SLOKA 110 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA
WHAT DOES THE PUJARI DO DURING PUJA?
During the puja, through mantras, mudras and mystical ritual, the priest invokes the Deity. All observances are precisely detailed in the Agamas; every act, every intoned syllable is rich in esoteric meaning. Aum Namah Sivaya.
BHASHYA
The pujari performs strict ablutions and disciplines to prepare himself for his sacred duty. Before the puja, he ritually purifies the atmosphere. As the puja begins, he meditates on Lord Ganesha, praying that all obstacles may be removed. He then beseeches the God to indwell the image, to accept the prayers of the votaries, and to shower blessings and love on all. Calling the name of the Deity and chanting mantras and hymns from the Vedas and Agamas, the pujari makes offerings of unbroken rice, burning camphor, incense, holy ash, water, red turmeric powder, flowers and food. Sometimes offerings of milk, rosewater, sandalwood paste and yogurt are poured over the murti as an oblation, called abhisheka. Bells are loudly rung, conch shells sounded, and musicians may play the temple drums and woodwinds. The pujari treats the Deity with utmost care, attending to Him as the King of kings. When the puja has ended, the pujari passes the now sanctified offerings to those present. The Vedas state, ”Daily the sacrifice is spread. Daily the sacrifice is completed. Daily it unites the worshiper to heaven. Daily by sacrifice to heaven he ascends.” Aum Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 110 FROM LIVING WITH SIVA
THE TWO GREAT TRANSMUTATIONS
It is important to gain an intellectual concept of what it is like to experience through a prolonged term the deep, inner will of Siva–for, granted, we are always experiencing something. Therefore, it is easy to categorize in one of three departments just where the impulses are coming from that cause our motivations. Number one: the instinctive impulses are from us and from others, and mainly concern our body and baser emotions. These are easy to distinguish, as these impulses provide most of the daily activities. Number two: the impulse to speak and to think, begun through one’s own efforts or those of another. This is generally based on recurring knowledge accumulated in the past, churned up through present observations and conjecture about the future. This is also easy to distinguish, as these impulses generally fill any gaps that the instinctive impulses have made in a typical day. We can easily see that unless some break occurs, there is absolutely no room for number three, which is simply for Siva’s will to occur.
Therefore, the process is one of breaking up the patterns of instinct and intellect, separating the impulses of them both, through regular and regulated periods of sadhana and meditation, so that the divine will, spiritual energy and infinite awareness can filter in and cause a new intellect to form. Beginning the sadhana, and the continued practice, is the first sign that Siva’s will is being done in the aspirant’s life. New energy abides within him because of the transmutation from the base to the Divine. New knowledge comes forth from within him as he builds upon it through remembering his accumulated inner experiences as if they occurred but a moment ago.
Should you wish to separate number one from number two and experience the dominance of number three, Siva’s will, simply begin to say to yourself, ”Siva’s will be done,” throughout each day as the occasions arise. Be careful to categorize each impulse, so that it is clear to your intellect which category you are aware in, just as by being more aware of the Sun than the Earth you begin to forget the Earth and come to know the Sun. Siva’s will is being done always. By being more aware of the inner processes and impulses of willpower than the outer configurations of other people, their thoughts and feelings, you will soon live in the world contentedly and come to know the Shi, the Absolute Self beyond all form, time and causation, and the Va, the All-Pervading Self, as actinic energy permeating all form, and you will rest blissfully in this new knowledge on your new intellectual threshold. ”Siva’s will be done”–the first sadhana on the path. ”Siva’s will be done”–the last sadhana on the path, after all others have been perfected.
SUTRA 110 OF THE NANDINATHA SUTRAS
THE FIRST STEP OF RENUNCIATION
Siva’s young men devotees inclined to throw down the world and enter the monastery should read and accept the Holy Orders of Sannyasa and adjust themselves to its ideals before requesting training. Aum Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 110 FROM MERGING WITH SIVA
WE ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE
Awareness of perfection is attained by sitting down and arriving at the state of expanded cosmic consciousness inside yourself. It’s there only to be discovered. You can do that in nine minutes, nine hours, nine days or nine years. Take as long as you like. The fact remains that deep inside you is perfection. So, you see, you have a choice. You can remain in the valley, live in fear of the stormy ocean of life and death, or you can scale the nearby mountain and see from the top how it is from that perspective. Either way, you and everyone in the world are all right in the now.
The mystic lives within himself and deals positively with the events and forces outside himself. He is always consciously striving to realize that limitless Reality within him. That is his practice. Yet, he welcomes the challenges of the world, not as a karma forced upon him against his will but as his own self-created dharma. If he is really a mystic, he doesn’t run away from these challenges. He inwardly knows that life’s daily difficulties bring forth his inner strength in response to them. He sees the underlying purpose of life. He accepts and doesn’t reject. He searches for understanding, for the lesson that lies behind each experience instead of resenting the experience, which then creates another subconscious barrier for him. He knows that most problems are with man and the way he looks at things. So, the mystic doesn’t need to retreat from the world.
The same process continues regardless of where he goes. He can be as peaceful or as disturbed in New York City as in a secluded Himalayan valley. It all depends on what goes on within him. Nor should he be emotionally concerned with the problems of the world in which he finds himself. A concert sitarist is doing himself and his fellow man no good by saying, ”How can I play so beautifully when everyone else plays so poorly?” Similarly, the mystic cannot take the attitude, ”How can I be peaceful and content when the world is in such a mess?” We need beautiful music and we need beautiful, peaceful beings.
Actually, the mystic sees the world as a conglomerate of adjusting forces, and through this perspective he is not emotionally involved in these forces. The world is a mirror of ourselves and is perfectly all right to the man who is content within himself. But you have to find this out for yourself, because unless you experience it, nothing I say will convince you that everything you have been through and are going through is wonderful and a fulfillment of the great pattern of your life.
