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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.

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