Rudraksha and Ek (one) mukhi Rudraksha

This is the first part of the two part series on Rudraksha both articles together cover the following topics:

Information about Rudraksha plus some information about the Kohinoor diamond and the Indian Vedic cows, about Kriya yoga and finally some criticism about sadhguru jaggi vasudev

Article last updated on 01^st march 2017

Rudraksha English names: Blue Marble Tree, Bead Tree, Lily of the Valley Tree, Blue Olive Berry, Blue Fig, Ash Quandong, Fairy Petticoats, Native Olive, White Boree, Fringe Bells Ultrasum-Bead tree,

Sanskrit: Rudraksha;   Hindi: Rudrak; Tamil: rudrakshi Telugu: aakkam, Rudra-challu Bengali: rudrakya; Oriya: Rudrakhyo; Malyalam: Rudraksham;  Kannada: Tamarai; Assam: Rudrai,

When I travel I bring back devotional items like bhasma from akhand dhuni (ashes from eternal fire maintained in certain ancient temples or by sadhus),Ganga jal also items like rudraksha, chandan, bhojpatra etc after offering them at ancient temples and distribute them as Prasad

Many people want a one mukhi round rudraksha, let me tell you something about it

One mukhi rudraksha

Ek mukhi rudraksha

The common one mukhi rudraksha called ek mukhi are available in half-moon, cashew-nut shaped

The correct round type of one mukhi rudraksha are so rare that no one has seen them and those that are available at exorbitant rates are mostly fake

The royal family of Nepal-- Shah dynasty has a few of them, the king of Nepal presented one to our ex-prime minister Indira Gandhi; we all know what happened to both these families the Shah dynasty slowly lost all their powers and finally most of the family members were massacred and the same fate came over Indira Gandhi and her two sons 

One mukhi round rudraksha are best kept in temples or with spiritually elevated persons, ordinary people should not aspire for it, you see some birds have extremely powerful wings which helps them to migrate across continents, hunt etc. but powerful wings are developed very gradually as the bird learns to fly, if very strong wings are developed initially the bird will not be able to handle the speed generated and kill itself

Similarly we receive the sacred devotional items as and when we are prepared for it  

Coming back to the first point, maybe that is why Maharaja Ranjit Singh had willed that the Kohinoor diamond would not be kept with the royal family anymore and that it should be given to the Jagannath Temple in Orissa but the British rulers took it by force; at least Queen Victoria had the wisdom and she wrote in her will that the Kohinoor should only be worn by a female queen. 

Often I wonder that behind so much Pomp, such magnificent and splendid appearance, grandeur the members of the British royal family are nothing but plunderers, mass murderers.

Please click on the link to read

http://bhoj11.blogspot.com/2012/07/in-spite-of-world-history-we-have-to.html

In spite of the worldhistory we have to stay in love.

The writer and historian William Dalrymple has researched that before the Kohinoor reached the British, it had already passed through a number of hands, all of which were not “Indian”; he says “I think there is no doubt about that British took away the diamond by force, It is complete nonsense that it was gifted by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikhs. Maharaja Ranjit Singh kept it with him his whole life. It was during the regency of his son Duleep Singh that the diamond was taken away.”

He adds further that “The diamond did not come peacefully to Ranjit Singh either. Indians claim that Shah Shujah gave the diamond to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. But Shah Shujah’s autobiography clearly mentions that his son was tortured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh before he took away the diamond….. So if the British took it by force, so did the Indians.”

The only difference is that Raja Ranjit Singh brought back by force what originally belonged to India

Some information about rudraksha

Family:  elaeocarpaceae

Genus: elaeocarpus----there are 350 species of elaeocarpus, And there is much confusion in their botanical names; the most common names of species of round Rudraksha are Elaeocarpus ganitrus and Elaeocarpus angustifolius

Rudraksha is not a fruit, it is found inside a fruit and is an Endocarp that is the covering of a seed, if you cut a Rudraksha you will find seeds inside hence they are called beads or some call them stones; I will explain the various stages of growth later

Rudraksha are classified as per their mukhis

A mukhi or dhari or facet or cleft is a line from the top to the bottom of the Rudraksha

This is a 4 mukhi Rudraksha because it has 4 lines

A 7 mukhi Rudraksha has 7 lines

12 mukhi

15 mukhi

One important thing is that inside the Rudrakash bead there are compartments which hold one seed each example a five mukhi bead will have five clefts or lines visible outside and five internal compartments which hold one seed each hence a five mukhi rudraksha will have five seeds, a ten mukhi bead will have ten clefts and ten seeds, etc.  So the number of internal seeds should be the same as the number of mukh in any rudraksha.

In this image an eight mukhi bead is cut into two and you see eight compartments each will have a seed inside, the middle big hole is the central hollow from which we pass the thread, wire or chain  

This 5 mukhi bead has five seeds inside

However, you will see that the 14 mukhi bead on the right only 6 compartments are fully developed, 2 are semi developed and rest 6 are hardly developed, so it is very difficult to make out the correct formation of compartments seeing a X-ray of the bead, like in the image of a 10 mukhi bead below one compartment is not developed

And in many beads, particularly those beyond eight mukhi, it has been observed that the seeds often gets overlapped or in some cases some of the seeds do not attain complete growth; hence it is difficult to identify a genuine bead by looking at its X-ray

Various stages of growth

The Rudraksha tree flowers, not all flowering trees produce fruits; it takes many years for the tree to bear fruits

Flowers of Elaeocarpus ganitrus on left and flowers of Elaeocarpus angustifolius on right

Unripe green coloured fruits

Rudraksha bead inside the unripe fruit

Ripe fruits are blue in colour

Ripe fruits fall to the ground

When the blue cover is removed the Rudraksha bead appears

If the blue cover is not removed in time; the cover hardens and turns black; then it is very difficult to remove the cover, the hardened fruit has to be dipped in water and the cover rubbed with a hard brush

Later on the Rudraksha bead has to be cleaned and dipped in oil for a few days

Different types of Rudraksha

Rudraksha trees are found in many places worldwide but Rudraksha beads are available from 3 countries

Nepal: the best quality

Indonesia also called Java beads: second best

India: not a good quality

Nepal beads are round, well developed with a high density, Indonesia beads are smaller in size and not as developed compared to Nepal beads, Indian beads have a low density

 Nepal bead is on the left and Indian bead on right

Indonesian bead on the left and Indian bead on right

India had good quality of Rudraksha trees but they were cut down by the British rulers as the light and strong white wood which is a good quality timber was excellent to make aeroplane propellers during World War 1; after that no one made any efforts to replant these trees as no one cares for our Vedic culture everyone wants to make fast money, it is a pity that only few of our Vedic humped cows which produce A2 nontoxic milk are left, Vedic cows have a surya nadi because of which Gold is produced not only in their milk but also in their urine; scientist have proved this by abstracting Gold from their urine, please click on the links to read articles

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/gold-cow-urine-junagadh-agricultural-university-test-result-2882431/

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/06/28/cow-urine-gold_n_10709604.html

It is such a shame that India where there was once the Vedic way of living is the biggest exporter of beef and all the fake Rudraksha which are available in the market are made in India

Please click on the link to read the article on Vedas

http://bhoj11.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-pilgrimage-called-life-part-2.html

A Pilgrimagecalled Life---part 2

Spherical (round) big size Rudraksha with natural hole are the best

Other types of Rudraksha are

I will explain about following types of Rudraksha

Haridwar / Dehradun Rudraksha

South Indian type Rudraksha

Flat elliptical shaped South Indian Bhadraksh

Gaurishankar

Sawar

Trijuti

Ganesh rudraksha

Nandi rudraksha, Dwi Ganesh.

Gupt mukhi

Haridwar / Dehradun Rudraksha

Commonly known as Indian oval three mukhi Rudraksha they are oval in shape with less density and they do not have a proper centre hole, the bead has to be drilled to create a big hole for the thread to pass; belonging to the species Elaeocarpus serratus; 90% of beads under this species are three mukhi, rest are two mukhi and very rarely a one mukhi is produced

Unlike the round Rudraksha bead, the oval Indian bead has only one seed inside for three, two as well as one mukhi

In the above photo I am wearing the Indian oval beads (Auroville meditation centre in the background) (click on the photo to enlarge it); I received them from the Keshav ashram at Haridwar who have a more than 100 years old Rudraksha tree planted by lahiri mahasaya, also some of lahiri mahasaya’s ashes are kept in this ashram

It is indeed commendable that this ashram is not turned into a commercial joint like most ashrams; such a huge area has been kept in its pristine green form; they do not sell the Rudraksha beads but give them for free to all who visit the ashram

The Indian Rudraksha tree at the ashram

Swami Keshvanand

Ashram

Accommodation is excellent; they have constructed only 4 rooms

Ashram is right on the bank of the Ganga

I collected a few unripe beads which had fallen to the ground

I would like to add a note about Kriya yoga; A person who was doing aura photography told me that practices like Kriya yoga where you pull up your Kundalini Shakti (energy) can be dangerous as our lower chakras are not purified first.

I often think that why so many Gurus who teach Kriya yoga or practice Kundalini yoga are themselves not in the best of health, many have suffered from cancer, ill health, sudden death etc

All the Kriya yoga gurus teach a different method; which itself proves that the original authentic teachings have been lost over the years

My search for a guru had taken to me to Varanasi (Benares) where I met Shibendu Lahiri, the great grandson of Lahiri Mahasay, I found him to be an insane person

South Indian type Rudraksha

Half-moon, crescent moon or Cashew-nut shaped 

These beads are straight and not moon shaped

Species: Elaeocarpus tuberculatus: Mostly available in one mukhi called as One mukhi Chandrakar (half-moon), Cashew-nut shaped, crescent moon shaped are considered as an alternative to one mukhi round Nepal variety. (Sometimes two, three and four mukhis are also available in this shape) However, the beads are not having the properties – like the natural hole, texture, density and shape of the original one mukhi rudraksha. In terms of internal structure, it has just one wide compartment. Even the two, three or four mukhi Chandrakars too have only one compartment inside which is contrary to the accepted norm of recognizing the mukh in a typical Roxb (round) variety. For wearing, it is clamped using a specially designed cage and hole is never drilled.

There are many trees of this species in South India and they are available for a very cheap rate; but because of the advertisements and promotions the price has been hiked up

Flat elliptical shaped South Indian Bhadraksh

Species: Elaeocarpus tuberculatus; available in two mukhi only, they are flat without a natural hole, light in weight and not so thorny; they are not considered as Rudraksha beads and are called Bhadraksh

Gaurishankar

We come across two fruits which are joined together, so rarely two Rudraksha fruits join together on the tree and the resultant bead is a joint bead, here mukhis are counted together, some gaurishankar have 21 mukhis, they mostly have one common hole but some have two separate holes

Most of gaurishankars available are fake; one indication to judge a genuine bead is that the beads should not join close to each other in a flat way and the joint should emanate from inside the bead and not merely peripherally.

Sawar

Sawar means a rider; very rarely a bead of one mukhi rides over another bead (similar to gaurishankar), again most available are fake, as dealers separate the one mukhi and sell them at a high price

  

Trijuti

Trijuti also known as Tribhagi, Gauri Path or Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh are three beads joint naturally together

Trijuti with nearly equal spacing and uniform bead size is an absolute rarity.

Again most beads available are fake

Ganesh rudraksha

Some people get obsessed with the image of Ganesh in rudraksha to such an extent that they look for the contours (an outline representing or bounding the shape or form of something) on the surface of any rudraksha resembling the trunk of the elephant God Lord Ganesh.

So any projection in a Rudraksha is counted as a Ganesh Rudraksha

Ganapati was mentioned in the Vedas; but the idol with the elephant head and human body does not find any mention in the Vedas,

I will write about it in the blog series “A pilgrimage called life” and the truth I will write may disappoint some people

Nandi rudraksha, Dwi Ganesh.

Similar to Ganesh Rudraksha but with two trunk-like protrusions on two sides of the bead

Gupt mukhi

A rudraksha bead without mukhis, that is without lines formed

End of part 1; article will be continued in part 2