Author: Himalayan Academy

Lesson 311 – Living with Śiva

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

The Nature Of God Śiva

The most important teaching of God Śiva is that He has three perfections. He is not only timeless, formless and spaceless. That Absolute Reality, Paraśiva, is but one of God Śiva’s perfections. He also has an all-pervasive form which flows through all things—Satchidānanda. He pervades all form. There is no place that Śiva is not. And He has yet another perfection, which is a golden body of light in the Third World, a perfect body in which He is our Lord and Creator, the most wonderful and loving and perfect Being we can imagine. In the temple, when we invoke God Śiva, He comes in this golden body of light and blesses the people. He can see you. He can hear your prayers. He has created all the souls on this planet and all other planets in our universe, our holy scriptures tell us.

God Śiva is in all things and everywhere simultaneously, at every point in time. And yet, Śiva as Maheśvara, the Divine Dancer, Naṭarāja, has a body not unlike yours or mine, a body in which He can talk, a body in which He can think, a body in which He can see you and you can see Him, a body with legs, a body with arms. In this body He dances the eternal dance. I had a vision, once, of Śiva Naṭarāja dancing. I could hear the bells on His ankles. I could see His feet and legs. He is a beautiful dancer, and He dances in the Third World.

God Śiva is so close to us. He is closer than our breathing, nearer to us than our hands or feet. Yes, He is the very essence of our soul, and yet He has a body just like ours that lives in the Third World. In this body of light He can come into the inner sanctum of the temple, and He can look at us, and we can feel His śakti, His power and presence. He is our great God, the ruler of this universe.

Sometimes we hear the misconception that if you worship God Śiva He will take everything away from you. That is not true. That is anti-Śaivite propaganda. It is not true at all. God Śiva gives you everything, because He is the universal God described in the Vedas as the Life of your life. This unfavorable propaganda, which exists primarily in the north of India, but elsewhere, too, postulates that Śiva is only Rudra, the Destroyer. It makes people afraid of Śiva. There is never a reason to fear Śiva. He is a God of love, of compassion for all He has created.

Nothing has ever been destroyed by God Śiva but that He creates, constantly changes the form of and absorbs back to Himself His creations. For is not the ultimate absorption, after eons of time, the ultimate destruction of what was once created? This is the goal, is it not, for all to merge in oneness with our God Śiva? We are not destroyed by doing this. We are fulfilled! He does not take anything away from us, but that which would harm us. God Śiva takes from us greed and gives abundance. God Śiva takes from us lust and gives contentment. God Śiva takes from us anger and gives love. God Śiva takes from us jealousy and gives self-confidence and security. God Śiva is an ever-fulfilling God.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 311: AVOIDING THE ADVICE OF PSYCHICS
My devotees do not counsel with trance mediums, clairvoyants, past- and future-life readers or psychic mentors. Nor do they consult astrologers or palmists other than those approved by their preceptor. Aum.

Lesson 311 – Merging with Śiva

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

The World As Your Guru

Those on the āṇava mārga, the path of the external ego, often claim to be their own guru. Some untraditional teachers even encourage this attitude. However, being one’s own guru is a false concept. Traditionally, one would be his “own guru” only if he were initiated as such, and his guru left the physical body. Even then, he would be bound by the lineage within the sect of Sanātana Dharma he dedicated his life to, and would still maintain contact with his guruji within the inner world. Therefore, he would not really ever be his own guru at all. Being one’s own guru is a definite part of the āṇava mārga, a very important part. It is raw, eccentric egoism. A teenager doesn’t become his own teacher in school. A medical doctor doesn’t become his own professor and then get a license to practice, signed by himself. Nor does a lawyer, an engineer or even an airline stewardess. So, logic would tell us that those pursuing something as sensitive, as personal and final as the path to perfection cannot on their own gain the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in this endeavor.

Well, we are having fun here, aren’t we? But it is also a serious subject. Think about it. In the realm of training and responsiveness, we can say that there are two basic mārgas, or stages: the āṇava mārga and the jñāna mārga. Those on the jñāna mārga know they need someone in their life who has already attained what they are seeking to attain, who can see ahead of their seeing and consciously guide them. This is the traditional path of Hindu Dharma leading to Self Realization.

Those on the way of external ego have met many teachers, tested them very carefully, and have found them all not meeting up to their standards. They are the devotees of Śrī Śrī Śrī Viśvaguru Mahā-Mahārāj-jī, members of his Bhogabhūmi Āshram, place of pleasure. The regular daily sādhana is stimulating the desire for sex, for money, for food, for clothing.

Unlike other āśramas, here there are no apparent boundaries or clear-cut guidelines. Followers are free to do as they please. All classes are open to everyone, from the most high-minded studies to the most devious and low-minded. Advanced low-level classes feature how to “do in” your enemies and remain undetected; how to access pornography on the Internet, one of the great tools of the āśrama, and then participate in the pleasures it recommends. There are courses on effective ways to beat the children, abuse the wife or husband, to maximize domestic chaos. Executive education includes how to climb a corporate ladder, the pros and cons of saving face when rightly accused, and downing your accuser as misinformed or as a perpetual liar. One whole department is dedicated to self-indulgence. Advancements in technology provide never-ending novelty. There is experiential training in crime and punishment, in terrorism and being terrorized, revenge, retribution and the quest for forgiveness. Viśvagurujī has licensed assistant teachers all over the globe, in every city and small community in every country. In fact, every facet of our lovely planet participates in his training programs at every moment in time.

Mid-range subjects include politics, how to lose and still gain in the process. Love and relationships is very popular, with intensives in promiscuity, marriage, infidelity and divorce. How to find your little self and make it big—name and fame—is among the top ten pursuits. There are numerous variations on the acquisition and loss of property. Suicide and threatening suicide to get your own way have many students. Certain subjects are compulsory, including the quest for health and longevity, and the reality of decline, death and dying. The emotional wing is always full, especially the sessions on joy and sorrow. Anger is overcrowded, and jealousy, too. The list goes on and on. How to be totally committed to being noncommitted keeps many from advancing into higher grades. Keeping your children from becoming interested in religion, lest it hamper their education and job possibilities, has lots of apparently intelligent advocates. Making a living is one of the largest branches, with a recent addition on remaining sane while holding three jobs. Understanding your rebellious teenager and other parenting challenges are very big. How to have a family and neglect it at the same time (subtitled “latch-key kids”) is the latest rage.

Most ashramites, or bhogīs, are swamped with so many subjects, they struggle twenty-four hours a day and still never catch up. This is a very tough school, and the odd thing is, enrollment is automatic; even without applying for a course, you wind up studying it. It’s the default when the guidance of other gurus is rejected. Viśvaguruji has many doors for entering his āśrama and only one for exiting. Gradually, eventually, and it may take many lifetimes, everyone comes to see that he is leading them to an understanding that every freedom has its price, every action its reaction, that the path to perfection is up and up and up.

So, you can tell your friends, “I have a guru and you have one, too. Everyone has a guru, whether they know it or not.” All three gurus—parents, family guru and Viśvaguruji—unanimously say, “It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.” Viśvaguru’s school of hard knocks eventually delivers all errant seekers back to a satguru, shaman, rabbi, priest or minister. In order not to repeat his training, you either learn through the tough reactions of his courses or gentler lessons under the guidance of the two other traditional gurus. All gurus are conspirators in the evolution of the soul, and Śrī Śrī Śrī Viśvaguru Mahā-Mahārāj-ji is no exception.

Lesson 310 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Who Are the Most Recent Kailāsa Gurus?

ŚLOKA 155
Sage Yogaswami, source of Natchintanai, protector of dharma, was satguru of Sri Lanka for half a century. He ordained me with a slap on the back, commanding, “Go round the world and roar like a lion!” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Amid a festival crowd outside Nallur temple, a disheveled sādhu shook the bars from within the chariot shed, shouting, “Hey! Who are you?” and in that moment Yogaswami was transfixed. “There is not one wrong thing!” “It is as it is! Who knows?” Sage Chellappan said, and suddenly the world vanished. After Chellappan’s mahāsamādhi in 1915, Yogaswami undertook five years of intense sādhana. Later, people of all walks of life, all nations, came for his darśana. He urged one and all to “Know thy Self by thyself.” It was in his thatched, dung-floor hermitage in 1949 that we first met. I had just weeks before realized Paraśiva with his inner help while meditating in the caves of Jalani. “You are in me,” he said. “I am in you,” I responded. Later he ordained me “Subramuniyaswami” with a tremendous slap on the back, and with this dīkshā sent me as a sannyāsin to America, saying, “You will build temples. You will feed thousands.” I was 22 at the time, and he was 77. In fulfillment of his orders have I, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, composed these 155 ślokas and bhāshyas, telling an infinitesimal fraction of all that he infused in me. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 310 – Living with Śiva

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

The Hindu Forehead Dot

Why do we wear the pottu, the red dot between our eyes? The dot worn on the forehead is a sign that one is a Hindu. It is called bindi in the Hindi language, bindu in Sanskrit and pottu in Tamil. In olden days, all Hindu men and women wore these marks, and they both also wore earrings. Today it is the women who are most faithful in wearing the bindi. The dot has a mystical meaning. It represents the third eye of spiritual sight, which sees things the physical eyes cannot see. Hindus seek to awaken their inner sight through yoga. The forehead dot is a reminder to use this spiritual vision to perceive and better understand life’s inner workings—to see things not just physically, but with the “mind’s eye” as well. With our third eye, we can see into the future. With our third eye, we can see into the next world, the Devaloka. With the third eye, we can see into the Third World, the Śivaloka. With our third eye, we can see into the past. It is an eye that we were born with and which is eternally awake, but we are usually unaware of its many functions. In most people it is clouded over with intellectual ignorance and disuse. When we are in a state of meditation and our entire mind is concentrated in the area of the third eye between our eyebrows, we see a red light begin to form. When we put a red dot between our eyebrows, the pottu, or bindu, as we are taught to do in the temple and at home, this enhances the use of the third eye, just as eyeglasses enhance the use of our two eyes.

There are many types of forehead marks, or tilaka, in addition to the simple dot. Each mark represents a particular sect or denomination of our vast religion. We have four major sects: Śaivism, Vaishṇavism, Śāktism and Smārtism. Vaishṇava Hindus, for example, wear a V-shaped tilaka made of clay. Elaborate tilakas are worn by Hindus mainly at religious events, though many wear the simple bindi, indicating they are Hindu, even in the general public. By these marks we know what a person believes, and therefore how to begin and conduct our conversations.

For Hindu women, the forehead dot is also a beauty mark, not unlike the black beauty mark European and American women once wore on the cheek. The red bindi is generally a sign of marriage. A black bindi is often worn before marriage to ward off the evil eye. The bindi is sometimes used as an exotic fashion statement, its color carefully chosen to complement the color of a lady’s sārī. Ornate bindis are sometimes worn by actresses in popular American TV shows.

It is common in many religions to identify one’s beliefs by wearing distinctive religious symbols. Often these are blessed in their temples, churches or synagogues. Jewish men wear the round skull cap, yarmulka. Christians wear a cross or medal on a necklace or coat lapel. In some countries, Muslim women still cover their face with a veil.

So, do not hesitate to wear the bindi on your forehead in the United States, Canada, Europe or any country of the world. It will distinguish you from all other people as a very special person, a Hindu, a knower of eternal truths. You will never be mistaken as belonging to another religion or to no religion at all. For boys and girls, men and women, the dot can be small or large depending on the circumstance. Recently a Canadian TV documentary distinguished the bindi by calling it a “cool dot.” Times are changing, and to proudly wear the symbols that distinguish and define us is totally cool!

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 310: FATHOMING OUR SUBTLE NATURE
My devotees study these three to discover the mysteries of being: the subtle bodies of man, the aura, which is a rainbow of thought and feeling, and the twenty-one chakras, or centers of consciousness. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya

Lesson 310 – Merging with Śiva

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

Loyalty to One’s Satguru

A devotee on the path who has a satguru should not seek darshan from another guru unless he has permission from his own guru to do so. Why? Because he should not become psychically connected with the other guru. The darshan develops inner psychic bonds. Another guru does not want to influence the unfoldment of the aspirant either. However, if he has permission to absorb darshan from someone else, then of course, there has been an inner agreement between the two gurus that no connection will result, and the disciple will not be distracted from his sādhana by conflicting new methods.

It is not good for a student on the path to run around to various teachers and lecturers and gain reams of miscellaneous knowledge about the path and related occultism. He becomes magnetically attached to the students of the various teachers and sometimes to the teachers themselves. The teachers do not like this “browsing” on the part of the guru-hopper either, for it impairs the unfoldment of their own students, as it goes against the natural flow of unfoldment on the path. It is also energy draining and time-consuming for the guru or swāmī.

One must look at spiritual unfoldment in the same way one approaches the study of a fine art. If you were studying the vīṇā with a very accomplished teacher, he would not appreciate it at all if you went to three or four other teachers at the same time for study behind his back. He demands that you come and go from your lesson and practice diligently in between. By this faithful and loyal obedience, you would become so satisfied with the results of your unfolding talents that you would not want to run here and there to check out what other maestros were teaching and become acquainted with their students. Students run from teacher to teacher only when they do not obey the teacher they have.

The wise guru or swāmī who takes his mission seriously and knows human nature to its core makes it very difficult for a devotee who departed his fellowship to later return. First he requires a detailed written explanation of the reasons for leaving, and a full written confession as to what occurred during the time away. This is all verified through background checks and in-depth personal interviews. Then, to test the sincerity, penance, prāyaśchitta, is given and performed before readmittance can even be considered. Upon hearing of these soul-searching procedures (known as vrātyastoma), most will bow out without a word and seek less demanding groups, thus proving their insincerity. These time-proven methods prevent detractors from returning to further disrupt the group from the inside more effectively than they could from the outside. If the seeker is qualified to be readmitted after completing his prāyaśchitta, he must begin at the beginning study level and be given no special privileges, positions or recognition in respect for his prior association. The protection of the fellowship is of utmost importance for the benefit of each devotee, and for the continuing spiritual unfoldment of the guru or swāmī himself. One should not be so naive to think that disgruntled former devotees would not seek reentrance for the purpose of disrupting the organization, or be sent on a mission from an adversarial group to rejoin in order to disrupt. All this and more has happened to gurus and swāmīs since the turn of the century.

There are three kinds of gurus that are traditionally available to guide the soul. The first, of course, are the parents. Next is the family guru, or a guru chosen by the children. The third guru, often the most suave, the most attractive, but in reality always the most demanding, is Viśvaguruji Mahā-Mahārāj. He does live up to his name in all ways, for viśva means “everything and everyone in the world,” and guru, of course, means “teacher.” Mahārāj is “great ruler.” Viśvaguruji, as I call him, seemingly teaches so patiently, yet accepts no excuses and remains unforgivingly exacting in his lessons. Everyone living on this planet has a guru, whether they know it or not.

When the world becomes the teacher, the lessons can be rough or enticing, unloving or endearing, unpleasant or full of temptuous, temporary happiness. The world is relentless in its challenges, in the rewards it offers, the scars it leaves and the healing it neglects. The unrelenting Viśvaguruji works surreptitiously through the people you meet, as past-life karmas unfold into this life. He never gives direct advice or guidance, but leaves the lessons from each experience to be discovered or never discovered. His sūtra is “Learn by your own mistakes.” His way of teaching is through unexpected happenings and untimely events, which are timely from his point of view. Unnecessary karmas are created while the old ones that were supposed to be eliminated smolder, waiting patiently for still another birth. Pleasure and pain are among his effective methods of instruction. Viśvagurujī is the teacher of all who turn their backs on parents, elders, teachers, gurus or swāmīs, laws and traditions of all kinds. It is not a lingering wonder why someone who once abandoned a loving guru or swāmī would want to return from the world and go through the vrātyastoma reentrance procedures, no matter what it takes.

Lesson 309 – Dancing with Śiva

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

Who Were Kadaitswami and Chellappan?

ŚLOKA 154
Kadaitswami was a dynamic satguru who revived Śaivism in Catholic-dominated Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the 1800 s. Chellappaswami was an ardent sage, ablaze with God consciousness, immersed in divine soliloquy. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Kadaitswami was a powerful siddha, standing two meters tall, whose fiery marketplace talks converted thousands back to Śaivism. It is said he was a high court judge who refused to confer the death penalty and renounced his career at middle age to become a sannyāsin. Directed by his satguru to be a worker of miracles, he performed siddhis that are talked about to this day—turning iron to gold, drinking molten wax, disappearing and appearing elsewhere. Chellappaswami, initiated at age nineteen, lived alone in the teradi at Nallur temple. Absorbed in the inner Self, recognizing no duality, he uttered advaitic axioms in constant refrain: “There is no intrinsic evil. It was all finished long ago. All that is, is Truth. We know not!” The Natchintanai says, “Laughing, Chellappan roams in Nallur’s precincts. Appearing like a man possessed, he scorns all outward show. Dark is his body; his only garment, rags. Now all my sins have gone, for he has burnt them up! Always repeating something softly to himself, he will impart the blessing of true life to anyone who ventures to come near him. And he has made a temple of my mind.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

Lesson 309 – Living with Śiva

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

Angelic Helpers

Good evening! It is wonderful to be in Mauritius and see how strong Śaivism is here. You have the advantage, not enjoyed in countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia, that Hindus form the majority of the population of this beautiful island nation. This makes it possible for you to set a fine example to all the world, to courageously and dynamically teach and preach the Śaiva faith through your temple society and other fine institutions. I hope you will do this, and by doing so bring Śaivism positively into the technological age.

Tonight I want so speak about the great Gods of our ancient religion and the holy temples where we commune and communicate with these spiritual beings. A Hindu temple such as this one is filled with millions of devas. When someone is born into the Hindu religion, or formally accepted into the religion later in life, guardian devas in the unseen worlds are assigned to automatically protect and guide him through his Earthly life. These guardian devas in the heaven world cannot be seen by you with your physical eyes, but they can be seen and are seen by those who know how to use the psychic vision of their third eye. Nevertheless, you can feel their presence in your home. They surround you, they help you and they communicate with the great Gods of our religion to guide you through life.

There are three worlds of existence. The Third World is where the highest beings, such as Lord Gaṇeśa, Lord Murugan and our Great God Śiva, exist in shining bodies of golden light. This Third World is called the Śivaloka. The Second World of existence, or astral plane, is called the Devaloka. The great Gods have millions of helpers in the Devaloka who help each and every one of us. One or more of them is assigned to personally help you in this First World, which is the world of material or physical existence, called the Bhūloka. When we leave our physical body at night, we go into the Devaloka, the Second World, and commune with the devas there and with the Gods of our religion in the Śivaloka, the Third World.

Śaivism’s most sacred substance, the holy ash, is the symbol of our religion, and we wear it across our forehead as a symbol of purity. But even more so, the devas in the Devaloka, in the Second World, can actually see this sacred substance on our forehead. They can actually hear the chanting of your sacred devotional hymns, your Devarams. They can actually see the flame that is passed before the image that represents the Deity. This is why we wear this pure white ash, to alert the devas that we are members of this religion. This vibhūti is a sign, a way of saying, “We seek your help, and we seek your blessings.” And by seeing the ash, they can distinguish your face. When they look into this world, it is like looking through a veil. They cannot see us too clearly. So we have signs and symbols to attract their attention, to earn their grace and their blessings. This is why it is important, especially when you come to the temple, to wear the sacred ash, so that you can be seen by the great beings in the inner worlds and attract their attention. They will respond. They will heal the aching mind.

NANDINATHA SŪTRA 309: RĀJA YOGA, THE ROYAL PATH TO REALIZATION
My devotees learn and perfect the five steps to enlightenment: attention, concentration, meditation, contemplation and finally samādhi, wherein they realize the unspeakable Truth known only by the knower. Aum.

Lesson 309 – Merging with Śiva

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

The Meeting of Two Darshans

Once someone said of my guru, Yogaswami, “You have to make yourself like a fool to go in front of that man. He will speak as a madman of God to you. But if you go to him in an ordinary state of consciousness, he will say, ‘I’m just like you. Go away. I have nothing to say. Nothing comes from the inside. Go away!’ ” You have to be an intellectual fool to be in front of the satguru. If you hear ordinary things from the guru, look closely at yourself. He is your closest mirror. He is only biding his time with you until the extraordinary ones come along to utilize his depths. Most gurus enjoy an exquisite inner life that is so refined and interesting, it keeps them very well occupied.

The darshan of a satguru in Sri Lanka and India is judged by how one feels on the inside after leaving his presence—not necessarily by the feelings that persist while in his presence—because the guru could be emotionally upset in the presence of a clever visitor. So, it is only after one leaves, while experiencing his reaction to having been with the guru, that the depth of the guru’s darshan is judged. The darshan of a satguru siphons your own bliss, in a similar way that liquid is siphoned. A guru works with darshan in two ways. One way is through giving it deliberately; that is the “flow-out” of darshan. Another way is to pull the flow within of external forces; that is the “flow-in” of darshan. He is siphoning it from his devotees. At the same time, he is giving, too, of his natural darshan.

Each guru has a natural darshan, according to his unfoldment and training. When he is personally going through something, his vibratory rate changes from time to time. Basically, there is only one darshan, which is right from his soul, but going through various unfolded channels, like a prism, it can come to many powers. From some gurus the darshan is deeply loving, warm and gentle. From others it is fiery, sharp and profoundly detached. Many have a darshan so deep it cannot be readily felt, so withdrawn is their consciousness from this plane.

The vibration of the soul of an aspirant on the path when he is meditating is realized by the satguru, and this is the time he helps the most. The bliss of the aspirant is the ultimate of what he wants to bring forth first. The darshan of the satguru will syphon that from him if the intellect or emotion of the aspirant does not get in the way and obstruct and interrupt the process. If you are a meditator who has had inner experiences of light and are living a strict, disciplined life, you will reach a point in your unfoldment of sensitivity enough to feel and distinguish the darshan of a satguru. Soon the feeling will switch, and you will begin enjoying your own bliss of superconscious darshan. These two darshans—yours and that of the satguru—then meet, causing a spiritual dynamic strong enough that another meditator entering the area would automatically be inclined to go into deep meditation even if he were a beginner.

Devotees may say, “I have realized the Self.” How does one know if this is true or not? One does not ascertain this by philosophically questioning, because they know all the right answers. They have memorized them. Look at the aura! Yes! That is telling. And then encourage them to do it again. He did it once. Do it again. The channel is open. The wise satguru will simply watch and feel the devotee’s darshan. If the devotee truly has had the realization of the Self, how wonderful. The darshan will grow stronger. It does not get weaker. It becomes better and better as the months and years go by. But if the feeling that comes forth from within him begins to feel terrible a few weeks after the illumination, it becomes apparent that he undoubtedly had a fine inner experience, but did not go all the way to the source of it all.

The darshan of an adept sitting in Satchidānanda is quite different from the ordinary daily darshan. It is extremely intense, and it causes that ringing sound to vibrate the inner atmosphere in the minds of everyone. No one feels like moving during this holy time, so intensely alive are they. The high-pitched darshan of Satchidānanda is so intense that the physical body does not move, hardly breathes. This you experience when you are in the presence of someone who is going in and out of Satchidānanda and Paraśiva. It is a different kind of darshan—awe inspiring.

The vibration of darshan knows no time or space. You see darshan when the satguru is around, and you can feel his darshan when he is miles away, even at times stronger. Look at darshan as great wires of communication, much like an open telephone line, enabling you to pick up the receiver and always find someone at the other end of the line. Subconscious problems only arise when the devotee does not feel the guru’s darshan. During these times, his personal ego takes over and he becomes confused and ashamed.