SLOKA 76 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA
\nWHAT IS THE BASIS FOR A HAPPY MARRIAGE?
\nA happy marriage is based first and foremost on a mature love, not a romantic ideal of love. It requires selflessness and constant attention. A successful marriage is one which both partners work at making successful. Aum.<\/p>\n
BHASHYA
\nWhile not all marriages must be arranged, there is wisdom in arranged marriages, which have always been an important part of Hindu culture. Their success lies in the families’ judgment to base the union on pragmatic matters which will outlast the sweetest infatuation and endure through the years. The ideal age for women is from 18 to 25, men from 21 to 30. Stability is enhanced if the boy has completed his education, established earnings through a profession and is at least five years older than the girl. Mature love includes accepting obligations, duties and even difficulties. The couple should be prepared to work with their marriage, not expecting it to take care of itself. It is good for bride and groom to write out a covenant by hand, each pledging to fulfill certain duties and promises. They should approach the marriage as holy, advancing both partners spiritually. It is important to marry a spouse who is dependable, chaste and serious about raising children in the Hindu way, and then worship and pray together. The Vedas say, ”Devoted to sacrifice, gathering wealth, they serve the Immortal and honor the Gods, united in mutual love.” Aum Namah Sivaya.<\/p>\n
LESSON 231 FROM LIVING WITH SIVA
\nTHIRTY-ONE-DAY RETREATS<\/p>\n
From our cyberspace congregation through the Internet came a question about the thirty-one-day period of seclusion that a family observes following a death or a birth in the family. The traditional practice is to not go to the temple, to not visit swamis and gurus, and to put white cloth over the Deities in the shrine room. An understanding of the esoterics behind traditions is very important in order to fulfill them. When someone is born or dies, a door, to either the higher or lower inner worlds, is opened for all who share a psychic bond, depending on where the soul has come from or has gone. For thirty-one days a psychic passageway of vulnerability persists, which is particularly magnetic in instances of death. ”Still,” the devotee asked, ”isn’t a birth especially a happy, sacred event? If so, why can’t we go into the shrine room? Why can’t we go into the temple?”<\/p>\n
Yes, birth is a very sacred and happy event for the entire family and should be regarded as such. However, it is also a very inner time for the family. Inner worship, meditation, singing songs, doing japa are totally acceptable. A primary reason behind this tradition is to protect the health and well-being of the newborn. Secondly, it is observed so that the baby can become adjusted to the big experience of birth, which is a tremendous experience for the soul, to come into a physical body. During this first month, the astral body of the child is getting accustomed to its tiny new physical body and is experiencing leaving that body and reentering that body. This is an important time of astral, physical adjustment for the newly born. Often when a baby is crying uncontrollably, we can assume that the astral body is out of the physical body, trying to reenter. Also, to bring a newborn child during his first month to a temple would be unwise, as everyone would crowd around, relatives and strangers and friends, breathing into his face, and the baby could contract a disease. Thirty-one days is given to keep the child protected from disease and allow him or her full entrance into the physical body.<\/p>\n
The observance of the thirty-one day period immediately after a death in the family is the same traditional practice: closing up the shrine room, putting white cloth over all the Deity pictures and refraining from visiting temples, and from approaching swamis or other holy persons. Cases of a birth and a death are mystically very similar, in that the door of the inner world is open. We want to help that door close, not keep it open by worshiping in the shrine or going to the temple. Spiritual practice is curtailed to avoid the pitfalls that could result in inadvertently drawing forth the energies of beings of the lower worlds rather than the higher.<\/p>\n
Visiting the shrine room at this time would also open the door for uncontrollable crying by members of the family. Crying upsets the astral body of the departed one, because he or she is still connected to the loved ones, and yet is having happy experiences. So, during this particular time of thirty-one days after a birth or death, slowly the inner doors of the higher world as well as the lower worlds are allowed to close.<\/p>\n
This does not restrict relatives and friends from bringing food to the family, which is very helpful, because the natural routine of the home has been disrupted. Especially in the event of the death of a dear family member, there are many, many things to do–funeral arrangements, disposing of clothing and belongings, attending to wills–so it helps if the family is free from its usual chores and religious duties. After the period of retreat, which does not exclude, of course, personal meditation and japa, worshiping within, normalcy may recommence.
\nSUTRA 231 OF THE NANDINATHA SUTRAS
\nINTERACTING WITH OTHER FAITHS
\nSiva’s devotees properly respect and address virtuous persons of all religious traditions. They may support and participate in interfaith gatherings from time to time with leaders and members of all religions. Aum.<\/p>\n
LESSON 231 FROM MERGING WITH SIVA
\nIMPROVING YOUR AURA<\/p>\n
With the knowledge of the affect that we have on others through our mental and emotional astral atmosphere, we gain a wonderful siddhi: the ability to develop and improve our own aura and thus our daily mental and emotional state, and at the same time the power to improve the aura and mood of those around us. Your sadhana now is to take pains to develop your aura in the direction of more desirable colors and to gradually eliminate undesirable ones.<\/p>\n
Now we shall begin to understand how to perform this new sadhana. It works in two ways: 1) by visualizing one or more bright, positive colors flooding your aura, immediately your awareness leaves the undesirable area of the mind (such as depression, anger or jealousy), and you experience more positive feelings; 2) by consciously moving your awareness into more positive areas through the repetition of positive affirmations or mantras, while at the same time working to bring through the corresponding feelings, such as joy, happiness or contentment. In this way the aura is infused with bright, positive colors. Consciously working to improve one’s own aura becomes doubly important when we remember that its colors, being magnetic, react back on our mind and emotions, thus intensifying and neutralizing the original mental states which called them forth. We have all found this to be true through the lesson that any negative mood or mental state seems to hold one in its clutches of its own accord, and it takes willpower to pull oneself into a more positive frame of mind. But, as you may have found in your previous experience with sadhana, consistent effort does yield results. You can steady and strengthen your mental and emotional faculty just as you can strengthen your physical muscles and steady your nerves through exercise and practice.<\/p>\n
By consistently visualizing desirable colors in your aura, especially during moments of trial and emotional turmoil, you can become quite facile and skillful in controlling your individual awareness. Brightening up your aura in this way neutralizes the remnants of negative emotion and charges the aura with actinic energy. Automatically, feelings of depression and despair give way to courage and confidence. Feelings of jealousy and resentment give way to confidence and compassion.<\/p>\n
As you continue with this sadhana, you will see how well it can work for you. This practice will also help you to further build and mold your character in accordance with the yamas and niyamas by keeping your awareness out of the darker or more dense states of the mind. You will soon develop a strong and more attractive personality which will naturally uplift others.<\/p>\n
You have discovered the five states of mind: conscious, subconscious, sub of the subconscious, subsuperconscious and superconscious. You also understand the three phases of the mind: instinctive, intellectual and superconscious. Now we are learning about our individual awareness, what it is and how it travels through the vast universe of the mind just as a traveler moves from place to place on the Earth. In each place that the traveler visits, he is affected by the vibrations around him. He absorbs the thoughts of others and their moods. He is influenced by the events he participates in. Similarly, when your individual awareness travels through the mind, it is influenced or colored by the vibrations within each area of the mind it becomes aware in. This influences your nerve system and lays the foundation for your thoughts and feelings, thus giving rise to the colors in your aura. These colors are ever changing because your own awareness is constantly moving through the vast universe of mind substance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SLOKA 76 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR A HAPPY MARRIAGE? A happy marriage is based first and foremost on a mature love, not a romantic ideal of love. It requires selflessness and constant attention. A successful marriage is one which both partners work at making successful. Aum. BHASHYA While not all marriages must be arranged, there is wisdom in arranged marriages, which have always been an important part of Hindu culture. Their success lies in the families’ judgment to base the union on pragmatic matters which will outlast the sweetest infatuation and endure through the years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-lesson-with-gurudeva","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revers-sun.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}