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2008-03 Guru Padmasambhava
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Why do we need this puja?
As predicted by Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), in this period of degeneration, lots of sentient beings have very short attention span and many things will clutter and occupy their minds. Thus they will not have the time to practice Dharma. Even though they may have some slight inclination to practice, they will encounter many great obstacles. Sentient beings will experience a great deal of disharmony and their behavior will become very impure. However, such bad times can be averted through the practice and recitation of the Vajra Guru Mantra.
Origin & Benefits of the Vajra Guru Mantra:
The Mantra OM AH HUNG BENZRA(Vajra) GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUNG associated with Guru Rinpoche also known as Padmasambhava. The treasure text was originally concealed during the time of Padmasambhava in Tibet and later rediscovered by Karma Lingpa (14th century). It is simply known as "The Syllable by Syllable Commentary Explaining the Benefits of the Mantra"
At such degenerating times, if this mantra is repeated a 100 times, a 1000 times, 10,000 times, a 100,000 times, a million, ten million and so forth, in holy places, in temples, next to great rivers, in areas where gods and demons abound, and if it is recited by tantric practitioners with pure samaya, by people with monastic ordination who maintain their vows purely, by men and women who possess faith in the teachings, if they give rise to bodhicitta on a grand scale, then the benefits and advantages and energy of such practice are truly inconceivable. This will definitely avert all the negative forces of disease, famine, unrest, bad harvest and all bad omens in all the countries of the world and all regions and areas will experience prosperity and auspicious conditions.
If this mantra is recited a 100 times a day without interruption, one will become attractive to others and all the necessities of life such as food and wealth will be obtained effortlessly. If one recites it a thousand or ten thousand times on a daily basis, one is able to literally overwhelm others with one's brilliance, in the sense of becoming very charismatic and influential in exerting a positive influence over others, and one will gain unhindered force of blessings and spiritual power.
With such immeasurable advantages of the spiritual energy of this mantra, it would be of tremendous benefit to know the meaning of the different syllables of the mantra. It is the very essence or life force of all the deities of the four classes of tantra, of all the nine yanas, and all of the 84,000 collections of dharma teachings. The essence of the buddhas of the three times, all of the gurus, yidams, dakas, dakinis, dharma protectors etc. As the meaning is great and vast, here we will list just one of them which most of us can relate to.
OM AH HUNG: purify obscurations arising from the three mental poisons such as desire/attachment, aversion and ignorance
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