Decoding Dharma – 1: Jeev Samadhis – A Brief Glance

I am seeing more videos on Sadhguru’s personal life which I don’t like. I don’t want to know of his background.

For years, I too misunderstood this man. When he was writing this column, ‘athanaikkum aasai padu’ (desire for everything), i was in no mood to read it in the Tamil weekly. Besides, i was young and too much was happening in my life too, though not always pleasant. But many of his followers found him around that time. He wrote in the name of Jaggi Vasudev. Before even i read him, i had judged him as ‘one of those gurus.’ Its a pity that i similarly missed the Tamil author Balakumaran. With a stubbornness i refused to read both that i now regret. May be had i read them a lot earlier, I would be a different being now.

Even after Sadhguru became popular, I steadfastly refused to hear him out. I finally found the ‘Sounds of Isha’ to my liking. I must say the Maha Shivrathri festival in Coimbatore drew me to his brand of spirituality. Also the last straw was my recent visit to Isha where I saw for myself the immensity of his visions that broke my resolve of not accepting anyone for a guru. I am now a changed one in many ways.

I have questioned in very old blog posts of mine years back, why those like Sadhguru are not ready to attain Jeev Samadhi. I have also mentioned of rumours about his wife’s passing. Now I understand better and I need no more explanation. No need I feel, for Sadhguru to explain himself to people something that will never be understood by them. For one thing, like me in past, they may cling to this adamant attitude. Secondly, people tend to  like dwelling in such petty world where demonizing others can give them a cheap thrill. Thirdly, that is their level of spiritual perception. I trust. Believers trust. Trust is the basis for laying a strong foundation for anything worthwhile. Prana Pradhishta – i heard about it. It is inconceivable for most and undoable, but then I believe, to those with highest levels of spiritual maturing, yes, this is possible. These dimensions of spirituality cannot even be imaginable for most of the human race.

Only a Hindu/Buddhist/Jain can even perceive what this is. You have to live this culture, you have to live in this Punya Bhoomi to grasp such a concept. Jains in India do not even eat root vegetables like potato for instance because roots are life carriers. Extreme spirituality makes some Hindu sadhus live as nude ‘aghoris’ feeding on only the dead in the cremation grounds that are wasted already – not those that can flourish. Hindu sadhus’ penance without eating food for years, drinking water for years, standing on head for years  (this tribe has almost dried up today) is unthinkable, unimaginable to most others especially the Abrahamics. These are people who have fought crusades and jehads to lay siege over nations and communities and convert them. We can have nothing in common with them. Hindu Gods are not for sale, not products for marketing. The way we know ‘eastern philosophy’ – the Abrahamics have no notion about and can never discover within their narrow limited ambit. Their mission is to propagate, improve their statistics, count more heads for the flock, nothing more. Acquisition is to Abrahamics what renunciation is to Sanathana Dharmis (Hindus). Jesus reportedly asked his followers to go in pairs of twos to spread the gospel and increase their tribe … can you imagine this with Hindu Gods. Thanks a million I am a Hindu and in all my rebirths I pray to be reborn a Hindu.

Coming from Tamil Nadu where most ancient Hindu temples were consecrated over ‘Siddha peetams’ I can somewhat understand even if at grass roots level, the concept of samadhis or attaining Moksha or Liberation. Now this is a term never to be used by Abrahamics. Things are only black and white for them: heaven or hell. The soul attaining liberation, freeing itself from birth cycle, elevating itself to higher spheres is a concept beyond their organized religious understanding. Temples in south India were always consecrated over Jeeva Siddha samadhis. Even the one in my street is a Siddha peetam. The presiding deity Shiva sits as Shiva Lingam over the Siddha peetam. We worship the Siddha who gave up His life for holding Shiva over Him. Such is the Sanathana Dharma. We give up life – shed life voluntarily. We are the last to take others lives. Which is why most of us are vegetarian. No Hindu butchers in entire India mostly. No Hindu-run butcheries. Maximum fish seller, that is it .

Similarly Jains in India until today leave their material attachments on inner calling anytime and renounce the worldly life to attain Nirvana. A family of four, millionaires, father, mother, two teenage children did it in south India only months back. Jains fast for days endless even now and leave their physical bodies. Fasting unto death. Normal, average people, not necessarily monks. Once their family duties are over, they choose to leave earth and attain Nirvana voluntarily shedding their physicality. However, they may not always get to choose their moment as they reach this level without much deliberation or mental preparedness unlike Sadhus who foresee it all and plan for months or even years beforehand. Swami Vivekanand did it reportedly.  He decided to willfully shed his physicality at a preordained time that he hinted to his disciples. Just like that. However this is not Jeev Samadhi. From what I understand, it is just that the physical body that is a receptacle becomes too confining for their exploding levels of spirituality that these ‘mahapurush’ decide to shed it to go further up the spiritual realms or the nether world.

Shankara, Raghavendra, Aurobindo and many other saints in India attained Jeev Samadhis. In some countries this may be called suicide. Not in India. This is the way we have lived for millennia. Thanks Sadhguru for highlighting what we have been forgetting for centuries.

A friend was similarly telling me once how her great grand mother chose to die on a particular date and time, having fulfilled her familial duties. The old mother was too very spiritual and had become detached for years. She shed her body at a time of her choosing with family’s consent in family’s presence. Not suicide. Just like that, at the pre-disclosed time her soul left her body. Yes, our people have done that. Our ancestors. The most enlightened among them. If we cannot do it today, it is because we are materialistic. We have bonds that we do not want to break.

‘Koodu vittu koodu paaidhal’ – this is called in Tamil. Old Tamil/Hindi pictures had such scenes pictured. This is what the picture ‘Avatar’ is all about – Avatar of course is a Sanskrit word. The story is a beautiful make-over of the very ancient Hindu concept of reincarnation. Your soul can leave your body at your will – ancient Hindus did that reportedly (not all) but this, as i’ve reiterated, necessitates highest level of spirituality. This is where meditation helps in. And this is where precisely Yoga fits in. Yoga is just a tool to work with – like basic a,b,c for mind/body control. From here, you start your schooling. You don’t need to hallucinate popping up hashish to reach these levels of detachment or spiritual elevation. This is extreme mind control. Those who have have graduated upto transcendental meditation will agree. What we have to master is something larger than ‘pulan adakkam’ as we call it in Tamil. Control over our five senses as first step. Sadly, very few humans now are capable of these feat.

Spiritually every Hindu is inclined to go that way although not all of us have it in us to seek truth, or go in pursuit of truth the way our forefathers did. Nothing to us is coincidence. I have had numerous occasions in the past where I have had reasons to believe that there were some ‘signs.’ Signs that could be spotted and recognized. Divine interventions. It is useless trying to explain such profound heartfelt things to an Abrahamic or Atheist. I don’t even attempt. It is enough if we know and believe deep down our heart. We know this is no hallucination or brainwashing or fanciful imagination.

However, I am not yet ready to accept anyone as my guru. But Sadhguru helps a lot. Happy with this degree of spirituality of mine. I am a samsari. I want to pet my grandchildren someday. I want to shop and dress up and indulge in normal pleasures of life. Not ready for anything more. At the same time, I feel a reckoning in me like i’ve never felt in my life before. It is like, for the first time ever I sense, I am ready to go if my time has to arrive even this very moment. My son can take care of himself. Only one bandhan can stop me: that of my husband. He is someone who cannot live without me. Other than that, i have no other strappings to bind me to life even though to others i may appear very average – the typical shopping-chatting-gossiping housewife who does not more. That’s why i can understand about Sadhguru’s wife. I am at the base or entry level of the spiritual pyramid. If i feel that i am okay to leave given my modest quotient of spirituality, i can imagine what others in the highest levels of enlightenment may feel like. Of course God willing, I want to be there to pet my grandchildren someday – alongwith  my husband. It is a wish. It is not in my hands – nothing is.

I continue my rituals of Puja at home and visit temples as much as I can – i am glad in Isha they do not downplay the regular rituals like some gurus do for instance. I am comfortable with whatever rituals we follow in our family. I am adapted to them since my childhood.

In Tamil they say, ‘kaacha maram thaan kalladi padum.’ The tree that springs fruits will have to face the stones. If there is no fruit in a tree, who is going to stone it.

Yes, of course, I am passionate about elephants. That still aches my heart a bit. But I am sure the elephants will find their way around. From what I heard, it is the christian group Karunya institutions who have taken over forest lands illegally. I have friends based in Coimbatore who swear of it and they have no reason to lie. Besides, it is public knowledge.

We are not building Hindu temples or championing for Hindu dharma in America or Africa or Australia or Europe. We want Hindu dharma to flourish and not die in our own dharmic Hindu country where it has its roots. The propagation of Abrahamic fold in India MUST STOP. If there are Hindu temples today around the world, they were not raised on conversion background. Many westerners and even far easterners embrace Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) on discovering the true meaning and depth of our philosophies.

I would like to make more visits to Isha. Meanwhile, happy to listen to Sadhgur in You Tube. His service brings tears to my eyes. I am very emotional. That is the greatest impediment for me for moving to my next level of spirituality. I am still materialistic and not able to break that jinx. I won’t force anything down my throat but i shall try (as i do now without success). Let me see.

Meanwhile, I am glad India still produces such great visionaries and mystics. Their service to not only Hindus but entire humanity is immeasurable. I am glad i finally found my way. Better late than never.