Lesson 190 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Does One Best Prepare for Death?

ŚLOKA 35
Blessed with the knowledge of impending transition, we settle affairs and take refuge in japa, worship, scripture and yoga—seeking the highest realizations as we consciously, joyously release the world. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Before dying, Hindus diligently fulfill obligations, make amends and resolve differences by forgiving themselves and others, lest unresolved karmas bear fruit in future births. That done, we turn to God through meditation, sur­render and scriptural study. As a conscious death is our ideal, we avoid drugs, arti­­fi­cial life-ex­ten­sion and suicide. Suicide only postpones and in­­ten­­sifies the kar­­ma one seeks escape from, requiring sever­al lives to return to the evolutionary point that existed at the mo­ment of suicide. In cases of terminal illness, under strict com­mun­i­ty reg­ulation, tradition does allow prāyopa­ve­śa, self-willed re­ligious death by fasting. When nearing transition, if hospitalized, we re­turn home to be among loved ones. In the final hours of life, we seek the Self God within and focus on our man­­tra as kindred keep prayerful vigil. At death, we leave the body through the crown chakra, entering the clear white light and beyond in quest of videhamukti. The Vedas affirm, “When a person comes to weakness, be it through old age or dis­ease, he frees himself from these limbs just as a mango, a fig or a berry releases itself from its stalk.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 190 – Living with Śiva

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

Keep Teaching, Keep Loving

The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. Children are perfect devas until puberty, when so many changes come, when prārabdha karmas—the results of past actions they bring with them to live through in this birth—begin to manifest and the growing-up process intensifies. Is there a set way, a rule book, for raising Hindu children in our contemporary society? I think not. But the basic principles of Hinduism have not failed. No, not at all. Teach the young adults to look ahead mentally into the future before making a decision, and to base their decisions for life on the value judgments of Sanātana Dharma as well explained in Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, here in Living with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Culture and in Merging with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Metaphysics. This Master Course trilogy is all that’s needed for a fine future for young adults. What are these values? Peace; harmony within the home; tolerance for others; appreciation of the wisdom of those who have gone before us and of those who are older; purity of thought, word and deed; chastity until marriage; and, above all, cooperation and patience in choosing the right partner in life, for marriage is actually the joining of two families.

Marriage is not merely an individual decision between two people who are sexually attracted to each other. No, not at all. A marriage, to be successful, needs the support both of the young man’s family and the young lady’s. The days are going away very fast when, through the dowry system, the girl buys herself a husband or the boy commands a price to take her into his home as a servant girl for his mother.

All this should be explained time and time again to children who are growing up with mixed values. After all, they spend more time with their peers than they do with their parents in today’s world! This means that the parents have to actively teach them as well, and talk and talk and talk on well-rehearsed subjects to keep their children in the home, out of harm’s way and guided into a substantial, happy marriage in which the bride and the groom’s parents get along famously. It is a circle of love when two families marry along with their children.

These matters must be discussed when children are young, before puberty. Give many examples from your life and the successful lives of others they and you know. Later, when they reach the stage of puberty, watch out, for they may reject everything they have heard. But the knowledge is in there, deeply buried in their subconscious mind, just waiting to burst out when the right moment comes. So, even when they are not inclined to listen or discuss, you can know they are hearing. And you can be sure they are listening when you gossip about someone who is experiencing a similar problem they are facing—a high school senior you read of in the paper who is in dire circumstances, or a story with a moral that you have creatively thought up to put across the point that you are trying to make. Yes, they are listening, because who is it on planet Earth that does not just really, really love to hear a good story. Your well-placed parable will lift up the vāsanās you implanted early on.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 190: GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD HEALTH
Śiva’s devotees know that a good diet is the best medicine. They drink two liters of water daily, minimize fried foods and avoid junk foods, white rice, white flour, processed sugar and degraded oils. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 190 – Merging with Śiva

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

Consciously Superconscious

We have to adjust our subconscious to the idea that we are a superconscious being, rather than an instinctive being or an intellectual being driven by the impulses of the five senses. Awareness is the core of us. If we dropped off this physical body today, we would be a superconscious being without a physical body. If we stepped into another physical body tomorrow, we would still be a superconscious being, but with another physical body, different than the one we had yesterday, with an entirely new subconscious and new external environment.

I would like you to visualize dropping off your physical body and going over to, say, Sri Lanka or Bosnia to pick up a brand new body. See yourself stepping into it, adjusting your nerve currents within it, getting up from the battlefield, putting it into the hospital and healing it up and going home to its parents with a medal of valor.

You would have a new physical body, a new subconscious mind and a new external environment to adjust to. In this new body you would soon forget that you are a superconscious being. You would be so involved in being Ananda from Toronto who recently arrived there as a refugee from the war. But the superconscious being of you would know that it was a superconscious being, and finally Ananda would begin to know it, too. New rays of light would be coming through Ananda’s aura. The subconscious would be reprogrammed quickly, and pretty soon Ananda would become a man who meditated, in the very same way you meditated before you dropped off your old body and picked up Ananda’s body on the battlefield. There would not be much of a break in continuity. This gives you a brief look at reincarnation. Your subconscious can readily adjust to this simple concept.

There is one theory of reincarnation that holds we do not have to incarnate as little babies, but that we can incarnate as full-grown people when we know how it is done. More evolved souls can do this because they know the inner laws. Less evolved souls must incarnate through the womb, because this is the process that is most instinctively natural. This is one of the fringe benefits of becoming conscious in the superconscious body. Become consciously superconscious. That is the goal.

Lesson 189 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Should We View Death and Dying?

ŚLOKA 34
Our soul never dies; only the physical body dies. We neither fear death nor look forward to it, but revere it as a most exalted experience. Life, death and the afterlife are all part of our path to perfect oneness with God. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
For Hindus, death is nobly referred to as mahā­pra­s­thāna, “the great journey.” When the lessons of this life have been learned and karmas reach a point of in­tensity, the soul leaves the physical body, which then re­turns its elements to the earth. The awareness, will, memory and intelligence which we think of as ourselves continue to exist in the soul body. Death is a most natural ex­pe­r­ience, not to be feared. It is a quick transition from the physical world to the astral plane, like walking through a door, leaving one room and en­tering another. Knowing this, we approach death as a sādhana, as a spir­itual op­­portunity, bringing a level of detachment which is difficult to achieve in the tumult of life and an ur­­gency to strive more than ever in our search for the Di­vine Self. To be near a realized soul at the time he or she gives up the body yields blessings surpassing those of a thousand and eight visits to holy persons at other times. The Vedas explain, “As a caterpillar coming to the end of a blade of grass draws itself together in taking the next step, so does the soul in the process of transition strike down this body and dispel its ignorance.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 189 – Living with Śiva

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

Time Out And Time In

Is there a covert consciousness that accounts for the fact that for forty-eight years, until early 1996, I didn’t even know that children of my international congregation were being beaten? Perhaps. Hindus know it’s wrong in their heart of hearts, but are blindly obeying the cultural attitude expressed in this hiṁsā, violent, senseless proverb, and thoughtlessly reacting to their own stress and anger. They don’t even look for a better way. Well, there is a better way.

It has been over fifty years since my ministry started, way back in 1949. Now, in its maturity, there are uncounted encounters to rely upon, much experience to guide the fellowship and much energy to march into the future of futures. Among the concerns, one has become crucial to parents, who ask, “Are there better ways to raise our children? We are entirely dedicated to ahiṁsā, noninjury, physically, emotionally and mentally. But how is this lofty ideal possible to follow when troubled by emotions that are too easily released by taking them out, in the fire of the moment, on those we love? How can misdeeds that happen in the home be absolved, and examples set that prevent their repetition generation after generation?”

For parents seeking effective nonviolent alternatives, they are readily available today in excellent books. One strategy educators recommend is called time out, one minute for each year of the child’s age; hence ten minutes for a ten-year-old. This tells the child that if he doesn’t behave in a reasonable way, he will be separated from other people. Time out, sitting quietly in a room, works best in conjunction with its opposite, time in. Time in is quality time spent with the child in an activity he enjoys, and just being together. Time in includes letting children share their feelings, positive or negative, with parents lending a receptive, understanding ear.

There are new methods and new principles, such as in Nandinātha Sūtra 138: “Śiva’s followers never govern youth through fear. They are forbidden to spank or hit them, use harsh or angry words, neglect or abuse them. They know you can’t make children do better by making them feel worse.” This goes along with the innovative approach being taken by psychologists, sociologists and educators, in consideration of the turmoil that engulfs today’s world. The truth is being accepted that methods that rely on what experts call “punishment power”—scolding, taking away privileges, spanking—do not elicit more desirable behavior in children or adults. Rather, they produce hostility, resentment and the desire for retaliation. In communities around the world, our family missionaries are conducting study groups on Dr. Jane Nelsen’s Positive Discipline as a public service to help parents raise their children without violence.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 189: UNFANATICAL VEGETARIANISM
Śiva’s devotees are forbidden to eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs, but they may regard as regrettable exceptions unseen traces of nonfleshy ingredients, such as eggs and gelatin, in packaged or restaurant foods. Aum.

Lesson 189 – Merging with Śiva

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

Uncovering the Light of the Soul

As we study the mystical teachings of our religion, we begin to reprogram the subconscious mind and mold it like we mold clay. We become more conscious of our fears. We tell ourselves, “There is nothing to be afraid of. There is not one thing to be afraid of.” We are able to talk to the subconscious mind in this way. It is called affirmation. “I am a fearless being. I am a fearless being,” we keep saying to ourselves time and time and time again. In affirming this truth we begin reeducating or reprogramming the subconscious mind. Finally, we begin to remove the layers upon layers covering the soul.

In India there is a traditional analogy of a lamp whose light is concealed by a screen of colored pieces of cloth. It is said we can uncover the lamp, representing the light of the soul, by reprogramming the subconscious. First we take off the black piece of cloth. The dark green one is still there, so little light comes through as yet, and we are faced with the instinctive emotion—our great protective power of being jealous. Both fear and jealousy are protective mechanisms of the mind. We work with our jealous nature as we make other affirmations. “I have all that everyone else has. The same power that is within everyone is within me.” In this way we begin reprogramming the subconscious and gain more and more confidence in ourselves. Jealousy is inferiority. We feel we lack that which someone else has, so we try to cut them down a little bit to our size. Jealousy makes people mean. Finally, we work our awareness through this dark green sheath of jealousy, and we remove that sheath from the lamp of the soul. A little more light now shines through, and we begin to feel good about ourself—“I’m not so bad after all. In fact, I’m pretty good.” We become more confident and penetrate even deeper while working on the next instinctive quality, and the next and the next and the next. Finally, as we take off the last sheath, we find that we are That which we were all the time. We are inwardly free. We have removed awareness from the conscious mind and brought it through the subconscious state into pure superconsciousness. Now the physical body seems to us but a shell, a place in which we live in order to express ourselves on the surface of the Earth. The spiritual body seems to us to be our real body, and we wonder why we didn’t realize that before.

Lesson 188 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

What Is the Process of Reincarnation?

ŚLOKA 33
Reincarnation, punarjanma, is the natural process of birth, death and rebirth. At death we drop off the physical body and continue evolving in the inner worlds in our subtle bodies, until we again enter into birth. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Through the ages, reincarnation has been the great consoling element within Hinduism, elim­inating the fear of death, explaining why one person is born a genius and another an idiot. We are not the body in which we live but the immortal soul which inhabits many bodies in its evolutionary journey through saṁsāra. After death, we con­tinue to exist in unseen worlds, enjoying or suffering the harvest of earthly deeds until it comes time for yet ano­ther physical birth. Because certain karmas can be re­solved only in the physical world, we must enter ano­ther physical body to continue our evolution. After soaring in­­­to the causal plane, we enter a new womb. Subsequently the old manomaya kośa is slowly sloughed off and a new one created. The ac­tions set in motion in pre­vious lives form the tendencies and conditions of the next. Re­in­carnation ceases when kar­ma is resolved, God is realized and moksha attained. The Vedas say, “After death, the soul goes to the next world bearing in mind the subtle impressions of its deeds, and after reaping their harvest returns again to this world of action. Thus, he who has desires continues subject to rebirth.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 188 – Living with Śiva

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

In Defense Of Battering!

There is an old saying in Tamil that is often recited before or after slapping or beating a child: அடியும் உதை­யும் உதவுவது போல் அண்ணன் தம்பி உதவ மாட்டார். Adium uthaium uthavu vathu pol annan thambi uthava maddar. It means, “Even the help of one’s younger and older brothers cannot compare to the benefit of being kicked and beaten.” It seems this proverb, printed in certain school books, is taught to students.

This makes me ask the Hindu community worldwide: What fearful expectations are we nurturing in young minds by repeating such a cruel, stupid edict? Study until midnight to avoid a plastic rod across the back? Obey the teacher or get hit with a strap or cane, then slapped in the face at home for getting beaten in school? Are there more ślokas promoting hiṁsā, violence, in the home, more guidelines for corporal punishment? Is it our intention to pass this despicable attitude from generation to generation? Unfortunately it seems to be so. My young Asian monks can recite the above verse from childhood memories. Parents seeking to defend corporal punishment of children will also quote a saying from Manu Dharma Śāstra (7.198), “Sama, dana, bheda, daṇḍa,” which means “using kind words (or negotiation), bribery, sowing dissension, and punishment (or striking).” These are the four successive steps in achieving success against an enemy of the realm. It is advice for kings, not parents. I, for one, hope the rules will change in this nuclear-family age, for there are more seeming reasons to hit and fewer places where a beaten child can find solace and love, without the presence of grandma, auntie and others.

The working mother slaps her children at home because they add stress to her already stressed-out nerve system. Father has a tough day on the job and takes it out on his son’s back or face with the hand, strap or cane. Does it give a sadistic joy to hear young children cry in pain and humiliation? Does it enhance the feeling of “I’m in charge here; you are not!”?

In the past century we’ve had two world wars and hundreds of smaller ones. Killers come from among those who have been beaten. The slap and pinch, the sting of the paddle, the lash of the strap, the blows of a cane must manifest through those who receive them into the lives of others. But there is a price to pay. The abuser one day becomes the abused. This is a law of life seen manifesting every day. It is called karma. Action gives an equal or more intense reaction, depending on the intent and the emotion behind it. Corporal punishment is arguably a prelude to gangs on the streets, those who will riot on call, and others who suffer in silence and hide behind a desk or in a routine profession, fearing reprimand and punishment, never talking back or offering an opinion.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 188: GOOD EATING HABITS
Śiva’s devotees adhere to the āyurvedic principles of eating at regular times, only when hungry, always seated, at a moderate pace; never between meals, in a disturbed atmosphere or when angry or emotionally upset. Aum.

Lesson 188 – Merging with Śiva

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

Helpmate or Hindrance?

The sub of the subconscious mind can and does create situations of an uncomely nature. It is well known that repressions are formed by a series of suppressed desires. When these repressions are released, the emotional unit undergoes a change. It is also well known that all the thoughts placed into the subconscious remain there until they materialize into something definite. Then they will reappear. It is a little different with the subsubconscious mind, for it not only attracts situations that will bring these thoughts out, but creates situations by playing upon the subconscious itself. The subsubconscious mind, through its natural magnetism, attracts so-called temptations and unhappy conditions. The conscious mind, weakened by harmful practices, falls into this self-created trap. There the ego seemingly suffers between the subconscious thoughts that created the “sub,” the ego’s conscious expressions, and its sub-superconscious knowing. Guilt is one of the results of this state, also pride and anguish. These are a few of the qualities resulting from the subsubconscious state of mind. When the “sub” is controlled through a deep understanding of its inner workings, the ego, or consciousness, is free from being bound in identifying itself with the mind, body and emotions. The ego, or consciousness, can then progress towards the dynamic realization of your real Self—beyond the mind, the mind that is under your control. Otherwise, the ego is caught in the cross-section between the conscious mind and its subsuperconscious knowing, resulting in superstition, ideology, fanaticism and an argumentative nature.

The subsubconscious mind is very simple. We can compare it to kumkum, the red powder worn as a dot on the third eye, which is a combination of yellow turmeric and pale green lime juice. We can also liken it to ice, formed when water meets with freezing temperature. Cooking is perhaps the best common example. We place vegetables in a pot on a stove or fire, and we add the delicious curries. With the heat coming up from beneath the pot, the ingredients merge together as one. The vegetables no longer taste like they formerly did and neither do the spices. It is not possible to separate the vegetables from the spices once the cooking has begun.

A traumatic emotional experience occurs and is recorded in the subconscious. This we liken to placing the vegetables into the pot. Eight months later, a similar experience happens and is reacted to with equal emotion. It happens, it is reacted to, it goes into the same pot. The vegetables have joined the spices. A subconscious remembrance of the previous experience comes up and is accompanied by a heat of emotion. This is the heat that welds the two impressions together, just as fire cooks the curried vegetables. The two experiences have now become one, inseparably blended together in the subconscious, making a third impression, or vāsanā, totally different from the two impressions that manufactured it. It is unique and complete within itself, driven forward by an emotional force even greater than its two component experiences.

It is this subliminal power that makes the subsubconscious mind an overwhelming hindrance or a tremendous helpmate when used properly. When existing in negative ignorance, it is a deterrent on the path to enlightenment. The solution to eliminating the power of emotion that compels these blended karmas forward is simple. We only have to understand the ingredients—the vegetables and the spices—and resolve each one separately. Once cognized, even the most complex patterns can be resolved or unraveled through writing down one’s inmost feelings and burning the paper in an ordinary fire. This is called the vāsanā daha tantra. Remember, however, that it is not necessary to remove each and every negative impression, one by one. Rather, we seek to strengthen the positive impressions. This in itself is sufficient and will allow unseemly impressions to be naturally resolved.

Lesson 187 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Is There Good Karma and Bad Karma?

ŚLOKA 32
In the highest sense, there is no good or bad karma. All experience offers opportunities for spiritual growth. Selfless acts yield positive, uplifting conditions. Selfish acts yield conditions of negativity and confusion. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Karma itself is neither good nor bad but a neutral principle that governs energy and motion of thought, word and deed. All experience helps us grow. Good, loving ac­tions bring to us lovingness through others. Mean, selfish acts bring back to us pain and suffering. Kindness pro­­duces sweet fruits, called puṇ­ya. Unkindness yields spoiled fruits, called pāpa. As we mature, life after life, we go through much pain and joy. Actions that are in tune with dharma help us along the path, while adhar­mic actions impede our progress. The di­vine law is: whatever karma we are experiencing in our life is just what we need at the moment, and nothing can happen but that we have the strength to meet it. Even harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest catalyst for spiritual un­fold­ment. Performing daily sādhana, keeping good company, pilgrimaging to holy places, seeing to others’ needs—these evoke the higher en­ergies, direct the mind to useful thoughts and avoid the cre­ation of trou­ble­some new karmas. The Vedas explain, “According as one acts, so does he be­come. One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.