Lesson 349 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is the Nature of the Yoga Pāda?

ŚLOKA 39
Yoga is internalized worship which leads to union with God. It is the regular practice of meditation, detachment and austerities under the guidance of a satguru through whose grace we attain the realization of Paraśiva. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Yoga, “union,” is the process of uniting with God within oneself, a stage arrived at through perfecting charyā and kriyā. As God is now like a friend to us, yoga is known as the sakhā mārga. This system of inner discovery begins with āsa­na—sitting quietly in yogic posture—and prā­ṇā­yāma, breath control. Prat­yāhāra, sense with­drawal, brings awareness into dhāraṇā, concentration, then into dhyāna, med­itation. Over the years, un­der ideal conditions, the kuṇḍalinī fire of consciousness ascends to the higher chakras, burning the dross of ig­norance and past karmas. Dhyāna finally leads to enstasy—first to savi­kalpa samādhi, the contemplative experience of Sat­chid­­­­ā­nanda, and ultimately to nir­vikal­pa samādhi, Para­­śiva. Truly a living satguru is needed as a steady guide to traverse this path. When yoga is practiced by one per­fect­ed in kriyā, the Gods receive the yogī into their midst through his awakened, fiery kuṇḍalinī. The Vedas enjoin the yogī, “With earnest effort hold the senses in check. Controlling the breath, regulate the vital activities. As a charioteer holds back his restive horses, so does a per­­se­­vering aspirant restrain his mind.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 349 – Living with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Respecting Temple Priests

In the past months, we have talked to many groups about the abuse of women and children, of animals and our environment. And there is yet another kind of abuse whose victims have silently suffered without our concern, without our intervention, and mostly without our even knowing about it. I’m speaking of our temple priests, who are being mistreated and abused all over the world. This is a distressing problem that I hear about nearly every week and am working steadily to solve.

It is time that we talked about this atrocity. Hindu priests, known as pujārīs, are being mistreated, humiliated and bashed—emotionally, mentally and even physically—by temple managers, trustees and sometimes even devotees. We all know that this is not right. Still, with few exceptions, no one is objecting, except of course the priests themselves. Their objections and efforts to provide for their own security go largely unheard, as they are looked down upon by management as uneducated, simple people who merely perform rote rituals. In truth, they are a noble army of soldiers of the within, who are the heart of Hinduism’s spiritual leadership.

Priest bashing is a popular sport outside of India. Back in India, priests have their saṅga and elders to stand up for them. Outside India, when a priest falls into disfavor, the slightest infractions are used against him, and serious accusations are quickly levelled to blacken his name, hurt him and force him out. Accusation of wrongdoing in handling money is a favorite ploy and usually the first to be used. The list goes on, giving management the license to yell at him, push him, ignore his needs, embarrass him in front of his peers and humiliate him in public. In Australia, a priest spent two weeks in the hospital following an incident of severe and traumatic public humiliation. There have been too many cases for us to take lightly the hiṁsā hurts inflicted upon priests serving in foreign lands. With a sympathetic attorney’s help, one priests’ group in California formed their own organization for protection, but this is still the exception.

It is bad enough inside India, but even worse outside. At least in India the priest is on home ground, knows the rules of the region and has moral, emotional and even legal support available. And, of course, he has his extended family to turn to. Outside of India, many priests have none of these support systems. Many priests are isolated and vulnerable in so many ways—often living alone, with only a temporary visa. Many don’t know the laws and customs of the country they serve in, and may not know the language too well, so they are often at the mercy of the temple managers for everything. They are disadvantaged in another way, too: if a priest has to return to his village, he will face a second humiliation as elders and peers make him answer up to the gossip, insinuations and accusations that have accumulated against him.

Yes, bashing Hindu temple priests is a worldwide tragedy, and those who perpetrate these acts are also bashing the Sanātana Dharma. But abusing priests is not to be taken lightly. Those who can invoke blessings from the Gods can also invoke curses from asuric forces of this planet for their own protection when angered, embarrassed and deeply hurt. Hindu temple priests deserve respect for the richness of their holy profession, the dignity of their office and the importance of their function. They should not be mistreated or interfered with. They have earned the same respect that any professional in “the real world” enjoys. When swāmī bashing was in vogue years ago, swāmīs took it seriously. They got to know each other better, stood up for each other and put a stop to the nonsense.

Women today are taking such a stand against their own husbands who take sadistic joy in battering them repeatedly. When these transgressions are brought before the public, changes are often set in motion. Attitudes change. Soon the media changes its ways of reporting on abuse. Laws eventually change. We have seen this happen with child abuse, with racial abuse, with sexual abuse. The time has now come for us all to change our attitudes about abusing temple priests. This will require temple managers to adjust their thinking. It will also require the international priesthood of Sanātana Dharma to take a firm stand against their molesters and refuse to meekly submit, day in and day out, to harassment or to being relegated to janitorial work and the handling of shoes. Some priests work fourteen hours a day and more. They are treated like servants of the manager rather than servants of the temple Gods. Let’s put an end to this shameful mistreatment and the bad karma that it creates. Let’s honor, love and respect our priests. Let’s make our priests happy. Happy priest, happy temple, happy Gods, happy devotees. That’s the way it works.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 349: FOOD GUIDELINES FOR TRAVELING MONASTICS
My Śaiva monastics when traveling may partake of food prepared at home by devout families and delivered to them. They may also cook for themselves, or enjoy meals in restaurants, whether served by men or women. Aum.

Lesson 349 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Reincarnating Prior to Death

The next theory of reincarnation, governed by the throat, brow and crown chakras, states that when an advanced soul leaves the body through the brow chakra, or third eye, he enters a highly refined force field world from which he is able to pick and choose exactly when and where he will return. At this point he does not have to reincarnate as an infant, but could take an already well-matured physical body. In such a case, the soul inhabiting the body would have karmically ended this life and be involved in the reincarnation process, either dead or preparing to die. The advanced yogī would flow his awareness into the nerve system of the body, revitalizing it with the spark of his will and consciously bring it back to life.

He would face the problem of amalgamating himself with the memory cell patterns still resident within the mature brain. Affectionate detachment would have to be practiced as he adjusted to his new family and friends who wouldn’t feel as close to him anymore. They would sense that he had changed, that he was somehow different, but would not understand why. Once his mission in that body had been completed, he could leave that body consciously, provided he had not created too much karma for its subconscious while inhabiting it. All such karma would then have to be dissolved before dropping off the body. This practice is exercised only by souls who have sufficient mastery of the inner forces to leave consciously through the ājñā chakra at death. Those who leave through that force center unconsciously would then reincarnate as an infant.

A related law, for those far advanced inwardly, states that the reincarnation process can begin before actual death takes place. While still maintaining a body on this planet and knowing that death is imminent, the inner bodies begin their transition into a new body at the time of conception. After a three-month period, the first signs of life appear and the advanced being enters the newly forming physical body. During the nine-month gestation cycle, the waning physical body is in the slow process of death, and exactly at the time of birth, the death finally comes.

If evolution continues on the astral and other inner planes, and is in some ways more advanced in these realms, then do we need a physical body at all to unfold spiritually? Is it perhaps an unnecessary burden of flesh? According to classical yoga precepts, you must have a physical body in order to attain nirvikalpa samādhi—the highest realization of God, the Absolute. This is due to the fact that on the refined inner planes only three or four of the higher chakras are activated; the others are dormant. For nirvikalpa samādhi, all seven chakras, as well as the three major energy currents, have to be functioning to sustain enough kuṇḍalinī force to burst through to the Self. The very same instinctive forces and fluids which generate material involvement, uncomplimentary karma and the body itself, when transmuted, are the impetus that propels awareness beyond the ramification of mind into the timeless, spaceless, formless Truth—Śiva.

Lesson 348 – Dancing with Śiva

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What Is the Nature of the Kriyā Pāda?

ŚLOKA 38
Kriyā is joyous and regular worship, both internal and external, in the home and temple. It includes pūjā, japa, penance, fasting and scriptural learning, by which our understanding and love of God and Gods deepen. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Hinduism demands deep devotion through bhakti yoga in the kriyā pāda, softening the intellect and unfolding love. In kri­yā, the second stage of religiousness, our sādhana, which was mostly external in charyā, is now also internal. Kriyā, literally “action or rite,” is a stirring of the soul in aware­ness of the Divine, overcoming the obstin­acy of the instinctive-intellectual mind. We now look upon the Deity image not just as carved stone, but as the living presence of the God. We perform ritual and pūjā not be­cause we have to but because we want to. We are drawn to the temple to satisfy our longing. We sing joyfully. We ab­sorb and intuit the wisdom of the Vedas and Āgamas. We perform pilgrimage and fulfill the sac­ra­ments. We practice diligently the ten classi­cal ob­ser­vances called niyamas. Our re­lationship with God in kriyā is as a son to his parents and thus this stage is called the satpu­tra mārga. The Tirumantiram in­structs, “Pū­jā, reading the scriptures, singing hymns, performing japa and un­sullied aus­ter­ity, truthfulness, restraint of envy, and of­fering of food—these and other self-purifying acts con­sti­tute the flawless satputra mārga.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 348 – Living with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Beware of Detractors

Every nation, village, organization, society and even small group has certain goals to accomplish, ideals to live by and a mission it seeks to fulfill. But every organization and group, large or small, has something else as well: detractors. They are usually friendly, kindly, sociable and fun to be with. They’re often intellectually bright and more sophisticated than most. They can be the life of the party, the ones who get things going, serve the prasāda and talk a mile a minute. They are often popular, welcomed onto every committee and board of trustees, because people feel their energy and inspiration will implement the objectives of the organization, be they building a temple, promoting a publication, saving the rain forests or reorganizing Hindu society into traditional ways of life, culture and arts.

Their special social skills promote them quickly through the ranks. Once in an influential position, they speak wisely on subjects irrelevant to the central purpose of the organization. Given the chance, they can turn a not-so-wealthy āśrama into an up-and-coming business, thus diluting the original holy impulse of selfless, humble service. Of course, they do perform worship, but in most cases it is not genuine, and just enough to keep them in with a religious group. Given a project, they may balk or procrastinate—delaying a mailing to the point that when it arrives it is useless, or refraining from doing it at all. They are never without a good reason for their actions, having been educated in the venerable “Book of Excuses.” At meetings they are quite competent to tell in compelling terms why a project that all wish to manifest is not possible. They are equally capable of making everyone question the mission of the organization and their part in it. They politic to redefine the group’s chartered purpose, to make it fit into their own ideas. These rājas of reason have many ruses to discourage others from fitting in, and will go to great efforts to bring up irrelevant alternatives and possibilities which cloud the group’s thinking and undermine its commitments. All this may seem overstated, perhaps over-generalized, but from my experience I assure you that it is not.

These, my friends, are detractors. Though they may appear to be allies, they are not. The worst of them, I would say, are guided by asuric forces which seek to undermine, erode and create confusion. Detractors also endeavor to control and then stifle the religious leaders—the swāmīs, pandits, priests and the guru—by setting schedules as to whom they should or should not meet, what they should and should not say. If they can, they will cleverly edit a religious institution’s written works into oblivion and relegate the founder to being a feeble figurehead, a mere picture hanging on the wall.

Detractors are something to be deeply concerned about. Don’t hope that they will one day turn around and be defenders of faith. They won’t. By divine, dharmic law, devotees who are dedicated to the goals of their group are wrong to associate with detractors, who often seek to replace the religious agenda with a social one. Rather, they must be dissociated from and seen as foes to the forces of dharma, antagonists who do not allow others to preserve the thrust of the founder’s goals. Every group should rigorously test each one within it to determine who is vowed to fulfill the goals of the organization and who will hamper them every step of the way, resist and refuse to fit in fully, and politic to cause others to do the same. Their favorite mode of operation is the erosion method, continually taking up time, even if it’s only five minutes today and eight minutes tomorrow. Their presence is always a burden, as they deter, delay and inhibit the mission by their remarkable irrelevancies and intolerable subtle obstinacy. Asuric invasion comes through such detractors, who rely on anger, pouting, gossip, backbiting and emotional upheavals to get their way. Once having been admitted into the central fold, they employ these means of motivation even more openly than before, to the utter distress of devotees who are humbly striving to follow dharma and to fulfill the stated mission of the organization. Now, I am not saying these are all necessarily bad people, though some are definitely there to intentionally infiltrate, dilute and destroy. Others may have, in their own minds, perfectly good intentions and may be entirely unaware of their negative effect on the group. But that does not excuse them. It is important to stress that for religious service to be effective, there must be absolute group harmony. For words to go deep and lives to be changed for the better, everyone’s prāṇas must be flowing together on an equal wavelength. All must be kindred in their vows and unified in their determination to fulfill the goals of the āśrama, society, temple or mission.

The big question remains: how to get rid of detractors once they are discovered. Quite probably they have made many friends, are tied into key projects, have contributed a great deal of money and gained a position of control. If detractors are discovered, don’t confront them. Don’t accuse them. Don’t try to persuade or convince them to be different. Don’t expect them to change. Be persistent in maintaining the original goals of the institution. Uphold the dharma and be unified with those who are loyal. Quietly let the detractors go their way, or into another group that is more suited to them. Without them, the mission will soar. Religious organizations must not tolerate domination by wealthy or influential patrons or members who do not support the shared goals. An indigent widow’s single rupee in the huṇḍi and a billionaire’s one million should have equal weight in the minds of the trustees.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 348: MALES SERVE MY MAṬHAVĀSIS
My Śaiva monastics are all males, our ancient tradition ordains. When they visit homes, temples or āśramas, all service to them, such as meals, travel assistance, laundry and visitor hosting, shall be carried out by males. Aum.

Lesson 348 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

The Yoga Adept’s Special Pattern

These first laws of reincarnation dealing with the astral plane governed by the powers of the first three chakras seem to be quite valid when man is living in his instinctive mind. However, when he passes from the physical body through the will, cognition, or universal love chakras, he comes into a different reincarnation law. He then is living on two planes at the same time and, according to this theory, would have representative bodies on both planes. His evolution on the physical plane would be quick, since his only physical, conscious expression would be a small animal, perhaps a little bird or cat or some extremely sensitive animal. This creature would represent and polarize the advanced soul’s instinctive mind on the physical plane while he evolved at an accelerated pace on vast inner planes. This dual existence would continue until such time as the process of reincarnation was intensified and the vibration of the Earth was strong enough in his mind to pull awareness back dynamically to another human life. This might take years, and it might take centuries.

In a sense, this mystic would be held through the power of the higher chakras in a very subtle force field and only touch into physical consciousness sporadically by using different bodies of animals and people for a few minutes or hours to contact the Earth. He would not necessarily be conscious of doing this. His awareness would exist predominantly on the inner planes.

This is one reason we find some of the Indian religions forbidding the killing of animals of any kind. They believe an animal may be a great saint or jñānī who has passed on. Nonkilling of animals, especially cows, is widely observed in India even today. Of course, many consider such a theory senseless, ridiculous, fraught with superstition. However, we could look at everything which we don’t yet understand as superstitious until we comprehend the intricate mechanism of the laws of the governing force fields.

Another postulate of this theory is that an advanced being living in his inner bodies, having left consciousness through one of the higher chakras, would be working out a certain amount of karma by helping others who are still in physical bodies to work out their karma. For various reasons, this being would not be able to return to Earth consciously. What, then, would cause him to reincarnate? It would be the intellectual clarity and spiritual intensity of the mother and father in the process of conception or planned conception. They would have to reach very deeply into the inner planes in order to provide the channel for a high reincarnation, whereas couples cohabiting in lust or free-for-all sex more or less take potluck off the astral plane. This indicates briefly an ancient but neglected law: that the parents—through their love for one another, through their devotion and through their states of consciousness during the days of conception—attract to themselves either old souls or young souls.

Generally, the soul, at the time of conception, chooses the body he will inhabit but does not actually enter the womb until the infant body takes life and begins to move and kick. Similarly, on the physical plane we may buy an acre of land and plan the house we wish to live in, but not actually move in until months later when the house is completed.

Lesson 347 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Is the Nature of the Charyā Pāda?

ŚLOKA 37
Charyā is the performance of altruistic religious service and living according to traditional ethical conduct and culture, by which the outer nature is purified. It is the stage of overcoming basic instinctive patterns. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Charyā, literally “conduct,” is the first stage of religiousness and the foundation for the next three stages. It is also called the dāsa mārga, meaning “path of servitude,” for here the soul relates to God as servant to master. The disciplines of char­­­yā include humble service, attending the temple, performing one’s duty to community and family, honoring holy men, res­pecting elders, atoning for misdeeds and fulfilling the ten classical restraints called yamas. Within a strong society, one performs char­yā whether he wants to or not. Young or rebellious souls often resist and resent, whereas mature souls fulfill these obligations most naturally. Right behavior and self-sacrificing service are never outgrown. The keynote of charyā, or karma yoga, is sevā, religious service given without the least thought of reward, which has the magical effect of softening the ego and bringing forth the soul’s innate devotion. The Tirumantiram ex­plains, “The sim­ple temple duties, lighting the lamps, picking flowers, lovingly polishing the floors, sweeping, singing the Lord’s praise, ringing the bell and fetching ceremonial water—these constitute the dāsa mārga.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 347 – Living with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Upholding Your Faith

The clothing we wear shapes our attitudes, cultural behavior and the friendships we hold. Clothes do affect our moods and emotions and make a declaration of who we are. My recommendation is to be who you are and let the world know it, even in the workplace, unless a dress code does not permit this, of course. This includes wearing the sacred forehead marks and Hindu jewelry, wedding pendant, toe rings, earrings and beads. The message is: don’t be afraid to be a Hindu, which includes dressing like a Hindu.

Boldly proclaim your faith to the world. Others proclaim theirs. I will never forget seeing the many spiritual and parliamentary leaders in Moscow at the Global Forum on Human Survival in January of 1991. Many were dressed in Western suits and ties, and it was hard to tell who among them were from the West, or from Africa or India, and harder still to tell who was a religious person and who a politician. But at the Millennium Peace Summit of Religious Leaders at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York in 2000, there were so many, perhaps most, who wore their native dress. I knew instantly who they were, where they were from and what they represented. They carried the stronger message and showed by their clothes that they were proud of their tradition, and that they intended to preserve it. That kind of strength is good to see in a world that has mistaken drab uniformity for security.

This is what temple societies and elders and swāmīs and gurus are all thinking deeply about—“Should my aśrama look like a hippie commune, or a serious place of yoga? Should our temples look like advertisements for Levi-Strauss acid-washed jeans?” Many say, “Well, God in the temple doesn’t care how I’m dressed. It’s how I am on the inside that counts.” This is a weak excuse. We cannot be one way on the inside and another on the outside. It’s all us, inside and out. Even in elegant restaurants, a coat and tie is required. They will lend these to you at the door. Just as is done today at temples in Bali, we loan wrap-arounds and shawls to those who walk into our temples wearing T-shirts and shorts. Perhaps the way things are heading, one day the Gods in the temples will have the dress of the day: a baseball cap turned backwards, a T-shirt, baggy pants. Perhaps that would satisfy the issue and end the controversy. What do you think?

Women say that they think and act and move differently when they are dressed in a sārī than in Western casual clothing. Another point—men look nicer in the traditional Indian outfit than they do in Western coats, shirts and trousers. But many are shy to wear Hindu clothing, especially the men. They need not be. Last summer a girl we know was scared to death to go to college in her puñjābis. But she tried it. Within four days some of the American coeds came up and asked, “What do you call that outfit? We want one like it, too. It’s so beautiful.” So much for our fears!

Swami Vivekananda noted, “The sārī of our women and the choga and turban of our men defy comparison as regards beauty in dress. The tight dresses cannot approach in loveliness the loose ones that fall in natural folds.” Hindus dressed like Hindus behave like Hindus. Don’t underestimate the power of our dress, how it influences our attitudes, feelings and even the company we keep. This is food for thought, isn’t it? Think about it.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 347: OVERNIGHT STAYS WHEN TRAVELING
My Śaiva monastics while traveling may reside and take meals in āśramas, temples, hotels or homes of worthy initiated families of our Saiva Siddhanta Church. Their sojourn in homes must never exceed three nights. Aum.

Lesson 347 – Merging with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Earth Peoples’ Shared Wisdom

Reincarnation is a refining process, contributing to the evolution of consciousness. To the watchful observer, the evolution of man’s inner bodies can be seen reflected in the tone and form of his physical vehicle. Being a reflection of the inner bodies, the physical shell can and does pass through radical transformation as the spiritual path is followed. Some people seem to reincarnate within this very life, changing themselves so deeply through tapas and sādhana that they are totally renewed or reborn on the physical plane. Their new light and energy pass through the very cells of the body, invigorating and strengthening it. Still, the inner bodies are more malleable than the physical forces and generally evolve more quickly, becoming quite different and more refined in this life than the physical shell. In the next life, the physical structure will be entirely different, as the spiritual body manifests a new physical body more like unto itself.

Other theories propose that the soul remains on the astral plane after death. After reviewing all of our Earthly experiences on the playback, we release the astral body and enter the heavenly realms of consciousness, never coming back to the physical plane, or at least not for a long time. Many cultures, such as the Native American Indian culture, recognize this basic law of reincarnation in their “Happy Hunting Grounds” concepts. Also related to this theory is the belief that when something is destroyed through fire on the physical plane, whether animate or inanimate, it will be found again on the astral plane. For example, when an Indian brave died, his saddle, clothing and valuables were buried and sometimes burned along with his body so that he might continue using these possessions to live well on the inner, astral, plane. These theories of reincarnation assure us that we will meet our loved ones and friends on the inner planes after death. Similar traditions exist among the Hindus in Bali and the Shintoists in Japan.

By exploring the theories of various civilizations, we discover that man can either incarnate soon after his death, with little or no interlude, or he may remain for thousands of years on the astral plane, evolving in those force fields, just as on Earth he evolved from experience to experience. How long he will spend on the astral plane depends on how he has created or chosen what he wants to do while on Earth. If he left things undone and felt compelled to accomplish more, to see more, then he would return quickly to another body in fulfillment of the desire for Earthly experience. However, were he satisfied that life had taught him all of its lessons and wished to exist away from the physical plane in mental and spiritual spheres, he might never return to inherit another body.

If we study the Pyramids and explore the intricate ceremonies which the Egyptians provided for their dead, we find that they kept the body preserved with elaborate chemical and environmental treatment. When the elements of the physical body are kept intact and not allowed to decompose, the departed may remain consciously on the astral, mental or spiritual plane for as long as he wants. A contact can even be maintained on the physical plane through these laws. However, as soon as the physical body begins to disintegrate, awareness is polarized once again and pulled back to the lower chakras and the physical plane. Actually, as the elements of the previous body disintegrate, all of the instinctive-mind atoms form a force field around that body. This generates a power center. When the body is completely disintegrated, the force field is dissolved, and the soul reincarnates at that time. The Egyptians believed that if a body could be durably mummified, the deceased could enjoy a fine life on the inner planes for thousands of years. Modern science can freeze bodies and thus preserve them perfectly, thus opening up possible research into these principles one day.

Lesson 346 – Dancing with Śiva

Posted on by Himalayan Academy
Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

What Are the Four Stages on the Path?

ŚLOKA 36
The path of enlightenment is divided naturally into four stages: charyā, virtue and selfless service; kriyā, worshipful sādhanas; yoga, meditation under a guru’s guidance; and jñāna, the wisdom state of the realized soul. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Charyā, kriyā, yoga and jñāna are the sequence of the soul’s evolutionary process, much like the natural de­­­­vel­opment of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar, from caterpillar to pupa, and then the final metamorphosis to butterfly. These are four pādas, or stages, through which each human soul must pass in many births to attain its final goal. Before entering these spiritual stages, the soul is im­mersed in the lower nature, the āṇava mārga, or self-centered path, bound in fear and lust, hurtful rage, jealousy, confusion, selfishness, con­science­less­ness and mal­ice. Then it awakens into charyā, un­selfish religious service, or karma yoga. Once ma­tured in charyā, it enters kriyā, devotion or bhakti yoga, and finally blossoms into kuṇ­ḍa­linī yoga. Jñāna is the state of en­light­ened wis­dom reached toward the path’s end as a re­sult of Self Realization. The four pādas are not al­ter­na­tive ways, but progressive, cum­ulative phases of a one path, San Mārga. The Tiruman­tiram says, “Being the Life of life is jñāna worship. Beholding the Light of life is yoga worship. Giving life by invocation is external worship. Adoration that displaces anger is charyā worship.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.