Significance of Mahashivaratri - Tantra perspective

Satsang by Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Shivaratri, the cosmic merger of Shiva and Shakti, is celebrated on the dark moon of Magha (February /March). This union symbolizes the concept of kundalini yoga in which Shiva goes to meet Shakti. It represents the awakening of consciousness at the material level of existence and uniting with shakti at the higher point of evolution. Shiva means higher consciousness and ratri means night, referring to the 'dark night of the soul', the state just before illumination. Shivaratri is considered to be the most aus­picious day for sannyasins and for taking sannyasa diksha.

As the story goes, on Shivaratri, the darkest night of the year, Shiva, lord of yogis, sets out for the home of Parvati, daughter of the Himalayas. Shiva is an ascetic, and covered in snakes. His marriage party of demons and ghosts, sym­bolizing the instinctive and animal propensities of which he is controller, is equally horrendous. Some have no head, some walk on only one leg or maybe three. Some have huge elephant ears which flap in the breeze, others have a red eye in the middle of their forehead or in their belly.

However, no sooner do Shiva and his companions enter Parvati's Himalayan kingdom than they are all instantly transformed into lovely beings with beautiful faces, fine clothes and glittering ornaments. Instinct becomes intuition. Thus the marriage takes place amidst great wonder, joy and merrymaking. Then Shiva and Shakti go up to the top of Mount Kailash, symbolizing sahasrara chakra, where they embrace and merge in the highest bliss of cosmic consciousness.

After consummating their marriage, Shiva and Shakti descend together, symbolizing that the highest conscious­ness is now manifesting on the plane of duality. Having become one, Shiva and Shakti are now able to act in the world as two. This event is of great significance for the evolution of all beings because it also represents the process taking place in every aspirant who experiences a spiritual awakening and then returns with heightened awareness to work in the world.In tantra, Shiva represents the male principle, consciousness beyond all action and change. Shakti represents the female principle, eternal evolution through action. She is negative to his positive; he initiates, she receives and transmits. Shakti is the creative energy that manifests the universe in response to the inspired consciousness of Shiva. We perceive them as two, but really they are the complementary aspects of the one, for energy without consciousness is dissipated and consciousness without energy is impotent. They are inherent in each other, like brightness in the sun, and their union is the primal image of blissful communion and awareness of oneness through duality.

On the physical plane, the sages have long maintained, and science now agrees, that matter, consciousness and energy are one. The basic unit of matter, the atom, is now known to be a static, positive core of energy balanced by a dynamic, negative force field - the union of Shiva and Shakti. What applies to the microcosmic atom also applies to the macrocosm which is held together by intermeshing energy fields.

In the realm of the human psyche, the union of Shiva and Shakti is a deep-rooted archetype of the personal integration achieved when, through yoga, we come to understand the forces that constitute our personality. Within everyone is the masculine and feminine ideal, and by exploring this complementary inner nature, we can pass through to a richer mode of being. Through tantra we explore the dark terrain of the unconscious mind, granting conscious recognition to the unruly passions, violent impulses and irrational fantasies that are suppressed in the daily business of living. This instinctive part of our nature, symbolized by Shiva's demonic companions, is transformed when we yoke together the opposites within ourselves ­positive and negative, masculine and feminine, Shiva and Shakti. An awakening takes place and the unfulfilled potential within our psyche becomes actualized, revealing our true inner nature. What we have long considered monstrous becomes divine.

Shiva is the eternal faculty of awareness, the unchanging, unmoving spark of the divine in each of us. Shakti gives us the mind and body that are our tools for the direct perception of this divine awareness. Shakti is the power that propels us to the peaks of expanded awareness. On the spiritual plane, the union of this cosmic couple is the primal image of blissful union in the Absolute. In sexual rapture we forget our isolated selves and experience a fragment of joy, but this is just a foretaste of the eternal ecstasy that dissolves the individual consciousness into the supreme.

The union of Shiva and Shakti is the primordial symbol of eternal communion with the divine. Here there is neither purity nor impurity, neither affirmation nor denial, neither form nor formlessness, but a state of superconscious being that is beyond all duality. The union of man and woman becomes the union of Shiva and Shakti; the physical union becomes psychic union in the highest state of transcendental consciousness. The ordinary man and woman, the creatures of passion and ignorance, are transmuted into transcen­dental Shiva and Shakti, unconditioned and free.

Of Adages and Stories

As time goes by, words have different effects on us. They reveal themselves in different light.
Maybe they get subtler, finer and polished.
Like many of us, i had some favourite quotation, proverbs, sayings, adages and stories.
There are some adages, from my experience, that have lost power. Some got redefined and then new ones came into limelight.

I believe Guru or Guiding light or Inspiration (whatever one chooses to name it) manisfests in form of words (mantras?)

Mind over Matter.
This was an important adage that kept me going, and not letting body dictate the limits. I "believed" and it would work. Though this is still a wonderful thought. Now i think... There is Guru's Grace above all of this. Spirit over mind over matter.

Dont get mad, get even.
Hmmm.... This is a world of competition, revenge, vendetta. Kali Yuga. :) There is so much hardness, harshness and crudeness around. Covering up the heart deep within which is still full of love, High above the Spirit is at peace. we tear away our eyes from compassion, love and forgiveness. This mantra was given to me, when i stepped into the corporate world. and the material world in general. Now there is no need to get even any more. I have found way to channelise that anger constructively. And reminding myself, there is no wrong being done, it is fine and perfect.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Again the race is on.  Adrenalin.... Ya ya.. I'd subscribed to this like bible. Like animals pitted against each other in a cage. A F1 car race. CHALLENGE, CHALLENGE., CHALLENGE.. WIN.. WIN... WIN... GO... GO... GO... So much that, one cannot operate without resistance. Then one burns out, just when the climax is reached. There was no joy of accomplishment. Then i got bored with the peace and tranquility. Wtf.. GIMMEE more challenges. how do i act?

This adage lost power... Firstly, When the going gets tough, it is a blessing.
Secondly, something is tough or easy comes from comparison. A situation is simply a situation. Either one does it or one does not. Any which way it is fine.

As time passed, newer adages took precedence and begin governing the direction of my thoughts.

From a vision board in a clinic
Lord give me the serenity to accept what i cannot change, the strength to change what i can and the wisdom to know the difference.


From Dale Carnegie.
Be generous, honest and truthful in your appreciations. This stays put on the list of favorits, from school times.

Allama Iqbal
1. Raise yourself to the heights of courage and strength of spirit, such that God himself would need to ask before he writes every bit of your destiny.

2. In the strife ridden material life, the battle of existence, Belief in Self, Faith in God and Universal Love, are the weapons of the brave.

Bhagavad Gita
Athah Yogah Anushashanam
Sthita Pragya
Yoga Samatwam Uchyate

Sri Ramakrishna

1. You dont have to drop any habit, when the time comes the powerful gale of the transformation will do the neeedful
2. You become what you pretend to be
3. A spiritual person is gentle (soft) in demeanour

Swami Vivekananda
Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached.

Anonymous (Dont remember where i read this)

Be like the grass that survives the flood and not the tree which wont bend and gets uprooted in the flood

From Yoga School Shri Yogendra
Awareness is Yoga

Our Guru, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
The prayer of the Disciple: Protect me from trauma, NO, thats not my prayer. I only pray that i be able to face all the adversities with confidence, equanimity and humility.

Ramnavami, Yoga teacher, friend and guide 
To live life and do your duties you need Guru's Grace, material resource, and wisdom. Siddhi, Riddhi and Buddhi.


There are two stories which reinforce the thoughts "Remain steadfast and solid in your beliefs, Be true to your nature" which i shall elaborate on.
From Kulkarni Sir:
There was this guy Surendra, who is used to buy newspaper from the gate everyday. Surendra's frinad Tanay usually accompanied him. After buying the newspaper, Surendra said thank you to the vendor without fail. For which he never got any response. One day Tanay tells him, why bother thanking that fellow, he is not even bothered. To which Surendra says, to say so is my nature, to not respond is his. I do what is closest to my heart. :)

The second story was told by my Guru, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati to us during a Satsang. Once Sant Dnyaneswar (Dnyanoba) found a scorpion lying in the sun not finding any stone to hide under. he picked it up and started walking towards the river bank, where there were many rocks. The scorpion stings him and falls of from his hand. Onlookers gasp and panic yet Dnyanoba picks it up again, and again the scorpion stings and falls off. This way finally Dnyanoba manages to place the scorpion near the rocks on the river bank. It scampers away under  a rock. One among the onlooker asks him, why were you even bothered to help that thankless and wretched creature which stung you though you were helping it. Dnyanoba said, to sting is the scorpion's nature and compassion mine. Each of us was doing our dharma.

21st Century_ Advancment and Repurposing of the Cosmic Design

(this is Work in Progress... I am working on this.. so please do not forward)
All this begun, when....

I was wondering what is happening in our times? Why the digital world? Why the need to connect and network? Why do we want to communicate? Why hope should prevail fear? Why the Quest for Divine should precede the attachment to the gross? why were there these thinkers, philosophers and Gurus? Why some of them chose a life devoid of conveniences (material comforts and luxuries)and adopted a esoteric lifestyle? It appears so difficult to me and so natural and normal to them...

What is the purpose of my existence in today's time? What is my role? What is the role every aspect of this creation plays? Why is it that i craved for the ultimate from the time i was born? and yet i had been in activities which had no direct relevance to it? Why inspite of doing nothing "religious" or socially "correct", all of a sudden, i am in the middle of a "spiritual" life? Why did i hear those voices?in my head? and BELIEVED i was born for a purpose? Everyone is.... Whats the big deal about it? Why did i meet my spiritual guide.. and at the time i met him, not earlier not later? Why did i even want to meet him? Why is my life the way it is and not the way i demanded it should be? Why is this generation the way it is? Why has the change in time created this difference? How could i accept it? Why did i make a choices i did? Why did i adopt such a life style? Why did i want to be different?  Why did i not choose to be the same as everyone else and do the regular stuff? Why am i not married? settled? having a husband, family, kids and you know... all the rest... Why do i want to preserve and transmit? When i had craved for a child.. i knew that it was only because i wanted continuity and progression.. Why was i not granted one child and instead granted a sea of humanity?  Why was i passionate about the Universe? And then met so many like minded., read works, saw films of those who ventured and attempted to answer these questions... I always was attracted (and so are many many others)  to these questions and dwelt on them. Philosophy and baffling mysteries of existence.Why this and why that...  and millions of other questions.....

People think i am crazy, too "intelligent", intellectual, weird,  high thinking and all that... They had these questions in their mind and chose not too dwell on them and rather be ignorant and choose the gross. No, no dont get me wrong... I dont think they are any less "intelligent" etc. Just that they were destined not to make these choices.

All along i keep wondering and taking unusual turns and getting amazed all along by the revelations.

The quest has been the same through ages.

It shall go on and on.. Every generation will adjust, adapt and advance it.

Technology serves it's prurpose for the same.. The blueprint is there at the base of human cosciousness. Every aspect of the manifest and unmanifest.. keeps reminding us.

Every generation finds way of preserving it and transmitting it to the next generation.

Even if all the documents get destroyed the blueprint is all pervading and remanifests.

In all that we do... Be it technology, management, movies, toys, texts, music, any art form, science, religion, war, anything.... the cosmic design is the ruler... Neither we can create nor destroy... We just serve IT's purpose in all we do.

Going from Gross to Subtle.

When transmission was discovered through wire and then it became wireless.... One day the need for the gross medium will become redundant.. people will be connected by the subtle consciousness.. Each at varying degrees, as per their evolution and needs. Each as per their tuning

You may find the video below, highly interesting.. Think it is 16 part video.. take your time...
What the bleep do we know? Down the rabbit hole. part 1

Om Prem!

AnandaShanti

Why Yoga ?

While all the paths in Life are a path of Yoga,
Why should i learn the Science of Yoga?

Because i want money.
Because I want Healthy and beautiful Body.
Because I want to do what the superstars and super models do.
Because I want to be accepted.
Because i want to have a great sex life.
Because i want to be successful in my profession.
Because i want to be popular.
Because i want to be famous.
Because i want people to love me and accept me.
Because i want to feel great about myself
Because i want to feel great about being alive.
Because i want to enjoy the goodness of life.
Because i want the strength of body, mind and spirit to face the difficult phases of life.
Because i want to be stable and sturdy.
Because i want peace of mind.
Beacuse i want to be like those popular Guru's :)

Maybe some of these are your needs, some wants.
Maybe they are the luxury you can afford, now that one has already got all other material, emotional and mental comforts and yet .... there is that something more one seeks.

All this is as true of life, the need for spiritual evolution.

Yet... coming back to the basic question, What is it, that i seek?
Is it.... That which I am? That which is my true nature? That which is glory of existence?

Sat Chit Anand! Wow.. Why, of course i could ask that too.. no one has stopped me......

In the times where we can choose the packages we need for internet surfing, mobile connection, gift offers... we choose that which gives us the maximum benefit. What one can afford.

Sooo...  then... what can i afford? How much do i need? How much divine currency do i have??
What are the offers of Parabrahman, from which i could choose :)


Yoga offers and enables us to achieve that which is beyond the matter. It has far more to offer... I think, than one can imagine and dared to even imagine.

So then, What do i need/want/desire? Can i achieve it through the path of Yogabhyasa / Yog Sadhana???

Whatever i seek is fair. It only depends on my preparedness, to accept what i shall receive.
Hmmm.. so Yoga could prepare me, make me a worthy recipient of the boon. (And.. that's just the beginning)
Get prepared! Choose your sadhana! Do it!

Om Prem!

AnandaShanti

Path of the Heart

the path to the heart is easiest. it is about love, compassion, serve, give and take. yes to accept what is given with love. they are the offerings divinity has made to us.
Even the Divine loves us, it also worships us and gives us. You have to learn to accept and see the divinity in the offerings of life.

God is, because Man is. They worship each other.

we were born of love, of sharing and union of divinity. we were born to love, with love.
we were born as loving, tender and kind beings. In a child one sees nothing but purity and innocence. No ego, no selfishness.
The smile on a child's face breathes life into us. Their tears draws out the compassion within us. Their needs make us givers in a selfless way.
They are embodinent of purity and divinity.

It is that natural to us, right from the time we were born.
Yet with time, and the so called education, we forgot our true nature.

Science connected me right back to where i belong. In Quantum Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry i could read the subtle message of the divine. Study as we might, experiment and research, they all fell apart, because there was something that modern Science could not explain. LIFE! When the paranormal sciences and studies of the subtle energies became a need, people turned to the Spiritual Science or studies of the Tantra. Tantra is not exclusive to a particular section of any of the human race. It was studied all over the world at various times.

Love, the base of it all. How to explain for the Quest for the Divine? The only explanation is only human being has been given the ability to seek it.
The Light can be seen only in the purest state. Do you remember what you saw when you were born? Do you remember what you felt? Do you remeber the mother and her warmth?
Can you go back there to "see" and experience Life once again?
What is the way?
We pray
Show me the way from Illusion to Truth,
Show me the way from Darkness to Light,
Show me the way from Death to DeathlessNess !!

We do want to experience it once again.

Love within and without.
Divinity within and without
Light within and without !!

When we experienc e the unity of Life, when we loose fear of death.

Bade Gurji in his Mahasamadhi showed us how death never did us apart. He became a part of us. The light wiuthin us. The Love within us!

In the Dark age of Kali, the way to live, is the way of Loving and Serving Life! Bhakti Yoga, Kirtan and Mantra!

Om Prem!
Iti
AnandaShanti 

Akshaya Tritiya

Sw. Satyasangananda Saraswati

Akshaya Tritiya

India is a land of rich and diverse spiritual heritage providing a treasure of knowledge which we are indeed fortunate to have received by virtue of being born in this land. Just as there is a blueprint made out long before anything comes into existence, be it a house, a car, a television, computer, missile or satellite, in the same way your life too has a blueprint which
was made long before you came into existence. You may or may not have realized this but it is this heritage which lays great emphasis on fasts, vows and festivals that keeps an individual from straying away from the blueprint designed for life.

How exactly does this happen? Take a closer look and you will discern that these festivals occur at special moments in time. They also commemorate an event long gone thus signifying the circular movement of time which allows these special moments to return again and again. The term given to these moments is muhurta and we ought to know that the significance of every
muhurta can be felt at every dimension of existence whether physical, material, emotional, intellectual or spiritual.

One such important muhurta is Akshaya Tritiya which has earned itself the status of a festival which is inherently perfect. Akshaya Tritiya also known as akhateej occurs on the third day of the bright fortnight in the month of Baisakh (mid April to mid May). The word Akshaya literally means that which is constant, stable and is never destroyed. In our lives nothing is
constant, everything s continually changing and we feel the burden of this from time to time when we have to adjust ourselves accordingly. In fact the only example we have of something which is never destroyed is satya or truth, which is but another name for the omnipresent God.

Of course we have never seen God, but the heritage we have received from our ancestors tells us that there are special muhurtas or moments when one can experience this constant truth and also benefit from that experience. One of these auspicious muhurtas is Akshaya Tritiya.

In fact Akshaya Tithi is also known as Ishwara Tithi. Tithi means day and by calling it Ishwara Tithi it signifies that anything that comes into existence on this day will never die. Parashurama one of the chiranjeevis or immortals was born on this day. As such this day is also known as
chiranjeevi tithi.

Out of the four yugas, Treta Yuga commenced on this day, therefore it is also known as yugaditithi which is considered a very significant moment in time as great metamorphosis in the stratosphere takes place at that moment.
It is on this day that Badrinath one of the four revered shrines in the Himalayas opens its doors for worship of Lord Narayana.

On account of the indestructible force of this day all the words you speak, thoughts you think and acts you perform on this day become a part of your hard disk and remain with you life after life. It is therefore understandable that on this day one must make a sincere effort to perform
good deeds through japa, tapa, tyaag, daan and remembrance of the Lord so that your bank balance increases.

The predominant tattwa on this day is the Akshaya tattwa. That indestructible tattwa which can open those avenues for you which can make you realize your own potential. As such it is most definitely the day when one should scratch the surface and search within as the vibrations of this
day will make that task so much easier. It is a day to leave behind the destructible acts and perform only those that you will feel happy to have recorded in your file when you look back. Because the indestructible nature of the tattwa that prevails on this day penetrates into every domain of life.

Rise early on Akshaya Tritiya and perform havan repeating the 1000 names of Vishnu. After that if time permits do japa of guru mantra or akhand naam sankirtan of Rama. Chanting of the entire Bhagawad Gita is especially significant on Akshaya Tritiya. *And if you are fortunate* to find someone in need do help out as that will earn you the blessings of the Lord. At Sri
Swamiji's tapobhumi in Rikhiadham this is how we celebrate this important occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.

Hari Om Tat Sat!
--
Warm Regards
Nomita Chakravorty

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you. - Marsha Norman

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison? ~ From The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

The Nine-Day Purification

The Nine-Day Purification
From the teachings of our Sadguru Swami Sivananda Saraswati
Yoga magazine - October 2007

The end of summer and beginning of winter and the end of winter and beginning of summer, are two very important junction of climatic conditions and solar influence in the year.
Our bodies and minds undergo change on account of the changes in the outer nature. In India the two occasions are considered opportune times to commence sadhana and worship the divine, indicated by the Chaitra Navaratri (in April) and Ashwin Navaratri (in October).

Three stages of attainment
The Navaratri celebrations objectively portray the inner spiritual life of the world. The central purpose of existence is to recognize your eternal identity with the supreme spirit. It is to grow into the image of the divine, into spotless purity, niranjan. The aspirant has to therefore, as the initial step, get rid of the blemishes that have come to cling to him in his embodied state. Then he has to acquire the auspicious qualities. Thus purified and rendered full of sattwa, knowledge flashes upon him like the brilliant rays of the sun upon the crystal waters of a still lake.
This process of sadhana implies resolute will, determined effort and arduous struggle. In other words, strength, infinite shakti, is the prime necessity. The Divine Mother, the supreme shakti of Brahman, has to operate through the aspirant. Therefore, during navaratri pooja, nine nights of worship, the Creatrix is worshipped in Her aspects of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, representing the properties of tamas, rajas and sattwa respectively. This is the stuff of which the whole universe consists. Transformation, preservation and manifestation are the cosmic functions of the Mother. She is all that goes to make up the entire cosmos in its gross, subtle and causal realms.
As with the individual, so it is with the cosmos; nothing is possible without the Mother. Your progress, material and spitritual, is bound up inextricably with your mother, human and divine. A person is moulded almost entirely by his human mother, which is why the shrutis (scriptures) enjoin upon us to treat the mother as God. This is even more so in the spiritual field. Without the help of the Divine Mother, no spiritual progress is possible. She is the higher spiritual power that continuously meets the lower urges in battle and overcomes them completely in the end.

Overcoming Tamas
During Navaratri, on the first three days the Mother is adored as power: Durga, the terrible one. In the process of sadhana, what is conquered and transformed, first is tamas. Thus Durga, the divinity behind the tamas-shakti, is worshipped first. You pray to Durga to help destroy all your impurities, failings and defects. She is to fight with and annihilate your baser qualities. She is also the power that protects your sadhana from its many dangers and pitfalls. Thus the first three days marking the first stage of destruction of mala (impurity) and determined effort to rout out the many vasanas (cravings) in the mind, are set apart for the worship of the destructive aspect of the Mother.

Acquiring the auspicious
Once you have accomplished the task on the negative side - that of breaking down the cravings and old habits, the next step is to build up a sublime spiritual personality, to acquire positive qualities. The divine qualities, daivi sampat, that Lord Krishna enumerates in the Bhagavad Gita, have to be acquired. The aspirant must cultivate and develop auspicious qualities, pile up an immense spiritual wealth so he can pay the price of the rare gem of divine wisdom.
If development of the opposite qualities is not undertaken in right earnest, the old demonic nature will raise its head again and again. This stage is as important as the previous one. The difference is: the former is a ruthless determined annihilation of the lower self; the latter is an orderly, steady and calm effort to develop purity. This pleasanter side of sadhana is depicted by the worship of Lakshmi. She bestows the wealth of daivi sampat. Lakshmi is the sampat-dayini (wealth-giving) aspect of Brahman. She is purity itself. She is also the goddess superintending the force of rajas, the guna that must be overcome after tamas. Thus worship of Lakshmi is performed during the next three days.

The dawn of wisdom
Once the aspirant succeeds in getting rid of the negative propensities and developing sattwic, pure qualities, he becomes and 'adhikari;. He is now ready to receive the light of supreme wisdom. At this stage comes the devout worship of Saraswati, who is divine knowledge personified, the embodiment of brahmajnana. The sound of her celestial veena (lute) awakens the notes of the sublime mahavakyas (great statement or profound aphorism, usually referring to the great proclamations of Upanishads) and the pranava (mantra AUM; primordial sound vibration). She bestows the knowledge of the supreme nada (psychic or internal sound) and then gives full atmajnana (self-knowledge) as represented by her pure and dazzling white apparel. She is also the Mother in her sattwa guna, and transcending sattwa is the last rung of sadhana. To propitiate Saraswati, therefore, is the third stage.


In celebration of bliss
The tenth day, Vijaya Dashami, marks the triumphant ovation of the jiva (individual) at having attained jivanmukti (liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth) through the descent of knowledge by the grace of Saraswati. The jiva rests in his own Supreme Self of sat-chit-ananda (existence-knowledge-bliss absolute). It marks complete victory over the threefold force of the universe. The day celebrates the achievement of the goal. The banner of victory flies aloft!

Indespensable process
The arrangement also has a special significance in the aspirant's spiritual evolution. It marks the stages of evolution that are indispensable for every aspirant, through which everyone should pass. One naturally leads to the other, and to shortcircuit this would inevitably result in a miserable failure. Nowadays many aspirants aim straight at the acquisition of knowledge without the preliminaries of purification and acquisition of daivi sampat, and complain that they are not progressing on the path. How can they? Knowledge will not descend till the impurities are washed out and purity is developed. Nor can the sattwic plant grow on impure soil.
Follow this arrangement and your efforts will be successful. This is the path. Destroy one negative quality, and develop its opposite positive quality. By this process you will soon bring yourself up to that perfection which will culminate in identity with Brahman. All knowledge will be yours. You will see yourself in all. You will be a jivanmukta. No more pain, no misery, no more birth, no more death. Let the Divine Mother take you step by step to the top of the spiritual ladder and unite you with the Lord.