Lesson 99 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Main Kārttikeya Festivals?

ŚLOKA 99
Vaikāsi Viśākham celebrates the anniversary of Lord Kārttikeya’s creation. Skanda Shashṭhī is a six-day festival honoring His conquest of light over darkness. Tai Pusam is a time of sādhana and public penance. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
On Vaikāsi Viśākham day, Lord Kārttikeya’s birthstar, Viśākhā nakshatra, in May-June, elaborate abhisheka is conducted in all His temples. It is a time of gift-giving to paṇḍitas and great souls, weddings, feedings for the poor, caring for trees, spiritual initiation, dīkshā, and conclaves of holy men. Skanda Shashṭhī is celebrated on the six days after the new moon in October-November with festive processions and pūjās invoking His protection and grace. It honors Kārttikeya’s receiving the vel, His lance of spiritual illumination, jñāna śakti, and culminates in a dramatic victory celebration of spiritual light over asuric darkness. Tai Pusam occurs on Pushya nakshatra in January-February. During this festival we fast and perform public penance, called kavadi, seeking Kārttikeya’s blessings to dispel our selfishness, pride and vanity. His special monthly days are Kṛittikā nakshatra and Shashṭhi, the sixth tithi after the new moon. The Vedas say, “Like the cry of watchful birds swimming in water, like the loud claps of thundering rain clouds, like the joyful streams gushing from the mountain, so have our hymns sounded forth to the Lord.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 99 – Living with Śiva

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

Taming Distraction

Throughout your inner investigations in meditation, cling to the philosophical principle that the mind doesn’t move. Thoughts are stationary within the mind, and only awareness moves. It flows from one thought to another, as the free citizen of the world travels through each country, each city, not attaching himself anywhere. When you are able, through practice, to sit for twenty minutes without moving even one finger, your superconscious mind can begin to express itself. It can even reprogram your subconscious and change past patterns of existence. That is one of the wonderful things about inner life. That’s why it’s inner life—it happens from the inside.

If you just sit and breathe, the inner nerve system of the body of your psyche, your soul, begins to work on the subconscious, to mold it like clay. Awareness is loosened from limited concepts and made free to move vibrantly and buoyantly into the inner depths where peace and bliss remain undisturbed for centuries. However, if you move even a finger, you externalize the entire nervous system. Like shifting gears from high to low, you change the intensity of awareness, and the outer nerve system then is active. Superconscious programming ceases, awareness returns to the body and the senses, and the external mind takes over. By sitting still again at this point, it is just a matter of a few minutes for the forces to quiet and awareness to soar in and in once again. Sitting quietly in this state, you will feel when the superconscious nerve system begins to work in the physical body. You may feel an entirely different flow through your muscles, your bones and your cells. Let it happen.

As you sit to meditate, awareness may wander into past memories or future happenings. It may be distracted by the senses, by a sound or by a feeling of discomfort in the body. This is natural in the early stages. Gently bring awareness back to your point of concentration. Don’t criticize awareness for wandering, for that is yet another distraction. Distractions will disappear if you become intensely interested and involved in your meditation. In such a state you won’t even feel the physical body. You have gone to a movie, read a book or sat working on a project on your computer that was so engrossing you only later discovered your foot had fallen asleep for a half hour because it was in an awkward position. Similarly, once we are totally conscious on the inside, we will never be distracted by the physical body or the outside.

If distractions keep coming up in meditation over a long period of time, then perhaps you are not ready to meditate. There has to be a point where distractions stop. Until then you are hooked very strongly into the instinctive or intellectual area of the mind, and the whole idea of meditation won’t inspire you very much. Therefore, you need something to spur you on inwardly. In Hinduism when this occurs, the grace of the satguru is sought. By going to your guru openly, you receive darśana, a little extra power that moves awareness permanently out of the areas of distraction. You are then able to sit in inner areas for long periods of time. Distractions become fewer and fewer, for he has wrenched you out of the instinctive and intellectual areas and changed the energy flow within your body.

After the meditation is over, work to refine every attribute of your nature. Learn to work and work joyfully, for all work is good. Learn to be happy by seeking happiness, not from others but from the depths of the soul itself. In your daily life, observe the play of the forces as they manifest between people and people, and people and their things. Don’t avoid the forces of the world, for the meditator lives fearlessly, shying away from nothing. The “out there” and the within are his playground, his kingdom. He becomes vibrant and confident in himself. He learns to lean on his own spine and not on any other person, teacher, book, organization or system. Answers begin to become real and vibrant, hooked onto the end of every question. His body radiates new grace and strength. His mind, disciplined and uncluttered, becomes one-pointedly agile. His relationships take on new, profound meanings. His emotions are stabilized and reflect his new-found tranquillity. These and many more are the dynamic rewards of the sincere aspirant who searches within through meditation.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 99: MEALTIME CUSTOMS
Each of Śiva’s married women devotees joyously observes at mealtimes the ancient custom of serving her husband and family first. When they are satisfied, she is fulfilled and only then sits down for her own meal. Aum.

Lesson 99 – Merging with Śiva

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

Restraints and Observances

When we are children, we run freely, because we have no great subconscious burdens to carry. Very little has happened to us. Of course, our parents and religious institutions try to prepare us for life’s tests. But because the conscious mind of a child doesn’t know any better, it generally does not accept the preparation without experience, and life begins the waking up to the material world, creating situations about us—magnificent opportunities for failing these tests. If we do not fail, we know that we have at some prior time learned the lesson inherent in the experience. Experience gives us a bit of wisdom when we really face ourselves and discover the meaning of failure and success. Failure is just education. But you shouldn’t fail once you know the law.

There have been many systems and principles of ethics and morality established by various world teachers down through the ages. All of these have had only one common goal—to provide for man living on the planet Earth a guidepost for his thought and action so that his consciousness, his awareness, may evolve to the realization of life’s highest goals and purposes. The ancient yoga systems provided a few simple yamas and niyamas for religious observance, defining how all people should live. The yamas, or restraints, provided a basic system of discipline for the instinctive mind. The niyamas, or positive observances, are the affirming, life-giving actions and disciplines. From the holy Vedas we have assembled here ten yamas and ten niyamas, a simple statement of the ancient and beautiful laws of life.


The Ten Yamas, Restraints for Proper Conduct from the Vedas


Noninjury, ahiṁsā: Not harming others by thought, word, or deed.
Truthfulness, satya: Refraining from lying and betraying promises.
Nonstealing, asteya: Neither stealing, nor coveting nor entering into debt.
Divine conduct, brahmacharya: Controlling lust by remaining celibate when single, leading to faithfulness in marriage.
Patience, kshamā: Restraining intolerance with people and impatience with circumstances.
Steadfastness, dhṛiti: Overcoming nonperseverance, fear, indecision and changeableness.
Compassion, dayā: Conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings.
Honesty, straightforwardness, ārjava: Renouncing deception and wrongdoing.
Moderate appetite, mitāhāra: Neither eating too much nor consuming meat, fish, fowl or eggs.
Purity, śaucha: Avoiding impurity in body, mind and speech.


The Ten Niyamas, Observances For Spiritual Life from the Vedas


Remorse, hrī: Being modest and showing shame for misdeeds.
Contentment, santosha: Seeking joy and serenity in life.
Giving, dāna: Tithing and giving generously without thought of reward.
Faith, āstikya: Believing firmly in God, Gods, guru and the path to enlightenment.
Worship of the Lord, Īśvarapūjana: The cultivation of devotion through daily worship and meditation.
Scriptural listening, siddhānta śravaṇa: Studying the teachings and listening to the wise of one’s lineage.
Cognition, mati: Developing a spiritual will and intellect with the guru’s guidance.
Sacred vows, vrata: Fulfilling religious vows, rules and observances faithfully.
Recitation, japa: Chanting mantras daily.
Austerity, tapas: Performing sādhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice.

Lesson 98 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Major Gaṇeśa Festivals?

ŚLOKA 98
Gaṇeśa Chaturthī is a joyous celebration of Gaṇeśa’s birthday. Vināyaka Vratam is twenty-one days of fasting and daily temple worship. Pañcha Gaṇapati is a five-day family festival of harmony and gift-giving. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
On Gaṇeśa Chaturthī, in August-September, elaborate temple pūjās are held. Worship is also given in the home shrine to a clay image of Gaṇeśa that we make or obtain. At the end of the day, or after ten days, we join others in a grand parade, called visarjana, to a river, temple tank, lake or seashore, where we immerse the image, symbolizing Gaṇeśa’s release into universal consciousness. During the twenty-one days of Vināyaka Vratam, in November-December, devotees vow to attend daily Gaṇeśa pūjā, fasting on water and taking a full meal after sunset. Pañcha Gaṇapati, December 21 to 25, is a modern five-day festival of gift-giving, dear to children. Families invoke His five śaktis, one on each day—creating harmony in the home, concord among relatives, neighbors and friends, good business and public relations, cultural upliftment and heartfelt charity. Gaṇeśa’s monthly holy day is Chaturthī, the fourth tithi after the new moon. The Vedas implore, “O Lord of Categories, thou art the Lord, the seer of seers, unrivaled in wealth, king of elders, lord of the principle of principles. Hear us and take thy place, bringing with thee all enjoyments.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 98 – Living with Śiva

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

Four Steps To Meditation

When we go into meditation, what do we meditate upon? What do we think about during meditation? Usually the sincere devotee will have a guru, or spiritual guide, and follow his instructions. He may have a mantra, or mystic sound, which he concentrates upon, or a particular technique or attitude he is perfecting. If he has no guru or specific instructions, then here is a rāja yoga exercise that can enhance inner life, making it tangibly real and opening inner doors of the mind. Use it to begin each meditation for the rest of your life. Simply sit, quiet the mind, and feel the warmth of the body. Feel the natural warmth in the feet, in the legs, in the head, in the neck, in the hands and face. Simply sit and be aware of that warmth. Feel the glow of the body. This is very easy, because the physical body is what many of us are most aware of. Take five, ten or fifteen minutes to do this. There is no hurry. Once you can feel this warmth that is created by the life force as it flows in and through the body’s cells, once you can feel this all over the body at the same time, go within to the next step.

The second step is to feel the nerve currents of the body. There are thousands of miles of nerve currents in each of us. Don’t try to feel them all at once. Start with the little ones, with the feeling of the hands, thumbs touching, resting on your lap. Now feel the life force going through these nerves, energizing the body. Try to sense the even more subtle nerves that extend out and around the body about three or four feet. This may take a long time. When you have located some of these nerves, feel the energy within them. Tune into the currents of life force as they flow through these nerves. This is a subtle feeling, and most likely awareness will wander into some other area of the mind. When this happens, gently bring it back to your point of concentration, to feeling the nerves within the body and the energy within the nerves.

The third step takes us deeper inside, as we become dynamically aware in the spine. Feel the power within the spine, the powerhouse of energy that feeds out to the external nerves and muscles. Visualize the spine in your mind’s eye. See it as a hollow tube or channel through which life energies flow. Feel it with your inner feelings. It’s there, subtle and silent, yet totally intense. It is a simple feeling. We can all feel it easily. As you feel this hollow spine filled with energy, realize that you are more that energy than you are the physical body through which it flows, more that pure energy than the emotions, than the thought force. Identify yourself with this energy and begin to live your true spiritual heritage on this Earth. As you dive deeper into that energy, you will find that this great power, your sense of awareness and your willpower are all one and the same thing.

The fourth step comes as we plunge awareness into the essence, the center of this energy in the head and spine. This requires great discipline and exacting control to bring awareness to the point of being aware of itself. This state of being totally aware that we are aware is called kaīf. It is pure awareness, not aware of any object, feeling or thought. Go into the physical forces that flood, day and night, through the spine and body. Then go into the energy of that, deeper into the vast inner space of that, into the essence of that, into the that of that, and into the that of that. As you sit in this state, new energies will flood the body, flowing out through the nerve system, out into the exterior world. The nature becomes very refined in meditating in this way. Once you are thus centered within yourself, you are ready to pursue a meditation, a mantra or a deep philosophical question.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 98: FULFILLING MORNING DUTIES
Each of Śiva’s married women devotees observes the custom of arising before her husband, to bathe, ready the shrine and prepare his morning beverage. First up and last to retire, she is in charge of her home. Aum.

Lesson 98 – Merging with Śiva

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

To Live a Radiant Life

It is one thing to talk; it is another thing to demonstrate what is declared. Demonstration is a result of your awareness flowing through the super­con­scious area of the mind. The super­con­scious mind is actinic or radiant force, whereas the conscious and subconscious states of mind are manifestations of odic force, or magnetism. Excessive talk arises out of confused conscious and subconscious states of mind.

Find your actinic spiritual destiny in this life. Learn to live fully each instant, completely in the eternity of the moment. Become refined by constructive, rather than abusive, practices. Become positive through the generation of good deeds, rather than those uncomplimentary experiences we react to and reenact. Yours is a new and positive destiny, one that is true, constant and free from want or dangers. Life ahead for you can only become one of fulfillment and radiance as you adjust to dharmic principles. Follow these thirty-six gentle guidelines for living and meditate regularly in the morning when you awaken and just before sleep each night. That is all that is needed by the beginner on the eternal path to those enlightened heights of super­con­sciousness to which the subtle, individual, intelligent awareness of man aspires.

On and on through the mind we travel daily, once awareness has become detached from the limited area of mind it has been trapped in. The journey seems endless! It is. Seek on, seek on. Look in, look in. And on that solid foundation of good character, move into that place in the mind and live there, seeing no difference between the inner and the outer states of fluctuating awareness. Be that now for which you have been striving. The search is within. Go within the mind. Go in and in and in and in and make fathomable the unfathomable depth of Being. You can do it. It has been done countless times over the past several thousand years. Give yourself the great benefit of believing in yourself and flow inward, inward—to the totality of it all.

Lesson 97 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Primary Festivals to Śiva?

ŚLOKA 97
Mahāśivarātri, Śiva’s great night, venerates Paraśiva. Kṛittikā Dīpam celebrates the infinite light of Parāśakti. Ārdrā Darśanam invokes the blessings of Parameśvara— Lord Śiva Naṭarāja in His blissful Cosmic Dance. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Mahāśivarātri is the night before the new-moon day in February-March. We observe it both as a discipline and a festivity, keeping a strict fast and all-night vigil, meditating, intoning Śiva’s 1,008 names, singing His praise, chanting Śrī Rudram, bathing the Śivaliṅga and being near the vairāgīs as they strive to realize Paraśiva. On Kṛittikā Dīpam, the Kṛittikā nakshatra in November-December, we honor—with oil lamps everywhere, village bonfires and special temple āratī—God Śiva as an infinite pillar of light. This is an important festival in Murugan temples. On Ārdrā Darśanam, during the Ārdrā nakshatra of December-January, Lord Naṭarāja receives elaborate abhisheka and is beseeched for yogic union, prosperity and matrimonial success. He is again lavishly invoked on the Uttarāphalgunī nakshatra in June-July and on four other days each year. Special monthly days for Śiva worship are the two 13th tithis, called pradosha. The Vedas proclaim, “The Lord, God, all-pervading and omnipresent, dwells in the heart of all beings. Full of grace, He ultimately gives liberation to all creatures by turning their faces toward Himself.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 97 – Living with Śiva

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

Control Of Breath

Control of the breath, to be learned properly, might take months or even years. That’s all right. If you were learning to play a musical instrument, it would take months or even years to perfect the basic principles of making chords and putting chords together into a melody. There is no hurry. Hurry is the age we want to bypass when we meditate. The control of the breath is exactly the same as the control of awareness, so it is good to be patient in the early stages and perfect each element of practice.

As we learn to breathe rhythmically and from the diaphragm, we also release tensions in the solar plexus. We learn to be spontaneous and free on the inside, and life force runs through us in an uninhibited way. We achieve and learn to maintain contentment, santosha. All of these things come through the simple techniques we practice while in meditation. But the practice of meditation is not the end. It is the total being of man that is the end to be sought for—the well-rounded, content, spontaneous being that is totally free.

After you have quieted the body, and the breath is flowing regularly, close your eyes. Close your ears and shut off the external sense perceptions. As long as you are aware of sights and sounds on the outside, you are not concentrated. It is a fallacy to think you have to find a totally silent place before you can go within. When your senses are stilled, you don’t hear any sounds. You’re in a state of silence. You don’t hear a car that passes, you don’t hear a bird that sings, because your awareness has shifted to different perceptions. It helps, but it’s not necessary, to have a totally silent place. This is not always possible, so it is best not to depend on outer silence. We must discover silence within ourselves. When you are reading a book that is extremely interesting, you are not hearing noises around you. You should be at least that interested in your meditations.

Having thus quieted the outer forces, we are prepared to meditate. Just sitting is not enough. To meditate for even ten or fifteen minutes takes as much energy as one would use in running around a city block three times. A powerful meditation fills and thrills us with an abundance of energy to be used creatively in the external world during the activities of daily life. Great effort is required to make inner strides. We must strive very, very hard and meet each inner challenge.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 97: BEING MODEST WITH OTHER MEN
Śiva’s married women maintain a kindly and modest reserve toward all men, be they young, older, single, married, divorced or widowed. They shower all their love and attention on their husband and family. Aum.

Lesson 97 – Merging with Śiva

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

Awakening Willpower

This is why you were born. The one and only reason why you are existing in your material body is first to unfold into your clear white light, then penetrate deeper and deeper, touch into the Self, become a knower of the Self, Sat­chid­ānanda, and then deeper still into nir­vi­kalpa samā­dhi, Self Realization, preparing for the next steps on the classical yoga path—moksha, freedom from rebirth, and viśvagrāsa, merging with Śiva. You will soon realize that you create the mind in any way that you want, that you are master of your mind. To become master of your mind, you must realize that understanding is fifty percent of control of the mind, and you have to work at it as an accountant would work to balance his books, as a musician has to work to master his instrument.

To know yourself is why you are on Earth. You were born to realize the Self. You are not here to make money, to clothe yourself or to entertain yourself. These are incidentals. You are here on this planet to realize the Self God, and the only way to experience Self Realization is to awaken within you a dynamic, indomitable, actinic will. To do this, the steps are: first, find out what and where the willpower is. Everyone has it. Willpower is that quietness within, that serenity that is likened to a light so bright that you cannot see it with the physical eyes. Second, learn to use this actinic will. Begin with little things that you do. Become satisfied with everything that you do. To you, it must be a work of art, even if it is just drying a dish, cleaning a floor or painting a picture. Your work must satisfy you, and if it does not satisfy the inner you one hundred percent, you must use your indomitable willpower and keep striving until it does.

You must become a perfectionist unto yourself, but first decide what your standard for perfection is. You must control the quality of your work. Take on no responsibility that you cannot handle. By doing this, you will find that you have much more control over the physical body and emotions than you ever thought possible. You will begin to demonstrate to yourself your powers of control over material creations, the physical body and the emotions of the instinctive area of the mind. Demonstration comes as you use your indomitable willpower.

Lesson 96 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Festival Days of Śaivism?

ŚLOKA 96
Festivals are special times of communion with God and Gods, of family and community sharing and sādhana. Śaivites observe numerous festivals in the temple and the home, and special holy days each week and month. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Monday is the Hindu holy day in the North of India, and Friday in the South, set aside each week for attending the temple, cleaning and decorating the home shrine, devout prayer, japa and scriptural study. These are not days of rest, for we carry on our usual work. Among the major Deity festivals are Mahāśivarātri, Vaikāsi Viśākham, Gaṇeśa Chaturthī, Skanda Shashṭhī, Kṛittikā Dīpam, Vināyaka Vratam, Ārdrā Darśanam and Tai Pusam. Temples also hold a ten-day annual festival called Brahmotsava, often on the Uttarāphalgunī nakshatra in March-April, as well as honor the anniversary day of their founding. Festivals are auspicious and sacred days of family and community togetherness, and of sādhana, fasting, meditation, worship and retreat from worldly concerns. Śaivites offer special prayers to Śiva, Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya on propitious days each month according to the Hindu sacred calendar. The Vedas proclaim, “Behold now a man who unwinds and sets the thread, a man who unwinds it right up to the vault of heaven. Here are the pegs; they are fastened to the place of worship. The Sāma Veda hymns are used for weaving shuttles.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.