did the MahaMrityunjaya havan. At my request, the priest included offerings to the Divine Mother with the Navarna mantra as part of this. We prayed for health, for peace, for all. (I also wrote to my spiritual mentor for advice regarding this and am awaiting her reply).

In the meantime, I felt that I should probably share this with you. It is not rocket science to look around and see how disturbed the Earth is today, how unhealthy the environmental situation is. Nature or Prakriti is a form of the Divine Mother. When Nature is disturbed, the Mother is essentially unhappy. There are floods, fires, droughts and famines all over the Earth-- this year has been particularly bad from this perspective. In addition, we have various wars and the ongoing pandemic situation. 

Regardless of whether or not you or I take my dream seriously, the fact is, the world is going through some major disturbance currently. Scientists everywhere are warning us of the serious effects of climate change and that this can impact the future of the human race on this planet.

As children of the Divine, we have a responsibility to do our part to help resolve this. I do not wish to prescribe or recommend any rigid rules for living, but based on my recent experience, I would like to suggest the following:

1. Let us all consider the impact of our diet on the environment and on other living creatures. Let us avoid inflicting suffering upon living beings by careless choices regarding diet and lifestyle (this applies to food, clothing and so on). 

Let us consider, when we buy something, whether it is truly in accordance with the vitally important spiritual principle of 'Ahimsa', or non-violence or kindness to living creatures. This is the vital essence of spiritual life. 

Absolutely no spiritual progress whatsoever is possible for us unless we commit to and try our best to practice this in our daily lives. 

2. Science-- now this is a bit weirder. Based on my online research since this recent dream, it appears that some scientists are working on manipulating human DNA (it seems that one scientist in Asia has recently created twin girls with altered DNA including abnormal changes that he did not intend and could not control).

I am a big fan of science. As a doctor, I chose this as my main subject to study in life and I am in awe of the fascinating discoveries that continue to be made by our scientists. 

However, I would just like to say, that in general, it is wise not to meddle with things that we cannot fully control. We are very clever as human beings, but not always as clever as we think. We should educate ourselves on what is happening in our world, including in the world of science. And perhaps, we should not blindly support every single scientific venture as an automatically good thing.

Science has created many wonderful things in this world and many terrible things (including nuclear bombs that can destroy the entire Earth in moments). To those working in the field of science, in laboratories, all I would say is, please be cautious. 

Recognise that there is something higher than the human intellect, there is a Higher Intelligence that governs things. Let us not attempt to play God. That would be the worst manifestation of the lower self, the ego, and that leads only to destruction and sorrow in the end. 

Let us work with the Divine, in accordance with divine principles, and not against this Intelligence. That way, we can ensure that we benefit fully from science without creating suffering for ourselves and others.

3. Mantras and prayers-- I have said this before and I will say it again. Mantras are a very effective and powerful form of prayer. The name or mantra of God is one with God Him/Herself. Invoking the grace of God upon this Earth by daily mantra recitation is one of the best forms of service that we can offer to humanity and all beings. It is one of the best forms of prayer that we can do to please God and obtain His/Her blessings for ourselves and others. 

Please, let us recite mantras and prayers daily. No amount is too small with regard to this. A single recitation of a name or mantra of God has its own power, its own effect. Let us do some mantra chanting every day, even just for a few minutes.

Anyway. That sums up my main message for now.

Since this dream, I wondered if the crystals that I had charged with the Narayana mantra had something to do with the experience of Kali. Further reading on the subject suggests that it might have. It appears that crystals can activate the energy centres in the astral body known as 'chakras'. One needs to be very careful using them.

I have decided to back off a little bit with using crystals during my prayers. The only reason I would like to use them is to amplify the power of the ashtakshara mantra when praying for world peace and the general welfare of all beings. This, I feel, is a safe and appropriate use of these stones (however, I still feel I need to be quite cautious with them after my recent experience).

With that, I will conclude here.

The nine day period of worship of the Divine Mother is coming up soon. Please let us all do some worship of Her during this time for the general welfare of the world. 

Om Shri MahaKalikayai Namah.

Om Shri MahaLakshmyai Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.