Is Sadhana App a Portkey ?

If you are a Harry Potter ⚡ fan, you know –  a Portkey is a magical object to instantly bring anyone touching it to a specific location. Portkey is an everyday object, so as not to draw attention.

So my question to you is –

Is Sadhana App – a portkey, or a diamond in plain sight?

Well, it appears to me to be the case, and hence thought of sharing what I have found out.  Like many, I thought it is an app to help me do regular yagna, japa, nithya karma and sadhana. While it is true that these are the functionality present in the app, it is only when I spoke to an advanced mantra sadhak, who wants to remain anonymous, that there are deeper insights that I understood.

I must also mention that this person is not initiated by Swami ji, and has another Guru. He benefited immensely from the Sadhana app in just 1 month, and this just opened my eyes. This led me to speak with 2 more sadhaks and I am sharing a summary of what I learnt.

While I am not competent enough in understanding the stage of a sadhak, since he has awakened one of the mantras in the past, I believe him to be an advanced sadhak.  He is someone who has only done manasic puja, and understands that path, and for him Sadhana app was a boon.

Here is what I have learnt from this discussion, and I am sharing it with you all –

1. Manasic Puja needs faith, but can be extremely effective

One needs to have complete conviction in the power of Manasic Puja for one to benefit from it.  It is in general true for almost all devotional practices, but more importantly in Manasic Puja.  It is inherent in the human condition to feel the need for doing something physically with total involvement of all the five senses,like a physical yagna, or abhishekam. Then the mind feels satisfied that the devotional sentiment has been expressed appropriately.

A 5 min yagna in an app could be equal to a 30 min yagna or more  in the real world, depending on the set up time, procuring the needed raw materials and the physical effort involved. One thing to keep in mind is that everything that is present in the physical world, first arose as a mental blueprint in the mind which later actualized into physicality. Manasic puja bypasses the physical dimension entirely and engages one’s pranic shakthi (life energy), directly in a subtler realm. The many benefits of manasic puja have been discussed by Swamiji in several of his discourses.

Manasic puja can be a faster way of unlocking the benefits of mantra sadhana, if we believe in it fully.  To restate it slightly differently, to harness the power of your mind, it needs to be one pointed in its effort. Doubts and skepticism have their proper place in society, however when it comes to manasic pujas, these can be a source for dissipating ones focus away from the goal and thereby reducing the overall impact of the practice. If you believe and trust Swami ji completely, you will see a huge benefit quickly.  Faith is at the center of realizing the benefit.

And here is a video (starting from 18:15), where Swami ji speaks about the benefit of manasic puja.

2. Every Single Mantra in the app is awakened 

Every single mantra in the app has been awakened by Swami ji, and what more it is available in his voice in most cases. Nothing extra is needed to unlock it.  So chanting the mantra is like being initiated by Swami ji and having his energy help you progress.  One is bringing Swami ji in your living space, and the awakened energy is helping.

Swami ji has done the visualization for us, and we need to ensure we maintain the quality of our bhaav while doing the Puja.

The app is not merely a teaching tool, but an awakened place. Another point to note is that Swamiji has mentioned that he had spent an enormous effort creating the specs for each of the temples that have been visualized in the App. The reason for this I believe is that when we perform a puja to our deity of choice in a particular vedic temple, it will generate within us the same energetic vibrations as we would experience if we were to visit those temples and perform our puja in the physical world.

3. We are doing action while performing any of the Pujas, and get the same benefits

While the app is very simple, it also requires us to click for making a Yagna offering or Abhishekam.  This ensures that we are not merely a passive bystander watching a puja being performed but an active participant who is completely involved in making the offerings.  If we don’t click, that offering disappears and we are not able to offer it.  This in essence is what gets us the same benefits of performing the same puja in the physical world.

Don’t worry if it sounds too simple, just understand that it has been made that easy, but with similar benefits, so there is no excuse for us to not do our daily practices or take up Sadhanas in a more active way.

4. We are at a crucial point in our history

We are seeing a sense of urgency in reviving the Sanatana Dharma, given what is happening around us.  It is with this sense of urgency  and the critical stage we are in that the app has been provided in an open manner to be available to all.

When the Sri Vidya Sadhana comes up live in app, we will see how it is offered.  But, we expect it to be like the current sadhana’s. It would be quite a shift if this Sadhana which has been kept often private and secret is offered in open to all.

We need such drastic steps  given where we are in history.  We would see these dots connect later on when we look backwards, and it may not be obvious to us looking forward.

While there are spirituality based apps from other Spiritual Gurus, none so far (at-least to my knowledge), has condensed the power of Yagna/Abhishekam/Mantra Sadhana so powerfully.

5. Swami ji is the most unique person in this whole universe who could build such an platform

We all know he is one of the most advanced practitioner who has realized so many Mantras, and had the vision of Divine.  Further, he is also extremely strong in his skills to build a beautiful product.  He is the only person who could have built this app, and hence I believe the work of revival of ancient practices through this app, is one of the core missions for Swami ji on this planet.

Further in If Truth be Told, Bhairavi Ma shares “Many esoteric  sciences have disappeared and you have to bring them to life”.  We know all her predictions were true.  I believe Sadhana app is part of the grand scheme of things that Swami ji will do.

The conversation led me to speak with few more, and here is what I heard –

1. The medium and long duration Yagna have offerings to the Navagraha and all the planets. Sadhak states that offering this Yagna on a regular basis  helped remove so many obstacles from his path.
2. In another case, one of the people did a 10 min Yagna for Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva, when they had their cat missing for some days. They did it with faith, and they saw the benefit in that the cat came back the same day. Call it a mere coincidence? I think in this case what matters is how the Sadhak chose to interpret the occurrence.
3. We have a grandmother, who is not able to go to a temple, and has an ailing and sick uncle. She was usually sad and depressed, but after being able to regularly offer Abhishek and Yagna in the app daily has become more cheerful, and happier despite her difficulties.
4. One devotee felt that since Sadhana app allows one to worship her deity in physical form vs formless, she was able to connect more deeply, and that her centeredness is slowly increasing.

And today, I introduced this app to my 97 year old Grandmother who is bedridden. Now fingers crossed to see how this can help her be more happy.

Here are some ideas, I came up with to use the app effectively 

1. If you know your Ishta, then you can straight away go to that and use the app for that Ishta. If you don’t know your Ishta then you can do one by one Sadhana in more deities and find out whom you connect with the most.
2. If you are doing any mantra jap – say 108 malas of Navarana Mantra japa in 9 days. We can do the japa physically, but then do 1 yagna in the evening, and 1 abhishekam in the afternoon for Mother Durga.  This would enrich the sadhana.
3. We can straight away pick a Sadhana from the app for a deity, and then follow it religiously.  Stick to the same time each day to have a discipline.
4. Whenever we are using the app, best to use it in a quiet area. It may not be the puja room, but should be an area which is quiet and one can focus completely on the act we are doing with full bhav.
5. Using BL app –  We should continue to do daily meditation in Black Lotus to keep building single pointed meditation, or for gratitude, or mindfulness practice, which are key elements of self-transformation needed for progress.

I also liked the post by A on How the Sadhana App helps us Reconnect with the Five Elements, which also clarified many things. Do check it out.

Up until now, I had not seriously started using the app for my practice, but with the above insights, I have seriously started working on it.  Hope to share first hand stories of the impact it has on my spiritual journey, some day with you.

In summary, I believe that Sadhana app with regular and quality practice, is the portkey 🗝️, which can transport you to a 💖divine realm 🌕

I am aware there are several super users of the app, and I would love to hear more of your views in the comments section.

Credits & Disclosures –
1. I am only a medium in the article. Thanks to the anonymous sadhak for reviewing & editing this article and the discussion. There are wow experiences from that sadhak that I am not allowed to share, but it made me a strong believer.

2. Like most of you, I wish the best for Sadhana App, and Swami ji is my Guru.  But the article is written with a neutral perspective. In fact, if you search you will find that I have not yet reviewed the Sadhana App on Play store. I plan to write a deeper review after going through a direct and deeper experience with Sadhana.