Form, hallucination vs visualization

[Guest guest]

Namaste Jitender,

 

(1) You choose a form that represents certain things to your mind and start

imagining that form in fire whenever you do homam. If you do not have any

idea, I may suggest the supreme cosmic being form of Mahaganapathi. Forget

trunk, tusks etc. Imagine a man with 1000 heads, 1000 hands and 1000 legs,

in whom the entire creation exists. Imagine a man who eats whenever and

whatever each person in this world eats. Imagine a man who drinks whenever

and whatever each person in this world drinks. Imagine a man who talks

whenever and whatever each person in this world talks. Imagine a man who

desires whenever and whatever each person in this world desires. Imagine a

man who does whenever and whatever each person in this world does. Imagine a

man who knows whenever and whatever each person in this world knows.

 

Imagine that a supreme being comes into the fire and accepts your offerings

through fire. Try to surrender to that being and remove your mind's focus on

*impermanent* things such as body, name, fame etc.

 

(2) Sthoola sareera is the gross physical body with bones, muscles, nerves,

blood etc and covered by skin. Sookshma sareera or subtle body is the

essence inside that you cannot perceive with eyes, ears, nose etc. It

contains the life force and supports its movement. It contains various nadis

(channels in which life force and self-awareness flow) and chakras (realms

of self-awareness). Life force and self-awareness flow in it. Kaarana

sareera or causal body is the sum total of one's karmas, i.e. all the

conditioning accumulated in chitta over many lives.

 

> then how is this experience different from hallucination

 

(3) Fantastic question! First, please read the following post:

 

Internal god and external god

/message/2498

 

Suppose one is trying to see Sun and unable to see Sun directly. Suppose one

is seeing Sun's reflection in a mirror. Sun is the so-called " external " god.

Mirror is your self-awareness or ego. As long as your ego exists, you will

only see an " internal " reflection of " external " god. Coloring and dirt on

the mirror may make Sun look duller and different. Similarly, conditioning

of the mind and impurities in self-awareness may make one visualize god

differently.

 

One sees a brighter Sun in the mirror as it is cleaned. Similarly, one's

perception of god becomes better as one's mental conditioning reduces and

self-awareness gets purified.

 

Now, it is possible that one does not clean the mirror and simply paints a

bright Sun on the dirty mirror. Similarly, one can just hallucinate various

mystical experiences. That is certainly possible. However, a bright Sun

painted on a dirty mirror does not give light and the mirror remains dirty.

Similarly, one hallucinating deities or other experiences will remain with a

lot of mental conditioning. One's ego will remain, one's fears, anxieties,

pride, attractions, aversions etc will all remain. On the other hand, one

with a cleaner mirror really reflecting Sun better will see everything with

more brightness. Similarly, one with a real experience of god will becomes

clearer in one's vision of what is impermanent and what is permanent and

make progress towards overcoming fears, anxieties, pride, attractions,

aversions etc.

 

In both the cases, what one sees is within the mirror. Similarly, what one

experiences is within the mind. But, in one case (hallucination), the focus

is on the experience and the underlying weaknesses and root problems (dirt

and color of the mirror) are not fixed. In the other case (real experience),

the focus is on fixing the underlying the weaknesses and root problems and

experience happens as a result.

 

As you engage in the rituals, visualize god to the best of your ability and

try to surrender to the best of your ability. Slowly, as the dirt cleans up,

Sun will shine bright through the mirror and shed light everywhere.

Eventually, if you are destined, the mirror (ego) may disappear and you may

directly see Sun, without any limiting mirror (ego).

 

The key point is to clean up the egoistic impulses and other conditioning in

the mind while trying to visualize god. Holding a clean mirror or magnifying

glass close to the dirty mirror may reflect Sun's rays onto it and they may

clean up some dirt. Similarly, spending some time close to homam fire may

reflect god's light onto one's limited self and clean up some conditioning.

 

Best regards,

Narasimha

 

Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam

Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana

Spirituality:

Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net

Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org

Jyotish writings: JyotishWritings

Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org

 

 

-

" dahiyajiten " <dahiyajiten

 

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:42 PM

Name and form

 

 

> Namaste to all,

>

> 1)Can somebody tell me how to choose some form of ganpati for mahaganpati

> homam.There are already so many forms of Ganesh,so how to chooose some

> form if i do not have any idea. Vimalanda in 2nd part says that in the

> begining we need to create deity with the help of our astral deity, so for

> that i think i need to know the proper roop for the homam.

>

> 2)if somebody could please explain what are these astral,subtle body &

> kaaran,sthool sharir, they are used a lot.

>

> 3)If in the beginning we see the deity from our very own astral body, then

> how is this experience different from hallucination, because we are not

> experiencing any which is something special. We are seeing which we are

> constantly forcing upon our mind.Had the deity been somewhere outside only

> then we were achieving something. Please clear my doubts on this. i hope

> my question is clear.

>

> Regards

> Jitender