The New Light The significance of the Parnasala flows from Navajyothi Sree Karunakara Guru's Life and Realization for the world. The Guru took birth on Thursday, 1st September, 1927, at Chandiroor, a small village in Alappuzha district of Kerala. Guru was very quiet in his childhood. He felt inside him a 'Light' effulgence - prompted by which he spoke occasionally. He was privately tutored by a local school teacher at the age of eight. When he was 13, he approached his teacher and told him about his desire to lead the life of an ascetic. Guru thus reached Aluva Advaita Ashram in 1940. He lived in Sivagiri Mutt and its branch ashrams for 17 years. He required the guidance of a spiritual master to clarify his childhood visionary experience of the 'Light'. Being born with an inherent spiritual mission, he struggled in the absence of a spiritual guide. But soon the Master he was waiting for came into his life. Qureshia Fakir, a wandering Sufi saint, sensed the glitter of Guru's soul and embraced him exclaiming three times, “You are the Heir, You are the Heir, You are the Heir''. Guru accepted Qureshia Fakir, known also as Pattani Swami, as his spiritual guide for self- attainment. Several years went by with extreme sacrifices, pain and difficulties. At the end of it all, he came to Pothencode, near Thiruvananthapuram, and established Santhigiri Ashram in the year 1964. He built a ‘Parnasala’ – a single thatched room with four wooden pillars supporting it. That was the nascent form of ‘Parnasala’. In the year 1969, it was tiled with the permission of Guru. It was here Guru sat and discoursed to the disciples. The spiritual completion of Guru took place in the year 1974 after several ordeals and sacrifices that are beyond human endurance. A revelation came from the Supreme Effulgence of Brahman that what it (Brahman) had desired for long ages has now been fulfilled through Guru. Along with it came the corrections to many ages of spiritual error. Guru revealed that the tragedies and difficulties each man suffers in the world are due to the karmic errors. By his spiritual completion, Guru was ordained to perform spiritual purification of the souls, the salvation of souls from all karmic impurities. Along with it a large community of disciples who recognized Guru’s supreme spiritual ascendancy came into existence in Santhigiri , as the Santhigiri Guru Parampara. |