SLOKA 65 FROM DANCING WITH SIVA
WHAT ARE THE TEN CLASSICAL OBSERVANCES?
Hinduism’s religious tenets are contained in ten terse precepts called niyamas. They summarize the essential practices that we observe and the soulful virtues and qualities we strive daily to perfect. Aum Namah Sivaya.
BHASHYA
Good conduct is a combination of avoiding unethical behavior and performing virtuous, spiritualizing acts. The accumulated wisdom of thousands of years of Hindu culture has evolved ten niyamas, or religious observances. These precepts defining the ideals of kriya are: 1) hri, ”remorse,” be modest and show shame for misdeeds; 2) santosha, ”contentment,” seek joy and serenity in life; 3) dana, ”giving,” tithe and give creatively without thought of reward; 4) astikya, ”faith,” believe firmly in God, Gods, guru and the path to enlightenment; 5) Ishvarapujana, ”worship,” cultivate devotion through daily puja and meditation; 6) siddhanta shravana, ”scriptural listening,” study the teachings and listen to the wise of one’s lineage; 7) mati, ”cognition,” develop a spiritual will and intellect with a guru’s guidance; 8) vrata, ”sacred vows,” fulfill religious vows, rules and observances faithfully; 9) japa, ”recitation,” chant holy mantras daily; 10) tapas, ”austerity,” perform sadhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice. The Vedas state, ”They indeed possess that Brahma world who possess austerity and chastity, and in whom the truth is established.” Aum Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 65 FROM LIVING WITH SIVA
PSYCHIC TUBES
It is said that when man first killed a kinsman, great strength came into the nerve system of the animal body of all upon this planet. Normal seasonal cycles of mating turned into promiscuity. The population increased and is increasing even now with this intensification of kundalini fire through the sexual nature of men and women.
Through the ancient traditions of Saivite monasticism, the inner laws of brahmacharya have been preserved down through the centuries to help guide humanity through the Kali Yuga. This knowledge records the methods of how to preserve the vital energy within the body of men and women so that Saivism, the remembrance of Siva and His crystal clear shakti, can be passed through the darkness of the Kali Yuga in unbroken continuity. For only through the power of the tapas of brahmacharya can His shakti be passed on from one to another until the individual’s shakti finally accrues enough intensity so that the brahmachari becomes as Lord Siva Himself.
It is when fear pervades a country or the planet that the impulses of the animal nerve system cause desires for mating to intensify for the prolongation of the species. During intercourse, the astral bodies of the man and woman merge together, and conception may occur, as a person in the Devaloka gains a body from the woman to enter this world. The connection formed between a man and a woman during intercourse makes a psychic, astral, umbilical-cord-like tube in the lower astral-plane world which lasts for twelve years or more. Providing no other connection with the same or other individual occurred in the meantime, the tube would slowly wear away during the ensuing years. This is provided that, at the same time, sadhana or tapas is performed and regular pilgrimages and visits to Saivite temples are made.
Brahmacharya is holding the power of the Divine within the core of the individual spine so that, as Lord Siva sends His power through the five great winds of the astral body within the physical body, the winds adjust among themselves and emanate a shakti strong enough to adjust the five great psychic fluids within everyone around. This power of brahmacharya is accrued and disseminated through sublimation, then transmutation, of the sexual force. Transmutation occurs automatically through regular daily sadhana, the rigors of positive living and adherence to the ceremonial customs of our religion. Ideally, brahmacharya begins at puberty for virgins and continues on until marriage. Otherwise, brahmacharya sadhana begins after the last sexual encounter with a member of the opposite sex has occurred and when a conscious decision is made to begin the practice of brahmacharya.
While ”in the process” of brahmacharya, those who have had sexual encounters with one or more members of the opposite sex experience times of trial. Great temptation may occur on the physical plane as the astral matter of the animal nerve system and systems of fluids and odors that attract the opposite sex store up in great abundance. This creates a magnetism which attracts those of the opposite sex. Especially attracted will be those of a similar nature and deportment as those of past encounters.
Each person is born in a full state of brahmacharya. Upon reaching puberty, those boys and girls who remain virgins maintain the inherent state of brahmacharya. They are able to ward off, and may not even notice, many emotional and sexual temptations that would be troublesome to the nonvirgin. This is because the psychic shield surrounding the virgin’s aura has never been penetrated. They are the ones ”who walk in the rain without getting wet, sit long in the sun without getting burned.” They are the ones for whom reading about worldly experiences nurtures only their curiosity, whereas had they established psychic tubular connections with a member of the opposite sex, the reading would nurture a much deeper sexual desire. It is the virgins performing brahmacharya sadhana since puberty who can, if they persist, live in ”Brahm,” or God consciousness, most of the time, even without performing intense sadhanas. This is because they have never consciously entered into worldly consciousness. Instead they look out into it as if through a veil.
SUTRA 65 OF THE NANDINATHA SUTRAS
NONINJURIOUS SOLUTIONS
Siva’s devotees uphold the principle not to kill even household pests, but to stop their entry, not to kill garden insects or predators, but keep them away by natural means. This is the highest ideal. Aum Namah Sivaya.
LESSON 65 FROM MERGING WITH SIVA
DISAPPOINTMENT, DISCOURAGEMENT
Another instinctive response to the ebb and flow of life force is disappointment, which intensified becomes discouragement, depression and despair. These three negative states are obstacles to all human endeavor, especially for the spiritual seeker, who must learn early to regulate, control and balance the emotional ups and downs so well that he never experiences discouragement, which is nothing more than an imbalance of force.
Life tests and retests our emotional maturity. Whether we meet those tests or fail is entirely up to us. On the Saivite path, the satguru gives the tests in order to mold and strengthen the seeker’s character. Great strength of character is required to attain spiritual goals, enormous courage and forbearance, and anyone who lacks that strength and stamina will cease striving long before full realization is attained.
Therefore, to bring out the natural strengths, the guru will offer challenges. He knows that we all fall short of our own expectations now and again, and that we react either positively by reaffirmation or negatively through discouragement. As the tests of life present themselves, the satguru will observe the seeker’s response time and time again until his emotional body grows strong enough to combat negative reaction to what appears to be failure and later to absorb within itself all reaction to disappointment, the father of discouragement.
It is the day-to-day reactions to circumstance that indicate the attainment and not mere recorded knowledge about the path. When the aspirant is able to meet ordinary happenings and respond to them in the effortless wisdom born of detachment, that indicates that his striving is genuine. When he is able to encounter conditions that send ordinary people into states of disappointment or discouragement and when his emotional nature indicates mastery over these lesser states of consciousness, he is well on his way toward filling the gaps of a natural growth of the instinctive vehicles–body, emotions and intellect.
But to attain emotional stability, recognition of those vulnerable areas must be cultivated. It is quite natural to encounter circumstances that are potential sources of disappointment. The very recognition and admission are half of the necessary adjustments. As one set of conditions is resolved, another set of a more intense vibration arises naturally to be mastered. With disappointment reined in, the aspirant next faces tendencies of discouragement, then depression and finally despair, for they are all linked together in the instinctive nature of humankind. Once he recognizes these states as belonging to all men and ceases to identify them as personal tendencies, he is then able to cognize its source and convert it. In this way the emotional nature matures under the loving guidance of the spiritual teacher.
