 cosmos or the creation is made to order, that is, it is moving by a plan, it is not moving random. And it is in a process of genesis or evolution always from within itself. We here call it propunt, which means something that came out of the fire, the fire element being the basis. Something with that is beyond propunt could be related as cosmos. We call it brahmanda. When the yogis saw the nature of the cosmos as to how it's evolving from within itself and its ability to evolve is quite limitless, they were tempted to make their own cosmogenic process. Many wonderful attempts which work incredibly well have been made in various parts of this country and also in certain other parts of the world. Essentially coming from this part of the world, people went and created, you must see Delphi where they created to create a miniature kashi. Everything in creation, one way or the other is a micro replica of the cosmos itself. That goes for the human body too. Dhyanalinga itself is just that manifestation. Dhyanalinga is a small capsule of cosmos. If one is willing, it is willing to open up endlessly because it's a device. It's a device that facilitates the ultimate possibility. There have been many instruments like this in this country. For example, a living one is Dhyanalinga itself. To create that it took our life, to create a city like that is a mad ambition. And they did it thousands of years ago. When Athens was not even thought of, Kashi was. When Rome did not even exist in people's minds, Kashi was. When Egypt did not exist, Kashi was. That ancient and they built a kind of an instrument in the form of a city which is a kind of instrument which brings a union between the micro and the macro. What is that draws millions of buildings from all around the world to Kashi? There are so many myths around it and there are so many realities around it. This truth has always intrigued me. When I see, when I hear about Kashi, one thing is very clear that there is something very exceptional about this place. In our tradition, this is the most significant place that a person can live and die in. What is the truth behind the legend of Kashi? They say Lord Shiva lived here himself. All this drew me to come to Kashi and spend time with someone who could unveil the realities of Kashi. Can mystify and demystify Kashi. One thing which describes him for me is that he is absolutely authentic. Full of energy, full of wit. On one hand, he is devastatingly logical. On another hand, he deepens the mystery of the whole world. He does not dissect it, but he makes it very approachable for you. He is someone who is very unconventional, mystic. Something which you can touch, feel. He is here with you. He talks the language of today. He talks the language of science. He talks the language of logic. And that's what makes him absolutely special. And I am privileged to have him here with us and would love to spend some time. Brahma, the Lord of creation and Vishnu, the sustainer of the universe got into argument about which of them was the more important. Seeing their quarrel grow intense, the other gods went and pleaded with Shiva to put an end to this futile battle. Shiva took the form of a huge column of light. Piercing through the earth, the fiery column blazed far into the sky and soared into the heavens. Astounded Brahma and Vishnu decided to find the source and the height of this brilliant mysterious pillar of light. Brahma took the form of a goose and flew high into the sky. Vishnu took the form of a ball and dug deep into the earth. The search for the end of the pillar for many eons defeated and humbled. Vishnu returned with folded hands, surrendering to the eternal nature of Shiva. However, Brahma, not wanting to admit that he was defeated, decided to lie. He swore that he had seen the crown of the pillar and the ketiki flower bore false witness to his claim. Shiva, enraged at Brahma's lie, cursed him, saying that he would never receive worship. This is why, even today, there are no temples dedicated to Brahma and that is how Kashi became the city of light. Sadguru, one has heard so much about this city. Since time immemorial, people have talked about the significance of Banaras. What is so special about this city? Also, one hears about the design of this city. There were some yantras and there was some thought process behind the city. Can you please elaborate on how this city was created and what is the significance of it? Yantra means a machine or a mechanism. Normally, every machine that we build, we have built essentially to enhance who we are. So whenever you create a machine, you're taking a certain part of the earth. Everything that we have created is dug out of this planet one way or the other. When you take material from this planet, there is a certain inertia to that machine. So when we think of something that has to function for perpetually or for an extraordinary length of time, we want to create a machine which does not have this need for inertia. So we try to create an energy machine. This is what you traditionally know as yantras. Yantras can be very simple yantras. A simple triangle is a basic yantra. Various types of arrangements can be done to build different levels of machines which will function for your well-being. So this kashi is a phenomenal yantra like never before or never after. To create a large human body, a magnificent human body which doesn't have the inertia of carrying physicality with it so that it will be on all the time and it can just download the whole process. Solar system is like a porter's wheel. Because it's churning in a certain way, this manifested this way. This is a pot that has been churned out of this porter's wheel of solar system. So it's all very related. The diameter of the sun and the distance between the sun and the earth is 108 times. And within your own system out of 114 chakras, 112 are in the physical body but when it comes to doing something, there are only 108 that you can work with. The other four will just blossom if you nurture the rest. There's nothing to do about them. So there are 108 systems of yoga to activate 108 chakras in the body. The whole city was built like that because it's made of five elements and generally it's considered Shiva being a Yogi and a Bhuteshwara. His number is five. So they built it to the dimensions of five, the five crochets and the diameter and the radius of the place is five crochets like this. They built many layers. So this is showing you the fundamental geometry of Kashi. So at the edge of the Ganga is where it begins and these circles describe the Purikrama, the outermost Purikrama, totally measuring to 168 miles. The city itself is built like this and temple is a smaller manifestation of that. This is the geometry of the original temple. It is absolutely complex. The core of it does not exist anymore. There are seventy-two thousand shrines, the number of nadis. So they built seventy thousand and they created sufficient corners around angles around to make it multiply itself into seventy-two thousand. So it is the number of nadis in the human body. The whole process is like a manifestation of a mega human body to make contact with a larger cosmic body. Basically a perfect manifestation of how the cosmos or the macrocosm and the microcosm can meet. They created an instrument in the form of a city to create a tower of light, to create a connection with the cosmic manifestation and here we are, the microcosm, to connect these two things. They created four hundred and sixty-eight temples. The shrines, the basic temples are fifty-four for Shiva, fifty-four for Shakti or Devi. This is because in the human body itself we see that one half is Pingala, other is Eda, this is masculine, this is feminine. This is why Shiva being represented is half Ardhanarishwar, half female body and half male body. So they created the whole city like this body and these four hundred and sixty-eight came because for thirteen months in a year, in the lunar calendar every three years there's an extra month. Thirteen months and nine planets into four directions or four fundamental elements. Fire elements are there, we don't do much about Akash. Your physical body is seen as seventy-two percent water, twelve percent earth, six percent air, four percent fire, another six percent is space. So if you have mastery over this, all yogic system comes from an essential science called Bhuta Shruti. That means mastering or cleansing the elements within you. If you take certain mastery over your elements, suddenly you will see wonderful things will happen to you. I can show you thousands of people who walked out of their physical ailments simply because they do some simple Bhuta Shruti process. So based on that they created this, whatever we saw as Saptarishi Pooja, in Tandim in four hundred and sixty-eight temples these things would be happening and it would create such a phenomenal energy that everybody was longing to be in this place. And if you're born in India your only dream is to go to Kashi and it not only became a spiritual center, this was a center for music, arts, craft and a commercial center and an educational center. The greatest minds in this country came from this place. Albert Einstein said the western sciences, the modern science couldn't take a single step without the basis of Indian mathematics and that mathematics came from this place. The basis for that mathematics is here and these things, the yantra, the Vedas they created the city is so meticulous, geometrically, mathematically it's so perfect, so absolutely perfect that everybody wanted to be here because it created such a phenomena around itself. It's a misfortune that we were not alive when it was in full glory. It must have been the most phenomenal place for it to draw people from across the world. People have been traveling here from across the world for thousands of years. Gautama came here to give his first teaching. The Chinese traveler who came after Gautama, he says Nalanda University is just a small drop of knowledge that fell out of Kashi and Nalanda University has still been recognized as the greatest place of learning. Not only of those times they say even in today's world you cannot compare another university with this. There were 30,000 monks studying in Nalanda and over 10,000 faculty. All kinds of subjects, every kind, eastern, western, every kind of subject, mathematics reached its highest peak. All the people that you hear of, Aryabhattas and so many others, they all came from this region, all generated by the culture that was alive in Kashi. This level of intelligence and human competence came because of this instrument which allowed them to make contact with dimensions which are not usually available to a human being. It is not something that they logically thought up. They saw the existence, the way it is. By seeing the nature of the creation, human intelligence matured in ways that nobody had ever imagined possible. Even today it's in common language but they may not know what's behind this. They say Kashi is not on the ground. It is on Shiva's Trishu up there because they created a physical structure which in turn generated an energy structure and the energy structure is not on the ground. It is above. So because of this they said Kashi is not on the earth. It is above the earth. So it's because of that that this whole tradition came up. If you go to Kashi, that is it. You don't want to leave the place because when you get connected to the cosmic nature, why would you want to go anywhere else? Sadguru, the first thing you notice when you enter Kashi is the number of temples. There are many, many, many temples here. So many of them. Why have so many temples? Is it that this is a place for many gods? You primarily hear about being the place which belongs to Lord Shiva but what about other temples? There are so many other temples here. It would be great to know more about that. According to iconographic proof, the oldest piece of iconography or a coin which depicts Shiva is about 12,400 years old where Shiva is sitting in Siddhasana like this and with a bull next to him. 12,400 years ago, if they had to make a coin, by then he was already an icon. That means maybe they are a few thousand years before that. The legend of Kashi, 100% goes by the fundamental that he himself lived here. This is his winter place. He lived as an ascetic in the upper regions of Himalayas. He liked it there. He didn't mind the cold, if it got too cold. He smeared himself with ash from the cremation grounds and that kept him going. But when he got married to a princess, compromises have to be made. And being a graceful man, he decided he will move to the plains as this was the most fabulously built city of the time. Naturally, he decided his new bride and him should move to Kashi and no other place. And he moved to Kashi. He said, this is it. This is my abode. And he himself took the effort to consecrate the space into a powerful field of energy which still lives. There's a beautiful story. Shiva himself left Kashi because of some political reasons. Yes. There was a king called Devodasa. Devodasa became a phenomenal king. So because the gods were afraid that Kashi may lose its reverberants if it's not properly managed, so they asked him to become the king. But he put a condition that if I have to be the king, Shiva has to leave the place because anyway people will go after him. I will sit in the palace. What kind of king am I? Shiva has to leave. So Shiva along with Parvati left to Mount Mandara. He went there and he could not stay. He wanted to come back to Kashi but there's a political condition that he cannot come back to Kashi. So he said, get this Devodasa out. I want to go. So he sent sixty-four Yoganis. He said, somehow corrupt the king. Once we find some fault in him, we can send him packing and I'll come back. They came here. They entrenched themselves all over the society wanting to corrupt the society but they loved the place so much. They forgot the mission. They didn't go back. Then he sent Suryadeva. He came here. He loved the place so much. People, you know, all the Aditya temples or for him, he came and he loved it so much and he didn't go back. Then he sent Brahma. Brahma himself came and he loved it and he didn't go back. Then he said, I cannot trust any of these people and he sent his own Ganas. They cannot forget Shiva. They are his people but they loved the place so much. They thought this is the only place Shiva should live, not Mount Mandara and they became the Arapalakas of this city. They said anyway he has to come. There's no point in going back. Then Diodasa was tempted with Mukti. He did not fall for any kind of other things. They created corruptions. He was incorruptible but he was tempted with Mukti and he took it. Then Shiva came back. So there's a temple called Avimuktheswara because Shiva promised he will never leave Kashi. Whatever happens, I will not leave Kashi. So these are all stories to tell you how much they long to be here. Not because of pleasures, because of the possibility that the city offered. Because the city was not just a dwelling place. It was a mechanism to go beyond all limitations. It was a mechanism for this tiny little organism to connect with the larger organism of the cosmos. The eight Kaal Bhairava temples are located in eight cardinal directions of Kashi protecting the whole Mandala. These are Unmat Bhairava, Grodhana Bhairava, Kapala Bhairava, Asitanga Bhairava, Chand Bhairava, Ruru Bhairava, Bhishna Bhairava and Samhara Bhairava. In the Kashi Khandpurana, the Kashi Chetra is said to be standing upon Shiva's Trishu and three main temples form the three points of the trident. These three main temples act as the fulcrum for the Mandala. They are Om Ka Reshwara in the north, Vishveshwara in the middle and Kedareshwara in the south. Each temple forms their own khanda or sphere of influence. Along the eight directions, 56 Ganesha temples have been established in seven concentric circles. Their walk of devotion to visit these 56 shrines takes the pilgrims in a natural clockwise spiral that ends at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. There are also 64 Yogini temples, 12 San temples, nine temples for Navdurgas, nine Chandi temples and many others which form the 468 major shrines of Kashi. The 12 Aditya or San temples are also located in accordance with the transition of the San through half of the year from Dakshinayana to Uttarayana. The Panch Kroshi Yatra is one of the most significant padhyatras done by pilgrims around the sacred Kashi Mandala. Along this route, there are 108 shrines to which pilgrims travel by foot. There are five major villages where pilgrims can rest and even stay overnight. Even today, gold trees built by kings a few hundred years ago are still intact. As one travels in a clockwise direction on the Panch Kroshi route, all the temples are located on the right side of the road, marking the outer limit of the Panch Kroshi Sphere. The Panch Kroshi Yatra begins with a tip in the river Ganga at Manikarnika Ghat. The first major temple on this route is the Adi Karmadeshwar temple. The linga here was consecrated by Sage Karmadeshwar. In the Kashi Khandapurana, it is said that yaksas and ganas always lived on the trees and near water bodies. On this route, their shrines have also been placed in the same way. The second temple on the route is the Bhim Chandi Mandir. This Durga temple is said to have been established by the Gandharva who worshipped Devi here. She is said to protect all devotees who seek her grace as her own child, blessing them with health and well-being. The third is the Hali Vinayak temple. This temple is directly in line with the Kashi Vishwanath temple, marking the halfway mark of the Yatra. It is said that before entering Kashi, Lord Rama meditated here. The fourth is the Rameshwaram temple. This temple is said to be a replica of the Rameshwaram temple in the South. It is situated on the banks of the river Varuna and marks the northernmost point of the Yatra. It says in the scriptures that all the lingas of the Kashi Mandala fall under 42 kinds. In the Kapildhara temple, all 42 kinds are there in a single form. The Pasupani Vinayaka and Kapildhara temples mark the end of the Panch Kroshi Yatra. Sadguru, this is also called the city of death. In every Hindu household, you hear that one has to come to Kashi either to die or after one dies to do the final rites here. Why is this tradition? Why do we hear about Moksha and Nirvana and all those words associated with Kashi? I would love to know why Kashi is so significant and so linked with life and death. Most people do not choose to live in a great manner. They have an aspiration, at least they want to die in a great way. Dying gloriously means death leading, not just to disposal of body, but death leading to an ultimate liberation. That little aspiration brought millions of people to Kashi to die. It almost became like a city of death. People want to die here. What is exactly death? Is the decaying of body or the dying of body is death? On one hand, my body is dying and my thoughts, my ideas are becoming something which the world, suppose, embraces and they live without me. So is it, would you call it death? What would you define death as? Have you ever died? Did you die and come back? No. In your experience, no, isn't it? Somebody else may say so. It doesn't matter. In your experience, no. Did you ever see somebody who died and came back? I haven't seen anyone. Have you ever seen a dead man? Yeah. You've seen a dead man? I've seen dead body. Have you seen a dead body? Have you seen a dead man? I don't think so. So you have not seen one. You have not met one, nor have you experienced. So where did you get this idea that you will die? It is learnt thought. That's what. It is a fiction of the ignorant created by the ignorant. There is no such thing as death. There is just life, life and life moving from one dimension to another. So only when people are ignorant and their vision of life and their perception of life is very limited to physical nature of the existence then they will think of life and death otherwise there is just life and life. It's common knowledge that one is born. The life process, you didn't just pop out like pop and failure like a baby. Slowly you evolved in the mother's womb, isn't it? Life slowly infused itself into the flesh what is your mother's flesh? Slowly became you because you invaded that part and that became you. It's happened slowly. So even when you die you ever seen a bean spent some time with the dead body? You will see up to eleven to fourteen days fingernails will grow, facial hair will grow. All hair will grow but because if somebody has shaved you can see it's growing. The prana doesn't leave the system immediately. You are dead for practical purposes. For the world you are dead. For yourself you are not fully dead. That will take eleven to fourteen days. That's the reason the karmas and kriyas are done the way it is done. When you burn the body it's just instantly out. Everything is finished. You must go to Manikarni Ghat and see on an average in Kashi every day about forty to fifty bodies are burnt. Just sit there for three days. If you sit in sadhana therefore just for three days you will see what a difference it will make simply because this energy is being forcefully ejected from the bodies. It is almost like human sacrifice because the energy is being forcefully thrown out and there is a phenomenal amount of energy and if you know how to use it this is the reason why all the certain types of yogis are doing sadhana including Shiva himself always doing sadhana in the cremation ground because without herming any life you still can make use of life and especially when fire is there the element fire creates a certain aura or a certain sense of Akash around it always. Akash is significant for human perception. Only where there is Akash a strong presence of Akash one's ability to perceive is enhanced. So here both are happening. One thing is lot of energy being ejected out of the remaining aspect of prana is being thrown out because body is being destroyed the foundations are being taken away and there is fire. Together it is a very conducive atmosphere for one who wants to know for one who wants to heighten his own energies so cremation grounds have always been so. Sadguru also one more thing one hears about a lot is Kaalabhairava and death I have not read much about it but have heard a lot about it I would like to know the connection between Kaalabhairava and death. Upon hearing Brahma's lie that he had reached the very top of the eternal pillar of light a very fierce terrible form of Shiva emerged. He was Kaalbhairava the lord of death who ripped off Brahma's fifth head in an instant. This however made him guilty of Brahma Hathya the sin of killing a Brahmin and a Brahma's skull immediately stuck to Bhairava's hand. To get rid of the skull Bhairava took on the Kapala Vrata or the vow of the skull to absolve himself of the sin he wandered across the land using the skull as a pegging bow. Seeing this Vishnu advised Bhairava that returning to Kashi where he had revealed his true form was his only salvation. As soon as Bhairava entered Kashi the skull fell. The ground upon which the skull fell was known as Kapala Mochana Tirtha where the original Kaalbhairava temple was established. Here Bhairava remains as Paap Bhakshan or the Sin Eater consuming all the sins of the devotees and pilgrims who came to seek refuge in him. Thus Kashi is known as Mahasmashana the ultimate cremation ground. Right now we are in front of Manikarnik right next to that is the Kaalbhairava temple what you see there is Kaalbhairava temple Kaalbhairava means Bhairava is one who takes you beyond fear Kaalbhairava is the fear of time it is the fear of time it's not the fear of death time is the basis of fear if you had limitless amount of time it wouldn't matter isn't it it is time is running out if something happens time is a issue if something doesn't happen time is a issue that is why Kaalbhairava if you are free from the fear of time you are free from fear itself absolutely so Kaalbhairava is a deadly form of Shiva it was guaranteed if you come to Kashi you will attain to Mukti it doesn't matter what kind of a lousy creature you have been all your life all the lousy creatures started coming because they lived badly and they want to die gloriously so he said there needs to be some check so he took the form of Kaalbhairava it's called Bhairavi Yatana that means when the moment of death comes for all that you have been your whole many many lifetimes plays out in a moment with great intensity and whatever pleasures and sufferings and pains that need to happen to you will all happen it would have spread over many lifetimes but all that will happen to you in a microsecond but with the kind of intensity that you cannot hold so this is called as Bhairavi Yatana Yatana means ultimate suffering it's something that happens to you in hell he will make it happen to you here so when you want to do that kind of a job you need a right kind of costume Shiva put on the right kind of costume and became Kaalbhairava to create Bhairavi Yatana for you to create such phenomenal pain that you have not imagined possible but just for a moment so that after that nothing of the past remains in you this wretched state is far worse than that of the Bhairavi Yatana as the torturous life span of a Peshacha is three lakh years Peshacha mochan said to have once been a Peshacha himself was assigned by Kaalbhairava to carry out this role of delivering even the most sinful into ultimate liberation Satguru, with such a powerful mechanism set up for a human being to evolve and be liberated in this place is there a need to do any rituals in Kashi because you know what I hear from you is that there is a great design to this place the yantra you talked about so your mere presence here should be enough still I see many people come here to do rituals of various kinds what is the significance of such rituals Kashi is full of rituals it was the center of rituals there is nothing as sure fire as doing something internal that is the best way to do it so once you've been initiated into your process that is what you should depend on why these things are built is it's for the public they do not know how to do anything with themselves but they know enough that something needs to be done with them so when that is the case an instrument like this the rituals that came along with the instrument are very useful because it handles people en masse there was something called a saptarishi puja saptarishis means the seven sages who were the first disciples of Shiva they were to leave to carry this message and go when they asked him how should we worship you he taught them a method he said you do it this way I will be there that method was taught to them and they taught to the people and today it continues in the same tradition the way Shiva taught it to the seven sages that process they started off and they did it in such a way stacks and stacks of energy they built this may not be tangible for other people for me it's a living reality and people will just burst into tears they don't know what it is those who are doing it they do not know what it is but they are sticking to the procedure that's been taught to them and making it happen see the guy who is driving this boat does not know how to build an engine he has just learned to use it and it works so they just learned to use it as the saptarishis would have done seven people sat down there and they did this and it was a phenomena I have never seen anything so energetic I don't go there to pray I don't go to ask I have never done abhishekam pujas in any temple in my life okay but this is a phenomenal science you must come and sit in the dhyanalinga temple no ritual, no mantra, no puja no nothing it's always in total silence just come and sit there and see because it's essentially created for meditativeness people who have no idea what's meditation people who have no instruction without an instruction you can make people meditative so these are technologies these are not belief systems technology has gone bad my last question to you is when somebody comes to kashi what is a must one should experience here first of all to come prepared a little bit I would say if you are traveling to kashi at least for three months if you are dedicated to some simple meditative process meditative for some time make yourself little more sensitive and come leave all your beliefs at home and come thank you, thank you this is the most complex and sophisticated machine on the planet that's kashi it's phenomenal that somebody created a place like this we bow down to them for the intelligence behind it the competence behind it the compassion behind it to make it available to everybody this is what the world needs not dogma not philosophies not belief systems human ability to go beyond our sense organs and be able to perceive something which is right now considered beyond this is the only way a human being will know this is the only way a human consciousness will expand this is the only way a human being will evolve beyond narrow divisions that have happened in human societies but those instruments are being systematically destroyed it's important that these things are brought back past we have survived the question is the future will be survived this has been unfortunate history of humanity that the greatest things on the planet will not survive the crudest things will survive unless societies, individual human beings take care to nourish them it's very important if you want a refined society for tomorrow for our children and their children to live if you want a refined society it's very important we nurture the sophistication that is around otherwise crude things will dominate anyway very easy to manifest the crude very difficult to manifest the sophistication because it takes thousands of years to evolve it so it is a responsibility that we have as a generation of people to bring out the subtle aspects of life and somehow to make them live to whatever extent everybody can do if we cannot create another Kashi there exist in one we should preserve to whatever extent we can and create more instruments through which human beings can connect to larger possibility we don't need more books to read we need more practical instruments and methods through which a human being can expand his sense of who he is right now Thank you