The Warrior-Child of Ayodhya - 2

The significance of his appearance
for the Hindu Samaj

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea)
Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology
South India, 10.10.2010

Caste and the Cosmic Order

Daily we are told in the media ‘India has moved on’ – that is, Ayodhya is no longer of any interest to young India born after 1992 (the Demolition). This youth wants opportunities, education, jobs, material well being. In other words, an even more self-centred life than what the disease of corruption has provided. Of course the State must provide material well being through various areas of development, but that must not be mistaken for food for the soul, individual or collective. In our legitimate efforts to separate religion and state we are adopting a model that has proven inadequate elsewhere. The European Union is one example. Unity is sought to be achieved through the binding force of economic integration with its undeniable benefits. But this has shallow binding power; therefore, try as it might the EU cannot match the power of the United States of America whose own unity arose long before economics came to rule the world. It was a struggle to unite and integrate the fledging nation on the basis of higher goals, more all-inclusive – unlike Europe of today.
Economic success cannot make a nation great and powerful. That is only one slice of the fourfold pie – the Vaishya slice of the ancient cosmic order. Rather, all four must exist in harmony which means in their rightful place. This is the key. That order continues to exist though under a different name. Contemporary society worldwide has the same four levels just as they existed in India of old: 1) labour, artisan skills, agriculture, 2) economics and supplier of people’s needs including energy, 3) military and governance, and 4) the highest strata which today has come to be equated with science, academia and religious figures, while in ancient times the fourth was reserved for the Rishi, the seer-sage. Thus, call a rose by any other name, it is still a rose.
I provide below a diagram of the fourfold order taken directly from the cosmic harmony. And since it arose in the consciousness of the Rishi millennia ago, it does not allow itself to be easily extirpated. Should we not ask why, rather than seek to suppress the un-suppressible which just refuses to go away? Instead of bemoaning its continued influence on society let us try to carry the discourse to a deeper level. Again the Circle holds the key. The diagram provides us with the answer. It is a circle divided into four equal parts, just as we divide the cosmic surround into four sections resting on the four pillars of Equinoxes and Solstices.
But what happened to that Order for it to become a divisive rather than an integrating tool? The answer is simple enough: the circle (B) itself faded from the consciousness of the nation and the image that replaced it was the triangle (A), also divided into four segments.
Note the difference between the two: the triangle (the current degenerated form of caste) has lower and higher rungs as in a linear ladder; but to reach the apex one must move through those segments. There is no direct access of the lower rungs to the Apex, they are compelled to move up the scale through the other segments. In other words, admission to that highest goal, of whatever order, is only through an intermediary. Naturally this triangular arrangement goes against the egalitarian tenets of contemporary society.
And so, the cosmic order of caste is sought to be eradicated in an attempt to throw the baby out with the bath water. The cosmic basis of Vedic civilisation is comprehensive, all-inclusive, precisely because it emerged from the realisation of the Circle – i.e., unity – by the ancient Rishi. If that Vedic experience is intended to defy the passage of time and remain steadfast as the foundation of India, then Time itself has to be the tool to forge renewal and re-establishment. This is not in the least sectarian and divisive: it is a renewal that affects all levels and segments of Indian contemporary society. Time and Cosmos are impartial, neutral as it were.
This is what the periodic appearances of the Evolutionary Avatars provide, precisely the key to the Zero Point of the cosmic circle. With that simple boon the evils born of linearity are eliminated.
The realistic position for this new age, though ever based on the ancient perception, is explained by the Circle where all of the four segments in equal measure (equal opportunities) have direct access to the Centre, or the Divine, or whatever goal we establish as the highest, individually or for society as a whole, with no intermediary required. Thus caste takes on a completely different meaning and function. It is simply the orderly cosmic arrangement of a society that has the ability to ‘put each thing in its place’ – the meaning of cosmos, order.


It may be difficult to believe when I state that Ramlala has given us the key to rectify matters cosmic in their origin and to make them applicable today. That key is precisely the Circle. What was finally lost to allow entry into the Circle (and hence equal opportunity) was the key that Ramlala has given by his appearance as and when it took place in 1949. Simply put, it is the key to the correct 0 Point required for access to the Circle and all that it implies. The former comes through Knowledge of the Vedic kind; whereas the triangle requires no effort at all but an inertia that is maintained when renewal is denied. Only with the correct key can we enter the world of the Rishi where the Circle, with its ‘centre that holds’ (in this case Ramavatar), gives us the unifying spherical perceptive capacity so lacking today. As proclaimed by the Rishi millennia ago, these four segments of society are the Cosmic Body of the Divine Mother; today, just as they were in the ancient Vedic and Sangam Eras, with no variation at all. This indeed is the foundation and the eternal character of the Dharma. And just as the cosmos is in constant motion and evolution, so too does the society based on its principles enjoy a sound mechanism of renewal. The Vishnu Avatars set that mechanism in motion when they appear on the scene. Ramlala is guiding us to that knowledge.

We are caught in linear perceptions upon which we base our models, but it is entirely possible to demonstrate how Ramlala establishes new rules, applicable today within the context of the new India, respecting all the demands made by contemporary society. Indeed, his Appearance has validated this very premise; again dismissing any attempts at fossilisation and regression into the past. The present holds all that is most sacred to Vedic civilisation. We simply need to make use of the key Ramlala provides in the midst of the play of circumstances of which he is the ‘centre that holds’.
The loss of the key was a gradual process that began around 2000 years ago. It has taken that long for it to become recognisable in contemporary Hindu society. In the interim Vedic civilisation has lived through the most trying and difficult experiences of its long history. We know that history well enough and need not elaborate. The partitioned condition of the Mother’s Body is sufficient testimony. But the point I wish to make is that the root cause lies in the lost key at the heart of the system, rather than any outside source. To put it bluntly, if invasions and mayhem were inflicted on this great and ancient Mother, the blame lies within. Therefore, it is only from within that strength can come, first of all to retrieve the Key, and then to open the door to ‘the soul of Knowledge’. In the process, through the tri-part partition of the Ayodhya land it cannot be denied that the original Partition of the Mother’s Body is somehow recalled. Can it be that Ramlala had this intention in mind: to work out that larger Partition in the smaller? That would reflect fully the Vedic system of cosmic harmonies where correspondences and equivalences form the methodology. The smaller ‘represents’ the larger. But this ‘correspond-ence’ comes into being only by virtue of the sage’s capacity to determine what that smaller might be that can reflect or have a bearing on the larger. This capacity is not available to the common man. It requires years of dedicated sadhana such as Ramlala’s 36-year isolation (Jan.1950-Feb.1986).
This is what Ramlala has given to the Hindu Samaj. The meaning is neither metaphoric nor symbolic. It is factual based on science; and it is precisely the Appearance that restores to the system the basis of veda – on its own terms without seeking to confine its high truth to a contemporary version that lacks the essential ingredients of the Vedic jnana, unity and integrality, and respecting its laws of correspondence and equivalence. Together let us unlock the innermost door to his sanctum sanctorum. I will use the entire history of Ramlala since Independence to prove the point. I will not appeal to sentiment or even to bhakti alone, though we do recognise that real power arises when love is coupled with knowledge:

‘For painting is the way to know the maker of all
marvellous things, and this is the way to love so great an
inventor. For in truth love springs from the full knowledge
of the thing that one loves; and if you do not know it,
you can love it but little or not at all.’

Leonardo da Vinci

Public opinion across India sees the Ayodhya issue as related to Hindu/Muslim affairs, the divide that may exist between the two, and the need for reconciliation. In this light it appears that the problem is purely one of secular civil rights of sorts. If such were the case, the call to keep politics out of the dispute seems illogical since political parties in a parliamentary democracy are supposed to represent the collective will of the people. Likewise, the Hindu/Muslim slant ends in the dead end of majority/minority which politicians have sought to bridge by equal appeasement to both. Of course this has not worked because certain issues defy this sort of balancing act.
The core lies deeper within the collective psyche where appeasement strategies never reach. In fact, Ayodhya is not a question of reconciliation at all. The entire denouement from 1528 (and long before) to the present pertains entirely to the Hindu Samaj. It has nothing to do with the Muslim community or religion but rather the condition of Hinduism in and for itself. It is weakened from within and this is what Ayodhya displays: a point of convergence for the Hindu Samaj to have displayed unmistakably what ails it from its innermost depths. Undermining, corrosion at that deepest level is what permitted and gave rise to everything that has transpired around contemporary Ramlala of Ayodhya.
The recent High Court judgement was brilliant in that it addressed that Core – which some call belief or faith – and did not lay emphasis to any appreciable degree on the torts of the Muslim and Hindu communities. Rather, the judgement brought the issue back to that core in reinstating the role of the Icon or Idol in a Vedic civilsiation. In this sense it strengthened that most essential element of ancient and contemporary Hinduism.
I am carrying that judgement a step further by stressing also the core values of Vedic civilisation but also by revealing the applied cosmology that is directly involved in the Ayodhya issue and should not be ignored. In doing so a renewal of the cosmic harmonies and foundations come about with Ramlala the Idol as the central protagonist with his garbha griha, just as the judgement sustains based on the prevailing law of the land; because the only way that renewal can take place for a civilisation based on veda is, precisely, Knowledge – of the order that Ramlala is revealing. This re-establishes the most important element in temple/idol worship: Time, without whose allegiance no Idol would have the power to do what Ramlala of Ayodhya is doing.
The focus of the dispute must be seen differently as purely a matter internal to Hinduism which has lost the allegiance of Time because it has lost the key to the Zero Point that Ramlala holds. The Muslim community and other sections of society stand as a mirror to facilitate the exposure of what demands renewal, but they play no further role in this particular affair. Hindus must set their house in order by the key Ramlala of Ayodhya offers: the inseparable unity of the Makar Sankranti and the December Solstice – that is, the reformed calendar for Hindu observances where this Sankranti is precisely the key to the correct connection with the cosmic surround, a knowledge that was lost decades, perhaps centuries ago. All during the period of greatest tribulation, the Makar Sankranti could not serve the Hindu Samaj as it is meant to due to the lost measure of its unity with the December Solstice. But Ramlala of Ayodhya has played the role the Evolutionary Avatars are meant to play: he has restored the measure of things Vedic and eternal.
It would seem simple enough: reform the Hindu calendar and bring order back into what is supposed to be cosmos (order) and eliminate the present undeniable chaos. A calendar is the means to unite society. In India Hindus are subjected to a calendar that divides and can never unite. It was truly a brilliant strategy so as to divide-and-rule at the innermost core regarding the factor that is central to every ritual performed in every temple: Time. But the unexpected contingency plan to counteract the divisive strategy was Ramlala appearing exactly on the December Solstice, thus bringing with him the knowledge of all that is good and true of this Vedic Civilisation. However, to reform what needs to be reformed, to bring about ‘reconciliation’ and ‘reunification’ (as in the Body of the Mother), the obstacles are almost insurmountable – far greater than the apparent divide that exists between Muslim and Hindu because this demands a surrender to Ramlala and to his implacable Will. This has nothing to do with anything external to the Samaj.

(To be continued)

The Warrior-Child of Ayodhya - 1

The significance of his appearance
for the Hindu Samaj

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea)
Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology
South India, 5.10.2010

‘…the disputed site is the birthplace of Lord Ram. Place of birth is a juristic person and is a deity. It is personified as the spirit of [the] divine worshipped as birthplace of Lord Ram as a child. [The] Spirit of [the] divine ever remains present everywhere at all times for anyone to invoke in any shape and form in accordance with his own aspirations, and it can be shapeless and formless also…’ [Italics mine]

Justice D.V. Sharma,
The Ayodhya Verdict
30 September 2010

*

‘The Indian judicial system treats deities as legal entities
who could have a legal representation in courts through trustees
or an in-charge of the temple in which they are worshipped…’.

Harshvir Pratap Sharma
Supreme Court lawyer
‘The Hindu’, 2.10.2010

*

The long-awaited judgement of the Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has come, a landmark in the history of modern India.
Just the fact that a judgement was passed after 60 years was in itself commendable given the sensitive nature of the issue and the accretions this case has experienced during the interim. It is a process that spans all the founding years of the new Indian Republic, having begun just one month after the signing of the Constitution. Therefore, we may state that Ram the Child witnessed the establishment of the foundations of nationhood, biding his time patiently until the moment when from his vantage-point the full implications could be revealed. That time has come.
After the doors to his abode were locked by a court order immediately following the Appearance, the Child matured in solitude for 36 years. But, it must be stated before all else, that every detail surrounding his historical contribution has been noted and tested, and its disclosure at this time is in the just order of things given the maturity reached. This is what I propose to discuss.
To carry out this analysis in an orderly manner given the complexities inherent in the Ayodhya issue, I will provide a graphic image as the basis for the entire presentation – the circle. In this geometric symbol the reader will find the history of Independent India contained; we will trace that history through the symbol right up to the present and the judgement passed on 30 September last by the three honourable judges of the High Court in Lucknow.
In the language of symbols the circle does not exactly represent unity as one might expect. More interesting for our analysis, it is a unified diversity. As such it stands for the collectivity – but a unified collective unlike what exists today, for reasons I will explain. To visualise unity alone in symbol form we need to add another element to the geometric construction – the Point, because all forms arise out of the plenum that is the Point, including all creation and all geometric forms. If we combine the two in one symbol the result is the astronomical/astrological symbol of the Sun of our solar system. This is the graphic image of unity (point) and diversity (circle).

If we carry the matter even further ahead, this Sun-Symbol is the graphic image of every Hindu Temple, from ancient times into the present. At Ayodhya, now legally established by the High Court judgement, the Deity has been duly apportioned his correct place in the proposed allotment by having been granted the space under the area where the dome of the mosque once stood – that is, the centre of the complex. Ramlala therefore becomes the plenum-point of the Sun-symbol and the circle surrounding the Deity is the protective womb, the garbha griha. ¹
But this will remain in the realm of metaphors and symbols if we do not use the key Ramlala gave us when he made his appearance during the night of 22-23 December 1949. That moment was the beginning of the process of integration that would span the next 60 years and beyond, with Ramlala as a silent witness while Time unfolded the most meaningful period in contemporary Indian history.
However, the need of the hour is to make the above statement factual. This can be done, I repeat, if we use the key the Deity has provided by his appearance at a very specific point in time. Factuality is then added by Time itself. The Circle allows us to actualise the statement when we understand that it is also the symbol of the Earth Year of 365 days. Thus, the date of the Appearance can be located through the Circle in the calendar year and thereby applied to the whole nation through its official calendar. But to be allowed ‘access’ to that year we need a key, or the correct 0 Point; if not we find ourselves meandering about as if in a labyrinth. Things just ‘happen’, but never as a connected whole which the Circle signifies. And this is what Ramlala has provided by his appearance exactly at the December Solstice and entry into zodiacal Capricorn/ Makar. His coming at this very important time in the history of Independent India serves as an anchor of sorts, to keep the ship of the civilisation on course.
Coincidence? In the course of this analysis a number of such ‘coincidences’ will emerge, until finally we surrender our scepticism and accept the impeccable controlling power of Mahakala, the Great God of Time, just as the sages had done in the remote history of Bharat.

Thus the story begins with Ramlala’s appearance in the former mosque on the night of 22-23 December 1949, the Solstice. We will consider only this date as the starting point of the dispute because in fact it was. Regardless of what history textbooks may contend, this is the point of departure for the Hindu Samaj’s contemporary connection with the Child-Warrior. That connection may stretch back thousands of years, as indeed it does and the nation’s Epic affirms; but this is immaterial to the present case, both legal and societal. Moreover, it is Ramlala himself who has indicated this date as the zero-point of what can best be termed the ­re-establishment of the Dharma. ²
This is what Ramlala is bringing about in no uncertain terms, and here too we need to be factual. To back up this statement, I must lay a certain foundation for the discussion, using precisely the Circle for this purpose. We must accept veda as the basis for any treatment involving the Epic Heroes, and especially those whom we know to be the emanations of Vishnu, his avatars. I have called them Evolutionary Avatars for specific reasons. Just as we use the Circle to define the 365-days of our calendar year, so too we can extend the diagram almost infinitely, adding spiral upon spiral until we move back in time (or forward) and locate the astrological age of Ramavatar’s original appearance. I call them Evolutionary Avatars to highlight their contribution to the evolutionary process and to distinguish them from the abounding number of ‘avatars’ who do not possess the necessary cosmic credentials for the task, which I can indeed provide for Lord Ram and his companions in the Line of Ten. Second, it is precisely those credentials that allow us to read the message of the Appearance at Ayodhya in 1949. With this act Ramavatar has updated the older tradition by revealing his own science (of Time) which factualises what might otherwise remain elusive, certainly one of the most marvellous displays of renewal and re-establishment that has ever been witnessed in Vedic civilisation’s long trajectory.
True, we have the Epics at our disposal to know of the exploits of earlier times; but they now fall into the category of Myth and can therefore be easily dismissed by modern scholarship. What is needed in this hour is certainly Myth, but understood as ‘recurring history’ through endless cycles. However, in this age of rationalism we demand more, and this has been provided by the Appearance and its connection to Time, the science Ramlala reveals. We are blessed to be living in an era when we can be witnesses to this unique unfolding.
Admittedly I am presenting a very different view-point from all previous treatments of the Ayodhya issue. As a cosmologist I naturally tend to view life within a cosmic framework because cosmology is the study of the harmony of the spheres but centred on Earth; therefore her living creatures cannot be excluded, unlike in scientific cosmology. That is the vantage point we find in the Rig Veda, or in the Hindu temple, or even in the classical music of India. We cannot separate ourselves from the cosmic surround no matter how strong our urge may be to do so. The slogan is All is One. But the problem is that it has become just that: a slogan; and now repeated even by material scientists.
Ramlala appeared on the scene in contemporary society precisely for the purpose of restoring the ancient truths that made Vedic civilisation indestructible. Many will agree with this statement but their agreement would be from a rather superficial layer – the resurgence of Hinduism based on worship of one of its many gods and goddesses. However, I wish to carry this analysis of Ayodhya in the contemporary context to a deeper level that will take us to an ancient past but which miraculously still survives only in India. Nonetheless, the stresses and pressures of contemporary society are taking their toll on the Tradition, to the point where it faces extinction even in this single surviving location.
Ramlal has appeared to save the Tradition by a process of updating.

The Deity chose to appear as a mere child. There are various tales in the Tradition of child-warriors who come on the scene to save the Earth from being overtaken by hostile forces. Kartikeya, Siva’s divine Son, comes to mind, who single-handedly conquers the mightiest asura of all, Tarak. But Ram’s contemporary child-appearance is even more dramatic since this time around the Earth indeed faces extinction, as in the ancient myths, because of the lethal weapons with which science has filled our arsenals. We may brush aside the tales we have been told down the ages, or even their portrayal in temple sculpture and architecture as just ‘myths’ – that is, not factual and certainly not ‘history’, and therefore of no substantial value in a court of law. But what of the contemporary Appearance? This cannot be brushed aside because of its historical and factual content. We shall examine that content but on the basis of an applied cosmology.
In this analysis the Child-Warrior does indeed stand before the mightiest asuric power of all times; and what is more, as a mere ‘child’ – he conquers. This is the way to appreciate how the tales of old can actually be recurring history. By this contemporary experience we understand how the Myth came about. The idol for all practical purposes is the Child-Warrior who stands in the middle of the battlefield: that is, he is the point of convergence of formidable contending forces; this would be India today in conflict with her ancient past, while seeking to accommodate cultures essentially at variance with her Vedic tradition that lives on into the present – foremost of which concerns Ramlala most specifically. The issue at hand is precisely that of the Idol, a concept which is vehemently rejected by imported orthodox faiths.
The High Court has now confirmed this basic tenet of Hinduism regarding the status of the Deity, in this case the Idol standing at present-day Ayodhya. The point is that there is no difference between the Deity in the ancient tale and Ramlala today in terms of essence-spirit and current idol-form in the Tradition. The myth may appear fantastic in a modern context – Can it be credulous that a mere ‘child’ conquers the mightiest asura Tarak? But if we use the current Ayodhya denouement the myth becomes the reality of our contemporary history – Ramlala being precisely the point of convergence, or the centre of the battlefield amidst ‘forces’ bent on destroying the soul of the civilisation which he represents as Evolutionary Avatar. He wages war against the most destructive forces the Earth has ever known centred on India.
In our diagram, this is Ramlala, the central Point of the Circle: its holding power. Around him the armies wage war in the subtle planes but with their representative forces in the physical. Years from now, perhaps in another Age, another Manifestation, another Yuga, the tale may be told of this very Ram as Child-Conqueror to add to his thousand exploits. Who will believe that it was history and not just a fantastic story conjured up in the mind of a dreamy visionary of epics? Cosmology of the Vedic order will uphold the reality, just as it does today while the tale unfolds before the eyes of those of us who are privileged to witness the exploits of the Deity, while history is being made by and through him. He is real, the battle he fights is real. And so is the victory.
Mercifully wisdom has prevailed in the recent High Court judgement, and the honourable judges have taken Tradition into account. It is difficult to understand how in an ancient civilisation such as the Indian, tradition can sought to be dismissed when adjudication is required. Of course every attempt is being made to eradicate that Tradition and to build the new India on entirely different foundations. Some lament that this attempt has not been successful and that through a judgement like the court delivered in the Ayodhya case, India has ‘regressed’ and slipped into a past many would like to forget. However, like it or not Ramlala forces us to rethink the question of tradition and myth in a civilisation born of veda. He certainly has other ideas, foremost of which is to make that Tradition relevant today; and, I must add, factual.
This is what his appearance accomplished on the night of 22-23 December 1949. He updated the Tradition, he re-established the value of Myth in Indian society, he drew together myth and history as a seamless whole in a manner acceptable to contemporary society – indeed, a manner that can be appreciated only by a modern-day society with ancient Vedic roots.
This is nothing to be ashamed of; rather we should take pride in the fact that India is the only surviving nation where that Tradition still exists and is being updated to make it acceptable to modern exigencies. Above all, his appearance on that very special date is the key for the entire Hindu Samaj to re-establish the eternal Dharma. The Evolutionary Avatars have this specific task: to re-establish the Dharma according to the demands of the era in which they must appear. And it is this ‘mechanism’, may we call it, which alone can combat fossilisation, fundamentalism with its attending brittleness, leading to ultimate collapse. Fortunately, the Avatar has other ‘plans’ for this society, unique on Earth. The time is ripe to discuss just what those plans might be within the terms he has set out of his ‘programme’.
This is not a question of belief or faith – far less superstition. Belief is not the Vedic Way. The Avatar is a realiser not a preacher or a priest or even a saint. Hence, all Vishnu’s Line have been of the Kshatriya caste: warriors by inherent dharma because they do indeed conquer even on the Battlefield when required to combat the forces of Ignorance. But there is science involved, a precise method to the madness. This may not be of the contemporary brand, but science it is nonetheless: this applied cosmology is just as exacting and demanding. And we apply to it the demand for evidence even when dealing with Ramlala, though we cannot foist upon him the parameters of a science that is foreign to the knowledge he brings to the enquiry. What I intend to reveal cannot be brushed aside as ‘coincidence’, often the escape route when science is faced with mysteries it cannot explain.

(To be continued)

__________________

¹ (Author’s note) At the time of printing, a comprehensive and extensive article has appeared in The New Indian Express, dated 8.10.20100 by A. Surya Prakash on the question of the structure beneath the Babri Masjid discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2003 after extensive investigation of the ruins. Not only is there conclusive evidence of a prior Hindu Temple which was demolished for the mosque to come up – perhaps the most important piece of evidence for the present judgement – for the purposes of my presentation as Ramlala central Point and the garbha griha its circular enclosure, the survey, as reported in the newspaper concludes that the erstwhile temple was a circular shrine: ‘…Thus on stylistic grounds, the present circular shrine can be dated to the tenth century AD…They possibly brought the tradition of stone circular temples transformed into brick in the Ganga-Yamuna valley.’ Though I proceeded on the basis of higher knowledge of symbols in my presentation, this has been attested to by the facts on the ground. (9.10.2010)

² In the wake of the Ayodhya judgement a furore has erupted among rationalists and liberal-Marxists regarding the affirmation by all three sitting justices that the site in question is the birthplace of Ramavatar. Rationalists sustain that based on Hindu scriptures themselves Ram belonged to Treta Yuga which covered a period of 1,296,000 years of the ancient past. Therefore, they sustain, how can we know where his birth actually took place? However, the mistake being made is to take the Yugas at face value and consider them Earth years, when the figures are actually seconds of degrees of celestial longitude. Thus, a Kaliyuga measured 432,000 would not be years – an absurdity and completely lacking pragmatism, a hallmark of the Rishis – but rather when converted into years would cover four astrological ages as measured by the Precession of the Equinox. The Treta Yuga would be, as the name suggests, three times 432,000. (See The Gnostic Circle, Chapter 6, ‘The Indian Yugas’, page 61.)

Guru Purnima

and other cosmic musings…

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology

15 August 2010

…The letter lived on when the spirit was forgotten;

the symbol, the body of the doctrine remained, but the

soul of knowledge had fled from its coverings.

Sri Aurobindo

The Secret of the Veda

On 25 July last, Guru Purnima was celebrated in many parts of the country. Much has been made of its significance in the life of an individual as a day to honour one’s guru, since he or she has the ability to bring the light out from within a sea of darkness that is the normal human condition. This would be the apt imagery of the cosmic significance of Guru Purnima, from where the more commonly-understood sense arose centuries ago. But, herein lies the problem.

These festivals and celebrations at their origin were derived from the cosmic harmony. This would be the harmony of our solar system with its planets orbiting the Sun at different rates of motion. For us the pertinent rhythms to understand are the Earth’s since the entire complex is viewed from this vantage point. The Earth with all her living creatures becomes the centre of the universe, as it were, in order to understand the convergence of these harmonies on this particular point in the System.

In the specific case of planet Earth we experience that relationship by the flow of the seasons in the course of the year. From very ancient times the year was honoured because it was understood to be akin to a womb – in this case, of Time – within which the days, nights, months, and seasons were nurtured; hence we speak of ‘Mother Earth’ in order to describe this nurturing quality. Allowing the population to partake of the harmony of the Year was the task of sages, and later of temple pundits. That is, the correct timing of rituals had to be established, otherwise the connection with the cosmic harmony would be lost.

Especially important was the division of the year into four quarters, each one marked off by an Equinox or a Solstice – that is, equal or unequal days and nights. Due to the axial tilt of the Earth with respect to the ecliptic plane, which extends from the Sun and within which all the planets orbit the luminary, the four seasons come into being. It can thus be appreciated that this tilt, with its resulting four seasons and measures of day and night, is the most important harmony to understand and honour. The Cardinal Directions/Poles supporting this harmony are East/West/North/South. The southern Pole is the focus of this analysis. It is known in ancient lore as Cosmic Midnight.

Θ

Guru Purnima, Light in the Cosmic Darkness

The two items we must focus on regarding Guru Purnima are the Solstices of December and June. The latter is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the former the shortest. The shortest day occurs on the December Solstice; its cosmic sense is that the light (as symbolised by the Sun) begins to increase, each day becoming longer from that point onward. Whereas at the June Solstice, increase is reversed and decrease sets in, the days becoming increasingly shorter, or the light of the Sun lessened. Being our harmonic connection to Surya, these rhythms have taken on special meaning on the subcontinent from ancient times. The December Solstice is considered the most auspicious time of the year (Makar Sankranti/Pongal), while at the June Solstice the most ‘inauspicious’ period begins, Adi in Tami Nadu.

There is another Earth/Sun harmony that forms the universal background of Guru Purnima, relevant for both northern and southern hemispheres. This is perihelion and aphelion – when the Earth in toto moves closest to or farthest from the Sun, respectively. Guru Purnima should logically fall during the month of aphelion. In the zodiac, or the ecliptic pathway of the planets divided into twelve, aphelion occurs on 4^th or 5^th July, or exactly in the middle of the fourth sign Cancer – aptly known as Cosmic Midnight, or the Vedic Diti, Mother of Division and Darkness, given this distance from the luminary.

This is precisely when the Guru enters the scene and replaces the Sun which is then submerged in the deepest midnight darkness. In the planetary family, Guru is Jupiter/Brihaspati, largest of all. That Guru Purnima should be celebrated in Cancer (21-22 June - 22 July), which in astrology is held to be precisely the month of the ‘exaltation’ of Jupiter/Guru as all competent astrologers know, reveals the wisdom that can be gained from observation of the cosmic surround applied to Earth. This wisdom has been incorporated in temple architecture of South India where Jupiter is honoured as Dakshinamurthy, precisely the Lord of the South, because the sign of his ‘exaltation’ is indeed the south Cardinal Pole. He brings Light in the darkness to the whole nation through his southern abode of Exaltation.

From this we appreciate the coherency and homogeneity of the ancient knowledge. It was and remains the only tradition that reveals the sense and purpose of evolution and how the cosmic surround speaks to us of a living and eternal truth – unlike scientific cosmology which meticulously explores the universe but without ever grasping its meaning for the individual and society. Lamentably, on the subcontinent this tradition of the Veda and temple culture is all but lost, as I will endeavour to explain.

The Soul, light in the midnight darkness

Celebration of Guru Purnima is fully cosmic in origin – purposeful and meaningful. As if it were a relay station, with the full Moon (transmitter of the light of the Sun) in Cancer, or Cosmic Midnight, the drama is enacted in each disciple or devotee, regardless of caste or creed. Nor is there any religious/denominational context to the celebration. It is simply an enactment of the harmony of our solar system, exactly as it transpires in the heavens.

This cosmic process is described in each temple in South India. The language employed is Myth because it is the universal language of the soul, common to all people, high and low, near and far. And this Soul is what becomes encased in a womb of darkness in zodiacal Cancer, the Cosmic Midnight beginning on the Solstice, 21-22 June each year.

This fourth sign is also known as Adi in South India and is considered inauspicious. But when the cosmic sense is restored this label in inappropriate. It would be the same as saying that a mother is ‘unclean’ or ‘evil’ (the temptress Eve) when she carries a foetus in her womb. On the contrary, she serves a noble purpose in the Earth’s evolution by offering herself as a channel to propagate the species. Regarding the higher sense and purpose which drives the evolution, Woman is Shakti who propels the process forward, protects it as a womb does, and combats all evil that seeks to destroy the creation she carries within.

In the light of ancient knowledge, Adi is not ‘inauspicious’ but merely ‘gestational’, hidden from view. What is ‘gestated’ must wait the appropriate time for emergence. Thus, the ancients throughout the world considered it to be an indrawn period – not because of any inauspiciousness but because it is preparatory. In the cosmic/evolutionary sense, in Adi what is hidden is the divine Spark that is the soul whose light is but a speck immersed in the nurturing cosmic sea, to be fully born in Cosmic Midday, its opposite pole in the year. Our Earth Year indeed holds unimaginable secrets. Is it any wonder that the Rishis made it the focus of the Sacrifice?

These events are astronomically verifiable. Even a layperson can calculate with reasonable accuracy when the June Solstice occurs. Similarly, Guru Purnima is easily spotted in the heavens. But the problem – a serious one – is that this simple and obvious connection with the celestial harmony has been lost, incongruous as it may seem. It is no longer Guru Purnima of the cosmic harmony.

Science disturbs the Harmony

At the time of Independence, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru instituted the Calendar Reform Committee to look into the prevailing Hindu calendars with a view to bringing about reforms. This was his message to the Committee:

I am glad that the Calendar Reform Committee has started its labours. The government of India has entrusted to it the work of examining the different calendars followed in this country and to submit proposals to the government for an accurate and uniform calendar based on a scientific study for the whole of India. I am told that we have at present thirty different calendars, differing from each other in various ways, including the methods of time reckoning. These calendars are the natural result of our past political and cultural history and partly represent past political divisions in the country. Now that we have attained independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity in the calendar for our civic, social and other purposes and that this should be based on a scientific approach to this problem.

It is true that for governmental and many other public purposes we follow the Gregorian calendar, which is used in the greater part of the world. The mere fact that it is largely used makes it important. It has many virtues, but even this has certain defects which make it unsatisfactory for universal use.

It is always difficult to change a calendar to which people are used because it affects social practices, but the attempt has to be made even though it may not be as complete as desired. In any event, the present confusion in our own calendars in India ought to be removed.

I hope that our scientists will give the lead.

(signed) Jawaharlal Nehru

New Delhi, February 18, 1953.

The objection I have to the above is that Jawaharlal Nehru selected men for this most important task largely from the scientific community. Indeed, he makes it clear that in his view science is the ‘reliable’ source to set matters right for the Hindu Samaj, to ‘give the lead’. I am astonished that no one complained about this misconception at the time, or even since then. The result is that Hindus are obliged to follow the lead of science in matters wherein it has no competence. The result is that Guru Purnima – and all other festivals, solar and lunar – are celebrated 23 days late; not a few hours or even minutes – bad enough – but a full 23 days! Therefore, we find that Adi, the only month in which Guru Purnima should fall to maintain its cosmic connection and sense, according to these latter-day pundits begins when Adi has actually passed! It should be within 21-22 June and 22-23 July, the same today as during the Sangam Era and the Vedic Age, with no ‘corrections’ required. Instead it is celebrated with the full Moon of an Adi which these scientists claim occurs 23 days later – or after 17 July when the true Adi is actually nearing its end.

Imagine the cosmos as a room. We enter and press the light switch; but nothing happens because the electrical wires ARE NOT CONNECTED. Everything is in place but not connected. The competent electrician was not called in to make the system work. This is exactly what happens when time/wire connections are not made – no power, no light.

There is no sanction for this aberration anywhere in the scriptures; or even by just plain common/cosmic sense. The true Adi is astronomically verifiable; that is, measured on the backdrop of the ecliptic divided into twelve zodiacal sign/months and further divided into four – the four seasons or the Cardinal Poles of Equinoxes and Solstices – east, west, north and south; as eternal as is the cosmic surround.

Nehru’s scientists held different views, as do Nirayana astrologers/pundits today throughout India, who are the ‘authorities’ when temple timings and astrological calculations are required. For these calculations they erroneously project the Earth year onto the circle of fixed stars, called sidereal. According to them the four Cardinal directions/poles may be disregarded entirely as raconteurs of this exquisite cosmic tale because they do not exist in that constellation of distant stars (also erroneously called ‘zodiac’ by science to further confuse the issue). There is no ecliptic there, no plane where the planets journey around the Sun, and hence no Equinoxes or Solstices – the harmony at the basis of all temple architecture and worship. Yet we have allowed this lack of cosmic knowledge to prevail and to ‘turn off the light switch’.

Though dimmed, Temples still hold the Light

Strange as it may seem, every Hindu temple is nonetheless aligned to those four Cardinal Points (which science and Nirayana astrologers discard). That is, the spatial measurement in temple architecture is accurate and honours the cosmic harmony. But when it comes to adding the temporal measurement (turning the light switch on) for every ceremony thereafter, mystifyingly they turn to ‘science’ which now dictates terms to wisemen. No, they claim, the solstice of June does not fall on the longest day of the year but occurs 23 days later! Or else they claim: Of course the solstice occurs on the longest day of the year, but the zodiacal sign Cancer (Cosmic Midnight) must be separated from the solstice, as Makar Sankranti must be separated from the December solstice. Their reasoning is that Cancer is ‘no longer there’ where it once was; it has ‘shifted’ by 23 days. But none realise or will admit that for these ‘corrections’ THEY ARE USING THE WRONG CIRCLE.

Can our Cardinal Poles and their rasis ‘shift’? Yes, but only when Knowledge is absent. Then all ‘lights’ are put out.

According to these ‘pundits’ time bears no intrinsic cosmic connection, much less any sense and purpose. South Cardinal Pole Cancer, equalling Cosmic Midnight, makes no sense to them. So, we are forced to ask, what purpose does it serve to celebrate Guru Purnima at all? Why worship Dakshinamurthy in his temple if that south pole is not honoured in time as well as in space? Time for these scientists is simply relative and can be anything and everything, according to the fashion of the day; unlike in ancient times – and even today for those of the Vision and who have had intimate concourse with Mahakala, with Samvatsar and Samvatsaragni. In Myth it is the union of Parvati and Siva. Until that takes place, Siva lies inert – and meaningless. Motion, the great Dance of Nataraj, is what gives meaning and purpose to the cosmic harmony. And this wealth of Knowledge is conveyed in the zodiac and preserved in Hindu Temples, for all times, for all people. But those who should know better follow material science in matters of high spiritual import like meek lambs.

The result is that Adi for followers of ‘science’ begins on 17 July (when real Adi is almost over) and ends on 17 August. It is interesting to note that the entire Hindu Samaj in the south is obsessed with the ‘inauspiciousness’ of Adi. The faithful rush to complete marriages, projects, purchases and the like ‘before Adi begins’, when it actually began on the June Solstice, 23 days earlier. So, these events all transpire right in the middle of that ‘inauspiciousness’ everyone seeks to evade! We have the Nirayanis to thank for this absurdity.

The Choice is Ours: Knowledge or Superstition

But, let me be absolutely clear. There is no dire misfortune that awaits followers of the material sciences and Nirayana astrology which I term appropriately post-Vedic, for this transgression of the knowledge. Such fears are simply based on superstition. I do not mean that there are no consequences from following unquestioningly a false lead. Surely there are, but it is not misfortune in the sense we understand the term – i.e., bad luck or some such calamity. It is, simply put, ignorance. We chose to align ourselves with Cosmic Ignorance rather than Cosmic Truth which is the Vedic/Sangam way. But ponder this: Might not ignorance be the cause of all calamity, and loss of the Knowledge the root of all superstition?

What emerges when we delve deeply into these matters is that India is maintaining the tradition in name only. Because the zodiac, with its high knowledge content, has been discarded in favour of a senseless and purposeless system imposed by material science, we must agree with Sri Aurobindo when he wrote, ‘…the soul of knowledge has fled from its coverings.’

I have studied almanac literature published by well-meaning individuals who seek to restore the Sayana system in lieu of the Nirayana currently in use. They consider the former Vedic; at the same time they reject the use of the zodiac as it is known universally, with its pictographs and hieroglyphs, claiming that it is not Vedic but was brought into India by the Greeks. I have refuted these claims elsewhere and need not repeat the exercise. Suffice to state that there is an exoteric or external tradition in the Rig Veda, and an esoteric doctrine for initiates. The difference can be gauged precisely by recognition of the zodiac used for the initiation described in the Veda. Those who do not recognise that secret knowledge remain in the outer corridors and fail to understand what India has had the privilege of preserving for the world.

But surely we have the right to question why the entire temple culture of South India is based on that very zodiac they reject as ‘un-Vedic’. Were the sages of the days when temple culture was established so shallow and ignorant that they mistook a ‘foreign import’ for Vedic lore?

The contrary is true: the Indian temple preserves VEDIC LORE, and that is ‘written’ in the zodiac, and only the zodiac in use throughout the world. Is it not marvellous to realise that the ancient Rishis had the foresight to carry forward the tradition in such a way that when just the right time would arrive that Veda would serve not just India but the whole world?

To prove the point once again, in going through my collection of articles and letters on Indian temples today, I came across a Letter to the Editor from Dr. A. L. Paul Pandian, to The Hindu; it was written on 9.2.1977, 33 years ago. Since it explains the importance of Cancer and Capricorn and their respective solstices, in a sense the main theme of this article, I am reproducing his letter in full: ‘Many of our South Indian Temples are sun-oriented in their structural plan. In some temples the sunlight directly illuminates the presiding deity on some days. One of the peculiar Gopurams in South India is the Tanjavur Brahadeswarar temple central gopuram which has a square base unlike the common rectangular bases in other temples. This gopuram is commonly called as “shadowless” or [a] gopuram which does not cast a shadow. Every object is bound to cast a shadow due to the apparent movement of sun towards north and south of equator. However, the shadow of objects in between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are within their bases twice in the year in the exact noon. In my opinion, the peculiarity of the Tanjavur gopuram is the fact that the shadow of the monolithic stone and the kalasam never falls on the floor of the temple but lies within the square base of the gopuram throughout the year at noon. It will be worthwhile to observe the shadow of the kalasam every week starting from December 21 till June 21 of 1978 (summer solstice) to establish this fact.’

The main feature of Capricorn and for which reason it is the sign of the Golden Age or the Satya Yuga, is that, just as Dr Pandian mentions, the Sun casts no shadows at this highest Cosmic Midday point. That is what defines the Satya Yuga: shadowless; and this was a fact incorporated in 700 CE in this marvellous temple of South India and made a central part of temple worship every year at the Capricorn solstice on 21 December. I must further state that without the zodiacal background, these cosmic directions, south and north, would be meaningless, just as they have become for scientists and Nirayana astrologers.

Cosmic Midday ought to be the most important festival in the calendar for Hindus because it is India’s ruling sign. Instead, the pundits tell us that Capricorn and Cancer ‘are no longer there’. They have shifted by 23 days and therefore devotees are forced to celebrate these Capricorn entry, that ‘shadowless’ Cosmic Midday, 23 days after the fact, on 15 January ; while others tell us that this zodiac was brought by the Greeks and cannot be related to the Veda and should therefore be discarded. And thus marvels of concept such as the Tanjavur Temple go completely unnoticed. Ignorance rules the day.

This brings me to discuss Guru Purnima’s main significance, the one that truly inspires awe in the heart of the disciple or devotee. Since the celebration occurs – or should occur – in true Adi/Cancer/Cosmic Midnight we realise how wise those who understood the cosmic script were. In order to align our consciousness-being with the Cosmic Truth and not the Ignorance (as in the darkness of midnight), the Guru’s help is the only way for this mortal race. Without that Light we are simply lost in the dark cosmic sea, tossed hither and thither like a rudderless ship. That ‘sea’ can be either the Divine Mother’s womb and hence our protection and nurturer, or the Mother of Darkness and Division. Knowledge or superstition? The choice is ours.

The Guru who can distinguish the difference between Cosmic Truth and Cosmic Ignorance would be great indeed.

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© Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet 2010