Chapter 16§
Personal Life
स्वजीवन
ERSONAL MATTERS, SUCH AS TRAINING OF YOUTH, CHOOSING PROFESSIONS, GUARDING AGAINST ALIEN INFLUENCES AND REMEDYING THE CONFLICT THEY BRING: THESE ARE A FEW OF THE ISSUES DISCUSSED IN THIS CHAPTER, ALONG WITH OUR TRADITIONAL GUIDELINES ON TV VIEWING, CULTURAL AMBIANCE, FAMILY RETREATS, SEXUAL PURITY, THE SPIRIT OF COMPETITION, CLEANLINESS AND WEALTH, GOOD AND BAD MONEY, SUICIDE, DEATH AND ABORTION. §
296 ¶My śishya take extreme care in the education and training of their children. Great assistance is given within each of our Church missions, as predicted in verse 346 of the Śaivite Śāstras: “After the Society became well founded and known, it expanded facilities into educating young children in the beginning learnings—how to read, how to write and conduct oneself through life. This training, completed by twelve or fourteen years of age, gave a fine foundation for the next succeeding step, according to their solar astrology.” The basic principles of this endeavor are outlined in the following sūtras. §
1. SŪTRA 211, JUDICIOUS TRAINING OF CHILDREN
My followers consider the raising of children a sacred responsibility. Based on astrology, tradition and wise counsel, they shall formulate patterns that cultivate each child’s inherent talents and higher nature. Aum.§
2. SŪTRA 212, BESTOWING THE ESSENTIAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
My followers who are parents should creatively train their boys in technical skills, girls in the arts of homemaking, and both in the basic accomplishments of music, art, sewing, cooking and home management. Aum.§
3. SŪTRA 213, AGAINST CHILD ABUSE
My followers shall never ever govern their offspring through fear. They are forbidden to spank, slap or hit their children, use harsh or angry words, neglect or abuse them in any way. Cursed are they who do. Aum.§
4. SŪTRA 214, ON GOVERNING WITH KINDNESS
My followers love their offspring, govern them with kindness and set an example in the five parenting guidelines: good conduct, home worship, religious discussion, continuous self-study and following a preceptor. Aum.§
Sanctifying Life’s Milestones§
297 ¶Religious ceremonies are held for children and all followers at key moments throughout life, at crucial junctures of biological, emotional and spiritual change. This vital sādhana is the responsibility of parents as reflected in sūtra 140: “Śiva’s followers provide their children the essential sacraments at the proper times, especially name-giving, first feeding, head-shaving, ear-piercing, first learning, rites of puberty and marriage. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.” It is also the duty of each mission group, as stated in verse 356 of the Śaivite Śāstras, “The Society performs all the functions of the village. It conducts the funerals, the weddings and fulfills the ceremonial saṁskāras of our religion.” §
Guarding Against Alien Influences§
298 ¶My śishyas should not send their children to Christian missionary schools, nor to schools founded in the name of any other religion who seek to influence them, even in subtle ways, such as through symbols and peer missionaries who chide Hindu children about their culture, their beliefs, their dress or their symbols. These schools have a detrimental effect on the subconscious minds of the children by steadily turning them away from Hindu beliefs. When they slowly absorb the attitudes of another faith, slowly their belief structure is altered, and gradually their actions at home reflect this change. The child who once attended home pūjā with joy and respected the visiting swāmī no longer shows him praṇāmas, resists pūjā time, challenges parental decisions and slowly takes over the home, relegating the parents to second-class citizenship within it. All in the home are consigned to dance around the contrary feelings of such children in order to avoid their threats of unchaperoned dating, leaving home, even suicide. This is a situation millions of families, including Hindu families, in today’s world understand only too well. Children learn more techniques from the dysfunctional families and their incorrigible bastard generation depicted on TV through the efforts of Bollywood and Hollywood.§
Youth Rebellion in The Home§
299 ¶These children are not yet fulfilling the brahmacharya āśrama, in a fully dharmic way, of humbly learning from elders. They have yet to learn the subtle skills of being cooperative souls seeking training to become responsible members of society. In their state of uncontrolled instinctiveness, which they take advantage of, holding no respect for their parents, they are capable of destroying the home, embarrassing their parents in front of other adults by their adharmic actions and setting atrocious examples for younger children around them. How to deal with such a situation, which should not become just another acceptable way of life, as we see portrayed on TV? §
The Pattern By Which Control Is Lost§
300 ¶My first warning to parents is this: don’t be intimidated, don’t indulge them in order to conceal the problem in hopes it will go away of itself, don’t surrender control to children and don’t let the family suffer from belligerent disobedience. The first indication that you have lost control: “Kumar, turn off the TV.” Kumar responds, “I don’t want to. The show’s not over yet.” You respond, “Ok, then after the program is over.” First winning your indulgence, then gradually taking complete control—that is the pattern. They have already been taught by TV and by other out-of-control adolescents how to take the next step, the next and the next in controlling your lives, in commandeering the home. This is not a pattern you have to live with. Instead, expect them to fit in and to be a functioning member of the family. §
They indeed possess that Brahma world who possess austerity and chastity, and in whom the truth is established.§
ATHARVA VEDA, PRASNAU 1.15. UPH, 380§
More on The Farming Remedy§
301 ¶When even the best efforts prove ineffective, use the purifying sādhana I have given to others in this situation. I know that it really works from my own experience, having given this śāstric prāyaśchitta to beginning monks who had for various reasons upset the nerve system of the entire monastery. The important remedy for belligerence is that youthful, out-of-control energies and selfcenteredness must be turned toward nature, to the local farm, the family vegetable garden or even the potted plants in the home, not to areas of life where they will learn to be even more destructive than they already are. The remedy is that they should be directed to spend their weekends, off-hours and school vacations working on farms, growing food and other plants and experiencing the cycles of nature, working alongside an experienced farmer, agriculturalist or nurseryman who can teach them the ways of nature he has learned. §
The Benefits Of Working With Nature§
302 ¶This in itself is a great healing force which will soothe their nervous system, helping them to slowly understand the forces that have brought them into a state of frustration and rebellion, to forgive and let go of the past. This is a far better solution for all concerned than the alternative which includes the courts, the juvenile social workers, the drug-addicted streets, the low-minded half-way houses and the ultimate correction, prison. Yogaswāmī held this same vision. He often sent young men to work in the paddy fields in Batticaloa to imbibe the earthy arts, to be one with nature, to grow food. Being disciplined by nature is much better than being disciplined by the police. Nature will teach them patience, tenderness, earthy pragmatism and the value of proper timing and working in harmony with others. With these qualities awakened within them, they should become good, useful citizens and have wisdom to pass on to their own progeny. The Tirukural reminds us in verse 1031, “Wherever it may wander, the world must follow the farmer. Thus despite all its hardships, farming is the most esteemed work.”§
Not Attending Schools of Other Faiths§
303 ¶Sūtra 238 affirms: “Śiva’s devotees never educate their children in institutions that would instill or force on them the teachings of alien religions. They know that the early impressions of youth go deep and can never be totally erased. Aum.” True, they may never convert to another religion, but they also may not be able to live as devout, supportive Hindus. Instead, as adults, they may become detractors and naysayers, saying no to positive ideas, dragging their feet when opportunities arise to serve, secretly opposing all efforts to advance the Hindu faith, even seeking its demise by back-biting, untrue storytelling and breeding distrust for swāmīs, paṇḍitas, astrologers and other Hindu religious leaders. As one Catholic Father confided, “The Hindu children in our school may never become Catholics, but they also will never be good Hindus.” §
Teaching in Hindu Schools§
304 ¶Teachers who are Church members are strongly encouraged to give their energies and talents to Hindu schools and refrain from teaching in the schools of other religions. Their belief structure can be and often is eroded by mixing closely with people of other religions in the school environment. They are inwardly pressured to assume non-Hindu attitudes and over time they make them their own. Far too often their former Hindu bhakti turns to mere philosophy and then philosophy turns to cynicism. Philosophy without bhakti is likened to a path paved with words. Hindu teachers are encouraged to teach in public or government schools, but preferably Hindu schools, for their own peace of mind in the fulfillment of their personal dharma. §
Following The Family Profession§
305 ¶A variety of essential skills, outlined in the 64 kalās, should be learned by the age of 19. By this time parents and elders have observed the natural inclinations of the youth, and his or her future education can be planned out in some detail, ideally within the family’s profession or business. In the Antarloka, souls choose their parents according to their karmas waiting to be expressed when a new physical body is obtained. Therefore, a person is born into a family to fulfill the profession of that family or to upgrade the ethnic community of their race by advancing into a new profession or area of work with full and heartfelt family support. In continuing in the family profession, the son or daughter maintains communication and closeness with both father and mother. Going into the family profession or business, the child absorbs needed skills from a young age and even prenatally. As sūtra 146 explains: “Śiva’s followers abide by the tradition of bringing sons and daughters into the family skills, profession or business by involving them from a young age. This is family dharma, family bonding, family perpetuation. Aum.” §
Ahiṁsā is not causing pain to any living being at any time through the actions of one’s mind, speech or body.§
ATHARVA VEDA, SANDILYAU 1.3. UPA, 173§
Adopting A New Profession§
306 ¶Family closeness is jeopardized when a profession is chosen that differs from the family profession. However, occasionally bright children are selected to branch out into other vocations. For this enterprise to succeed and not to fail, the entire family, elders and key relatives, must be dedicated to its success. The children of a son who succeeds would begin a new line of profession or occupation within the extended family. It is risky, and failure often occurs due to lack of communication, sympathy and support, resulting in the youth’s running away from the entire family situation, to begin his own nuclear home. Therefore, great care must be taken in judging which youths would be eligible to adopt a new vocation. This is why backing a child who chooses his own profession against the advice of his parents and elders is not encouraged. Little or no money is spent on children who bring pain to their parents. Therefore, asking a child “What are you going to be when you grow up?” might well be costly and bring much misery in the latter years of both parents. §
Determining The Best Pattern§
307 ¶Whether or not to enter a profession different from that of the family is a decision that is best made by studying out the talents of the youth, his character, responsiveness and natural abilities, not by responding to superficial whims and fancies. Here jyotisha can be an immense help, and the Pīṭham is prepared to assist. Wisdom dictates that the brightest, most loyal and loving children be chosen to begin new strands of occupation and then be backed up fully so that run-away situations do not occur, which could be costly financially and emotionally for all concerned. The objective in choosing a child to go into a new vocation is to uplift the entire local community within his native land, not to serve outside it, squandering his money and intelligence there and ignoring his own community and family ties and needs. To control the situation, to bring success, it is important that the kulaguru work closely with the youth and his parents, giving good advice along the way to protect him from the temptation of accepting positions outside his country’s and his family’s purview.§
The Erosive Spirit of Competition§
308 ¶Sūtra 12 explains, “Those who live with Śiva endeavor to be their best in whatever they do, to excel and make a difference. Even so, they remain apart from the demeaning and contentious “winners and losers” spirit of competition. Aum.” To follow this important aphorism is to go against the norms of today, so it deserves a word of explanation. There are three phases of the mind: instinctive, intellectual and superconscious. It is the latter, the intuitive state, that is to be cultivated and nourished for spiritual unfoldment to happen. Those who participate in or even watch competitive sports experience the happiness of the winning team and suffer the loss of the loser. By experiencing competition they awaken then keep alive their own combative tendencies. The “winners-and-losers” spirit of competition is contrary to the spirit of ahiṁsā. Ahiṁsā advocates team playership, of all on the same side. It awakens the “win-win” spirit. Hiṁsā keeps alive the “winlose” spirit. Those seekers who participate in or watch competitive sports are the first ones to be argumentative and disagreeable, always ready to take the opposite side. Yes, competition keeps the instinctive, intellectual forces alive in seekers and clouds the spiritual force. It is not the truth they seek, but the enemy. Those who are so clouded buy toy guns and knives for their children and encourage them to take sides. Competitive sports are the foundation for conflict, even war. That is why I proclaim to followers: discourage this way of life early on. §
Listening To Hindu Music§
309 ¶Sūtra 73 pronounces my guidance on music and song: “Śiva’s devotees, in their homes, endeavor to surround themselves with Śaiva images, music and song. In the world they may enjoy the arts of other cultures but strictly avoid lower-world artistic expressions. Aum.” By way of explanation for our catalysts, I have written the following bhāshya. “This sūtra is one of the most controversial and seemingly hard for new seekers of truth to understand, especially if they are highly influenced by Western thought and habit. Those willing to comply quickly are indeed true truth seekers and worthy of some attention. Those who have difficulty should be helped to acquire beautiful music played on traditional instruments by Śaiva souls.” §
Moderation In Watching Television§
310 ¶Sūtra 74 states: “Śiva’s devotees may watch television and other media for recreation and to keep informed about the world, limiting viewing to about two hours a day. They avoid nudity, foul language, crudeness and excessive violence. Aum.” On this daily guideline for the world of TV I have composed for our Academy catalysts the following bhāshya. “Television is a deep concern to parents and children alike. The parents want to edit what the children watch. The children want the freedom to watch what pleases them. Quite often children take over the home and rule their parents out of their lives, using the television as a tool to accomplish this. The guidelines of this sūtra are very important for us to adjust each new seeker into following. Excessive violence is, of course, to be avoided, as well as foul language. The key to what is good for one and what is not is what is remembered the next day. Since television is for relaxation and education, we do not want to carry memories forward to the next day of what was seen the evening before. Allowing this to happen creates an unnecessary karma that we would wish to avoid. To watch television for recreation and to keep informed about the world’s contemporary ways is important. To limit this watching to two hours a day is a great wisdom for the entire family—also for individuals living alone.”§
He who, dwelling in all things, yet is other than all things, whom all things do not know, whose body all things are, who controls all things from within—He is your soul, the Inner Controller, the Immortal.§
ŚUKLA YAJUR VEDA, BRIHADU 3.7.15. UPH, 116§
Family and Personal Retreats§
311 ¶Sūtra 229 states: “Śiva’s devotees observe a thirty-one-day retreat after the birth or death of a family member, not entering temples or home shrines, not attending pūjā or religious events, but continuing their japa, study and meditations. Aum.” When someone is born or dies, a door to either the higher or lower inner worlds is opened for all who share a psychic bond, depending on where the soul has come from or has gone. A psychic passageway of vulnerability persists for 31 days, which is particularly magnetic in instances of death. The home shrine is closed, white cloth placed over the Deities, and spiritual practices curtailed to avoid the pitfalls that could result in inadvertently drawing forth the energies of beings of the lower worlds rather than the higher. Japa, scriptural reading and devotional singing are the only forms of sādhana performed during the retreat. Social activities, including visiting with other families, continue according to tradition, but all deeper sādhanas, such as meditation, pūjā and pilgrimage, are discontinued. For a birth, the retreat pertains only to those living in the household of the baby. For a death, the retreat is taken even by relatives living outside the home, all who are psychically connected to the deceased. The judgment of who is part of the family rests on the shoulders of the family itself. §
Blessing to Reopen the Home Shrine§
312 ¶After the 31-day retreat for birth or death in the family, a special ceremony is arranged by the preshana chakravāla to reopen the shrine room, bless the house and close those particular doors opened by the birth or death, through rituals performed by a professional priest. The maṭhavāsis do not perform this particular priestly service. This reopening of the shrine is a happy time of sharing among mission members. §
Monthly Retreat for Women§
313 ¶Another form of retreat is described in sūtra 93: “Śiva’s women devotees, by custom, rest and regenerate physical forces during menses, refraining from heavy or demanding work. On these days they do not enter temples or home shrines, or approach holy men. Aum.” Śishyas have asked whether study and sādhana should be performed during this monthly retreat. The answer is yes. There is no reason that women cannot study the lessons of The Master Course during their monthly period. It is completely traditional, acceptable and, in fact, ideal for women to do their devotions in their own room or any clean place at this time, without interruption. Such devotions would include prayers, sādhana, meditation, religious study, haṭha yoga, devotional singing, japa yoga, etc. It is traditional for women during their monthly period to refrain from attending or performing pūjā, entering the home shrine or temple or approaching swāmīs or other holy men. Also during this time women do not help in pūjā preparation, such as picking flowers or making prasāda for the Deity. At this time of retreat, ladies are allowed to rest and perform private sādhanas, such as haṭha yoga, japa, prāṇāyāma, meditation and reading the holy texts.§
Retreats For Physical Injuries§
314 ¶This same rule applies to men or women with injuries that are in the process of healing. However, it does not apply to minor scratches. Cuts, injuries, internal bleeding and operations create psychic openings in the aura that allow vulnerability for lower-astral Naraka people to enter or to draw energy from and do damage with that energy. The period of retreat extends until the bleeding stops and there is no more danger of infection. A minor cut or scratch may reach this point within a few hours. A deeper cut will generally take two or three days to knit to the point that no restriction is required. A severe wound may take ten days or longer. A major operation, such as heart surgery, caesarean section or appendicitis, might require several weeks or even longer, until the person feels whole again. This means that you do not go to a Hindu temple to get healed from injuries such as these, though loved ones can go to pray on your behalf. §
Purity’s Centrality In Hinduism§
315 ¶Purity and its opposite, pollution, are a fundamental part of Hindu culture. While they imply a strong sense of physical cleanliness, their more important meanings extend to social, ceremonial, mental, emotional, psychic and spiritual contamination. Freedom from all forms of contamination is a key to Hindu spirituality, and is one of the yamas, known as saucha. Physical purity requires a clean and well-ordered environment, yogic purging of the internal organs and frequent cleansing with water. Mental purity derives from meditation, right living and right thinking. Emotional purity depends on control of the mind, clearing the subconscious and keeping good company. Spiritual purity is achieved by following the yamas and niyamas, studying the Vedas and other scriptures, pilgrimage, meditation, jāpa, tapas and ahiṁsā. Ritual purity requires the observance of certain prāyaśchittas, or penances, for defilement derived from foreign travel, contact with base people or places, conversion to other faiths, contact with bodily wastes, attending a funeral, etc. Purity is of three forms—purity in mind, speech and body, or thought, word and deed. Purity is the pristine and natural state of the soul. Impurity, or pollution, is the obscuring of this state by adulterating experience and beclouding conceptions. In daily life, the Hindu strives to protect this innate purity by wise living, following the codes of dharma. This includes harnessing the sexual energies, associating with other virtuous Hindu devotees, never using harsh, angered or indecent language, and keeping a clean and healthy physical body. §
This soul, verily, is overcome by nature’s qualities. Now, because of being overcome, he goes on to confusedness.§
KṚISHṆA YAJUR VEDA, MAITU 3.2. UPH, 418§
The Primary Importance of Sexual Purity§
316 ¶It is well known that harnessing the sexual forces is essential to progress on the spiritual path. As the introduction of our Book of Virtue explains, “Energy in one sacred stream is powerful. The results of its usage are easily seen, and its source readily found. Energy dispersed in a multiplicity of ways is neither strong nor too effective in any of them. Virtue harnesses and keeps the one life force within man in a single stream through which he is able to fulfill a spiritual destiny on this planet.” This code is embedded in sūtra 71: “Devout Hindus observe the eightfold celibacy toward everyone but their spouse, renouncing sexual fantasy, glorification, flirtation, lustful glances, secret love talk, amorous longing, rendezvous and intercourse. Aum.”§
Purity in a Promiscuous Era§
317 ¶ In today’s world this sūtra might seem to be going against an ever-growing trend. Sexual fantasy, glorification, flirtation, lustful glances, secret love talk, amorous longing, rendezvous and intercourse are the entertainment of most peoples on the planet. Maybe it has always been like this in the adult world, but now it is in the world of the youth and the very young as well, widely broadcast and promoted on TV and the Internet as the most glamorous of all activities. This is a big change. Right from the start, we must inform seekers who come to us through the Nandinātha Tantras, Dancing with Śiva or Living with Śiva that we are all dedicated to old-fashioned ways and do not want to change, but only to become more sensitive, as a group, to our beautiful Śaiva culture. Go over this sūtra with seekers quite openly. We cannot remind them too much, because we do want Śaiva children to grow up strong and to marry while still virgins. We do want to counteract the trends of the times by being a part of a greater wisdom. We do not want new seekers to bring their world into ours. They must be prepared to observe the eightfold celibacy toward everyone but their spouse or be on their lustful way. As our Śaivite Śāstras declare in verse 277, “The chastity of all was the strength within the core of all.” §
Preparing Youth for Adulthood§
318 ¶Through our course in brahmacharya, purity in thought, word and deed, parents teach their young, especially between ages seven and thirteen, about the cycles of life, the principles of virtue and the value of preserving the vital energies in preparation for the life ahead. These daily lessons are suited both to those who will marry and those destined for monastic life. When puberty arrives, boys and girls take the vow of celibacy, brahmacharya vrata. In fulfillment of this solemn oath, the individual vows to value and protect purity in thought, word and deed, and chastity in body, and to sublimate and transmute the sexual energies and the instinctive impulses of anger, jealousy, greed, hatred and selfishness. A sacred cord is worn around the waist to betoken this solemn oath. Parents share in this oath and accept full responsibility to see that it is fulfilled. Thus they closely guide the private and social life of children, monitoring and chaperoning their relationships. The Tirumantiram reminds us in verse 1948: “If the sacred seed is retained, body life ebbeth not. Great strength, energy, intelligence and alertness—all these are attained.” Sūtras 222 to 224 of Living with Śiva codify my instructions on purity for youth: §
1. SŪTRA 147, PROVIDING EARLY SEX EDUCATION
Śiva’s followers teach their sons and daughters, between ages four and ten, about the cycles of life and the principles of virtue, and when puberty arrives, require them to take the sacred vow of celibacy until marriage. Aum.§
2. SŪTRA 148, ON CHERISHING CHASTITY
Śiva’s young followers are taught to protect their chastity as a treasure and to save sexual intimacy for their future spouse. If a premarital affair does occur, a marriage of the young couple is seriously considered. Aum.§
3. SŪTRA 149, RESPONSIBLE CHAPERONING
Śiva’s followers accept the serious responsibility of guiding the private and social life of their children. They chaperone and monitor friendships to help ensure that young ones grow up safe and celibate. Aum.§
How can he practice true compassion who eats the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh? Greater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial fires is not to sacrifice and consume any living creature.§
TIRUKURAL 26.1; 26.9. TW§
Ancient Insights on Puberty§
319 ¶Verse 490 of the Dravidian Śāstras describes the dawn of puberty and the need for careful direction of instinctive drives: “Puberty begins when the awareness of the soul comes into the animal nerve system as a result of being in this particular kind of fleshy body. Before this time the body is maturing and growing, and the nerve system of the soul’s inner body governs it, much like it did when we had our original fibrous bodies. But when four cycles have passed, the external structure becomes firmed and strong and the instincts for mating occur. Therefore, it is important that these forces be carefully directed so that the soul is not clouded by instinctive drives and still maintains its inner contact with the three worlds.” §
Wisdom Regarding Pornography§
320 ¶Excessive violence and pornography are two evils that can but should not creep into a household through games, TV, pictures shared by friends within the home. A watchful eye must be kept so this does not happen and affect the family’s mental health. My edict on pornography is given in sūtra 59: “Śiva’s devotees are forbidden to speak of, listen to or look at exhibitions of pornography. This adharma is addictive, erodes self-esteem and teaches that degrading women, men and children is acceptable behavior. Aum.”§
Celibacy And Adult Single Life§
321 ¶As explained in sūtra 107, “Śiva’s unmarried adolescent and adult devotees are all considered brahmachārīs or brahmachāriṇīs, bound to the wise restraints of chastity that tradition prescribes, whether they have taken a celibacy vow or not. Aum.” Adults who live the single life of the brahmachārī or brahmachāriṇī outside our monasteries are under the guidance of kulapati and kulamātā as a member of their spiritual family. Celibacy is also strictly upheld by widows and widowers who elect not to remarry, as stated in sūtra 102: “Śiva’s widowed devotees who choose not to remarry practice strict continence. They dedicate their lives to God and transmute sexual forces into the higher chakras through sādhana, worship and brahmacharya. Aum.”§
Śāstric Wisdom on Cleanliness§
322 ¶It is well known that one’s environment has a profound impact on his or her mental, emotional and spiritual being. We have affirmed this principle in sūtra 209: “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.” Our Śaivite Śāstras, verse 49, set for the monasteries a pattern that all should follow: “Each one passing through a room improved that room in some way, be it ever so slightly. They never left a room in disrepair because of their use of it. They were totally conscious that every item in the monastery was eminently connected to the great darśana, and that clutter, dirt, inharmonious arrangements of furniture disturbed the flow of śakti in the similar way it disturbs the conscious mind of an individual accustomed to a more refined culture.”§
More Secrets Regarding Cleanliness§
323 ¶In verse 266, the inner world beings reveal additional secrets: “As we can see your physical possessions, especially when an aura surrounds them due to constant use, we judge the brahmachārī within their first six years as to their handling of physical objects, their cleanliness and sanitation. As flower and fruit perfume is seen here as beautiful emanations, dirt, filth and congestions, illy kept personal belongings, furniture and equipment are seen as ugly blobs emanating a disgusting fog in our world, the fog of decay. All physical belongings should radiate the touch of humanness. They’re thought of; they’re cared for. They’re loved. This makes them glow and radiate, and through this glow we can even contact them and make minor repairs and adjustments.” The mystic relation between cleanliness and abundance was well known in ancient times, as explained in verse 325 of the Dravidian Śāstras: “By keeping our monasteries in absolute order, a physical plane magnetism occurred, drawing others to our walls. If no one sat by our walls or came up to them to be lectured to through the holes in the walls, if our crops failed and the abundance of our needs did not enter our storerooms, we always worked diligently to increase the magnetism through the perfection of our culture, bringing love, harmony, cleanliness and beauty into each minute area.”§
Cleanliness, Harmony and Abundance§
324 ¶This same wisdom must be applied in every family home, office and work area to create harmonious environments that attract devonic support. It is an unwritten law, and now written, that when each family and maṭhavāsi facility is clean, with floors and windows shining, abundance is assured, as well as when harmony abides according to the irrevocable command—from the Pīṭham of the gurus that proceeded myself and in my own voice—that there is zero tolerance for inharmony, conflict, antagonism, cutting remarks, secret or fearful thoughts or contrived, rhetorical questions which provoke instability which brings about lack of sustainable sustenance, the running away of riches garnered and gathered. Therefore, it is in the best interests of each maṭhavāsi and the chakravāla of all to cleanse mind and rooms, halls and attics. As one great Zen master, Roshi Kobori, of Kyoto’s famed Daitokoji Monastery, who visited and lived a few days among us in the early 70s, advised in his inscrutable Zen way when we asked for his advice and wisdom, “Keep the floors clean.” §
Peace be to the earth and to airy spaces! Peace be to heaven, peace to the waters, peace to the plants and peace to the trees! May all the Gods grant to me peace! By this invocation of peace may peace be diffused!§
ATHARVA VEDA 19.9.14. VE, 306§
Bad Money Never Reaps Right Results§
325 ¶A crucial caution regarding money is stated in sūtra 52: “All my followers know bad money can never do good deeds and refuse soiled funds from any source. Nor can good money used wrongly reap right results. Ill-gotten money is never well-spent, but has a curse upon it. Aum.” Bad money issues from a bad intent which precedes a wrong-doing for gain or profits. When the source is secret, the source of gain is suspect. When the source is freely divulged, it is freed from such apprehension. Let all family members know that they can and do create new kukarmas when dishonest acts accrue profit, and that these lay the foundation for future losses. In the Devaloka, there are those who monitor carefully, 24-hours a day, the sources of gain leading to wealth, because the prāṇic bonds are heavy for the wrongdoer and his accomplices. Admonish each member to, all through life, be cautious and aware of the source of their income.§
Discerning The Purity Of Funds§
326 ¶There are some who have postulated that using bad money for good purposes cleanses it. Many among this group of misguided or naive individuals have lived to witness their own destruction through the use of it. Further, we know, those who give ill-gotten bounty money to a religious institution will seek to infiltrate, dilute and eventually control the entire facility, including the guru, his monastic staff, members and students. When bad money is accepted, it will bring an avalanche of adharma leading to the dissolution of the fellowships that have succumbed, after which a new cycle would have to begin, of building back their fundamental policies to dharma once again. We, as followers of our paramaguru, the venerable Sage Yogaswāmī, are bound to follow his example, to live simply, only overnighting in the homes of the vowed disciples who are living up to their vratas and to only accept śukladāna, white money. Accepting bad money, kṛishṇadāna, brings in the asuras and binds the maṭhavāsis to the external world in a web of obligations. How does one know if he has received kṛishṇadāna? When one begins to feel obligated to the giver. This feeling does not come arise when śukladāna is received because śukladāna is money given freely for God’s work, and this its buying power is lasting. Kṛishṇadāna is money given with strings attached.§
About the Transition Called Death§
327 ¶In Living with Śiva and Dancing with Śiva I have outlined guidelines for the elderly and all who are facing death, the transition known in our ancient Vedas as mahāprasthāna, “the great departure.” In the Śaivite Śāstras, the devas explain in verses 355-356: “We were always glad to see a Śaivite from one of the societies arrive fully into the Second World and, of course, welcomed him as warmly and hospitably as our protocol permitted, endeavoring to make him realize that he had a function to perform before reentering another coil of flesh. The Society performs all the functions of the village. It conducts the funerals, the weddings and fulfills the ceremonial saṁskāras of our religion. Branches of the Society were seen in later years to prepare homes for the aged in Sri Lanka and India, where Americans would go to live and expire their forces, releasing them into our world.”§
Making a Natural Transition§
328 ¶Verses 364–365 of the Śaivite Śāstras advise, “Live as long as possible. Extend your life as long as vivacious intelligence extends itself. Morbid thoughts and induced trances because of chemical concoctions are unacceptable to us, forfeiting the timing of your arrival and your stay, leading you back to hellish, black dismay. We then must search long for the whereabouts. But live the body out and do little. Don’t do much. The elderly should be cared for and all their wants fulfilled. Let them fix food when they are hungry, take care of clothes and worldly goods, feel responsibility which commands responses within the limits of their inability to fail.” I have given stipulations regarding the issue of hospitalization and life support in sūtra 214: “Śiva’s devotees welcome life-saving medical interventions, but in their last days avoid heroic, artificial perpetuation of life and prefer not to die in a hospital but at home with loved ones, who keep prayerful vigil. Aum.” §
About Death and Cremation§
329 ¶Sūtras 215 and 211-213 provide further guidelines for facing the transition called death. In summary, as the eyes close and the soul departs, the body should be bathed, wrapped in a white cloth and taken immediately to be cremated. There should be no doting or crying over the body after death, as explained in sūtra 145, “Knowing that the soul is deathless, my followers must never suffer undue or prolonged sorrow for the departed, lest they bind these souls to earth. They rejoice in the continuing journey of loved ones. Aum.” §
I am he, you are she, I am song, you are verse, I am heaven, you are earth. We two shall here together dwell, becoming parents of children.§
ATHARVA VEDA SAṀHITĀ 14.2.71. VE, 260§
Injunctions Against Suicide§
330 ¶Śaivite Śāstras verse 367 advises: “Those of the missions of the new Śaivite world are encouraged to have a natural death and allow the physical forces to give up their energies without inducement or prolongation of the time through chemical means, into the body of our world. Then you arrive complete, fully intelligent, able to converse with us without being preoccupied with the unfulfilled experiences of the First World.” §
Religious Death by Fasting§
331 ¶Our edict on suicide and voluntary death is codified in sūtra 57: “Śiva’s devotees are forbidden to escape life’s experience through suicide. However, in cases of terminal illness, under strict community regulation, tradition does allow fasting as a means of mors voluntaria religiosa. Aum.” In our fellowship, the responsibility of community regulation resides with the Pīṭham, the āchārya swāmīs and the elder kulapatis and kulamātās, whose duty it is to verify the clarity and sincerity of the request. It is up to them to discover when, where and if they support a competent request for voluntary departure. A flight to a more lenient country might be in order, a court order might be sought. It is traditional for Śaivites to journey to the holy city of Varāṇasī for their great departure, and this is always an option for those seeking release. These two questions and more will be before each saṅgam that is petitioned to support a śishya’s request for mors voluntaria religiosa, known in Sanskṛit as prāyopaveśa, through fasting and denying the intervention of intravenous feeding. Those who confer together in making these judgments will be left behind to answer the questions and defend the action. Therefore, it is up to the Church community elders in the area, kulapatis and kulamātās, to confer together, consider deeply, then submit their conclusion to the Pīṭham for blessings and a final decision. All in all, this should be a rare request. It should be a happy situation for all, enjoying full internal and external community support. Fasting to transition is a time-consuming venture, and the opportunities to turn back can and will be many.§
Wisdom Regarding Abortion§
332 ¶Abortion is one of modern society’s most vexing issues. I have given an orthodox Hindu perspective in sūtra 58, “Devout Hindus all know abortion is, by Vedic edict, a sin against dharma fraught with karmic repercussions. Scripture allows it only to prevent the mother’s death, for it is a greater sin for a child to kill the mother. Aum.” The following paragraphs on abortion are excerpted from a presentation that I published in HINDUISM TODAY, June 1993. §
The Vedic View on Abortion§
333 ¶Many reasons are put forward for a liberal abortion policy, such as population control and avoiding unwanted children. Personal reasons for obtaining abortion include inadequate finances, interruption of education or career, too many children in the family already, bad home, unmarried mother, mother too young, adultery, incest, rape, mental or physical defects of the fetus and possible death of mother. Sociologically, the growing rate of abortion is related to the increasing urbanization of the world’s population. Children in the city are not the labor asset they were in the agricultural countryside. Hence, as countries become urbanized, birth rates drop rapidly through contraception coupled with abortion as a backup. Hinduism’s ancient texts contain numerous verses condemning bhrunahati, the killing of the embryo. They do so because Hinduism, like other religions, believes the soul joins the fetus at conception. The human soul has five sheaths, kośas, though which it functions simultaneously in the various planes or levels of existence. The annamaya kośa, “sheath composed of food,” is the physical body. The prāṇamaya kośa, “sheath composed of prāṇa” (vital force), is also known as the prāṇic or health body. The third sheath, the manomaya kośa, is the instinctive-intellectual sheath of ordinary thought, desire and emotion. This kośa takes form as the physical body develops and is later discarded in the inner worlds before a new birth is taken. The vijñānamaya kośa is the mental or cognitive sheath. The fifth sheath, the ānandamaya kośa, “body of bliss,” is the soul itself, a body of light created by God long ago. The vijñānamaya kośa and ānandamaya kośa are the bodies that go from birth to birth; the others are grown again each life. Śrī Aurobindo elucidates the process: “When the soul returns to birth, it takes up with its mental, vital and physical sheaths as much of its karma as is useful to it in the new life for further experience.” §
Scriptural Explanation Of Incarnation§
334 ¶The Kulārṇava Tantra 1.16, teaches us that “Human birth, ladder to liberation, is difficult to attain.” The Markandeya Purāṇa 10.1–7, 11.1–21, explains the birth process. “The impregnation of human women is the emitting of the seed in the menstrual blood. As soon as the soul is released from Naraka (hell) or from Svarga (heaven), it arrives in the womb. Overpowered by that soul, the two-fold seed becomes solid.…Then it begins to remember its many previous existences in the wheel of rebirth, and that depresses it, and it tosses from side to side, thinking, ‘I won’t ever do that again, as soon as I get out of this womb, I will do everything I can so that I won’t become an embryo again.…’ When it has come out of the womb, it falls into an unbearable swoon, but it regains consciousness when it is touched by the air. Then Vishṇu’s deluding power of illusion assails him, and when the soul has been deluded by it, he loses his knowledge. As soon as the living creature has lost his knowledge, he becomes a baby.”§
Through this oblation, which invokes prosperity, may this bridegroom flourish anew; may he, with his manly energies, flourish the wife they have brought to him. May he excel in strength, excel in royalty! May this couple be inexhaustible in wealth that bestows luster a thousand fold!§
ATHARVA VEDA 6.78.1–2. BO AVW, 339§
Scriptures Speak on Abortion§
335 ¶Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, 6.5.10, states, “Therefore, a slayer of an embryo is like the slayer of a priest.” The Narada Dharma Śāstra, 12.92, states: “One who wastes the entire property of her husband under the pretense that it is her wifely gift, or who procures abortion or who makes an attempt on her husband’s life shall be banished by him from the town.” The Apastamba Dharma Śāstra says, “Now, the actions which cause loss of caste: these are stealing gold,…homicide, neglect of the Vedas, causing abortion.” Gaurama Dharma Śāstras states, “A woman becomes an outcaste by procuring abortion.” Kautiliya’s Arthaśāstra declares, “When a person causes abortion in pregnancy by striking, by medicine or by annoyance, the highest, middle and lesser punishments shall be imposed respectively.” Finally, the āyurveda scripture Śuśruta Saṁhitā, Chikitsasthana 15.1-11, stipulates: “In an irredeemable situation, it is best to cause the miscarriage of the fetus, for no means must be neglected which can prevent the loss of the mother.”§
The Mystic Impact of Abortion§
336 ¶Rebirth is powerfully interrupted by the abortion process. It is a bold rejection of the soul’s anticipated entry into earthly life. To recount one Hindu mystic’s humorous insights: having detached from the inner worlds to join a new family, the aborted soul is left stranded in the subtle Pretaloka (lower astral) region. He is now like a person stranded in an airport. All flights have been cancelled. He checked out of his room in the Hotel Svarga or maybe the less exclusive Naraka Inn, paid his bill, and those rooms are no longer available. He must make a new plan, chart an alternate itinerary, endure untimely delays and await another flight to his destination, where, he desperately hopes, there will be a womb for rent!§
About the Following Chapter§
337 ¶The next chapter will explain how we use the ancient chakravāla saṅga system of creating a magical circle, organized according to a special form of seniority, to invoke divine beings to hover ’round the group giving support, insight and guidance from the inner worlds. §
May God—who, in the mystery of His vision and power, transforms His white radiance into His many-colored creation, from whom all things come and into whom they all return—grant us the grace of pure vision.§
Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, SvetU 4.1. UpM, 91§
There is on earth no diversity. He gets death after death who perceives here seeming diversity. As a unity only is It to be looked upon—this indemonstrable, enduring Being, spotless, beyond space, the unborn Soul, great, enduring.§
Śukla Yajur Veda, BṛihadU 4.4.19–20. UpH, 143§
Where there is duality, there one sees another, one smells another, one tastes another, one speaks to another, one hears another, one knows another. But where everything has become one’s own Self, with what should one see whom, with what should one smell whom, with what should one taste whom, with what should one speak to whom, with what should one hear whom, with what should one think of whom, with what should one touch whom, with what should one know whom? How can He be known by whom all this is made known?§
Śukla Yajur Veda, BṛihadU 4.5.15. VE, 420–21§
Than whom there is naught else higher, than whom there is naught smaller, naught greater, the One stands like a tree established in heaven. By Him, the Person, is this whole universe filled.§
Kṛishṇa Yajur Veda, SvetU 3.9. UpR, 727§
O guide of the spirits, restore to us our sight, give us again our life breath and powers of enjoyment. Long may our eyes behold the rising of the sun! O gracious Goddess, grant us your favor and bless us. May Earth restore to us our breath of life, may Goddess Heaven and the aery space return it! May Soma give us once again a body and Puśan show us again the way of salvation.§
Ṛig Veda 10.59.6–7 VE, 582§
Let us now invoke for our aid the Lord of Speech, the Designer of all things that are, the inspirer of wisdom! May He, the ever-kindly, be well disposed to our summons, and may He, whose work is goodness, grant us His blessing!§
Ṛig Veda Saṁhitā 10.81.7. VE, 808§