Guest guest Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Shiva Rathri ------------- Shiva rathri is coming up. It is only fitting that we should contemplate a little about Shiva and His tattva. Who is Shiva? Shiva is the third in the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara (Shiva). He is commonly represented as the destroyer. Brahma creates the worlds, Vishnu is said to sustain them, and Shiva is said to dissolve (destroy) them. The three of them together are Datta, the SatGuru principle. Brahma, himself a projection of Brahman, creates the world through ideations within himself. He conceives a world, and it thus takes on existence, substance, and reality. Brahma is said to be born of Vishnu's navel. So, the basis for Brahma's ability to create the worlds is Vishnu. It is Vishnu that is final support and basis for all the worlds. He not only supports the worlds, but he pervades them, and hence, he is called 'Vishnu' (all pervasive). Vishnu's energy, known as Vishnu-maya, is what sustains these worlds. Shiva's energy dissolves Vishnu-maya and causes the various tattvas to resolve back into Brahman once again. Before getting into a discussion of Shiva, we must first look at Vishnu. Because if Vishnu did not create/sustain the worlds, Shiva has nothing to dissolve. So, a brief tangent into the concept of Vishnu-maya. What is Maya? There is much ado about the concept of samsaara, maya, etc. yet few understand the mechanics of these concepts as to how they operate in their daily lives. The sanskrit term maya is commonly translated as 'illusion' but this is not quite accurate or complete as a translation. The term actually more closely means 'measure'. It refers to the idea that the observable objective world is based on a fixed measure between the subject and object. Thus, if you are looking at a table, you not realizing that in fact you are observing empty space in which you have projected a variety of notions and concepts - the fact that it is a table, that it is 5 feet long, that it is 2 feet high, that it is made of oak, is entirely within your own mind. It is this Maya-relationship that " preserves " the order within the world. This is why an apple always falls down, and not up, and why your concept of blue is consistent from day to day, and if it wasn't, you have no clue that would tell you that your defintion of blue has changed since yesterday. It is your memory, which you trust implicitly, that tells you these 'facts' about your world. Vishnu's energy projects and sustains the visible universe and its corresponding 'order' and sense of 'causality' that fools you into thinking that the world illusion has substance. In fact, your own mind assumes a relationship based on so-called lingering vasanas (past associations, 'impressions') that in turn are responsible for the way you perceive the world. The facts (meta data) of the object, that it is wooden, brown (and not blue, for instance), are entirely subjective concepts that have been created at the time of formation of your 'mind-body' complex (Ahamkara, or 'the causal basis for Aham (I)'). In fact, it is these vasanas that are carried forward from one reality to another (life to life), and the basis for samsara (cyclical repetitive existence). As long as these relationships exist, you will undoubtedly experience 'bondage' - meaning you will have to experience the causal reactions that are incurred by accepting a concept/idea into your being. So what is Shiva tattva? What does his iconography say about Him? Shiva is commonly depicted as a Yogi, in deep meditation, ...why is that? What does this image of Shiva convey? It shows that he is the (supreme) renouncer. He has renounced all names, forms, concepts, and ideations/mentations, differences (bedhadihara) and he is seated at the top of Mt. Kailash (mount meru, 'meru parvatam'). Kailasam represents the 'top of the world'. In hinduism, the universe is imagined to be like an inverted tree. Like an inverted tree, the roots are at the top, and the leaves are at the bottom. The roots being the very basis for a tree, and the leaves being the fruits/effects/by-products. Shiva being situated at the very 'top' of the 'world tree' represents his status as residing in the heart of all beings (hridayabhasura). The Shakti of Shiva is often pictured as seated on His lap. The reason for this is that it displays his extreme vairagyam (dispassion) which is the basis for advaita jnanam or the 'non-dual experience' (He does not differentiate between himself and prakrithi or nature, and is not moved to passion by Her presence - He is moved to passion only as a play). He sits as One without a second. The basis for Shiva's energy is advaita jnanam, which in turn, is based on his supreme detachment (as the Witness). This supreme detachment is known as vairagya. So Shiva's yogic energy is itself Vairagyam (or non-doer-ship). Because that jnanam is one of non-dual distinction, it can only be attained by rejecting everything that is illusory. So Shiva is known as the destroyer (of illusions/maya). It is because he is beyond all names and forms, that He has taken on the shape of a Linga (the infinite column of light that subdued the pride of Brahma). Vairagyam is thus the basis for that Atma Jnanam (Self Awareness Experience). Without such true/real vairagyam, you cannot perceive things 'as they are'. One of the principle prerequistes for the path of yoga, is that one should develop such real vairagya not through a reactionary process, but by means of wisdom. The difference is that you are not dispassionate because you were in some kind of pain, which is just a reactionary sort of temporary disillusionment, but rather a permanent sort of dispassion that follows from having objectively spent some time thinking about the relative merits/flaws in something. By thinking about its positive/negative aspects, and summarily rejecting it by means of discrimination, is known as true wisdom. This is known as jnana vairagyam (vairagyam resulting from wisdom). Without such discriminative vairagyam, you will be fooling yourself that you have somehow attained vairagyam and that you are unaffected (the moment you see a ladoo however, your vairagyam goes to hell, until your diabetic reaction against ladoos smacks you back to reality). So, only real vairagyam can allow you to break through the mental barriers that prevent you from seeing yourself as you really are. Patanjali makes a very strong emphasis on this point of being able to develop the ability to 'see things as they are' by means of discrimination, and not according to your fantasies or projections based on false sensory information. This is also why Satyam (Truth) is such an important spiritual practice - because if you are dishonest about gross matters, how can you be discriminatingly honest about subtle matters? You will miss the point, consistently. Regardless of how you are (or must be) in your worldly relationships, you should never make the mistake of lying to yourself (original sin). The basis for the reality of the world as you perceive it is that you are constantly lying to yourself, you are never challenging the assumptions of your own mind, and you accept the world 'as it is presented' to you without question. So true vairagyam is not related to some silly notion of severing one's relationships to others physically, but rather in the severing of the notion that one is an individual at all, that one is bound, that one has relationships (not only to people, but to objects, to environment, to body, to the colors and sights and sounds, and so on...). In truth, you are not related to anything that you are able to perceive in any way whatsoever. These things have no substance and are entirely projected within your own mind. In truth, you have a body, but you are not the body. You have a mind, you are not the mind. You have a variety of senses, but you are not the senses, nor their objects. In fact, you are nothing that mind, speech, or the senses can refer to. The objective world arises within you, and within you it subsides. In reality, there is no objective world at all. He alone exists. One who understands this and realizes *this* fully (not by logic, but 'in fact'), to the very core of their being (in fact), has surrendered. Only such real surrender leads one to real Jnanam, and in turn, one becomes merged in Shiva. It is not an empty statement. It is a fact, that must be brought into the field of experience, for any real progress. By ignoring the truth of your non-relationship to things, you continue to lie to yourself, and allow the illusion of the world to bind you. It is your bondage alone that allows you to experience the positive/negative results of actions in the form of consequences (action-consequence: karma). The notion of karma is usually translated as action or reward depending on the context, but this is also not accurate. The true meaning of karma is 'action-consequence' - in sanskrit these two words 'action' and 'consequence' are inseparable - because sanskrit is the language of consciousness itself (revealed by the rishis for the very purpose of discussing consciousness with some degree of precision that no other language can achieve in this arena) - and therefore it represents things more accurately than english can when referring to such matters. It is also more accurate, as a language, for referring to such concepts because it contains an intrinsic mathematical structure to its grammar. This allows you to capture concepts such as sets and complements, for instance (It is well known that the concept of 'Zero', or 'sunya', originated in India). Going back to the example, one could say that all action-consequences comprise a 'set' ('A') and by adding the a- to the word, you refer to its complement ('Not A'). So karma refers to action-consequences, the conjoined words, not the separate words. So, 'akarma' refers to non-action (or action that has been severed from the consequences of such action). I recognize that this is a rather disconnected email that jumps from point to point, but the main point was to provide some idea (flavor) of the reality of these things, for further self investigation. That requires some effort on your part to find out for yourself. If you have no 'svatantram' (i.e., Self Initiative/Motive/Awareness, also 'Independence' or 'Independent thinking') then regardless of how much you read, do, etc. none of this is of any use. Memorizing facts and figures will be of no use. You must have the urge to find out and explore within for yourself. Until then, you remain bound. Don't forget: To know that 'the table is false' is still knowledge. Knowledge itself is the binding factor. So, you must forget everything you 'know' (the 'knowable') and rest in your true Self. To pretend that you have forgotten everything you know, is also false, because someone who really forgot what they knew, didn't know they forgot. ;-) Otherwise, you remain bound by the knowledge-experience you have. So the question is how to develop that state of mind that leads one to such independent experience? Worshipping Lord Shiva is the only way. It is not by book knowledge (memorized), but by bhakthi alone, that one receives Guru Kripa (grace) which allows the light of knowledge to shine forth from within. Without Guru Kripa, you can read all day long, and it won't make any difference. You must strive to be worthy of His Kripa (grace) at all times, then only are you a true disciple. It is said in Guru Gita (discourse between Shiva and Parvathi) that: " Japas Tapo Vratam Theertham, Yagno Dhanam Thathaivaacha, Guru Tattvam Avignyaya, Sarvam Vyardham Bhavetpriyet. " All practices/austeries are useless so long as one does not understand SatGuru principle. You may sing bhajans, do prayers, do pujas, or whatever you like, for however long you please, but you will gain nothing, if these are done without understanding that it is the SatGuru alone who fulfills these. If you do all these and fail to understand that SatGuru is verily God in human form, here to shed grace on you, then you are wasting your time. A mantra is just a bunch of letters/words, but even jibberish spoken by the Guru as a joke, becomes the mantra by which one crosses the Ocean of Samsara. That is the greatness of SatGuru. Many people say " We will do this for Swamiji. " without understanding that it is " Swamiji who is doing for you. " You can't do anything for Swamiji - he is the real doer (and non-doer) of everything - and those who fail to remember this - fail. Period. Without His permission, not even a blade of grass moves. By forgetting this, you act, and in turn commit the sin of forgetting that it is your Guru who has given you the ability to achieve anything at all. This should be bourne in mind by any devotees who think they are doing work 'for' Swamiji. Humility is not acting humble, it is remember always who gives you the power to act. In Kaliyuga, it is said that Namasankirtana is the easiest (best) method, and is the proper path for attaining Godhead. Namasankirtana develops bhakthi, by invoking the grace of the deity being worshipped, for the name is itself the deity being worshipped. As Sri Swamiji has said: " The whole Universe is the external symbol of God and behind that stands His grand name. The nectar of the Lord's name (Nama Sankeerthan) is, greater than the Lord Himself. " So, during this Shiva rathri, let us pray that Lord Shiva (Sachchidanadeshwara) blesses everyone with that True knowledge (Jnana Ganga) that alone leads one out of the darkness of ignorance of samsara into the blissful light of His awareness. Sanatana dharma isn't some silly religion that worships millions of Gods - one for this, another for that, etc. We worship that One essence of whom it can be said that " There is NO Second. " He alone exists. He alone exists. Na dvitityo Na triyaschthurtho naapyuchyate | Na panchamo Na shshtah sapthmo naapyuchyate| Nashtamo Na navamo dashamo naapyuchyate| Yagna yetham devamekavritham veda|| Sa sarvassai vi pashyathi yachha praanathi yachhana| Tamidam nigatam sah sa yesha yeka yekavrideka yeva| Ya yetham devamekavritham veda|| [from Atharva Veda 13.4[2]19-20] Translation: There is no second God, nor a third, nor is even a fourth spoken of. There is no fifth God or a sixth nor is even a seventh mentioned. There is no eighth God, nor a ninth. Nothing is spoken about a tenth even. This unique power is in and of itself. That Lord is only One, the only, the omnipresent. It is One and the only One. " Unnadi Okkade Shivude Ga? Shivude Shivude Shivude Ga! ....Na Lo Vunadi Shivude Ga? Nee Lo Vunadi Shivude Ga? Naa Lo Nee Lo Andhaari Lo, Vunadi Okkade Shivude GaaAaa. " " A light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it. " [John 1:5] This light is the SatGuru. The darkness is your ignorance. Bhakthi-Jnana-Vairagyam: Jyothi velligindi, SatGuru Jyothi Velligindi. (The light has been lit, SatGuru's light has been lit) Akali Avuthundi, Atma Jnanamu Adigindi. (I am Hungry, My Atma is seeking True Knowledge) Jnanamu Adigindi, Guru Bodhalu Nadichindi. (Asked for True Knowledge, it followed Guru's teachings.) Dahamu Avuthundi, Manasuna Mohamu Vadilindi. (I am Thirsty, my Moham (attachment) has left me) Mohamu Vadilindi, Manasuna Dappitheerindi. (Attachment having left me, my manas (mind) restlessness has left me) Chakramu Nadichindi, Janma Ettukochindi. (The wheel turned on, as my life came to its conclusion) Ettukochindi Janma, Nadichipoyindhi. (Life went on...) Bhayamu Poyindi, Buddhiki Buddhi Vochindi. (My fear has left me, my mind is now behaved) Buddhi Vochindi, Teliviki Telupabaadindi. (mind behaved, my intellect has cleared, that I am able to see things 'as they are') Puttukochindi Shantamu, Karunanindindi. (within me, peace has taken birth, compassion has become filled/complete) Karuna Nindindi, Dattudi Krupa kaligindi. (compassion having been filled, I have earned Datta's grace) Jyothi velligindi, SatGuru Jyothi Velligindi. (The light has been lit, SatGuru's light has been lit) Jaya Guru Datta! Jaya Guru Datta! Jaya Guru Datta! Om Namah Shivaya! --- Gurorangripadme ManaScenna Lagnam tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim!? Sarva Kartha, Sarva Dhartha, Sarva Hartha, Mangalam! Satchidananda, Satchidananda, Satchidananda Mangalam! Tasmai Sri Guru-murthaye Nama Idam Sri Dakshinamurtaye! Ata Nityo Narayanaha, Brahma Narayanaha, Sivascha Narayanaha, Kalascha Narayanaha. Disascha Narayanaha, Vidisascha Narayanaha, Urdwamscha Narayanaha, Adhascha Narayanaha, Antar-bahischa-Narayana.Narayana Eh Vedam Sarvam, Yat BhootamYacchha Bhavyam.Nish-kalango Niranjano Nirvikalpo Nirakyadhas,suddhho Deva Eko Narayanaha, Na dwiteeyosthi kaschit,ya evam Vedas Vishnu reva Bhavati, Sa Vishnureva Bhavathi, Etat yajur veda sirodeeyathe. ~*Om * Ayim * Hreem * Sreem * Siva * Rama * Anagha * Dattaya * Namaha*~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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