Sacred Living: The Internal Temple

Part 2: Transforming Daily Life into Spiritual Practice

From external sacred spaces to the temple of your own heart and daily life

Your Body as a Living Temple: The Ancient Practice of Nyasa

The body itself is rendered as the temple of the Lord, wherein the various limbs become the altars upon which, with a heart of love and faith, the devotee invokes and installs various deities

Known to "align," the body of the worshipper, Nyasa is also used in effecting the proper distribution of the shaktis of the human frame in their proper positions so as to avoid the production of discord and distraction in worship.

Before we talk about external temples, let's discover the most intimate one - your own body. Ancient masters developed a powerful practice called "nyasa" - literally meaning "placement" - that transforms your physical form into a sacred space.

Picture this: Before any spiritual practice, the practitioner performs three sacred placements:

Kara Nyasa

In kara-nyasa, as the mantra is recited, each finger is touched by the thumb moving from base to the tip of the finger. Index finger is used in the case of movement along thumb. Lastly, one palm is used to swipe across the other palm and the palms are reversed.

Ang Nyasa

Ang nyasa means to perform nyasa on ang i.e. body. Ang nyasa is of 2 types, shad ang and panch-ang. Shad ang means 6 body parts and panch-ang means 5 body parts.

Matrika Nyasa

Matrika Nyasa is a form where the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet are placed on the body. As this is done, the practitioner uses various hand gestures (mudras), placing mantra sounds of the Sanskrit alphabet on various parts of the body especially on the petals of the chakras.

Your Personal Temple: Finding the Sacred in Daily Life

Here's where ancient wisdom becomes practically life-changing. Not everyone's temple looks the same. Depending on your spiritual makeup, your sacred space might be:

The Family Home: If nurturing others is your spiritual path, your kitchen might be your altar, cooking with love your highest worship.

The Classroom: If learning and teaching fulfill you spiritually, every book becomes a sacred text, every lesson a form of prayer.

The Workplace: If your career serves humanity, your office becomes a temple, your work a form of devotion.

Your Relationship: Some couples find their deepest spiritual connection through honoring each other as divine. Their shared meditation, their loving conversations become temple worship.

The great sage Ramakrishna actually worshipped his wife Sarada Devi as the Divine Mother, performing formal prayers to her. This wasn't romantic poetry but recognition that divine feminine energy manifested most clearly through his spouse.

Extended Family Connections: Here's something most people don't know - even your in-laws can become part of your temple practice. When you marry someone, you don't just join their life; you connect to their family's spiritual lineage. Through the sacred concept of "kanyadaan" (giving of the daughter), you receive access to their father's spiritual energy. This means your spouse's siblings also become part of your spiritual family - people you should honor and respect as extensions of your temple.

The Magic of Giving: How Temples Create Abundance

Ancient texts speak of "Sri Krishna arpanamastu" - offering everything to the divine. This isn't about religious submission but about understanding spiritual mathematics.

Here's how it works:

When you offer your efforts to universal principles (represented by Krishna), you create an energy cycle:

Your Work → Universal Pool → Multiplied Return → Benefits for Generations

A simple example: A doctor who sees healing as sacred service, not just earning money. She treats poor patients for free, shares knowledge with junior doctors, uses part of her income for health education. According to temple mathematics, this offering to the "universal good" returns as better opportunities, deeper satisfaction, and positive effects on her children's lives.

The Highest Forms of Giving: The greatest donation isn't money - it's "shramdaan" (labor donation). When you give your time and effort to help others, you're offering your life force itself. Cooking food for the hungry, teaching children, caring for the elderly - these acts of service carry more spiritual power than any monetary donation.

The Ancient Formula: Traditional texts mention "dashansh" - giving one-tenth. But this doesn't mean 10% of your salary. It means giving the tenth part of your karma - your actions and their results. When you perform a hundred acts of service, offer ten of them purely for universal benefit, expecting nothing in return.

The Fire Triangle: This creates what's called the "Agni Trikona" (Fire Triangle) - an eternal energy cycle connecting three generations:

• Your Father/Source (9th house): Where you receive life and teachings

• Yourself (1st house): Where you transform and act

• Your Children/Legacy (5th house): Where your actions bear fruit

This triangle carries the actual fire of life - even biological reproduction follows this pattern. The life force (ojas) that creates new generations is considered a form of spiritual fire, connecting your physical and spiritual inheritance.

It's like planting seeds. What you give to the universal garden comes back as abundant harvest - not just for you, but for generations to come.

When Traditions Must Evolve: The Story of Bhishma

Sometimes following old rules can become wrong when circumstances change. The epic story of Bhishma Pitamaha illustrates this perfectly.

Bhishma made a sacred vow to protect the Kuru dynasty and remain celibate for life. For decades, this vow served righteousness - he ensured stable leadership and selfless service. But when the dynasty became corrupt under Duryodhana, rigidly maintaining his old promise began supporting evil rather than good.

Krishna taught him a crucial principle: Dharma adapts to time, place, and circumstances while keeping its essential spirit. What was righteous behavior in one era might become harmful in another. The wise person adjusts their actions to serve the higher good, not blindly follow outdated rules.

Modern example: A doctor's dharma involves healing. This might require working on religious holidays, treating patients from "enemy" communities during conflicts, or even breaking dietary restrictions when serving in certain medical situations. The higher dharma (healing) takes precedence over lesser rules.

Natural Law vs. Religious Rules: True dharma aligns with natural law - what genuinely serves life, growth, and universal wellbeing. Religious rules might support dharma, but they're not automatically the same thing. The divine always operates according to dharma because the divine represents perfect harmony with cosmic principles.

The Eternal Cycle: Why This Wisdom Never Gets Old

Temple wisdom endures because it addresses permanent human needs:

Sacred Space: We all need places where ordinary worries transform into spiritual inquiry.

Community: We crave connection with others around shared higher values.

Purpose: We want our lives to align with something greater than personal desires.

Growth: We need practices that help us evolve beyond our current limitations.

Connection: We long to experience our unity with the larger web of existence.

Whether engaging with ancient stone temples or creating sacred practices in modern homes, these needs remain constant across cultures and centuries.

Your Temple Journey Starts Now

The deepest temple teaching might be this: every sincere spiritual moment - whether in magnificent stone buildings or quiet corner of your room - awakens the same truth. The divine presence you seek in temples already lives within you, waiting to be recognized.

External temples serve as training grounds for discovering your inner temple - that space of consciousness where limited meets unlimited, where individual touches universal, where seeker realizes they were always connected to what they sought.

The temple bell ringing at dawn across countless villages doesn't just call to ritual worship. It calls to awakening - recognizing that every moment offers a chance to live with temple consciousness, every interaction provides opportunity to practice temple wisdom, every challenge invites us to embody temple teachings.

Start where you are. Use what you have. Honor what calls to your heart. Your temple journey has already begun - you just need to recognize it and take the next step.

The path to the temple, whether a journey across continents or a quiet moment of reflection, leads to the same destination: home to your own enlightened nature, waiting patiently to shine its light in the world.

OM TAT SAT