Lesson 336 – Dancing with Śiva

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 fu­-­ture body; earthly or airy, heavy or light.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 336 – Living with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Song of the Sannyāsin

Wake up the note! the song that had its birth
Far off, where worldly taint could never reach,
In mountain caves and glades of forest deep,
Whose calm no sigh for lust or wealth or fame
Could ever dare to break; where rolled the stream
Of knowledge, truth and bliss that follows both.
Sing high that note, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Strike off thy fetters! bonds that bind thee down,
Of shining gold, or darker, baser ore—
Love, hate; good, bad; and all the dual throng.
Know slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free;
For fetters, though of gold, are not less strong to bind.
Then off with them, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Let darkness go; the will-o’-the-wisp that leads
With blinking light to pile more gloom on gloom.
This thirst for life forever quench; it drags
From birth to death, and death to birth, the soul.
He conquers all who conquers self.
Know this and never yield, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

“Who sows must reap,” they say, “and cause must bring
The sure effect: good, good; bad, bad; and none
Escapes the law. But whoso wears a form
Must wear the chain.” Too true; but far beyond
Both name and form is ātman, ever free.
Know thou art That, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

They know not truth who dream such vacant dreams
As father, mother, children, wife and friend.
The sexless Self—whose father He? whose child?
Whose friend, whose foe, is He who is but One?
The Self is all in all—none else exists;
And thou art That, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

There is but One: the Free, the Knower, Self,
Without a name, without a form or stain.
In Him is māyā, dreaming all this dream.
The Witness, He appears as nature, soul.
Know thou art That, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Where seekest thou? That freedom, friend, this world
Nor that can give. In books and temples, vain
Thy search. Thine only is the hand that holds
The rope that drags thee on. Then cease lament.
Let go thy hold, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Say, “Peace to all. From me no danger be
To aught that lives. In those that dwell on high,
In those that lowly creep—I am the Self in all!
All life, both here and there, do I renounce,
All heavens and earths and hells, all hopes and fears.”
Thus cut thy bonds, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Heed then no more how body lives or goes.
Its task is done: let karma float it down.
Let one put garlands on, another kick
This frame: say naught. No praise or blame can be
Where praiser, praised, and blamer, blamed, are one.
Thus be thou calm, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Truth never comes where lust and fame and greed
Of gain reside. No man who thinks of woman
As his wife can ever perfect be;
Nor he who owns the least of things, nor he
Whom anger Chains, can ever pass through māyā’s gates.
So, give these up, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Have thou no home. What home can hold thee, friend?
The sky thy roof, the grass thy bed, and food
What chance may bring—well cooked or ill, judge not.
No food or drink can taint that noble Self
Which knows Itself. Like rolling river free
Thou ever be, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Few only know the truth. The rest will hate
And laugh at thee, great one; but pay no heed.
Go thou, the free, from place to place, and help
Them out of darkness, māyā’s veil. Without
The fear of pain or search for pleasure, go
Beyond them both, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

Thus day by day, till karma’s power’s spent,
Release the soul forever. No more is birth,
Nor I, nor thou, nor God, nor man. The “I”
Has All become, the All is “I” and Bliss.
Know thou art That, sannyāsin bold! Say
“Om Tat Sat, Om!”§

“Song of the Sannyāsin” by Swami Vivekananda is quoted, with written permission, from Inspired Talks, My Master and Other Writings; copyright 1958 by Swami Nikhilananda, trustee of the estate of Swami Vivekananda; published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York.


NANDINATHA SŪTRA 336: NEVER INDULGING IN SEXUAL FANTASY
All Śiva’s monastics strictly avoid sexual fantasy, knowing that it opens the door to the progressive stages of glorifying sex, flirting, desirous glances, love talk, pining, deciding to have sex and finally intercourse. Aum.

Lesson 336 – Merging with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Birth of the Golden Body

The golden body, svarṇaśarīra, is a body made of golden light. After many experiences of Paraśiva, it gradually descends from the seven chakras above the sahasrāra into the ājñā chakra, which then becomes the soul’s mūlādhāra, then down into the viśuddha chakra, which then becomes its mūlādhāra, and then down into the anāhata, which then becomes its mūlādhāra.

All seven chakras above the sahasrāra slowly come down and down and down until the entire astral body is psychically seen, by mystics who have this sight, as a golden body. The astral body slowly, slowly, slowly dissolves into the golden body. That is what I have seen happen. That is what our paramparā and our sampradāya know from experience. Experience is the only true knowing—a knowing that can be verified in books, through others who have the same knowing, but a knowing that no others know who have not had the same experience. To them it is only a concept, a nice one maybe, but just a concept or written off as an opinion.

When the golden body fully enters the physical, having taken over the astral, the knowing that is known comes unbidden. It is beyond reason but does not conflict with it. It is a living scripture but does not conflict with those written by seers of the past who have seen and their records have become scripture. So great is the Sanātana Dharma that it defies all who doubt it, all who disdain it, all who disregard it, all who degrade it, with personal realization of its Truth.

This golden body, which begins to build into a golden body after the experience of nirvikalpa samādhi, is connected to the sahasrāra chakra. In other words, the sahasrāra chakra is the home base in the physical body for the golden body. There are twelve basic unfoldments to this chakra as the golden body grows. When the realized sannyāsin travels in high states of contemplation, he moves freely in his golden body and can help and serve mankind. Over time, he gains a conscious control of the sahasrāra chakra as a force center which propels him into inner space.

It is this golden body, as it refines and refines and refines itself within the Śivaloka after moksha, that finally merges with Śiva like a cup of water being poured into the ocean. That same water can never be found and put back into the cup. This truly is svarṇaśarīra viśvagrāsa, the final, final, final merging with Śiva.

Lesson 335 – Dancing with Śiva 

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Does Lord Kārttikeya’s Vel Signify?

ŚLOKA 25
The lancelike vel wielded by Lord Kārttikeya, or Skanda, embodies discrimination and spiritual insight. Its blade is wide, long and keen, just as our knowledge must be broad, deep and penetrating. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
The śakti power of the vel, the eminent, intricate power of righteousness over wrongdoing, conquers con­fusion within the realms below. The holy vel, that when thrown always hits its mark and of itself re­turns to Kārttikeya’s mighty hand, rewards us when right­eousness prevails and be­comes the kuṇ­ḍa­linī serpent’s unleashed power thwarting our every effort with punishing re­morse when we trans­gress dharma’s law. Thus, the holy vel is our re­lease from ignorance into knowledge, our release from vanity into modesty, our release from sinfulness in­to pur­ity through tapas. When we perform penance and be­seech His blessing, this merciful God hurls His vel into the astral plane, piercing discordant sounds, colors and shapes, removing the mind’s darkness. He is the King of kings, the power in their scepters. Standing be­hind the temporal majesty, He advises and authorizes. His vel em­­powering the ruler, justice prevails, wis­dom en­riches the minds of citizens, rain is abundant, crops flourish and plenty fills the lard­ers. The Tirumurai says, “In the gloom of fear, His six-fold face gleams. In perils un­bound­ed, His vel betokens, ‘Fear not.’” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 335 – Living with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Way of Old Souls

Wouldn’t we have a wonderful world of living with Śiva if two thirds of the people on this planet were spiritual lights and had nothing on their mind but to spread the dharma of right thought, right speech and right action? It truly would be a global village, a haven, a wonderland. But during this yuga, it may not be possible, because younger souls inhabit the planet in abundance, and their only method of discipline among themselves is with the fist, the hatchet, the whip and harsh, insulting words. In this way they accrue much karma to be worked out in another birth. This makes a lot of sense, for if they did not make new karma they would not reincarnate and never become older souls. It is the tragedies, the hurts, the fears, the arguments that remain unresolved that goad the young souls onward. They learn by their own mistakes, but very slowly, taking the lessons out of their experiences and always blaming on others what has happened to them. This and most of the above is how we come to distinguish an old soul from one in the intermediate grade and those who are unverified.

The intermediate souls struggle with their emotions; they hurt themselves more than others. Misunderstanding is not their enemy. It is their teacher of new discoverings. Theirs is the never-ending search. Theirs is the never-ending, not-being-able-to-reach-the-end search. Unlike the young souls, their desires are well-defined. Unlike the young souls, their intellection has some development, maybe not keen but usable. For them, religion is an acceptable solution. They are not superstitious, meaning believing in what they do not understand, as are the young souls. They must be satisfied with adequate reasons of why, how and what the future holds. The intermediate souls all have to learn not to drag the past through life with them in the form of resentment, unforgivingness through unforgettability. This one lesson and this alone distinguishes them from their older examples. But they do look to the older souls for help and for solace, seeking to hold their hand, lean on their shoulder and share with them some of their experiential burdens.

Taking up sannyāsa as a young man and fulfilling the goals and disciplines of monastic life is for the older souls. These forgiving, intelligent beings rely on their memories of their past when they were young souls. They rely on their memories of the past when they were intermediate souls. They rely on their superconscious abilities to look through and see into every situation, every happening, of past, present and future. Their test, their supreme test, is to balance their inner and their outer life. So, they renounce the world, and in their renouncing, the world they renounced renounces them. Their humanness is still there, their striving is still there, and their seeking for elucidation is still there. But what is not there is the sense of their small self. The sense of the little I’go. The sense of “me and mine” is replaced by “us” and “ours.”

Not all old souls are ready for holy orders of sannyāsa, but some of them are, and these rare few have special qualities. Loyalty to their lineage is one of the most important, and another is love in their will. This means that they do make happenings happen in the external world. They do effect change, but they do not claim reward or recognition. They do not sulk if appreciation is not forthcoming. They move on, ever impelled by their spirituality, that ever-moving force of inspiration that does good rather than harm, that ever-moving spiritual force that quells the external ego and gives credit to others. That rewarding ability to see into the future, prepare for it and to guide others into it is theirs to develop.

Young souls merge with each other. Intermediate souls merge with projects and learning new things, merging with the mind and the intellect. Older souls, seeking the Self beyond the mind, merge with the Spirit and with things spiritual. For them, a pure and nearly perfect life calls. They intuitively know that the profound merger of jīva in Śiva is no easy task, to be accomplished in a weekend seminar or yoga class. So they go farther, they renounce, they take up the ideals of the four Vedas—not to parrot them, but to live them, just as did the ṛishis of yore. That leads to the path of the renouncer, to the sannyāsin in the Indian tradition.

Though it may not be your dharma to formally renounce the world, you can benefit your search immensely by knowing how the great ones seek to live and respond to life. You can find ways in the midst of your life to follow their example.

Realize that the sannyāsins, the sādhus and the host of nameless mendicants from the traditional orders of Hinduism do have built within them the spiritual, social, cultural structure that has survived siege and pestilence within the countries they serve. But most importantly, these three million soldiers of the within have survived the siege of their lower self, the pestilence of their own mind, and risen above to the heights. This book, Living with Śiva, contains within it the wisdom which, once read and understood, becomes knowledge to make the conquest of all conquests, the victory over the instinctive-intellectual mind and all that it contains. All this and more is summed up so eloquently in the “Song of the Sannyāsin,” in Sunday’s lesson, a stirring poem by Srila Sri Swami Vivekananda Maharaj (1863-1902), composed in July, 1885, at Thousand Island Park, New York. I advise my monastic followers to live it, just live it, and try to fulfill in your life these high ideals. To all readers of this book, I say, proceed with confidence along the path of sādhana, through which dancing with Śiva, living with Śiva and merging with Śiva is assured and certain. That’s the way it is, and that is the way it is.


NANDINATHA SŪTRA 335: OVERCOMING THE FOUR OBSTACLES
Śiva’s monastics regard sex, money, food and clothes as the prime challenge to their spiritual quest, harboring the potential to reinvolve them in the world. Thus, they restrain themselves accordingly. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 335 – Merging with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Death of The Small Self

When the emotions begin to react in a systematic way, and hate and fear and jealousy and love and passion and all of those emotions begin to function properly, and awareness flows out into the conscious mind, the physical body begins to assume a mature, intelligent appearance. You can look at the person and judge, “By looking at his body, I see that he is an intelligent man.” That means all of his instinctive and intellectual faculties are developed and working simultaneously together. However, he may be yet to turn inward. Perhaps you can ascertain this by looking into his eyes. Perhaps in this life he will turn inward, when he has satisfied some of his desires he is setting into motion. As soon as he begins to turn inward, he begins to nourish his spiritual body. It starts to grow within the emotional body. It grows like a child, fed by all of his good deeds. All of his selflessness and selfless actions toward others feed that body. All of his working with himself, conquering instinctive emotions within himself, is food for that body, as it draws from the central source of energy. All of his selfishness and greed and giving power to the instinctive elements starve this spiritual body. You have heard about the suffering of the soul. As it unfolds, it cries out and wants more attention. This is man’s struggle within himself.

Finally, the spiritual body grows up into a mature body and unfolds the subsuperconscious mind, grows up more and becomes aware in the superconscious mind, taking on more spiritual force from the Infinite. Ultimately, it takes over the astral emotional-intellectual body.

That is the whole story of the inner awakening that is occurring within each of us. The mere fact that it makes sense to you as you read about it means you are in the process of this experience of superconsciousness moving out into the conscious plane.

Ultimately, you begin to go through the harrowing experiences of past karma with your eyes firmly set upon your ultimate goal: Self Realization. As you live your life in service to mankind, reprogramming your subconscious and facing all of the things that you didn’t face fully through your many past lives while working with your emotions and intellect, finally you come to the crucifixion of the ego. This happens when your last experiences have begun to fade and you no longer see yourself as a “Mr. Somebody” who came from some community somewhere, who is of a certain nationality and who, incidentally, distinguishes himself from all other people because he is on the path to enlightenment and he knows a lot of people that are not.

This great spiritual pride of the personal ego finally is crucified. It is put on the cross of man’s own spiritual discernment. The death of the ego is a tremendous experience. You go through the dark night of the soul and feel that your family, friends and even the Gods have deserted you. During this time, you do not see light anymore. You see blackness all through the body, as all of the accumulated experiences of the many, many lives come in on you and you are not even aware where your awareness is in the mind. You can’t figure it all out. It happens too rapidly. Then finally: “I am That. I am.” You burst into the Self God.

Lesson 334 – Dancing with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is the Nature of Lord Kārttikeya?

ŚLOKA 24
Lord Kārttikeya, Murugan, first guru and Pleiadean master of kuṇḍalinī yoga, was born of God Śiva’s mind. His dynamic power awakens spiritual cognition to propel souls onward in their evolution to Śiva’s feet. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Lord Kārttikeya flies through the mind’s vast substance from planet to planet. He could well be called the Emancipator, ever available to the call of those in distress. Lord Kārttikeya, God of will, direct cognition and the purest, child-like divine love, propels us onward on the right­eous way through religion, His Father’s law. Majestically seated on the maṇipūra chak­ra, this scarlet-hued God blesses man­­­kind and strengthens our will when we lift to the in­ner sky through sādhana and yoga. The yoga pāda be­gins with the worship of Him. The yo­gī, locked in med­itation, venerates Kārttikeya, Skanda, as his mind be­­comes as calm as Śaravaṇa, the lake of Di­vine Essence. The kuṇ­­ḍalinī force within everyone is held and controlled by this powerful God, first among renunciates, dear to all san­nyā­sins. Revered as Murugan in the South, He is commander in chief of the great de­vonic ar­my, a fine, dy­namic soldier of the with­in, a fearless defender of right­eousness. He is Divinity emulated in form. The Vedas say, “To such a one who has his stains wiped away, the venerable Sanatkumāra shows the further shore of darkness. Him they call Skanda.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 334 – Living with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Ideals Of Sannyāsa

The Śaiva sannyāsin states at the time of his initiation, “All that I have and all that I am I now give unto my God, my Gods and my guru. I have no family except the Divine Father Śiva and Mother Śakti who dwell in Kailāsa, and on Earth the saṅgam of Śaivite devotees.” This is the ideal of not only the swāmī, but of all monastics. Therefore, a state of aloofness from blood ties must be maintained on the part of each monastic. This is reflected in the protocol of the monk’s not referring to relatives as “my father,” “my brother,” “my mother,” but by formal, impersonal names and common courtesy titles, such as Mr. Sivanesan, etc. This is an affectionate detachment, a lovingly detached attitude, from the gṛihastha community. It is a detachment from joint or extended family, which includes former friends, seeing guru as mother and father, and fellow monastics as family, aadheenam devas as dear relatives, and Gods as close, not far away. Each family learns to respect this renunciate attitude. This is the fabric of monastic life, both for sannyāsins and postulants, for in our community, all monastics are on the path of renunciation. Some have received sannyāsa dīkshā and others are preparing for it by fully living the life of the one who has renounced the world in one-pointed quest for service and God Realization. Because training must be given when the nature is still young and pliable, I do not accept candidates for monastic life who are over the age of twenty-five.

All must always remember that it is a family’s greatest blessing for a son to become a sannyāsin. But a word of caution must follow. Though a young man may be raised and trained to one day become a monastic, it is he himself who must have the burning desire for ultimate, transcendent realization of Paraśiva. It is he who must have a heart full of selfless service and vairāgya, the spirit of renunciation. It is he who must have the prārabdha karmas that would allow him to be the ideal sannyāsin his parents would hope for. Becoming a monk is not simply a matter of moving from his family home into a monastery. Various tests must be met and passed. The entire monastic community has to be convinced of the young man’s sincerity and strengthened by his presence. Such potential sannyāsins are watched closely and expected to dissociate themselves from gṛihastha impulses such as claiming “my things, my space, my career, my advancement and my exclusive duties.” They are examined for the qualities of true sannyāsa, tested often as to their flexibility, their ability to instantly renounce attachment to position and job security without residual resentments, the fluidness to release awareness and move transparently from one area to the next as needs arise.

How does a monastic serve his guru in daily life? He must take every opportunity to be open. At the first level, that of a young aspirant, the mom and dad give him over and say, “The guru is now your mother and father. Go and be with him.” Then it is up to the young man to think of his guru as mother and father and not think of them as his parents anymore. That is what they expect. They are thrilled that they could produce a son who could be a spiritual man, thrilled that their son might be accepted. The next step is on the part of the son himself. In living in the āśrama the son only sees the guru in his mind. He doesn’t see anybody else. When he starts seeing others, finding fault and liking some more than others, that’s when the trouble begins. Rather, he serves the guru’s mission exclusively, in his whole mind, even while he is working with others. He treats everyone equally, with kindly, affectionate detachment. He fulfills each duty wholeheartedly and harbors no preferences for one type of service over another. He doesn’t use the facility as a trade school to improve his skills, just in case monastic life doesn’t work out. Finally he attracts the guru’s attention, and the third stage begins. He is given special small tasks to accomplish by the satguru, and when successful given larger and more difficult tasks, as the guru guides him in strengthening his willpower. From that point on, his life unfolds from stage to stage as he purifies himself and brings forth his Divinity in his service and striving.


NANDINATHA SŪTRA 334: HUMILITY IS THEIR HALLMARK
Śiva’s monastics never boast of their accomplishments, knowledge, position, equipment, money they handle, places they have been or people they know. Self-effacement—yea, self-erasement—is their hallmark. Aum.

Lesson 334 – Merging with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Body Of the Soul

All concepts of time, space, mind, universe, microcosm and macrocosm are what occur when inhabiting a physical body. But they are only concepts, not relating to what actually occurs. The seven chakras of the physical body produce their frameworks, relationships. The Self, the realization of God, Paraśiva, is immanent now within everyone, only realizable according to the soul’s evolution, which can be hastened through the practice of yoga. Therefore, to look for realizations through correlations or to seek correlations as destinations is futile. This is because what you seek after already exists in its fullness within each soul.

Those in the kevala avasthā are creating forms around the soul and are not inwardly directed. Those in the sakala avasthā are deciphering their creations and not interested. Those in the śuddha avasthā perceive, little by little, a fullness—that within which has never changed since the first cell broke away containing within it the fullness of Śiva, His samādhi as well as form.

Our soul is an immortal, effulgent being of light created by God Śiva in His image and evolving to union with Him. Its uncreated divine essence is Pure Consciousness and Absolute Reality, eternally one with Śiva. The unfoldment of the soul through the avasthās of existence can be understood in the analogy of the fragrant lotus rising above the water, drawn up by the sun, having come from the mud below. The mud is kevala, the lotus and its blossoming is sakala, and the sun is śuddha.

One day you will see the being of you, your divine soul body. You will see it inside the physical body. It looks like clean, clear plastic. Around it is a blue light, and the outline of it is whitish yellow. Inside of it is blue-yellowish light, and there are trillions of little nerve currents, or quantums, and light scintillating all through that. This body stands on a lotus flower. Inwardly looking down through your feet, you see you are standing on a big, beautiful lotus flower. This body has a head, it has eyes, and it has infinite intelligence. It is tuned into and feeds from the source of all energy.

The soul form, which is another way of naming the “soul body,” evolves as its consciousness evolves, becoming more and more refined until finally it is at the same intensity or refinement as the Primal Soul. The experiences of life, in all the various planes of consciousness, are “food for the soul,” reaping lessons that actually raise the level of intelligence and love. Thus, very refined souls are walking intelligences, beaming with love. The “soul body” is not like any other body, because it is the Being itself, not an encasement for the being.

I chose the term soul body many years ago to convey the very real fact that souls do have a human-like form that can be seen in mystic, superconscious vision. It was a way of describing the actual nature of the soul, which is not simply a ball of intelligence, or a point of awareness. But the body of the soul cannot be separated from the soul. They are one and the same. If you take away the form of the soul, all bonds are broken and jīva becomes Śiva.

Lesson 333 – Dancing with Śiva

Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is Lord Gaṇeśa’s Special Duty?

ŚLOKA 23
As Lord of Obstacles, Gaṇeśa wields the noose and the goad, icons of His benevolent power of preventing or permitting events to happen in our life. Thus, we invoke His grace and wisdom before any worship or task. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Lord Gaṇeśa, the God of time and memory, strategic­ally seated on the mūlādhāra chakra, poised between the high­er and lower chakras, stabilizes all sentient beings. He holds the architect’s plans of the divine masterpiece of universal past and future. Only good comes from Lord Ga­ṇeśa, who by taking the form of an elephant distinguishes Himself from other Gods. The charyā pāda be­gins with His worship. He staves off misfortune for those who perform penance in His name. He guides our karma from with­in us through the timing of events. Before any im­por­­tant un­dertaking, we supplicate Him to clear ob­sta­cles from the path, if it be His will. This Lord of Ob­stacles prevents us from hurting ourselves through living under an in­complete concept or making a request un­needed or be­ginning an endeavor not well thought out. Before we petition Him, He ex­pects us to use all of our faculties to arrive at the decision He would have made. The Āgamas declare, “These Lords who, it is said, on the pure path, attend to the various duties deriving from a higher realm of māyā are at the prow of the ef­fects of the higher realm of māyā.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.