Hello Forum Readers
I am told that I must introduce myself as a new member of this forum and thus this post serves to do so.
First, at the beginning of this like all other journeys, I must begin with praise to the Lord Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, Whom I ask to bless this journey and whatever it brings. This praise will be in the form of my recitation of the mantra below and then playing a recorded version of it with background music as I compose the rest of this post. Feel free to do the same if it pleases you and reap the benefits of Lord Ganapatiâs pleasure. Or not thatâs totally your choice and to be frank, I would advise you be cautious approaching the Deva with anything but intentions of the purely dharmic variety. Approaching Them with disingenuous praise just signals you out among the masses in ways you probably wouldnât want if you value the retention of this incarnation or are otherwise deluded by the pleasures of the transient states of samsara.
à„ à€à€ à€à€Łà€Șà€€à€Żà„ à€šà€źà€
(in Latin characters) Om Gan Ganapataye Namaha
Chant Centralâs Rendition of This Mantra Exuding Tantric Energy
About My Handle
My name is not Ganapati Saraswati, its Tom if you must know, but I use that name in particular as it was the name of Trilanga Swami, an Indian aesthetic known in Varanasi for his extremely long life of 280 years, seemingly magical powers (such as floating above the Ganges meditating or appearing out of nowhere). He is part of a group of Hindu Sants that have purported lifespans exceeding what medical science believes possible, but given his particular existence being attested to be centuries of visitors to the area, I am leaning towards the poor guy really lived for 280 years, that sucks side of things.
Other than his siddhi (magic powers obtained by virtue of yogic practice or extremely long austerities), I find this quote from the Wikipedia article so amusing as to carry on his name as a nom de guerre:
During his last days, he took up living like a python (ajagaravritti) in which he sat still without any movement, and devotees poured water (abhisheka) on him from early morning till noon, looking upon him as a living incarnation of Shiva
Trilanga Swami is thinking to himself, Get on with it already dude!
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Answers to the Suggested Introduction Questions
How long have you been practicing?
In some sense, when I was about 10 in the form of meditation after reading a pamphlet that came with a Buddha statue I bought with my allowance money at a bookstore in the mall, like most Westerners I craved the imagery of Tibetan Buddhism but was unsure where it was found so that translated into a tepid interest in Buddhism in general. Which was 22 years ago (wow! old much?) Though until I had a spontaneous kundalini awakening at 17, I was really more intellectually curious in what made people believe in all that hokey religious crap, being the kid from secular parents in Catholic school looking perplexed at my peers and the adults strange behaviors. While I wonât go into the full, often frankly insane seeming, series of events over the course of the years since that and my reluctant, often slow awakening to the subtle aspects of reality that Lord Shiva pulled me through kicking and screaming, suffice to say that began a process of my breaking to the yoke of dharma.
Do you follow any particular system or tradition?
Very technically I subscribe to the Smarta tradition of Hinduism, due to my acceptance of the validity of paths with other aspects of the Divinity asserted as Supreme (for Divinity, like all else, is one and the different Divinities are aspects of the same One/Brahman seen differently for the same reason looking at the same mountain from different vantages, people see it differently). However, that position only accepts that many rivers lead to the ocean, not which riverâs course I am running thus you are in for a bit of a wallpost on that front don't say you didn't ask for it.
While differing with it on certain points, or more accurately it seems differing with the words chosen by various translators, my experience informs my adherence to the Trika system of the Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), also called Kashmir Shaivism. You can read all about it on Wikipedia for a general grasp of its specific characteristics but if you understand these characteristics and how they fit under the overall âHinduâ umbrella, then you would have probably come across it as it is popular due to the charisma of its 20th century adherents and teachers that churned up significant academic interest in the West and is one of the traditions informing notions of the kundalini (which it inherits from the Kaula Tantriks of the Shaktist tradtions, which the Supreme Justice of the Bombay High Courts practiced with and translated scriptures of under the pen name Arthur Avalon).
Nonetheless, I like many others subscribing to the last organic and unbroken derivative of the Proto-Indo-European religion am open to learning from other traditions as the Gods speak through many mouths the wisdom sought by seekers such as myself, with vidiya to guide me and the often rude intercessions of Divine correction when I veer into seeking selfish gain I can discern that which rings of spiritual truth and that which the demon Kali (not to be confused with the Goddess Kali-Ma, who is especially important in my practice) lays as traps to twist those seeking Truth into animals like the many more willing firstborn in his wicked age of decay we endure at present.
Do you have any practical experience in magick?
Yes, of the Hindu varieties I have experience both in the most common forms like mantra, mudra, asanas (often called yoga but merely a part introduced by hatha yoga and mentioned only once in the Yoga Sutras), puja, homa and the various inner and outer tantric forms such as the inner yajna, the often overstated sexual practices, yantras (mandalas to Buddhists), pranayama, âkundalini yogaâ (as practiced by the White Sikhs following Guru Gobind Singh, who arenât so bad, as well as the more traditional form) and the white whale of my practice and study, Lingum Magick. This experience is both of traditional rituals (when implements are available, I lack a corpse for the Shava Sadhana and a skull for my kapala but I am sure the Gods will provide even if in ways I canât expect these to arrive)
I also have experience with the Norse traditions of my forefathers (surprise!), Odin being a Deva I interact often with and see as the Kuladeva (literally family/clan deity) who keeps watch over His sons who may not commonly offer Him worship but Whom is kind to His sons that retain the sense of honor and duty He has given them. Equivalences between that branch of the Indo-European paganism and that which has continued to evolve in India have revealed themselves to me before I had known to look for such, such as Durga riding a lion or tiger and Freyaâs chariot pulled by forest cats. Nonetheless, my runic experience is limited to their use as an alternative script for writing in English and my only distinctly Norse rituals involve my approximation of the bear cult warriors when angry enough, so I am excited to see what others do along these lines.
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Where are you from?
The San Francisco Bay Area in California. Grew up in the East Bay, have the three different accents to show for it even. -
Photos if youâre comfortable
Current ambitions/struggles
In terms of my practice trying to retain myself to the extent possible within the confines of adherence to the duties I owe my ancestors and the Deva after divining as much through the listening to the subtle murmurs of the Divine passing as wisps in the wind and keeping myself grounded in the Dharma. The last few years, going through the process of teaching myself a bunch of technical skills from web development to Linux internals and now even LLMs, I have studied the many religious traditions and scriptures of Hindu origin as a sort of hobby or past time when I could not bare looking at additional lines of code (I donât like passive media other than music and coding killed video games for me, my tastes have always been dry) and all of what I have amassed in the process has been a faithful companion and source of endless comfort and levity of being, so I will inevitably continue along those lines and when I have forgotten them, they appear in some way or I notice separate strands of interests coalescing together as the pager beep that the Lord of the Meeting Rivers reminds me to call home to Mount Kailash with.
