A dance of Time

 

Shiva knew a perfect stillness.
When He sat alone, He was in deepest oneness, always. When He closed His eyes in self-repose, a most enigmatic dance presented itself to Him; a dance of Time; where the past and the future got animated as players and themselves entertained Him , like performers in a carnival. It had dawned on Him that He was an eternal witness, and thus too, the realisation that the story of all life, was His story.

Life was like a repeated throw of dice, and He knew, somehow the dice rolled from His hand. But He was not always in control of how the dice would roll.This was the interesting thing:
It was a story whose end was fixed, but the journey itself was always unknown; a completely uncharted flight to a known destination. The play seemed to be in the remembrance of the simple knowledge that all would be well by the end. But no one knew when, not even He.

The challenge was to hang onto the exciting act, with just a vague but comforting belief that though He appeared to be one of many actors, He was also the scriptwriter; That life would always have a secret to be known, but He was the encryptor.
This smug feeling was only strengthened each time He met the familiar beloveds. With each bunch of new acts that would be played out, in all the new stories that came into being, there was a flood of intimations from the past, accompanied by a great remembrance of the power that He Himself was.

( From the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.)
A modern storytelling of Great God Shiva and Sati's story 

RUDRA- THE WIELDER OF THUNDERBOLTS

 

RUDRA- THE WIELDER OF THUNDERBOLTS

Rudra was more comfortable in the forest; Always at home with the naturally established order of Nature, of life itself.

Perhaps that is why He allowed stories about Himself to be floated and rumoured among the city people. It did not trouble Him at all that tales about ‘The Terrible Rudra’ abounded. This was quite in character with society: If you were not present in its midst, you became the subject of talk. If you were not present to affirm or deny what was being said, anything could be said about you! Society relished rumours, and Rudra was a favourite in fuelling their imagination.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

Sheran Waali, Lady of the lions!

 

Parvati was different from the very beginning. She was well loved by everyone, She played with the girls of Her age, She won the love of Her elders and admiration of Her palace staff, but She was different. There was always a sense of knowership in Her, as if She knew that She was someone very special, born for a very special destiny. But this was not in a conceited way at all. She did not have even an iota of arrogance, even though She was easily the prettiest among all the girls in the whole province.

She was good at Her studies and all the rishis who came to teach Her gave Her an excellent report card. “She can do even better, if She wants,” said Bhrighu one day to Himavat. “But…”
“But?”

“But I have noticed, your Majesty, that Parvati puts in only as much effort as is required to get the basics right. She could excel in anything that She wants, and to be honest She does all things very well, but then, I have noticed, She leaves it at a level of ‘fairly good’, and weans off. It is as if She has Her heart in something else.”

“Hmm… like what?”

"Like, She hardly plays with Her  dolls, She keeps making Shivalingas in the sand.”
“The only thing that interests Her about the dolls, is when a  doll  marriage is arranged!”

“Yes! Yes, that’s true,” said Mena. “I have to make new dresses for the doll bride, and Parvati insists that I make many sweetmeats in the kitchen!”

“Hmm… does She still say She will marry Shiva?” Himavat asked Mena.
“Oh, come on, She is just a child. And those things are very far. Who knows who will marry whom?”

“Shiva. It will always be Shiva,” said Bhrighu with a solemn look.

“Always be Shiva what?” asked Mena.

“It will always be Shiva, whom Shakti marries. It was so in the past, and it will be so in future,” said Bhrighu, his eyes now half closed in meditative bliss. 

"My Lord! My Lord ,what is one to do with Princess Parvati?” asked the captain of the private guard of Himavat’s security.

“Why, captain? What has Parvati done?” smiled Himavat.

“My Lord, She goes after the mountain leopards and panthers, catches them and then pats them as if they are little kittens. It’s dangerous my Lord, this sort of play.”

“But do not all princes play with the wild cats as if they were our domesticated cats? Is it not part of their training and even courage?” asked Himavat.

“Yes, my Lord, but we must not forget that Parvati is all of eight years! And my Lord… She is a girl!”

“Hmm… you are right, captain. I think Parvati deserves a new title for this trait,” laughed Himavat loudly. “From now on we should call Her, Sheran Waali, Lady of the lions!”

“Haha, what are you gentlemen discussing about my little Goddess?” chipped in Mena. “Parvati is luminous, resplendent; She is Jyotan Waali, the embodiment of light…”

From the book ~  SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.    , a modern rendition of Great God Shiva's story by Shail Gulhati

GAMES, MUSIC AND BONFIRE NIGHTS

 

GAMES, MUSIC AND BONFIRE NIGHTS

The welcome to Parvati in Kailash was stupendous.

Ganas and ganikas had lined up on both sides of the mountain path leading up to Shiva’s cave.

Their hands were full of forest flowers and some wild berries which they showered upon the divine couple as Nandi brought them through. They cheered loudly, “Welcome Parvati, welcome Mistress of the jungle, Ruler of the world, Goddess of our hearts! Welcome to Kailash, Mother Annapurna, nourisher of our bodies! Welcome Bhagwati, nourisher of our souls! Welcome, welcome, welcome home!”

At night, there were festivities.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

SARVATRA BHAIRAVA- Shiva is all around !

 

Dear Friends
this very beautiful Nataraja pic gave me a very positive vibration.
And then the realisation:

'Sarvatra Bhairava', Shiva's dance is everywhere.
If you look closely, and match this with your science lessons, you will be taken back to the fact of how the entire cosmos is made up of One energy, which manifests into the smallest matter as atoms, which then join other atoms, to make molecules, and which in turn join yet more, to create elements. Shiva is 'Bhuta Ishwara', Lord of the elements, this then, is His science.
And we are also told that He enhances this skill by Bhuta Sandhaan ( combining) to make compounds, and that He allone knows the mystical science of Bhuta Prithak ( dis- engage)

But unlike the generation of 'things' by AI (artificial intelligence ), it all happens not as a mathematical equation or logarithm. The ancient Kashmir Rishis told us, Shiva creates like a poet, not out of calculation, but out of His over flowing pure ecstasy.This reminds me of a beautiful analogy i once heard : When God was a baby He spilled his milk and created the milky way! ( The entire galaxy where our own planet earth lives)

Shiva is the ancient drummer, His Damaru sounds the pulse of the Universe, it is the 'pacemaker' of the heart of this world....And commensurate with His own beat, next comes the tapping of His Divine feet...
and the dance begins; the play of Nataraja is on, and He seems to invite us by being ' The first on the floo'
We must know that we are are part of it and dance our steps accordingly, with Shiva consciousness; come, join the dance of Shiva.
Aum Namah Shivaye!

~ Shail Gulhati is the author of the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

KASHMIR SHAIVISM

 

KASHMIR SHAIVISM

In Kashmir Shaivism , we learn that even Gyan is of two types. Baudh Gyan ( Theory ) and Paurasa gyan ( Practical )

Thus Kashmir Shaivism deals with both Non -dual philosophy and experiential spirituality.

What is meant by Non dual?

It is pure monism:

‘There is nothing in the world except God’ .

This is Advaita Vedanta explaining Non duality.

‘There is ‘ No thing ‘in the world that is not God’.

This is Kashmir Shaivism explaining Non duality.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

SUDDENLY SATI KNEW THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF HER LIFE

 

SUDDENLY SATI KNEW THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF HER LIFE

There was gold everywhere. Gold in the mountains, gold in the valley, gold in the sky. It was a golden luminosity basking in its own unending lustre. When Sati opened Her eyes, a golden sun was at Her window. She was in the palace.

She remembered everything that Rishi Vashishta had taught Her.

Suddenly, Sati knew the whole purpose of Her life.

The thought of Shiva penetrated Sati like an arrow ,and She actually felt Her heart flutter, like a well-gotten target.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.