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Dr. K. Parvathi KumarOM Namo NarayanayaSignificance, Meaning & PracticeDhanishtai
Original Title:Om Namo Narayanaya – Significance, Meaning & Practice1st Edition: January 2014, Master C.V.V. Guru Puja CelebrationsCopyright 2014 Dhanishta Foundation, Visakhapatnam, IndiaAll rights reservedFor copies#15-7-1, Angels Enclave, Krishna NagarVisakhapatnam - 530 002, Andhra Pradesh, IndiaPhone: 91 891 2701531For online orderswww.dhanishta.orginfo@dhanishta.orgPrice inIndia Rs. 60Europe 3USA 3Switzerland SFr. 3Printed in India by:Vamsi Art Printers · 11-6-872, Red Hills, Lakdikapul · Hyderabad · A.P.www.vamsi.comii
DhanishtaDhanishta means Wealthy Wind.Wealth is not measured in terms of money or business; itis measured in terms of richness of life.Wisdom is disseminated by the Teachers of all times.Dhanishta works for such fulfilment through itspublication of wisdom teachings flowing through the penand the voice of Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar. Such teachingsare published in English, German, French, Spanish,Hebrew, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada.Dhanishta is a non-profit publishing house.iii
About the ComposerDr. K. Parvathi Kumar has been teaching variousconcepts of wisdom and initiating many groups intothe Path of Yoga of Synthesis in India, Europe, LatinAmerica and North America. His teachings are manyand varied. They are oriented for practice and are notmere information.Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar has been honoured by theAndhra University with the title Doctor of LettersHonoris Causa, D. Lit. for all his achievements as ateacher around the world. He works actively in theeconomic, social and cultural fields with spiritualityas the basis. He says that the spiritual practices are ofvalue only if such practices con tribute to the economic,cultural, and social welfare of humanity.Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar is a responsible householder,a professional consultant, a teacher of wisdom, healerof a certain order, and is a composer of books. Hedenies to himself the title of being an author, sinceaccording to him –“Wisdom belongs to none and all belong to Wisdom.”The Publisheriv
ContentsPreface. vii1. Meaning. 92. Symbol of Narayana. 163. Significance & Practice. 234. Propitious Times. 455. The Teacher. 516. Asura Vritra. 567. Nara & Narayana. 608. Govinda. 63v
PrefaceThe ways of the Divine are amazing. One could neverimagine that a most sublime mantra ‘OM NamoNarayanaya’ finds its expression and explanation forthe benefit of a group of thirty ardent students at thenorthern sea shore in the city of Hamburg, Germany.A group of German, Danish, Swiss, Spanish and Indianstudents gathered for a five day group life in a boat andardently requested for the meaning, significance andpractice of the mantra ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’.Much more amazing is that the boat itself is calledGovinda and within the boat there are a variety ofbeautiful and colourful posters of Lord Krishna. Themantra chose its boat, its group, its place and its time.It is the Gemini full moon time as well as an approachto summer solstice.The group life was between 16th and 20th June,1989. Twenty four years snormal. Visualizing the ebb and flow in one’s own lifeis occult. Visualizing the ebb and flow of energies atthe universal level is experiencing Narayana. IndeedNarayana is the ultimate of symbols relating to theactivity happening upon the one background that isalso called Narayana.Thus Narayana means the fourfold existence.Narayana means the upward and downwardmovement of energies of space. Narayana also meansthe alternating currents. To see this in every aspectof life one needs to relate to the energies that existbehind the apparent activity and formations.
Chapter 2Symbol of NarayanaThe symbol of Narayana is considered as the basicfoundation upon which the temple of creation is built.It has essentially four dimensions as explainedpreviously, namely – Existence, awareness, thoughtand action. These four dimensions are represented bythe cross. The cross is essentially an archaic symbolpresented in the Vedas as given below:It is adopted by Christianity and is today known asa Christian symbol. Likewise, Islam has moon and staras its symbol. It is unwise to think that moon and starare Islamic and fourfold cross is Christian. Universalsymbols can be availed for inspiration but cannot beappropriated to any sect, cult or religion. The Vediccross depicts its unity by the connection of the four16
Symbol of Narayana17arms at their extremes as also at their centre. If onepulls up the centre, one finds a pyramid with a squarebase and with a field of activity represented by thecircumference.The four aspects of creation are also relatable to thefour Vedas. The emergence of awareness is relatable toRig Veda; the alternating currents (formation and deformation) of the emergence are attributable to SamaVeda. The activity is attributable to Yajur Veda and themanifested creation is relatable to Atharva Veda. In factthe very names of the four Vedas hold the key to thisunderstanding.Even the human who is in existence continuouslyreceives impulses which detail into thoughts, speechesand actions. These incoming impulses are the activityrelating to Rig Veda. The human breathes in andbreathes out. There is a song of breath incessantlyworking in him, which is Sama Veda. The man worksdetailing the impulses into a design of work. This isYajur Veda. The manifested work is Atharva Veda. Thefour gospels of the New Testament do not indicate any
18Chapter 2of these cosmic principles. They contain the story ofJesus in slightly different versions. But the Veda speaksof the fourfold aspect of the Cosmic Person who iscalled Virat Purusha. For details, one can refer to thecommentaries on Purusha Suktam.It is interesting to note that the visible world is theresult of the triple invisible factors as explained in theearlier paragraphs. The great initiate Pythagoras wasinspired by this and therefore based all his wisdom onthe Tetractys (Tetragram). Tetragram means a wordwritten in four letters. A tetragon is a four-sidedpolygon. A Tetractys is a triangle within a square. Thesquare is the manifest universe. The triangle is theun-manifest triple energy which forms the basis.Pythagoras picks up this symbol.The 4 dimensions give rise to 10 states as under:Existence – 1Existence – Awareness – 2Existence – Awareness – Thought – 3Existence – Awareness – Thought – Action – 4Total: 10 (1 2 3 4 10)
Symbol of Narayana19Pythagoras says 1 2 3 4 10. 10 is the number ofGod in creation. The symbol of 10 in Veda is the circlewith a centre. It is also called the primary basic mandala.Its symbol in Hebrew and Greek systems is:The Sephiroth is but cipher. Cipher is zero. It is out ofzero, nine letters emerge. The Sephirothal Tree is but arepresentation of number 10. The Sephiroth of 10 is but theViradj of the Vedas. The Cosmic Person (Viradj Purusha) isalso depicted as stepping down by nine steps into a tenfoldcreation.
20Chapter 2Ten times ten, the wheel rotates, says the Veda.With Existence as basis, nine manifestations happen intheir involutionary order and they disappear in theirevolutionary order. It is said that the Cosmic Personbreathes out and the worlds tend to manifest and as Hebreathes in, the worlds go back into Him. The breathingout results in manifestation of the worlds in ten steps.When He breathes in, the de-manifestation commences.From subtle to gross the worlds happen in nine steps,and from gross to subtle the worlds disappear. Whilethe Existence remains at all times. It remains with orwithout the creation. It is the tenth one. The PurushaSuktam also speaks of it as ‘atyatishtah dasamgulam’,meaning – manifestation of the Cosmic Person intoten in creation, and when out of creation, it is zero. Itis from zero all worlds have emerged and it is into thezero all worlds disappear. These ten aspects of thefourfold Narayana are depicted as Dattatreya in theVedic system. It is depicted as a Decad by Pythagoras.
Symbol of Narayana21The wisdom of Pythagorean Decad or Dattatreya isa complete volume of wisdom in itself. When you takeout the extreme points of the decad, representing thetrinity, what remains is a sevenfold creation.The Divinity details into trinity and conductsthe seven worlds. By the number, Divinity is ten asexplained above. It can also be seen as eight when youconsider the trinity as one. The One who is beyondseven worlds is the eighth one and therefore the CosmicPerson is also attributed the number eight. CosmicChrist is also given number eight. Krishna is said to bethe eighth child in the scriptures, which also hints atthe status of being the one beyond the worlds. Krishnaor Cosmic Christ are but one and the same. It is theUniversal Consciousness. It is the Adam Kadmon ofthe Jews. This Universal Consciousness breeds sevenplanes of existence detailing itself into a trinity. Themantra ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’ is therefore conceived
22Chapter 2as a mantra to salute the Cosmic Person. The meaningof ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’ is, “O Narayana, we bowdown to salute you.” It is repeatedly uttered as amantra in sets of eight. Each time one utters, one isadvised to utter eight times. One can utter any numberof times in sets of eight. While the mantra is beinguttered, the yantra is visualized. The yantra (symbol)is also drawn in blue or is drawn in lucent white uponthe background of deep blue. It is recommendedthat one places the yantra before oneself, looks at it,gently closes the eyes and visualizes the symbol in theforehead and mentally utters forth the sound ‘OMNamo Narayanaya’. Regular practice carried out inthis simple manner will gradually enable the student tounfold vistas of wisdom from within.From the centre of the symbol, if one pulls thecentre up and down as well, the symbol tends to be adouble pyramid or a diamond. When one sits withinthis diamond, and meditates, one stands protected inall the three worlds. In fact, every ritualist is requiredto build such a diamond around oneself, sit in itscentre and conduct the work of mantra or worship ormeditation. This will be dealt with separately someother time.
Chapter 3Significance & PracticeThe ancient most temple Ibez in Atlantis was also saidto have been built on four sounds and four letters. Tilldate, the four letters and the sounds remain a mystery.The very word Ibez itself has four letters in it, but theydo not constitute the four-lettered sound that was knownto the Atlantean initiates. But in the East the sound ispreserved and is known to be ‘Na – Ra – Ya – Na’. Theseers preserved it for all times to come. These four lettersconstitute the basic four corners of the foundation stone ofthe universal temple. In these sounds as explained before,there is emergence of the universe and its growth (Ra), itsreturn to itself as a process of de-formation (Na) and thecyclical activity of formation and de-formation (Ayana).These processes with their sounds together constituteNarayana, which explains the eternal formation anddeformation of universes with energies flowing fromsubtle to gross and gross to subtle in four stages. Thisfourfold aspect of the creation with its four sounds, withthe symbol of the four-armed cross is well preserved andused. It is interesting to note that the foundation of thehuman with its muladhara is also a lotus with four petals23
24Chapter 3presided over by four cosmic intelligences. “As above sobelow,” is an archaic principle.The symbol of Narayana is considered to be thesymbol of fulfilment. The symbol when presentedon a paper is two-dimensional, but in truth it isthree-dimensional. The circle we see is in truth asphere. The four quarters are the four quarters ofthe sphere. Since it is a sphere, its numerical potencyis zero. Zero in Sanskrit has two aspects. It is calledPoornam, it is also called Soonyam. Poornam meansfull, Soonyam means nil. Whatever is seemingly nil isin truth potentially the full. That is the understandingof the adepts. All things come from zero and get backinto zero. Zero is but the potential sphere of space.Things come from it and get back into it.To establish this cosmic phenomenon in oneself andthereby fulfil oneself the same symbol is used chantingthe following mantra:Poornamadah PoornamidamPoornath poornam udachyatePoornasya poornam adyaPoornam eve vasishyateMeaning:That is perfection, This is Perfection.This springs from That.When This is taken out of ThatStill That remains.
Significance & Practice25That is the God Absolute, which is called theperfect. Therefore the meaning in terms of perfectionis as under:“That is perfection. This is perfection. The perfectcreation springs from the perfect. When perfect creationcomes of the perfect, the perfect remains as perfect asbefore.”Meditating with this mantra upon the sphereenables a student to recollect and thereby regain hisown original state of perfection.Sphere is a perfect symbol. It suffers no inversion.All formations in nature are spherical to start with andlater they take to other shapes. The sphere is the earliestand most sacred figure. It is from this sphere which iscalled the cosmic egg, there is the cosmogenesis. It isthe support for the creation. When meditated, it offersprotection. It also offers perfection since the symbolis a perfect symbol. It has the ability to unfold fromthe centre. The figure of a sphere assimilates all otherfigures in it. Its unfoldment also indicates expansionof consciousness when meditated. When the sphereunfolds, it can be seen as a lotus. For all purposes ofexpansion of consciousness, the figure is meditatedfrom ancient most time.This sphere periodically rotates to bring downvarious planes of existence and the related beings andalso cause their ascent. Each periodicity indicates an
26Chapter 3emergence and merger. Every emergence is roundedup and in the process the beings are also graduallyrounded up, meaning, made perfect. The very purposeof the sphere is to enable tracing perfection. Whosoevermeditates upon this sphere of space gradually gainsperfection. Normally symbols of symmetry aremeditated to gain balance, to gain equipoise, to stay ina state of yoga. Since spherical figures enable all-rounddevelopment, the yogi is rounded up to be a completeyogi, also referred to as Brahmarshi, a yogi who standsas Brahman.When the circumference of the globe is regularlymeditated, one finds it to be a gateway to wisdom. It isnature’s secret device. When one tends to meditateupon the circle, through the centre of the circle onefinds a way into the subtle. A centre is but an aperture.An aperture is but a hidden door to reach the other side.Meditating upon the circle with a centre is anage-old meditation that enables movement into subtleplanes of existence. Gazing at the circle of the sphere,
Significance & Practice27one gains the ability to hypnotize. This ability is lostwhen the hypnotist abuses it. Madam HP Blavatskywas trained by the adepts to meditate upon thissymbol. It enabled her to gauge the subtle, to read thesubtle and even to reveal the wisdom that is availablein the subtle worlds. It is very well known that MadamHPB was able to read akashic records and reproducemany a quotations existing in various scriptures. It isalso known that Colonel Olcott made efforts to verifythe veracity of these quotations by visiting ancientmuseums of old learning centres. To his astonishment,he found that what Madam wrote was accurate even tothe point of punctuation.The symbol is meditated during the full moons andalso during the new moons along with the mantra ofNarayana with the colour blue. During the new moonsthe symbol enables experiencing the light subjective,while during the full moons, it enables experiencingthe light objective. Many are the secrets relating tothe symbol of Narayana, one would do well to workwith the symbol regularly than to intellectualize it.Information is needed for the intellect but it cannotbe realized unless the related practices are adapted to.The mantra relating to Narayana can be meditatedupon in the four higher centres in the order in whichthe sounds are from sahasrara via ajna, throat (visuddhi)to heart (anahata) and can also be meditated in the
28Chapter 3reverse order from heart to sahasrara which is depictedas under.Either way, it is Narayana. Contemplate the soundin the four centres visualizing the colour blue. Theother way to practice the mantra is in its eightfoldaspect, namely ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’. When onedoes so, he may utter OM from above downwards andutter forth the rest of the letters in the seven centres.Similarly one may utter the sound AUM from belowupwards and utter forth the seven sounds.
Significance & Practice29As one does this, one refills oneself with the energiesof the Cosmic Person and therefore eventually getsfulfilled. Remember that the colour of the mantra isdeep blue and that its nature is to establish the energiesin us. Man is a micro cosmos and Narayana is the macrocosmos. By imposition of the macro on the micro, themicro gets rectified and fulfilled. It is a mantra of mostsublime nature.It enables rearrangement of energies in the uttererso as to tune up to the surrounding energies. The basicsound Narayana enables establishment of activity in dueorder. Number four is the number for manifestation.The complete mantra ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’ beingan eight-syllabled mantra, enables the desired changesin the utterer. The number eight stands for change.Eight indicates change. After seven days, there is achange in the week. After seven moon phases theeighth phase brings the change. Whenever one intendsa change for the better, chanting the sounds ‘OM NamoNarayanaya’ is very helpful.The mantra is specifically used when there is a direneed for a change for the better. There are umpteenpurposes for which this mantra is used when one cravesfor a change for the better.Last but not the least, a person departing from thebody is also given this mantra for his smooth passage. Ifthe dying person himself cannot chant, his friends and
30Chapter 3relatives gather around him and chant the mantra withvigour to enable a very smooth and effortless departurefrom the body. Departure from the body is consideredto be the most painful event and the pain relating tothe departure is mitigated, if not neutralized when themantra is chanted. The mantra also helps the departedsoul a smooth journey into the subtle world. As longas the mantra is being chanted, the related deep bluehas to be visualized with or without the symbol. It ishelpful if the symbol is also visualized.The CentreIn each one of us, there is the centre of Narayanafrom where He permeates the whole being. It is theeighth centre in us. Man is constituted of seven planeslike the creation. He HappinessExperienceAnandamayaVisuddhi6The Self/SoulAnupadakaAjna7The SpiritAdiSahasrara
Significance & Practice31In all these seven planes, the man functions, but thevery basis is also within him as the eighth plane, with theeighth centre. This centre is located in a lotus of eightpetals which is posited in between the heart centre andthe throat centre. This centre is called Narayana centre,while the other seven centres are centres of activity forman and for Cosmic Man as well.The Path to RealizationNarayana is to be realized in three steps. The firststep is called Vishnu, the second is called Vasudeva andthe third is called Narayana. There is a specific pathof realization by applying oneself to the disciplinerelating to the three terms namely Vishnu, Vasudevaand Narayana. Vishnu, in Vedic terminology is theGod as the Universe. The very form of the universeis called the Vishnu. All that is visible is Vishnu. Thefirst discipline is to see every form as a form of Vishnu.Regardless in what shape and what colour the formis, it is Vishnu. The stone, the plant, the animal, theman, the bird – all are forms of Vishnu. Even whenone encounters ugly and disorderly forms, even theyshould be regarded as forms of Vishnu. The sumof any and every form in the universe and the veryuniverse with its clusters of planets, solar systems andstars is Vishnu. All that is visible is Vishnu. When thisdiscipline is taken to, one’s orientation to form tends
32Chapter 3to be neutral and upright. Normally, certain forms areagreeable and certain forms are not agreeable to themind. The cat is agreeable, but not the tiger. A peacockis agreeable, but not a snake. A light colour is agreeable,but not a dark colour. A geometrical form is agreeable,but an irregular form is not. Disagreeability is basedon mind’s information and mind’s limitation. As muchdisagreeability of form exists in one, so much onetends to be constricted. A black form is disagreeableto some, while a white form is disagreeable to someother. Agreeability and disagreeability in relation toform requires to be superseded. Certain seeminglydisagreeable forms
practice of the mantra ‘OM Namo Narayanaya’. Much more amazing is that the boat itself is called Govinda and within the boat there are a variety of beautiful and colourful posters of Lord Krishna. The mantra chose its boat, its group, its place and its time. It is the Gemini
Appendix - Hanuman Chalisa.67. 1. INTRODUCTION Man is a microcosm while the cosmos is the macrocosm. In ancient times, the study of wisdom meant knowing how the cosmos came to be and how man came to be. It is very essential for man to lift himself up
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Korean language learning demotivation among EFL instructors in South Korea 201 competing commitments to language learning necessitating a cost/benefit anal-ysis of the time and cost versus the perceived return on such an investment (Norton, 2013), particularly, as negative gatekeeping encounters may result in marginalization (Norton, 2000, 2001). Thus, while the notion that in a globalized .
