SLOKA 154 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA
WHO WERE KADAITSWAMI AND CHELLAPPAN?
Kadaitswami was a dynamic satguru who revived Saivism in Catholic-dominated Jaffna, Sri Lanka, in the 1800s. Chellappaswami was an ardent sage, ablaze with God consciousness, immersed in divine soliloquy. Aum.
BHASHYA
Kadaitswami was a powerful siddha, standing two meters tall, whose fiery marketplace talks converted thousands back to Saivism. 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 sannyasin. 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 Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 309 FROM LIVING WITH SIVA
ANGELIC HELPERS
Good evening! It is wonderful to be in Mauritius and see how strong Saivism 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 Saiva faith through your temple society and other fine institutions. I hope you will do this, and by doing so bring Saivism 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 Ganesha, Lord Murugan and our Great God Siva, exist in shining bodies of golden light. This Third World is called the Sivaloka. 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 Bhuloka. 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 Sivaloka, the Third World.
Saivism’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 vibhuti 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.
SUTRA 309 OF THE NANDINATHA SUTRAS
RAJA YOGA, THE ROYAL PATH TO REALIZATION
My devotees learn and perfect the five steps to enlightenment: attention, concentration, meditation, contemplation and finally samadhi, wherein they realize the unspeakable Truth known only by the knower. Aum.
LESSON 309 FROM MERGING WITH SIVA
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 they are personally going through something, their vibratory rates change 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 Satchidananda is quite different than 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 Satchidananda 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 Satchidananda and Parasiva. 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.
