Importance of Srividya Sadhana Workshop and Divine Experiences: By Dr.Niranjan (USA)

Importance of Srividya Sadhana Workshop and Divine Experiences:

By Dr.Niranjan (USA) Sri Matre Namaha Sri Vidya is a journey of personal transformation. The destination is our own true self which is a distant mirage for most people. Sri Vidya bridges that gap very rapidly. Some of the happenings in my life after starting Sri Vidya sadhana with the teachings of Guru Sri Siva Premananda Ji defy logical explanation. One could call it magical or otherworldly. But what is real and lasting is the inner transformation that has come about with regular and dedicated practice, manifested by bliss that emanates from deep within. The mystical byproducts of Sri Vidya sadhana are best left alone, is the admonition of saints and sages from every age. They are no doubt useful, but they also lay a trap for the weak willed and further progress towards salvation is halted. I have been blessed with the rare chance to witness some of these mystical happenings which probably is an everyday occurrence in some other plane of existence. I attribute them to the practice of Sri Vidya.

The lessons taught by Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji are simple to follow and can be practised by anyone and anywhere. In fact, some of my best meditative moments have been during airplane journeys where there are no distractions of phones, people or the internet. The airline seats seem to be designed with a sadhak in mind, the spine can be kept comfortably erect for hours on end. A key step in inner transformation is observing all the changes from a third person viewpoint. Sri Vidya helps us unfold this inner journey by enabling us to easily let go of the various manifest and hidden personalities within. An experience I have had intermittently while doing the practice is seeing various faces from different angles. Some are close ups and others seem to be far away. Each face is distinct, starting off as grainy images that sharpen and slowly disappear, only to be replaced by another face. Most of them I could not recognize. When I asked Guru Sri Siva Premananda Ji about these episodes, he said they they represented old hidden personalities and some of them could have been from a prior life. They were being released from the subconscious mind. What a blessing that such a deep purging happened so painlessly and could be witnessed. The mantras of Sri Vidya reach the deepest recesses of the mind and clear them of old and unwanted psychic impressions. The ego which commands these psychic impressions meekly retreats when the silence between the mantras reverberates through the mindspace. This life changing journey has been a great joy. I only wish I could have started practicing Sri Vidya earlier in life.

After starting level 3 sadhana, I had a series of visions. These happened while I was asleep during the early hours of the morning. The first one was that of a saint, he was white haired and had a matching beard. He did not say much initially. It was as if he was communicating with me silently. He then pulled out a piece of paper with a number written on it and asked if I could call that number. I recognized it as a cell number from India but did not have the presence of mind to write it down. The vision ended and I woke up immediately. I remembered some of the digits of that cell phone number but not all of it. The vivid details of that vision remain with me even today.

After a couple of days, there was another vision. I was an active participant in this one. When it unfolded, I was on my way to pick someone up and upon reaching my destination, the person I

was supposed to pick up developed severe chest pains. Being a cardiologist, I asked for an EKG and told the people who were there that he may be having a heart attack. Promptly, doctors were called in and when they assumed his care, I felt it was all right for me to leave as there were other doctors that assumed his care. I was heading back home and after walking a short distance, I came upon a group of people who were discussing something related to Sri Vidya. I listened for a while and decided to carry on. It was already late in the evening and the street I was walking on was deserted. I came upon a building. It had a door that was open and there were steps leading up into the darkness. I walked in and climbed a few steps. It was dark, and in that darkness I saw a red saree that was pulled across the steps like a curtain. I gently pushed it aside and behind it was a saint, with matted hair to his feet in a standing pose lost in meditation. He was naked and without clothes. I recognized him as an Avadhoota (a type of mystic or saint who is beyond egoic-consciousness, duality and common worldly concerns and acts without consideration for standard social etiquette). A lady sitting nearby said, “what have you done? You have disturbed his meditation.” I said sorry and that I did not intend to and I did not know where I was going. He opened his eyes and gently smiled. His beard was mostly black with some streaks of grey. His eyes were the most loving beautiful eyes I had ever seen. There was not the slightest hint of annoyance or anger in his expression. It almost seemed like he was waiting for me.

He took me aside and said he had the power to grant me anything I asked for. I said nothing and remained silent. He again said, he could give me anything I asked for and if I accepted, my spiritual journey would continue uninterrupted. He said that both material and spiritual wealth could be enjoyed side by side as there is no real difference between the two at a particular level of consciousness. I declined that offer as I felt I was not evolved enough to juggle the two without being ensnared by worldly attractions. I sat silently not knowing what to say. He then said, “now you are ready”. He held my right hand and we rose up above the ground to about 60 feet or so. My body felt weightless and non existent, but what struck me was that my awareness was maintained. We were stationary for a second or so in mid air and then, I felt like we were being sucked into a tunnel. It was mostly dark except for specks of light that seemed to whizz by at fantastic speeds. After a brief journey, we appeared to slow down and gradually descended and landed softly as if protected by an invisible parachute. The place we were at was a large hall with a roof that sloped on either side from a long beam that ran the length of the hall. There were a bunch of people sitting there. They were wearing light yellow clothing and seemed to be students of some sort. Amongst them was a figure in a red robe. He was fairly short and wore glasses and had a large round red kum kum dot on his forehead. He walked towards us. He and the Avadhoota who had brought me there started conversing.

The Avadhoota introduced me to the man in the red robe and told me his name was Maha Meru, who then put his right foot forward. I kneeled down and pressed my forehead against his outstretched foot. He looked deeply into my eyes and said, “My blessings are with you”. After this the Avadhoota and Maha Meru talked for sometime and soon it was time for us to leave.

Just as I started to wonder how we would get back, I felt my body rising up in the air and then we entered the tunnel through which we had just traveled. I was dropped off in the middle of the same deserted street I was walking through previously. It was just after midnight. The Avadhoota, the building I had entered, and where I had first met him were nowhere to be seen. I then woke up and was enveloped in bliss.

When I wrote to Sri Siva Premanandaji about these experiences, his comment was “you are blessed by Divine Mother and you are now getting the attention of Siddhas”. I was deeply humbled to hear these comments from a realized Guru like Sri Siva Premanandaji. He mentioned that as we progress spiritually, we may be called upon by Siddhas and other realized beings to help in some way or the other. It is best to practice being helpful everyday. That will help quell the ego when a higher calling may come. I took that comment from Sri Siva Premanandaji very seriously and resolved to be responsible and helpful in any way possible.

Afterall, how else could I payback Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji and Siddhar Thirumoolar for all their grace and blessings.

Shortly after these occurrences, I was given permission by Sri Siva Premanandaji to start level 4. Soon after, I started getting sensations at the back of my neck. It felt like there was a huge amount of pressure being applied at the base of the skull. All along, I had been very careful not to exceed any of the parameters for the various steps in the practice. In essence, I did exactly as I was told. The pain in the back of my neck was not related to my meditative posture. It would start as I mentally chanted any of the Sri Vidya mantras and disappear if my focus wavered.

Furthermore, there was absolutely no residual discomfort after finishing my practice. Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji advised me that it was due to a huge influx of prana through the medulla oblongata and that I should reduce the duration of my practice. I decreased the duration but left the intensity and devotion to the practice intact. Soon, the sensations became bearable and almost pleasurable despite the discomfort. Sensing a major shift in energy, in order to better receive it I started developing greater awareness of my every thought, word and action.

Watching thoughts became my full time occupation. Life inside and out was rapidly changing, all for the better. I felt I was ready for an in depth immersion into Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji’s teachings and signed up for a 4 day workshop in Bangalore.

While in the midst of level 5 sadhana I attended the workshop and have noticed significant changes with each passing day. Before practicing Sri Vidya, I would struggle to keep focus and concentration. In retrospect, that lack of concentration prevented me from examining my various made up personalities from a neutral witnessing perspective. Now, sitting for close to two hours seems effortless, especially since the “I” disappears soon after commencing the practice. If there is no “I” to check in on the clock, there is no question of “am I done?” or “I have something pressing, let’s hurry up the practice”.

I have never come across a practice in my prior experiments with spiritual paths that gave me such quick results. Sri Siva Premanandaji stresses quality over quantity, when chanting mantras. As sadhaks we can bring devotion, dedication, surrender, regularity and humility to the prescribed practice. That coupled with the mantras creates a potent inner tonic that completely cleanses the mind, rejuvenates the body, heals the various layers such as the physical, energy, mental and astral components of our being. The soul will be exposed in all its glory is Sri Siva Premanandaji’s promise if we stick to the protocol.

There is nothing wishy-washy about the techniques. It is precise, concise and can be explained in terms of scientific and technological methodologies. This is what I found after attending a 4 day workshop in Bangalore, India with Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji. The spiritual power was palpable in the room and there was a radiance that enveloped the room. Although this was not visible to the naked eyes that are accustomed to duality, it manifested in the effortless meditations that came to all the participants. Hours went by in a flash. A huge volume of material that encompassed principles, philosophy, techniques and the inner workings of all the

methods practiced from levels 1-7 were discussed in great detail. Without taking any notes, my memory of all that was discussed is crystal clear. Guru Sri Siva Premanandaji mentioned that he connects with all the participants at a soul level, bypassing the mind and body.

For example, if I think of a question related to what was discussed the answer seems to come from within. This isn’t from memory as I have not studied these techniques in any depth in the past. That to me suggests seeding of the information at the level of the soul.

On day one, we went over the deeper philosophy behind Sri Vidya and the practice of level 1 sadhana. Sri Siva Premanandaji’s presence transformed the energy of the place. His words were an unbroken chain of wisdom from morning to evening. There appeared to be a transmission of knowledge not just from sounds perceived by the ears but there was a deeper soul connection with every word he said. Indeed, later in the workshop he would say that he not only invoked divine energies of Sadguru Thirumoolar and Mother Lalithambika but also the Khadgamala devatas and various yoginis. He said he had invoked their presence prior to the workshop and they were in the room in invisible form for the entire duration of the workshop. He connected us at the soul level with those divine energies. There was so much material that was covered in those 4 days, yet it is fresh in my memory despite not taking any notes. Note taking would have brought in the interference of the mind and I resolved not to let that happen.

On days 2-4, the energy in the room seemed to increase progressively and I felt an upsurge of energy, like waves traveling from the base of my spine to the top of the head. These sensations were constant. Sleep was sparse, perhaps 2-3 hours a night due to the influx of so much energy. Despite not sleeping much, there was absolutely no fatigue. The energies in my system seemed to peak every time Guruji performed the process of seeding the sacred mantras (unique to each level) in our soul.

Every possible question anyone had whether they verbalized it or not was answered. All the misconceptions were cleared up. Sri Siva Premanandaji’s teachings are unique in that one need to recite these mantras thousands of times. Just a handful of repetitions, if done with deep devotion and surrender leads to much higher states of consciousness. Each mantra is infused with so much energy of Mother and Sadguru Thirumoolar that cleansing happens instantaneously. I would see faces come and go in my mind space just as I had experienced in the past. These happened in rapid fashion. It would start of as a blurry image that sharpened and then faded only to be replaced by another. I went through hundreds of faces. At other times, while we were in silent meditation, I heard some people talking in the background. Voices that were heard were not distinct. This would come and go in waves. There was no fear associated with them. Sri Siva Premanandaji clarified that these were the various personalities hidden in the subconscious mind without clearing them, the true self or the soul could not be revealed.

Sri Siva Premanandaji explained that along with the seeding of the mantras, a great deal of cleansing would be taking place at many levels in our being, not just on the physical plane. I could easily feel energetic vibrations coursing throughout the body and the mind. Each day, the body felt lighter and lighter. According to him, the amount of cleansing that takes place in the 4 day workshop was equivalent to or greater than several years of persistent individual sadhana. This is truly divine grace which I hope many people would have the good fortune of receiving.

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