Lesson 343 – Dancing with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s real voice

What Is the Process of Reincarnation?

ŚLOKA 33
Reincarnation, punarjanma, is the natural process of birth, death and rebirth. At death we drop off the physical body and continue evolving in the inner worlds in our subtle bodies, until we again enter into birth. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Through the ages, reincarnation has been the great consoling element within Hinduism, elim­inating the fear of death, explaining why one person is born a genius and another an idiot. We are not the body in which we live but the immortal soul which inhabits many bodies in its evolutionary journey through saṁsāra. After death, we con­tinue to exist in unseen worlds, enjoying or suffering the harvest of earthly deeds until it comes time for yet ano­ther physical birth. Because certain karmas can be re­solved only in the physical world, we must enter ano­ther physical body to continue our evolution. After soaring in­­­to the causal plane, we enter a new womb. Subsequently the old manomaya kośa is slowly sloughed off and a new one created. The ac­tions set in motion in pre­vious lives form the tendencies and conditions of the next. Re­in­carnation ceases when kar­ma is resolved, God is realized and moksha attained. The Vedas say, “After death, the soul goes to the next world bearing in mind the subtle impressions of its deeds, and after reaping their harvest returns again to this world of action. Thus, he who has desires continues subject to rebirth.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 343 – Living with Śiva

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

Affirming Basic Human Values

I spoke on global education in January of 1990 at the Global Forum for Human Survival, Development and Environment in Moscow. My message to the 700 religious and political leaders there was that we need, in the century ahead, to teach all children tolerance, openness to different ways of life, different beliefs, different customs of dress and language. We need to stop teaching them to fear those who are different from themselves, stop teaching them hatred for peoples of other colors and other religions, stop teaching them to see the world as a field of conflict and instead instill in them an informed appreciation and a joyous reverence for the grand diversity we find around us. Modern education can do that, provided the approach is changed.

Basic human Vedic values should be taught to every child and every student. These eternal values have nothing to do with race, creed, caste, politics or ethnic culture. Learning how to read and write is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal of education is also knowing what to read and what to write, as well as how to live in tune with nature, in harmony with the universe and at peace with oneself and one’s fellow man. A great Hindu saint once wrote, “Those who cannot live in harmony with the world, though they have learned many things, are still ignorant” (Tirukural 140).

The big question today that spiritual and political leaders are facing is how the peoples of the world are to live on this planet in harmony, and how to correct the errors of the past and the resentments that still linger, to ensure survival of humankind in the future. Education, they know, will play a key role, but only if educators focus first on human values which make us all better people, and secondly on technical know-how.

The human values we are speaking of here are known by all the tribal peoples, as they are inwardly a part of the knowledge within each of us. These principles must be cultivated, however, to manifest in any society, community, village or family. Global education must reach all the peoples, including the tribals, in our worldwide global village. It cannot be one-sided on the part of those who have the resources teaching others what they think they need to know. Rather, all voices must be heard, of the tribal and the industrialist. But will they be heard? Perhaps yes! The intelligentsia of industrialized societies are realizing that they don’t really have all the answers and that traditional tribal communities have something to teach after all. We have simple problems on this planet—food for survival, water, air, shelter and health care. The tribals are well aware of each of these and had them under control before they were conquered. In the same spirit that the modern pharmacologist journeys into the Amazon forests to discover medicines used for centuries that he can apply to world health care, so we in our various spheres of knowledge need to more and more rediscover the old ways and bring them forward.

In Russia, some bright young students asked me, “What can Hinduism offer in contributing to world peace and global education?” I explained that Hinduism offers a unified vision of man and nature in which there is reverence, not dominion or carelessness. Mother Earth, sustainer of life, is a key Vedic idea. Respect for Earth, for life in its many forms, is found in the American Indian nations, in the Hawaiian religion, the African tribes and the many other indigenous peoples. It was lost by many in recent centuries, but now its depth is being discovered again.

While the family is suffering a lot in many parts of the world, I explained, it is still very strong in Hindu society. We have to keep it that way, and teach the world by our example that it is the family that nurtures the individual and stabilizes the religion and hence the nation. Only by keeping a strong sense of family can humankind hope for a secure future.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 343: DISCIPLINES FOR SLEEP
My monastics sleep six to eight hours a day for rejuvenation and astral duties. They refuse a soft bed and sleep on a firm floor mattress, ideally on a neem plank. This custom may be relaxed when ill or traveling. Aum

Lesson 343 – Merging with Śiva

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

Insisting On Sādhana

Many gurus and swāmīs don’t insist on continued disciplines and sādhanas after a few inner accomplishments have been made. The beginning is the end of the course to them. These gurus and swāmīs are modern, and often take an easy approach of not putting excessive demands upon themselves or their devotees. Traditional Sanātana Dharma, however, insists on daily sādhana for the enlightened one who desires a greater on-going transformation and for the unenlightened who has little or no anticipation of becoming enlightened.

Pūjā bells are heard ringing before sunrise throughout the homes of India in every city. In these early morning hours, men and women are priests and priestesses in their own home. Children learn ślokas; haṭha yoga is a daily exercise; prāṇāyāma is done for maintaining a healthy mind and body. Discipline is the criterion of being a good citizen. In Hinduism it happens to be a religious discipline. The effects of abandoning the earlier yogas upon reaching a certain stage of spiritual unfoldment for gurus and swāmīs is reflected in the lives of their students. When they began to teach, they would not be inclined to take their devotees through the beginning stages; they would not impart the practices of the first two mārgas—charyā and kriyā. They would be more inclined to start the beginners out at the upper stages, where they themselves are now, and abandon the beginning stages. This would be, and is, a mistake, one which many gurus and swāmīs have lived to regret when their own disciples began to compete with them or turned sour when unable to attain the expected results. Traditionally, the character has to be built within the devotee as a first and foremost platform before even the hint of an initiation into inner teaching is given. This purifying preparation involves repentance, confession and reconcilation through traditional prāyaśchitta, penance, to mitigate kukarmas. This crucial work often takes years to accomplish.

Once some level of enlightenment has been attained, this is the time to intensify the sādhana, not to let up. When we let up on ourselves, the instinctive mind takes over. We are still living in a physical body. Therefore, one foot must always be kept firmly on the head of the snake of the instinctive-intellectual nature. The higher we go, the lower we can fall if precaution is not taken. Therefore, we must prepare devotees for a sudden or slow fall as well. They should land on the soft pillows of consistent daily sādhana, worship of God, Gods and guru, and the basic religious practices of karma yoga and bhakti yoga. Without these as a platform, they may slide down in consciousness, below the mūlādhāra, into the chakras of fear, anger, doubt and depression.

The scriptures are filled with stories of certain ṛishis who reached high levels, but had given up all their bhakti and japa. When difficult personal karma came, each fell deep into the lower nature, way below the mūlādhāra, to become demon-like to society rather than a holy seer and a guiding force.

The whole idea that bhakti is for beginners is a modern expedient. It was created by modern people who do not want to do the daily sādhanas, who do not believe the Gods really exist and who are so bound in their individual personality that they do not accept the reality that God is in and within everything. This nonbelief, lack of faith, changes their values very slowly at first, but changes them nonetheless into those that cry, “Personal freedom is what is sought, making the little ego big, and then bigger.” Traditional disciplines and the spiritual teachers who know them so well nowadays come under the purview of these “free thinkers,” later to regret it. This is similar to children being the head of the house, telling their parents what they will do, and what they will not do.

Only the strongest and bravest souls can succeed in enlightenment and maintain and develop it until true wisdom comes as a boon. Therefore, we reaffirm, having attained a small degree of enlightenment, or a fuller enlightenment, stay enlightened, because mukti, the transference from the physical body through the top of the head at the point of death, has not yet occurred. And only after that happens are we enlightened forever. This is the beginning of the ultimate merging with Śiva in a physical body! Thereafter follows viśvagrāsa, the final, final, final merger whence there is no return, where jīva has in reality become Śiva, as a bowl of water poured into the ocean becomes the ocean. There is no difference and no return.

Lesson 342 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Is There Good Karma and Bad Karma?

ŚLOKA 32
In the highest sense, there is no good or bad karma. All experience offers opportunities for spiritual growth. Selfless acts yield positive, uplifting conditions. Selfish acts yield conditions of negativity and confusion. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Karma itself is neither good nor bad but a neutral principle that governs energy and motion of thought, word and deed. All experience helps us grow. Good, loving ac­tions bring to us lovingness through others. Mean, selfish acts bring back to us pain and suffering. Kindness pro­­duces sweet fruits, called puṇ­ya. Unkindness yields spoiled fruits, called pāpa. As we mature, life after life, we go through much pain and joy. Actions that are in tune with dharma help us along the path, while adhar­mic actions impede our progress. The di­vine law is: whatever karma we are experiencing in our life is just what we need at the moment, and nothing can happen but that we have the strength to meet it. Even harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest catalyst for spiritual un­fold­ment. Performing daily sādhana, keeping good company, pilgrimaging to holy places, seeing to others’ needs—these evoke the higher en­ergies, direct the mind to useful thoughts and avoid the cre­ation of trou­ble­some new karmas. The Vedas explain, “According as one acts, so does he be­come. One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 342 – Living with Śiva

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Recording: Gurudeva’s cloned voice

Preparation For Adult Life

Very importantly, we must inculcate in youth a respect for family life, for marriage as a sacred union undertaken for the mutual spiritual advancement of husband and wife. They have to be counseled and counseled well in how married life is to be faced, what attitudes they should hold toward sex, how to keep a marriage strong and joyful, how to combat the pressures they will face in this modern world, especially if they come to live beyond the borders of our holy land. We must also inculcate in them a knowledge of monastic life, so they may understand and revere the satgurus and swāmīs of Śaivism. Śaivite monasticism was a powerful spiritual force in the world when the mahārājās supported the monastics, and it will continue to be so through the support of the families, their children and their children’s children. All this is accomplished through religious education. We call upon the youth of India, the youth of Sri Lanka, the youth of Malaysia and all other countries where Śaivites are living to consider the two paths. We call upon those rare few to accept the dharma of the Śaivite monastic and serve their God and religion through a selfless life, preaching and teaching throughout the world. There is a great need here. Too many Asian families relinquish their children to become Catholic priests and Protestant ministers and not enough encourage them to become Hindu sādhakas, yogīs and swāmīs.

The youth must be taught that Śaivism is not only the oldest religion in the world, but a vibrant and dynamic religion in this technological age. They must come to know its wisdom is for the farmer as well as for the computer programmer, for our ancestors and for our descendants. Śaivism is the Eternal Path, the Sanātana Dharma. The youth working in science, working in space exploration, working in electronics, working in business, working closely with members of different religions, will encounter many challenges. They must be carefully taught how to remain within the bounds of their religion and their beliefs without being dissuaded, without accepting ridicule from those who have yet to comprehend Śaivism. We must teach the Śaivite youth who are now growing up around the world about the Hindu festivals and holy days, making these auspicious days vibrant and alive in their memories. We must explain to them the meanings behind every observance so they are not just following blindly.

Symbols are an important part of bringing Śaivism into the hearts of the youth. Symbols carry great significance, and young people love and understand symbols. We should have Śaivite symbols abundantly around us, in the shrine room and throughout the home. The Prāṇava Aum, swastika, Śivaliṅga, tripuṇḍra and pottu, aṅkuśa, tiruvadi, nāga, vel, kalaśa, vaṭa, rudrāksha, seval, triśūla, kamaṇḍalu, trikoṇa, bilva, shaṭkoṇa, konrai, homa, kuttuvilaku and mankolam.

We should have a kuttuvilaku, or oil lamp, in our shrine room. We should have pictures of the Deities and their vahanas, Nandi, peacock and mouse, in our home, sacred flowers and trees in our garden. We should, of course, wear the holy ash and pottu, our sacred jewelry and prayer beads, and see that our young people do also. All Śaivites should become initiated into the Pañchākshara Mantra and chant it daily upon a mālā of rudrāksha beads. Sights, scents, sounds, tastes and religious symbols—it is through these ways our religion is understood by the next generation.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 342: LUNAR RETREATS FROM GUESTS AND THE PUBLIC
Śiva’s monastics observe the full, new and half moons and the day after each as retreats for sādhana, study, rest, personal care and āśrama upkeep, plus a fortnight’s retreat at the end of each of the year’s three seasons. Aum

Lesson 342 – Merging with Śiva

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

To Stay Enlightened

A sannyāsin of attainment has had many, many lifetimes of accumulating this power of kuṇḍalinī to break that seal at the door of Brahman. Here is a key factor. Once it is broken, the seal never mends. Once it is gone, it’s gone. Then the kuṇḍalinī will come back—and this gives you a choice between upadeśī and nirvāṇī—and coil in the svādhishṭhāna, maṇipūra, anāhata, wherever it finds a receptive chakra, where consciousness has been developed, wherever it is warm. A great intellect or a siddha who finds the Self might return to the center of cognition; another might return to the maṇipūra chakra. The ultimate is to have the kuṇḍalinī coiled in the sahasrāra.

I personally didn’t manage that until 1968 or ’69 when I had a series of powerful experiences of kuṇḍalinī in the sahasrāra. It took twenty years of constant daily practice of tough sādhanas and tapas. I was told early on that much of the beginning training was had in a previous life and that is why, with the realization in this life, I would be able to sustain all that has manifested around me and within me as the years passed by. Results of sādhanas came to me with a lot of concentrated effort, to be sure, but it was not difficult, and that is what makes me think that previous results were being rekindled.

The renunciate’s path is to seek enlightenment through sādhana, discipline, deep meditation and yogic practices. That is the goal, but only the first goal for the sannyāsin. To stay enlightened is even a greater challenge for him. This requires a restrictive discipline, not unlike a military, at-base, on-call life, twenty-four hours a day, even in his dreams.

Many people have flashes of light in their head and think they are totally enlightened beings, then let down in their sādhana and daily worship to later suffer the consequences. Enlightenment brings certain traditionally unwanted rewards: attention, adulation; one becomes the center of attraction, knows more than others and can exist on words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, for a long time, even after the light fades and human emotions well up and new mixed karmas build. He then may become known as having attained the erratic human behavior of the “enlightened” person. This is totally unacceptable on the spiritual path. Once enlightened, or “in-light,” even to a small degree because of daily sādhana, stay enlightened because of daily sādhana. Once having intellectually realized Vedic truths and become able to explain them because of study and daily sādhana, then realize these truths by intensifying the daily sādhanas, lest the remaining prārabdha karmas germinate and create new unwanted karmas to be lived through at a later time.

The advice is, having once attained a breakthrough of light within the head, wisdom tells us, remain wise and do not allow these experiences to strengthen the external ego. Become more humble. Become more self-effacing. Become more loving and understanding. Don’t play the fool by giving yourself reprieve from prāṇāyāma, padmāsana, deep meditation, self-inquiry and exquisite personal behavior. Having once attained even a small semblance of samādhi, do not let that attainment fade into memories of the past. The admonition is: once enlightened, stay enlightened.

Enlightenment has its responsibilities. One such responsibility is to have respect for and pay homage to the satguru and the satgurus of his lineage. These are the ones who, in seen and unseen ways, have helped you on your path. Another is to keep up the momentum. The wise know full well that the higher chakras, once stimulated, stimulate their lower counterparts as well, unless the sealing of the passage just below the mūlādhāra has been accomplished. Diligence is needed, lest higher consciousness fall unknowingly on the slippery slide of ignorance into the realms of lower consciousness, of fear, anger, resentment, jealousy, loneliness, malice and distrust. The faint memories of the beginning enlightenment experiences still hover, and while now in lower consciousness but still emulating the higher qualities in personal behavior, the now unenlightened claims full benefit for the previous enlightenment. Shame! This is because he did not maintain his disciplines after enlightenment. He let down and became an egocentric person.

Lesson 341 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Do Hindus Understand Karma?

ŚLOKA 31
Karma literally means “deed” or “act” and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction which governs all life. Karma is a natural law of the mind, just as gravity is a law of matter. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will, creating his own destiny. The Vedas tell us, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. It is the interplay between our experience and how we res­pond to it that makes karma devastating or helpfully invigorating. The conquest of karma lies in in­telli­gent ac­tion and dispassionate reaction. Not all karmas rebound immediately. Some ac­cum­u­­­late and return unexpectedly in this or other births. The several kinds of karma are: personal, family, commun­ity, national, global and universal. An­cient ṛi­shis perceived personal karma’s three-fold edict. The first is sañ­chita, the sum total of past karmas yet to be re­solved. The second is prār­abdha, that portion of sañ­chita to be ex­per­ienced in this life. Kriyamāna, the third type, is kar­ma we are currently creating. The Vedas propound, “Here they say that a person consists of desires. And as is his desire, so is his will. As is his will, so is his deed. What­ever deed he does, that he will reap.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 341 – Living with Śiva 

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

What to Teach The Youth

Behind many past wars and before us today we find unconscionable conversion efforts that infringe on the rights of not only the individual, but of groups and nations. When religions set out with a consciousness of conquest and make inroads on each other, this naturally becomes a major concern to families, communities and nations. Is it not the right of each of the world religions to declare dedication to their incontestable lawbooks of shoulds and should nots, holy texts telling us how to pray, meditate and behave? Freedom to choose one’s religion as well as freedom to leave it if one wishes is a fundamental human right, and it is a human wrong to deny or even limit it. This may seem obvious, but it is not a freedom many people of the world fully enjoy.

Because they love their children, devout Śaivites do not put them into Christian schools but provide Śaivite schooling which fills young minds with Śaivite lore, Śaivite history, Śaivite art, knowledge of the Vedas and the Śaiva Āgamas. Such children, nurtured from birth in their religion and taught the sacred scriptures and songs from an early age, grow into the great ambassadors of Śaivite Hinduism and joyfully carry it out into the rest of the world. This is the plan and the thrust of the devotees of God Śiva in 1981, 1982, 1990 and on beyond the year 2000. They know that there is no place where we can go but that God Śiva is there ahead of us—there already. They know that nothing has existence except that God Śiva created it. These Sivathondars are vowed to protect, preserve and promote the Śaiva Dharma on this planet.

In Dancing with Śiva, Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism all of this that I have been speaking about is neatly explained through short questions and answers which are easy to understand, to commit to memory and to teach to children and adults alike so that they can talk intelligently in foreign countries about their religion and benefit themselves as well as others.

A child’s mind is like a computer disc or a recording cassette. It is a blank tape, capable of recording confusing sounds or beautiful melodies. It is up to us to make those first and lasting impressions. That tape is very difficult to edit later. What should we teach to our young boys and girls? What do we record in their mental computer? Dancing with Śiva—beautifully illustrated because children also learn through their eyes—contains a foundation of religious study to be memorized by boys and girls from six to sixteen years of age, to be discussed by the family, to be expounded upon by the father and explained by the mother.

This book answers the question, “What should I teach my children about Śaivism?” We must teach the children about our purpose on this Earth, our relationship with God, our ultimate destiny—all according to the Tirumantiram, Tirukural, the Vedic and Āgamic scriptures of monistic Śaiva Siddhānta. We must teach our children, as did mahāsiddha Tirumular 2,200 years ago, that the soul is immortal, created by God Śiva and destined to merge back in Him. We must teach our children about this world we live in and about the other belief structures they will encounter throughout life. We must teach our children how to make their religion strong and vibrant in a technological age. These instructions are important for all Śaivite families.

Those of you here in Asia have a rich and stable religious culture. Therefore the future of your children is less uncertain. In other parts of the world, Śaivite children are not benefiting from a temple in the village, from a grandmother who can explain things or a grandfather to expound. Yet, though children here have all these advantages, still the temptations are there to adopt wayward Western ways and Christian attitudes. We must work to overcome such magnetic forces by educating our children, both those who are living here in Sri Lanka and India and those who are citizens of other nations in the world. They will then grow up to teach their children and thus perpetuate the Śaivite Hindu religion into the next generation, the next and the next.

Yes, united Śaivites of the world, we need to pass on to the next generation the importance of dharma and of good conduct, especially ahiṁsā, fundamental principles of the Hindu faith. Ahiṁsā means noninjury physically, mentally and emotionally. We need to explain to them the secret of the mysteries of the holy Śiva temple. We need to take them often to the kovils, mandirs, shrines, āśramas, aadheenams, maṭhas, sacred places and rivers so they become well grounded in their devotion. We need to carefully explain to them the purpose of, and the results that can be obtained through, home pūjā, having archanas, abhishekas and homas performed in their behalf in Śiva temples. We need to teach them how to pray to God and the Gods. We need to foster in them a deep reverence for our scriptures and our saints and sages.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 341: SIMPLE CLOTHING FOR SIMPLE MAṬHAVĀSIS
Śiva’s monastics wear robes of cotton or wool—hand-spun, hand-woven and unsewn. Other clothing should be made of simple, unadorned cotton, wool or synthetics, in traditional North or South Indian style. Aum.

Lesson 341 – Merging with Śiva 

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

Dharma after Self Realization

What is life like after realization? One difference is the relationship to possessions. Everything is yours, even if you don’t own it. This is because you are secure in the Self as the only reality, the only permanence, and the security that depends on having possessions is gone. After Self Realization, we no longer have to go into ourself. Rather, we go out of ourself to see the world. We are always coming out rather than trying to go in. There is always a center, and we are the center, no matter where we are. No matter where we are, no matter how crude or rotten, the vibrations around us will not affect us. Curiosity is the final thing to leave the mind, which it does after Self Realization. The curiosity of things goes away—of siddhis, for example. We no longer want power, because we are power, nonpower, unusable. And we don’t have the yearning for Paraśiva anymore; we don’t have the yearning for the Self. And Satchidānanda is now to us similar to what the intellect used to be. If we want to go to a far-off place, we go into Satchidānanda and see it. It is that easy. Samyama, contemplation, is effortless to you now, like the intellect used to be; whereas before, samyama was a very big job which took a lot of energy and concentration. Therefore, before Paraśiva we should not seek the siddhis. After Paraśiva, through samyama, we keep the siddhis we need for our work.

But Paraśiva has to be experienced time after time for it to impregnate all parts of the body—our big toe has to experience it—because we are still human. From a rotten state of consciousness, feeling totally neglected, that nobody loves us, we have to realize Paraśiva. When ill and feeling we may die, we have to realize Paraśiva. When concentrating on our knees, we have to bring Paraśiva into them. The knees are the center of pride, and this helps in attaining ultimate humility. So it is with every part of our body, not only the pituitary center, the physical corollary of the door of Brahman—that is the first place—but with every part of the body. The pituitary gland has to be stimulated sufficiently to open the door of Brahman. But only the strictest sannyāsin disciplines would induce this result. Ears, eyes, nose, throat, all parts of the body have to realize Paraśiva, and the siddha has to do this consciously. The calves have to realize Paraśiva. All the parts of the lower body have to realize Paraśiva, because all of those tala chakras have to come into that realization.

Then, finally, we are standing on the mūlādhāra chakra rather than on the talatala chakra. Then, finally, our feet are standing on the svādhishṭhana chakra, and so on. And this is the true meaning of the holy feet. Finally, we are standing in the lotus of the maṇipūra chakra. And doubly finally, the kuṇḍalinī coils up in the head and lives there rather than at the bottom of the spine.

For ultimate freedom, everything has to go away, all human things, possessions, love, hate, family, friends, the desire for attention and community acceptance. The sannyāsin renounces the world, and then, if his giving up is uncompromisingly complete, the world renounces the sannyāsin. This means the world itself won’t accept him as it once did as a participant in its mundane transactions of a job, social life, home and family. Earlier friends and associates sense his different view of their existence and now feel uncomfortable with him. Slowly he joins the band of hundreds of thousands of sannyāsins throughout the world, where he is joyously accepted. All must go, the past and the future, and will naturally depart as the great realization deepens, as it penetrates through all parts of the body and all states of the mind. This alone is one good reason that family people and noncommitted singles are never encouraged to strive for realizations higher than Satchidānanda, and then only for brief periods now and again at auspicious times. For family people, gṛihasthas, to go further into themselves would be to earn the bad karmas, kukarmas, of subsequent neglect of family dharma, and to lose everything that the world values.

When the renunciate finally attains Paraśiva, everything else will fall away. It all has to fall away to attain Paraśiva. But it doesn’t totally fall away when he attains Paraśiva, because he arrives into Paraśiva only with a tremendous amount of built-up effort. All the Gods have given permission. Lord Śiva has given permission, and He now says, “Enter Me.” That is grace, His grace.

Lesson 340 – Dancing with Śiva

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

How Do Hindus Understand Moksha?

ŚLOKA 30
The destiny of all souls is moksha, liberation from rebirth on the physical plane. Our soul then continues evolving in the Antarloka and Śivaloka, and finally merges with Śiva like water returning to the sea. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Moksha comes when earthly kar­­ma has been resolved, dhar­ma well per­formed and God fully realized. Each soul must have performed well through many lives the varṇa dharmas, or four castes, and lived through life’s varied experiences in ­order to not be pulled back to physical birth by a deed left un­done. All souls are destined to achieve moksha, but not necessarily in this life. Hindus know this and do not delude themselves that this life is the last. While seeking and attaining profound re­aliz­ations, they know there is much to be done in fulfilling life’s other goals (purush­ār­thas): dharma, righteousness; artha, wealth; and kāma, pleasure. Old souls re­nounce worldly ambitions and take up sannyāsa in quest of Par­aśiva, even at a young age. Toward life’s end, all Hin­dus strive for Self Re­al­iz­ation, the gateway to liberation. After moksha, subtle kar­mas are made in in­ner realms and swiftly resolved, like writing on water. At the end of each soul’s evolution comes viś­vagrāsa, total ab­sorp­tion in Śiva. The Vedas say, “If here one is able to re­­alize Him before the death of the body, he will be lib­er­at­­­ed from the bondage of the world.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.