SSSSSS-SIMPLY ENTHRALLING!

SNAKES AND MORE…A Curvy Path Less Taken.

If you are the type terrified to confront the creepy crawly creatures of the night, skip this piece please. Others, should you be convinced that to go looking for them in pelting rain in the dead of night is stuff crackpots indulge in, then i accept the compliment. Read on.

Packing my faithful rucksack - which must easily be a strong contender for the ‘most vividly travelled rucksack’ global award, if there were to be a category of this kind – with essential trivia’s, i set off last week on a herpetofauna expedition, i had registered for earlier, in the forests of the Western Ghats. Hepetofauna, a generic term, refers to all species of reptiles and amphibians. But this one was slightly more precise. A Pit Viper Expedition!

You guessed it right! Like many of you out there, my family too thought i’d lost my marbles. Demented, the new buzz word, was closer to it. Mom was almost at breakpoint and managed to convey her exasperation through my kids, who turned approvers and became the mainstays of my logic, whatever that logic was. Wifey was too stunned to offer a comment. Convincing my way through all of that, it was time to head for Goa, from where this craziness was to commence. Which other place, i thought, could be more befitting?

Nirmal Kulkarni, the tall, lanky, soft-spoken herpetologist and scientist, has almost 20years behind him handling, documenting, conserving, basically indulging in reptilian study and works out of Goa. For the latter part, i envy him. Likewise, petite Mittal, disciplined Devdatta and humourous Shrinivas have each excelled in their fields of studying amphibians, millipedes and centipedes, butterflies, birds besides venomous snakes across Indian terrain. So, the rest of us relative greenhorns, Suhas, Omkar, Tapoti, Sarang, Glenda knew were secure amidst the vast coils of collective experience when it came to confronting the much avoidable fangs of the Viper.

The brief given to us was ssss-simple! To look for and find any one of the three types of Vipers viz: Bamboo Pit Viper, Malabar Pit Viper and the Hump nosed Pit Viper. All three resident species of the region. Anything else was welcome and surplus on the expedition.

Over the next four nights and days ten of us scanned the hills, ponds and trails of Amboli, the ghats and lateritic plateaus of Mhadei Wild Life Sanctuary near Chorla, Bhagwan Mahavira Wild Life Sanctuary at Mollem and Castle Rock near Dudhsagar falls. Incidentally, these places are spread across the States of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.

Vipers are essentially shy and nocturnally active snakes, with striking colour morphs on their body, and posses a distinctly triangular head. They are largely misunderstood and try to minimize their confrontation with mankind. Growing to a maximum of 4ft in length, they like to hang around water holes for the prospect of prey at nights and head out to tree canopy reaches by daybreak. However, it is this genre that also accounts for a huge number of painful deaths annually due to their unforgiving bites in the fields and farms of rural India. Located in between their nostrils and eyes, are two heat sensing pits from which it derives its name. So sensitive are these pits to temperature change that a variation of 0.001 degrees Celsius is enough to alert them and take note of the passing prey to complete the job at an impressive strike rate of 99.5%! This weapon, along with its ‘wait and watch’ approach towards preying, helps wonderfully well in the dead of night. Unmindful ‘passers by’ such as rodents, squirrel and frogs are caught unawares only to end up in the innards of the reptile. It is not strange therefore that an important missile in the US weaponry, the Sidewinder, was inspired and developed on the very basis of this ‘page from nature’ technology of heat sensing and guiding.

The days that followed kind of had a typical cycle. Wake up. Breakfast. Travel to destination. Scan the area. Lunch. Walk into wilderness for opportunistic finds and document them. Tea. More field work, fill-up work sheets on finds. Dinner. Scan forests and plains in the dead of the night for more species and specimens. Ofcourse, this spine-thrilling routine was interspersed with some very interesting films on the wonderful work being done by Romulus Whitaker and Ashok Captain, with whom Nirmal and others have been working on creating awareness and in conservation of reptiles of all kinds, including the King Cobra. Exchanging anecdotes and tales from experiences in the wild is what bonded this diverse group further. Learning snake bite protocol, anti-venom actions & reactions and Taxonomy (study of snake skin patterns) added value to knowledge quotient.

What caught my wonder was the intensity of sincerity that each one of us was putting into the process. All of those of us novices who had registered for this program had never quite done stuff like this before. Nothing ever kept us away from ‘dressing up’ for the occasions - rainwear, gumboots et al - and heading out without any hint of trepidation into slush, streams and meadows with powerful flashlights and camera in tow to make our finds and document them. Not the leeches that some of us lost blood to, not the stormy nights and torrential rains, not the late hours and miles of searching walks, not the hundreds of tiresome notings on the Kestrel (humidity, temperature and wind speed measuring instrument) and GPS readings, not the never drying and mostly stinking clothes and socks, not the nettles, ticks and mosquitoes. Nothing seemed to slow down our enthusiasm. Not even the straying Malabar Pit Viper that had uncannily found its way in the ladies’ bedroom! My sense is that the constant thrill of uncertainty, the magical rejuvenating powers of nature and the collective bonhomie, all woven by a singular thread of loving kindness for the creatures less fortunate, kept us at it.

At final count, over five days, we had between us spotted, identified and documented eight Pit Vipers (including one which was over a meter long that had just feasted), nine Green Vine Snakes, number of amphibians including some rare finds like the Malabar Gliding Frog and Caecilian, millipedes and centipedes in enviable numbers, water and field scorpions, range of spiders including the dreaded Tarantula, hunting ants (referred to as ‘Crazy Army’ for their ferocious bites and much feared ability to decimate prey in short time). All of this left me incredibly enthralled!

Chill mom, your son maybe crazy but he’s back safe…and happy! How’s that for an ending?

AWARE BUT NOT YET AWAKE

Speaking Tree, ToI, 30.07.2011

The locality where i live in Pune, has an proactive residents forum wherefrom we take up civic issues with officials of various government bodies and elected representatives from time to time. The objective of this registered forum is simple and one pointed: to improve the quality of life of residents. So varied issues such as refuse collection, street lights operation, road surface quality, nuisance control and cleanliness, traffic streamlining and other such issues are taken up regularly. So formidable has this forum grown to be that civic officials actually respond to most matters in 24 hours.

However, there are a set of civilians, besides the incorrigible cynics, who never attend or even bother to voice the civic issues concerning them at this forum. They are well-educated, well heeled, concerned and aware of the issues too. They come across as friendly and social people too with good communication skills and intelligence. Then what is it that holds them back from participating? Through observation and a process of elimination, i came to a conclusion. An aware but an un-awakened mind.

Here is where the difference lies.

An aware mind is one that knows that a problem or issue exists but refuses to do anything about it. For example an overweight person with health issues may know that s/he is in suffering due to weight issues and can get to tackle this situation by, say, getting some exercise or bettering his/her eating habits. But instead chooses to remain in a state of inertia about it. The person is aware (about the existence of the problem) but not awakened to address it. Or a person may know that s/he gets angry easily with slightest provocation and this may have landed him/her into many difficult and embarrassing situations too, but yet takes no steps to calm and reign in the mind when such an emotion arises. Again, s/he is aware of the problem but not awakened to provide a solution to it to overcome it.

It is quite easy to be lazy. Laziness requires no effort. To be active requires effort. To identify a problem may be easy but to tide over it requires great resolve. Imagine if an animal in the forest knew it were hungry but refused to do anything about it! It would certainly perish. Or if we knew we are weak in a particular subject but choose not do anything about it before the exam would prove a certain disaster! Likewise, merely being aware of a problem does not solve it. It is the same difference as between: kuch karna hai (problem identification) vis-à-vis kuch kiya hai (problem redressal). While the former (awareness) is passive acceptance the latter (awakening) is active acceptance. This is the fundamental difference.

Likewise in the case of mind control. In an weak or distorted mind there are tempestuous thoughts and emotions arising every day. Some maybe virtuous but most are repetitive and harmful. Ofcourse, we are not so much concerned about the virtuous ones because they will bring us benefit but what about the others un-productive, vicious ones that constitute a majority, which by nature will bring upon us suffering? Then we say, I read somewhere that we should become aware of their arising and they will subside on their own. This is true. However, the real problem arises is getting down to doing it! Before we realize into becoming aware of their arising, they have already slipped past our vigilance and have raised their ugly head in the form of a speech or body action. And then we realize it’s too late and repent the action later. This happens because although we know we must be aware, we haven’t taken adequate care and effort to be awakened to actually getting down to training our minds. We have become somewhat aware of the problem but we are not awakened about it to tackle it consistently enough. To be awakened about such a mind condition requires training which in turn requires hard work. But we seldom do it.
Our parents, friends and well-wishers may point out some hidden faults in us and we become aware of them. But despite being aware that we need to address those hidden faults, we chose to do nothing substantial about it, which is the same thing as not being awakened to it. It seems too much of an effort for somewhat ‘invisible’ gains.
On the other hand, we may regularly refer to all the internet sites or browse every book possible to add to our work related intelligence quotient. People come to know that you are ‘in the know of things’ and you can impress them with your acquired knowledge. So here we are aware of the repercussions of ‘lagging behind’ and by undertaking tedious work we are also awakened to the situation as it affects our ‘visible’ status in society.

Therefore, when it comes to matters which are purely worldly in nature we seem aware and awakened in doing something about it. However, in matters of the mind or in developing our metaphysical quotient we are often aware of what needs to be done but don’t easily get awakened about getting down to doing it with due diligence.

If we were to bring about generating awareness and awakening in living our lives, it would lead us to a better quality of life within and without.

Meditation on the Move!

SPEAKING TREE, TOI, 26.07.2012 Sample these situations we often find ourselves in: Feeling bored waiting for the flight/train? Preferring to stay in the car while the spouse is shopping? Or awaiting the kids to call to be picked up when they’re finished with a birthday party? Or just chilling out. Here’s an anytime, anywhere experiment, to get into the insides of your mind. Sit erect. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to keep your eyes closed or open. Either arrangement is okay, but for the beginner open eyes tend to distract. Breathe normally. Now, shift your attention to the mind. To begin, do nothing with it. Just let the dude be. But keep observing it un-distracted. Allow those rising thoughts to float in without giving any treatment to them. Every thought that arises, may or maynot be accompanied by an emotion. Doesn’t matter. Just observe. Your mind will tend to grasp the arising thought, chase it, build on it until this conceptualizing reaches a dead-end and falls. On reaching the dead end with nowhere else to go, the mind grasps on a new thought that arises and the mind goes on to chase this one. And this process goes on. In a span of few minutes, depending on how hyper the mind has been, the never ceasing cycle of ‘arising-chasing-deadending-falling’ goes on and on. However, when you focus some more, you will also notice that as your observation towards the mind gets more intense, the arising of thoughts gets slower too. Much like the crystals of sugar settling down in a glass of water after a quick stir, observe this slowing down. You will begin to be amused with this observation. This does not mean the mind has stopped taking on a next thought to launch another chase. Our observation has only slowed down the process. Now be attentive to observe further that between the passing of the previous thought and the arising of a new one, there exists a hair breadth of a gap that you might sense. A very fleeting one, but it does exist. It exists by itself in a pure, pristine, fresh, virgin and un-manipulated state. This is identified as the nature of our mind. This is the gap you need to recognize and work on. Try and get a hang of this gap that is pure, unaltered and in total awareness. Try to rest in this gap for as long as you can. Initially, this maybe possible only for a few seconds. Resting in this gap even for a few moments, one feels peaceful and refreshed. This is our Buddha mind itself! Nothing else, but prolonging this recognition for as long as you can, is meditation. In Tibetan Buddhist texts this ‘gap’ is referred to as, rigpa, ( pronounced ‘reejpa’). “If you are in an unaltered state, it is Rigpa”, says Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a great master of Tibetan Buddhism of the 20th century. With repeated practice of this simple ‘anytime-anywhere’ method of generating awareness, it is easily possible to familiarize ourselves with our base mind, otherwise clouded by all sorts of delusions and defilements. How cool is that? PS: It is advised not to try this after consuming alcohol simply because as the nature of alcohol is to confuse, the recognition will be difficult and what you will experience instead is a dull, dark and ‘grey’ state, which is certainly not our true nature. And yes, for the safety of yourself and the family, not to be tried by beginners during driving too!

POSITIVE KARMIC DEPOSITS - WHAT AN INVESTMENT!

THE SPEAKING TREE, ToI, 26.04.2011

Whether anyone believes in it or not, the fact is that we all have an after life. Its scientific explanation is logical too. Just as matter cannot be created nor be destroyed but merely transformed into another form, just the same way, our body after our passing away from this life, is transformed into another form. It would be a misconception to believe that there is an end, a finality to our lives. It is not so. There is just transformation. It is proven in Buddhist tantric experiments that the natural elements of nature (earth, wind, fire, water, space) have the qualities of the mind and also support vital systems of our body functions. It is also proven with logic and proof that there is continuity of our mind from one birth to another. You may have heard of real-life instances where a child quite naturally yet vividly remembers the place of birth and some of the critical happenings of his/her past life. Therefore, there is direct linkage of the elements to our psycho-physical state. There is no doubt about this in minds of Buddhist practitioners.

So if we can conclude that there is afterlife, the natural question that arises is: What kind of births can we take?

Again according to Buddhist teachings there are six realms in which we can be re-born. Hell, Pretas (Hungry ghosts), Animals, Human, Asuras (Demi-gods) and god realms. It is not to say that there are different worlds that we are born in or anything like that. First the bad news. All these countless rebirths from beginningless time are the direct effect of our afflicted emotions. The reason for being born in these realms is driven by the resulting karmic accumulations. For eg: Being born in the hell realm is due to our afflicted emotions of hatred, being born as hungry ghosts is due to greed, envy/jealousy leads us to birth in the asura realm, pride into the god realm, confusion as animals and ignorance as humans beings. Even for those born in god realm, there is intense suffering as the good effect that has given them this birth will be worn out someday and they will have to be reborn in lower realms. This is because they are not in a position to accumulate anymore good karma nor clean their accumulated bad ones, being in a state of mental blankness. Now the good news. It is birth only in the human realm - with its freedoms and advantages of being born with intact sense faculties at a place where dharma teachings can be obtained (quite obsolete in this internet era!) and with the right intent and faith – that spiritual trajectory and therefore possibility of good re-birth is possible.

So what does this mean? It simply means that if we wish to be born in higher realm we can undertake practices in this human life to achieve the end we want. We can tweak the stacked up causes before us to our advantage to have the desired good effect. And these practices essentially lead us to doing good deeds of body, speech and mind, in the process accumulating deposits of good karma in our spiritual bank account.

It is a good thing to accumulate good karma by doing good deeds in a non-conceptualized manner i.e. without an ulterior motive of personal gain or gratification or to show-off. However, the true fruit of this merit is deposited into your account only after such deeds are dedicated to the wellness and Buddhahood of every sentient being. While it is good to increase the ‘bank balance’ in this way and add to the credit side, it is of significance to keep an eye on the debit side of the entries as well! These debits have been there over lifetimes and we may not even remember when and how we have accumulated them. Therefore, to undertake guided practices to negate our bad karma accumulations is critical too for a healthy balance sheet.

Finally, there has to be a constant vigil on debit and credit side, it needs to be a sustained practice all the time in this human life, if we desire to get good rebirth which clearly all of us want.

What better investment can we think of in this materially driven world than investing in the mother of all investments, where accomplishment and returns are guaranteed. The investment in good karmic deposits! The perfect solution to a peaceful, happy and terrific quality of life here and ahead!

Go ahead friends, choose your lives!

INDIA (WINS) AGAINST CORRUPTION!

STEPS:

1. GOVERNMENT ARROGANTLY INDIFFERENT TO CITIZENS' CALL TO PASS STRONG LAW AGAINST RAMPANT CORRUPTION

2. CITIZENS BUILD PRESSURE LED BY GANDHIAN ANNA HAZARE WHO GOES ON INDEFINITE FAST

3. NATIONWIDE PROTESTS OVER 200 CITIES/TOWNS OVER FOUR DAYS FORCES GOVERNMENT ON ITS KNEES

4. GOVERNMENT RELENTS...AGREES TO ALL DEMANDS.(8/9TH APRIL)

5. PROFESSIONALS PARTY OF INDIA (PPI) LEADS ALONGSIDE IAC IN PUNE AND MUMBAI. CORE GROUP MEMBERS TRAVEL TO DELHI TO BE ALONGSIDE ANNA AND TEAM ON 5TH APRIL

BOTTOM LINE:

MIDDLE CLASS FINDS ITS VOICE...AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, DISCOVERS ITSELF AGAIN!

JAI HIND.

The Three Kayas - Omnipresent transitory states

Our life on earth in this human life can be compartmentalized into three processes or gross states: First, our waking state in which we go to work, do domestic chores, experience enjoyment and do other worldly activities. Second, is our sleeping state which comprises sleep and dream states. And third, the state or process of dying which comprises the sub-processes of cessation of outer and inner respiration, intermediate state and after life.

‘Kaya’ means body. However, when we use this term in Buddhist tradition we do not really refer it to as any physical body or form. It is referred to as dimension, aspect or field. It can also be called bardo, meaning transition or simply a transitory or ‘inbetween’ moment. (‘Bar’: interim, ‘do’: present). Let us briefly explore their meanings.

• Dharma-kaya: The Buddha body of Reality: This is the true nature of our mind, ‘empty’ and unadulterated in anyway. The absolute state or the ground of our being or absolute truth.
• Sambhoga-kaya: The Buddha body of Perfect Resource: This state is the rich, abundant, radiant and resonant nature of our base mind.
• Nirmana-kaya: The Buddha body of Emanation: This refers to the unimpeded arising of our mind in whatever form it may manifest into.

It is amazing to see how these three ‘bodies’, states or bardos are with us all the time and during all the three states of waking, sleeping and dying. If we actually playback this is slow motion or in tiny sections we observe so:

Waking State: We usually associate this state with either everyday activity and/or during meditative practice where we maybe actually observing rising and falling of thoughts and emotions. After the passing of one thought or emotion and before another arises, there is a state which is pure and fresh. There is a possibility here to catch a glimpse of the true nature of our mind. This is the Dharmakaya state. However, this state does not last long. There is a stirring of energy in the mind and another possibility of thought or emotion arises. This is the Sambhogakaya state. And finally this latent possibility can arise into any form of thought or emotion as we begin to cling on to this arising energy. This is the Nirmanakaya state.

Sleeping state: When we fall asleep our various levels of gross conscious states dissolve slowly and the true nature of mind, our base mind opens before us as the Dharmakaya state. Then there is a brief period when we are actually asleep and just before dreams begin to manifest. This is a very subtle experience as many of us are unable to recognize when exactly we fall asleep and the moment at which dream state begins. This is the intermediate stage of Sambhogakaya. As dreams begin – something that many of us don’t know when exactly this happens after we fall asleep – there are many fantasies, experiences that we may go through. Some of these are driven by occurances of the waking state and we live them actively in our dream as though real. The Nirmanakaya state.

Dying process: Although one might argue as to how it is possible to ‘see’ or experience what state of our mind is when we are dying or dead, the fact is that the three dimensions are miraculously revealed at that time too! At the moment of death, when our inner respiration stops there is a moment when the nature of mind (emptiness) is revealed to us as Dharmakaya. Thereafter, as Sambhogakaya, the radiance of the intermediate state through light, colour and sound manifests. And finally, the formation and manifestation of the Nirmanakaya or creation in after life or that of becoming manifests.

It is clear therefore that each state, in both life and death, there exists exactly identical and unending opportunities to be able to release ourselves from conditioned existence towards Nirvana or continue in its state of confusion in Samsara. By this argument, it is further clear that life and death are therefore seamless experiences, one cascading into the other continuously, propelled by our karma.

The task before us is to recognize these intermediate states by getting some control over our minds and maintain continued awareness over it, work on these recognitions continuously, with the help of teachings and practices. In doing so, the doors of liberation will certainly open.

MEDITATING ON VAJRASATTVA: A POWERFUL CLEANSING PRACTICE

(Speaking Tree paper, 20.02.2011)
Pic-1
Pic-2

There is nothing good about bad actions of body, speech and mind except that they can be overcome through confession, say the teachings of ancient masters. And it goes on to further add that mere confession without the support of the four powers will bring little benefit.

Our minds are obscured by numerous obstacles. Just as we cannot see the blue sky with clouds covering it or we cannot see clearly into a mirror which is greasy or dusty, so also we are unable to reflect on our true, pure Buddha nature unless we cleanse ourselves of the obscurations. There are four kinds of obscurations that we need to clean up or cut through to see our true minds. These are:

• Karmic Obscurations: These are accumulated over several lifetimes and many of them we play innocent host to without even realizing their harmful existence within us
• Habitual Tendencies: These are ones which are our shackled responses to given stimuli or patters that we have become ‘used to’ without realizing their harmful nature
• Perceptions: Our forever conceptualizing mind as perceived by the inputs through our senses
• Negative Emotions: The five poisons within us: Anger, Greed, Pride, Ignorance, and Envy.

The challenge is in the purification of these obscurations. Surely, when we say that these can be overcome through confession, no confession is complete without the four powers. More importantly, it is of little use if we confess with the support of these powers and then go on to repeat those very same negative acts and confess over and over again the same thing! It’s never going to work.

The Four Powers:

The Power of Support: This support comes from taking refuge in the Bodhisattva of Purification, Vajrasattva, and by arousing the bodhichitta, the Buddha mind within us. Confession without bodhichitta may reduce your defects and faults but will not purify them totally still leaving you in the peril of lower realm rebirth, said the Buddha.

The Power of Regret: This power comes from the feeling of remorse for all the negative actions we may have done in the past without holding back or justifying. To think of those acts as something shameful. To view them with utter trepidation.

The Power of Resolution: This power stems from the fact that we bring to mind the wrongs we may have done and resolve with determination never to do it again, now that we know the good from the bad.

The Power of Action as Antidote: Every kind of negative action has an antidote. So we may undertake all those things that act as anti-dote to the harmful actions we have done.

The Actual Practice of Meditation on Vajrasattava:

We sit in the normal lotus posture and visualize a thousand petal open white lotus about two feet high above our head with the full disc of the moon. From the centre of this emanates the illuminating syllable ‘hum’ in white colour. The syllable instantaneously changes into our root teacher, the embodiment of compassion, who appears as Vajrasattva, white and bedazzling. With one face and two arms, he adorns all the five silken garments and the eight jewels. In his left hand resting on the thigh is the bell (method) and in the right is the five pronged vajra (mind) He is in divine union with his spiritual consort Vajratopa, also white and as dazzling light. This is the power of support.

Now as power of regret we bring to mind all the negative things we may have done and pray with all our heart to cleanse all such past and present actions and feel utmost remorse having done them. Our body breaks into goose bumps as we feel this remorse. And by the compassion of the teacher, we seek to be cleansed of all of them that very instant!

Now we visualize the letter hum in the heart of Vajrasattva and the hundred syllable mantra around them in a circular fashion. From each of the syllable drops of nectar representing wisdom and compassion flow down and emerges from the point of union of the deity and consort and enter into us from the crown of our head and other sentient beings. Like mud being washed away by water, our physical illness as rotten blood and pus, negative forces as snakes, spiders and scorpions and harmful actions as black liquid and smoke flow out of our bodies. The earth beneath us opens up and Death appears personified by all those who you have wronged. The impurities flow into their open mouths and when satiated the earth closes again. The white nectar continues to flow down the crown of your head and fills the entire body. You feel immense joy as you are fully purified. The four kayas are established into you too. Then Vajrasattava dissolves into you as melting as light and you transform into Vajrasattva yourself.

OM VAJRA SATTVA HUM (or "OM BENZA SATTO HUNG" in Tibetan) visualization

See Pic-2

The ‘hum’ now glows in your heart as a blue syllable with om in white in front, vajra in yellow to the left, sa as red behind and tva in green on the right. As we recite ‘Om Vajra Sattva Hum’ five rays of light shoot towards the sky towards the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with goddesses at the tips of the light beams with offerings to them. The Buddhas are pleased and shower rays of light back on you. These light rays then shoot below you to purify all the other beings across the other realms purifying them. They are all transformed into Vajrasattvas in the five colours and all of them are chanting ‘Om Vajra Sattva Hum’. Our Buddhfield now is the entire universe.

Finally, the universe dissolves into the beings, who then dissolves into you, you dissolve from outward to inward into yourself, which then dissolves into the om, the om dissolves into vajra, the vajra dissolves into sa, the sa dissolves into tva. The tva then dissolves into the various parts of the syllable hum beginning from the bottom and ending at the top (nada). see pic below

The nada then vanishes into space freeing you from conceptualizations and perceptions.

Stay in that state for a while. When thoughts arise, see the universe as the Buddhafield and dedicate the merit saying “By the merit of this practice may i swiftly attain the level of Vajrasatava’. (meaning to say : may i quickly get purified)

This is a powerful purification practice for which concentration is required all throughout without distraction. As mentioned earlier, once we confess and purify ourselves thru this practice, it would be unwise to repeat the same mistakes of body, speech and mind again.


TIBETAN SYLLABLE 'HUNG' AND ITS PARTS

See Pic-1

(HUNG represents the wisdom mind of the Buddhas. It acts like a propellant to the mantra proclaiming as though to say ‘So be it!’ or ‘Tathasthu' in Sanskrit)