Nonduality
Swami Muktananda
The following is the invocation to Nityananda from one of
Muktananda's books.
INVOCATION
I bow to Nityananda, whose essential form exists at all time, who
dwells in all things, who illumines all things, and who has
become absolute Consciousness. he is himself light and has
expanded outward in play; he is full of bliss.
Being the grace-bestowing power of the supreme Lord, he is the
Guru to the disciple. As sunlight conquers darkness, his
spontaneous nature overcomes for his disciples the
impurity-covered world of change. To fulfill the four basic goals
of his devotees and to foster the inner and outer play of
Consciousness, he has assumed a body that houses the mystery of
shaktipat. he is without decay or destruction. he is the inner
light and goal of mantra. he is supreme Consciousness itself. he
is Gurudev Nityananda. I bow to him with the infinite feeling of
surrender and in perfect I-consciousness.
having merged his individual existence in the Self before the
beginning of time, he efforlessly liberates by his grace. Sinc
the sunrise of liberation brings the aim of outer joy and the
peaceful bliss of the Self, he has spontaneously become
Muktananda, the bliss of freedom. he is Nityananda, the
joyjfulexuberance of Consciousness.
He who is eternal Bliss, full of Truth and Consciousness;
he whose work it is to end the discipl's world of change;
he who is the body of Consciousness,
a body sporting for the sake of devotees;
such a one is your Nityananda, O Muktananda.
For those of you with no Guru, Niityananda is perfect. Recognized
as God incarnate, he was found as an infant in the jungle in the
latter half of the 19th century. As a youth, he only spoke in
parables, re-enacting the lives of Krisna, Rama, Vanana, and the
other avatars of Vishnu. It was later understood that he was
re-inacting his previous incarnations, as he was God incarnate.
He once remarked that he was present at the ceremony of a newly
built temple that was then 400 years old. Throughout his life in
the body, miracles surrounded his form naturally. There are
volumes that document strange, uncanny, bizarre occurances that
surrounded him. People would recieve shaktipat just by looking at
him. Rarely one to speak, his few words were considered Mantras
themselves; people would scribble furiously when he spoke. He did
not acknowledge any seperation by creed, caste, notoriety, age,
descent, etc...he referred to himself as "this one" and
was permanently established in the subtle realms. He voluntarily
left the body in 1961, despite the fact that nothing was
clinically wrong with him. He remarked that more could be
accomplished on the subtle plane. This is what is meant by
Muktananda when he says:
He who is eternal Bless, full of Truth and Consciousness;
he whose work it is to end the disciple's world of change;
he who is the body of Consciousness;
a body sporting for the sake of devotees'
such a one is your Niyananda, O Muktananda.
Nityananda is one with supreme consciousness, yet because of
great love for the devotee's of the world, he is also in the form
of the body. He resides in the body in the realm of Siddhaloka;
the world of the Siddhas. His body is the housing of supreme
Shaktipat. Reading of Nityananda, establishing a puja alter in
your home for Nityananda, performing arathi for Nityananda, and
meditating in front of the puja will surely bring his grace as
you identify with him. The meditation and chant of Guru Om will
surely bring the divine shaktipat upon your soul.
In the end, whatever Siddha you choose, whether in the body or
passed on; they are all the shaktipat of the one Divine
Chiti--this is a secret of the Siddhas. There is difference only
in external appearance. It is all of the same Divine Chiti. Never
forget this. Duality is illusion. Once we identify with the Guru,
worshipping the Guru, we become as the Guru. The Guru is one with
Chiti, who is the energy, the Divine throb or pulsation of
ParamaShiva. We realize beyond just words that all is only one.
We rise above even this, above labeling with words, to become the
supreme Self
I thought tonight I would reproduce some of Muktananda's words
which come his autobiography entitled 'Play of Consciousness.'
This is from the Preface, pp. xxv, xxvi, xxvii.
Every man and woman who lives in the world should remember
another thing: the entire phenomenal universe is pervaded by
Goddess Chiti. Chiti is the originator and sustainer of the
world; the world exists within Her being.
Citi is Paramashiva Paramatman--that which transcends the
universe, which is perfect being, without attributes, the
foundation of all things, the goal of the neti neti (not this,
not this), spoken of in Vedanta, the basis of knowledge aham
Brahmasmi, "I am the Absolute," the conscious Self. The
supreme Shakti is inseparable from Paramashiva, who is absorbed
in Her. She is also called Shiva-Shakti. It is Her beauty that is
revealed in this phenomenal universe, animate and inaminate. She
is the power of consciousness of the supreme Being and is
completely identical with Him. The perceivable universe is the
outer expansion of her own inner pulsation.
She reveals Herself in every visible activity in life. She
appears in various forms, favorable or unfavorable, helpful or
obstructive. The Pratyabhijnahridayam says, tannana anurupa
grahya grahaka bhedat, "She becomes manifold in the variety
of mutually related objects and subject." Revealing Herself
in this way, supremely free Chiti becomes the thirty-six
principles of creation through Her own free will. She appears as
masculine and feminine, or Purusha and Prakriti. Of the many
differentiations in the world, these are the main two--Purusha
and Prakriti, masculine and feminine. These destinctions pervade
everything. Birds, animals, and trees are also divided into these
two categories. In other activities, too, there is a dual
distinction which permeates infinite forms: high and low, virtue
and sin, bondage and liberation, ecstasy and anxiety, and so on.
yet it is the same Chiti that has become the perceiver and the
perceived. What I wish to convey is that the world is permeated
by Chiti, belongs to Chiti, is Chiti. if you see with the eyes of
true knowledge, you will find nothing but Chiti in the world.
A person may or may not understand this. But even if his inner
Shakti is not awakened, he should remember one thing: God dwells
in the world in human form. Acording to the Pratyabhijnahridayam,
manushyadehamasthaya channaste parameshvarah, "God takes on
a human body and conceals Himself within it." Since it is
God who dwells in the body, it follows that an aspirant of Siddha
yoga can easily unfold his inner Shakti.
When this is the case, how mistaken are people of the world who
lack the knowledge of Chiti, who do not perceive Her, who do not
adore Her within themselves. Even though the pervasion of
Shiva-Shakti may seem to an ordinary person to be duality, to one
who depends on the Guru's grace, it appears only as the perfect
embodiment of love and nonduality. O voyagers in the world! If
you want your journey to be free of obstacles, become aware of
your venerable Goddess, Chiti Kundalini. Awaken her with
meditation, behold her everywhere, and live in happiness. The
forms of Gurus are Her blissful luster. I define this great
Shakti Kundalini, who is the embodiment of Parabrahman, as
Chitshakti. Chiti Kundalini, awakened through your Guru's
Blessing, will bring your journey smoothly to its completion. The
great yoga of meditation will guide you on the spiritual path.
With Chiti's blessing, you will become great. Your life will be
filled with yoga, with delight and strength, with that which is
beneficial as well as that which is pleasant. your house will
become Kashi, a place of pilgrimage, your work a daily ritual,
your friends gods and goddesses, your meals sacred offering.
Everything that you do will become worship of the supreme Self.
In due course of time, you will attain the final fruit--you will
become merged in Chiti.
O Goddess Chitshakti! O Mother! O Father! You are Shakti. You are
Shiva. You are the soul vibrating in the heart. your
manifestations--as the world and as the Self--are both filled
with bliss and beauty. As long as they lack full knowledge of
You, ignorant people project onto you various dualistic ideas
such as Shiva-Shakti, world-illusion, bondage-liberation,
indulgence-renunciation, spiritual-worldly.
I have found some material that expounds on the four
levels of speech that I printed earlier. I cannot emphasize
enough the importance of this post. For the scientist in all of
us, this post should invoke long periods of contemplation,
following the ascent back from the gross, to the most subtle.
This is from Swami Muktananda's book 'I Am That--The Science of
Hamsa.'
That inner vibration, which is the source of all sound, is called
by the scriptures paravani or paravak, supreme speech. The
paravani level of speech exists within all of us. Ordinarily, we
are aware of only one level of speech. We are aware only of the
speech of our inert physical tongue, just as we are aware only of
our physical body and senses. yet the pysical body is only the
body of the waking state. Within the pysical body is the subtle
body into which we enter when we dream. Beyond that is the causal
body, in which we experience deep sleep. And beyond the causal
body is the supracausal body, the body of pure light, in which we
experience the state of true meditation, the transcendental state
called turiya. Just as we have these four bodies, one within the
other, we also have four levels of speech, which are linked with
the four bodies.
The name of the gross level of speech, the speech of the physical
tongue, is vaikari. The second level of speech is called
madhyama; it corresponds to the subtle body and is located in the
throat region. The third level of speech, called pashyanti,
corresponds to the causal body and is located in the region of
the heart. The fourth and highest level of speech is located in
the navel region. That is Paravani. Paravani is the level of
sound as pure, unmanifest Consciousness, the level of the Self.
It pervades everything, extending from east to west, from south
to north, from above to below. It is within all of us; it is
spanda, the inner creative pulsation which continually vibrates.
The entire universe, with all its forms, was born from that
pulsation of paravani. Infinite syllables and words and sentences
exist within paravani in the form of vibration. A peacock egg
contains all the colors of a peacock's feathers in a potential
form. Similarly, all words and syllables exist in paravani in an
undifferentiated seed form. That seed, which contains all words,
is the pure aham, the perfect I-consciousness.
All mantras come out of paravani. Paravani is nothing but
Parashakti, the supreme energy which creates the universe. Its
nature is movement without any underlying support. The Ishwara
Pratyabhijna says that the Self is immobile; it is always still,
but paravani gives it the appearance of movement. Shiva, the
supreme Reality, is completely tranquil. It is only because of
his Shakti, his energy, that there is movenent. It is because of
Shakti that Shiva has awareness of himself. That self-awarenss is
aham vimarsha, the throb of pure I-consciousness, and it is from
that original throb of self-awareness that the creation of the
universe begins. The pure aham is paravani. So paravani is the
creative pulsation of the Self. it is Kundalini, the inner
spiritual energy. It is the Universal Consciousness, the
all-pervading supreme principle.
* From Marcus--When we contemplate this, from the gross level
to the level of paravani or paravak, we come to see that all
sound is synonymous with energy; Parashakti, the Kundalini Shakti
that is the universe itself, the knower, the known, and the
means. We see that this is one with Paramashiva; the energy of
Shiva; ShivaShakti. With a sudden burst of realization, we come
to truly understand the nature of Self.
pp. 271, 272 of Play of Consciousness by Swami Muktananda,
regarding love of the body and repose of the mind.
"I once read an authentic account of the death of a saint
who was a man of knwledge and was always absorbed in meditation.
he had foreknowledge of his death, and when the time came, he
gathered everyone around him, asked them for their blessings and
forgiveness, and then thanked them. After that, he bowed to the
four directions, to the five elements, and to his Guru, the giver
of wisdom. Last of all he thanked and honored his body, the
walking, moving, speaking temple of God, given by God, in which
he had completed his spiritual journey and had seen God. With
folded hands he addressed his body:
'My beloved body, by your grace and help I have
Reached God. I thank you. I have often inconvenienced
and frightened you. I have made you go through so much
anguish and torment on my behalf. But no matter what
I did you always helped me. Truly I am in your debt. O my
dear body! You endowed me with a quick and perceptive
mind. Through you I attained the nirvikalpa state in meditation,
the highest state of all. So, my dear friend, I shall always
be indebted to you. Knowingly and unknowlingly I wronged
you many times, but you always helped me and always did
everything you could for me. Whatever I did to you, you
never gave me anything but your friendship and your
companionship in return. But for you I could not have done
good sadhana and could not have reached God.'
Having said this to the body, the saint merged with the absolute.
Dear Siddha students, you too should have this exalted attitude
toward your bodies. Have the same reverent and respectful love.
When I read the loving words that saint addressed to this body, I
feel a tremendous joy beating in my heart. If you could listen to
them the way I do, you would soon be filled with the highest
bliss. I ask, my dear Siddha students, did you ever look on your
body with such desireless love? Did you ever love it with pure
Self-contemplation, with meditation, hymns, and chanting, with
the So'ham mantra repeated on your incoming and outgoing breaths?
Did you ever thank it by making vows of restraint, by offering it
foods which bring long life, giving it sweet and pure juices? If
not, how ungrateful you have been! How ill-mannered! What could
be worse than treating your dear friend like this! Dear seekers!
You should contemplate the body, understand what it is, develop a
disireless friendship with it, tend it punctually and regularly.
If you really understand your body, you will fill it with yoga,
love, and meditation.
It is the mind with its ceaseless thoughts and fancies that takes
the body all over the place. The body runs after thoughts and
thoughts run after the mind. The mind gives orders to the body
and senses. Why do you punish the body in order to please the
mind? Why do you punish Krishna when you are angry with Ram? What
purpose does it serve? I agree that the mind is fickle and
unsteady and causes us trouble. It is only to control the mind
that so many techniques have been devised. Yogis learn these
techniques to bring their minds under control, but they still
become votaries of pride and ego, devotees of easy living. They
don't find love through these practices, nor do they find inner
contentment or joy in their hearts. Everybody says that the mind
never stays in one place, and I entirely agree. But at the same
time, have you ever shown it a good place to rest? Take the mind
to a worthy place and it will stay there. It won't wander here
and there."
Read that last paragraph three times. It is such an important
statement.
Here is page #6 of 'Nothing Exists That Is Not Shiva'
jnanam bandhah
Knowledge is bondage.
Amazing as it is, this aphorism is completely true. Our inner
states--contraction or expansion, joy or sorrow, anxiety or
ignorance--are all reactions to outer stimuli. Knowledge of the
external world is the root of all sorrow when it seeps inside and
we identify with it.
When I was a child, I used to stroll through an area where
English was spoken. Some of the boys there would taunt me in
English. Since I didn't understand what they said, I would only
laugh and go on my way. Then one day a person who spoke English
explained to me that I was being ridiculed. As soos as I heard
that, I was unhappy.
Outer knowledge causes bondage in exactly the same way. This is
what Mahadev, Lord Siva, says here. When we identify ourselves
with the body and the status and titles that belong to it, then
pride of family, caste, and individuality eclipse our inner
nature, and there is bondage. Our concepts of sin and virtue and
our identification with the gross and subtle bodies alienate us
from our true Self. To go about life without interest in the Self
and to mistake ignorance for knowledge is bondage, and that
bondage is the cause of all misery.
When by the Guru's grace the inner Shakti is awakened, knowledge
of the Self arises from within. The Self stands revealed. And
when the Self and Brahman are seen to be one, a person lives in
supreme feeedom and relishes his own play. he revels in the
freedom of supreme bliss. This great bliss becomes perfect
Self-realization.
Page # 7, 8,9 from 'Nothing Exists That Is Not Siva'
jnanadhisthanam matrka
Matrka (the power of sound inherent
in the letters of the alphabet) is the source
of limited knowledge.
When Parashakti--who is also called Chiti Bhagavati, the
universal Consciousness--limits Herself, She manifests in the
form of matrka, the group of letters, or sound-syllables. Matrka
is the cause of one's pain and pleasure. All the thoughts and
feelings that arise in the mind--happiness and unhappiness,
desire, agitation, love, expectation, and jealousy--are the work
of matrka. Neither language, nor terminology, nor poetry, nor
scriptures, nor words of praise and blame can pass beyond the
world of letters.
Matrka arises in the heart, from the inner speech. There are four
levels of speech corresponding to the four bodies. Everyone is
aware of the speech of the tongue. It is called vaikari and
corresponds to the gross body. With the subtle intellect, one can
also know the second level of speech, which is in the throat.
There, words have taken form but have not yet emerged. This level
is called madhyama and corresponds to the subtle body. At a
deeper level, words exist in the heart. This is the third level
of speech, pasyanti, which corresponds to the causal body. here,
words are hidden, and what arises at this level is matrka.
Beneath this level is a fourth level, para, which corresponds to
the supracausal body. Some say that para is in the navel region,
but in actuality this subtlest level of speech pervades
everwhere. Since it is all-pervading, it can be known anywhere.
matrka has its source in the Para level.
* Note from Marcus--Not only does matrka has its source at
this level, but all things arise at this level. This is the
subtlest level of sound, which is synonymous with the energy of
Shakti, which is why this is called the para level, or paravak.
Here is the definition:
Paravak: The vibratory pulsation of the Divine Mind that brings
about manifestation, Logos; Cosmic Ideation, Spanda.
As you can see, this is the level of pure energy, where energy
and sound are one; it is here that Shakti is of the nature of
movement without any external support. It is the level before any
differentiation has taken place. The first thing to arise out of
this creative pulsation is sound. This goes from subtle to gross
in this way:
Paravak or Para--everywhere
Pashyanti--level of the heart, where all letters that can be
vocalized arises. Matrka arises at this level.
Madhyama--level of the throat, where words are formed, but not
yet spoken.
Vaikari--level of gross speech.
Back to the author:
Letters combine to form a word--for example, m-a-n-g-o- becomes
mango. Each word has its own meaning, the meaning creates its own
image, and that image has its own feeling. Whenever an image is
created in the mind, one experiences an emotion, whether it is
happiness or unhappines, frienndship or enmity. For example, if I
call someone a fool, the letters come together and compose words,
the words compose a sentence, the sentence has its own meaning,
and the meaning creates its own image. When I utter the sentence
"That girl is a fool," it strikes her, and a painful
and angry feeling arises in her mind. Matrka creates infinite
images. If one does'nt identify with the images or their objects,
one doesn't experience suffering.
Matrka creates infinite images. If one doesn't identify with the
images or their objects, one doesn't experience suffering.
Matrka is the source not only of our pain and pleasure but of
this entire universe. This world has arisen from the
sound-syllables of the Sanskrit alphabet, which are nothing but
matrka. Just as it creates the outer world, matrka creates
infinite inner worlds. Different feelings arise in the heart, and
the individual soul keeps moving among these feelings throughout
its life, experiencing pain and pleasure. Day and night, the
matrka sakti creates these things within us. Even when we sleep,
it doesn't sleep. It is alive even in the savikalpa state of
samadhi, the samadhi with thought. it dies only when one attains
the state of thoughtessness, nirvikalpa samadhi.
Matrka is the source of the three malas, The impurities that
cause knowledge to become contracted. Due to anavamala, one feels
imperfect; due to mayiyamala, one becomes lost in duality; and
due to karmamala, one becomes caught up in the frut of one's good
and bad actions. Instead of understanding that one is the Self,
one understands oneself to be a mere human being. One feels
"I am a man," "I am a priest," "I am a
woman," "I am thin," and in this way, one makes
oneself small. In the inner space, matrka sakti creates letters
and one experiences them. One begins to dwell in them, one
becomes infatuated with them, and as a result, one performs
actions in this world.
This is worldliness.
However, just as matrka helps us to contract, it also helps us to
expand ourselves. The moment one understands the matrka sakti and
its work, one is no longer a human being. When the matrka sakti
expands within, in this very body one becomes Siva.
Sit quitly and watch the play of the matrkda sakti. Watch how the
matrka gives rise to letters, how the letters compose words, how
the meaning of the words creates images in the mind; watch how
you become involved in these images.
The yogi prusues matrka sakti; he watches it and makes it steady.
he brings it under his control, he manipulates it an way he
likes. he turns evil thoughts into good thoughts. The matrka
sakti works according to his will. Such a yogi is called a
conqueror of the senses.
One who understands the play of matrka sakti and makes it still
rises above pain and pleasure. One cannot attain peace as long as
he is driven by the play of the matrka sakti. For this reason,
one has to practice yoga. Through yoga, the movements of the mind
are stilled and the power of matrka is overcome.
Here is pp. 10, 11 of Muktananda's 'Nothing Exists That Is Not
Shiva"
udyamo bhairavah
Effort is itself Bhairava.
The only true effort is this: on attaining knowledge of the
nature of the highest reality, one strives to remain constantly
immersed in the awareness of the inner Self.
When the Guru's grace is received, one's inner Shakti is
unfolded. As a result of the transmission of Shakti, the power of
Consciousness, meditation comes spontaneously, and innumerable
kriyas, including asanas, mudras, and different kinds of
pranayama take place. The seeker turns within him. To stay in
this awareness is the right effort for the seeker.
Limited knowledge relying on words produces only dualities such
as love and hate, joy and sorrow. But the undifferentiated
awareness of one's true nature, which is the same as Bhairava,
Siva, releases pure bliss. To understand that all thoughts are
nothing but the pulsation of Parasakti anchors one firmly in the
Self.
When one who constantly dives into his inner being is blessed by
the Guru, he is blessed with a complete inner unfolding. This is
known as the sambhava way:
akinciticintakasyaiva guruna pratibodhatah/
jayate yah samavesah sambhavo'savudiritah//
[That sambhava state is described as the absorption
of one in whom there is no thought. This arises
in one who has been awakened by the Guru.]
Even if an aspirant hasn't done any sadhana before meeting his
Guru, and even if he hasn't explored the spiritual world, as long
as he has faith, he experiences unity with the supreme Lord once
he is initiated by the Guru. The greater the maturity of a
disciple, the higher his worth and sincerity, the quicker his
progress is toward merging in Shambhava, in Shiva. To achive
awareness of one's perfection through the sambhavopaya, through
this approach--that alone is right effort. And right effort is
itself Bhairava, the supreme Self.
* Note from Marcus: Remember, there is the formless Guru
principle too. Also, any one of the Siddhas who reside in
Siddhaloka can be the Guru. It does not matter. All Guru's are
really one, the supreme Guru, Chiti; also called Chitshakti,
Shakti, Parashakti, Mahamaya, Kundalini, and Kundalini Shakti.
Nityananda resides everywhere as Chiti, and in the form as well.
His body is shaktipat itself; he is a face of the Chitshakti; the
power of supreme Consciousness.
pp. 12, 13 from Nothing Exists That Is Not Shiva
jagratsvapnasusuptabhede turyabhogasambhavah
It is possible to enjoy the bliss of turiya (the fourth,
or transcendental, state) in the different states
of waking, dream, and deep sleep.
This is a significant aphorism and worth contemplating. It hints
at the high state of the jnani, the fully enlightened being. Most
people think that a jnani, a saint, is someone who lives in
slience, in a cave, his eyes closed, his breath and other
functions suspended for long periods, lost in samadhi. But to a
real jnani, such a yogi is only a child. Having come to know the
true nature of reality, a jnani has ceased to differentiate the
waking, dream, deep sleep, and turiya states from one another. To
him each of them is equally full of the same supreme bliss. A
jnani would not condemn the waking state, nor would he avoid
participation in its drama. Neither does he find anything wrong
with the dream of deep sleep states.
A jnani's attention is not on the passing states, but on the
Witness-Self who, while living in those states, remains different
from them, forever beyond their reach. The Self is detached,
watching the waking state from a distance. Coming into contact
with the senses and their objects, the Self remains separate from
them. And even when acting in the waking state, the Self does not
identify with the waking state, remaining its witness. While
dreaming, when the body is asleep, the Self does not become
indentified with that state either, but sees the dream world as
distinct from itself. Though it gets into the dream state, the
Self remains as a spectator to all its happenings. And in the
deep sleep state, the Self remains the detached observer. That
Witness-Self is experienced in turiya.
In turiyaone drinks the highest bliss. But a real jnani or yogi,
seeing the entire waking world as an expansion of the same Chiti,
drinks the ecstasy of samadhi, the bliss of manifestration, even
in the waking state. he knows from direct experience that in all
the states--one arising from the other, one merging into the
other--the Witness-Self always remains undifferentiated, pure and
unaffected, unchanged, without rising or setting. Such a jnani,
who is perfect in meditation, continually enjoys the same bliss
of turiya, without the least change, in all the states--waking,
dream, and deep sleep. Of course he is full of peace while he is
meditating, but even while immersed in the affairs of the waking
world, he is free of anxiety, always reveling in the bliss that
surges from within. To that great soul, there is nothing to
renounce, nothing to acquire, for there is nothing different from
himself.
The bliss that is the same and unchanged in all the staes is the
bliss of tuirya. To an actor, all the scenes in a play are
equally his creation and his joyful sport; whether they provoke
tears or laughter, they mean the same to him. In the same way,
the three states--waking, dream, and deep sleep--are simply
different phases of the same supreme state of turiya. The bliss
of turiya can be enjoyed in all its purity in all the states.
pp. 37, 38 of Nothing Exists That is Not Shiva
mohavaranat siddhih
By the conquest of delusion
the supreme realization is attained.
Maya deludes men; She is the great enchantress. She lives with
everyone, merges with and manipulates everyone, and catches
everyone in her snares. In the Bhagavadgita the Lord says: mama
maya duratyaya, "My Maya is hard to cross."
here way of seeing is perverse--the real seems unreal,
consciousness becomes matter. She makes God man, Siva jiva, and
the One many. Maya gives rise to avarana, the veil. By
meditation, by Gurus grace, the different tattvas can be
experienced in their different forms. yoga and various spiritual
practices cannot reveal the supreme reality: only meditation can
help realize it. The supreme tattva is always manifest. always
perfect, Meditation removes the veil covering the light of the
highest reality.
Parashiva is without birth and death, without beginning and end.
he is devoid ot thought, he is self-evident and fills everything.
The trascendent being exists everywhere, but in our delusion, we
do not understand this. As our ignorance is destroyed, victory
over the breath (udana jaya) arises, unfolding the power of
knowledge. This restraint of the breath, which is shaktipat,
takes one beyond the outbreath and inbreath. The path leaves
behind the gross aspect of breath and moves along the ladder of
its most subtle aspect to the realization of the highest truth.
The state of centerdness from which there is no return is
pranayama (control of the breath).
The mind experiences sound, touch, form, taste, and smell.
Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) is the focusing on the
supreme truth, transcending the mind. To transcend sattva, rajas,
and tamas and know that Siva can be experienced--this is real
dhyana (meditation). "Supreme Shiva is within me
always"--this awareness is dharana (concentration). The
Shiva principle equally pervades the entire universe, including
both subject and object. "I am not apart from
Shiva"--to continually experience this is samadhi, the
merging in highest reality.
*sattva-The principle of being; light and harmony, a constituent
of Prakrti.
*rajas-The principle of motion, activity and disharmony--a
constituent of Prakrti.
*tamas-One of the constituents of Prakrti, the principle of
inertia and delusion.
**Prakrti-The source of objectivity from buddhi down to earth.
Page 43 from Nothing Exists That is Not Shiva:
Siddhah svatantrabhavah
A Siddha lives in total freedom.
The state of a Siddha is the state of freedom.
For the embodied soul there are only two possibilities. One is
the state of bondage in which he loses the awareness of his
nature, his glory, his power of understanding, and becomes
contracted. he feels, "I am small, I am a sinner, I am
subject to birth and death." His own outlook is the thing
that shrinks him day by day. As he meditates on and ponders his
own limitations, he becomes completely bound.
The other possibilty is the state of absolute frredom. By the
grace of the Guru, a person's inner Shakti is awakened through
the process of shaktipat. Unfolding, his Shakti fills him with
consciousness, and he gradually is freed from craving and
disires, the pull of the sense organs, and from all limited
states. He achives total union with the supreme Self.
A person who has achieved mastery over his senses and their
objects is called a Shiddha. One who sees this world, which the
ignorant experience as full of sorrow, to be the outer sport of
Parashakt is a Siddha. One who has risen above the three bodies
and their corresponding states is a Siddha. One who has rid
himself of notions of accaptance and rejection and has burned
away the imaginary distinctions of virtue and sin, enjoyment and
liberation, worldliness and spirituality in the fire of inner
knowledge is a Siddha. That great soul regards all the thoughts
that rise within him, whether good or bad, as the stirrings of
the Self. One who has become the universe, the Lord of the
universe, and the Soul of the universe; one who is his own path
and his own distination; one who is fully active and yet
supremely inactive; one who is aware "I am Shiva"--he
is a Siddha.
Page 44 from Nothing Exists That is Not Shiva:
yatha tatra tath'nyatra
As here, so elsewhere.
A Siddha, having attained supreme freedom, lives wholly in the
Self. Faithfully following the path shown by his Guru, a yogi
becomes emancipated from the cravings of his body, mind, and
senses. he beholds the same light within and without, permeating
his gross and subtle bodies: the light of his soul spreads
through the whole universe. He discovers that all countries, all
external worlds, all realms, and in fact the entire cosmos
possess the same reality that is within him.
Here is the body, prana, senses, and mind. Elsewhere is the outer
universe. All things and all beings embody the same impalpable
essence.
Drunk with the ecstasy of divine revelation, one devotee
exclaims, "In the mirror of my heart there is the image of
Mohammed, the Lord. Wherever I bow my head, I see His face. How
glorious is the light that is Mohammed, the light created by
God!" This is the perfection of truth. "Know that there
is only one within and without--this is the Guru's
teaching." This declaration from Guru Nanak is the
revelation of a Siddha Master.
Greed, pleasure seeking, and sunsuality are marks of the soul
bound by duality; one who is free cannot be allured by any
temptation of the world. Nondual-consciousness, awareness of the
Self of all, is entirely beyond the reach and pull of the senses.
To regard everthing as one's own Self--this is perfect
self-control and perfect freedom form desire.
From Nothing Exists That is Not Shiva by Swami Muktananda:
magnah svacittena praviset
Becoming absorbed,
one should enter the inner mind.
By a subtle mental effort, one merges all states of mind into the
Self. This is the state of the absorbed mind. Let the meditator
enter the sushumna, the subtle central channel, by means of the
inner yoga obtained by Guru's grace. Let him discard all gross
techniques like the inhalation, retention, and exhalation of the
breath that constitute pranayama. The prana entering the sushumna
by Kundalini's favor begins to throb subtly. This is mahayoga.
Pranayama, concentration, and meditation are physical means. A
yogi who has received grace does not have to practice these. he
should strive earnestly to become absorbed in awareness "I
am That." It is pure Consciousness. The inner pranayama
occuring spontaneously in the sushumna is the means by which this
state can be entered. in this sutra, "becoming
absorbed" and entering "the inner mind" refer to
the awareness of one's inner nature, or steady So'ham awareness.