Lesson 66 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

What Is the Great Virtue Called Ahiṁsā?

ŚLOKA 66
Ahiṁsā, or noninjury, is the first and foremost ethical principle of every Hindu. It is gentleness and nonviolence, whether physical, mental or emotional. It is abstaining from causing hurt or harm to all beings. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
To the Hindu the ground is sacred. The rivers are sacred. The sky is sacred. The sun is sacred. His wife is a Goddess. Her husband is a God. Their children are devas. Their home is a shrine. Life is a pilgrimage to liberation from rebirth, and no violence can be carried to the higher reaches of that ascent. While nonviolence speaks only to the most extreme forms of wrongdoing, ahiṁsā, which includes not killing, goes much deeper to prohibit the subtle abuse and the simple hurt. Rishi Patanjali described ahiṁsā as the great vow and foremost spiritual discipline which Truth-seekers must follow strictly and without fail. This extends to harm of all kinds caused by one’s thoughts, words and deeds—including injury to the natural environment. Even the intent to injure, even violence committed in a dream, is a violation of ahiṁsā. Vedic ṛishis who revealed dharma proclaimed ahiṁsā as the way to achieve harmony with our environment, peace between peoples and compassion within ourselves. The Vedic edict is: “Ahiṁsā is not causing pain to any living being at any time through the actions of one’s mind, speech or body.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 66 – Living with Śiva

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

Astral Magnetism

The force of kuṇḍalinī flows as a river through men and women. Sexual intercourse gives that river an outlet, creates a channel, a psychic-astral tube between their mūlādhāra chakras. After the first intercourse, awareness is turned outward into the external world and the man or woman is more vulnerable to the forces of desire. The ramification of the intellect can now be experienced more than ever before. If the force is contained within the marriage covenant, with blessings from the Devaloka and Śivaloka, rays similar to the astral tube established between the couple are established between each of them through the higher chakras with the Mahādevas and their devas. A holy state of matrimony has been entered into. Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism states: “When a young virgin man and woman marry and share physical intimacy with each other, their union is very strong and their marriage stable. This is due to the subtle, psychic forces of the human nerve system. Their psychic forces, or nāḍīs, grow together, and they form a one body and a one mind. This is the truest marriage and the strongest, seldom ending in separation or divorce. Conversely, if the man or woman has had intercourse before the marriage, the emotional/psychic closeness of the marriage will suffer, and this in proportion to the extent of promiscuity.”

The higher rays and lower astral-psychic tubes that are created between husband and wife can contain the forces of desire within them. They also control the instinctive curiosities of the intellect, allowing its full power to manifest and create a productive and abundant life for the family which has continuity and consistency. A life of dharma can be lived.

The release of the sacred seed into the woman during sexual intercourse establishes, through the first chakra, a connecting psychic astral tube which can be clearly seen on the astral plane. It is through this psychic tube that desires, feelings and even telepathic messages can be passed from one to another. This connecting tube is generally about six inches in diameter.

Nowadays, because of promiscuity, masses of people are connected one to another in this way. A great bed of astral matter envelops them as they go from one partner to another. This causes the forces of intense fear to persist. From an inner perspective, their soul bodies are obscured by this astral matter, and it is most difficult for those living in the Devaloka to contact anyone on the Earth plane who is thus involved. Such individuals must fend for themselves, with little or no protection from the Devaloka or the Śivaloka, as do the animals, who do not have benefit of the intellect to guide their actions.

Any two people touching in other ways—kissing, embracing—also establishes a temporary connecting link of astral matter which penetrates their auras and completely covers their forms. This is sometimes called the great magnetism, for it appears in the Second World as a psychic mass connecting the two of them as wide as the length of their bodies. This astral matter is created from the diverse expulsion of emotional energies, blending their auras together. The psychic connection is magnetic enough to repeatedly pull them back together or cause emotional pain if they are separated. But unless the encounter is repeated, the astral matter will wear away in three or four days, a month at the most. In this way, touching or caressing someone causes an abundant release of magnetic force to occur.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 66: PROTECTING CREATURES, DEFENDING RIGHTS
All Śiva’s devotees are stewards of trees and plants, fish and birds, bees and reptiles, animals and creatures of every shape and kind. They respect and defend the rights of humans of every caste, creed, color and sex. Aum.

Lesson 66 – Merging with Śiva

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

Emotional Maturity

What is emotional maturity? It certainly is not to be equated with physical age. I know people who are well past middle life and are not yet emotionally mature. Even if the physical body is totally mature, the intellect, as well as the emotional unit, can remain childish and unstable. The mind may have been educated to the nth degree, and yet such a scholar remains vulnerable to depression and discouragement. The very first step toward emotional mastery is recognition coupled with admission that in some areas we are not yet perfect. Only through open admission can we devote ourselves to the sā­dha­na that will balance and lessen the forces, allowing us to strive within ourselves to secure ourselves within ourselves. An emotionally mature man or woman is totally secure within and prepared to tap the greater realms of spiritual being.

We make very little progress when we strive to conquer these baser instincts in a good mood. However, vast strides are possible when we are miserable and work with ourselves to replace our misery with joy and understanding. Therefore, if you are ever disappointed or discouraged, count it a blessing, for you then have the opportunity to conquer the instinctive nature and really stabilize yourself dynamically on the spiritual path.

Often we are disappointed not only with ourselves and our circumstances but with other people as well. We can oversee this and other instinctive responses, such as mental criticism or jealousy, by looking at everyone and saying to ourselves, “I like you. I send you blessings.” We cannot be discouraged or disappointed or jealous when we look our fellow man in the eye and say and simultaneously feel and believe through every atom of our being, “I like you. I send you blessings.” Impossible! Love overcomes all instinctive barriers between people.

There may be certain people or a certain person to whom you can say, “I like you,” but for whom this is hard to believe in your heart. If you look deeper into them, you may find they are emotionally immature, a twelve-year-old emotional body walking around in a thirty-five-year-old physical body. Are you going to dislike a person for that? No, of course not. You are going to understand him or her. I’ve seen people with twenty-two-year-old bodies with the wisdom of an eighty-year old and the emotional stability of a forty-year old. I’ve seen people walking around in a sixty-year-old body with a twelve-year-old emotional body. By learning to understand, we cease to be a personality leaning upon our fellow man and falling into disappointment when he lets us down. No, we must lean on no one but ourselves, our own spine, and not be the reactionary victims of the ups and downs of the world around us or the people around us. Then we will gain our freedom from the instinctive forces we were born into and attain sufficient emotional maturity to love and bless the world, no matter what our circumstances may be.

Lesson 65 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Ten Classical Observances?

ŚLOKA 65
Hinduism’s religious tenets are contained in ten terse precepts called niyamas. They summarize the essential practices that we observe and the soulful virtues and qualities we strive daily to perfect. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Good conduct is a combination of avoiding unethical behavior and performing virtuous, spiritualizing acts. The accumulated wisdom of thousands of years of Hindu culture has evolved ten niyamas, or religious observances. These precepts defining the ideals of kriyā are: 1) hrī, “remorse,” be modest and show shame for misdeeds; 2) santosha, “contentment,” seek joy and serenity in life; 3) dāna, “giving,” tithe and give creatively without thought of reward; 4) āstikya, “faith,” believe firmly in God, Gods, guru and the path to enlightenment; 5) Īśvarapūjana, “worship,” cultivate devotion through daily pūjā and meditation; 6) siddhānta śravaṇa, “scriptural listening,” study the teachings and listen to the wise of one’s lineage; 7) mati, “cognition,” develop a spiritual will and intellect with a guru’s guidance; 8) vrata, “sacred vows,” fulfill religious vows, rules and observances faithfully; 9) japa, “recitation,” chant holy mantras daily; 10) tapas, “austerity,” perform sādhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice. The Vedas state, “They indeed possess that Brahma world who possess austerity and chastity, and in whom the truth is established.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 65 – Living with Śiva

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

Psychic Tubes

It is said that when man first killed a kinsman, great strength came into the nerve system of the animal body of all upon this planet. Normal seasonal cycles of mating turned into promiscuity. The population increased and is increasing even now with this intensification of kuṇḍalinī fire through the sexual nature of men and women.

Through the ancient traditions of Śaivite monasticism, the inner laws of brahmacharya have been preserved down through the centuries to help guide humanity through the Kali Yuga. This knowledge records the methods of how to preserve the vital energy within the body of men and women so that Śaivism, the remembrance of Śiva and His crystal clear śakti, can be passed through the darkness of the Kali Yuga in unbroken continuity. For only through the power of the tapas of brahmacharya can His śakti be passed on from one to another until the individual’s śakti finally accrues enough intensity so that the brahmachārī becomes as Lord Śiva Himself.

It is when fear pervades a country or the planet that the impulses of the animal nerve system cause desires for mating to intensify for the prolongation of the species. During intercourse, the astral bodies of the man and woman merge together, and conception may occur, as a person in the Devaloka gains a body from the woman to enter this world. The connection formed between a man and a woman during intercourse makes a psychic, astral, umbilical-cord-like tube in the lower astral-plane world which lasts for twelve years or more. Providing no other connection with the same or other individual occurred in the meantime, the tube would slowly wear away during the ensuing years. This is provided that, at the same time, sādhana or tapas is performed and regular pilgrimages and visits to Śaivite temples are made.

Brahmacharya is holding the power of the Divine within the core of the individual spine so that, as Lord Śiva sends His power through the five great winds of the astral body within the physical body, the winds adjust among themselves and emanate a śakti strong enough to adjust the five great psychic fluids within everyone around. This power of brahmacharya is accrued and disseminated through sublimation, then transmutation, of the sexual force. Transmutation occurs automatically through regular daily sādhana, the rigors of positive living and adherence to the ceremonial customs of our religion. Ideally, brahmacharya begins at puberty for virgins and continues on until marriage. Otherwise, brahmacharya sādhana begins after the last sexual encounter with a member of the opposite sex has occurred and when a conscious decision is made to begin the practice of brahmacharya.

While “in the process” of brahmacharya, those who have had sexual encounters with one or more members of the opposite sex experience times of trial. Great temptation may occur on the physical plane as the astral matter of the animal nerve system and systems of fluids and odors that attract the opposite sex store up in great abundance. This creates a magnetism which attracts those of the opposite sex. Especially attracted will be those of a similar nature and deportment as those of past encounters.

Each person is born in a full state of brahmacharya. Upon reaching puberty, those boys and girls who remain virgins maintain the inherent state of brahmacharya. They are able to ward off, and may not even notice, many emotional and sexual temptations that would be troublesome to the nonvirgin. This is because the psychic shield surrounding the virgin’s aura has never been penetrated. They are the ones “who walk in the rain without getting wet, sit long in the sun without getting burned.” They are the ones for whom reading about worldly experiences nurtures only their curiosity, whereas had they established psychic tubular connections with a member of the opposite sex, the reading would nurture a much deeper sexual desire. It is the virgins performing brahmacharya sādhana since puberty who can, if they persist, live in “Brahm,” or God consciousness, most of the time, even without performing intense sādhanas. This is because they have never consciously entered into worldly consciousness. Instead they look out into it as if through a veil.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 65: NONINJURIOUS SOLUTIONS
Śiva’s devotees uphold the principle not to kill even household pests, but to stop their entry, not to kill garden insects or predators, but keep them away by natural means. This is the highest ideal. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 65 – Merging with Śiva

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

Disappointment, Discouragement

Another instinctive response to the ebb and flow of life force is disappointment, which intensified becomes discouragement, depression and despair. These three negative states are obstacles to all human endeavor, especially for the spiritual seeker, who must learn early to regulate, control and balance the emotional ups and downs so well that he never experiences discouragement, which is nothing more than an imbalance of force.

Life tests and retests our emotional maturity. Whether we meet those tests or fail is entirely up to us. On the Śaivite path, the sat­guru gives the tests in order to mold and strengthen the seeker’s character. Great strength of character is required to attain spiritual goals, enormous courage and forbearance, and anyone who lacks that strength and stamina will cease striving long before full realization is attained.

Therefore, to bring out the natural strengths, the guru will offer challenges. He knows that we all fall short of our own expectations now and again, and that we react either positively by reaffirmation or negatively through discouragement. As the tests of life present themselves, the sat­guru will observe the seeker’s response time and time again until his emotional body grows strong enough to combat negative reaction to what appears to be failure and later to absorb within itself all reaction to disappointment, the father of discouragement.

It is the day-to-day reactions to circumstance that indicate the attainment and not mere recorded knowledge about the path. When the aspirant is able to meet ordinary happenings and respond to them in the effortless wisdom born of detachment, that indicates that his striving is genuine. When he is able to encounter conditions that send ordinary people into states of disappointment or discouragement and when his emotional nature indicates mastery over these lesser states of consciousness, he is well on his way toward filling the gaps of a natural growth of the instinctive vehicles—body, emotions and intellect.

But to attain emotional stability, recognition of those vulnerable areas must be cultivated. It is quite natural to encounter circumstances that are potential sources of disappointment. The very recognition and admission are half of the necessary adjustments. As one set of conditions is resolved, another set of a more intense vibration arises naturally to be mastered. With disappointment reined in, the aspirant next faces tendencies of discouragement, then depression and finally despair, for they are all linked together in the instinctive nature of humankind. Once he recognizes these states as belonging to all men and ceases to identify them as personal tendencies, he is then able to cognize their source and convert them. In this way the emotional nature matures under the loving guidance of the spiritual teacher.

Lesson 64 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Are the Ten Classical Restraints?

ŚLOKA 64
Hinduism’s ethical restraints are contained in ten simple precepts called yamas. They define the codes of conduct by which we harness our instinctive forces and cultivate the innate, pristine qualities of our soul. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
The yamas and niyamas are scriptural injunctions for all aspects of thought and behavior. They are advice and simple guidelines, not commandments. The ten yamas, defining the ideals of charyā, are: 1) ahiṁsā, “noninjury,” do not harm others by thought, word or deed; 2) satya, “truthfulness,” refrain from lying and betraying promises; 3) asteya, “nonstealing,” neither steal nor covet nor enter into debt; 4) brahmacharya, “divine conduct,” control lust by remaining celibate when single, leading to faithfulness in marriage; 5) kshamā, “patience,” restrain intolerance with people and impatience with circumstances; 6) dhṛiti, “steadfastness,” overcome nonperseverance, fear, indecision and changeableness; 7) dayā, “compassion,” conquer callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings; 8) ārjava, “honesty,” renounce deception and wrongdoing; 9) mitāhāra, “moderate appetite,” neither eat too much, nor consume meat, fish, fowl or eggs; 10) śaucha, “purity,” avoid impurity in body, mind and speech. The Vedas proclaim, “To them belongs yon stainless Brahma world in whom there is no crookedness and falsehood, nor trickery.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 64 – Living with Śiva

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

The Power Of Purity

Every culture acknowledges the power of relationships between men and women and seeks to direct it toward the highest good, both for individuals and for society. The masculine and feminine forces, partly sexual but more broadly tantric, can either create or destroy, bring peace or contention, foster happiness or misery, depending on how consciously they are understood and utilized.

Hindu ideals of manhood and womanhood and their interaction are among the most subtle, insightful and graceful in all the world. When followed, these principles strengthen man and woman, sustain a joyous and balanced marriage, stabilize the family and assist husband and wife in their mutual spiritual and worldly goals. Of course, such high ideals are rarely followed to perfection. But the soul’s inner perfection is naturally revealed in the attempt.

What is religious life? It is the balance of two forces, the odic force and the actinic force. In married life this means that there is a prevailing harmony between the man and the woman. This guides and governs the inner currents of the children up until the age of twenty-five. For the single person living a celibate life and performing sādhana, this means balancing those same forces—the masculine/aggressive force and the feminine/passive force—within himself or herself.

Brahmacharya, the yoga of celibacy, is a traditional practice in Śaivite Hinduism. It allows the adolescent or young adult to use his vital energies to prepare for a rewarding life, to develop his mind and talents for his chosen vocation. The first of the four stages, or āśramas, of life is actually called the brahmacharya āśrama. Love, including sex, is one of the legitimate four goals of life, according to our religion. Sex is not bad. Its place, however, is properly within the confines of a sanctified marriage. Nor are sex drives unnatural. The goal of the brahmachārī and brahmachāriṇī is not to become fearful of sex, but to understand sex and the sexual impulses in a balanced way. During the time of brahmacharya, the goal is to control the sex urges and transmute those vital energies into the brain to gain a great mental and spiritual strength. Yes, this vital life force must be focused on studies and spiritual pursuits. Brahmacharya maintained until marriage, and faithfulness thereafter, helps enable the devotee to merit a good wife or husband, a happy, stable marriage and secure, well-adjusted children.

The spiritual value of celibacy has long been understood in the Hindu tradition. Most religions also provide a tradition of monastic life in which young men take lifetime vows of celibacy. Many of our greatest spiritual lights were celibate throughout their entire life, including Śiva Yogaswami, Sankara and Swami Vivekananda. Others, such as Buddha, Gandhi and Aurobindo, became celibate after a period of marriage. For the individual preparing for monastic life, brahmacharya is essential in harnessing and transmuting the powerful sexual life energies into spiritual and religious concerns.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 64: PREDATORS AND PESTS
Śiva’s devotees may elect to protect the home, the village and the nation by eradicating predators, pests, bacteria and disease-carrying creatures that threaten health or safety. This is ahiṁsā’s third and last exception. Aum.

Lesson 64 – Merging with Śiva

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

The Light of Understanding

People speak of the “light of understanding.” Before the bright light of spiritual perception is experienced, the light of understanding must be laid as a foundation of philosophical training and appreciation—learning to understand life, for instance, through action rather than reaction. The purified, integrated mind, so perfected in its own understanding, lives in close communion with the soul radiance so that light becomes the constant experience of the mind. It is this to which the yoga student aspires. Living in the light, everything that formerly was hidden becomes revealed. Answers to questions that you had been pondering for many years become instantaneously unraveled in the light of the super­con­scious. But the mind has a way, in its instinctive, intellectual nature, of casting shadows over the natural radiance of the inner light.

Doubt is the by-product of the intellect’s inability to cope with light. When a person depends upon memory or reason for meaningful answers, the mind will break down in doubt. Only when the higher elucidation of the intuition is sought is doubt dispelled.

When the instinctive mind becomes lifted into the light, a person is strong enough to be kind when he could have become angry. He generates enough spiritual power to be generous when he might have reacted selfishly. Disciplined periods of meditation nurture a magnanimous and benevolent nature. Such a being is naturally in the light of the supreme consciousness. His great strength is humility, a shock absorber for the malicious experiences in life. Humility makes one immune to resentment and places everything in proportion and balance within the mind. A person lacking in humility does not give the appearance of being firmly rooted and poised within himself. At the other extreme, the arrogant person who lives in the shadows of the mind presents a pitiful picture of insecurity and incompleteness.

Seeking for God in the depths of one’s being through control of the mind, control of one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions, gives birth to the highest qualities of nature. This transformation begins to take place as the light of the soul becomes more and more apparent within the mind.

The spiritual path is a constant turning within, turning the light of the super­con­scious into the dark corners and recesses of the mind. “What is hidden shall be revealed,” and so it is on this path as man reveals his Self to himself. As you sit in meditation in a darkened room, practice directing your consciousness inward, to the center of your brain. If you are able to perceive light within your body, you are on the path to immortality. But should darkness prevail, work diligently each day to clear out resentment, jealousy, fear, worry and doubt from your nature. Then you can sit in a darkened room and be a being of light.

The next time you are in a state of worldliness—jealous, angry or feeling sorry for yourself—sit down and seek for the light. If you cannot find it, visualize a light bulb within your head or a flashlight at the top of your head shining down into it. Flash the light on and off mentally, and when the flashlight does not go off, even if you have mentally turned off the switch, then you know that you have the inner light. You will watch awareness move out of the darker area of the mind. It’s a wonderful feeling, and it’s a basic practice of the contemplative life of living two-thirds within oneself and one-third in the external world.

I’m often asked, “Do I see light or do I just think that I am seeing light?” I reply, “If you were in a darkened room, you would see light within you, just as you would see on the outside if lights were on in the room or you were in broad daylight. This is because you are seeing with your inner eye, your third eye, which you actually use all of the time. You use your third eye, for example, when you study your subconscious mind and see the memories of your past. The light around the memories is the inner light. If it wasn’t there, you could not see your memories. Take away the mental pictures, and the light alone is before you. You will learn to consciously use the inner eye to see with as you spiritually unfold. All of a sudden, one day you will realize that you are seeing light with your third eye at the same time you are seeing physical things with your two physical eyes.”

Here is a technique for learning to see the inner light. Open your eyes while seated in meditation. Follow the rays of light coming into your eyes and into your head until they are complemented with inner light rays. Contemplate light in the external world. Now close your eyes and look for inner light rays within your head. If you don’t find them, open your eyes again and let a few rays in, so to speak. Close your eyes again and look.

The inner light is so beautiful. It is firm, like a plasma. It is sometimes fibrous and full of energy. And yet, it is quiet and full of colors. You begin to see color, and in that realm you can hear color at the same time that you see color. You can hear sound and see color all at the same time, and you have the faculty to turn hearing on and to turn hearing off, because you hear with an inner ear. This is, of course, very useful in daily life. When you listen to people talking, you begin to know exactly what they are meaning because of your listening through your inner ear. When you look at people, you know exactly where they are in consciousness, because you are looking at them with your inner eye.

Lesson 63 – Dancing with Śiva

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

From Whom Is Good Conduct Learned?

ŚLOKA 63
The first teacher in matters of good conduct is our conscience. To know what is right and what is wrong we can also turn to God, to our satguru and swāmīs,, to scripture and to our elders, family and trusted friends. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Divine laws cannot be avoided. They do not rule us from above but are wrought into our very nature. Even death cannot efface the karma created by evil deeds. Good con­duct alone can resolve woeful karmas. Therefore, it is essential that we learn and adhere to good conduct. Good people are the best teachers of good conduct, and should be sought out and heeded when we need help or advice. Talk with them, the wise ones, and in good judgment be guided accordingly. Ethical scriptures should be read and studied regularly and their wisdom followed. The loud voice of our soul, ever heard within our conscience, is a worthy guide. When we grasp the subtle mechanism of karma, we wisely fol­low the good path. Good conduct, or sadāchāra, for the Hin­du is summarized in five ob­li­gatory duties, called pañcha nitya karmas: virtuous living, dhar­ma; worship, upāsanā; holy days, utsava; pilgrimage, tīr­tha­­yātrā; and sacraments, saṁ­skāras. The Vedas offer this guidance, “If you have doubt concerning conduct, follow the example of high souls who are competent to judge, devout, not led by oth­­ers, not harsh, but lovers of virtue.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.