Lesson 29 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Why Are We Not Omniscient Like Śiva?

ŚLOKA 29
The three bonds of āṇava, karma and māyā veil our sight. This is Śiva’s purposeful limiting of awareness which allows us to evolve. In the superconscious depths of our soul, we share God Śiva’s all-knowingness. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Just as children are kept from knowing all about adult life until they have matured into understanding, so too is the soul’s knowledge limited. We learn what we need to know, and we understand what we have experienced. Only this narrowing of our awareness, coupled with a sense of individualized ego, allows us to look upon the world and our part in it from a practical, human point of view. Pāśa is the soul’s triple bondage: māyā, karma and āṇava. Without the world of māyā, the soul could not evolve through experience. Karma is the law of cause and effect, action and reaction governing māyā. Āṇava is the individuating veil of duality, source of ignorance and finitude. Māyā is the classroom, karma the teacher, and āṇava the student’s ignorance. The three bonds, or malas, are given by Lord Śiva to help and protect us as we unfold. Yet, God Śiva’s all-knowingness may be experienced for brief periods by the meditator who turns within to his own essence. The Tirumantiram explains, “When the soul attains Self-knowledge, then it becomes one with Śiva. The malas perish, birth’s cycle ends and the lustrous light of wisdom dawns.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 29 – Living with Śiva

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

Śaucha: Purity

Purity, śaucha, number ten of the yamas, is the outcome of restraining ourselves in all the other nine. Purity is the natural heritage of men and women disciplined in mind and body, who think before they speak, speaking only that which is true, kind, helpful and necessary. People whose thoughts are pure—and this means being in line with the yamas and niyamas—and whose bodies are free from incompatible alien obstructions, are naturally happy, content and ready to perform japa. Japa yoga lifts the spiritual energies and annihilates pride and arrogance by awakening within the superconscious areas of the mind an extraterrestrial intelligence, far surpassing the ordinary intellect one would encounter in the schools and universities of the present day. To be pure in mind means to have a bright, luminous aura filled with the pastel hues of the primary and secondary colors under every circumstance and life situation. Those who practice this restraint have realized that thoughts create and manifest into situations, actual physical happenings. Therefore, they are careful what they think and to whom they direct their thoughts.

A clean personal environment, wearing clean clothes, bathing often, keeping the room spotless where you meditate, breathing clean air, letting fresh air pass through your house, is all very important in the fulfillment of purity. Śaucha also includes partaking of clean food, which ideally is freshly picked food, cooked within minutes of the picking. There are creative forces, preservation forces and forces of dissolution. The preservation force is in the continued growing of a fruit or a leafy vegetable. It reaches its normal size and if not picked remains on the plant and is preserved by the life of that plant. As soon as it is picked, the force of dissolution, mumia, sets in. Therefore, the food should be cooked and eaten as soon after picking as possible, before the mumia force gets strong. Mumia, as it causes the breakdown of the cells, is an impure force. When we constantly eat food that is on the breakdown, the body is sluggish, the mind is sluggish and the tongue is loose, and we say things we don’t mean. Many unhappy, depressed situations result from people eating a predominance of frozen foods, processed foods, canned foods, convenience foods, which are all in the process of mumia.

Clean clothing is very important. One feels invigorated and happy wearing clean clothing. Even hanging clothing out in the sunlight for five minutes a day cleanses and refreshes it. An incredible amount of body waste is eliminated through the skin and absorbed by the clothing we wear. It is commonly thought that clothing does not need to be cleaned unless it has been dirtied or soiled with mud, dirt or stains. Very little concern is given to the body odors and wastes that are exuded through the pores, then caught and held by the fabric. Small wonder it’s so refreshing to put on clean clothing. The sun and fresh air can eliminate much of the body waste and freshen up any garment.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 29: KEEPING CLEAN SURROUNDINGS
Lovers of Śiva keep their home and work environment clean and uncluttered to maintain a spiritual vibration and not attract negative forces. They seek fresh air and sunshine and surround themselves with beauty. Aum.

Lesson 29 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami intended to narrate all of his printed books, but only completed small portions of two books. This audio is a digital clone of his voice created from the recordings he made in the late 1990s.

Awareness, a Ball of Light

The average person who is not a mystic lives two-thirds in the external area of the mind and one-third within himself. The within of himself can be, and sometimes is, very foreboding. He doesn’t understand it. He is a little afraid of it and prefers to involve himself with external things. Possibly he’s had some inner experiences, some emotional unhappinesses, and he shuns anything that is inner. The mystic lives, and is taught to live, two-thirds within himself and only one-third in the external. In learning how to do this, the mystic is taught to become consciously conscious, or aware that he is aware. He learns to separate awareness from that which he is aware of. The person who is not a mystic, living two-thirds in the external mind, says, “I am happy,” meaning, “I am aware of a state of mind called happiness, and I am in that state, so that is me.” Or, “I am unhappy. Unhappiness is me.” The mystic living two-thirds within says to himself, “I am flowing through the area of the mind that’s always unhappy.” He doesn’t change; he is a pure state of awareness.

Visualize a little ball of light. We’ll call that man’s individual awareness, and that light is shining right out from his eyes, and this little ball of light is going through the mind. It’s going through the area of the mind that’s always unhappy. It’s going through the area of the mind that’s always dreaming, the area of the mind that’s delightfully happy, the area of the mind that’s in absolute bliss, the area of the mind that’s absolutely in jealousy all the time, the area that’s in fear all the time—many people live in this area of the mind; it’s quite crowded with lots of balls of light there. This ball of light flows through the area of the mind that’s in resentment. It’s like a churning ocean. It’s a delightful place to be in, especially if you’re a little ball. You get bounced all around. Then there’s the area of the mind that is completely peaceful and has always been peaceful. No mood or emotion has ever been in it to ruffle it, because that’s the peaceful area of the mind. The one who meditates seeks out this area to become aware in. Man’s individual awareness is just like this little ball of light, and it’s like a camera. It photographs. It registers. It understands. It is pure intelligence. Man knows where he is in the mind, but the first step in awakening on the path of enlightenment is to separate awareness from that which it is aware of.

Lesson 28 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Is Our Soul Identical with Śiva?

ŚLOKA 28
The essence of our soul, which was never created, is immanent love and transcendent reality and is identical and eternally one with God Śiva. At the core of our being, we already are That—perfect at this very moment. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
At the core of the subtle soul body is Parāśakti, or Sat­chid­ānanda, im­manent love; and at the core of that is Paraśiva, transcendent reality. At this depth of our being there exists no separate identity or difference—all are One. Thus, deep with­in our soul we are identical with God now and forever. These two divine perfections are not as­­pects of the evolving soul, but the nucleus of the soul which does not change or evolve. From an absolute perspective, our soul is already in nondual union with God, but to be realized to be known. We are That. We do not become That. Deep within this physical body, with its turbulent emotions and getting-educated mind, is pure perfection identical to Śiva’s own perfections of Parāśakti and Paraśiva. In this sacred mystery we find the paradoxes of oneness and twoness, of being and becoming, of created and uncreated existence subtly delineated. Yea, in the depth of our being, we are as He is. The Vedas explain, “The one control­ler, the inner Self of all things, who makes His one form manifold, to the wise who perceive Him as abiding in the soul, to them is eternal bliss—to no others.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 28 – Living with Śiva

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

Reasons for Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism has for thousands of years been a principle of health and environmental ethics throughout India. Though Muslim and Christian colonization radically undermined and eroded this ideal, it remains to this day a cardinal ethic of Hindu thought and practice. A subtle sense of guilt persists among Hindus who eat meat, and there exists an ongoing controversy on this issue. The Sanskrit for vegetarianism is śākāhāra, and one following a vegetarian diet is a śākāhārī. The term for meat-eating is mānsāhāra, and the meat-eater is called mānsāhārī. Āhāra means “food” or “diet,” śāka means “vegetable,” and mānsa means “meat” or “flesh.”

Amazingly, I have heard people define vegetarian as a diet which excludes the meat of animals but does permit fish and eggs. But what really is vegetarianism? It is living only on foods produced by plants, with the addition of dairy products. Vegetarian foods include grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, milk, yogurt, cheese and butter. The strictest vegetarians, known as vegans, exclude all dairy products. Natural, fresh foods, locally grown without insecticides or chemical fertilizers are preferred. A vegetarian diet does not include meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. For good health, even certain vegetarian foods are minimized: frozen and canned foods, highly processed foods, such as white rice, white sugar and white flour; and “junk” foods and beverages—those with abundant chemical additives, such as artificial sweeteners, colorings, flavorings and preservatives.

In the past fifty years millions of meat-eaters have made the decision to stop eating the flesh of other creatures. There are five major motivations for such a decision. 1) Many become vegetarian purely to uphold dharma, as the first duty to God and God’s creation as defined by Vedic scripture. 2) Some abjure meat-eating because of the karmic consequences, knowing that by involving oneself, even indirectly, in the cycle of inflicting injury, pain and death by eating other creatures, one must in the future experience in equal measure the suffering caused. 3) Spiritual consciousness is another reason. Food is the source of the body’s chemistry, and what we ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousness, in peace and happiness and love for all creatures, then he cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of which are locked into the flesh of butchered creatures. 4) Medical studies prove that a vegetarian diet is easier to digest, provides a wider range of nutrients and imposes fewer burdens and impurities on the body. Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases that afflict contemporary humanity, and thus live longer, healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer dental problems and smaller medical bills. Their immune system is stronger, their bodies purer and more refined, and their skin clearer, more supple and smooth. 5) Finally, there is the ecological reason. Planet Earth is suffering. In large measure, the escalating loss of species, destruction of ancient rainforests to create pasture lands for livestock, loss of topsoil and the consequent increase of water impurities and air pollution have all been traced to the single fact of meat in the human diet. No single decision that we can make as individuals or as a race can have such a dramatic effect on the improvement of our planetary ecology as the decision to not eat meat. Many conscious of the need to save the planet for future generations have made this decision for this reason and this reason alone.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 28: KAVADI AND OTHER PENANCE
Lovers of Śiva so inclined may perform kavadi during Murugan festivals where custom allows. They may also lie on beds of nails, walk on fire and undertake other penances to build character and atone for sins. Aum.

Lesson 28 – Merging with Śiva

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

Śiva’s Perfect Universe

Slowly, slowly, by performing Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na you will blend your external consciousness with our most perfect universal consciousness. While sitting by the river, close enough to touch the water, on a rock or tree limb, you are truly uninvolved with everything but yourself. You are now in tune with nature itself. Earth is there. Water is there. Fire is there. Air is there. Ākāśa is there. All the five elements are there. They are outside of you to see and feel, as well as inside of you to see and feel. The goal is to release that part of your subconscious mind that doesn’t blend the within of you with that which is outside of you. You perform this blending by listening to the river murmur, “Aum Namaḥ Śivaya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum,” the sounds of Śiva’s perfect universe.

Now the challenge. This will not be an easy task. The quiet of the noise of nature will release thought after thought from your subconscious mind. So, when each new thought arises—a mental argument or something which has not been settled in your past, an appointment missed or an image of a loved one—gather up the prāṇic energy of the thought and put its vibrations into a leaf. To do this, hold the leaf in your right hand and project your prāṇa into it along with the thought form that distracted you. Then release the leaf and with it the thought patterns into the river. Let the river take them away, while you listen to “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum” of the river as it does. Each time this happens, thank the river by humbly offering a flower with the right hand into the river in appreciation of its having absorbed the worldly thought. To show appreciation is a quality of the soul, something not to be ignored, and, therefore, a vital part of this sā­dha­na.

Sā­dha­na is performing the same discipline over and over and over again. Just as we methodically exercise the physical body to build up its muscles, we perform spiritual disciplines over and over again to strengthen our spiritual, inner bodies. Perform Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na time and time again. You will rapidly advance. Remember, the outer river is symbolically representing the inner river of your own nerve system, life force and consciousness that flows through you night and day. So, even as you sit on this rock and look upon the water, in a mystical way, see it as your own super­con­scious energies, taking away these problems, worries, doubts, ill-conceived and unresolved experiences of the past. Flow with the river of life and merge in Śiva’s ocean of oneness.

Lesson 27 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How is our soul different from Śiva?

ŚLOKA 27
Our soul body was created in the image and likeness of the Primal Soul, God Śiva, but it differs from the Primal Soul in that it is immature. While Śiva is unevolutionary perfection, we are in the process of evolving. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
To understand the mysteries of the soul, we distinguish be­tween the soul body and its essence. As a soul body, we are indi­vidual and unique, different from all others, a self-effulgent being of light which evolves and matures through an evolutionary pro­cess. This soul body is of the nature of God Śiva, but is different from Śiva in that it is less resplendent than the Primal Soul and still evolving, while God is unevolutionary perfection. We may liken the soul body to an acorn, which contains the mighty oak tree but is a small seed yet to develop. The soul body ma­tures through experience, evolving through many lives in­­­to the splendor of God Śiva, ultimately realizing Śiva totally in nirvikalpa samādhi. Even after Self Realization is at­tained, the soul body continues to evolve in this and other worlds un­til it merges with the Primal Soul, as a drop of water merges with its source, the ocean. Yea, this is the destiny of all souls without exception. The Vedas say, “As oil in sesame seeds, as butter in cream, as wa­ter in river beds, as fire in friction sticks, so is the ātman grasped in one’s own self when one searches for Him with truthfulness and austerity.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 27 – Living with Śiva

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

Take Charge Of Your Body

There is a wonderful breathing exercise you can perform to aid the digestion and elimination of food by stimulating the internal fire. Breathe in through your nose a normal breath, and out through your nose very fast while pulling the stomach in. Then relax your stomach and again breathe in naturally and then out quickly by pulling the stomach in to force the air out of the lungs. Do this for one minute, then rest for one minute, then do it again. Then rest for a minute and do it again. About three repetitions is generally enough to conquer indigestion or constipation. This prāṇāyāma amplifies the heat of the body and stimulates the fire that digests food and eliminates waste. It is especially good for those who are rather sedentary and do a lot of intellectual work, whose energies are in the intellect and may not be addressing their digestive needs adequately.

Take charge of your own body and see that it is working right, is healthy and you are eating right. If you do overindulge, then compensate by fasting occasionally and performing physical disciplines. Most people have certain cravings and desires which they permit themselves to indulge in, whether it be sweets or rich, exotic foods or overly spiced foods. Discovering and moderating such personal preferences and desires is part of the spiritual path. If you find you overindulge in jelly beans, cashew nuts, licorice, chocolate, varieties of soft drinks or exotic imported coffee, moderate those appetites. Then you are controlling the entire desire nature of the instinctive mind in the process. That is a central process of spiritual unfoldment—to control and moderate such desires.

The ṛishis of yore taught us to restrain desire. They used the words restrain and moderate rather than suppress or eliminate. We must remember that to restrain and moderate desire allows the energy which is restrained and moderated to enliven higher chakras, giving rise to creativity and intuition that will actually better mankind, one’s own household and the surrounding community.

The ṛishis have given us great knowledge to help us know what to do. Study your body and your diet and find out what works for you. Find out what foods give you indigestion and stop eating those things. But remember that eating right, in itself, is not spiritual life. In the early stages seekers often become obsessed with finding the perfect diet. That is a stage they have to go through in learning. They have to find out what is right for them. But it should balance out to a simple routine of eating to live, not living to eat.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 27: DAILY OFFERINGS FOR THE TEMPLE
Lovers of Śiva keep a box in their shrine into which they place a few coins each day for their favorite temple. They bring or send this love offering to their Śaiva temple each year during its Mahāśivarātri festival. Aum

Lesson 27 – Merging with Śiva

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

Performing Gaṅgā Sādhana

Close your eyes and visualize a river flowing into the sea, and see yourself holding on to the bank of the river, and the river flowing on past you. Now let go of the bank of the river and flow down with the river and merge into the sea of life. Feel yourself, right at this instant, living in the here and now. Holding on to the river bank, we hold the consciousness of time and space. Holding on to the banks of the river of life is to recreate within you fear, worry, doubt, anxiety and nervousness. Detach yourself from the banks of the river and again be free. Love the banks as you pass, with a love born of understanding, and if you have no understanding of the bank, study your attachments until you do.

Learn to concentrate the mind so that you can study not from books, but from observation, which is the first awakening of the soul. Learn to study by practice. Learn to study by application. Become a student of life and live life fully, and as you merge into the sea of actinic life, you will realize that you are not your mind, your body or your emotions. You will realize that you are the complete master of your mind, your body and your emotions.

There is a sacred practice you should perform to keep flowing beautifully with the river of life. It will be a challenge to discipline yourself to set aside the time, but it will benefit you. You must sit by a rolling river and listen to the river saying “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya, Śivāya Namaḥ Aum,” as its water runs over the rocks. Listen closely to the water connecting to the rocks, and you will hear the sacred mantra of life, “Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.” Relax into the sounds the river is chanting and try to be in tune with the perfect universe. The cosmos is perfect, you know. Its laws are divine, its timing flawless, its design unique.

While you are sitting alone by the side of the river being one with the perfect universe—the earth, the air, the fire, the water and the ākāśa, the mind—when a thought arises from your subconscious, something about your daily life, a problem or difficulty, pluck a leaf from a tree or bush, mentally put the problem into the leaf and place it into the river. The river will carry the leaf away along with the thought you placed into it. Then pluck a flower and humbly offer it into the river with both hands in loving appreciation for doing this great service for you. Perform this Gaṅgā Sā­dha­na each month, and you will advance on the spiritual path.

Lesson 26 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Is Our Individual Soul Nature?

ŚLOKA 26
Our individual soul is the immortal and spiritual body of light that animates life and reincarnates again and again until all necessary karmas are created and resolved and its essential unity with God is fully realized. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Our soul is God Śiva’s emanational creation, the source of all our higher functions, including knowledge, will and love. Our soul is neither male nor female. It is that which never dies, even when its four outer sheaths—phys­­ical, prāṇic, instinctive and mental—change form and perish as they na­tur­al­ly do. The physical body is the an­namaya kośa. The prāṇic sheath of vitality is the prā­ṇa­maya kośa. The instinctive-intellectual sheath is the mano­maya kośa. The mental, or cognitive, sheath is the vi­jñāna­maya kośa. The in­most soul body is the blissful, ever-giving-wisdom ānanda­maya kośa. Parā­śakti is the soul’s superconscious mind—God Śiva’s mind. Para­śiva is the soul’s in­most core. We are not the physical body, mind or emo­tions. We are the im­mortal soul, ātman. The sum of our true ex­istence is ān­an­da­maya kośa and its essence, Parāśak­ti and Paraśiva. The Vedas expostulate, “The soul is born and unfolds in a body, with dreams and desires and the food of life. And then it is reborn in new bodies, in accordance with its former works. The quality of the soul determines its fu­­ture body; earthly or airy, heavy or light.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.