BLOG NUMBER FIVE - DESCENT OF THE SOUL - AS NARRATED BY LATE SHRI AMBARISHA VARMA

                           PHOTO OF PUJA ROOM OF LATE SHRI AMBARISHA VARMA,             

                                   AT "SHAMBALA", KORAMANGALA, BANGALORE

                          _____________                   

Invocation:

Om bhadram karnebhih srunuyama devah,

bhadram pasyemaksabhir yajatrah,

sthirair angaias tustuvamsas tanubhih,

vyasema deva-hitham yad ayuh

svasti na indro vrddha-sravah, svasti nah pusa visva-vedah, svasti nas tarksyo arista-nemih, svasti no brhaspatir dadhatu.

Aum santih santih santih

Aum. May we, O Gods, hear what is auspicious with our ears. Oh You, who are worthy of worship, may we see with our eyes what is auspicious. May we enjoy the life allotted to us by the Gods, offering praise, with our bodies strong of limb. 

May Indra, of inreasing glory, bestow prosperity on us: may Pusan, the knower of all, bestow prosperity on us: may Tarksya, of unobstructed path, bestow prosperity on us. May Brhaspati bestow prosperity on us. Aum, peace, peace, peace.

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In the  beginning all of us were in the form of souls, enjoying supreme bliss at Para Brahma Loka, possessing infinite and muti dimensional vision. Due to spiritual evolution, certain souls came to Para Brahma Loka and began to explain to us, their wonderful experiences at the Bhuloka. After hearing their experiences at Bhuloka, all of us felt eager to visit the Bhuloka and instead of the entire group of millions of souls approaching Supreme God Para Brahma, a group of seven souls, were selected to plead our case and seek His permission for visiting Bhuloka. Para Brahma said it is myself that they will find there at Bhuloka. 

Since we had all decided to visit Bhuloka, He blessed the seven guides with special powers so that they could not only guide the souls in their descent, but also to bring them back quickly to His loka. He further said that we souls should wear special space suits and we all began to put on the first of the pancha koshas, known as the Anandamaya Kosha-an encasement filled with bliss for the soul.

As soon as we took on the Anandamaya Kosha, our infinite vision got cut by half. We all descended down to the next divine Loka, that is, Shakti Loka. After looking around Devi Loka, its treasures etc., and after receiving a good welcome from Her, Devi told us the importance of taking up another Kosha, known as Vignanamaya Kosha, which would help us pass through the rest of the divine cosmos, that is, Shiva, Vaikunta and Brahma Lokas. As soon as we put on the Vignanamaya Kosha, our vision which was already cut by half, further reduced. The vision above and below, disappeared. She further told us that the difference in these three divine lokas is only that of movement of Time.

At the Shiva Loka, the Time moves slow, at Vaikunta, it moves a little faster than in Shiva Loka, and at Chaturmukha Brahma Loka, time moves - fastest. After telling us all this, Devi wished us best of luck in our onward journey to Bhuloka. After taking leave of Devi, we visited and looked around the Lokas of Lord Shiva and Lord Maha Vishnu, took their blessings and quickly proceeded towards the last of the divine lokas, that is Brahma loka.

We all met the Chaturmukha Brahma, the Creator, and told him of our intention to visit Bhuloka. He said- till now you have all passed through divine cosmos, whereas after this loka, you will be entering the material cosmos which is quite different. All of you require a further special space suit in order to pass through the material cosmos, and after blessing us for a safe sojourn, He directed us to visit His capital city known as Manovati Nagara.

There, we all met the manager in charge of a big factory like building. He began telling us about the third space suit known as the Manomaya Kosha and showed us different Manomaya Koshas available with him.  He told us that the Manomaya Kosha contains the blue print of the human body we were going to take on the earth and further that certain manomaya koshas were fit only for visiting Bhuloka.

The Manager at Manovati Nagara continued to explain the special features of the Manomaya Koshas. He said:

1. The Manomaya Koshas had a special quality of rejecting excess experiences, more than required by the Soul. It has the capacity of filtering the excess experiences, which would settle on the Manomaya Kosha as a residue.(This residue came to be known as karma).

2. The Manomaya Kosha will help you travel in all the fourteen material lokas and the four divine lokas except the Para Brahma Loka.

3. The Manomaya Koshas should be returned to him in a clean condition as they were received.

Since the Manomaya Kosha already contained the blueprint of the human body to be taken on the Earth, the Manager asked us to choose the sex and the partner who would be acting as one's spouse on the earth. All of us, being in great hurry, quickly selected our own partners. Certain souls did not choose any soul to be their companion on the Earth and such souls are born as bachelors, all their lives.

As soon as we put on the Manomaya Kosha, our vision got further diminshed and was reduced only to seeing in front and also the distance was cut. We all started rushing towards the Earth after taking leave of the Manager at Manovati Nagara, and began entering the material cosmos, which contained the seven Urdhva Lokas, with their Lords, who in turn, put a kind of stamp on the Manomaya Koshas, for having passed through their Lokas. (These stamps later became the seven chakras in the spinal column). These fourteen Lokas-seven urdhva and seven pathala lokas were found to be in a jumble and not in a particular order.

At a distance of nearly 50,000 miles in space, the earth looked fantastic with sights never seen by us at the Para Brahma Loka, with its mountains, rivers, forests, Oceans etc. To our surprise, we noticed that we could not make any progress in our journey. Quickly we asked the seven guiding souls to find out the reason for our halt at space, with the earth looking so wonderful and near.

The seven guides, who were blessed by the Supreme God with special powers, divined that the material cosmos is protected by the Ashtadikpalakas (the Guardians of the Eight Directions) and that their permission is required to descend further. They decided that the  Ashtadikpalaka of the North Eastern direction, that is Indra, might be able to help us in the matter. So, they summoned Indra at the spot where we had halted in space and asked him, as to what should be done to reach the earth.

He said - you are all in the form of souls, smaller than an electron or a proton. The three space suits which you all are wearing are made of divine matter and have no weight. In order to reach the earth, the earth must be able to pull you towards it. Let us all approach the Lord of the Southern direction, Yama, to seek his help. So, keeping Indra at the front along with the seven guides, we proceeded to Yamadharmapuri, which was at a distance of a million light years, from the spot where we had halted in space. 

Due to special gadgets, Lord Yama, knew in advance about our visit. He awaited our arrival and arranged for a special reception to us all, as he considered us VIP souls from Para Brahma Loka. We all enjoyed the banquet given by the Lord Yama who said this is nothing when compared to the experiences you will get on the earth. We told him please help us put on a little weight. Yama said all of you must visit my assistant Chitragupta.

We all met Chitragupta who pointed to us a wonderful mirror and said - see for yourselves as to how clean you all appear, now. He further said- let me note down the details of the Manomaya Kosha worn by you all, as you will have to return it later, back to Lord Brahma. All of us rushed to the mirror and saw ourselves in it. The Manomaya Koshas were numbered by the akashic record.

After these events, Chitragupta said, now I am going to give you Silver Chord which will give you a little weight and also attach you to the physical body on the earth. The special power of this silver chord is that it will allow you to enter the male bodies and not that of female bodies which are already on tne earth. This silver chord extends to infinity and in case it snaps, you are dead and you come back here.

After putting on the Manomaya Koshas and receiving the silver chord, we felt that we had gained a little weight. We all arrived back at the spot where we had halted in space and once again, began our journey towards the earth. The earth's atmosphere was found to be dense and we all started floating in the space. We later realized that the weight gained through the silver chord was not helpful to reach the earth. Again the guiding souls invoked Indra. He said do not worry, I am going to cause a huge thunderstorm and lightening through which electricity will be released and is conducive to the silver chord.Each one of you catch hold of the raindrops and you will soon reach the earth. We all felt highly excited about this and became ready to follow the instructions of Indra. He created a great thunder by the help of his weapon-Vajrayudha. Holding on to the raindrops and stuck with them, we all reached the surface of the earth.

We entered the soil on the earth which was already wet due to the heavy rain, entered the roots of the plants, fruit and other crops, flowers and stayed there. The people collected these  plants, fruit , crops, flowers, cooked them or ate them raw and we entered their stomachs. We entered into the blood stream and felt giddy, as we were not used to this kind of experience.We prayed to supreme God Para Brahma in that condition. He said- Do not worry, as you pass through the testicles, jump out of the blood stream and stay in a particular place inside, which we did and felt a little comfortable. God said - soon, arrangement will be made for the boy and the girl to be married, that is, Kanyadana will take place soon.

The girl is given as a gift to the soul inside the boy. After this event next is the Garbha Dana during which, we were transferred to the female bodies and during the third month or so, the soul takes control of development of the womb and another kosha- the fourth one - Annamaya kosha begins to form. At birth, the fifth kosha is added- Pranamaya kosha- and after its entry, the soul will not be able to speak with God. The supreme God wished all good luck and said come back to me quickly.

As soon as we are born, Lord Suryanarayana, gives us the power to breathe instantly and all the parts of annamaya kosha and the pranamaya kosha are stitched together, part by part as contained in the blueprint of the Manomaya Kosha. The soul enters the physical body and takes up its residence inside the heart portion. The baby utters its first cry at the entry of prana into the annamaya kosha.

Alongwith the growth of the annamya kosha, the five indriyas- Shabda, Sparsha, Roopa, Rasa and Gandha of the baby also start growing. Till the age of twelve, the actions of the five indriyas are developed fully and no karma is accumulated  till the age of 12. That's why the upa-nayana (upa-the other, nayana-the eye) is performed at the age of 12. As with the other indriyas, the sense of taste also changes at the age of 12. The excess taste by the indriyas which was rejected by the manomaya kosha, settles down on the manomaya kosha as one's karma.

All the five indriyas become responsible for accumulating excess experiences, which forms a thick coating on the Manomaya Kosha and at death, when we come out of the body, we are totally blind. The soul which has come out of the body awaits help from Chitragupta, who sends the Yamadhootas to take this soul to him. We cannot see Chitragupta also now.

With great difficulty, he rubs off one-millionth part of the coating and tells us to look through a pin point hole (that he creates due to his rubbing on the coating) once again at the akashic mirror, to see for ourselves, the coating on the manomaya kosha.

We ask him what to do now? He says that there are special instruments found in the annamaya kosha itself, on the earth - you will have to use them to cleanse this coating of excess experiences and until then I cannot help you. Chitragupta then shows the soul, seven lives like a cinema and says choose any one of them to be born again on the earth, start meditating, start removing the residue. We have spent two billion years like this. We do not want to cleanse the Manomaya Koshas.

The End.