Category: Dancing With Siva

What Is the Nature of the Primal Soul?

ŚLOKA 19
Parameśvara is the uncreated, ever-existent Primal Soul, Śiva-Śakti, creator and supreme ruler of Mahādevas and beings of all three worlds. Abiding in His creation, our personal Lord rules from within, not from above. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Parameśvara, “Supreme Lord,” Mother of the universe, is the eternal, sovereign one, worshiped by all the Gods and sentient beings. So loved is Śiva-Śakti that all have an intimate relationship. So vast is His vastness, so over-powering is He that men cringe to trans­gress His will. So talked of is He that His name is on the lips of ev­eryone—for He is the primal sound. Being the first and perfect form, God Śiva in this third perfection of His being—the Primal Soul, the manifest and per­sonal Lord—nat­ur­ally creates souls in His image and likeness. To love God is to know God. To know God is to feel His love for you. Such a compassionate God—a being whose res­plen­dent body may be seen in mystic vision—cares for the min­u­tiae such as we and a uni­verse such as ours. Many are the mystics who have seen the brilliant milk-white form of Śiva’s glowing body with its red-locked hair, graceful arms and legs, large hands, per­fect face, loving eyes and musing smile. The Āgamas say, “Pa­r­­am­eśvara is the cause of the five manifest aspects: emanation, sṛishṭi; preser­vation, sthiti; dissolution, saṁhāra; conceal­­ment, tiro­bhāva; and revelation, anugraha.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is God Śiva’s Pure Consciousness?

ŚLOKA 18
Parāśakti is pure consciousness, the substratum or primal substance flowing through all form. It is Śiva’s inscrutable presence, the ultimate ground and being of all that exists, without which nothing could endure. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Parāśakti, “Supreme Energy,” is called by many names: si­­­lence, love, being, power and all-knowingness. It is Sat­chidānan­da—existence-consciousness-bliss—that pris­tine force of being which is un­differentiated, totally aware of itself, without an ob­ject of its awareness. It radiates as divine light, energy and knowing. Out of Paraśiva ever comes Parāśakti, the first man­i­fes­tation of mind, superconsciousness or infinite know­ing. God Śiva knows in infinite, all-abiding, loving super­con­scious­ness. Śiva knows from deep within all of His creations to their surface. His Being is within every animate and inanimate form. Should God Śiva remove His all-perva­sive Parā­śakti from any one or all of the three worlds, they would crumble, disintegrate and fade away. Śiva’s Śakti is the sustaining power and presence throughout the universe. This un­bounded force has neither beginning nor end. Verily, it is the Divine Mind of Lord Śiva. The Vedas say, “He is God, hidden in all beings, their inmost soul who is in all. He watches the works of creation, lives in all things, watches all things. He is pure consciousness, be­­yond the three conditions of nature.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is God Śiva’s Unmanifest Reality?

ŚLOKA 17
Paraśiva is God Śiva’s Unmanifest Reality or Absolute Being, distinguished from His other two perfections, which are manifest and of the nature of form. Paraśiva is the fullness of everything, the absence of nothing. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Paraśiva, the Self God, must be realized to be known, does not exist, yet seems to exist; yet existence itself and all states of mind, being and experiential patterns could not exist but for this ul­timate reality of God. Such is the great mystery that yogīs, ṛishis, saints and sages have re­a­l­ized through the ages. To discover Paraśiva, the yogī pen­etrates deep into contemplation. As thoughts arise in his mind, mental concepts of the world or of the God he seeks, he silently repeats, “Neti, neti—it is not this; it is not that.” His quieted consciousness ex­pands into Sat­chidānanda. He is ev­ery­where, permeating all form in this blissful state. He re­members his goal, which lies be­yond bliss, and holds firmly to “Neti, neti—this is not that for which I seek.” Through prāṇāyāma, through man­­tra, through tan­tra, wielding an indom­itable will, the last forces of form, time and space subside, as the yogī, deep in nirvikalpa samādhi, merges into Paraśiva. The Vedas explain, “Self-resplendent, form­less, un­­ori­gin­­­ated and pure, that all-pervading being is both with­in and without. He transcends even the transcendent, un­­man­ifest, causal state of the universe.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is the Nature of Our God Śiva?

ŚLOKA 16
God Śiva is all and in all, one without a second, the Supreme Being and only Absolute Reality. He is Pati, our Lord, immanent and transcendent. To create, preserve, destroy, conceal and reveal are His five powers. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
God Śiva is a one being, yet we understand Him in three per­­fections: Absolute Reality, Pure Consciousness and Primal Soul. As Absolute Reality, Śiva is un­manifest, un­changing and tran­scendent, the Self God, timeless, form­less and spaceless. As Pure Consciousness, Śiva is the mani­fest primal substance, pure love and light flowing through all form, existing everywhere in time and space as infinite intelligence and power. As Primal Soul, Śiva is the five-fold manifestation: Brahmā, the cre­ator; Vish­ṇu, the preserver; Rudra, the de­s­troy­er; Maheś­va­ra, the veiling Lord, and Sadāśiva, the revealer. He is our personal Lord, source of all three worlds. Our divine Father-Moth­er protects, nur­tures and guides us, veiling Truth as we evolve, revealing it when we are mature enough to re­ceive God’s boun­tiful grace. God Śiva is all and in all, great be­yond our conception, a sa­cred mys­­tery that can be known in direct communion. Yea, when Śiva is known, all is known. The Vedas state: “That part of Him which is characterized by tamas is called Rudra. That part of Him which belongs to rajas is Brahmā. That part of Him which belongs to sattva is Vishṇu.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is the Symbolism of Śiva’s Dance?

ŚLOKA 15
The symbolism of Śiva Naṭarāja is religion, art and science merged as one. In God’s endless dance of creation, preservation, destruction and paired graces is hidden a deep understanding of our universe. Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

BHĀSHYA
Naṭarāja, the King of Dance, has four arms. The upper right hand holds the drum from which creation is­sues forth. The lower right hand is raised in blessing, betokening preservation. The upper left hand holds a flame, which is destruction, the dissolution of form. The right leg, representing obscuring grace, stands upon Apasmārapurusha, a soul temporarily Earthbound by its own sloth, confusion and forgetfulness. The up­lifted left leg is revealing grace, which re­leases the ma­ture soul from bondage. The lower left hand gestures toward that holy foot in assurance that Śiva’s grace is the refuge for everyone, the way to liberation. The circle of fire rep­re­sents the cosmos and especially consciousness. The all-de­vouring form looming above is Ma­hā­kāla, “Great Time.” The cobra around Naṭarāja’s waist is kuṇḍalinī śakti, the soul-impelling cosmic power resident within all. Naṭarā­ja’s dance is not just a symbol. It is taking place within each of us, at the atomic level, this very mo­ment. The Āgamas proclaim, “The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the soul’s obscuration and liberation are the five acts of His dance.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.

What Is the Nature of Life for Śaivites?

ŚLOKA 14
To the Śaivite Hindu, all of life is sacred. All of life is religion. Thus, Śaivite art is sacred art, Śaivite music is devotional music, and the Śaivite’s business is not only his livelihood, it is his service to man and God. Aum.

BHĀSHYA
Each Śaivite is unique in his or her quest, yet all seek the same things in life: to be happy and secure, loved and ap­­preciated, creative and useful. Śaivism has an established culture which fulfills these es­sential human wants and helps us understand the world and our place in it. To all devotees it gives guidance in the qualities of character so necessary in spiritual life: patience, compassion, broadmindedness, hum­­ility, industriousness and de­vo­tion. Śai­vism centers around the home and the temple. Mon­astic life is its core and its power. Family life is strong and precious. Śaivism possesses a wealth of art and ar­chi­tecture, traditions of music, art, drama and dance, and a treasury of philosophy and scholarship. Śaivite tem­ples provide wor­ship services daily. Scriptures give ethical guidelines. Satgurus offer ad­vanced spir­itual initiation. These three—temples, scriptures and sat­­gurus—are our pillars of faith. The Vedas implore, “O learned people, may we with our ears listen to what is beneficial, may we see with our eyes what is beneficial. May we, engaged in your praises, enjoy with firm limbs and sound bodies, a full term of life dedicated to God.” Aum Namaḥ Śivāya.