The Krishna Key

by Ashwin Sanghi

‘The rosary represents the ecliptic—the path of the sun and moon across the sky. Yogis divide the ecliptic into twenty-seven equal sections called nakshatras, and each of these into four equal padas—or steps—marking the 108 steps that the sun and moon take through the skies,’

‘What’s truly amazing is the fact that the distance between the earth and the sun is exactly 108 times the sun’s diameter. More incredible is the fact that the distance between the earth and the moon is 108 times the moon’s diameter. Finally, do you know that the diameter of the sun is 108 times the earth’s diameter? The ancient yogis knew this! That’s why 108 is such a sacred number.’

The word “Swastika” itself is derived by combining two Sanskrit words “Su” and “Asti”. Su means “good” and asti means “existence” or “life”. The overall context of the symbol is thus of peace, good health, prosperity and happiness.

You must learn to treat victory and defeat equally. When you do your work with a sense of duty, without worrying about the possibility of reward, your actions become selfless and you become a true yogi!’

‘To become a true yogi, a person must cast off all his desires. He should treat pleasure and pain as equals. He should be free of attachment—as also from anger, fear, desire, jealousy or craving. This state is not easy to attain because the mind is like a wild animal. If you concentrate and meditate upon me, you too can attain this state,’ I explained to Arjuna. The confused warrior asked me, ‘If the purpose of one’s life is to attain this state of bliss, then why make me fight this war?’ I then had to explain to him the fact that there were two independent paths available to the state of bliss. The first path was through knowledge and the other was through action. Arjuna’s salvation lay in his actions and in performing his duty.

‘Alchemy is based on the theory that what we call God is merely a life force,’ said Saini. ‘Orgone is that life force. It has been called by various names in different cultures—aura, ether, chi, ki, mana, akaasa or praana—but they all mean exactly the same thing. The theory of Orgone was originally proposed by Wilhem Reich in the 1930s, but the concept of praana has existed in India from ancient Vedic times. Orgone was believed to be a massless substance very similar to luminiferous ether but correlated with living energy rather than inert matter. Reich believed that deficits in bodily Orgone were the cause of many diseases—including cancer. Putting aside fancy terminology, Orgone was merely the life or spirit that God puts into all creation. It is to be found in fresh food, fresh water, and fresh air—hence the ayurvedic insistence on eating fresh food.’

The problem with the Big Bang model is that it explains the expansion of a single point into the universe as we know it, but doesn’t explain where the energy required for the Big Bang originally came from. This is where the Upanishads provide a wonderful framework.’ ‘What do the Upanishads say?’ asked Radhika. The answer came from Priya who had been listening to the conversation between Radhika and Saini. ‘According to Hindu scriptures, the universe never came into existence at any given point of time. It always existed, but remained in a state of perpetual flux,’ said Priya. ‘What we call the universe is simply the present universe. Each universe starts with a Big Bang, and expands to a point, before it starts shrinking. The universe eventually collapses back into the singularity from which it had emerged and a new expanding universe begins once again. This is the reason that 108 is considered sacred. One—represents the singularity from which the universe emerges, zero—the egg or anda of the present universe, and eight—infinity or the maximum extent of expansion in the eight directions from which contraction must happen.’

‘What is the Sanskrit word for universe?’ countered Saini. ‘In ancient Hindu texts, the universe is called Brahamanda. The word Brahamanda is derived from two words—Brahama and Anda. Brahama means expanding and anda means egg. It’s a fitting description of the expanding egg-shaped universe as described by the Big Bang theory. Vish simply represents expansion of energy into matter and Shiv represents contraction of matter back to energy—the energy of the universe remaining constant and unchanged.’

‘We know that the goal of alchemy is transformation from lower forms to higher forms,’ began Saini. ‘But it is the uninitiated who think that this means transforming lead to gold. On the contrary, alchemy is about transforming yourself—making yourself a better person. The stone is irrelevant, it’s the transformation that it brings in the person who meditates upon it that is much more relevant. The philosopher is more important than the stone!’

By simply believing that their lives could be transformed, they succeeded in converting their thoughts into reality.’