SANYASA YOGA

THERE ARE MAINLY FOUR ASHRAMAS --
1) BRAHMACHARYA
2) GRAHASTHA
3) VANAPRASTHA
4) SANYASA

SANYASA ASHRAMA IS OF 3 TYPES --
1) KARMA SANYASA
2) JNANA SANYASA
3) PARAMAHAMSA, also called AVADHOOTHA

SHRI SHANKARA BHGAVATHPADA with Danda

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati,of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam wearing Saffron Clothes with Danda

BHAGVAN RAMANA MAHARSHI wearing KAUPEENA 
with DANDA,KAMANDALA & TIGER SKIN

SWAMI SIVANANDA wearing Saffron Clothes 
with KAMANDALA & LEOPARD SKIN

AVADHOOTHA SWAMI NITHYANANDA
WEARING KAUPEENA WITHOUT DANDA & KAMANDALA

ISHWARA  TEACHING  SHANMUGA

SANYSA ASHRAMA --

The person who wants to take SANYASA,should have achieved 
dispassion in wife,children,property,gold,money,sex and has 
control of mind & body.He had taken vow going round fire, to 
protect his wife at the time of marriage is going to leave her as 
his wife & view her as his mother, before taking SANYASA.He 
removes his sacred thread & bunch of hair behind head(shika) 
to avoid KARMA BANDANA(entrapment in rituals).
Preshocharana is performed alongwith swa-pinda pradana. 
Alongwith Mahavakya, danda & kamandala is given. 
With the sole aim of achieving Libertion(MOKSHA),renouncing 
--all activity to possess/gain anything in return, all his 
possessions he takes SANYASA.

KARMA SANYASA --

                To protect himself from wild animals,creatures,
insects,snakes.& scorpions he uses a DANDA(stick) made of 
PALASHA TREE having six knots.From OM kara 7 swaras are 
born & the world is born.Always repeating12000 OM kara japa 
per day,bathing 3 times a day, wearing saffron colour clothes,
holding a jug of water-KAMANDALA,being clean, begging food,
without himself preparing food,always praying to GOD, living in 
a temple alone is called KARMA SANYASA. The SANYASI 
should be true to all requirements of SANYASA in thought, talk 
& action.

JNANA SANYASA --
                 Jnanendriya, respect/disrespect, world/beyond 
world, place, living, nation, bad, complicated, attachment, 
love, sleep, intellect, trouble creator, beauty, , look, people, 
occasion, outside activity, anger, hunger, thirst, death, worry, 
unhappiness due to ego, unhappiness, habit,argument,
difference,trouble, blame,showoff, defect,comfort, sorrow,
disguise, sin,-- having any attachment/connection like these, 
repeating mantra SOHAM'.living alone is JNANA SANYASA. 
By following this JNANA SANYASA he will attain path of 
liberation.Without any interest in karma activity, being happy 
with himself(ATHMA),living alone is auspicious JNANA 
SANYASA.If he does not take bath or does not do sandya, 
JNANA SANYASI is not affected by that. However KARMA 
SANYASI has to do them promptly at appropriate time.So 
it is better to follow JNANA SANYASA.

PARAMAHAMSA --
SANYASI without holding danda & kamandala, wearing only 
kaupeena holding a wooden stick to protect himself from 
village animals, repeating incessantly 'SOHAM' japa, begging 
biksha, not looking left or right,wearing padukas, without 
looking at ladies or talking to them or treating them as his 
mother, not applying chandana etc.on fore head,avoiding 
company of people, having BRAHMA bhava while moving 
about, doing suitable karma of this ashrama by walking, 
without ego,vasana, pasha(attachment),he is a liberated 
person while living(JEEVANMUKTHA) and is called 
PARAMAHAMSA. Karmas done by him are of nishkama
 type & he is also called as AVADHOOTHA.    



                   



                

                           

LAYA YOGA [OM KARA NADA-PRANAVA(CONTD)]

NADA LAYA YOGA--

--WHOLE WORLD MERGES IN NADA & YOGI'S BODY, 
      MIND IS ALSO FILLED WITH NADA.

--VISUAL WORLD VANISHES & YOGI IS FULL OF BLISS.
--BIRTH,DEATH,DISEASES,WANTS,WORRIES,VASANAS,
      EGO,ALL GET DISSOLVED, ANNIHILATED(LAYA).in 
      NADA. HENCE THE NAME LAYA YOGA ie,MERGES IN 
      NADA !
--BY THIS, YOGI BECOMES JEEVANMUKTHA & ALL HIS 
     SINS GET NULLIFIED.
--TO KNOW ONESELF,TO DESTROY-SELFISH WRONG 
      NOTION,EGO,NESCIENCE,THIS LAYA YOGA SHOULD 
      BE LEARNT.

Hindu Tantric illustration of the Kundalini-Chakra system 
showing the Bindu - the center of the seventh chakra
 above the head.

SHIVA TEACHING SHANMUGA

NADA is divine light.Due to maya, it has become 
of three parts and has taken shape of 64 KALAS. 
From 'A' kara NADA IS born, 
'U'kara expansion took place & 
'm' kara BINDU is born to form PRANAVA.

From 'A' kara--RIG VEDA,birth of world,GOD BRAHMA is born.
From 'U' kara--YAJUR VEDA,sky,air, GOD VISHNU is born.
From 'm' kara--SAMA VEDA, direction,sun,GOD RUDRA is born.

Later by mingling of three primary syllables many worlds are born.

OM kara is BRAHMAN & TRUTH, so believe YOGIES.
Whole WORLD is OM kara rupa as told by GURUS of YOGIES.

All VEDAS,sounds,vibrations,mantras,locations,sentences,
primary letters,songs,meanings,different words,musical 
instruments,all these are OM kara.

NADA is without characteristics,formless,divine bliss,defect free, 
beginning & end,bad,spread in all directions,
SAT-CHIT-ANANDA.

Nature,VISHNU,BRAHMA,RUDRA,devathas,rakshasas,men,
animals,insects,birds,world,GOD as virat all these are NADA 
only. 
NADATHRAYA(three types 0f sounds),
BINDUTHRAYA(three types of point of sound),
KALATHRAYA(past,present,future)
KARANATHRAYA(three types of causes),
JEEVATHRAYA(Jeeva's three states in waking, dream, deep sleep),
SHAKTHITHRAYA(power connected with body,mind,soul)
THANUTHRAYA(sthula sharira,sukshma sharira,karana sharira)
AVASTHATHRAYA(jagrith,swapna,sushupthi)
all these are also born of NADA only.

         When kundalini rises to Anahatha chakra,yogi hears 
Mahanada,Chinichini,Janathkara,Thala,Mridanga,Veena,Shanka,
Ghanta,Bheri, Megha--Ten sounds(dasha nadas) are heard.

Yogi may also hear Twenty other musical instruments,sound of sea,shaking mountains are also heard.Yogi is immersed in these sounds and forgets his body and mind related sorrows,
pleasures.Mesmerised by the NADA and seeing DIVINE LIGHT brilliance,enjoys bliss of NADA LAYA YOGA.

END RESULT OF NADA YOGA--
When the (spiritual) sight becomes fixed without any object
to be seen, when the Vayu (Prana) becomes still without
any effort, and when the Chitta becomes firm without any
support, he becomes of the form of the internal
sound of Brahman-Pranava

          This yoga is superior to Hata Yoga,is equal to Raja Yoga and uses only 
four chakras(Muladara,Swadistana,Manipura,Anahatha). 
This yoga is filled with OM KARA NADA fully.Even after 
coming out of yoga OM KARA NADA continues to be 
heard incessantly(Anahatha) at all times- during work,eating,sleeping,sitting, standing and at all 
times -- morning,noon,evening,night.Yogi sees 
ATHMA everywhere and in everything.

His body,mind,senses,vision,all body parts get filled by 
NADA.He does not have hunger,thirst, sorrow,worry 
and when he sleeps NADA is heard in thirty two melodies.
Yogi becomes free of all karmas and get liberated.He is 
free of  Kama,Kroda,Loba,Moha,Mada,Mathsara,
Thapathraya,Bhavathraya,Jeevathraya,Avasthathraya,
Thanuthraya,Sexual urge,Ego, all body parts activity.

          First in ANAHATHA, SHABDA is heard,from shabda 
DHVANI is heard,from dhvani KALA,from kala MIND,in the 
middle of mind brilliant LIGHT is seen which makes mind 
to get dissolved and yogi remains as ATHMA in its full 
splendor.He is aJEEVANMUKTHA liberated while living,
blissful,in comfort for ever.

 .

THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON

(Based on e-mail from JENNIFER SHAHI--fropki@yahoogroups.com)
HOW GOD MANEUVERS DESTINY, IF HE WANTS
THEM TO HAPPEN, CAN BE SEEN IN THE
FOLLOWING INCIDENT --

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet... 'Pastor,' she asked, 'where did you get that tablecloth?'

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in   Austria The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria . When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do.. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in  Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job. What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island  and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

SAINT NAMDEV ENLIGHTENMENT BY VITHOBA

THIS STORY SHOWS TWO IMPORTANT LESSONS IN
 A SADAKA'S(SPIRITUAL ASPIRANT'S) LIFE--

1) IMPORTANCE OF SURRENDER TO GURU, FOR
    COMPLETE ENLIGHTENMENT EVEN TO SUCH 
     SAINTS AS NAMDEV, WHO WAS IN CONSTANT 
     COMPANY OF VITHOBA.

2) GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE EVERYWHERE & NOT
     NECESSARILY ONLY IN TEMPLES.

Vithoba found Namdev had not yet realised the Supreme 
Truth and wanted to teach him. When Jnaneswar and 
Namdev returned from their pilgrimage, Gora Kumbhar 
gave a feast to all the saints in his place and among 
them were Jnaneswar and Namdev. At the feast, 
Jnaneswar in collusion with Gora, told Gora publicly, 
‘You are a potter, daily engaged in making pots and 
testing them to see which are properly baked and which 
are not. These pots before you (i.e., the saints) are the 
pots of Brahma. See which of these are sound and 
which not.’

Thereupon Gora said, ‘Yes Swami, I shall do so’, and 
took up the stick with which he used to tap his pots to
 test their soundness; and holding it aloft in his hand he
 went to each of his guests and tapped each on the 
head as he usually did to his pots. Each guest humbly 
submitted to such tapping. But when Gora approached
Namdev, the latter indignantly called out: ‘You potter, 
what do you mean by coming to tap me with that stick?’ 

Gora thereupon told Jnaneswar, ‘Swami, all the other 
pots have been properly baked. This one, (i.e., Namdev) 
alone is not yet properly baked.’ All the assembled 
guests burst into laughter. Namdev felt greatly 
humiliated and ran up to Vitthal with whom he was on the 
most intimate terms, playing with him, eating with him, 
sleeping with him, and so on. Namdev complained of this 
humiliation which had happened to him, the closest 
friend and companion of Vitthal.

Vitthal (who of course knew all this) pretended to 
sympathise with him, asked for all the details of the 
happenings at Gora’s house and after hearing 
everything said, ‘Why should you not have kept quiet 
and submitted to the tapping, as all the others did? 
That is why all this trouble has come.’ Thereupon 
Namdev cried all the more and said, ‘You also want 
to join the others and humiliate me. Why should I 
have submitted like the others? Am I not your closest 
friend, your child?’ Vitthal said, ‘You have not yet 
properly understood the truth. 

And you won’t understand if I tell you. But go to the saint 
who is in a ruined temple in such and such a forest. He 
will be able to give you enlightenment.’ Namdev 
accordingly went there and found an old, unassuming 
man sleeping in a corner of the temple with his feet on 
a Shiva lingam. Namdev could hardly believe this was 
the man from whom he — the companion of Vitthal — 
was to gain enlightenment. However, as there was none 
else there, Namdev went near the man and clapped 
his hands. 

The old man woke up with a start and, seeing Namdev, 
said, ‘Oh, you are Namdev whom Vitthal has sent here. 
Come!’ Namdev was dumb-founded and began to think,
 ‘This must be a great man.’

Still he thought it was revolting that any man, however
great, should be resting his feet on a lingam. He asked 
the old man, ‘You seem to be a great personage. But 
is it proper for you to have your feet on a lingam?’ 

The old man replied, ‘Oh, are my feet on a lingam? Where 
is it? Please remove my feet elsewhere.’ Namdev removed 
the feet and put them in various places. Wherever they 
were put, there was a Shiva lingam. Finally, he took them 
on his lap and he himself became a Shiva lingam. 

Then he realised the truth and the old gentleman said, 
‘Now you can go back’.It is to be noted that only when 
he surrendered himself, and touched the feet of his 
guru, enlightenment came. After this final enlightenment 
Namdev returned to his house and for some days did 
not go to Vitthal at the temple, though it had been his 
habit not only to visit Vitthal every day, but to spend 
most of his time with Vitthal at the temple. 

So after a few days, Vitthal went to Namdev’s house and 
like a guileless soul enquired how it was that Namdev has 
forgotten him and never visited him. Namdev replied, 
‘No more of your fooling me. I know now. Where is the 
place where you are not! To be with you, should I go to 
the temple? Do I exist apart from you?’ Then Vitthal said,
‘So you now understand the truth. That is why you had 
to be sent for this final lesson’.”