With Shiva, the animals felt a gratification; they felt an immense dimension of themselves in His presence.He liked each of them for what they were. He realised that they were more wronged than doing wrong; that they were scorned, only because they looked different. He saw that mankind had an obsession for devising labels. Humans loved to customise descriptions of other beings, so as to suit their own parameters, ignoring the beauty of Nature’s bigger plan. He realised that to look for beauty only in beauty was a subtle ugliness.
He joked with them about the lighter side of everyone’s looks including, many a time, His own. His sense of humour unburdened them and they felt worthy. They knew they were not just beasts; they were part of a divine plan. An important part. And He was here in their midst, as Pasupati. Just His presence seemed to exorcise them of an age-old sense of being unwanted. They began to think of Him as God.
But it was Parvati, who was the most important one, and through Her unmatched love, she had made Him realise more than what all other creatures put together had acknowledged. He was not just Pasupati; He was Pasupati Nath. Not just the Lord of animals, but also the undisputed master of their very soul. It was She who had brought Him to the more intimate relationships, She who drew out the tenderness.
There always comes a time in our life when we know that we are alone, that we are all that we have for ourselves. What was your first awareness of being on your own, in this world?
Mine was, when as an eleven year old, I was sent away more than a thousand miles from home to a boarding School. On the very first day, we were woken up in the early morning by the matron with her crisp and authoritative voice, calling us by our School numbers. So it was not ' Wake up Shailendra', but rather ' Wake up 314'. Right there, away from ' home' , in the middle of a dormitory of 12 boys, a class of 35, and a school of 700 students, i realized that i was just a number. Oh, the miserable feeling that only i knew my own thoughts and emotions, and that i had to keep them closely to myself. I knew right then , that i had to make my own place for myself in the middle of all the 'Others'. And the knowing that i was alone in this ,was indeed a sad one. And then came the more amazing realisation that actually, the 'Others' were also in the same situation. Hmm.
It is the same with our Cosmopolitan world today. We sometimes realize all too deeply that we are just a number ; This realization can come to you anywhere, when you view and understand how many 'multitudes' of people are present in your world, even though you don't know many of them. Especially for example, when you look at the thousands of windows in a 'High- rise' apartment complex, and though you cannot see them, you know that thousands of people live somewhere inside these windows. .. And there,as a witnessing bystander in the middle of this Universal circus, you may become determined to make some good sense of this beautiful life that has been gifted to you by God: You want to shine out much beyond your ‘ Just one of many thousands’ status.
Am i right?
But wait, the world of God isn’t just a huge challenge after all, there is another beautiful phenomenon that we come by. Togetherness.
What was your first realisation of sharing the world? Mine was when i held my soulmate's hand during our wedding ceremony. Right there, in the middle of a crowd of friends who had gathered for our event, i realised the world was going to be totally different from now on. Somewhere between alone and together, the binary of life started to make itself known - There always comes a time in your life , when you know that it was meant to be lived in Togetherness...
And i knew then, that Alone-ness is not meant by Nature as a way of life. The Alone -ness we get, is for providing us Ekaant, Kevalya; it is good for us to think, to introspect, to wonder about the purpose of life, the challenges and the opportunities; And then, to come out into the world ready to share it with a beautiful partner and together dance this binary dance of Shiva and Shakti…And that fabulous feeling that i can share my thoughts and emotions, that i don't have to keep piling them up like a heap of secrets that only i can know or think about, but rather, that i can share my inner world, every little fairy tale i hold in the heart of the eleven year old child, with my partner in life. Meditate upon this.
Shiva is Hara- He who takes away.The Guru never gives , he takes away your ignorance, illusion and all your veils. Just like a computer vendor makes your machine more efficient , simply by freeing it of unwanted junk, and by giving it more space, restoring it to factory settings: So that you shine in your pristine luminosity! शिव हैं हर — जो हर लेते हैं। गुरु कभी देते नहीं।
वे तुम्हारी अज्ञानता, माया और सारे आवरण हर लेते हैं। ठीक वैसे ही जैसे कोई कंप्यूटर वाला तुम्हारी मशीन को अधिक सक्षम बनाता है — केवल अवांछित कबाड़ हटाकर, और “उसे अधिक जगह देकर”, उसे फ़ैक्टरी सेटिंग पर लौटाकर। ताकि तुम अपनी निर्मल आभा में चमक उठो।
“ Life is a process of learning, every moment of unfolding is a learning. Life is ever on the move, never stagnating. It is like a meditation, a meditation in being.” said the Yogi. The snake had known what it was to be in meditation. But he wondered why the Yogi talked of ‘meditation in being’. “This is an echo process you know” , said the Yogi. “Being in meditation, being in meditation, and then meditation in being”. “Tell me” , said the Yogi, “what do you know of being in meditation, and I shall tell you of meditation in being”.
"Since I had no formal teaching in meditation. I made my own improvisations, said the snake, I took a blanket, folded it for a seat, closed my eyes and meditated upon what there was when there was nothing".
"Good" , said the yogi, "This is a direct way of looking for the source, the beginning. What did you realise?"
"The curious mind, which has, so far identified itself with its conditioning, thoughts, and own conceptions, yearns to transcend itself, to know the truth about the truth, to reach the unreachable. Meditation, is a step to introduce this mind to the truth.During meditation, the meditator strives for maximum awareness." said the snake.
" Yes, and this striving is paradoxical too, it comes only after complete relaxation and ‘at easeness’. One should not be, therefore, rigid or conditioned even about approaches to meditation. Continue", said the Yogi.
" In due course, it perceives many new sensory lights, sounds and smells, which of it, did not exist earlier. These serve as indicators of progress. The mind now knows that there is nothing known as soundless. That in fact, the absence of noise which we call silence, alone leads to anahata, the eternal reasonance, vibrating the universal hum. Similarly, that, which we have known as darkness, is actually permeated by lights.Then, the meditator becomes conscious of an energy formation that rises slowly, up the spine. This is a higher awareness and the arrangement is being made for the mind to meet the self, through (within) the meditator. The steadily rising energy reaches the brain and explodes into permeation. This one moment of culmination is spontaneous and the mind meets with, knows, and fuses into the self, all at once. This is the highest awareness. There is nothing more to be seen, heard or smelled; only a knowingness.This knowingness is known by itself. The mind that has been so stilled by the meditator into perfect awareness, knows that it has transcended itself, that it stands in the truth. That, it is experiencing eternity, void, nothingness, everythingness, all at once. There is the experience of the great ‘I am’ness and all previous conceptions of duality between the meditator and the self stand erased. You are at once the knower and the known, the experiencer and the experienced." said the snake.
"Do not forget the vital links", said the yogi," You are not only the experiencer and the experienced you are the experience. You are the knowing."
"The concept of time too, stands radically altered, because you know you have taken a cosmic journey in a split second; indeed, you have experienced time immemorial in a fraction of the present. Later, when the mind returns to the level of intellect, and then reflects upon the experience, it may be called ‘near death’ since there was no body or mind consciousness at the time; and you are trying to understand it through memory. You are filled with the wonderment again, who was it that experienced all that?" Exclaimed the snake.
"Only pure consciousness reflecting upon pure consciousness", said the Yogi. A declaration of the primordial state of being. So did you realise what there was, when there was nothing?Pure consciousness, pure energy, pure transcendence; no matter, no manifestation, nothing of dynamics, only lots of potential energy. Nothing gross, only a subtle state. Like a seed not sprouted, an egg not hatched, a baby not born to the outer world; Prakasa!"
Kundalini is the Universal energy force present in each of us in its microcosmic aspect, symbolised in the form of a sleeping serpent.Yogis teach that since this force is latent, it needs to be raised from its lowest residence, passing through various stations, called Chakras, to the highest peak, where lord Shiva Himself resides. When she does reach the summit and merge into her lord, the person is supposed to become 'enlightened', having really found himself ( That's why you may have noticed the portayal of a serpent head over the head of many of our saints )
The whole inner journey of arousing the energy and raising it to its highest potential, is supposed to be the summary purpose of human evolution to a higher being, carefully systemized under Raja Yoga marg by Lord Shiva. And this divine power, itself permeates both the inner and the outer world. And speaking of the outer, or macrocosmic dimension of the force, while Tibet ,Egypt, and many other civilizations learnt of the force,even the gnostics of western tradition knew of it, but the ancient Indian science of spirituality ,is now becoming truly becoming international. Or should we say kundalini has risen above geographical boundaries ,in her macrocosmic arousal! And we find a whole lot of literature, research and teaching going on, the world over. In India, of course our peers have always known of the chakkers! but extensive work has been done on this esoteric science right in Jammu and kashmir, from Lal ded, Abhinava Gupta,down to Swami Lakshman jee and Pandit Gopi krishna in our own age, all of who have been doyens in teaching of this sacred science. The very basics of the science state that a human has seven major levels of existence, each corresponding to a station within his own body, like a vortice or dominative energy field of that particular realm of existence. So , we have :
1) Muladhar, The base Chakra below the spinal cord, where Kundalini sleeps, happy with her shelter, and if this Chakra is not transcended,one would lead an existence of food/shelter needs. This can go on for years, as in the human evolution itself,and we know that our forefather, the first man, lived as a cave dweller for years before he wandered out to explore. Even today, though the human race as a whole has evolved past just looking for shelter, the first Chakra dwellers would be those individuals who never rise above material realms.So it can be a moneyed man or even a nation that does not think beyond materialism.
2) Svadhisthan,the second Chakra at the root of the progenitive organ, which,appropriately, stands for the procreative need of the individual or race.
3) Manipura, the third Chakra,at the navel, symbolising the 'power' need, a sort of umblical cord of the individual to his higher potential.
4) Hrdya, the fourth, at the heart,denoting the emotive need. Behaviours may be better understood at this level.
5) Visudhha, the fifth at the throat, denoting eloquence .An appreciation of arts and crafts leads to 'culture'.
6) Ajna, the sixth, at the forehead, also the third eye, or Gyan chakshu,denoting intuition, again, appropriately, the sixth sense.
7) Sahasrara, the seventh, over the roof of the head,meaning literally,the thousand petalled, or, symbolically, where the individual becomes, anant- endless,or the Universal itself.
Interestingly, in the outer macrocosm, this is true of sacred geography,and so you may understand even Yatras, to be gradual ascents, for example, at Vaishno deviji Yatra, say from Kol kondoli ,to Charan paduka, Ardh kawari, Haathi matha and finally Mata darbar at Vaishno devi; or at our Amarnath yatra , beginning from Pahal gam, Chandanwari, Sheshnag,Panchtarni, the Mahagunas, and finally the linga at the top, called Amarnath! Of course, this is true for even the geographical abode of Shiva ,Kailash! where one traverses through various stations,before the culmination of Kailash darsana itself. You may even realise that the older day maharajas had gardens,palaces, even cities designed in the chakra weave, Jaipur , with its pols(gates) may be a fine example of sacred geometry. Such was the importance given and pointers erected in honour of Kundalini. Aum Namah Shivaye.
