SLOKA 1 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA
WHO AM I? WHERE DID I COME FROM?
Rishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emotions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into oneness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek. Aum.
BHASHYA
We are immortal souls living and growing in the great school of earthly experience in which we have lived many lives. Vedic rishis have given us courage by uttering the simple truth, ”God is the Life of our life.” A great sage carried it further by saying, there is one thing God cannot do: God cannot separate Himself from us. This is because God is our life. God is the life in the birds. God is the life in the fish. God is the life in the animals. Becoming aware of this Life energy in all that lives is becoming aware of God’s loving presence within us. We are the undying consciousness and energy flowing through all things. Deep inside we are perfect this very moment, and we have only to discover and live up to this perfection to be whole. Our energy and God’s energy are the same, ever coming out of the void. We are all beautiful children of God. Each day we should try to see the life energy in trees, birds, animals and people. When we do, we are seeing God Siva in action. The Vedas affirm, ”He who knows God as the Life of life, the Eye of the eye, the Ear of the ear, the Mind of the mind–he indeed comprehends fully the Cause of all causes.” Aum Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 156 FROM LIVING WITH SIVA
MARRIAGES OF THE SPIRIT
Now, you might ask, suppose a young married couple find that they don’t like one another. Suppose they are not suited to one another? Well, they are, assuming the match was carefully determined according to the basic tendencies in the nature of each child, according to harmonious and compatible character delineations and not as a forced marriage. The two children, being of the same basic tree, actually grow together in growing up together. This is an ancient ideal among Hindus and other peoples. Though it is not widely practiced in today’s world, it may be in the future when society regains the inner understanding that dispels the misconceptions surrounding the subject.
One of the most compelling aspects of a compatible child marriage is that divorce never even enters into the consciousness of these husbands or wives. In such a relationship, to think of divorce would be like thinking of cutting off your arm. You don’t even consider cutting off your own arm to solve a problem. Nor do children who have grown up together in marriage consider divorcing each other. They have their children at an early age, and they grow up with their own children, so the whole family is closely knit.
The success of a good early marriage is due to the fact that it is a marriage of the spirit. It is not simply an emotional, impulsive pairing or a sexual mating. When the family elders, the mothers and fathers, consult with the family jyotisha shastri and make the betrothal at the very early age of perhaps seven, the destinies of the children are fully directed in the mind of each member of the family. There is no doubt, uncertainty or suspense.
We might think that children should not have their lives determined for them in this way by other people, that they should be given free will to make their own mistakes, to find their own happiness. But think for a minute, how much free will do we really have in our Western culture? Without even knowing it, we buy what manufacturers and advertisers determine we should buy, our minds are filled with what the media presents to us, and we date and marry those we contact by chance circumstance. Our existence in all ways is dependent upon our surroundings more than we would like to admit.
Now, I am only giving you one view of early marriage. You will have to arrive at your own conclusion on this subject. Certainly, there are abuses of the practice of arranged marriage in general. For instance, in response to such abuse, in 1999 England passed a law forbidding forced marriages of young girls.
The responsibility for the marriage of youths lies with the parents, just as they were responsible for their children’s conception. After both families have agreed upon the betrothal, it is the duty of the parents in each family to thoughtfully direct the minds of the children toward one another. The parents and all the elders of the family watch carefully to see that the children do not form any other romantic alliances. They may have other close friends, but first and foremost in the mind of each is the husband- or wife-to-be. In this way, a slow amalgamation of the souls of the two children is made; and looking within, it is possible to see the process of interweaving which takes place on the higher planes of consciousness.
SUTRA 156 OF THE NANDINATHA SUTRAS
TRUE WEALTH
Devout Hindus remain dignified in deprivation and humble in prosperity. Knowing that one can be spiritually rich in poverty and spiritually impoverished in affluence, they live bountifully in either world. Aum.
LESSON 156 FROM MERGING WITH SIVA
JAPA OPENS INNER DOORS
One who performs japa properly will realize what he knows. You see, japa opens up the inner mind and focuses the energies of certain chakras, which are consciousness encased within the psychic nerve ganglia of the nadi network. Therefore, if he is a divine person, he will realize that Divinity. If he is an angry, selfish person, then he will realize that. We would want him to realize the former but not the latter. Through karma yoga, Sivathondu, the angry, hateful, contentious, competitive person will face himself through a series of small situations in which small realizations will occur. The instinctive nature and habits will be corrected until the individual is able to work smoothly over long periods of time. We would not want to open up his mind to the impurities, lest he become depressed or even morose and suicidal. Therefore, japa yoga obviously is an initiation that should come a little down the road, farther down the path.
Generally those who want to practice japa yoga and do have impurities working within them fall away from repetitive mantras very quickly, becoming a little afraid of what might happen if they are successful. Their own soul is watching after them in this early stage. Then there are those who are ardent, fanatical, you might say, who want to get results in a limited period of time and have no sense of the consequences. They work tirelessly to do this. The wise guru would discourage much practice of intense mantras or meditating alone, and would instead encourage karma yoga, giving to others, working for work’s sake, serving for service’s sake, not looking for rewards. Group meditations and group chanting are fine at this stage, as is temple worship until the purification process has had time to work its magic.
In short, there are two kinds of Hindus–a majority who worship in the temples without a philosophical background and those who do have such a background and take part in their religion, discussion of the higher knowledge and meditation upon it, feeling no need for the Gods or for temple worship. The Panchakshara Mantra, Aum Namah Sivaya, the center of the Vedas, is the link between the two, between Siddhanta and Vedanta, because it makes the mind realize what it knows. Every Siddhantin knows a little about Vedanta and disregards it. And every Vedantin knows a bit about Siddhanta and disregards it. Through chanting Aum Namah Sivaya, finally you will realize what you know, including what you previously disregarded, and that blends the two–makes the whole person. The purusha becomes satisfied living in the physical body. The jiva becomes Siva.
Initiation is essential for the ultimate results in chanting ”Aum Namah Sivaya,” though, the uninitiated can and do say ”Aum Namah Sivaya.” Within them it won’t have much of an effect, but there will be an effect. This effect will be more potent and powerful once you have diksha, having studied and purified yourself through the purificatory process of sadhana. It would be so much better to chant ”Aum Saravanabhava” at this time, invoking Lord Muruga to bring the guru forth in your life who will initiate you. Muruga is the first guru, the first swami and renunciate. This is the preparatory stage.
