What Har Har Mahdev actually means.

 

HAR HAR MAHADEVA

The call to Shiva, 'Har Har Mahadeva!" has been popularised to mean ‘ Each is Mahadeva' .This is alright, because essentially we are all made of Shiva Tattva- God stuff .
But actually, handed down from the time of the ancient Rishis, it is a short prayer to Shiva , which means “ O Mahadeva, take away my weaknesses”

While Vishnu is called Hari, lord Shiva is known as Hara. Hara means ‘ to take away’ , and Shiva is the God who helps you on your journey of Self-realisation by taking away junk messages, much like a computer vendor cleans up your hard drive and creates more space for you to grow.

And this is how, the plea to Mahadeva is not just about being victorious on a battleground , but far more importantly about resolving the conflict and confusion within, and growing spiritually..

With that we pray to Shiva the Adi Guru,

GURUDEVA

                           

Sadguru deva namaya !

now that I meet the truth,

He will give himself, I thought,

but, he simply took.

All that darkness gone,

with just one look,

what remained as resplendence, was I !

Sadguru deva namaya !

Welcome to your self  ,he said,

you looked for God,

He gave you me,

mystic is the circle of return,

I give you He!

We are all,

reflections

of we,

lighten up, and see!

Aum Namah Shivaye.  Har Har Mahadeva.

~ From the notes of Shail Gulhati,  Author of the books :
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
The Yogi and the snake
Shiva Poetry
NAAM ROOP- A Tribute to the Divine
And Life Said.

SHIVA BARAAT

 

SHIVA BARAAT

It presented a truly unique sight, this party of Shiva - a happy blend of the most strange and varied revellers. The ganas and forest men and yoginis, precariously old aged people and naughty young pranksters, all moved together. The appearance was straight out of a merry circus.

Some had four legs, others none at all; walking on their hands upside down, winking intermittently at everyone. Some had hair like the leaves of a tree, others looked as though they were trees, with human feet. Some were more than hundred feet in height; others were small enough to be carried in the palms of their larger friends.

Some were dressed in the finest velvets; others wore bushes as their attire, yet others wore nothing at all, except loincloths. Some were playing flutes and gentle music; others were shouting with hoarse voices and pulling out the flutes from the players’ hands.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

THE POT OF TRANSFORMATION

 

THE POT OF TRANSFORMATION

The look that can change your very Being.

Lord Shiva has a million attributes. But love and kindness are the foremost of them.He is the ultimate Alchemist, evolving the coarse metal of our worldly skin into the deeper Gold of Spirituality and mysticism. And this, He does with the ingredient of Love. One experience, One feel, of what love and kindness really means, and we find ourselves in a pot of transformation! And the realisation that the whole world is Shiva’s pot right from the beginning.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

TEACH ME, LORD

 

TEACH ME, LORD

“So, what work do you actually do?” Sati asked coyly like any newly married wife.

“I meditate,” Shiva answered.

“So then, teach me about meditation,” She said.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

MEDITATION

 

“ 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!"

~ From the book The Yogi and the snake ( conversations with God Shiva)

Kundalini, the Chakras, and Raja Yoga of Lord Shiva.

 

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 Lalded, 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.

Shail Gulhati is the Author of the books :
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
The Yogi and the snake
Shiva Poetry
NAAM ROOP- A Tribute to the Divine
And Life Said.

That’s the seed of life.

 

What was God thinking when He decided to create a Universe? He was alone and that did not feel right. He thought of Sharing.

Sharing. That’s the seed of life.

– Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

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