Let me explain with an example. Diwali is round the corner. On the days that lead on to diwali, you will see people shopping, exchanging gifts, feasting and making merry. And on the day of diwali each one would be waiting for Goddess Lakshmi to come to their house and shower wealth and prosperity on them.

Lakshmi is not a lady with a pot of gold who will walk through the open doors of your decorated house. It is the shakti on which creation is run. To invoke that energy calls for intense tapa under the guidance of Guru. The days leading to diwali must be accompanied with the observance of strict austerities and abstinence from all kinds of indulgence – food, sex, luxuries. These are means to purify the being so as to prepare the field to experience the shakti of Lakshmi.

The night of diwali, is a very powerful night. It is the darkest night of the year and marks the onset of new beginnings. It is the night of mantra-sadhna and havan under the sanidhya of the Guru. A sadhak who has observed strict discipline, is then able to harness the energy of Lakshmi within his being. For specific Lakshmi sadhnas and to gain maximum benefits this Diwali, get guidance from your Guru.

The purpose however is not self-gratification. Lakshmi is the goddess of material and spiritual wealth, however, her essence is in giving away this wealth for the proper functioning of creation. Likewise when a sadhak invokes the shakti of Lakshmi within, the purpose is to channelize that energy, the immense spritual and material power, for the running of creation. In the process one imbibes the qualities of Lakshmi, detachment and selflessness, which are the key to self-evolution.

The true spirit of Diwali thus lies not in buying expensive clothes, decorating the house and eating sumptuous foods. It is in internalizing the energy of Lakshmi and spreading the light of Diwali to millions, through selfless charity and service. When Rama, Lakshman and Sita returned to Ayodhya, all the houses were lit up. The moral is to not light up your houses and attract Lakshmi with this artificial light, but to be the force that can aid the Ayodhya of creation and attract divinity.
Om tamaso maa jyotir gamaya.

A being who is at the level of moolsthan, is like an owl who is tied to maya or a mouse who runs after physical pleasures, away from light into darkness as all physical pleasures are temporary, all relationships, all physical desires, the human body, they are all temporary. We all know this will go, but we are not prepared to accept it, that is darkness. This is where the journey, as detailed in Chakra Santulan Pranayam, begins, the mooladhar being represented by the tip of the nose. Physical satisfaction is the first experience of a practitioner. There is nothing wrong with the physical, the body is for the experience of physical only. It is the attachment to the physical which ties one to the cycle of pleasure and pain leading to disease and ageing. The physical is temporary, it brings with it immense pleasure and leaves with pain…and leave it will, for sure. You can either be attached to it, the path to darkness or stay detached, which leads to light.

In the initial stages of Chakra Santulan, a practitioner does dhyan at tip of the nose (kaki mudra), for he desires the experiences of the physical or material. The Kundalini shakti which lies coiled up at the moolsthan in a semi dormant state gets consumed in the day-to-day indulgence for such a person. As the person progresses in sadhna, the Guru gradually transforms his desires, granting him the experiences of higher chakras. When kundalini rises then excessive heat, movements and pulsations are felt in the body, at times uncontrollable, at times creating a doubt on the guru, at times awakening strong physical desires inside…at all times, away from light into darkness, the urge becomes very strong. But a sadhak has to depend on and refer to experiences he/she has had and hold on, the light will dawn. A sadhak who gets way led is lost into darkness forever. In the final stages of Chakra Santulan pranayam, dhyan is done at the agya (shambhavi mudra) for the experience of that which controls and manifests everything that lies below.

Stilling your eyes at the agya is the most difficult because it requires stilling of thoughts, and stillness of eyes is vital because the thought process wastes your energy. The energy, which is capable of creating the light within you, gets depleted when you think very intently about something. These thoughts are your desires that come to you when you sit in dhyan. You think about your problems, your wants, about the darkness that you are in and that you are trying to get out of. Each time you think, there occurs a vibration in the neurons of the brain which leads to sensation through the nerves and your focus gets disturbed and experience evades you. For an experience to happen, seeing the light is very important. For seeing the light, it is important to have a Guru who will show you the light…On Diwali, when we light a diya, it is for seeing the light in darkness…tamaso maa jyotir gamayo.

Yogi Ashwini is the Guiding Light of Dhyan Ashram and can be reached at www.dhyanfoundation.com.

We know that on the amavasya of the month of Kartik, Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya, which was marked by lighting of diyas in every house. This is the physical event. In the world of energy, the Kartik amavasya or Diwali, is the night of siddhis. It is the night of homecoming of one of the most powerful of forces in universe, the force of Vishnu. Ayodhya, in the case of a sadhak, is the body and lights are the various siddhis, which are ignited in different parts of the body through specific mantras and sadhnas in the sanidhya of a Guru, on the night of Diwali.

On the night of Diwali, the force of Vishnu enables the sadhak to acquire the various siddhis of yoga and sanatan kriya easily. Anima is the siddhi of reducing the size of the body at will, mahima is ability to increasing its size infinitely. Garima is the siddhi to become infinitely heavy; Laghima is the siddhi to shed off all the weight in the body to become feather-light. Prapti is the siddhi through which one gains unrestricted access to all places in creation. Prakamya is the siddhi to manifest ones thoughts and desires. Ishtva is the lordship of creation. Vashitva is the control over others. All these eight siddhis can be attained even in this day and age, with the correct practices under guidance of a Guru.

Sanatan Kriya details the technique of samyam, which is a combination of dharna dhyan and samadhi, for a complete merger, when there are no two bodies, everything becomes one whole, poorna…as goes the shloka, ‘om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachhyate, poornasya poornamadayah poornameva va shishyate’. In the samyam kriya, a sadhak becomes aware of the name (naam), form (akaar) and energy (Shakti) of a specific object and fixes his/her gaze on it along with chanting of specific mantras, as prescribed by one’s guru. This results in the sadhak acquiring the siddhis associated with that entity. What that entity is, varies from individual to individual, depending on individual capacity and desire.

To give an example of a Diwali practice, ‘ya devi sarvabhuteshu shakti roopen sansthitha, namastasyei, namastasyei, namastasyei namo namah’ is the mantra which when channelized by one’s Guru, and chanted while keeping awareness of the name, form and shakti of the devi while fixing the gaze on an object or image or thought (as prescribed by your Guru) endows the practitioner with phenomenal glow and radiance of the devi, such that he/she can attract whatever he/she desires in the physical or the world of energy. The mantra however must be given by and practiced under the supervision of your Guru.

Diwali is the night of acquiring siddhis and powers, wealth and riches are siddhis of the physically manifested creation. With time, the sadhnas of Diwali distorted and people took to grosser forms, like gambling, for acquisition of wealth.

In earlier times and for those who have a guru, if there is a desire for wealth, there is yogic process which has to be followed but unfortunately in modern times when most dont have gurus, a distortion has set in in the form of gambling to acquire money and power.

Remember, Diwali is the night when Ram came to Ayodhya. It is the night to bring Vishnu to you.

Yogi Ashwini is the Guiding Light of Dhyan Ashram and can be reached at www.dhyanfoundation.com.

The lady had refused to maya in the dream but when she actually came to her, she welcomed it with open arms. She forgot about God and Guru and so, got stuck with maya. Guru is like an anchor that does not let you sink in the ocean of attachment (maya). Whenever you take from creation, you have to give back to it as well, that is how the balance in maintained. Since the lady did not do any service or charity, hence what maya had given could not be balanced out and so the drastic consequence. Physical pleasures and wealth are a direct consequence of your karma…so is pain and poverty. To achieve wealth one must improve his/her karmas by doing service and charity and chanting specific mantras given by one’s Guru.

Diwali is just round the corner, the time of year when everyone is busy lighting lamps in front of the idol of Goddess Lakshmi, asking for wealth and other physical pleasures. This Diwali try something different. Ask, but also give. Have fun, but also be prepared by asking for detachment from the physical. The lights and diyas relate to ‘tamso ma jyotirgamaya’ (take me from darkness to light). Just like light is misunderstood as lighting lamps and not internal gyan, Diwali is misunderstood for ‘getting wealth and more wealth’ rather than ‘get wealth and detach me from it’ as it is physical and nashwar, ie, temporary. All physical things have a limited life and give intense pain when they are going…and go they will. The more you have, the more the pain.

Detachment is the key to success. It is a fact of life that the more you run after something, the more it makes you run for it and the moment you turn your back to it, it starts chasing you instead. With advanced practices of Ashtang yoga and Sanatan Kriya under the sanidhya of Guru, a practitioner moves towards detachment. Then it does not matter what you do because you have detached yourself from the effect of that action. Yoga does not prescribe any restrictions in lifestyle, diet or rituals…it sets you free. The reason why yogis and tapasvis can access anything under the sun with just a thought alone while ordinary men may not be able to achieve it despite struggling for years together is because a yogi is in a state of detachment. He has access to all the pleasures in creation but he does not desire them. The higher the level of detachment, the faster is the manifestation of one’s thoughts and desires.