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KRISHNA Tarangam

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UCCHAISHRAVAS

 

Heart is your inbuilt temple, knock the doors!

He is not a Mahabharata character but a horse with seven heads and white colour. He feeds on nectar. He comes out of the famous sea churning episode, along with 14 ratnas. Indra uses him as his vehicle. He finds recurrent mention in subplots, not only in the Mahabharata but also in other spiritual records. He becomes more significant as Krishna makes mention of him as His very self in the chapter 10 of the Bhagwad Gita. His popular connection is worthy of a discussion.
 
Real import
Ucchaishravas in Sanskrit means “of high and loud sound.” Seven heads represents seven outlets, levels and arrangement of the sound. Let us understand a bit of music here to get to the profound truth attached to the word Ucchaishravas. According to the Samveda, there are seven basic notes—sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, san. They are the assorted loud sounds in their respective groups. Like, sa has a lower sa, a medium sa and a higher sa. re has a lower re vibration, medium re vibration and the highest re vibration…so on and so forth. The name has the Sanskrit word uccha, which means high, neither higher nor the highest. Therefore, the rishis say when you have the scale of uchcha, uchchatar and ucchatam, then the middle or the medium sound will be heard loud first and then the loudest. This way  a sound is always moving up to the highest frequency with a brief outlets at seven places. These seven places are seven nodes where the high, the higher and the highest average up as a cumulative sound. That sound is sa, re, ga….They all represent the cumulative sound notes, which travel up on a vertical scale.  This is music. This is meant by Ucchaishravas.
 
How Indra rides it?
Indra is nothing but a sum total of all the minds in the world. That way your mind and my mind are also parts of Indra—that is Arjuna (Indraanshah). The seven vibratory notes, Ucchaisravas, merge into a circular motion with seven repetitive notes. Now imagine a moving circle with seven loops. The loops will appear as a rider and circle as a horse with seven heads. In fact, the mind is nothing but a repetitive, vibratory pool of heard sounds. But, ucchaishravas is the state of mind which is ridden by itself—that means when the vibratory notes become merged into one, they become a huge wheel of energy, which runs so fast that it seems calm, immobile and not moving—that is the state of param gatih (the state of highest movement, the state of perfect harmony and peace). When your mind is in a state of Ucchaishravas, it enters the state of nectar—enlivening energy. You may call this state of mind—a huge wheel of energy of seven cogwheels.
 
Uchchaishravas vs common horses
A common horse resembles a horse in the wild—running about freely. Five senses, intellect and ego represent the seven vibratory notes. Ego being the highest note san.  In a common horse mind situation, every note arranges on a vertical scale, a sensory input triggers one or two notes and instead of becoming a wheel of energy, the mind revolves around the centre of the vibratory note/s and then moves out along the channels of the sense by the force of the centre of the vibration and gets agitated. In this situation, the mind is led by the vibratory note and loses its energy, peace and harmony. It gains the adham gatih (lowest, unstable state). Such a horse, eats mrita (mortal leftovers) and not amrita (nectar).
 
Krishna is Ucchaishravas
Krishna says in Chapter 10 shlok 27 that He is Ucchaishravas among the horses. That means He is the state of mind when all the vibratory notes make a cogwheel of a giant energy wheel and uplift you to the infinite dimension—-meaning when your mind is lifted by its very constituents (vibrations) to the param dimension. In India, there has been a system of swar sadhana through which the mind is converted into Ucchaisrhavas—into an energy wheel of vibrations. Swar sadhana  has been an integral part of the Indian worship systems wherein various instruments and devotional songs are sung to seek the  grace of the divine. In fact, it is the indirect practice of making an energy wheel of the seven notes. The wheel is called manashchakra or Hridaychakra in some spiritual texts, which also means anahat chakra—(which is unaffected, Only a centre cannot be affected, therefore, anahat means unaffected centre of a circle). Krishna says He is the resident of all the hearts. This is the reason why He says so. 
 
Seven energy wheels
In the Indian yogic system there is a vertical ladder of seven energy wheels, right from mooladhar to sahasraar. They have a root vibratory note each at the centre. They represent  the mind’s energy from seven levels—sa basal to san nasal. But, there is a secret catch in it all.  Ucchaishravas represents a unique state of the mind, which weaves all the chakras into a wheel of garland to make a hridaychakra. Therefore, Ucchianshravas is the state of mind when all the six chankras arrange and revolve around the hridaychakra. Since its is a closely guarded secret, I cannot further detail it. But, I can give you a glimpse from Swami Vivekananda's life. When Swami Vivekananda attained the nirvikalpa samadhi —the state of san, he felt that he was all in the head. His guru Bhagwan Ramkrishna was informed about this by other worried disciples. But Ramkrishna reacted calmly and said Naren (Swami Vivekananda) wanted Nirvikalpa samadhi, so Maa ( the Divine Power) granted him the same. He will be all right. As he spoke  these words, Swamiji was back to normal. He visited Ramkrishna and said, “The light in you and me are the same…Thakur (Ramkrishna) I want to reman in this blissful state for ever, I will come down only to feed my body….” Ramkrishna reacted to Swamiji’s plea, saying  such a small-minded approach. This is just a beginning of spiritual life, indicating there is much more than this state.  On other occasions, he said you can’t remain on ni for long, so you have to come home. Maa lives in the heart, not in the head, he once said. This matches with the declaration of Krishna in the Gita—Ishwarah….hriddeshey Arjun tishthati—-The all moving power lives in the heart. Why so much of emphasis by God on the heart? Isn’t the place which He Himself says stays very important and supreme? It is. Think how?
 
This ends the main characters of the Mahabharata.
 
Takeaway: Take care of your heart. God lives here. Don’t hit somebody in the heart. God lives here. Heart is your inbuilt temple.
 
Next: Stories from the Mahabharata
Vivek Sharma

 

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