Lesson 165 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Is the Universalistic Smārta Sect?

ŚLOKA 10
Smārtism is an ancient brāhminical tradition reformed by Sankara in the ninth century. Worshiping six forms of God, this liberal Hindu path is monistic, nonsectarian, meditative and philosophical. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Smārta means a follower of classical smṛiti, particularly the Dharma Śāstras, Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Smārtas re­vere the Ve­das and honor the Āgamas. Today this faith is synonymous with the teachings of Adi Sankara, the monk-phil­os­opher known as shaṇmata sthāpanāchārya, “found­­er of the six-sect system.” He campaigned India-wide to con­solidate the Hindu faiths of his time under the banner of Advaita Vedānta. To unify the worship, he popularized the an­cient Smārta five-Deity altar—Ga­ṇa­pati, Sūrya, Vishṇu, Śiva and Śakti—and added Kumāra. From these, devotees may choose their “preferred Deity,” or Ishṭa Devatā. Each God is but a reflection of the one Sa­guṇa Brahman. Sankara organized hundreds of mon­asteries into a ten-order, da­śa­­nā­mī system, which now has five pontifical cen­ters. He wrote profuse commentaries on the Upani­shads, Brah­­­ma Sūtras and Bhagavad Gītā. Sankara proclaimed, “It is the one Reality which ap­pears to our ignorance as a manifold universe of names and forms and changes. Like the gold of which many or­­naments are made, it remains in itself un­chang­ed. Such is Brahman, and That art Thou.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 165 – Living with Śiva

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

Supporting The Marriage

Once a marriage has occurred, both families are relied upon to hold it together through the years. It is the duty especially of the husband’s parents to support and make the marriage work and to offer a home to their new daughter. But it is unacceptable in modern Hindu society, and especially in our fellowship, to follow the oppressive tradition in which the girl becomes the total charge of the boy’s family and is seldom allowed to see her family of birth. It is the duty of the bride’s parents to monitor her protection and observe the couple’s abilities to dwell in unity and concord, while allowing them freedom to work things out together in their new home.

If she is abused physically, they must open their doors to receive her back, to be sheltered, comforted and consoled. It then becomes their duty and that of all śishyas in the community to try to patch things up, restore harmony and obtain trustworthy promises from the husband that this will never happen again. The bride should receive no blame for her husband’s violence, for it is he who has broken his promise to adore her and protect her from harm.

The blending of the two families as a one family gives both the son and daughter two families to support them in good times and bad. It is the responsibility of both families to work toward assuring an endearingly enduring marriage, as well as to guide the raising of the progeny, so that they may become good, productive, dharma-aware citizens, contributing to society at large. If the two families fail in this mutual effort, society fails.

To build solid marriages, some Hindu institutions provide a family evening for fellowship and discussion with a trained counselor. Once a year during the holy time of Pañcha Gaṇapati, the couple take out their marriage agreement and together study where they have been lax or derelict. They trace back in their minds to incidents that are still vibrating as negative saṁskāras, and apologize humbly and seek forgiveness and total resolution. They renew their commitment to each other. This is a wonderful key for setting the tone for the coming year—of harmony and peace, which leads to abundance and happiness. We call this anāhaṭa yoga, cleansing the heart chakra, bringing up that true love for one another. It is the process of bringing up all those things that were not settled before going to sleep, to retrieve those seeds before they get ploughed under and produce another crop of sorrow in the coming years. It is bringing up little things that each one said or did that hurt the other and were not resolved. It is bringing up incidents of anger, any physical violence, which should never be but may have been. It is time to extend apologies, talk with your kulaguru, and make promises and New Year’s resolutions to set the course of the future on the path of dharma, which is based on ahiṁsā.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 165: ANNUAL MONETARY GIFT TO THE SATGURU
Śiva’s close devotees observe the tradition of expressing appreciation to their satguru by giving an annual love offering at Guru Pūrṇimā in July-August, thus enabling him to help others on the path. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 165 – Merging with Śiva

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

Intellect And Intuition

Mystics never demean or belittle intellectual reasoning. The intellect is not bad. It is good and necessary when used correctly. But they also do not elevate it too highly, knowing it is not the whole mind, it is only one phase of the mind. Instinctive, intellectual and intuitive phases define the whole of the mind. We often use the terms “unfolding intuitive faculties” and “developing intuition” in an effort to encourage an individual on the path to work within himself in subduing his intellect so that he can actually observe the already functioning totality of his intuitive mind.

In order to subdue the intellect—that partial conglomerate of thought patterns and modes of procedure which accord with the culture of the day—it is first necessary to inwardly observe how one’s acquired intellect actually functions. Observation is a faculty of the intuitive mind, and this particular aspect of observation only comes into usage after daily meditation has been maintained over a long period of time. Once an inkling of success in knowing intuition and how it differs from reasoning, emotional impulses and pre-programmed patterns within the subconscious awakens, the contest is won. Then and then only we can sustain this knowledge and dive deeper into the inevitable, all the time losing the future and the past, and loosening the reins of the intellect.

Some men say they are part of God, that the God Spirit is within them. The intuitive mind we consider to be that part of God’s vast mind—our inspiration. If you have ever had a hunch and had it work out, that is the intuitive mind working within you. It has temporarily dominated your conscious mind and made it possible for you to look into the future and estimate its happenings. The intuitive mind is the essence of time, yet it understands time and timelessness, its essence. It is the essence of space, yet it comprehends space and spacelessness. It is real, yet it does not exist—real only when used, nonexistent to the lower realms of the mind.

Man’s individual awareness is either captured by the nerve system of external consciousness of the animal bodies, which his soul inhabits as vehicles to live in on Earth, or captured by his celestial nerve system. This, then, is the intuitive nature, the natural expression of the transcendental soul known as man.

Lesson 164 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Is the Devotional Vaishṇava Sect?

ŚLOKA 9
Vaishṇavism is an ancient Hindu sect centering on the worship of Lord Vishṇu and His incarnations, especially Kṛishṇa and Rāma. Largely dualistic, profoundly devotional, it is rich in saints, temples and scriptures. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
The worship of Vishṇu, meaning “pervader,” dates back to Vedic times. The Pañcharātra and Bhāgavata sects were popular prior to 300 BCE. Today’s five Vaishṇava schools emerged in the middle ages, founded by Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha and Chaitanya. Vaish­ṇa­­vism stresses prapatti, single-pointed sur­­render to Vishṇu, or His ten or more incarnations, called av­a­­tāras. Japa is a key devotional sādhana, as is ecstatic chanting and dancing, called kīrtana. Temple worship and festivals are elaborately observed. Philosophically, Vaishṇa­vism ranges from Madhva’s pure du­alism to Ramanuja’s qualified nondualism to Vallabha’s nearly monistic vis­ion. God and soul are everlastingly distinct. The soul’s destiny, through God’s grace, is to eternally worship and en­joy Him. While general­ly nonascetic, advocating bhakti as the highest path, Vaish­ṇa­­vism has a strong mon­astic community. Central scriptures are the Vedas, Vaish­ṇava Āga­mas, Itihāsas and Purāṇas. The Bhagavad Gītā states, “On those who meditate on Me and worship with un­divided heart, I confer attainment of what they have not, and preserve what they have.” Aum Namo Nārāyaṇāya.

Lesson 164 – Living with Śiva

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

Pledges and Blessings

Love marriages that are not arranged by the parents are also fully acceptable if the astrology is excellent, the parents on both sides agree and the young lady and the young man are of the same religious denomination. Of course, these ideals cannot always be met, and if not, more support will be needed from family and friends to make the marriage a success.

Before the wedding, the bride and groom each writes out a covenant by hand, pledging loyalty to one another and formalizing their promises, ideals, expectations and love. The couple share and discuss these documents together, read them carefully and make necessary revisions until 100 percent agreement is achieved. Like a ship’s chart, these detailed vows can be referred to if the relationship gets off course. Each of the two families makes a written pledge as well, signed by the mother and father of the groom and the mother and father of the bride, stating what they promise to do and give toward supporting this marriage in the areas of artha, kāma, dharma and moksha. Also most welcome are written testimonies in support of the marriage from grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles and aunts, sisters and brothers, as well as from other members of the religious community. This is also a time when anyone among family and friends may, in deepest confidence, even anonymously, share with the family preceptor any obstacles to this marriage that should be known and understood. A full, honest disclosure of the boy’s life and the girl’s life, including sexual experiences, should be made to both families and to the kulaguru.

From the time of inquiry into a match, several months should be allowed for the jyotisha āchāryas and śāstrīs to assess compatibility. The whole process of arranging a proper match for a son or daughter often takes two or more years. There should never be a sense of urgency for this or any other lifetime commitment. As Jnanaguru Siva Yogaswami so wisely said, “No hurry. No worry. No sorry.” Nor should the arrangements ever be forced on the boy or girl. They remain free to cancel the process at any time if the match does not seem suitable to them.

When all agreements have been reached, the boy’s mother adorns her new daughter with a gold necklace. Generous gifts are exchanged between the members of both families to bind the two families together in love and loyalty. Rejoicing begins with the formal engagement party, when the boy and girl exchange gifts, such as engagement rings. Later, they read their pledges to each other in the presence of elders. All arrangements and ceremonies culminate on the wedding day, when members of both families join to wish the couple a righteous, prosperous, happy life leading to the ultimate goal of enlightenment. During weddings or related ceremonies, the vegetarian diet should in no way be compromised. Meat and other nonvegetarian foods should not be served, even to please guests of other religions or communities. All Hindus attending should be requested to dress in formal Hindu attire.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 164: DHARMIC USES OF MONEY
Śiva’s close devotees of means utilize their wealth to strengthen their community and their lineage, to support temples, publish books, establish endowments and scholarships, and to sponsor elaborate rituals. Aum.

Lesson 164 – Merging with Śiva

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

Intellect and the Instinctive Mind

The first steps on the spiritual path consist in learning to harness these tendencies and impulses and transmute their energies into the higher nature. But we should not think of the instinctive mind as “bad,” for it controls the basic faculties of perception and movement, digestion, elimination, ordinary thought and emotion and the many other vital functions of the physical being. Animals, birds, fish, reptiles and insects are the personification of the instinctive mind. Living mainly in the areas of fear, they react immediately to change. Their driving forces are sustenance, sex, shelter and security for their young and themselves. It is these instinctive drives that are the most difficult impulses for humans to deal with. They are, for people, the seeds of all the desires of all the entanglements within the four areas—sex, money, food and clothes—which we capture in one word, desire. Yes, it is desire that propels humanity onward.

The instinctive mind also has within it various forces: the force of fear, the force of anger, the force of jealousy and the dynamic force of self-preservation. It is what it is—instinctive. It is impulsive and immediately reacts to all situations. Though it is a great force in developing the intellect, its greatest enemy is intuition, the mind of the soul, which guides humans out of the morass of the lower nature into sublimity.

Most of us find the intellect a saving grace when it comes from the transformation of the instinctive nature into something more substantial. Constantly we strive to broaden our intellect, increase our knowledge, govern the mind with organized thinking and control our emotions by repressing the instinctive nature. This is nature’s way of increasing man’s justification of that which has passed before the window of the mind and was not pleasing to his intellect, the justification being that enough knowledge has not been acquired by the intellect to sufficiently suppress the instinctive nature.

While the instinctive mind places great pulls on the individual, the intellectual mind often has a stranglehold. An intellectual person could run this explanation through his intellect and be able to explain it back better than we are unraveling it here, relating this point to that point exquisitely, yet deriving absolutely nothing from the conclusions to improve his own life. The next day his mental interest would be off on another subject.

Lesson 163 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Is the Magic and Power of Śāktism?

ŚLOKA 8
Śāktism reveres the Supreme as the Divine Mother, Śakti or Devī, in Her many forms, both gentle and fierce. Śāktas use mantra, tantra, yantra, yoga and pūjā to invoke cosmic forces and awaken the kuṇḍalinī power. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
While worship of the Divine Mother extends beyond the pale of history, Śākta Hinduism arose as an organized sect in India around the fifth century. Today it has four expressions—de­­vo­­tional, folk-shamanic, yogic and universalist—all invoking the fierce power of Kālī or Durgā, or the benign grace of Pār­vatī or Ambikā. Śākta de­­­vo­tionalists use pūjā rites, especial­ly to the Śrī Chakra yan­tra, to es­­tablish intimacy with the God­dess. Sha­­man­ic Śāk­tism employs magic, trance medium­ship, firewalking and animal sacrifice for healing, fertility, pro­­ph­e­cy and power. Śākta yogīs seek to awaken the sleeping Goddess Kuṇ­ḍalinī and unite her with Śiva in the sa­­has­­rāra chakra. Śāk­ta universalists follow the reformed Vedāntic tradition ex­­­em­plified by Sri Rām­a­krishna. “Left-hand” tan­tric rites transcend traditional ethical codes. Śāktism is chiefly ad­vaitic, de­fin­ing the soul’s destiny as complete identity with the Un­man­­ifest, Śiva. Central scrip­tures are the Vedas, Śākta Āgamas and Pur­āṇas. The Devī Gītā extols, “We bow down to the uni­ver­sal soul of all. Above and below and in all four directions, Mother of the universe, we bow.” Aum Chaṇḍikāyai Namaḥ.

Lesson 163 – Living with Śiva

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

Seeking the Best Match

In arranging a marriage, the families consult astrologers regularly until a match is found. Sometimes the boy and girl are allowed to get to know each other long before they are aware that a marriage is being arranged for them. Of course, if they do not get along well, the matter is dropped and the search is on again. If one match is not agreeable, another is sought. The inner-world devas also help to arrange the best matches. Most traditional astrologers have one or more devas assisting them to provide knowledge from the ākāśic records and insight into the planetary powers that impel karmas.

Astrological compatibility is also sought for and acquired between the girl and her prospective mother-in-law. The results are taken especially seriously if they will be living in the same home, because in this case the bride will be under the guidance of the mother-in-law and may spend more time with her than with her own husband. In marrying the son, she becomes the daughter of his mother.

Once a potential spouse is selected, discreet, informal inquiries are made by a relative or friend. If the response is encouraging, the girl’s father meets with and presents a proposal to the boy’s father. In some communities it is the boy’s father who presents the proposal. In these modern times, with the worldwide diaspora of Hindus from India and other countries, the fathers must take an aggressive role in helping their sons and daughters become well settled in life. If fathers do not fulfill this obligation, it becomes the duty of the mothers. This pattern differs from the tradition of well-settled village communities where only the father of the girl makes the overtures. In today’s widely dispersed global Hindu village, it becomes everyone’s duty to help in the task of matchmaking for the next generation.

Once the union has been tentatively agreed upon, the families gather at the girl’s home to get further acquainted and allow them to meet and discuss their potential life together. Of course, mutual attraction and full consent of the couple are crucial. After all the input from the community is in place, it is the couple themselves who must make the final decision whether to spend their life together, based on their own personal sensibilities and judgments. They do have the right to say no. In recent years, we have found that an excellent way for a young prospective couple to gradually get to know each other before committing to marriage is through correspondence by e-mail over a period of several months. The first and the last important factor for a good match is that the boy and girl must be happy and comfortable in each other’s company.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 163: TITHING’S MANY BLESSINGS
Śiva’s close devotees delight in the unfailing law that by tithing freely and wholeheartedly, with a consciousness of plenty, they become receptive to God’s blessings and draw to them abundance and happy experiences. Aum.

Lesson 163 – Merging with Śiva

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

The Mind’s Three Phases

The totality of the mind is vast and complicated. However, it is helpful to look at the entirety of the mind in three basic phases: the instinctive, the intellectual and the intuitive. The instinctive mind is easy to become aware of and experience. It includes the impulses of our physical body, our cravings, our desires, our digestive system, and our emotional mechanism that works through the physical body. The systems of elimination and blood circulation and the regulation of the heartbeat are all within the instinctive mind. This phase of mind functions automatically, or instinctively. It is as much alive in the animal kingdom as among humans.

Man alone develops the intellectual mind and is responsible for its composition as he lives along through life. This phase is a mixture of man’s instinctive desires and cravings coupled with the knowledge he has gained from others and from his own intuitive discoveries. Within man’s intellect, he organizes a vast amount of knowledge that begins to accumulate from a very early age. Ninety percent of this knowledge deals with the externality of the world and mind itself. The intellect can consume most of man’s time through an incarnation, and usually does, lifetime after lifetime.

The intuitive, or superconscious, phase is even more complex, more organized, more refined than the instinctive or intellectual phases. It is mystically known as the mind of light, for when one is in this state of mind, he may see light within his head, and sometimes throughout the entirety of his physical body, if his inner sight is developed enough. Otherwise, he just begins to feel good all over, as actinic energy permeates his nervous system. When intuitive flashes come, he knows the next thing to be done in a creative activity. This is the superconscious area of the mind. When man is extremely perceptive, tremendously creative, and knowledge seems to come to him from the inside of himself spontaneously, he is a superconscious being.

Instinctive is a word that some may understand and others take offense at. Don’t. It only means “natural or innate,” naming the drives and impulses that order the animal world and the physical and lower astral aspects of humans. For example, self-preservation, procreation, hunger and thirst, as well as the emotions of greed, hatred, anger, fear, lust and jealousy, are all instinctive forces. They are very real in animals and humans alike. When the mind functions instinctively, it is controlled by the habit impressions made in the subconscious during its journey through the experiences of life. Instinctive also means that the driving force comes from the sexual nature. The nature is turned in that direction subconsciously, even though the conscious mind may not be cognizant of the fact. It also means that in the event of an emergency, the animal nature would take over completely, being jarred loose from lack of what I term “mind-control,” or from what might be called self-control.

Lesson 162 – Dancing with Śiva

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

What Is the Deeply Mystical Śaiva Sect?

ŚLOKA 7
Śaivism is the world’s oldest religion. Worshiping God Śiva, the compassionate One, it stresses potent disciplines, high philosophy, the guru’s centrality and bhakti-rāja-siddha yoga leading to oneness with Śiva within. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Śaivism is ancient, truly ageless, for it has no beginning. It is the precursor of the many-faceted religion now termed Hinduism. Scholars trace the roots of Śiva worship back more than 8,000 years to the advanced Indus Valley civilization. But sa­cred writings tell us there never was a time when Śaivism did not exist. Modern history re­cords six main schools: Śaiva Siddhānta, Pāśupatism, Kashmīr Śaivism, Vīra Śaivism, Siddha Siddhān­ta and Śiva Ad­vaita. Śaivism’s grand­eur and beauty are found in a practical culture, an en­lightened view of man’s place in the universe and a profound system of temple mys­ti­cism and siddha yoga. It provides knowledge of man’s ev­o­lution from God and back to God, of the soul’s un­fold­­­ment and awak­ening guided by en­lightened sages. Like all the sects, its majority are devout families, headed by hundreds of orders of swāmīs and sā­dhus who follow the fiery, world-re­nouncing path to moksha. The Ved­as state, “By knowing Śiva, the Auspicious One who is hidden in all things, exceedingly fine, like film arising from clarified butter, the One embracer of the universe—by realizing God, one is released from all fetters.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.