Lesson 21 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

Do Other Gods Exist Apart from Śiva?

ŚLOKA 21
Supreme God Śiva has created all the Gods and given them distinct existence and powers, and yet He pervades them wholly. They are separate but inseparable. At the deepest level, nothing exists apart from Him. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
God Śiva is the Su­preme Being, the Lord of lords. He alone prevails everywhere. Not an atom moves except by His will. Gaṇeśa, Kārttikeya, Indra, Agni and all the 330 million Gods of Hinduism are beings just as we are, created by Lord Śiva and destined to en­joy un­ion with Him. The Gods are souls of high evolution. They are very old and mature souls, mighty beings who live in the Śivaloka. Though neither male nor fe­male, they may be popularly de­picted as Gods and Goddesses. The devas are be­nevolent beings of light abiding in the higher Antar­loka. They help guide evolution from their world between births. The asuras are demonic be­ings of darkness, im­mature souls who temporarily in­habit Na­raka, the lower Antarloka. Devas and asuras are usually subject to rebirth. We worship Śiva and the Gods. We neither worship the devas nor invoke the asuras. Kārtti­keya, Gaṇeśa and all the Gods, devas and asuras worship Śiva. The Vedas explain, “From Him, also, are born the Gods, in manifold ways, the celestials, men, cattle, birds, the in-breath and the out-breath, rice and barley, austerity, faith, truth, chastity and the law.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 21 – Living with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Dhṛiti: Steadfastness

The sixth yama is dhṛiti, steadfastness. To be steadfast, you have to use your willpower. Willpower is developed easily in a person who has an adequate memory and good reasoning faculties. To be steadfast as we go through life, we must have a purpose, a plan, persistence and push. Then nothing is impossible within the circumference of our prārabdha karmas.

It is impossible to be steadfast if we are not obeying the other restraints that the ṛishis of the Himalayas laid down for us as the fruits of their wisdom. All of these restraints build character, and dhṛiti, steadfastness, rests on the foundation of good character. Character—the ability to “act with care”—is built slowly, over time, with the help of relatives, preceptors and good-hearted friends. Observe those who are steadfast. You will learn from them. Observe those who are not, and they, too, will teach you. They will teach what you should not do. To be indecisive and changeable is not how we should be on the path to enlightenment, nor to be successful in any other pursuit. Nonperseverance and fear must be overcome, and much effort is required to accomplish this. Daily sādhana, preferably under a guru’s guidance, is suggested here to develop a spiritual will and intellect.

In the Śāndilya Upanishad (UPM P. 173-174), dhṛiti has been described as preserving firmness of mind during the period of gain or loss of relatives. This implies that during times of sorrow, difficult karmas, loss and temptation, when in mental pain and anguish, feeling alone and neglected, we can persevere, be decisive and bring forth the dhṛiti strength within us and thus prevail. One translator of the Varuha Upanishad used the word courage to translate dhṛiti. Courageous and fearless people who are just and honest prevail over all karmas—benevolent, terrible and confused. This virtue is much like the monk’s vow of humility, part of which is enduring hardship with equanimity, ease of mind, which means not panicking. The Tirukural reminds us, “It is the nature of asceticism to patiently endure hardship and to not harm living creatures” (261). And we can say that dhṛiti itself is a “hard ship”—a ship that can endure and persevere on its course even when tossed about on the waves of a turbulent sea.

Some might wonder why it is good to passively endure hardship. To persevere through hardship one must understand, as all Hindus do, that any hardship coming to us we ourselves participated in setting into motion in the past. To endure hardship and rise above it in consciousness is to overcome that karma forever. To resent hardship, to fight it, is to have it return later at a most inconvenient time.

An essential part of steadfastness is overcoming changeableness. Changeableness means indecision, not being decisive, changing one’s mind after making a deliberate, positive decision. Changing one’s mind can be a positive thing, but making a firm, well-considered decision and not following it through would gain one the reputation of not being dependable, even of being weak-minded. No one wants a reputation like this.

How can we discriminate between this and the strength of a person who changes his or her mind in wisdom because of changes of circumstance? A person who is changeable is fickle and unsure of himself, changing without purpose or reason. Dhṛiti, steadfastness, describes the mind that is willing to change for mature reasons based on new information but holds steady to its determinations through thick and thin in the absence of such good reasons. Its decisions are based on wise discrimination. A person who is patient and truthful, who would not harm others by thought, word or deed and who is compassionate and honest has the strong nature of one who is firm in dhṛiti, steadfastness. He is the prevailer over obstacles. One firm in dhṛiti can be leaned upon by others, depended upon. He is charitable, has faith in God, Gods and guru, worships daily and manifests in his life a spiritual will and intellect. In relaxed moments he experiences santosha, contentment, not being preoccupied by feelings of responsibility, duty or things left undone.

The spiritual path is a long, enduring process. It does not reach fruition in a year or two years. The spiritual path brings lots of ups and downs, and the greatest challenges will come to the greatest souls. With this in mind, it becomes clear that steadiness and perseverance are absolutely essential on the spiritual path.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 21: HOLDING A DAILY VIGIL
Worshipers of Śiva perform a one-hour daily vigil, ideally before sunrise, in a clean, quiet place, after bathing and donning fresh clothing and holy ash. This vigil is optional on weekends and when traveling or ill. Aum.

Lesson 21 – Merging with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

On Earth to Realize the Self

Look through your entire life and make a memo of each major experience in this life. Then surmise how many major experiences you have had for the last ten lives. All the accumulative experiences have brought you to the point where you are now, ready to turn inward and realize your infinite being. They have all been good experiences. The reaction to the experience has also been good. It brought you to the point where you are, ready to sit down and say to yourself, “Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the power of That which has never changed, which I am and can feel in every cell of my body? Where does the clear white light come from? What is the underlying power of pure consciousness out of which awareness emerges?” All of this and more, too, you will ask yourself and get answers from within yourself, as you, your awareness as the lotus flower, begins to unfold. Always try to remember the reason why you are here. You are here to separate awareness from that which it is aware of and gain your own independence, your liberation, from the instinctive area of the mind.

When we’re in it, we believe that everything we’re going through is us. The intellectual area of the mind—when we’re attached and in it strongly, we believe that that is us. When we’re in the super­con­scious area of the mind, awareness is detached from that which it is aware of. We see ourselves as the traveler traveling through all areas of the mind, not getting stuck in any one area. Then we’re here to go in, to take awareness off the surface of the Earth into outer space, or out of the instinctive and intellectual areas of the mind, into pure super­con­sciousness, into the clear white light, so it permeates every cell of the body.

We’re here to realize the Self, to have that one dramatic experience where everything that we thought was things is turned upside down, and our whole perspective afterwards changes. That is the purpose for living on this Earth. That is the purpose for being here this very moment. That is the purpose for my speaking to you in this way, to impress upon you very thoroughly that you are here for Self Realization, walking on this planet. Get it. Direct all your energies toward it, and then the tremendous power of desire will be for the one goal, not for the many goals toward which desires usually flow. When that happens, Self Realization will come to you. It’ll be very easy. One day, you will be Self Realized.

Lesson 20 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Are God Śiva’s Traditional Forms?

ŚLOKA 20
Our adoration of the one great God Śiva is directed toward diverse images and icons. Primary among them are Śivaliṅga, Naṭarāja, Ardhanārīśvara, Dakshiṇāmūrti, Hari-Hara, Bhairava and the triśūla. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Every form is a form of Śiva. Tradition has given us several of special sacredness. The Śivaliṅga was the first image of Di­vin­ity. After it all other icons evolved from mystic vis­ions. We con­­template God Śiva as Paraśiva when we worship the Śiva­liṅg­a. Its simple elliptical shape speaks si­lently of God’s un­­speakable Absolute Be­ing. We exalt Śiva as Parāśakti or Sat­chid­­ānanda, God’s living omni­presence, when we wor­­ship any form of His never-separate Śakti, especially Ardhanārīśvara, whose right half is mas­cu­line and left half is feminine, and in whom all opposites are reconciled. We adore Him as Par­am­eś­vara, the Primal Soul, when we worship Naṭa­rā­ja, the Divine Danc­er who animates the universe. Thus we worship Śiva’s three perfections in three forms, yet knowing that He is a one Being, fully present in each of them. He is also Dak­shi­ṇā­­mūr­ti, the silent teacher; Hari-Hara—half-Śiva, half-Vish­ṇu—and Bhai­­rava, the fierce wield­­er of tri­śūla, the trident of love, wis­dom and ac­tion. The Tirumantiram declares, “Everywhere is the Holy Form. Everywhere is Śiva-Śakti. Everywhere is Chid­­am­ba­r­am. Everywhere is Divine Dance.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 20 – Living with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Kshamā: Patience

The fifth yama, patience, or kshamā, is as essential to the spiritual path as the spiritual path is to itself. Impatience is a sign of desirousness to fulfill unfulfilled desires, having no time for any interruptions or delays from anything that seems irrelevant to what one really wants to accomplish.

We must restrain our desires by regulating our life with daily worship and meditation. Daily worship and meditation are difficult to accomplish without a break in continuity. However, impatience and frustration come automatically in continuity, day after day, often at the same time—being impatient before breakfast because it is not served on time, feeling intolerant and abusive with children because they are not behaving as adults, and on and on. Everything has its timing and its regularity in life. Focusing on living in the eternity of the moment overcomes impatience. It produces the feeling that one has nothing to do, no future to work toward and no past to rely on. This excellent spiritual practice can be performed now and again during the day by anyone.

Patience is having the power of acceptance, accepting people, accepting events as they are happening. One of the great spiritual powers that people can have is to accept things as they are. That forestalls impatience and intolerance. Acceptance is developed in a person by understanding the law of karma and in seeing God Śiva and His work everywhere, accepting the perfection of the timing of the creation, preservation and absorption of the entire universe. Acceptance does not mean being resigned to one’s situation and avoiding challenges. We know that we ourselves created our own situation, our own challenges, in a former time by sending forth our energies, thoughts, words and deeds. As these energies, on their cycle-back, manifest through people, happenings and circumstances, we must patiently deal with the situation, not fight it or try to avoid it or be discouraged because of it. This is kshamā in the raw. This is pure kshamā. Patience cannot be acquired in depth in any other way. This is why meditation upon the truths of the Sanātana Dharma is so important.

It is also extremely important to maintain patience with oneself—especially with oneself. Many people are masters of the façade of being patient with others but take their frustrations out on themselves. This can be corrected and must be corrected for spiritual unfoldment to continue through an unbroken routine of daily worship and meditation and a yearly routine of attending festivals and of pilgrimage, tīrthayatra.

Most people today are intolerant with one another and impatient with their circumstances. This breeds an irreverent attitude. Nothing is sacred to them, nothing holy. But through daily exercising anger, malice and the other lower emotions, they do, without knowing, invoke the demonic forces of the Narakaloka. Then they must suffer the backlash: have nightmares, confusions, separations and even perform heinous acts. Let all people of the world restrain themselves and be patient through the practice of daily worship and meditation, which retroactively invokes the divine forces from the Devaloka. May a great peace pervade the planet as the well-earned result of these practices.

The next time you find yourself becoming impatient, just stop for a moment and remember that you are on the upward path, now facing a rare opportunity to take one more step upward by overcoming these feelings, putting all that you have previously learned into practice. One does not progress on the spiritual path by words, ideas or unused knowledge. Memorized precepts, ślokas, all the shoulds and should-nots, are good, but unless used they will not propel you one inch further than you already are. It is putting what you have learned into practice in these moments of experiencing impatience and controlling it through command of your spiritual will, that moves you forward. These steps forward can never be retracted. When a test comes, prevail.

Sādhakas and sannyāsins must be perfect in kshamā, forbearing with people and patient under all circumstances, as they have harnessed their karmas of this life and the lives before, compressed them to be experienced in this one lifetime. There is no cause for them, if they are to succeed, to harbor intolerance or experience any kind of impatience with people or circumstances. Their instinctive, intellectual nature should be caught up in daily devotion, unreserved worship, meditation and deep self-inquiry. Therefore, the practice, niyama, that mitigates intolerance is devotion, Īśvarapūjana, cultivating devotion through daily worship and meditation.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 20: DIRECTING THE POWER OF DESIRE
Those who live with Śiva know the great power of desire and thought, and choose theirs wisely. They also know the infinitely greater power of those who conquer desire by desiring only to know God. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 20 – Merging with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

Are You Ready To Turn Inward?

Basic principles for a good foundation in our lives can be established through consistency. The consistency in approach to what we are doing—a good habit pattern in living our life, as we approach our inner life, the understanding of our inner life, the study of it and the experience of it—has to be on a day-to-day basis. Developing a contemplative lifestyle that is sensible, that is positively worked out, and programming that into our complete pattern of daily life gives us a foundation strong enough to face decisions and the ensuing experiences and the reaction to those experiences in a way that they enhance our spiritual un­fold­ment. Remember, the lifestyle that we now have was programmed for us by mothers, fathers, religious leaders, teachers, people that we had just met along the way, and good friends. It’s not a particularly good lifestyle in which to hold the perspective that we’re an immortal being. It’s a great lifestyle to hold the perspective that we’re a temporal being, and we’re only here a few years and then we die.

To develop a whole new lifestyle takes thought. Our desire has to be transmuted into doing that. In the ordinary lifestyle of human consciousness, our desires generally are for things, for emotional experiences, for intellectual knowing. And that’s all good, but they’re not organized. We have to organize the tremendous power of desire so that it’s transmuted, and we desire the realization of the Self more than anything else. Then you’ll have enough desire left over to get things, to get happiness and to get all the getting that humans want.

But the tremendous force of desire is transmuted. The perspective is changed. We see ourself as an immortal being, and we work consistently with our lifestyle, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. Each decision that we make is an easier decision to make, and each reaction that we face, we face it joyfully. Each meditation that we hold is more profound than the last, and the spiritual being, the soul body, begins to merge with the physical body, as the elements of the instinct and the elements of the intellect that have been supreme life after life after life begin to give up and transmute their energies into the immortal body of the soul.

Lesson 19 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is the Nature of the Primal Soul?

ŚLOKA 19
Parameśvara is the uncreated, ever-existent Primal Soul, Śiva-Śakti, creator and supreme ruler of Mahādevas and beings of all three worlds. Abiding in His creation, our personal Lord rules from within, not from above. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Parameśvara, “Supreme Lord,” Mother of the universe, is the eternal, sovereign one, worshiped by all the Gods and sentient beings. So loved is Śiva-Śakti that all have an intimate relationship. So vast is His vastness, so over-powering is He that men cringe to trans­gress His will. So talked of is He that His name is on the lips of ev­eryone—for He is the primal sound. Being the first and perfect form, God Śiva in this third perfection of His being—the Primal Soul, the manifest and per­sonal Lord—nat­ur­ally creates souls in His image and likeness. To love God is to know God. To know God is to feel His love for you. Such a compassionate God—a being whose res­plen­dent body may be seen in mystic vision—cares for the min­u­tiae such as we and a uni­verse such as ours. Many are the mystics who have seen the brilliant milk-white form of Śiva’s glowing body with its red-locked hair, graceful arms and legs, large hands, per­fect face, loving eyes and musing smile. The Āgamas say, “Pa­r­­am­eśvara is the cause of the five manifest aspects: emanation, sṛishṭi; preser­vation, sthiti; dissolution, saṁhāra; conceal­­ment, tiro­bhāva; and revelation, anugraha.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 19 – Living with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Rules for Serious People

For virtuous individuals who marry, their experiences with their partner are, again, free from lustful fantasies; and emotional involvement is only with their spouse. Yes, a normal sex life should be had between husband and wife, and no one else should be included in either one’s mind or emotions. Never hugging, touching another’s spouse or exciting the emotions; always dressing modestly, not in a sexually arousing way; not viewing sexually oriented or pornographic videos; not telling dirty jokes—all of these simple customs are traditional ways of upholding sexual purity. The yama of brahmacharya works in concert with asteya, nonstealing. Stealing or coveting another’s spouse, even mentally, creates a force that, once generated, is difficult to stop.

In this day and age, when promiscuity is a way of life, there is great strength in married couples’ understanding and applying the principles of sexual purity. If they obey these principles and are on the path of enlightenment, they will again become celibate later in life, as they were when they were young. These principles persist through life, and when their children are raised and the forces naturally become quiet, around age sixty, husband and wife take the brahmacharya vrata, live in separate rooms and prepare themselves for greater spiritual experiences.

Married persons uphold sexual purity by observing the eightfold celibacy toward everyone but their spouse. These are ideals for serious, spiritual people. For those who have nothing to do with spirituality, these laws are meaningless. We are assuming a situation of a couple where everything they do and all that happens in their life is oriented toward spiritual life and spiritual goals and, therefore, these principles do apply. For sexual purity, individuals must believe firmly in the path to enlightenment. They must have faith in higher powers than themselves. Without this, sexual purity is nearly impossible.

One of the fastest ways to destroy the stability of families and societies is through promiscuity, mental and/or physical, and the best way to maintain stability is through self-control. The world today has become increasingly unstable because of the mental, physical, emotional license that people have given to themselves. The generation that follows an era of promiscuity has a dearth of examples to follow and are even more unstable than their parents were when they began their promiscuous living. Stability for human society is based on morality, and morality is based on harnessing and controlling sexuality. The principles of brahmacharya should be learned well before puberty, so that the sexual feelings the young person then begins to experience are free of mental fantasies and emotional involvement. Once established in a young person, this control is expected to be carried out all through life. When a virgin boy and girl marry, they transfer the love they have for their parents to one another. The boy’s attachment to his mother is transferred to his wife, and the girl’s attachment to her father is transferred to her husband. She now becomes the mother. He now becomes the father. This does not mean they love their parents any less. This is why the parents have to be in good shape, to create the next generation of stable families. This is their dharmic duty. If they don’t do it, they create all kinds of uncomely karmas for themselves to be faced at a later time.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 19: GUARDING AGAINST INSTINCTS AND INTELLECT
Those who live with Śiva keep the mountaintop perspective that life on Earth is an opportunity for spiritual progress. They never lose sight of this truth by becoming infatuated with instinctive-intellectual pursuits. Aum.

Lesson 19 – Merging with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

Using the Power Of Observation

There are several ways we can make decisions, and there are guidelines to help us. There are basic principles that we can follow in life that other people have followed which helped guide their decisions along. It worked out fairly well for them, so we can follow those basic principles, too. And we’ll go in after a while to outlining some of these basic principles that help us make good, positive decisions, for we can learn by observing other people, the decisions they have made, the reactions and experiential patterns that followed. We can learn by observing other people.

The first faculty of the expression of the inner being of your immortal soul is the great power of observation, to learn through observation, as your individual awareness detaches itself from that which it is aware of. You have tremendous powers of observation, for you are a free spirit. You’re just here on this planet to observe. And through your powers of observation you can go through the experiential patterns of other people by observing what they’re going through without having to go through them yourself. Some mystics live several lifetimes in one in this way.

Living by basic principles keeps awareness clean-cut, pure, direct and positive, out of the areas of the mind that are confused, unwholesome, unhealthy—areas that react back upon the nerve system of the physical nature. When we are clean-cut, our perceptions are precise. We make our decisions from an up-down point of view, and our path through life is guided by each decision that we make.

When we make a decision, it has its reaction. If we do not make a decision, that has a reaction, too, for then decisions are made for us by circumstance, other people, situations or confusion. The confusion becomes so intense that finally we’re forced into a decision. When we become accustomed to making one decision after another from an up-down point of view, our lives are guided in a systematic, positive, clean-cut, beautiful way. Who does the guiding? You do, with your awakened perceptive faculties.

Lesson 18 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is God Śiva’s Pure Consciousness?

ŚLOKA 18
Parāśakti is pure consciousness, the substratum or primal substance flowing through all form. It is Śiva’s inscrutable presence, the ultimate ground and being of all that exists, without which nothing could endure. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Parāśakti, “Supreme Energy,” is called by many names: si­­­lence, love, being, power and all-knowingness. It is Sat­chidānan­da—existence-consciousness-bliss—that pris­tine force of being which is un­differentiated, totally aware of itself, without an ob­ject of its awareness. It radiates as divine light, energy and knowing. Out of Paraśiva ever comes Parāśakti, the first man­i­fes­tation of mind, superconsciousness or infinite know­ing. God Śiva knows in infinite, all-abiding, loving super­con­scious­ness. Śiva knows from deep within all of His creations to their surface. His Being is within every animate and inanimate form. Should God Śiva remove His all-perva­sive Parā­śakti from any one or all of the three worlds, they would crumble, disintegrate and fade away. Śiva’s Śakti is the sustaining power and presence throughout the universe. This un­bounded force has neither beginning nor end. Verily, it is the Divine Mind of Lord Śiva. The Vedas say, “He is God, hidden in all beings, their inmost soul who is in all. He watches the works of creation, lives in all things, watches all things. He is pure consciousness, be­­yond the three conditions of nature.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.