Main characteristics of
Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru,
its spiritual path and Santhigiri Ashram.

1. Etymologically, the term Guru means one who gives light by eradicating the darkness of ignorance from your soul. According to the philosophical Hindu text Advayataraka Upanishad (14Ð18), Guru means ‘dispeller (gu) of darkness (ru).’ A real Guru must be an annihilator of darkness. The Guru must have the purity and necessary Grace to uplift your soul by simply being near him, so that his immense prakasham –Light– will immediately start purifying your soul in a very powerful way. That is one of the uniqueness of a Guru and we are very fortunate to have such a Guru in Santhigiri.

2. Why do we need a Guru?

    God knows that we need the example of someone who, while human like us, has reached beyond the bonds of anything and anyone. He is not bound, nevertheless he is always doing karma –performing all sort of actions–, for the benefit of others. When we see such a great soul who has attained a spiritual state beyond selfishness, who has transcended the petty concerns of this world while still living in the world, who is unattached from his senses and desires, whose ego has completely vanished, who speaks and acts from jnanam –Divine intuitive wisdom– and who is truly dedicated to the welfare of others, then we can have the faith and conviction that these attainments are possible for ourselves as well.

    God has to give you a path through an intercessor between the Almighty and you. One who has got the capacity to receive direct and clear instructions from the Supreme. The Guru dedicatedly follows the Will of the Almighty, giving the necessary knowledge that will lead you to spiritual liberation. Also, the Guru can directly supervise your spiritual progress and immediately correct your faults so that you won’t go astray.

    The Guru is someone who leads you in the right direction. Without him you would be lost; you don’t have enough wisdom to properly evolve by yourself, so you are unsure what to do, where to go or how to behave. This is why you need a Guru.

    In our Guru’s spiritual path we receive prasadha –holy and highly energized food–. Also vibhuthi –holy ash full of Light–; thirtham –holy water charged with enormous Light– and Guru Pank –extremely highly energized food– given directly by the Guru. These are boosters in spiritual evolution.

    All these reasons are more than enough to understand why we need an intercessor or mediator between the Almighty and us. That is why a Guru is absolutely necessary for us. God sends an intercessor to give us additional help in our spiritual evolution. This is the Will of the Almighty.

3. Our Guru left his physical form on May 6th 1999. It has been revealed from the Almighty that this day will be known as Nava Oli Jyothir Dinam –the day of the emergence of the New Light–, a precious day. Many disciples perceived in darshan (divine vision, clairvoyance, revelations) that since the merger of the Guru with the Almighty, his Light increased enormously and the experiences received by clairvoyance are felt more powerfully. Only a few days after the Guru's merger, around 95 % of the disciples of our Guru and me, Carlos Guzman, while meditating and praying to our Guru, could feel a much more powerful Light descending and merging into our beings. We were amazed and a little confused by this experience, but I, by clairvoyance, could realize that the Guru's Light had incremented immensely. Later I was informed by a disciple that our Guru had predicted years before that after his departure from his physical form, his power and Light would increment 10,000 times. The guidance from the Guru for the solutions of problems is now obtained more clearly. It is an amazing and unique experience not found anywhere else, that, not in his physical body, the Guru is controlling all the affairs of the Ashram nowadays, giving us directions through revelations just as if he would still be in his physical form.

4. The guidance in the spiritual as well as in the material, is given by our spiritual head, Amrita Janani Jnana Tapaswini, a wonderful gift from our beloved Guru. She has attained a spiritual level that no other female has reached in millions of years. She is merged to Guru's prakasham –Guru's Light– so that she is conveying the Guru's guidance and instructions, for the proper direction of his disciples and humanity as a whole.

5. One of the main features of this lineage, is that disciples and followers of Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru, have the gift of clairvoyance and God realization through self experience. The knowledge and information obtained in the Ashram, is not through the five senses, but through clairvoyance.

6. The Guru shows us the right path in the spiritual as well as material planes. The Guru informs us that our spiritual duty is not performing offerings to the deities, saints, angels, etc., but dedicated prayer with faith, devotion and a total surrender to a fully realized Guru. Also you must have a correct mode of action, and all this combined depicts the correct path in this era, Kali, for attaining spiritual liberation at a very fast pace.

7. The Hindu scriptures recommend Nama japa –repetition of the name of God or of a fully realized spiritual master– as the most effective sadhana –spiritual practice– in the present age of Kali. In Santhigiri we chant the Akhanda Nama, powerful hymn which is extremely effective for attaining prompt spiritual liberation.

8. We get new information from the Guru that this era of Kali is not bad as many think, but good. In it, there is a great deal of suffering, which covers two different facets in man. First, it makes an individual to turn his eyes towards God giving him the opportunity of spiritual growth. Secondly, suffering extinguishes bad karma, that is to say the negative consequences of our incorrect behavior. But it is very important to deal with this suffering. You should accept suffering with faith, surrender, resignation and humbleness, praying to the Almighty for the purification of your soul and for your spiritual liberation. If there is rebelliousness or unconformity towards your destiny, then you will be in disagreement with God’s Will and this attitude will take you apart from God’s Light, automatically building a barrier in your evolution. This is an experienced truth that I have seen in darshans.

    You must always accept God’s Will; however you must never reach to the point of being conformist. You must always do your best trying to solve your difficulties, having a strong faith in the Almighty and surrendering all your problems to Him, because if you do not have a total faith and devotion towards God, then your problems will lead you to more chaos and confusion. For everything that happens to you, there is a reason. In many cases you do not understand this because the root cause comes from actions done in previous births. Remember that God is always just and perfect; try to always accept your destiny. We get what we have to get according to the Divine Law.

    This era is an age of great spiritual upliftment. We, who live now in this era, are extremely fortunate because man is bestowed with the privilege of working out all karmas –actions– to earn mukti –spiritual liberation–. Only in this precious era you can attain such liberation, and for that you need the Purity, Knowledge, Grace, and Guidance of a Guru who is a Trikala Jnani –one who can perceive past, present and future of everything and everyone–. So in that way, the Guru evaluates your soul, seeing past incarnations, karmagedi –good and bad actions ingrained in the soul–, punnya –virtue, merit–, baghyam –good fortune–, vasanas –good or bad habits acquired in the past–, and also the potentiality of your soul. So based on this information, the Guru can give you precise instructions to conduct your life in a proper manner and to optimize your spiritual evolution. He makes you realize through self experience. Prayer and karma –correct mode of action– dedicated fully to the Guru are also essential. Such Guru can burn out part of your bad karma and make you evolve in an unimaginable way. Simple religious observances, rituals, tapas –sacrifices–, offerings, based on traditions, convictions and old beliefs, are not enough to attain the main goal in life: spiritual liberation.

    Even the evil, unrighteous, sinful people, the totality of the Sudra caste –lowest of the castes in India–, and everyone can be redeemed through this Gurumargam –path of a spiritual liberated master– in this era. The Guru reveals to us that devis, devas, –deities–, saints and great souls have to take birth during Kali to attain spiritual liberation.

    At Santhigiri Ashram Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru has rediscovered this important knowledge and has expounded a fulfilling way of life suited for this age. By following this path of a fully spiritually realized Guru, anyone will be able to attain prompt spiritual liberation.

9. The missions of the former holy masters are being completed through Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru by the Will of God. Others revealed to mankind only what they heard, saw and knew from the Almighty. But Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru had the unique capacity to ask and interact with the Almighty in a total way, and convey the answers to the human race like no one else in the past.

10. Human race gets from the Guru unprecedented information which no other spiritual master ever gave. The Guru performs a new divine holy act which no one else could execute in the past –Pitrusuddhi–. It is called Gurupooja in Santhigiri Ashram and it is an act of Grace of the highest spiritual dimension. In it, the purification of you and your ancestors takes place, liberating you along with your family and ancestors, from the influence of deities, saints, angels, etc., which these ancestors, and you, along with your family have worshipped in the past, in several previous births, mistaking them as the Supreme, in other words, thinking that these ‘celestial beings’ had the same spiritual hierarchy as the Almighty.

    When these ancestors take birth again, they will be able to perform their karmas –actions– in a more correct way, because of the previous purification, that will lead them towards mukti –spiritual liberation– in a more dynamic way. Also the Pitrusuddhi permits you and your wife to have better children, because from that moment onwards, better souls can incarnate as your successors and also if you, your family and your future generations follow a correct spiritual path, then your gothram –all your ancestors– will improve spiritually beyond measure, giving you and your descendants the opportunity to engender very elevated spiritual souls. Some of the deities and saints you have worshipped, have attained a very low spiritual progress and more than doing good to you and your family, they cause harm in your spiritual evolution in one way or another.

    In short, Pitrusuddhi or Gurupooja gives you, your family, ancestors and descendants punnya –virtue, merit– and baghyam –good fortune– placing you and them in a privileged position to attain prompt spiritual liberation.

11. The message of the famous South Indian Guru Narayana: ‘One caste, one religion and one God for man’ and also important teachings of former great spiritual masters are being put into practice in Santhigiri.

12. The marriages are conducted in the Ashram as per the direction of our Guru. Through his powerful clairvoyance, he selects the most suitable consort according to the evolution of your soul, without considering caste, social position or religion. In that way he finds you a perfect match. Specific prayers are made by the couples before and after marriage. Also the observance of specific instructions given by the Guru is fundamental, so that in future elevated and virtuous offsprings can come into the family. Those are unique spiritual karmas –actions– not found anywhere else.

13. There are three main activities in the Ashram. One is Annadanam, which is free food given thrice daily to all inmates and visitors of the Ashram. Since the very cooking of such food is fervently offered to the Guru, then in consequence the food is charged with a very special Light from that Godly Master and it is transformed into prasadam –holy food that nourishes the soul–. In visions, many devotees have seen a great prakasham –Spiritual Light– in and around the food being prepared and when consumed by people, as a matter of course spiritual purification takes place and consequently changes in their soul take place.

    The second one is Athurasevanam, care for the needy and the sick. It envisages the integration of various systems of medicine such as Siddha, Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Allopathy. In that way qualified doctors take care of patients in our hospitals, and are treated with the best cure possible. Ayurveda points out that the root cause of major illnesses is karma dosha –incorrect actions, sins–. In Santhigiri, the Guru purifies the soul through dedicated prayers and a correct mode of action given by this Great Master. He also recommends the use of medicine and medical treatments. Despite the fact that the Guru did not know how to read and write, in some special cases such as people with severe illnesses or in a terminal stage, like cancer, aids, etc., He used to diagnose and prescribe what medicines and what type of treatment had to be given to that sick person. In all cases his diagnosis were right, just as if he had studied for many years all types of traditional and alternative medicine.

    The third activity is Atmabodhanam, spiritual understanding and that can be learnt only from a fully realized Guru. You can find Him in Santhigiri Ashram.

14. You may get temporary material gains and fulfillment of your desires by praying to deities, saints, angels, etc., going to some places or following certain ways of worship. Some deities are very miraculous; the Guru is also miraculous, though he guides you in the spiritual as well as in the material planes, giving you what your soul deserves, but with the difference that he is always aiming at the evolution of your soul. Whatever He gives you will be according to the Dharma –Divine Law–, in other words, He is going along with the Will of the Almighty.

    Some deities, such as Christian saints, angels and devas –deities misconceived by the Hindu tradition as spiritual liberated souls–, have reached certain stages in spiritual evolution, though they have not attained full spiritual realization. All these deities need to be pleased, delighted or gratified in one way or another to feel happy. They are bound to their emotions, because they have not attained spiritual liberation. They can feel all sorts of emotions, positive and negative, such as joy, anger, hatred, egoism, envy, etc. Therefore they can block your evolution and might even cause your physical destruction, as you evolve approaching certain spiritual phases such as the deva stage, mainly due to envy and jealousy shown towards the increase of your evolution. Astonishing and striking is the fact that devas, ‘gods,’ saints, angels or any kind of deity, don’t want to be overcome by any evolving soul in this Universe and they can represent a major problem in your evolution.

    As I stated previously, some deities are very miraculous. Since you surrender to them with faith and devotion, then might give you wealth, health or whatever you ask for, though in return they can take away punnya –virtue, merit– and baghyam –good fortune– that you have acquired during numerous incarnations, and as a consequence you can be reborn with illnesses, deformities, mental deficiency, bad luck in life, etc. They do not follow a Dharmic –correct spiritual– way. In some other cases, some deities grant your wishes unknowingly of the consequences of their acts. It is like a father that is pleased with the good actions of his son. As a result, the father wants to please his son because he is well–behaved, so he buys him a big and fast motorcycle. The son happily climbs on his motorcycle, but he is a careless and imprudent person and because of that he drives extremely fast and unfortunately he collides with a bus and becomes paralytic for the rest of his life. The father, out of his love, gives his son something that he thinks is good for him, but he does not have the correct vision and understanding to give what is always good for the son. Remember that the Guru will always give you, protecting above all, the evolution of your soul.

15. As per the Sanathana Dharma –Divine Perennial Spiritual Law– spirituality differs from religion. Spirituality is the most sublime and pure essence of Divine Knowledge, which undoubtedly will lead you to the apex of evolution: spiritual liberation. This elevated knowledge is found in Santhigiri.

16. In the Cosmic Time Scale of Manu –first preceptor of mankind–, we are living in the 7th Manvantara of the 28th Chathuryuga, in the era of Kali, in the year 5,100 approximately. The Guru informs us about a serious mistake committed by a great soul in the lineage of Manu –first preceptor of mankind– twenty–five Chathuryugas ago –around 108,000, 000 years–. This led to the obstruction of the evolutionary process in humanity. Since 1973, the Guru began an important purification process, cleaning and opening the path towards spiritual liberation, which had been blocked for millions of years. In this process the followers of the Guru actively participate by following and executing his invaluable and beneficial instructions.

17. Due to the deficiencies of your soul with which you are born, illnesses, physical deformation, mental deficiency, miseries, poor economic situation, bad luck, problems in life, bad parents, etc., come as a consequence of this problem. But by the grace of the Guru, you can make up the deficiencies of your soul to a certain extent, gain relief from all kinds of problems and enjoy peace of mind. On the other hand you must actively work doing your sadhana –spiritual practice–, diligently following the Yugadharma –Divine Law–. Also the Guru will give you correct guidance choosing for you suitable karma –what to do in life, job, etc.– as per your ability and baghyam –good fortune– in order to evolve more rapidly.

18. Devotees of the Guru are gifted with special children having punnya –virtue, merit–, baghyam –good fortune– and an elevated karmaseshi –ability to perform all sorts of actions–. The souls of the newborns are purified before birth, so in the future they will be able to perform fruitful actions, enjoy peace of mind and attain prompt spiritual liberation, setting an example for society.

19. The Guru informs us that the first Guru in our life is the mother and she should have patience, understanding, harmony and a proper spiritual knowledge to fortify and guide their offsprings properly. It is only through good women, that a home, a society, a country and the world can prosper and benefit humanity as a whole. The mother must sow good seeds in them, so that in future these seeds will sprout, spread and fortify humanity.

    The Guru also gives great importance to children. He states that those little ones have to be well educated mentally, spiritually and academically, because they will be the future examples and possibly guides, mentors or leaders of humanity. That is why schools and colleges are also found in Santhigiri.

20. It is said in the Padma Purana –Hindu sacred scripture– that in order to attain spiritual liberation you need to incarnate as a human 400 000 times. By following this path with complete faith, devotion and surrender, this time can be reduced enormously. The Guru informs us that there are ten Avasthas –spiritual stages– in the evolution of the soul, and being in this path you only need eighteen and a half years to attain one of these stages. Also, this time can be reduced according to the quality of the Guru and of the capacity of the sishya –devotee–. The virtue and good fortune that could not be earned through the virtuous deeds and prayer for thousands of births, can be earned in a few births through dedicated prayer and karma –correct actions–, following diligently the words of the Guru.

21. The Guru will help in getting relief from any disease or health disorder, either permanently or temporarily, partially or totally. This is achieved through the Grace of the Guru, dedicated prayer, correct actions and proper medical treatment. Ashram has got numerous hospital complexes, because the Guru has said that to perform good or meritorious actions man has to have good health.

22. The main prayer in the Ashram is a hymn that was heard through clairvoyance, by two disciples of the Guru, as a Divine Voice originated from the ‘Void’. It must be recited for getting rid of all kinds of problems, for gaining virtue and good fortune –punnya and baghyam–. By chanting it, your spiritual evolution will be enormously increased, setting you in an expeditious track towards spiritual liberation. The Guru had predicted that after the merger of Himself with the Almighty, very special disciples will come up in this Guru Parampara –group of people that follow the Guru's spiritual path; lineage– being born in the Ashram or in other parts of this world, for continuing the transcendental work that the Guru started for the full liberation of mankind. This prediction has materialized in the Ashram through his principal disciple: Sishya Poojitha Amritha Jnana Tapaswini. This will continue being fulfilled.

23. The lofty idea of creating a society endowed with the qualities of truth, elevated morality, piety, justice, love, fraternity, kindness and compassion; a society beyond caste, social position and religion, promoting equality, world peace and peace of mind is being materialized at Santhigiri through the purified virtuous lineage. This is the new generation that will strengthen and consolidate the creation of a new world.

24. Even though our actual era, Kali, started around 5100 years ago, nevertheless the Yugadharma –Spiritual Law– for this age has not been completely stated to us. The Yugadharma of the earlier Yugas, i.e. Treta and Dwapara is still being followed, as is evident from the prevalence of worship of all kind of deities, such as saints, angels, devas –deities misconceived as fully realized souls–, etc.

    We are still performing yaga and yagna, which are complicated sacrificial fire rituals, tantra –form of worship where ritualistic forms are involved– and mantra –sacred syllables or words which connect you to a certain source of spiritual energy–. All these practices are contrary to the Yugadharma in Kali.

    Why are we still following the old mode of worship of the previous eras? Let me give you an example. If you are riding a car and suddenly you abruptly step on the brakes, the car tends to stop but you continue in motion, sliding along the seat in forward motion and you might be projected strongly towards the windshield of the car. The person in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction. In the same way there is a tendency to keep on with the ancient mode of worship followed in Treta and Dwapara, because it was carried on for a period of 2,160,000 years. So many years created a tendency to keep on this wrong track. Kali –our actual era– lasts 432,000 years and as I stated before it started only around 5,100 years back, but now a change must begin and the real Yugadharma must be shown to humanity. This complete spiritual system, based on the Divine Spiritual Law is fully disclosed in Santhigiri.

25. Pournami is the full moon celebration. The light of the sun is a reflection of God’s Light and whenever there is a full moon day, the sun’s light is reflected by the moon and it is received in our Earth, feeding, nurturing and illuminating our souls enormously. Actually one day before the full moon day, the full moon day and one day after, the spiritual Light received in Earth is immense, so in these three days we are supposed to perform some tapas –austerities– such as eating vegetarian food, abstinence in drinking alcoholic beverages and in having sexual relations, to potentiate the edifying and nourishing effect of Pournami. In this period, and in all your life, try to mentally and in action be connected to the Guru or to the Almighty, always thinking and acting correctly. The benefit derived from your spiritual practice on these days –prayers, abstinences, etc.– is gigantic, because besides the natural benefit that you receive, the Grace of the Guru is hugely present, magnifying the positive effect of that which you receive on those days.

26. Kumbamela is a glorious celebration. It is celebrated twice a year in the Ashram. We are instructed by our Guru that we should participate in twelve of these important holy celebrations throughout our life, and by doing this, we should at least get rid of our chronic diseases. This means that the amount of Light that our soul can get by performing this important act is colossal. Only in Santhigiri Ashram this is carried out, nowhere else in the world.

27. Guru is mainly a reactor. Remember that Isaac Newton, renowned English scientist stated the three famous Laws of Motion. The third one states that: ‘To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ This is a law of physics and also a universal law that applies to everything, everyone and every single creature on Earth. When you perform certain actions, such as following closely our Guru's instructions, doing your sadhana, performing correct actions, etc., then as a consequence, there will be positive reactions in your soul: the attainment of more Light. This happens naturally because of the above–mentioned law. But also due to the enormous Grace that our Guru has got, he will give you unbelievable additional gifts to your soul, so the evolution of your being will be accelerated in a way that a human mind cannot even conceptualize.

28. The Guru makes the lineage –disciples– pray, and do appropriate actions then and there for promoting good will, peace, happiness and purification in this world. By the Grace of the Guru you get guidance for solving your problems and making your activities of life successful, after removing obstacles in the subtle and material plane. This is achieved by combining dedicated prayer with a correct mode of action and by making the Guru a medium of the Almighty.

29. The Guru empowers the sishya to do certain important tasks in the astral planes like in no other place in the world. Other spiritual masters did not have the faculty to empower his disciples to do so.

30. All the above mentioned characteristics make Santhigiri Ashram a unique place and also Navajyothi Sri Karunakara Guru, a one of its kind Guru. Myself, Carlos Guzman, and the disciples of our Guru, invite you and all people around the World, to give yourself the precious opportunity to visit this holy place full of Light and Grace, to be immersed into this glorious and striking atmosphere, and actively participate in all the benefits derived from all what Santhigiri Ashram is offering you.

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