by Clifford Sawhney

The maverick master is at it again. This time Madabusi Subramaniam is empowering select people by introducing reiki's latest avatar in India
Seeking the master sometimes takes time. Ask for Madabusi Subramaniam in his office complex and you draw a blank. "There is nobody by this name here," says an obliging lady, "but the telephone number is Mr Mani's. Let me buzz him and check." A quick telecon and both of us are enlightened. Mani is Madabusi Subramaniam.

A minute later, one is before his cabin door, where the nameplate proudly proclaims: 'M.S. MANI'. Inside the spacious cabin, enlightenment wafts into the conversation with relative ease. "In a nomind state, no religion can exist," declares the iconoclast who is introducing Mizu Hari Reiki in India. "Enlightenment is beyond religion."

MAVERICK MASTER

Mani is not one to hold back his punches. Nor withhold secrets and let others monopolize them for commercial gain. He sensationalized the Indian reiki circles four years ago when he revealed the closely guarded symbols of reiki healing and mastership through his book, Unveiling the Secrets of Reiki. Next, he produced an English translation of a Bengali version of the Bhagavad Gita, containing interpretative passages on kriya yoga another secret system. A seeker since childhood, Mani had taken to kriya yoga at 17.

An engineer from Vellore, India, he wandered across the Himalayas for a couple of years in the early 1970s. In the '80s, he received shaktipatathe descent of divine grace from guru to disciple through Maharishi Bharadwaj. In the '90s, Mani learnt reiki in Mumbai and in 1996, he was in Delhi, teaching it and spelling finis to the commercial monopoly of reiki masters who were charging hefty amounts.

This year Mani has started imparting Mizu Hari empowerment to select people. This technique is said to enhance personal and professional success. But the primary benefit is spiritual. "Mizu means water," Mani reveals. "And Hari is the connected energy center or sacral. In Mizu Hari Reiki, water is energized for healing." Mizu Hari enables one to have powers of the healing Buddha, energize and purify elements and ultimately fill one's being with divine light, thereby attaining enlightenment. An ancient Tibetan technique of charging an article with energy, Mizu Hari was known to the masters in the Karmapa tradition. Dr Mikao Usui, the founder of reiki, empowered his close disciples with this knowledge. Water energized through this technique can be used in healing.

Reiki is a Buddhist technique of prayer, meditation and healing. "One should connect reiki to its original spiritual essence and channel energies of all psychic centers, through the crown, into the cosmos," Mani emphasizes. The body's four main psychic centers are located in the head, heart, navel and tailbone. Energies are recirculated in the body for good health.

ELEMENTAL EMPOWERMENT

Mizu Hari merges the same energies with the energy of the healing Buddha. Energy is elemental. Through the five elements in nature, one can create an object. The process of charging water with elemental energy involves the use of mystical symbols and imagery and imparting the essence of the healing Buddha himself to the water. When that water is dispensed, the body is charged with tremendous potential.

There is supposedly a restriction that certain practices are taught to Buddhists only. Mani feels strongly against such monopoly. "Teaching a healing therapy only to Buddhists makes no sense. To follow the dharma, you don't have to be a Buddhist," he avers.

THE THREE PRECEPTS

Mani lays stress on three Buddhist precepts: 1. Buddham Sharanam Gacchami Buddha is a state of no mind, no prana or life force. In that state surrender dawns on you. 2. Dhammam Sharanam Gacchami Dharma is an internal practicean eight-fold path that adherents tread. 3. Sangham Sharanam Gacchami This is spiritual brotherhood. In a no-mind state, religions can't exist.

A guru can confer Mizu Hari empowerment on any suitable person. A guru is considered to be an enlightened person, a representative of the Medicine Buddha. Therefore, this vajra diksha or empowerment is conferred in a strict guru-disciple mode. The only requirement is that a seeker accepts Mani as a master till his own enlightenment.

The transmission happens through three levels: 1. Prayer to Buddha (the medicine king) through mool (root/key) mantras and associated incantations in Pali (an ancient Indian language in which much of Buddhist texts were composed).

2. Mandala worshipgeometric formations that are seats for celestial beings.

3. Fire worship or yagnas.

Basically, a sustained relationship of the disciple with a master is must. The lamas of the Karmapa tradition or any other tantric Buddhist sect can offer vajra diksha. Mizu Hari empowerment is being done in the USA through Richard Blackwellwho is copyrighting mantras known in India since ancient times. But with Madabusi Subramaniam deciding to impart Mizu Hari empowerment, the esoteric monopoly may fizzle out before long.

Contact: M.S. Mani, Vittal Mandir, Sector 6, R.K. Puram, New Delhi, India. Tel: 91-011-5653010 Mob: 9810202759