Lesson 157 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

Where Am I Going? What Is My Path?

ŚLOKA 2
We are all growing toward God, and experience is the path. Through experience we mature out of fear into fearlessness, out of anger into love, out of conflict into peace, out of darkness into light and union in God. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
We have taken birth in a physical body to grow and evolve in­to our divine potential. We are inwardly al­ready one with God. Our religion contains the knowl­edge of how to realize this one­ness and not create un­wanted ex­­periences along the way. The peerless path is following the way of our spiritual forefathers, discovering the mystical meaning of the scrip­tures. The peerless path is commitment, study, discipline, prac­tice and the ma­tur­ing of yoga into wisdom. In the beginning stages, we suffer un­til we learn. Learning leads us to service; and selfless service is the be­ginning of spiritual striving. Service leads us to understanding. Understanding leads us to medi­tate deep­­ly and without distractions. Fin­ally, meditation leads us to surrender in God. This is the straight and certain path, the San Mārga, leading to Self Real­iz­a­tion—the inmost purpose of life—and sub­sequently to moksha, freedom from rebirth. The Vedas wisely af­firm, “By aus­terity, goodness is obtain­­ed. From good­­­ness, understanding is reached. From understanding, the Self is obtained, and he who obtains the Self is freed from the cycle of birth and death.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 157 – Living with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Advantages of Early Marriage

I have observed that children born in such early marriages are spiritually inclined. They are religious and intuitive by nature. Intellectual education does not concern them too much. Nor are they concerned with the worldly pursuits of Western people who are suffering, basically, from frustrated sex emotion, or of those unhappy, incomplete people of the West who live in the frustrations of intellectual ramification and who arrive at the end of their lives and suddenly ask themselves, “Who am I, where did I come from and where am I going?” for unless they have a particularly strong memory, most of their study will have left them. Just as the memory of each detail of your yesterday has flowed through you, so does intellectual knowing eventually flow through the life of the person who contains it, as a thing of only temporary value.

The custom of early marriage in Asia does not stop with the marriage ceremony. The mothers and fathers enter into an unwritten contract together to support the son and the daughter and set aside a certain amount of money for them, so that they can eventually have their own house. The boy usually follows along the line of business of his father, and in this way, spiritually, socially, culturally and economically, the youthful husband and wife are taken care of until the young man is old enough to assume his full family responsibilities. If the young man exhibits special aptitude that might warrant it, and if the parents are sufficiently well off, perhaps they will send him to the university. If not, he follows happily and usually successfully in his father’s trade. The result of such stable early marriage is to give the nation a solidarity and to bring forth, as well, spiritually strong children.

You may enter a home in which such marriages have taken place and find ten people living in the same small area so harmoniously and so well adjusted that you would hardly know that more than one or two are living there. Very large families may live in close contact with each other, and because they are so well adjusted and have such inner respect for each other, there is no contention, no feeling of being crowded. This inner respect for the moods and feelings of another is only possible because the soul qualities are awakened at an early age in the children. Without all of this, we would not, in all wisdom, recommend such early marriage.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 157: BUILDING ECONOMIC SECURITY
Śiva’s householder devotees strive to own their home and save for retirement. They live within their means in dwellings suitable to their wealth and are regular and completely honest in paying their tithe and taxes. Aum.

Lesson 157 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Value Of Initiation

Oftentimes japa and chanting are the ardha-Hindu or non-Hindu’s first introduction to Sanātana Dharma. An ardha-Hindu is often one who has been given a Hindu first name. It is our experience over the last fifty years that their japa has little effect unless they make the full commitment to becoming stalwart members of the Hindu religion and join a mature community. Those who are inside a department store handling and purchasing the merchandise and those outside looking through the window at the same merchandise are two different groups. Ardha means half, and ardha-Hindus are those who have come half way to making a full commitment and are still making up their mind. They are still on the outside looking in. Their japa doesn’t have much power until they bring other aspects of their life into line with the Hindu Dharma.

For the non-Hindu who has not made a commitment, the universal mantra Aum is the most significant and precious of all mantras. This can be chanted by those of all religions, without restriction. The sounds of a city make “Aum.” A child at birth says “Aum.” A mother giving birth says “Aum.” The last breath of a dying person is “Aum.” Even the cows say “Aum.” Aum is the mantra of Lord Gaṇeśa. All are striving for His holy feet. Those who are struggling with the lower nature, those who have not made a commitment to the Sanātana Dharma, a commitment which for the newcomers to the fold could be verified by their Hindu name on their passport, should all chant Aum.

To demonstrate the authority vested in the mantra, let me tell you a story. A minister in a court was summoned before the mahārāja. The minister also happened to be a brahmin priest, a kulaguru with the power to give initiation in the most sacred mantra, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya. The king asked him, “We would like you to initiate me into the sacred Pañchākshara Mantra.” The guru said, “Yes, Majesty, I shall begin preparing you for your initiation.” Then the king decreed: “No, we will take the initiation right now, and never mind the preparations.” The kulaguru objected, “This is quite impossible. My guru restricts me from giving initiation without due preparation.” The king retorted, “So, we will do the mantra without you. Or else explain to me how the mantra would work differently with the initiation than without.” The kulaguru said, “Yes, Majesty, I shall give you an explanation.”

In a loud voice, the guru called to the five guards standing amidst the gathered audience, “Guards, come forward instantly and arrest this man, the mahārāja, he is into wrongdoings. He is demanding an initiation into the great Pañchākshara Mantra without the willingness to undergo the necessary preparations required by our noble sampradāya.” The guards stood silent, eyes wide, looking at the mahārāja, wondering what to do. The mahārāja, losing his composure upon hearing his minister’s preposterous command, was struck with awe and thought, “What madness has overcome this holy man?” He then shouted to the guards, “Here, promptly: arrest this minister of mine, this kulaguru who is behaving in such an insolent manner against the throne. Tie him securely and take him away.” The guards rushed forward without delay, grabbed the guru and held him tight.

The guru laughed and said, “Hold on a minute! I was just answering your question, Majesty. I spoke the mantra ‘Arrest this man.’ However, since I am not initiated into the court, not ordained to have that power, the guards stood idle and did not respond. You then gave the same mantra, ‘Arrest this man.’ Because you were carefully prepared and initiated as king, the guards responded.” Upon hearing this, the mahārāja threw himself at the kulaguru’s feet. The guards who had been hearing the entire conversation then released their captive, and themselves touched the holy man’s feet and returned to their posts. In the months ahead the mahārāja meticulously prepared himself for and received his initiation. Now all three worlds cooperate with him. His kingdom flourishes, crops grow, the rains come when needed, the rivers run clear and the wells are always full, the cows are fat, the mangos fall sweetly from the trees, the Gods in the temples provide discipline for the king’s subjects, and Himalayan ṛishis regularly visit the kingdom, giving of their wisdom to one and all. Even though His Majesty chants, with the proper visualization, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya 108 times daily, one thing is missing: the king himself has not yet attained to full and complete God Realization. There is a story yet to be told.

Lesson 156 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

Who Am I? Where Did I Come From?

ŚLOKA 1
Ṛishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emotions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into oneness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
We are immortal souls living and growing in the great school of earthly experience in which we have lived many lives. Vedic ṛishis have given us courage by uttering the simple truth, “God is the Life of our life.” A great sage carried it further by saying there is one thing God cannot do: God cannot separate Himself from us. This is be­cause God is our life. God is the life in the birds. God is the life in the fish. God is the life in the animals. Becoming aware of this Life energy in all that lives is becoming aware of God’s loving presence within us. We are the un­dying consciousness and energy flowing through all things. Deep inside we are perfect this very moment, and we have only to discover and live up to this perfection to be whole. Our energy and God’s energy are the same, ever coming out of the void. We are all beautiful children of God. Each day we should try to see the life energy in trees, birds, animals and people. When we do, we are seeing God Śiva in action. The Vedas affirm, “He who knows God as the Life of life, the Eye of the eye, the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind—he indeed com­pre­hends fully the Cause of all causes.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 156 – Living with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Marriages Of the Spirit

Now, you might ask, suppose a young married couple find that they don’t like one another. Suppose they are not suited to one another? Well, they are, assuming the match was carefully determined according to the basic tendencies in the nature of each child, according to harmonious and compatible character delineations and not as a forced marriage. The two children, being of the same basic tree, actually grow together in growing up together. This is an ancient ideal among Hindus and other peoples. Though it is not widely practiced in today’s world, it may be in the future when society regains the inner understanding that dispels the misconceptions surrounding the subject.

One of the most compelling aspects of a compatible child marriage is that divorce never even enters into the consciousness of these husbands or wives. In such a relationship, to think of divorce would be like thinking of cutting off your arm. You don’t even consider cutting off your own arm to solve a problem. Nor do children who have grown up together in marriage consider divorcing each other. They have their children at an early age, and they grow up with their own children, so the whole family is closely knit.

The success of a good early marriage is due to the fact that it is a marriage of the spirit. It is not simply an emotional, impulsive pairing or a sexual mating. When the family elders, the mothers and fathers, consult with the family jyotisha śāstrī and make the betrothal at the very early age of perhaps seven, the destinies of the children are fully directed in the mind of each member of the family. There is no doubt, uncertainty or suspense.

We might think that children should not have their lives determined for them in this way by other people, that they should be given free will to make their own mistakes, to find their own happiness. But think for a minute, how much free will do we really have in our Western culture? Without even knowing it, we buy what manufacturers and advertisers determine we should buy, our minds are filled with what the media presents to us, and we date and marry those we contact by chance circumstance. Our existence in all ways is dependent upon our surroundings more than we would like to admit.

Now, I am only giving you one view of early marriage. You will have to arrive at your own conclusion on this subject. Certainly, there are abuses of the practice of arranged marriage in general. For instance, in response to such abuse, in 1999 England passed a law forbidding forced marriages of young girls.

The responsibility for the marriage of youths lies with the parents, just as they were responsible for their children’s conception. After both families have agreed upon the betrothal, it is the duty of the parents in each family to thoughtfully direct the minds of the children toward one another. The parents and all the elders of the family watch carefully to see that the children do not form any other romantic alliances. They may have other close friends, but first and foremost in the mind of each is the husband- or wife-to-be. In this way, a slow amalgamation of the souls of the two children is made; and looking within, it is possible to see the process of interweaving which takes place on the higher planes of consciousness.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 156: TRUE WEALTH
Devout Hindus remain dignified in deprivation and humble in prosperity. Knowing that one can be spiritually rich in poverty and spiritually impoverished in affluence, they live bountifully in either world. Aum.

Lesson 156 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Japa Opens Inner Doors

One who performs japa properly will realize what he knows. You see, japa opens up the inner mind and focuses the energies of certain chakras, which are consciousness encased within the psychic nerve ganglia of the nāḍī network. Therefore, if he is a divine person, he will realize that Divinity. If he is an angry, selfish person, then he will realize that. We would want him to realize the former but not the latter. Through karma yoga, Sivathondu, the angry, hateful, contentious, competitive person will face himself through a series of small situations in which small realizations will occur. The instinctive nature and habits will be corrected until the individual is able to work smoothly over long periods of time. We would not want to open up his mind to the impurities, lest he become depressed or even morose and suicidal. Therefore, japa yoga obviously is an initiation that should come a little down the road, farther down the path.

Generally, those who want to practice japa yoga and do have impurities working within them fall away from repetitive mantras very quickly, becoming a little afraid of what might happen if they are successful. Their own soul is watching after them in this early stage. Then there are those who are ardent, fanatical, you might say, who want to get results in a limited period of time and have no sense of the consequences. They work tirelessly to do this. The wise guru would discourage much practice of intense mantras or meditating alone, and would instead encourage karma yoga, giving to others, working for work’s sake, serving for service’s sake, not looking for rewards. Group meditations and group chanting are fine at this stage, as is temple worship, until the purification process has had time to work its magic.

In short, there are two kinds of Hindus—a majority who worship in the temples without a philosophical background and those who do have such a background and take part in their religion, discussion of the higher knowledge and meditation upon it, feeling no need for the Gods or for temple worship. The Pañchākshara Mantra, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, the center of the Vedas, is the link between the two, between Siddhānta and Vedānta, because it makes the mind realize what it knows. Every Siddhāntin knows a little about Vedānta and disregards it. And every Vedāntin knows a bit about Siddhānta and disregards it. Through chanting Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, finally you will realize what you know, including what you previously disregarded, and that blends the two—makes the whole person. The purusha becomes satisfied living in the physical body. The jīva becomes Śiva.

Initiation is essential for the ultimate results in chanting Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, though the uninitiated can and do say Aum Namaḥ Śivāya. Within them it won’t have much of an effect, but there will be an effect. This effect will be more potent and powerful once you have dīkshā, having studied and purified yourself through the purificatory process of sādhana. It would be so much better to chant Aum Śaravaṇabhava at this time, invoking Lord Murugan to bring the guru forth in your life who will initiate you. Murugan is the first guru, the first swāmī and renunciate. This is the preparatory stage.

Lesson 155 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Who Are the Most Recent Kailāsa Gurus?

ŚLOKA 155
Sage Yogaswami, source of Natchintanai, protector of dharma, was satguru of Sri Lanka for half a century. He ordained me with a slap on the back, commanding, “Go round the world and roar like a lion!” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Amid a festival crowd outside Nallur temple, a disheveled sādhu shook the bars from within the chariot shed, shouting, “Hey! Who are you?” and in that moment Yogaswami was transfixed. “There is not one wrong thing!” “It is as it is! Who knows?” Sage Chellappan said, and suddenly the world vanished. After Chellappan’s mahāsamādhi in 1915, Yogaswami undertook five years of intense sādhana. Later, people of all walks of life, all nations, came for his darśana. He urged one and all to “Know thy Self by thyself.” It was in his thatched, dung-floor hermitage in 1949 that we first met. I had just weeks before realized Paraśiva with his inner help while meditating in the caves of Jalani. “You are in me,” he said. “I am in you,” I responded. Later he ordained me “Subramuniyaswami” with a tremendous slap on the back, and with this dīkshā sent me as a sannyāsin to America, saying, “You will build temples. You will feed thousands.” I was 22 at the time, and he was 77. In fulfillment of his orders have I, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, composed these 155 ślokas and bhāshyas, telling an infinitesimal fraction of all that he infused in me. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 155 – Living with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Traditions of Early Marriage

We are now entering the dawning of a new age in which everyone is becoming more and more conscious of life and the inner laws of life in their investigation of the inner man. Child marriage is one of the most interesting and least understood practices of ancient India, which has a very real basis in spiritual law. I thought you would be interested this morning to hear of some of the intricacies of this ancient custom.

For many thousands of years, India has practiced early marriage in a variety of forms, making the Indian home through the centuries strong and stable, losing much of its power and stability only in more recent times as some of the ancient practices such as early marriage have begun to fall away from common use. But still, in thousands of homes throughout Asia today, families practice the betrothal of their children no later than the age of puberty. Such a practice is continued in many homes surrounding our āśrama in the northern part of Sri Lanka. In a typical home, the father and mother begin to take a great interest in finding the proper mate for the child when he or she arrives at the age of six or seven years. In the most traditional communities, many matches are proposed when a boy is five and six years of age to a girl who is just born, because the family wants a happy life with the other family and it seeks to protect the youthful life of the children who are raised together with this vision in mind. Such matches are fulfilled in holy matrimony at age sixteen or later. The principle of such a match is considered to be much the same as the grafting of one kind of an apple tree upon another kind of apple tree, producing a tree which will then bear different kinds of apples. The children are matched by their parents according to an intricate system of character delineation which allows the parents to know the respective basic tendencies of their children.

Sometimes a betrothal is made several years before the marriage takes place. In such cases, the little boy or the little girl is told, perhaps at the age of six or seven, who will one day be his wife or her husband. From that day on, the child’s mind is constantly directed towards the person he or she will one day marry. The father talks about it, the mother talks about it, the older brothers and sisters are constantly filling the child’s mind with thoughts of the husband- or wife-to-be; and the betrothed child begins to anticipate the approaching marriage as a sacred and permanent lifetime contract. From the moment of decision, the parents and relatives in both families are quite happy and content with the arrangement, and eventually it is sanctified with the aid of the temple priest. Generally it is when the two children reach their mid-teens that they become actually married. Then the little girl packs her bag and is taken to the house of the boy, where she lives with him, but just like any one of the rest of the family.

In some cases in India, prior to the marriage ceremony, the bride and groom may not even have met; but as soon as they begin to live together, they come to know one another slowly in the security of his family’s home. Gradually, their minds, which have long been directed toward one another, come together in a natural and harmonious way. When they begin living together, the emotions of each blend one with another, and this is really the marriage of the emotions. First occurs the marriage of the soul. Then the two minds become married. Then the emotions become married or interblended. Finally, the physical consummation of the marriage takes place when both bodies are mature enough for this to happen. The physical bodies continue to grow, and the marriage is a continuing growing together of the physical bodies, emotional bodies and mental bodies, just as you would mold together two pieces of clay until finally you could not tell where one began and the other stopped. Ideally such a marriage is as perfect and complete as the harmonious grafting of one limb upon another.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 155: PATH CHOOSING FOR YOUNG MEN
Śiva’s young men followers are free to pursue their born destiny of either renunciation or family life. This choice of two traditional paths is their birthright. Following either, they follow dharma. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 155 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Magic Of Japa

Japa is the prelude to rāja yoga. Japa links Siddhānta with Vedānta through the repetition of the mantra Aum Namaḥ Śivāya—or Aum Śaravaṇabhava for the uninitiated. Those who are initiated into the sacred Pañchākshara, Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, have the advantage, because the repetition of this mantra will make them eventually see directly Śiva’s perfect universe, and they in themselves will become a blend of Vedānta and Siddhānta. The unitiated are in preparation, using the mantra Aum Śaravaṇabhava Aum, thus quieting their minds, realizing the all-pervasiveness of Śiva and seeing that the natural state of the mind—when all karmas are temporarily suspended—is Satchidānanda, is peace, is bliss. Therefore, japa yoga is the prelude to rāja yoga and all other forms of sādhana.

Japa is very widespread in Hinduism, more so than meditation. Japa yoga is easy to practice. The inexperienced can take it up immediately. It does produce certain results until they forget the mantra, which can happen! This may seem strange, but I have met devotees of gurus who had actually forgotten their mantra, even after paying a goodly sum to receive it. The innocent Americans and Europeans are the orphans and adopted children of Indian gurus. Some of these teachers, unaware of the critical differences of religion and culture of their new-found and eager devotees, respond by bringing them immediately into japa and rāja yoga, avoiding the known initiations and the basic philosophical and cultural foundations necessary for ultimate success. In the case of Indian devotees, these cultural and philosophical foundations would have been acquired within the family home. This foundation is necessary, as it directs the subconscious mind, which is the inner motor of a person, preventing him from opposing, inhibiting and invalidating the realizations that naturally occur when one practices yoga. So, first we learn the philosophy, then through japa and more advanced yogas we realize it. Whereas in performing japa and rāja yoga before you know the philosophy, what you previously learned may conflict with what you now realize. This can be very disconcerting.

When the philosophy is properly understood, we possess right thought, right speech and right action, which is proper behavior. This is culture. Hindu culture is very different from the European cultures, which are based largely on Abrahamic beliefs. Humility and obedience before elders and those who are wiser is a very big part of Hindu culture, as is the regard for knowledge and wisdom and the deeper philosophies. Therefore, a good character expressed day by day within the individual who is freed from anger and from contentious mental arguments is a central foundation for the practice of yoga.

One without such purity should not practice japa yoga lest he awaken the knowledge of his imperfections which are better to keep veiled. For knowing such could send him into states of remorse, early repentance—which means being penitent before one has the stability to take on the reaction of such a momentous discovery and undertaking. To meditate, one must be free from anger, jealousy and contention. Karma yoga should be practiced by the devotee prior to this to smooth out all character flaws. Sivathondu—which is another word for karma yoga—service to Śiva, is the platform for japa yoga.

Those who are victims to episodes of anger, to pangs of jealousy or to periods of fear should not meditate and should not perform japa. They should perform Sivathondu, attend group meditations and group prāṇāyāma sessions. This is because they must first be lifted up into the mūlādhāra chakra and above. They are living below it and must raise their consciousness in order to proceed deeply into themselves. It is the group itself in this case that will lift the individual who cannot easily lift himself. This process should be guided by a strong-minded, compassionate moderator.

Lesson 154 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Who Were Kadaitswami and Chellappan?

ŚLOKA 154
Kadaitswami was a dynamic satguru who revived Śaivism in Catholic-dominated Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the 1800 s. Chellappaswami was an ardent sage, ablaze with God consciousness, immersed in divine soliloquy. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Kadaitswami was a powerful siddha, standing two meters tall, whose fiery marketplace talks converted thousands back to Śaivism. It is said he was a high court judge who refused to confer the death penalty and renounced his career at middle age to become a sannyāsin. Directed by his satguru to be a worker of miracles, he performed siddhis that are talked about to this day—turning iron to gold, drinking molten wax, disappearing and appearing elsewhere. Chellappaswami, initiated at age nineteen, lived alone in the teradi at Nallur temple. Absorbed in the inner Self, recognizing no duality, he uttered advaitic axioms in constant refrain: “There is no intrinsic evil. It was all finished long ago. All that is, is Truth. We know not!” The Natchintanai says, “Laughing, Chellappan roams in Nallur’s precincts. Appearing like a man possessed, he scorns all outward show. Dark is his body; his only garment, rags. Now all my sins have gone, for he has burnt them up! Always repeating something softly to himself, he will impart the blessing of true life to anyone who ventures to come near him. And he has made a temple of my mind.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.