Dancing with Śiva

The ātman pervades all like butter hidden in milk. He is the source of Self-knowledge and ascetic fervor. This is the Brahman teaching, the highest goal! This is the Brahman teaching, the highest goal! He who with the truth of the ātman, unified, perceives the truth of Brahman as with a lamp, who knows God, the unborn, the stable, free from all forms of being, is released from all fetters. The inspired Self is not born nor does He die; He springs from nothing and becomes nothing. Unborn, permanent, unchanging, primordial, He is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.§

Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, Śvetāśvatara Upanishad 1.16; 2.15 & 18. VE, 711, 762, 566§

There is a spirit which is pure and which is beyond old age and death; and beyond hunger and thirst and sorrow. This is ātman, the spirit in man. All the desires of this spirit are Truth. It is this spirit that we must find and know; man must find his own soul. He who has found and knows his soul has found all the worlds, has achieved all his desires. What you see when you look into another person’s eyes, that is the ātman, immortal, beyond fear; that is Brahman.§

Sāma Veda, Çhandogya Upanishad 8.7.3-4. UPM, 121-122§

Now, the teaching concerning the ātman: the ātman is below, it is above, it is behind, it is before, it is in the South, it is in the North. The ātman indeed is all that is. He who sees, reflects and knows this—he has joy in the ātman, he plays with the ātman, he unites with the ātman, his is the bliss of the ātman. He becomes free and is free to move in all the worlds. But those who think otherwise are ruled by others and their worlds are perishable. They are unfree in all the worlds.§

Sāma Veda, Çhandogya Upanishad 7.25.2. VE, 740§

There are five subtle elements, tanmantra, and these are called elements. There are also five gross elements, mahābhutas, and these are called elements. The union of these is called the human body. The human soul rules the body; but the immortal spiritual soul is pure like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. The human soul is under the power of the three constituents and conditions of nature, and thus it falls into confusion. Because of this confusion the soul cannot become conscious of the God who dwells within and whose power gives us power to work. §

Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, Maitrī Upanishad 3.2. UPM, 100§

He who dwells in the light, yet is other than the light, whom the light does not know, whose body is the light, who controls the light from within—He is the ātman within you.§

Śukla Yajur Veda, Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad 3.7.14. VE, 708§

The three impurities are āṇava, māyā and the one caused by actions.§

Suprabheda Āgama 2.1. SA, 102§

Pure consciousness, taking form as knowledge and action, is present in the soul everywhere and always, for the soul is universal in its unfettered state. §

Mṛigendra Āgama, Jñāna Pāda 2.A.5. MA, 60§

When the state is attained where one becomes Śiva, the malas—the bonds diverse, mental states and experiences that arose for the individualized soul—will all fade like the beams of the moon in the presence of the rising sun.§

Tirumantiram 2314. TM§

When jīva attains the state of neutrality to deeds good and evil, then does divine grace in guru form descend, remove attributes all and implant jñāna that is unto a heavenly cool shade. The jīva is without egoity, and the impurities three are finished. He is Śiva who all this does. §

Tirumantiram 1527. TM§

In the primal play of the Lord were jīvas created. Enveloped in mighty malas were they. Discarding them, they realized themselves and besought the feet of their hoary Lord. Thus they became Śiva, with birth no more to be.§

Tirumantiram 2369. TM§

A goldsmith fashions several ornaments out of gold. So God, the great goldsmith, makes many ornaments—different souls—out of the one Universal Spirit. §

Natchintanai, “Seek the Profit…” NT, 11§

The ātman is eternal. This is the conclusion at which great souls have arrived from their experience. Let this truth become well impressed in your mind. §

Natchintanai, Letter 1. NT, 15§