Lesson 361 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Why Is There Suffering in the World?

ŚLOKA 51
The nature of the world is duality. It contains each thing and its opposite: joy and sorrow, goodness and evil, love and hate. Through experience of these, we learn and evolve, finally seeking Truth beyond all opposites. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
There is a divine purpose even in the existence of suffering in the world. Suffering cannot be totally avoided. It is a natural part of human life and the impetus for much spiritual growth for the soul. Knowing this, the wise ac­cept suffering from any source, be it hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, famine, wars, di­sease or inexplicable trag­­edies. Just as the intense fire of the furnace purifies gold, so does suffering purify the soul to resplendence. So also does suffering offer us the important realization that true happiness and freedom cannot be found in the world, for earthly joy is inextricably bound to sorrow, and worldly free­dom to bondage. Having learned this, devotees seek a satguru who teaches them to understand suffering, and brings them into the intentional hardships of sādhana and tapas leading to liberation from the cycles of experience in the realm of dual­ity. The Āgamas explain, “That which ap­pears as cold or as hot, fresh or spoiled, good fortune and bad, love and hate, effort and laziness, the exalted and the depraved, the rich and the poor, the well-founded and the ill-founded, all this is God Himself; none other than Him can we know.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 361 – Living with Śiva

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

Welcoming Newcomers

Only if we bring seekers into Hinduism properly through the nāmakaraṇa saṁskāra, our name-giving sacrament, will they truly become a part of this time-honored tradition and be able to raise their children as Hindus. If we do not, they will have nothing to offer their children but an empty, negative abyss to slowly fall into when they grow up. We owe it to the next generation, the next, the next and the next to take these sincere Hindu souls in Western bodies fully into our religion, train them and help them to become established in one sect or another. It should be insisted upon that their children do not grow up without a religion, for that would prove harmful both to the individual and to Hindu society as a whole.

Societies which do not foster religion foster crime by default. Crime is very expensive for an individual, for a community and for a nation. When we neglect religious training, we allow crime to gain a foothold on the youth, and we pay for that neglect dearly. Therefore, I say that this next step must be taken, and taken fully, by all the swāmīs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and around the world.

We beseech all Hindu organizations worldwide to open their hearts and doors to these fine souls. This is a very serious situation. There are hundreds of thousands of people who have been dislodged from their parents’ religion through their belief in reincarnation, karma and the knowledge of God’s all pervasiveness, and yet they have not been fully taken into the Hindu religion or its community of devotees. Why? Because of color? Yes, that is partly true. Many Indian people say, “You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu. You cannot adopt the Hindu religion. You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu.” This, of course, is not true. Other Indian Hindus say, “You have to be born in India and in a caste to be a Hindu.” This also is not true. What about all of you who were born and live here in Sri Lanka? What about the Hindus in Bali, those in Malaysia or the Hindus born in Trinidad, Nepal, Europe, Guyana, Suriname and elsewhere? Are they not Hindus?

We did some research on this erroneous statement: “You cannot convert to Hinduism.” We studied dozens of books and noted down all of the quotes that we could find that said, “You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu” or “You have to be born in India to be a Hindu.” We found that these two quotes were only in the books authored by Christians. These statements, we concluded, were nothing more than Christian propaganda against the Hindu religion. Presumably, the Christians knew that if they could stop or at least slow down the growth of Hinduism through conversion, they would make more progress in their own conversions and in a few generations perhaps destroy Hinduism. We did not find these statements in a single book written by a Hindu author.

In fact, eminent Hindu authors have said that you can convert to Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda proclaimed, “Born aliens have been converted in the past by crowds, and the process is still going on.” Even if you only adopt Hindu practices, believe in reincarnation and karma and do a pūjā once a day, you are a Hindu and will be accepted by Hindu society. Unfortunately, a minority of Hindus of Indian origin, educated in Christian schools, and even a few Western-influenced swāmīs and pandits and one or two Śaṅkarāchāryas, echo this misinformation with conviction. We can now see how the Christian propaganda has negatively influenced the growth of Hinduism worldwide. Their propaganda has infiltrated, diluted and destroyed the Hindu’s faith in his own religion.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 361: THE SACRED DUTY OF MY ĀCHĀRYAS
My sannyāsins who are āchāryas are the supreme architects of our sampradāya’s future and the fulfillers of these Nandinātha Sūtras. They carry this responsibility on top of their head. Yea, they are chosen ones. Aum.

Lesson 361 – Merging with Śiva

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

From Caterpillar To Butterfly

To all these devotees, in their different stages of spiritual evolution, Lord Śiva is the Supreme God. To the first, He is the Primal Soul, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of existence. To the second He is the Primal Soul as well as Pure Consciousness, the substratum of existence, the divine energy coursing through and animating every atom within the microcosm and the macrocosm. To the third He is the manifest Primal Soul and Pure Consciousness and the unmanifest Absolute, Paraśiva, that transcends form itself. These three perspectives are not exclusive of one another, but encompass one another as the lotus of the mind opens to an ever widening understanding of God. Each is true according to where the devotee is on the path.

This Eternal Path is divided naturally into four separate categories. The Bhagavad Gītā—the popular book which you all know from your studies in Vedānta and which has made Hindu philosophy well known in America—defines these as four separate nonprogressive paths, called karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga and jñāna yoga. In Āgamic scripture these are defined a little differently and are considered to be four stages of a progressive path, termed charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna. These are all Sanskrit terms. According to the Āgamic tradition, these four categories are the natural sequence of the soul’s evolutionary process, much like the development of a butterfly from egg to larva, from larva to caterpillar, from caterpillar to pupa, and then the final metamorphosis from pupa to butterfly. Every butterfly, without exception, will follow this pattern of development, and every soul will mature through charyā to kriyā, through kriyā to yoga and into jñāna. Charyā, or karma yoga, may be simply defined as service. Kriyā, or bhakti yoga, is devotion. Yoga, or rāja yoga, is meditation, and jñāna is the state of wisdom reached toward the end of the path as the result of God Realization and the subsequent enlivened kuṇḍa­linī and un­fold­ment of the cha­kras through the practices of yoga. The soul does not move quickly from one stage to another. It is a deliberate process, and within each stage there exist vast libraries of knowledge containing the sum of thousands of years of teachings unraveling that particular experiential vista.

The evolution of the soul through the stage of charyā, or service, may itself take many, many lives. We see people every day who are working to be of service, to be more efficient, to be more useful to others. They are not necessarily inclined toward devotion, yet they may be deeply concerned with humanitarian programs, with selflessly helping their fellow man. An entire life may be spent in charyā, and the next life and the next. It is a slow process, with its own timing. Not every stage of experience can be accepted at once.

The path of charyā begins with the avoidance of wrongful action, and can be likened to the early training of a child in which he is told, “Don’t do this. Do this instead. Don’t behave in that way. This is the proper behavior.” In early life, a child learns what is right by being told what not to do. In spiritual life, too, we have these avoidances, these restraints. The seeker is advised to avoid over-eating, criticism of others, anger, hatred, envy and deceit. This gives him guidelines that stabilize him in the beginning, controlling the instinctive mind. These inner reins help him to know what is right, help him to control his karma and educate his intellect by laying a foundation of quiet within the instinctive mind, a foundation upon which the intellect may build a knowledgeable structure.

Charyā is the state of overcoming basic instinctive patterns and learning to work for the sake of work rather than the fruits of our labor. It is the simple fulfillment of right action and the first step on the spiritual path in our religion. Our duty to our parents, to our community, to the wife and children, to the temple in the town or village—all this must be fulfilled for charyā to be perfected. One goes to the temple at this stage of un­fold­ment because it is expected of him. He goes there not to practice yoga, not to evolve a personal relationship with the Deity, but because he must. It is his duty. His instinctive mind at this stage of his evolution is so strong that it must be governed firmly by external laws, external forces. He either obeys or suffers the consequences of disobedience. It is his fear of the consequences that motivates him more than anything else. Certainly he may feel guilty or fearful when he approaches the temple, for he is aware of his own transgressions and omissions. But little by little he gains confidence and understanding. His conscience begins to take the place of outer sanctions and gradually becomes his guideline. Whereas before he never felt guilty even for his worst transgressions, now he begins to feel remorse for misdeeds. Tendencies toward selfishness lose their hold on the devotee as he strives to become the perfect servant to God and mankind.

Lesson 360 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Should One Avoid Worldly Involvement?

ŚLOKA 50
The world is the bountiful creation of a benevolent God, who means for us to live positively in it, facing karma and fulfilling dharma. We must not despise or fear the world. Life is meant to be lived joyously. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
The world is the place where our destiny is shaped, our desires fulfilled and our soul matured. In the world, we grow from ig­norance into wisdom, from darkness into light and from a consciousness of death to immortality. The whole world is an āśrama in which all are doing sā­­dhana. We must love the world, which is God’s crea­tion. Those who despise, hate and fear the world do not un­derstand the intrinsic goodness of all. The world is a glorious place, not to be feared. It is a gra­cious gift from Śiva Himself, a playground for His children in which to interrelate young souls with the old—the young experiencing their karma while the old hold firmly to their dharma. The young grow; the old know. Not fearing the world does not give us permission to become immersed in worldliness. To the con­trary, it means remaining af­fectionately detached, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, being in the world but not of it, walking in the rain without getting wet. The Vedas warn, “Behold the universe in the glory of God: and all that lives and moves on Earth. Leaving the transient, find joy in the Eternal. Set not your heart on another’s possession.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 360 – Living with Śiva

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

Vedānta and Christianity

Tens of thousands of America’s and Europe’s younger generation have come to believe in the basic tenets of Hinduism. There are hundreds of thousands of the older generation who believe in reincarnation and the laws of karma. These two beliefs have pulled them away from the Abrahamic religions. But unless the Hindu organizations in every country who teach reincarnation and karma take these fine, dedicated half-Hindu people one step further and convert them fully into the Hindu religion, a disservice through neglect has been committed.

Yes, native-born Americans want to know more about karma and reincarnation and God’s all-pervasiveness. They have not been satisfied with the postulations taught by the Abrahamic faiths. They do not believe in a wrathful God who punishes souls in Hell for eternity. They do not believe that non-Christians will suffer forever for their “wrongful beliefs.” Many Americans are adopting the Hindu view of life. Even scientists are looking to Hinduism for deeper understanding as to the nature of the universe. Ironically, born Hindus are trying to be like Western people just when Westerners are appreciating the beauties of Hinduism. Yes, hundreds of thousands of sincere seekers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and elsewhere are turning toward Hinduism, pulling away from their former religions and finding themselves in an in-between state, an abyss which offers them no further guidance from Indian swāmīs or community acceptance by Hindu groups.

It is postulated by some that Vedānta makes a Christian a better Christian. Because of that postulation Vedānta has been widely accepted throughout the world. “Study Vedānta,” seekers are told, “and it will make you a more enlightened Christian.” This is simply not true. When you study Vedānta, you learn about karma and reincarnation, you begin to understand that God is within you and within all things, and that the immortal soul of man is one with the Absolute God. These are not Christian beliefs. These beliefs are a strong threat to Catholic and Protestant Christian doctrine, so strong, in fact, that in 1870 the First Vatican Council condemned five beliefs as the single most sensitive area threatening the Catholic faith of the day, and even in recent times the Vatican has described their encroachment as a grave crisis. Among those condemned beliefs is the belief that God exists in the world, in all things. To believe that God is everywhere and that all things are His Sacred Being makes an individual an apostate to his religion, according to the mandates of the Catholics and most Christian churches.

Isn’t that interesting? Certainly the Catholics do not agree that studying Vedānta makes one a better Catholic. Certainly the Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans and evangelicals do not hold that the study of Vedānta makes one a better Christian. Quite the opposite, the study of Vedānta will make a Christian a heretic to his own religion. So successful were the Vedānta swāmīs in promulgating the notion that Vedānta can be studied by people of all religions, that they have become a threat to the existence of the Catholic and Protestant churches. That is how different Christianity is from traditional Hinduism.

Hinduism has come a long way in North America and Europe through the tireless efforts of the Vedānta swāmīs, the Sivananda swāmīs and others. They are to be commended for their efforts and insight, and for succeeding in putting the precepts of Hinduism on the map of the world’s consciousness. However, one step further must be taken.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 360: THE BROTHERHOOD OF RENUNCIATES
All those in saffron robes who have braved death to the world are the brethren of my swāmīs, who appropriately honor authentic male swāmīs older than themselves and touch their feet in homage. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 360 – Merging with Śiva

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

The Process Of Evolution

When a beginning devotee comes to the temple to worship Śiva, he sees Śiva as a man, a person, not unlike himself, yet more than a man, for He is a God, the God of Gods, so powerful, so aware and complete within Himself that He is the center of endless universes. In coming to worship Śiva, this devotee prostrates himself before the Deity just as if he were in the presence of the grandest potentate or majesty imaginable. Śiva is that to him. We know how wonderful it can be to approach a distinguished and honored personage. It makes us feel special. It brings out the best within us. The same thing happens to this man. He feels himself in the presence of the Supreme Lord, and he brings the best of himself to the temple.

If he has a problem, if something is not going well in his family or in his business, he will come to the temple with special offerings. The priest takes that offering into the inner sanctum for the pūjā. During the pūjā it is blessed and then some of it is returned to the worshiper to take back to his home, carrying the vibration of the temple into his everyday life. During pūjā he will concentrate his efforts on opening himself to the divine influence of Lord Śiva. And as he leaves the temple, he will look for a break in the problem, for a new perspective to arise as a result of his worship in the temple. He will look for some telling signs from his environment—the way the lizard chirps, how many crows come down, and even what kind of people walk by his house. Perhaps the solution to his problem is simply a new way of seeing it, a different perspective that gives him the insight to handle the matter, or there may be a change in his external circumstances.

As this man worships, he grows more and more devoted, becomes capable of a profound understanding of the rituals and practices of his early saṁskāras. From the practice of putting holy ash on his forehead and the feeling that goes through his nervous system whenever he does that, he begins to discover sound reasons for doing it, reasons he can confidently tell his children. His worship leads him little by little into new realms of consciousness.

Another man, more refined and awakened, may have worshiped during the exact same pūjā. This devotee came to worship the same Deity, but to him it was not only an ethereal being external to himself. He perceived it also as an essence pervading the universe, a oneness of pure consciousness flowing through all form, and he worshiped that Sat­chid­ānanda in the sanctum and equally within himself. As the energies of the pūjā reached their crescendo, he could feel that pure essence of consciousness as himself. After the pūjā, he went to a secluded corner of the temple, there to meditate, to bask in the kuṇḍa­linī energy awakened in him through his temple worship until he knew himself as one with that vast sea of pure life energy and light. He went home feeling peaceful and calm and just at one with everyone and everything that came along in his life. He has no awareness of time and just lives fully in the intensity of the moment. When he applies holy ash at the temple or in his shrine room at home before he sits down to meditate, he sees it as the ash of those forces which hold him in individual consciousness—the forces of karma and ego and desire. He applies the ash so that it makes three distinct lines across his forehead. They are lines to impress him with the need to keep these three forces subdued in his life.

This man lives in tune with the worship of Lord Śiva and the dar­shan he receives, and opens up within himself from that worship. Everything in his life flows smoothly and harmoniously. He is in touch with a divine voice within himself and he follows it as his own will. His life is simple. And he feels himself complete. Neither fretting over the past nor worrying about the future, he lives totally in the present. His evolution is steady and graceful. He grows greater in his capacity to hold those moments of dar­shan he feels until he carries that dar­shan steadily through every aspect of his life. That is his only experience. He is a witness to what goes on around him—doing it perfectly but detached from the doing. He sees light within his head when he meditates. And that grows until he knows that the light is more real than anything he considers himself. That way his un­fold­ment continues. He comes to be purer and purer, more and more aware of the real.

A third man, living under strict vows and the guidance of his sat­guru, having long ago perfected the harmony and discipline that allowed him to see himself as the Pure Consciousness within all beings, is immersed within states of contemplation, whether in a mountain cave or before a temple sanctum. His goal is to find the source of that energy, and the source of that source, and the source of that, until he realizes That, Paraśiva, the Absolute, beyond all form. He experiences himself and Śiva as one.

Lesson 359 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Can a Benevolent God Permit Evil?

ŚLOKA 49
Ultimately, there is no good or bad. God did not create evil as a force distinct from good. He granted to souls the loving edicts of dharma and experiential choices from very subtle to most crude, thus to learn and evolve. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
From the pinnacle of consciousness, one sees the harmony of life. Similarly, from a mountaintop, we see the natural role of a raging ocean and the steep cliffs be­low—they are beautiful. From the bottom of the moun­­tain, the ocean can appear ominous and the cliffs treacherous. When through meditation we view the universe from the inside out, we see that there is not one thing out of place or wrong. This releases the human concepts of right and wrong, good and bad. Our benevolent Lord created everything in perfect balance. Good or evil, kind­ness or hurtfulness re­turn to us as the result, the fruit, of our own actions of the past. The four dharmas are God’s wisdom lighting our path. That which is known as evil arises from the instinctive-intellectual nature, which the Lord created as dimensions of experience to streng­then our soul and further its spiritual evolution. Let us be compassionate, for truly there is no intrinsic evil. The Vedas admonish, “Being overcome by the fruits of his ac­­­tion, he enters a good or an evil womb, so that his course is downward or upward, and he wanders around, overcome by the pairs of opposites.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 359 – Living with Śiva

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

One Duty To Perform

Every Hindu has but one great obligation, and that is to pass his religion on to the next generation of Hindus. That’s all he has to do, pass his religion on to the next generation. Then that generation passes it on to their next generation. If we lose a single generation in-between, the whole religion is lost in an area of the world. How many religions have existed on this planet? Thousands of them. What happened to the Zoroastrian religion? It barely exists now. What happened to the religion of the ancient Greeks? They must have missed several generations. The ancient Mayan, Hawaiian, Druid and Egyptian religions are all virtually forgotten but for the history books.

The great men and women in our history have withstood the most severe challenges to our religion and sacrificed their energies, even their lives, that it would not be lost to invaders who sought to destroy it. It is easy to be courageous when an enemy is on the attack, because the threat is so obvious. Today the threat is more subtle, but no less terrible. In fact, it is really a greater threat than Hinduism has ever had to face before, because an enemy is not destroying the religion. It is being surrendered by the Hindus themselves through neglect, through fear, through desire for land and gold, but mostly through ignorance of the religion itself. If Hindus really understood how deep into their soul their religion penetrates, if they knew how superior it is to any other spiritual path on the Earth today, they would not abandon it so easily but cherish and foster it into its great potential. They would not remain silent when asked about their religion, but speak out boldly its great truths. They would not hesitate to stand strong for Hinduism.

How can Hindus in the modern, mechanized world pass their religion to the next generation when they are not proud enough of it to announce it openly to business associates and all who ask? When the Muslim seeks employment, he is proud to say, “I worship Allah.” The Christian is proud to say, “I worship Jesus Christ.” But too often the Hindu is not proud to say, “I worship Lord Gaṇeśa.” In our great religion there is one Supreme God and many Gods. The average Hindu today is not proud of this. He feels others will reject him, will not employ him, will not like him. Of course, this might be true. It might be very true. Then he should seek out people who do respect Hinduism. These are the people to associate with.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 359: REMAINING APART FROM FAMILY MATTERS
My swāmīs do not participate in births, weddings or other intimate householder events, always remaining aloof from such activities. Nor do they attend funeral rites, except those of brother monks and satgurus. Aum.

Lesson 359 – Merging with Śiva

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

Impetuous, Impatient

The final goal of human life is realization and liberation—realization of the Absolute, Unmanifest, Paraśiva, Nirguṇa Brahman, and liberation from birth. This realization cannot be brought about solely by an effort of the mind, by any discipline or method. Sādhana and tapas and bhakti are necessary for purifying the mind and body in preparation for God Realization, but it is by the grace of the satguru that it is attained.

The North American Hindu—and in these words we include the Indian Hindu who lives in America, whether in the first generation, the second, the third or the fourth—often wants to begin at the end of the path rather than at the beginning. There is a distinct lack of patience on this side of the planet. Our desire, our lack of knowledge which breeds undue desire, impels us beyond our abilities and before our time. We want everything right now. We are impatient and perhaps unwilling to wait for the natural fulfillment of desire, for the natural unfoldment of the soul. We seek to force it, to strive for greater attainments than we are prepared to sustain. We want illumination, and we want it now. But results cannot be obtained unless we have the patience to begin at the beginning and to follow through systematically. We must take one step and then another. There are no shortcuts to enlightenment, but there are detours. Impatience with the natural process is one of them.

If you find a green melon in an open field, will it help to expose it to more sun? To more heat? Will it ripen faster and taste sweeter? No, it will not. It ripens from the inside out. The process cannot be forced. The melon will grow ripe without intervention. Similarly, the soul will mature in its time. I am not saying that you should not strive, should not make even great inner efforts. I am saying that impatient striving, the kind of striving that puts aside all common sense and says “I am going to get realization no matter what” is itself an obstacle to that realization which is not a something to get. Hindus in the West have much to learn from Hindus in the East when it comes to contentment with their karma and dharma. We must work to perfect an inner serenity that can accept spending a lifetime or several lifetimes in search of Truth, that can accept that some of us are by our nature and unfoldment better suited to service and devotion, and others to yoga and the various sādhanas. This is a far more enlightened perspective than the Western notion which subtly maintains that there is but a single life in which all the final goals must be reached.

The eternal path, the Sanātana Dharma, has been well charted by the great illumined minds, developed minds, spiritually unfolded minds, realized minds on this planet. No one can skip, avoid, evade or abstain from any part of that path. As Euclid could find for his impatient crowned pupil no special “royal road” to geometry or philosophy, so there is no privileged “royal road” to spiritual illumination. Similarly, a marathon runner cannot begin the race twenty miles from the starting point. A mountain climber cannot refuse to climb the lower, perhaps less challenging, cliffs. The natural laws known to all men do not allow it. The natural law, known to himself, his own conscience, does not allow it. It is the same on the spiritual path.

The eternal spiritual path, the way of God, is broad. It accepts all and rejects none. No matter where a seeker is in his inner development, the eternal path embraces and encourages him. If he is a simple man, the path for him is simple, unsophisticated, answering the needs of his everyday life, yet opening him to more and more subtle ways of worship and living. If he is an advanced soul, a mature soul, he will find within Hinduism the San Mārga, the pure path to the Absolute.

Lesson 358 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by EditorSR
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is the Source of Good and Evil?

ŚLOKA 48
Instead of seeing good and evil in the world, we understand the nature of the embodied soul in three interrelated parts: instinctive or physical-emotional; intellectual or mental; and superconscious or spiritual. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Evil has no source, unless the source of evil’s seeming be ignorance itself. Still, it is good to fear unrighteousness. The ignorant complain, justify, fear and criticize “sinful deeds,” setting themselves apart as lofty puritans. When the outer, or lower, instinctive na­ture dominates, one is prone to anger, fear, greed, jealousy, hatred and backbiting. When the intellect is prominent, ar­rogance and analytical think­­ing preside. When the superconscious soul comes forth the re­fined qualities are born—com­pas­sion, insight, modesty and the others. The animal in­stincts of the young soul are strong. The intellect, yet to be developed, is nonexistent to control these strong in­stinctive impulses. When the intellect is de­vel­oped, the instinctive nature subsides. When the soul unfolds and overshadows the well-de­veloped intellect, this mental harness is loosened and removed. When we en­coun­ter wickedness in others, let us be compassionate, for truly there is no intrinsic evil. The Vedas say, “Mind is in­deed the source of bondage and also the source of lib­er­ation. To be bound to things of this world: this is bon­dage. To be free from them: this is liberation.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.