{"id":1057,"date":"2026-09-06T13:08:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2025-09-12T17:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T03:00:03","slug":"lesson-148-merging-with-siva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/lesson-148-merging-with-siva\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 148 \u2013 Merging with \u015aiva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/MwS-Lesson-148.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Recording: Gurudeva&#8217;s cloned voice<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Is the \u0100\u1e47ava M\u0101rga?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much has been said of the path toward merger with \u015aiva, and much remains to be said. But the truth is this: most people on this Earth are following another path for the moment, the path of self-indulgence and self-interest and selfishness. No doubt, it is the most popular path, and it has its own pandits and masters, who teach how to perfect the path of the external ego, how to perfect worldliness, how to perfect the trinity of I, me and mine, how to perfect self-indulgence. But that is not the ultimate path, which is followed by the few, by mature souls. It is important for aspirants to know that the real path leading toward merger with \u015aiva has many detours, pitfalls and sidetracks that beckon unwary travelers. It is important for him or her to know about these side paths, to be warned, as I am doing now, to be wary of them, to be cautious, to be extremely careful. <br><br>One of these I call the \u0101\u1e47ava m\u0101rga, or the path of egoism. True, it is not a traditional path, but it is a path well worn, well known in all human traditions. In fact, you could say there are three such untraditional paths, three worldly m\u0101rgas: \u0101\u1e47ava, karma and m\u0101y\u0101. The last two bonds, karma and m\u0101y\u0101, are the first to begin to diminish their hold on the soul as one proceeds on the path to enlightenment. And when these fetters begin to loosen, the \u0101\u1e47ava, the personal ego identity, thoughts of \u201cme,\u201d \u201cmy\u201d and \u201cmine,\u201d should also begin to go, but often don\u2019t. When karma and m\u0101y\u0101 begin to go, \u0101\u1e47ava often becomes stronger and stronger and stronger. <br><br>The karma m\u0101rga is when the soul is totally enmeshed in the actions and reactions of the past and making new karmas so swiftly that little personal identity, or egoism, is experienced, like a small boat bouncing on a vast ocean of ignorance, the ignorance of the m\u0101y\u0101 m\u0101rga. This m\u0101rga is not spoken of at all in Hindu scripture, except indirectly, yet all the sages knew of its delightful distractions. It is truly there for the soul who is bound to ignorance of how to know karma, know dharma, or even know anything but the next and the next experience, as each is eagerly thrust upon him. Here the soul is bound by karmas, bound by m\u0101y\u0101, giving the abilities to ignore. That is the path that has to be left once on it, the sidetrack to be ignored and passed by. A sharp turn, a firm decision, brings this unhappy soul onto the \u0101\u1e47ava m\u0101rga, the path of extreme personal identity. Here the realization comes that \u201cYes! I am a person on this Earth with the rights of all. I am no longer bound and harassed by experience. I can adjust experience, create new experience for myself and for others. I can be the controller. I am I.\u201d <br><br>The I becomes the realization and sometimes the end of the path of the karma and m\u0101y\u0101 m\u0101rga. The I, that all-important personal identity, so strong, becomes the realization of the small and limited \u201cself,\u201d which appears to be a big and real \u201cself\u201d to those who have found this path, which is not the spiritual path, but the path of grayness; while the karma and m\u0101y\u0101 m\u0101rgas are the paths of darkness. Yes, the \u0101\u1e47ava m\u0101rga is a real m\u0101rga, a labyrinth. It truly is. <br><br>We are concerned to define \u0101\u1e47ava because a word can be dispatched too quickly; a concept can be forgotten. \u0100\u1e47ava, the personal ego, finding oneself, with a small \u201cs,\u201d the personal identity, gaining intellectual freedom are all modern clich\u00e9s. Defining the \u0101\u1e47ava m\u0101rga appeared in my mind as a necessary thing to do while I was helping devotees to understand the chary\u0101 m\u0101rga, the kriy\u0101 m\u0101rga, bhakti yoga, karma yoga and r\u0101ja yoga. To offset the negative with the positive better explains the positive. To understand the pure essence of ignorance, where it comes from, its values, beliefs and motivations, better defines the heights of wisdom out of which comes dharma and aspirations for mukti. Sometimes, in fact, we see \u0101\u1e47ava m\u0101rg\u012bs thinking they are yoga m\u0101rg\u012bs. <br><br>We cannot advance on the path without a starting place. No race was ever won but that everyone began at the same place. To know where we are on the path of life progressing to mukti\u2014which is one of the four tenets of life, dharma, artha, k\u0101ma, and mukti, merger with \u015aiva\u2014we should not be deluded by the ignorance of what the \u0101\u1e47ava actually is, and what artha and k\u0101ma are, the strength of their hold on the soul, preventing the dharma and the final attainment of mukti. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is the \u0100\u1e47ava M\u0101rga? Much has been said of the path toward merger with \u015aiva, and much remains to be said. But the truth is this: most people on this Earth are following another path for the moment, the path of self-indulgence and self-interest and selfishness. No doubt, it is the most popular path, <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/lesson-148-merging-with-siva\/\">READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-merging-with-siva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3458,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057\/revisions\/3458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kauaishindumonastery.com\/mc-daily-lessons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}