SYMPOSIUMS

LECTURE

No. 2 – THE MONASTERY OF MANDAROM SHAMBHASALEM

THE MONASTERY OF MANDAROM SHAMBHASALEM

I. THE FOUNDER OF THE MONASTERY AND OF THE AUMIST RELIGION: HIS HOLINESS LORD HAMSAH MANARAH

His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH is the Director and Founder of the Monastery of Mandarom and of the Order of the Knights of the Triumphant Vajra, and the Patriarch of Aumism, the universal Religion. He was born into a French family that practised traditional Catholicism. While pursuing advanced university studies in law, philosophy, economics and medicine, His Holiness devoted his nights to “esoteric research”.

Initiated into the mysteries of the Kabbalah and Alchemy, He also knew from the inside many Western “philosophical” circles (Freemasonry, the Rosicrucians, Martinist Lodges, the Holy Grail), within which He sometimes held important responsibilities.

After travelling to the Holy Land and the Middle East, His Holiness went to India in answer to an inner call. He stayed with the sage Swami Sivananda, who accepted him as a disciple and, on 13 February 1961 in Rishikesh in the Himalayas, gave him the initiation of “sannyasa”, that of the renunciant consecrated to God, and conferred on Him the name Swami Hamsananda Sarasvati. In Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, Hamsananda means “Bliss in the Absolute”, and this initiation linked him to the spiritual lineage of the Sarasvatis, an order of ascetics founded in the 7th century by Shankara.

Lord HAMSAH MANARAH was also initiated into the paths of Sufism and Jainism, into various branches of Buddhism and Hinduism, into Japanese Shingon and into certain African religions.

Back in France, His Holiness settled in an isolated cave in the Vaucluse, where He practised rigorous ascetic disciplines, praying, meditating, experimenting and developing techniques to enable those willing to make the necessary efforts “to attain union with the Divine”. In this way He revived the tradition of the Christian Desert Fathers and of the great Tibetan yogis. In this icy place, open to the wind and rain, the Lord lived through the harsh winter of 1962-1963, having to melt snow to drink and wash.

His secret wish was to lead such a life of solitude and prayer permanently. Pushed to leave his austere retreat by the flood of pilgrims coming to meet him in his cramped cave, He gave up His life as a hermit in order to make Himself available to all, to answer the call of souls thirsting for Light, and also out of compassion for the suffering of the world.

In His book Mémoires d’un Yogi, published in 1972, He himself writes: “Circumstances arranged themselves so that, in spite of myself, I had to instruct seekers on the path.” A small farm near His cave thus became his first ashram (monastery). At that time, He instructed His first disciples, began writing what would become the Aumist Teaching, and started with books on Yoga that would be reprinted many times. He created the Order of the Knights of the Golden Lotus, centred on the quest for spiritual liberation.

Lord HAMSAH MANARAH experienced on several occasions mystical Fusion in GOD, the higher states of Consciousness called in India “Nirvikalpa Samadhi”, which He also renounced in order to remain available and to be at every moment the Servant of all, the supreme mark of the Realised Being. He went to the very end of the mystical offering inherent in exceptional souls.

In 1969, surrounded by a handful of disciples, His Holiness moved to the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and, with only a tent for shelter, founded the monastery of Mandarom.

The Lord received many initiatic titles. Hindu and Jain Masters gave him the titles of Acharya and Mahacharya, “great Instructor teaching what He has Himself realised”. One of them conferred on Him the title of Adinath, which means First Master, reserved for a few rare realised beings regarded as divine incarnations. In 1971, the great yogi Shri Yogeshwarananda conferred on Him the title of Shri 108 Maharaja Yoga Acharya and, in 1977, during a stay at the Holy City, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa named him Karma Tensing Dorje. Several Lamas recognised in Him a Mahasiddha, or “perfectly accomplished Being”.

Heir to the main Lineages of East and West, Lord HAMSAH MANARAH is thus a Purna Yogi, which means “complete Master”, able to initiate in several paths and to guide each person from their own religion of origin, according to their tendencies and aspirations.

His exceptional radiance and the ecumenical dimension of His Teaching drew to Him many disciples, but also Masters from all horizons.

Tibetan lamas and religious leaders, Yogis, heads of Hindu, Jain and Japanese monasteries, and Christian priests and Bishops came to meet him at the Holy City.

Because of his intense work of prayer, His Name Hamsananda Sarasvati became HAMSAH MANARAH. HAMSAH designates the Absolute, the Divine Breath; MANARAH is its manifestation, the Column of Light that links GOD to human beings.

In 1990, the Lord revealed Himself to the whole world as the COSMOPLANETARY MESSIAH OF SYNTHESIS, for He has returned for all the Traditions at the same time, as announced in the sacred texts. He embodies the Goal that everyone can reach through work on oneself and the awakening of the Divine present in every human being.

The Messiah has returned to save the earth and restore the Golden Age by giving human beings the means to take charge of their future.

In the Aumist religion, the Messiah HAMSAH MANARAH founded the universal religion, but also the Lineage of the HIEROKARANTINE, the lineage of divine Bodies for Aumism, just as that of the KARMAPAS is, for example, for Vajrayana Buddhism. This Lineage ensures the continuity of the dogma of the Unity of the Faces of God. Lord HAMSAH MANARAH, the first HIEROKARANTINE, began the reconstruction of the Temple Pyramid of the Unity of the Faces of God.

To help everyone, His Holiness wrote 22 books that make the Teaching of the Aumist religion accessible to all.

The Lord left His body of flesh in March 1998 but, while preparing His return, He continues His Work. The religion He founded serves the divine plan for the best spiritual evolution of all beings, for unity between peoples and religions, and for the growth of the forces of Love, thus restoring the Golden Age of Unity.

In 2005, Éditions du Mandarom published the book Sur les pas du Messie. During the breaks, you are welcome to look at this book at the Foundation’s stand and to see photos of the Lord at different periods of His life: these photos will speak to you directly, from heart to heart, from soul to soul…

But right now, you are going to see photos of the monastery during a guided tour.

II. A TOUR OF THE MONASTERY

After this reminder of the initiatic journey of His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH, here is another aspect of His Mission: the building of the Holy City of Mandarom Shambhasalem, which I invite you to visit in pictures. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mandarom, which is both:

a monastery;
and the world centre of the Aumist religion.

THE MONASTERY

From the point of view of monastic life, Mandarom is organised and run like most of the monasteries that exist in the world. Its first purpose is to offer all those who are “wishing to express the perfection of the divine” a setting of silence and meditation suited to their vocation. Mandarom is unusual in being mixed, that is, it welcomes both monks and nuns, who are housed in separate buildings. The nuns have exactly the same status as their male brothers. They can hold every office in the Aumist religion. As in all monasteries, the monks and nuns are celibate (the word monk comes from the Latin “monos”, meaning alone). The monastery provides for all the needs of the monks and nuns, such as food, clothing, housing and health care. In return, the monks and nuns keep the monastery running: the regularity of religious services, the supervision and training of novices, management, administration and upkeep of the premises, and the making and selling of religious crafts. They welcome the faithful who come to attend services or to stay or make retreats at the monastery. They welcome the many visitors in several languages, and so on.

THE WORLD CENTRE OF THE AUMIST RELIGION

During this tour, we will focus more on Mandarom as the world centre of Aumism, in order to give an overview of this universal religion of the third millennium. The Holy City of Mandarom Shambhasalem is “the spiritual and mystical pole… the Sacred cardinal direction”^[1] of the Aumist religion, “the anchor point of God in matter”^[2].

The architecture of the monastery of Mandarom Shambhasalem is distinctive and unusual for the West. Yet the temples and statues are not a return to the outdated worship of idols. Mandarom is a book open to all, a “mandala” or symbolic figure whose function is to express in three dimensions, enhanced by colour, the doctrine of the Aumist religion. It teaches the meaning of existence, the human condition, and the role and place of human beings in the city, in society, on the Planet, in the universe and in the cosmos. This is to foster, without any kind of discrimination, the education, fulfilment and well-being of all beings. By placing the human being at the heart of these representations, Mandarom makes it easier to understand and to approach the great truths and eternal wisdom. The method is not exceptional. Over the centuries, it has been adopted by many religions, as the carved portals of our cathedrals and the many temples around the world bear witness. In fact, the architecture of the monastery follows a tradition several thousand years old, which consists in symbolically expressing the universal laws and principles that, since the origin of creation, have governed the happy manifestation of life and the evolution and spiritualisation of human beings and, with them, of all the kingdoms of nature.

As we will see during this talk, when the essential laws of life are no longer respected, the future of humanity is compromised and endangered.

THE STATUE OF MARIA COSMICA

At the entrance to the monastery, the statue of Maria Cosmica and the four archangels welcome the visitor.^[3] Maria Cosmica is the divine and cosmic mother, the maternal and feminine aspect of God, a notion that, depending on the religion, is expressed in various forms of female deities, goddesses or Our Lady. Like all mothers, the cosmic mother ensures gestation and procreation. Maria Cosmica is the universal matrix that gives birth to the various elements that make up the visible and invisible world. Her shield shows that, as well as giving life and love, she is a protector. The torch she holds in her right hand shows that she dispenses Light and Knowledge. The function of Maria Cosmica within Creation is “to protect the Mission of the Messiah… to advocate the ideal of unity… to purify perverted energies”. To carry out her ministry, Maria Cosmica is accompanied by the four Archangels of the Throne of God. Each of them exercises his functions over one of the four cardinal points of the universe: north, east, south and west. With their weapons, the archangels eliminate the evil that disturbs life; with their shields, they protect the good that favours life.

On the human level, the main function of the cosmic mother is to help seekers and pilgrims of the Absolute to give birth to the new man of the Golden Age, the one who, according to the Gospel of John (Jn 1:13), was born “not of blood… nor of the will of the flesh… but of God”.

Thus, from the entrance of the monastery, the goal proposed by the Aumist religion is set out: to help human beings become this new man “wishing to express the Perfection of the Divine” within himself. The emergence of this “new man” inevitably requires a revolution of consciousness that must banish all religious fanaticism and develop a sense of universalism and respect for all the elements of creation.

THE COVENANT BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

After the statue of Maria Cosmica, what particularly catches the visitor’s attention are the great statues. Mandarom is the only place in the world where one can see, side by side, a large statue of Christ 17 metres high and a 21-metre statue of the Buddha.

It is precisely to banish all forms of sectarianism and to promote the spirit of unity that the statues of Christ and the Buddha were erected in the same place at Mandarom. These two statues embody the spirit of tolerance and unity of the Aumist religion. They bear witness, for the millennia to come, to “the Fusion and the Covenant”^[4] that Lord HAMSAH MANARAH brought about between the two great religious traditions of East and West. This fusion “of the feasts of Easter and Vesak (the feast of the Buddha)” took place during a great “ritual performed in the Holy City of Mandarom Shambhasalem on 11 June 1987”. This “new Covenant” is the “symbol of the coming together of peoples” and of churches, which Aumism has the mission and vocation to promote among humanity.

AUMISM: A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

It is again to help humanity acquire both this religious tolerance and this sense of the universal that Mandarom brings together, in one and the same place and without any discrimination, temples dedicated to the most important religions on the planet.

In addition to the two great statues of Christ and the Buddha, visitors to Mandarom can see:

a totem representing the oldest natural and animist religions on the planet;
temples dedicated:
- to Hinduism,
- to Judaism,
- to Islam,
- and to certain aspects and faces of God that act as specific creative energies.

The proximity of these various temples fosters understanding of and respect for the different religions and aspects of God, in keeping with this quotation from the Bhagavad Gita: “Whatever the name by which God is called, He always remains the same.”

THE UNITY OF THE FACES OF GOD

The Aumist religion expresses this quotation from the Bhagavad Gita in the dogma of “the Unity of the Faces of God”, the only dogma of the Aumist religion. One of the missions of Aumism is to make as many human beings as possible aware of this great truth.

It is a matter of realising that, beyond the different names by which men, peoples and civilisations have called God over the ages and millennia, He always remains “the same”. Accepting this fundamental truth means putting an end to all forms of rivalry, sectarianism, fanaticism, confrontation and the scandalous interreligious conflicts that still stain the planet with blood today. Accepting this truth means adopting responsible human behaviour in order to found a society based on understanding and on mutual respect for each person’s views and beliefs. It is urgent that human beings stop waging war, shedding blood and killing one another in the name of God.

With the concept of the Unity of the Faces of God, the Aumist religion “works for the coming together of peoples and Churches with a view to a unity that fosters Peace, harmony and the return of the Golden Age on Earth”.

It is important to note that the temples of Mandarom are energised and made active and alive by the daily prayers and the religious services regularly celebrated by the monks and nuns, the knights and the faithful. From six in the morning to nine in the evening, six sessions of collective prayer take place every day in this monastery.

To explain the doctrine of Aumism and nourish the meditation of monks, nuns and visitors, His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH designed a large number of highly elaborate symbols rich in teaching.

THE HEXAMIDE

Among these, here is the Hexamide. As well as summing up an important part of Aumist doctrine, this symbol sheds light on the social and human role assigned to religions.

The Hexamide takes the form of a twelve-sided pyramid. Each face of the pyramid, associated with a colour of the rainbow, represents one of the great religions of the planet: the religions of Nature, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Jainism, Shintoism, Mazdaism, Taoism, and so on. The sphere at the top represents God in a radiance of Light. At the centre of the sphere, God, the Absolute or universal Consciousness, the sum of all the consciousnesses of the universes, is symbolised by the Sanskrit character of the creative Word Om or Aum.

The Hexamide shows first of all that all religions, existing or past, emanate from one and the same origin, God, who is the source of all life. Originally, religions are simply an adaptation of the One to the different mentalities and cultures of the peoples concerned.

But over time religions become secularised. After several centuries and millennia of theological debates, councils and changing ways of life, the original message becomes diluted and loses its authenticity and its power of conviction. As they move away from their source, that is, from God, the different doctrines become irreconcilable. At the base of the Pyramid, the distances and the incomprehension that separate the followers of the religions become so great that they give rise to opposition and conflict. Daughters of one and the same Father, God, the religions end up becoming rivals and enemies, to the point of fighting one another and shedding blood in the name of God, which is the worst of aberrations.

To understand the mechanisms at work, we must know that the Unity of the Faces of God is complemented by the Law of Evolution. This Law implies that “everything that is born must have as its goal to reach the next level”.^[5]

THE LAW OF EVOLUTION

The Law of Evolution animates and energises creation. When deviations of any kind occur within humanity, evolution is disrupted. Unable to fulfil its function properly, the process can then be reversed. From evolutionary and creative, it can become involutionary and destructive of life. In the extreme, it can lead to the disappearance of humanity from the face of the Earth.

It is then that, in His great compassion for humanity, God intervenes to restore the situation. He invests a predestined being, an emissary, a MESSIAH, to whom He entrusts the difficult mission of restoring the lost harmony by inspiring in Him the solutions to adopt. In our era of broken balances and widespread decadence, the result of this mediation gave birth to Aumism, the universal Religion of the third millennium. This is why Aumism is shown at the base of the HEXAMIDE as the solution able to put an end to the involutionary process leading to disaster. But stopping the degradation is not enough to provide a lasting solution to the problem. The evolutionary process must be restored.

It is on the basis of the universal and eternal truths and principles contained in Aumism, founded by His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH, that the evolutionary and regenerating process can be restored. Aumism is the base and foundation from which the ascent back to God begins.

The Hexamide shows that, during this ascent, the more pilgrims progress in their own religion and draw closer to God at the top of the Pyramid, the more the distances and differences that separate them from the members of other religions and forms of belief diminish. When human beings come close to God, His Light removes from their hearts all forms of incomprehension and opposition, division and confrontation that harm the manifestation of life. This evolution of mentalities can only foster the emergence of a tolerant, peaceful society that respects others.

Aumism teaches that the true goal of life, and the solution to all the problems that human beings encounter, is to become the god that each being is in essence, to attain spiritual Realisation, samadhi, the state of bliss and of unity regained. In the same vein, Christ says to those he is speaking with: “I said, You are gods.”^[6]

It is in no way a matter of imposing anything on anyone, nor of eliminating one religion in favour of another. It is simply a matter of informing and educating mentalities in order to avoid opposition and deadly conflicts. His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH is perfectly clear on this point. He writes:

“To be an Aumist is to live one’s faith without seeking to impose it on others.”^[7] And also: “Do not abandon your religion: remain a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, etc., but study the other religions in order to love them and, above all, to understand your own better.”^[8]

As we have just seen with the Hexamide, when a situation seriously compromises the future of humanity, God delegates an Envoy or MESSIAH to reveal the means of restoring the situation. We will now turn to the notion of the Messiah in the Aumist religion.

THE COSMOPLANETARY MESSIAH

The Aumist religion’s notion of the Messiah is close to the definition the Bhagavad Gita (IV, 7) gives of this high office: “Whenever the Dharma (the spiritual Law) declines and injustice rises, I descend in person for the protection of the good and the destruction of the wicked. To restore order, I take birth from Age to Age.”^[9] To this definition from the Bhagavad Gita, the Aumist religion adds a fundamental dimension, that of the Cosmoplanetary Messiah, revealed for the first time on Earth. Contrary to what has been said, the statue of the Cosmoplanetary Messiah at Mandarom was never erected to the glory of a human person.

The Cosmoplanetary Messiah teaches that man is divine in essence and that God is present in every being. He invites all human beings, without distinction of race or class, to put into practice understanding, tolerance, forgiveness and brotherly love in order to build the Golden Age and Peace on Earth and in the universe. He bears witness to the universality and omnipresence of God on all planes and in all dimensions of Creation. “The Messiah is present everywhere… on Earth… but also on billions of planets.”^[10] The Mission of the Messiah is to “unite… opposites”^[11], to “reveal hidden things… renew the world and restore the truth”, adapted to the new era and to the mentalities of the third millennium.

THE TEMPLE PYRAMID OF THE UNITY OF THE FACES OF GOD

The Temple Pyramid of the Unity of the Faces of God, which Aumists have the mission of rebuilding on Earth, is of paramount importance for the evolution and the future of humanity.

His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH writes on this subject: “The Earth needs the Temple Pyramid, which constitutes its spiritual pole, the anchor point of God in matter, Succeeding Himself through the lineage of the HIEROKARANTINE.”^[12]

The Temple Pyramid is also a “receptacle” and a “collector of Cosmic Energies, able to rebalance the bipolar Earth”. It is the “Torch of a new era”. “By its mere presence, imbalances, wars and divisions are dispelled”, on the sole condition that humanity takes on its spiritual evolution and realises its Unity with God, with the Universal Consciousness.

The Temple Pyramid, respectful of diversity, will welcome without discrimination, beyond races, classes and religions, all those, believers or atheists, who long to see an era of harmony, fraternity and peace reign in the world. Its role is to contribute to the unity of beliefs, knowledge, peoples and civilisations. With its motto “Temple Pyramid of Unity, humanity reconciled”, its reconstruction is the guarantee of a better world.

All the symbols presented have only one purpose: to express, in a universal and concrete language accessible to all, the laws that govern life, man, nature, creation and the cosmos.

MANDAROM

At the end of this tour, Mandarom can be defined as a “true centre of universal spirituality”, “open to all without distinction of race, class, religion or ideology… of whom we ask as a passport only these simple words written in letters of fire on the heart: love, charity, sincerity, humility, spiritual discernment”. The motto that Aumists in heart and mind strive to put into practice in their daily lives is the following: “Love (one’s neighbour), forgive (offences), serve (humanity), meditate (to explore one’s inner universe), realise the Divine within oneself (which is the true goal of life).”

CONCLUSION

A true religion must be tolerant, as Aumism teaches and exemplifies. Religions must respect the beliefs and freedoms of each person. To be useful to humanity, they must help with the education, fulfilment and spiritual Realisation of human nature. Otherwise, respect cannot be authentic and lasting.

In the book Les Combats du Messie attendu, page 52, His Holiness Lord HAMSAH MANARAH writes on this subject: “The enormous task undertaken by the Brotherhood of Shambhasalem is scarcely imaginable… Before them stretches the static mass of humanity, which must be remodelled into higher forms by the Law of Evolution.”

“It is because it was in the Divine Plans that this City of Light, this open-air Cathedral of the Golden Age, could be built.”

*******

[1] Le Livre des sacrements de l’Aumisme, p. 32.

[2] Une Loi pour Détruire le Mal, p. 281.

[3] Les Combats du Messie attendu, pp. 80, 81, 275.

[4] L’Unité des Visages de Dieu, p. 96.

[5] La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 569.

[6] John 10:34 and Psalm 82:6.

[7] La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 50.

[8] La Réintégration Divine par le Yoga, p. 163.

[9] Les Combats du Messie attendu (Introduction).

[10] La Doctrine de l’Aumisme, p. 470.