Temple and Home Shrine
Through darshan power, the guru is able to communicate with his disciples. Information is passed on these rays of darshan. Unfoldment is guided on these rays of darshan. A beginning student cannot feel the darshan. That means he is not inwardly connected or “hooked in.” He does not have that open line. That is why the satguru often puts out some sort of intellectual book or pamphlets, to hold the intellect in check until the student goes deeper within. After deep study of the guru’s works, they then begin to feel his darshan occasionally from a distance, but not all the time.
A devotee does not have to be with his guru physically all of the time to unfold as a beautiful flower on the path. But he does have to be with the satguru’s darshan all the time, for that waters, protects, guides the unfoldment superconsciously. The guru is within him—not the physical presence of his teacher, however holy, but the divine spheres of his guru’s superconscious being. The law is, though, that only his guru can bring him into this realization fully and permanently.
A temple can be prepared to emanate a certain kind of darshan as strong as, if not stronger than, a guru’s. When a Hindu temple is established, a satguru who has a strong darshan is invited to come and help the priests prepare the main altar in the temple, which initiates the flow of darshan and śakti. This is done through the use of actinodic force. Certain physical elements are magnetized with actinodic power within the shrine through the chanting of mantras and by various other means. This brings the vibratory state of the physical element that holds this new vibration to a high pitch. The darshan vibration penetrates the ethers.
In a similar way, you have magnetized your clothing without realizing it with your personal vibration. A very sensitive “medium” could be blindfolded and by holding in his hand a piece of your clothing identify it as yours and tell something about you. That is why a temple has to be visited with the proper attitude, for a minute part of your actinodic force is left in the temple as you stand in front of the altar feeling the darshan radiating from it. The altar darshan builds up over many, many years as devotees come and go and priests chant the sacred mantras, permeating the temple with this darshan force, storing it in a great battery which takes in and emanates out.
Darshan is extremely important in spiritual unfoldment, because it catalyzes the crown chakra. It catalyzes the refined, superconscious being of man, energizing and strengthening it, in the very same way a violent or sensuous movie and the vibrations of the people sitting within the theater catalyze the lower chakras. Darshan catalyzes the crown chakra, the all-seeing-eye chakra, the universal-love chakra and the chakra of direct cognition in a similar way. That is why once a temple has been established, it should be approached and treated in a certain sensitive way to keep its darshan flowing strongly and profoundly. It builds in power through the years and stabilizes the spiritual unfoldment of all pilgrims who know of its existence, especially those who pilgrimage to the temple to be blessed by it.
If you get a little cloudy, a little foggy, and karma becomes heavy to the point you feel you cannot handle it yourself, then you can tune into the temple darshan if you do not have a satguru, for it works much the same way. Each devotee should establish a shrine in his own home which is connected in vibration with the darshan of the temple, which is again connected with the guru who helped the priests begin the flow for the temple.
The home shrine can bring through some of the vibration by your simply using the five elements: earth, air, fire, water and ether. This would be taught by the wise elders. This, then, is the cycle of darshan: from the satguru, the temple, the home shrine and back to you. If you want to begin a little shrine yourself, you need a stone blessed at the temple, which holds the vibration of the darshan there, nice, fresh air; and you have to reserve a space, preferably a private room. It must be neatly arranged and be clean and clear of worldly vibrations, a room set apart from all others. In it you must have the five vibrations occurring: earth, air, fire, water and ether, and it must be connected into the darshan of the temple.