The deepest perception of Love: Love is the ultimate Truth. Our Affirmation of Faith: "God Siva is Immanent Love and Transcendent Reality." You are also that Love, you are also God Siva. There's only one Being and that Being is a being of Love. The more we can act from that part of us, the better.

Master Course, Living with Siva, Lessons: 45, 296

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning everyone.

Think the last quote by HPI was this one, Rabindranath Tagore, struck me. Don't usually quote from him, more poetic than many of our quotes.

"Love is the only reality, and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation. "

Isn't that insightful? So love is the ultimate Truth.

Dancing with Siva carries on in that same theme, there's a beautiful quote from Shvetasvatara Upanishad that's similar:

"All this universe is in the glory of God, of Siva, the God of love. The heads and faces of men are His own, and He is in the hearts of all."

And we have the Shloka, The Affirmation of Faith:

"The proclamation 'God Siva is Immanent Love and Transcendent Reality' is a potent affirmation of faith. Said in any of Earth's 3,000 languages, it summarizes the beliefs and doctrines of the Saivite Hindu religion. Aum

"Bhashya:

"An affirmation of faith is a terse, concise statement summarizing a complex philosophical tradition. 'God Siva is Immanent Love and Transcendent Reality,' is what we have when we take the milk from the sacred cow of Saivism, separate out the cream, churn that cream to rich butter and boil that butter in to a precious few drops of ghee. 'God Siva is Immanent Love and Transcendent Reality' is the sweet ghee of the Saivite Hindu religion. "

And there's one other quote I found. Chapter 45, Gurudeva says:

"I urge all Saivites, devotees of God Siva, to worship Him as the God of Love and in doing so to become beings of love. The great saints of our religion were Siva bhaktas. They changed the world through their love of God. They did not need vast institutions to spread their message. They did not need riches or carts filled with books to spread their message. They did not need a radio, television or the Internet. Their message spread because their minds and hearts were filled with direct knowledge, direct experience of God Siva. Their message spread far and wide, through some perhaps never left their native village. They just evolved within it. You, too, are emissaries of God Siva, and your love for Him is your greatest message. Simply love god Siva and let that love radiate out into the world."

Recently I was asked to, the monastery was asked to write an article on Tamil Saivism for the Vedanta Kasari Magazine. It's the English magazine produced by the Ramakrishna Mission in Chennai. So together with the editorial team we pulled something together. They published. And I wove through it, monistic theism, of course. So I started with the theism, devotion to God Siva and then I ended with this quote from Yogaswami to bring in the monism.

"To dear Yogendra, (this is a young boy, at that time) who is love itself, the following lines are sent--

"I am with you and you are with me. There is no distance between us. I am you. You are I. What is there to fear? Look! I exist as you. Then what must you do? You must love. Whom? Everyone. To speak more clearly your very nature is love. Not only you, but all are pervaded by love. But there is no 'all', for you alone exist. All are you!'

Isn't that a nice twist? Turns the theism into the monism. "All are you, you alone exist." It's kind of the deepest perception of love. There's only one Being. Which is God or which is you. Take your choice.

I always quote that verse from Yogaswami:

"Anandam anandam anandam, inum angum engum nan." Bliss, bliss, bliss, here there, everywhere, (doesn't say is God, says:) am I" Expected to say is God, then he says: Am I. Here, there, everywhere am I. So, the one Being can be God or it can by you. You can use either word.

Then there's the practical side, very nice that God is love and you are everything but what do we do with that knowledge, you know?

So, there's a, was in today's lesson, Living with Siva. I chose one paragraph. It's talking about harmony in the monastery:

"There is a natural harmony within our monasteries, which families seek to emulate. Rarely is much discussion required when daily activities are being carried out, for the lines of authority based on seniority are always clear. This is the first boon for maintaining harmony among a group. Ours is a traditional hierarchical system of governance, upheld within our family and monastic communities, established when the Vedas were created. It is a system whereby the elders, in a loving manner, guide those younger than they. So, there is always an atmosphere of respect, loving harmony and meeting of minds. Never is scolding heard or feelings hurt or arguments provoked or sincere questions left unanswered. Here 'love is the sum of the law,' (So we're putting it into practice.) and the heartfelt feelings going out from the elders protect and support those who will one day themselves be elders. We create a secure and loving society in which intelligence overrides controversy and the only rigid rule is wisdom. Thus the pranic magnetism of the family or monastery is maintained and kept ever building for sustainable success and spirituality."

Well that's the idea. Very profound idea that Gurudeva put as the first half of the Affirmation of Faith: Anbe Sivam.. God is Immanent Love. "God Siva is Immanent Love..." So very simple idea. And you are also that Love, you are also God Siva, and there's only one Being and that Being is a being of Love. And the challenge is to bring that truth into our every day actions. That's the challenge because our, we can get upset with other people and we can get upset with situations. And then we're not acting from the part of us that is the Being of Love or we've gotten agitated by something, then we're acting from another part of us. So the more we can act from that part of us which is a Being of Love the better.

Aum Namah Sivaya