So many in the world are unaware of the great joys that are the reward of a religious life lived well. They seek their fulfillment outside of themselves and fall short time and time again. One day they will conclude, as you all have, that it is the inner life, the spiritual life, that alone brings eternal, unchanging happiness. This outer world and consciousness can never bring the soul real contentment, real fulfillment. Oh, you can find a temporary happiness, but it will be followed by its opposite in due course. The outer consciousness of the material world is by its very nature a bondage. It binds one through karma. It binds one through māyā. It binds one through āṇava, or ego identity and ignorance. That is the nature of the world, to bind us. ¶When the soul has had enough experience, it naturally seeks to be liberated, to unravel the bonds. That begins the most wonderful process in the world as the seeker steps for the first time onto the spiritual path. Of course, the whole time, through all those births and lives and deaths, the soul was undergoing a spiritual evolution, but unconsciously. Now it seeks to know God consciously. That is the difference. It’s a big difference. By this conscious process of purification, of inner striving, of refining and maturing, the karmas come more swiftly, evolution speeds up and things can and usually do get more intense. Don’t worry, though. That is natural and necessary. That intensity is the way the mind experiences the added cosmic energies that begin to flow through the nervous system. ¶So, here is the soul, seeking intentionally to know, “Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?” A path must be found, a path that others have successfully followed, a path that has answers equally as profound as the seeker’s questions. In Śaivite Hinduism, we have such a path. It is called the Śaiva Neri, the Path of Śiva. It is a wide and unobstructed path that leads man to himself, to his true Self that lies within and beyond his personality, lies at the very core of his being. ¶I want to speak a little about this inner path today. You all know that it is a mystical path, full of mystery. You cannot learn much of it from books. Then where to look? Look to the holy scriptures, where the straight path to God is described by our saints. Look to the great masters, the siddhas, or perfected ones. Look to the satgurus, who have themselves met and overcome the challenges that still lie ahead for you. Look to them and ask them to help you to look within yourself. Much of the mysticism which is the greatest wealth of Hinduism is locked within these masters, who in our tradition are known as the satgurus, the sages and the siddhas. There is much to say on this. As Yogaswami told us, “The subject is vast and the time is short!” §
Let me begin with something that may at first come as a surprise to you. All men and women on the Earth are doing exactly as they should and must do. People complain, “I wish I were rich. I wish I lived somewhere else. I really should be a doctor. If only things were different.” But in the final analysis, we are all doing exactly as we want, as we must, doing what is next on our personal path of evolution. Nothing is wrong. Nothing should be that is not. Even the drunk, even the thief, is part of the cosmic dance of God Śiva. Not that you should ever think of being a thief, for there is much difficult karma there. Just realize that he, too, is evolving. He, too, is Śiva’s creation, and what he does is, for him, somehow necessary. ¶Just look at the world. Warriors have to fight their battles. Priests have to take care of their temples. Businessmen must sell their goods. Farmers must grow their crops and tend their flocks. Teachers must pass on knowledge. Each one has to do what he has to do in the great cosmic dance of Śiva. Each one follows the path of service leading to devotion, which leads to spiritual disciplines of yoga. Finally, that yoga culminates in the attainment of Truth, or God Realization. These are the four mārgas leading the soul to its very Self. ¶For Hindus, the path is seen as divided into four stages or phases of inner development. Some say karma yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga and jñāna; others say charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna. Either way, it is basically the same—progressive stages followed by the soul in its quest for God. We are speaking here of the way the ancients attained their realizations, how they lived their lives, suffered, went through mental pain in their tapas, walked the San Mārga path through life—charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna—and in that process unwound the karmas of the past, learned to live fully in the present, abashed the person of themselves to be the soul of themselves. They practiced true yoga to obtain release from rebirth, moksha, which only the realization of the Absolute Truth can give. There is, of course, no action too great to render to persist on the path of enlightenment, once the path has clearly been defined. ¶Jñāna is the last stage. Most people don’t understand jñāna. They think it is little more than intellectual study of the path, a simple kind of wisdom. But jñāna does not mean simplistic reading of scriptures or understanding of philosophical books and knowing pat answers to stereotyped questions. Jñāna is the blossoming of wisdom, of enlightened consciousness, of true being. Jñāna is the state of the realized soul who knows Absolute Reality through personal experience, who has reached the end of the spiritual path after many, many lifetimes. ¶Yoga is the path of sādhana, or discipline, leading the advanced soul toward jñāna. Yoga is divided into eight parts, ranging from the simple physical disciplines and diet, up to the deepest contemplation gained through perfect control of mind. Yoga does not mean just sitting in lotus for half an hour each day in a penthouse or doing haṭha yoga āsanas for health and beauty. It means yoga as performed by the yogīs of yore, the renegades from society, tapasvins ready to face the fire of sādhana, brave souls who have given up all else in their search for Truth, persevering with an iron will until they accomplish what they seek. ¶Kriyā is basically worship and devotion, or the expression of our love of the Divine through various ceremonies and rituals. Kriyā does not mean mindlessly or superstitiously attending temple services to look good in the community, to be with friends, to gossip or talk of politics and other human affairs. It is a genuine communion with the inner worlds, a profound stage in which the heart swells and eyes overflow with internalized worship, love and surrender. ¶Charyā is service, but it does not mean empty service, unthinking performance of traditional rites or just marrying off daughters, thus forestalling premarital affairs. It is service done selflessly, it is dharma performed consciously, it is worship offered wholly and it is goodness in thought, word and deed. §
Of course, our most cherished theology is monistic Śaiva Siddhānta, the advaitic teachings inherited from our guru paramparā who outlined the course we are on. This teaches us that God and man are ultimately one. This teaches us that our Supreme God, Śiva, is the creator of the universe, and He is also the creation. He is not different from it. ¶We must go to the temple and worship, with all our heart, God in form before our karmas are cleared, our responsibilities paid, and we realize the formless perfection of God Śiva. The guhā, the cave of consciousness, opens its doors for us to sit comfortably, mentally undistracted, within the cavity within the head, there to begin the yoga of union for personal, spiritual, everlasting attainment. Śaiva Siddhānta outlines the path that we are on. It tells us how to attain these goals. ¶The saints who sang the hymns of Tirumurai inspire us onward and inward. The illustrious, venerable Rishi Tirumular captured the essence of the Vedas and the Āgamas in his epistles, promulgating the rules and regulations that we must follow, setting forth the attainments that we may expect to reach. Over two thousand years ago the great siddha, Saint Tirumular, taught, “Offer oblations in love. Light the golden lamps. Spread incense of fragrant wood and lighted camphor in all directions. Forget your worldly worries and meditate. Truly, you shall attain rapturous liberation.” ¶It is said in our Hindu scriptures that it is necessary to have a satguru. However, it is also possible for an individual to accomplish all of this by himself without a guru. Possible, but most difficult and exceedingly rare. There may be four or five in a hundred years, or less. Scriptures explain that perhaps in past lives such a soul would have been well disciplined by some guru and is helped inwardly by God in this life. With rare exceptions, a guru is necessary to guide the aspirant on the path as far as he is willing and able to go in his current incarnation. Few will reach the Ultimate. The satguru is needed because the mind is cunning and the ego is a self-perpetuating mechanism. It is unable and unwilling to transcend itself by itself. Therefore, one needs the guidance of another who has gone through the same process, who has faithfully followed the path to its natural end and therefore can gently lead us to God within ourselves. Remember, the satguru will keep you on the path, but you have to walk the path yourself. ¶All gurus differ one from another depending on their paramparā, their lineage, as well as on their individual nature, awakening and attainments. Basically, the only thing that a guru can give you is yourself to yourself. That is all, and this is done in many ways. The guru would only be limited by his philosophy, which outlines the ultimate attainment, and by his own experience. He cannot take you where he himself has not been. It is the guru’s job to inspire, to assist, to guide and sometimes even impel the disciple to move a little farther toward the Self of himself than he has been able to go by himself. §
It is the disciple’s duty to understand the sometimes subtle guidance offered by the guru, to take the suggestions and make the best use of them in fulfilling the sādhanas given. Being with a satguru is an intensification on the path of enlightenment—always challenging, for growth is a challenge to the instinctive mind. If a guru does not provide this intensification, we could consider him to be more a philosophical teacher. Not all gurus are satgurus. Not all gurus have realized God themselves. The idea is to change the patterns of life, not to perpetuate them. That would be the only reason one would want to find a satguru. ¶Some teachers will teach ethics. Others will teach philosophy, language, worship and scriptures. Some will teach by example, by an inner guidance. Others will teach from books. Some will be silent, while others will lecture and have classes. Some will be orthodox, while others may not. The form of the teaching is not the most essential matter. What matters is that there be a true and fully realized satguru, that there be a true and fully dedicated disciple. Under such conditions, spiritual progress will be swift and certain, though not necessarily easy. Of course, in our tradition the siddhas have always taught of Śiva and only Śiva. They have taught the Śaiva Dharma which seeks to serve and know Śiva in three ways: as Personal Lord and creator of all that exists; as existence, knowledge and bliss—the love that flows through all form—and finally as the timeless, formless, causeless Self of all. ¶When we go to school, we are expected to learn our lessons and then to graduate. Having graduated, we are expected to enter society, take a position comparable to our level of education. We are expected to know more when we leave than when we entered, and we naturally do. When we perform sādhana, we are expected to mature inwardly, to grow and to discipline ourselves. And, in fact, we do become a better, more productive, more compassionate, more refined person. ¶But when we perform yoga, we are expected to go within, in and in, deep within ourselves, deep within the mind. If yoga is truly performed, we graduate with knowledge based on personal experience, not on what someone else has said. We then take our place among the jñānīs—the wise ones who know, and who know what they know—to uplift others with understanding in sādhana and in yoga. §
In other words, the practice of yoga well performed produces the jñānī. The yogī has the same experiences, if he is successful, and comes out with the same independent knowledge which, when reviewed, corresponds perfectly with what other jñānīs discovered and taught as the outcome of their yogic practices. This kind of knowledge surpasses all other knowing and is the basis of all Hindu scriptures. The jñānī is a rare soul, a highly evolved soul. He speaks of Truth from his experience of it and gives it a personal touch. As Sri Ramakrishna said, you go into yourself a fool, but through the practices of yoga you come out a wise man. That is the jñānī—the knower of the Unknowable. ¶The yogī who is in the process of yoga, who has not graduated to God Realization, is not yet a jñānī, though he has all kinds of realizations along the way, some sustained, others yet to be sustained. The yogī is seeking, striving, changing, unfolding, trying with all his heart to become, to know his ultimate goal. When the merger has become complete, when two have become one, he is no longer a yogī, he is a jñānī. When the student graduates from college, he is no longer a student, he is a graduate. The merger of which I speak is Paraśiva, to be experienced by the sannyāsin who has turned from the world and into himself. ¶There is yet another realization which can be described as experiencing God Śiva as Satchidānanda, as light and love and consciousness. This also may be achieved through yoga. When one experiences this expanded state of being, this cosmic consciousness, he comes back knowing he has had a fantastic experience, but no jñāna persists, for he has yet to attain the Ultimate. Family people can attain this second state through diligent effort, and even attain to Paraśiva at the point of death, or before if the path of renunciation is entered upon fully after life’s obligations have been fulfilled. But there are few, very few, who have attained the highest of the high, Paraśiva, after having been householders, having fulfilled their family dharma, freed from any and all worldly endeavors, plunged into total, total abandonment of spouse, family, friends, associates of all kind, taking no disciples, shunning devotees and forever living alone on alms, to seek the highest of the high. As said, even following such a strict path, there are few, very few, who attain to Absolute Reality. But all who strive have done powerful preparation for their next life. ¶My satguru, Siva Yogaswami, often said, “Lord Śiva is within you. You are within Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva, with all of His powers, cannot separate Himself from you.” Siva Yogaswami told us to go to the temple, to worship at the temple. He also told us to go within ourselves, into Śivajñāna. He did not tell us not to go to the temple. He did not try to break our faith. He tried to build our faith and make us strong. He guided us on the straight path, the path of the Śaivite saints, leading us to the feet of Śiva. ¶Siva Yogaswami himself, though completely Self realized, went regularly to the temple, worshiped Śiva there, then plunged within himself in the aftermath of holy pūjā, drawing near to Śiva through meditation. He never advocated, nor has any traditional Śaivite satguru advocated, that advanced devotees give up bhakti, give up the temple. No! Never! They taught that Śiva is within and cannot be separated from you, but they also wisely directed us to seek Him and worship Him in the temple. §
Śiva has a form. He is also formless. But He does have a form, and He exists in the realm of highest consciousness called the Śivaloka. Śiva has a mind, a superconscious mind that permeates like a plasma all the forms that He creates, all the forms that He preserves and all the forms that He absorbs back into Himself. Śiva is very close to each and every one of us. Śiva’s mind permeates all of us. But when we want to see Śiva’s form and receive His darshan, we go to the Śiva temple, and when the holy priest invokes God Śiva, God Śiva hovers in His body of golden light over the Śivaliṅga. In deep meditation, Śivajñāna, we can, within the temple of our own heart, see God Śiva’s Holy Form. ¶God Śiva creates. God Śiva preserves all His creations and, when the creation is no longer needed, absorbs it back into Himself, to create again. Śaivites all over the world love God Śiva. God Śiva loves His devotees. For each step the devotee takes toward Śiva, Śiva takes nine steps toward the devotee. Such are the final conclusions of Śaiva Siddhānta. ¶There is no reason to ever become confused about the many Deities in our wonderful Hindu faith. Is Lord Gaṇeśa our Supreme God? No. Is Lord Murugan our Supreme God? No. They are Gods, two of the many Gods that God Śiva has created. But God Śiva is Supreme God, timeless, formless, spaceless, permeating all form, and yet having a form. He is the fullness of everything that fills people from within out. ¶In Śaivism we become strong, we become fearless, through our worship of Śiva. Members of the Śaiva Samayam, the Śaivite religion, do not fear death, for they know about rebirth. Members of the Śaiva Samayam do not fear an eternal hell; there is no eternal hell. Members of the Śaiva Samayam do not fear their ministers, their priests, swāmīs or gurus. Members of the Śaiva Samayam do not fear God. The lack of fear, therefore, makes you strong. Our saints tell us in the sacred hymns of the Tirumurai that the worship of Śiva makes you strong. The worship of God Śiva brings you intelligence. The worship of God Śiva will bring you knowledge of your divine, inner Self. Remember this as you go forth in life: we do not use weapons in our religion. We follow the path of nonviolence, noninjury to other beings. Our only weapon is our mind, our intelligence. ¶Unfortunately, in some, though not all, of the Judaic/Christian sects, the fear of God is prevalent. The distinction between good and bad, heaven and hell, is predominant, causing fears, apprehension and deep mental conflict. Hence, this psychological set-up is not conducive to the practice of yoga, for it arbitrates against the very idea of oneness of man and God which the yogī seeks. Those who have been so indoctrinated often try to meditate, but necessarily do not succeed in its deepest attainments, because of subconscious barriers placed there by a dualistic philosophy. §
In order to really meditate to the depth of contemplation, and not merely to quiet mind and emotion and feel a little serenity, you have to be a member of a religion that gives the hope of nondual union with God, that teaches that God is within man, only to be realized. Meditation, if it is to lead to jñāna, must begin with a belief that there is no intrinsic evil and encompass the truth of karma, that we are responsible for our own actions. Such meditation must be undertaken by a member of a religion that gives a hope of a future life and does not threaten failure with eternal suffering, should failure be the result. Such meditation is possible, in fact required, of those who follow the Hindu Dharma. Hence, the practice of yoga is the highest pinnacle within our most ancient faith. ¶If you go through the entire holy scriptures of Śaivism, you will not find our saints singing hymns to Adonai-Yahweh, Buddha or Jesus. Our saints told us to worship God Śiva, the Supreme God, to worship Gaṇeśa first before worshiping Śiva, to worship Lord Murugan. In the old days, there were millions of Śiva temples, from the Himalayan peaks of Nepal, through North and South India, Sri Lanka and what is now Malaysia and Indonesia. Everyone was of one mind, worshiping Śiva together, singing His praises with a one voice. As a result, India was spiritually unified. It was then the wealthiest country in the world. The worship of Śiva will give you wealth. The worship of Śiva will give you health. The worship of Śiva will give you knowledge. The worship of Śiva will fill your heart with love and compassion. ¶The Śaiva Samayam is the greatest religion in the world. The Śaiva Samayam is the oldest religion in the world. The Śaiva Samayam has yoga. It has great temples, great pandits, ṛishis and scriptures. All the saints who sang the songs of Śiva told us how to worship Śiva and how we should live our Śaivite lives. We must all follow those instructions. In singing those songs to Śiva, Śiva will give you everything that you ask for. He will give you everything that you ask for, because Śiva is the God of Love. Our saints have sung that Śiva is within us, and we are within Śiva. Knowing that, fear and worry and doubt are forever gone from our mind. ¶When the mind has resolved all of its differences through worship, penance, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, then the inner which is stillness itself is known. Then the inner is stronger than the outer. It is then easy to see every other person going through what has to be gone through during his or her particular stage on the path. Opposites are there, but no opposites are seen. This is why it is easy for the wise—made wise through spiritual unfoldment—to say, “There is no injustice in the world. There is no evil, no sin.” ¶We only see opposites when our vision is limited, when we have not experienced totally. There is a point of view which resolves all contradictions and answers all questions. Yet to be experienced is yet to be understood. Once experienced and understood, the Quiet comes. The karmas are quiet. This is the arduous path of charyā, kriyā and yoga resulting in jñāna. This is the path of not only endeavoring to unfold the higher nature but, at the same time and toward the same end, dealing positively and consciously with the remnants of the lower nature. Following this spiritual path, we find ourselves effortlessly replacing charity for greed and dealing with, rather than merely suppressing, the instinctive feelings of jealousy, hatred, desire and anger.§