Every Mahashivaratri, “the Great Night of Shiva”, Sri Swami Vishwananda materializes a dozen or so Lingams from his internals of different sizes, materials and colours. They are often given to devotees to take care of and represent materialized Divinity on Earth. They assist spiritual growth and have immense healing qualities if one drinks the water in which they are soaked.

The 30th November 2009 was witness to a very special and rare event, when Sri Swami Vishwananda materialized the Hiranyagarbha Lingam. “Hiranya” means imperishable substance or golden and “garbha” means womb, embryo, foetus, egg or the interior of anything. Thus, the Hiranyagarbha is known as the Golden egg or womb; the matrix of imperishable substance. It is the seed of Brahma and of all creation. It represents the entire Universe in microscopic form. It is the Atmic consciousness.

According to the Vedas, the Hiranyagarbha is the primordial being, the primeval seed from which Brahma was born. According to Manu, Hiranyagarbha was Brahma, the first male, formed in a golden egg. Having continued one year in the egg, Brahma then divided it into two parts by his mere thought and with these two shells he formed the heavens and the earth and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions and the eternal abode of the waters.

An extract of Swami’s talk on the significance of the appearance of the Hiranyagarbha Lingam is given in the “Miracles of Spirit and Nature” section of this newsletter. There is also a meditation using the Hiranyagarbha Lingam in the “Divinity in Daily Life” section. The Golden Hiranyagarbha Lingam is a great blessing for the whole world, a gesture from the Cosmic Father, who always takes care of His children.

The Lingam is a very sacred symbol, not only in Hinduism, but many other ancient cultures as well. Actually, the “world egg” or “cosmic egg”, can be found in the myths of many cultures and civilizations. Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the egg. The egg has long since been a symbol for resurrection and new life; from the time of the ancient Persians, through Jewish culture, and well incorporated in Christianity. It also forms part of the celebrations about the coming of spring, a time for planting and new life.

In Christian icons we can see Mary Magdalene with an egg. Christ's transfiguration is related to this egg. In ancient times, eggs where considered to be a symbol of expansion of consciousness. The egg is usually red because it is painted with the blood of Christ. In Greece it is a popular belief, that after Christ's crucification, Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene came to Him with a basket full of eggs, on which His blood fell down. Then, after His risening and seeing Him (firstly by Mary Magdalene), Mary Magdalene came with these eggs to Tiberius Caesar and said, "Christ is risen!" The eggs symbolized that from the blood of their Savior, many will receive a new life, their own transfiguration. Another story tells that the moment she said to the Caesar, "Christ is risen!" the eggs became red - similar to Krishna's conch, which became red under the touch of His lips from His Shakti. And from this came the ancient Christian tradition of giving others painted Easter eggs with the saying, "Christ is risen!" to which others reply, "Truly He is risen!"

May you use the symbolism of Easter and the Shiva Lingam and your practice of Atma Kriya to experience your own rebirth and discover your true eternal identity, your Atma.

“One day, from the walls of the city, two people were seen embracing each other on the horizon in the sunset.

They are a father and a mother, thought an innocent child.

They are two lovers, thought a man with a dark heart.

They are two friends that have met after many years, thought a lonely man.

They are two merchants that have just done a deal, thought a greedy man.

It’s a father embracing his son after returning from war, thought a woman with a tender soul.

It’s a daughter embracing her father who has returned from a trip, thought a man upset about the death of a daughter.

They are two sweethearts, thought a girl dreaming about love.

They are two men that are fighting, thought a murderer.

Who knows why they are embracing, thought a man with an arid heart.

How beautiful it is to see two people embrace each other, thought a man of God.”

“Every thought,” concluded the old man, “reveals to yourself who you are. Examine frequently your thoughts as they can say to you more than any Master.”

It is not only about praising Him. Christ resurrected some 2000 years ago. Even if He did not resurrect, He would still be Christ Himself. He did that to show us that resurrection is possible; to show that God-realisation or your true realization is possible. He has shown the way. That is why He has said, ”I am the Way, the Truth and the Light.”

He has shown that if you really want God, it is possible to achieve Him, even in one life. But you have to be sincere with yourself. You have to really say, “Yes, I want Him.” It doesn’t matter how you are. Even if you are the greatest criminal, you can still become a saint. Take as an example Mary Magdalene. People said so many things about her, but in the end she became the greatest model of devotion.

What you have inside of you is greater than what you can think about. If God is calling from within you, and if you cleanse your mind from all its impurities and be sincere with yourself, you will have Him – even in one second.

The kingdom of heaven is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Acquire inward peace, and thousands around you will find their salvation.

The Lingam, Cosmic Egg, which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes Eternity – the eternal nature of our Soul, which is as simple and perfect as this ancient, primordial image of God. A lot of people (including those who didn’t see the Hiranyagarbha Lingam in Springen), felt a great release when the Lingam appeared. “A week before the appearance of the Hiranyagarbha Lingam I was very ill, said a devotee. But exactly in that moment in which it appeared, I was completely cured. At that time I didn’t even know that it had appeared! I felt a great relief and a new power to meditate.”

The picture above was taken at Sri Swami Vishwananda’s centre in Springen, where the Hiranyagarbha Lingam appeared. One person present on the day of its manifestation said about this picture of a column of light in the direction of earth upward, "Yes indeed, the beam did appear in the evening of the day of the manifestation. The sky was very peculiar and somewhat spectacular. The pillar of light was itself an astonishing phenomenon.” Another person said, “One would maybe at first not see the light as something extraordinary. But if you give it a second thought and look at the way the light behaves, moving upward in a pillar fashion across several layers of cloud, I haven’t seen anything like it before.” Yet another person commented about the picture, “That the light looked just like the cosmic column of fire piercing through the earth, as has been seen emanating from the 12 Jyothi Lingams of India by spiritually advanced souls.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?” This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

Sri Swami Vishwananda said recently, “Nowadays when people come together, they mostly talk about other people, to gossip about what the other person has been doing. But what the person has done is not your business; it is the person’s business. Mind your own business! That’s what people don’t do nowadays. They don’t look at themselves, but they do look at others, forgetting what Christ has said: “The fault that you see in other people, the judgment you put on to others, is your own judgment towards yourself.”

So, before spreading any rumor or gossip, try to apply Socrates’ Triple Filter Test.

Long time ago, in ancient times, when Mother Earth was very oppressed by the powers of darkness, the Lord himself decided to incarnate on Earth as Rama in order to restore harmony on the planet and liberate the souls.

Mother Shabari, one of the most precious jewels, a soul fully committed to God also lived in those days on Earth. Mother Shabari firmly believed that one day God would come to her. Therefore, she lived every day as if it were the day of God’s arrival. What a lovely creature she was! Everyday Shabari would clean her cottage and the path leading to it. Then she used to choose the most beautiful flowers from her garden and arranged them along the path so that the stones would not hurt the feet of the Lord when he came. Her neighbours observing day by day the flower carpets in front of her house thought that she must have been off her head and considered her mad as a hatter. Indeed she was mad – mad for the love of God! That’s not all. When the floral carpets were ready, Mother Shabari used to spend some time in the garden picking berries for her Lord. However, she would choose only the most juicy and the sweetest ones. That’s why she would try a bit each berry to check their quality and accept only the best berries for her Lord. Such great was her devotion! After completing all that, she would sit at the doorstep waiting trustfully for the arrival of her beloved Lord.

The happy day that she was waiting for came at last. That day Rama with his brother Lakshman were passing nearby. Mother Shabari saw them walking towards her on the flower carpet. She recognized that in Rama’s body dwelled the Lord of the whole universe. What a joy! Mother Shabari washed Rama’s feet and doing her best offered him her modest but warm hospitality. She offered him the berries partly bitten off by her, the ones that she found the most tasty. Lakshman was disgusted when he saw his brother accepting the unappetising berries with an overwhelming smile. He asked: “My Lord, how can you eat that? This woman has tried these berries before you!” Rama, the merciful Lord of the universe, who appreciates pure devotion of the souls above all, just smiled at him and answered, „My dear brother, never before have I eaten berries so sweet. She offered them to me with pure love, in her simplicity searching innocently for the sweetest ones”.

For God the most valuable treasure is pure love flowing from within the heart, from the very core of the soul. Live your day as Mother Shabari used to do – as if God would come to you every day, every minute. Then the most merciful Lord will surely appear to you within your heart.

Whether God exists or not is something that neuroscience cannot answer. For example, if we take a brain image of a person when they are looking at a picture, we will see various parts of the brain being activated, such as the visual cortex. But the brain image cannot tell us whether or not there is actually a picture `out there` or whether the person is creating the picture in their own mind. To a certain degree we all create our own sense of reality. Getting to know what is real is the tricky part.

Andrew Newberg authored the book “Why God Won't Go Away". He found that certain areas of the brain were altered during deep meditation. Predictably, those included areas in the front of the brain involved in concentration. But Newberg also found decreased activity in the parietal lobe, one of the parts of the brain that helps orient a person in three-dimensional space. “When people have spiritual experiences they feel they become one with the universe and lose their sense of "self” he said. We think that maybe because of what is happening in that area, if you block that area you lose that boundary between the self and rest of the world. In doing so you ultimately wind up in a universal state.” It is the meditative practices, that of breathing and chanting that block that area of the brain so it is lees able to have a full sense of a separate self and during that process experience a more universal consciousness.

If God existed and created the Universe, would it not make sense that he would install machinery in our brain that would make it possible to have mystical experiences?

Source: Article in Guardian's Newspaper, UK, 30th August 2006

Oranges and other citrus fruits look like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

• 6 parts turmeric, ground
• 3 parts cumin, ground
• 3 parts coriander, ground
• 6 parts fennel, ground
• 1 part ginger, ground
• 1 part black pepper, ground
• ¼ part cinnamon powder

Mix all the ingredients and keep them in an air-tight jar in your fridge. When needed, one teaspoon of the mixed spices is heated in one tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter). The mixture should only be heated slightly as not to burn. As soon as an aroma is noticeable, the mixture can be taken off the stove. Sprinkle the spiced ghee over rice or veggies.

When taken daily, the immune system will be strengthened and the digestive system stimulated.