Why are there 108 beads on a mala?

[Guest guest]

Why are there 108 beads on a mala?

by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

 

devishakti_India <devishakti_india

 

------------------

 

Informative indeed, thanks.

 

1, 8, and 9 are unique numbers. Let us see how?

 

1 and 8 placed side by side forms 18 and 18 is an important

number because:

1) Gita contains 18 chapters.

2) There are 18 Puranas written by Vedavyas.

3) Mahabharata was fought for 18 days.

etc.

 

1 + 8 = 9,

When we multiply any number with 9 and add up the

individual numbers in the product, it always adds up to 9.

For example:

 

9 x 2 = 18, 1 + 8 = 9.

9 x 3 = 27, 2 + 7 = 9.

9 x 4 = 36, 3 + 6 = 9.

9 x 5 = 45, 4 + 5 = 9

---------------------------

9 x 12 = 108, 1 + 0 + 8 = 9.

9 x 15 = 135, 1 + 3 + 5 = 9.

9 x 19 = 171, 1 + 7 + 1 = 9.

 

and so on .....................

 

 

Hari Om,

radhakutir

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

Secrets of 108

 

contributed by Subash Kak , Suleka.com

 

A less esoteric and more interesting number is 108, the number of

beads of a rosary and of many other things in Indian cosmology. I

first heard of it in the title of swamis in India, as in Shri 108

so-and-so, which irked me not only because of its pretentiousness but

also because no one seemed to know why it was 'holy'. I also had heard

of 1,008, another equally mysterious number used by swamis.

 

Much, much later, I asked professors about these numbers. One

gentleman told me that its secret lay in the 'holiness' of the number

18, as evidenced by the eighteen Puranas, and the eighteen chapters of

the Bhagavad Gita; and the number 108 was obtained from 18 by slipping

a zero in between, and doing this again led to 1,008. But this

explanation didn't convince me. Why is 18 holy, to begin with? And if

it is, why doesn't slipping a zero in between 1 and 8 destroy that

holiness? If it doesn't for whatever reason, leading to 108 and 1,008

in two stages, why doesn't it lead to 10,008 and other larger numbers?

 

Another gentleman said that 108 was 27 times 4, that is 27 nakshatras

(constellations in the moon's monthly circuit) multiplied by four of

the four cardinal directions. But why should this be important? Also,

in reality, the moon takes 27 and one-third days to complete its

circuit, and not exactly 27.

 

I ultimately found the answer to the mystery of these numbers while

researching early Indian astronomy. I discovered that the Indians took

this to be the distance between the earth and the sun in sun-diameter

units, and the distance between the earth and the moon in

moon-diameter units.

 

Three facts that any book on astronomy will verify:

 

* Distance between earth and sun = 108 times sun-diameter,

 

* Distance between earth and moon = 108 times moon-diameter, and most

remarkably,

 

* Diameter of the sun = 108 times the earth diameter.

 

That the Indians knew of the first two shouldn't surprise, because it

can be calculated by anyone without the need for any instruments. Take

a pole, mark its height, and then remove it to a place 108 times its

height. The pole will look exactly of the same angular size as the

moon or the sun.

 

I don't believe Indians knew the third fact, that the sun is 108 times

as large as the earth, because there is no evidence of that in the old

astronomy manuals. If they did, it would be as amazing a coincidence

as the knowledge of the correct speed of light before modern

measurements.

 

Indian thought takes the outer cosmology to be mirrored in the inner

cosmology of the human. Therefore, the number 108 is also taken to

represent the 'distance' from the body of the devotee to the God

within. The chain of 108 'links' is held together by 107 joints, which

is the number of marmas, or weak spots, of the body in Ayurveda.

 

We can understand that the 108 beads of the rosary (japamala) must map

the steps between the body and the inner sun. The devotee, while

saying beads, is making a symbolic journey from the physical body to

the heavens.

 

The number 108 joined to the name is merely a boast that one is a

spiritual adept, a master of the journey of 108 steps through the

intermediate regions of danger.

 

The other number 1,008 has a slightly different basis. Early Indian

astronomy divides the kalpa -- the total period within a creation, the

day of Brahma, which is part of an infinite cycle -- into 1,008 yugas.

The use of this number as a title is to boast that one knows the

mystery of time from creation to annihilation.

 

The number 108 appears in many settings in the Indian tradition. The

Natya Shastra of Bharata speaks of the 108 karanas -- combined

movements of hand and feet -- of dance. A few months ago in Chennai,

Padma Subramaniam, the great dancer and dance theorist, told me a

story of discovery connected with this number.

 

In the 1960s, Padmaji had come to the realization that the four hands

of the Shiva figures in Thanjavur represented animation. Then, in

1980, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal, the Shankaracharya of

the Kanchi Peetham -- who was to pass away at the age of 100, fourteen

years later -- asked her to design a fresh set of karana figures for

the panels of the new Uttara Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir in Satara,

Maharashtra, based on the Natya Shastra descriptions. Each panel had

to show Shiva and Parvati.

 

She first had to decide whether to use Shiva with four arms as at

Thanjavur or Shiva with two arms as at Kumbakonam, together with

Parvati with two arms as at Chidambaram. She took pictures for advice

to the Swamiji, but he said there was to be no copying of existing

images. Ultimately, she chose four arms for Shiva and two for Parvati,

and created the 108 new designs.

 

Later in the 1990s, Padmaji was approached by Alessandra Iyer, an

Italian scholar, who wished to study the influence of the Natya

Shastra on the Far East. They discovered that the Satara temple panels

of Padmaji were similar in form to the 53 surviving dance panels of

the 9th century Prambanam temple of Java, Indonesia, that was largely

destroyed by earthquake in the 15th century.

 

This established that Padmaji's choices were right and her

understanding of the four-armed poses as frozen movements was correct.

Since her reconstruction were based on brief description, it also

suggests that the karanas are archetypes of motion.

 

The idea of archetypes brings me to Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung who,

in a book they wrote in 1952 called The Interpretation of Nature and

the Psyche, argued that our discoveries are a consequence of the

preexisting patterns in our mind. Pauli wrote once, "I prefer to

say

that mind and matter are governed by common, neutral ordering

principles 'that are not in themselves determinable'." The idea of

archetype, borrowed by Jung from Yoga, makes it possible for us to see

how different people can come to the same discovery independently.

Parenthetically, Jung took the idea of divinity as male-female

(Harihara), suggesting that each man had a female within (anima), and

each woman had a male within (animus).

 

In his contribution to the book, Pauli indicated how the great Kepler

had come by his three laws of planetary motion upon the use of

Fibonacci sequences. From there the next step was the Newtonian

synthesis that viewed the universe as a machine. But now we have come

full circle in our realization that if the universe is a machine, it

is one where the components are all connected together -- it is a

holistic machine

 

from: http://www.nandhi.com/108.htm

, SRI RADHA KUTIR <radhaktr@v...>

wrote:

> Why are there 108 beads on a mala?

> by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

>

> devishakti_India <devishakti_india>

>

> ------------------

>

> Informative indeed, thanks.

>

> 1, 8, and 9 are unique numbers. Let us see how?

>

> 1 and 8 placed side by side forms 18 and 18 is an important

> number because:

> 1) Gita contains 18 chapters.

> 2) There are 18 Puranas written by Vedavyas.

> 3) Mahabharata was fought for 18 days.

> etc.

>

> 1 + 8 = 9,

> When we multiply any number with 9 and add up the

> individual numbers in the product, it always adds up to 9.

> For example:

>

> 9 x 2 = 18, 1 + 8 = 9.

> 9 x 3 = 27, 2 + 7 = 9.

> 9 x 4 = 36, 3 + 6 = 9.

> 9 x 5 = 45, 4 + 5 = 9

> ---------------------------

> 9 x 12 = 108, 1 + 0 + 8 = 9.

> 9 x 15 = 135, 1 + 3 + 5 = 9.

> 9 x 19 = 171, 1 + 7 + 1 = 9.

>

> and so on .....................

>

>

> Hari Om,

> radhakutir

[Guest guest]

The108 beads of the rosary are the Human Souls who are shown as mukhlings (lings

with mouths). They are also shown as Rudraksh beads. Rudraksh are shown with the

mouths but not with the bodies. Mukh (mouth) means where the manbuddhi roopi

atma (mind-intellect soul form) resides.

 

 

 

Among the 108, 100 are the Human souls who will come into the Royal Family at

the beginning of Golden Age and will be an Emperor/Empress for several births in

Golden and Silver Ages. Their thoughts are Pure and usually Elevated, They

spread vibrations of Peace. They see no one except the Supreme soul, Shiv, the

one who removes suffering and gives happiness. They will die alive by renouncing

ego. They are equal to Praise and Insult

 

 

 

And the 8 are the Victorious Jewels (Elevated Human souls), are the ones who

will rule the Paradise for 21 Births. They have settled all Karmic Accounts

through Powerful Yoga (Remembrance of God). They focus on being complete in all

Virtues. They become part of the tribunal day, the day of Final judgement. Their

thoughts are constantly Pure and Elevated. They stay detached from body at all

times.

 

 

pyari_h <no_reply> wrote:Namaste.

 

Secrets of 108

 

contributed by Subash Kak , Suleka.com

 

A less esoteric and more interesting number is 108, the number of

beads of a rosary and of many other things in Indian cosmology. I

first heard of it in the title of swamis in India, as in Shri 108

so-and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

once again i interrupt.

soul is singular

dont mislead people

namasivayam

 

--- B K <bkgswu wrote:

[Guest guest]

SOUL

 

The Physical and the Non Physical

Is there more to me than I see in the mirror? To see how there is more to me

than an assembly of physical organs, we have first to define the Living and the

Non-Living, not merely in the biological senses, but in a deeper, spiritual

context.

 

THE LIVING - is that which has AWARENESSS of its own EXISTENCE and also that

which is able to create its own thoughts. These thoughts form the basis of

feelings and emotions and only 'I the living' am capable of these.

 

The living is also that which has the ability to JUDGE: Right from Wrong, Truth

from False Hood, Reality from Illusion. I the living also have unique

personality, which is totally incomparable to that of any other being.

Individual uniqueness exists because every living being is carrying the full

record of all its past experiences, which determines the personality. We observe

that of another.

 

The living is also that MEMORY. On the basis of this unique quality, a person

can establish a relationship. As I remember meeting others, the relationship

grows.

 

The Living is also that which DESIRES. These may be limited materials ones,

which tend to lead one soul into mental degeneration, or desires of the highest,

altruistic, spiritual kind, that led the soul back to its original state of

excellence. These desires form the motivation of all actions.

 

THE NON-LIVING - if I relate the qualities of the Living to those of the

Non-Living, I can see the vast differences between 'I the Living Being', and all

material objects around me. Similarly, let me apply these criteria of the living

to my own physical body

 

Thinking of the body as a separate instrument, is there any part of it, which is

experiencing, judging, or deciding? I can see that none of the physical organs,

such as my hands or feet, eyes or ears, or even my head, have these faculties.

There is something apart from these organs that does these things.

 

Let us take an example: -

 

Whatever action I perform, although I will use various instruments, I am totally

separate from them. For instance if I use a knife with my hands to chop some

tomatoes, throughout the operation the knife makes no decision.

 

If I lose concentration, and cut my fingers with the knife, neither my fingers

nor the knife became emotionally disturbed - they were purely instruments.

 

It is easy for me to see the knife as an instrument. But I'm so attached to

these hands, that It is very difficult to dissociate myself from them, and

realize that they too are only instruments, and really nothing more than this.

 

I have had this pair of hands for as long as I have had this body, and I

knowthey are the only one pair I will get. So not only personal attachment to my

hands, but to the whole of my physical body, is something so deep, so intense,

that I have totally forgotten my real identity.

 

THE MISTAKE - Ever since the moment when I came into the physical body, I have

been labeled and put into compartments according to my physical classifications.

It has been instilled into my conscious that 'you are a boy' or 'you are a

girl', so that I grew up absolutely committed to this idea. And in fact if

someone were to question this today, to question the identity of being a man or

a woman, a person would probably consider it a great insult. But is that what I

am? An I be accurately labeled 'young' or 'old', 'man' or 'woman', 'fair' or

'dark'? Is there a real indication of who I am simply through this?

 

Yet this is the mistake we have been making not only have others made this

mistake about me, putting me into a bodily compartment, but I have also been

guilty of this same error. Not only I have put others into compartments, but I

have done this to myself. I have totally identified myself with the body, and I

have cut out all other possibilities my consciousness has become quite

restricted by the color, the age, the nationality, the religion, the culture,

into which the BODY has been born.

 

The Rediscovery of "I"

I am the living, I am not physical. I know I am not because I can experience

things beyond physical limitations. My body cannot go back to childhood, but I

can. Within a second, my mind can race back to days of my youth. It can even

race forward to the days of my probable old age. Past or future, both are

equally easy for me to travel in. I travel through the three aspects of time

without any hesitation at all. I am able to travel across an distance in a

split-second, as my thoughts carry me across to America, to Australia, to India.

Where there is a pull of, my thoughts will take me there. And all this while my

body has been seated in one specific place. So my body is physical, I am not

physical, I am metaphysical, unhindered by the physical limitations of time or

distance.

 

Just as I grew up with natural instincts such as eating, breathing etc. related

to survival in a physical body, I also grew up with my own personality which,

has been mentioned, is absolutely exclusive to me. My own subtle characteristics

are quite different even those of my physical parents, and so I must have gained

this in an existence even before this one.

 

Also, I am definitely invisible. A mirror will show me only my bodily features:

the shape of my face, the color of my eyes. But all these exterior things tell

me very little about my real self. I, the being within this physical frame, am

invisible. Now I can see all these things: that I am metaphysical, eternal,

invisible.

 

FORM - what am I? When I dissociate myself from my physical costume, and search

for my true identity, there is a strange detachment from the body, but also

uncertainty, because I don't as yet fully now who I really am, and I'm leaving

behind territory which was familiar. So let me go one step further, and think of

myself in a non-physical form: a tiny point of light, a minute dot of invisible

luminous energy. Can this really be true? Such a strange thought to have… for so

long I have thought of myself as a female, Or male, and now I am thinking of

myself as a tiny dot, as light.

 

Let me examine this further….

 

As you think deeply about this, you will become aware of yourself as a subtle

energy, minute, yet full of power, so small it cannot be broken down any

further. EXPERIENCE - Let me experience with this….

 

Yes, it is a dot that is eternal, unique, unhindered by time and space. A point

that has no geometrical dimensions. The dot - invisible. Just with this concept

of my deepest identity, and experience myself a point of light, located directly

at the center of my forehead. I have this incredible sensation of this

lightness, of freedom, of peace, of subtle power, because I am now aware that

all this is within the point.

 

POSITION - where am I located?

 

I the soul am located in the center of the forehead near the organs of the

control for the body, and near the organs of communication with the physical

world, since it is from here that I can exercise total control.

 

PERFORMANCE - the brain is an instrument operating by means of electrical

impulses. I, the soul, make a decision and the decision reaches the brain

instantly. It is translated into activity via the entire body system. Stimuli

come in through my senses, and reach the brain. From the brain, impulses reach

"the soul". Thus from outside, I am stimulated into further thought, and

possibly further action. The intellect makes this decision. I the soul am the

controller, and the brain is the control room through which I operate.

 

THE THIRD-EYE - this is also where the third eye of wisdom has been shown, Which

was once thought to have existed physically. However it is nothing physical,

because wisdom is not related to any particular part of the body. It is the soul

that seeks wisdom, and the soul that retains wisdom. So when we speak, in

spiritual terms, of the 'opening of the third eye', we are referring to the

awakening consciousness, a new awareness, or a soul consciousness.

 

People only stumble around at night when they cannot see. The eyes deceive the

mind, and the intellect can only make a wrong decision when its knowledge is

incomplete. Knowledge is like daylight, it opens the third eye, and the dark

immediately becomes light. With my third eye open, I can see what I should be

doing. Up to now, I have been using these two physical eyes, which can only see

physical dimensions, and nothing further. With my third eye I can see beyond the

physical, and, being able to see, I can now become the complete master of

myself.

 

Driver and Vehicle

It will sound obvious to say "only when a driver is fully conscious, can he use

his vehicle accurately to take him to his destination". But if we now look at

ourselves using this analogy, we can see clearly just what an enormous

difference there is between being 'in control' and being asleep at the wheel.

 

The driver of a car can go anywhere, as long as he remembers what is he doing.

If he is travelling along the road and suddenly looses concentration, allowing

the mind to drift off even for a moment, he will plunge straight off the road.

Accidents happen when people forget what they are doing. In exactly the same

way, if someone looses their self-control, even for a moment, there is an

accident (an outburst of great anger for instance) which causes sorrows for the

self and sorrows for anyone else involved. Even onlookers who simply saw the

accident are very upset by the damage done to the occupants of the vehicle. So,

awareness of and harmony between both the soul (the driver) and the body (its

vehicle) is essential. Just as the driver must be aware of his vehicle and in

harmony with it, the soul must be in total control of its body. And yet I have

gone to sleep, I have not been aware, and so there have been many, many

accidents. I have caused myself, and those around me, so much

grief. But now with awareness, the driver wakes up, assumes control once more

and begins to use his vehicle in the correct way. UNDER CONTROL - in the

conscious of "I, the soul", I can now see the benefits of using my senses to

pick out the good from the bad, the useful from the useless, and translate it

all into positive actions, which helps others and elevate my own conscious as

well. Being aware of myself, I became the master of my physical senses. It is so

strange to realize that I have been using so little control over my senses, that

my eyes and ears are pulling my mind in different directions for years, making

me literate into a slave of there every whim. It really is the situation of the

cart before the horse, putting the body before the soul. Knowledge is power, and

wit this knowledge, I can re-establish my true state of sovereignty over the

physical body.

 

How the Soul Works

Having seen, and experienced, the effect of forgetting who I am, let us examine

what is happening inside the pin-point of light, this spark of conscious, that

is the soul. Each soul has three separate faculties. As they are described, you

will be able to see not only how so many accidents have come about through lack

off understanding but also the method of gaining control once more. Although we

can give each faculty a different name, it is actually the same energy

functioning on three different levels - these are: the mind, the intelligence,

and the impressions.

 

THE MIND - through the mind, one IMAGINES, THINKS, and FORMS IDEAS. Our thoughts

are created in the mind. The thought process is the basis of all EMOTIONS,

DESIRES and SENSATIONS. It is through this faculty that, in an instant, thoughts

can reach anywhere, or relive a past experience and produce happiness or

sadness. The mind is a subtle organ, which should not be confused with the

heart, which is merely a physical organ that maintains blood circulation.

Through Raja Yoga … The Mind Is Controlled THE INTELLECT - the intellect is then

used to ASSESS thoughts. This is the Faculty that understands. Our capacity to

understand is perhaps the single most crucial ability of all. With the deepening

and broadening of the intellect, clear understanding of anything is possible.

…the Intellect is developed and elevated In addition to understanding, the

intellect REASONS, MEMORIES, DISCRIMINATES and TAKES DECISION. As with all

faculties of the soul, it is subtle and spiritual, not physical, so it

should not be confused with the brain. The brain is merely the physical focus

of the nervous system and acts as the control of the soul. Through this physical

control panel, "I, the soul" am able to regulate the functions of the different

organs of my body. "I, the soul" am able to alter the pulse and respiration of

my body, simply by reacting to an external situation, which I decide makes me

overjoyed or very upset. So my intellect is not part of physical brain, but the

subtle faculty of judgement and understanding of "I, the soul"

 

THE IMPRESSION - any action that has been performed leaves an impression on the

soul. We will refer to impressions as: "SANSKARAS", which is the precise Hindi

word used. HABITS, TENDENCIES, EMOTIONAL TENDENCIES, TEMPERAMENTS, PERSONALITY

TRAITS are all SANSKARAS imprinted on the soul through each action it has

performed. All the thoughts that occur in my mind are the direct results of my

SANSKARAS. So my most fundamental features as a soul, my personality, is

determined by these SANSKARAS. Each action I do either creates a SANSKARA (this

is how a habit begins), or re-enforces an old one if the action is a repetition.

This enables us to understand that the SANSKARAS contain the COMPLETE RECORD of

all my mental and physical actions i.e. all my experiences up to this moment.

Any thought that arises in my head will be due to the influence of one more than

one SANSKARAS. This makes it clear that I, and I alone, am alone responsible for

my own thoughts, although we tend to deny this

responsibility and blame external situations instead. If an action is repeated

often, it becomes a deep SANSKAR. Rather in the same way that the more one digs

a hole the deeper it gets and the more difficult it will be to erase all trace

of it. Old habits die hard for this. ….and, with Raja Yoga , the SANSKARAS are

purified and become sovereign.

 

THE EFFECT OF SANSKARAS ON THE MIND AND INTELLECT - Imagine yourself as the

detached observer of a car accident. A number of people will arrive on the

scene, but although it is the same sight for each person, their different

SANKARAS will produce quite different reactions to the chaos. For example, one

person is examining the injured and I can see that he is a doctor. One is calmly

questioning the onlookers and I can see that he is a policeman. Someone else is

unhurriedly looking at the damaged vehicles, while another person is completely

overwhelmed with emotions. The unhurried one is a mechanic and I can see that

the other probably has a relationship with one of the injured. The stimulus is

the same, but their reaction are totally different. Different SANSKARAS lead to

different reactions. Equally, I know from past experiences that my own state of

mind control my thoughts. For instance, one day many things go wrong, and yet a

great deal of inner strength enables me to remain calm

and peaceful. On the other day I may lack the stability and the slightest word

out of place can annoy me. It wasn't the fault of the person who spoke, but my

own state of being that created the reaction.

 

Where We Find Ourselves Today

Gradually, as impure SANSKARAS were formed and were allowed to reinforce

themselves through repetitions, this instinctive voice gave way to the powerful

influence of my physical senses.

 

The strong pull of these senses spurred my emotions to such a state that I

overruled the decisions of my own intellect.

 

Consequently, when a similar situation now occurs, the weakened conscience has

even less influence, and in due course it stops speaking altogether. As the

conscience was ignored, ignorance inevitably followed.

 

And so we find ourselves often uncertain of separating right from wrong. We may

even deny the very existence of right and wrong. The distinction between selfish

and unselfish action has become clouded in the intellect, so that a state of a

morality prevails.

 

As action become progressively degraded, the search of happiness and fulfillment

was only possible on a similarly degraded level. Without the knowledge of "I,

the soul", body - consciousness became deeply ingrained as SANSKARAS and the

soul has been forced to look for happiness on a material level. Unable to find

contentment from within the self, the soul has turned all its attention to

pleasure derived from material sources and found himself in a void of

inadequate, transitory experiences. In such a vulnerable position, the soul

mentally grasps at any source of comfort. The level of motivation inevitably

degrades into sense-gratification, which traps the soul into seeking greater

pleasure to offset greater dissatisfaction.

This internal conflict has become a familiar scene throughout the world. The

more we have turned our attention away from our true selves, the more we have

become entangled in sorrow and frustration. The mind has become a slave to the

senses, so that I am presently unable to comfort it.

 

nama siva <nama_sivam wrote:once again i interrupt.

soul is singular

dont mislead people

namasivayam

 

--- B K <bkgswu wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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