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Sloka 142 from Dancing with Siva
How Do Monism and Dualism Differ?
To most monists God is immanent, temporal, becoming. He is creation itself, material cause, but not efficient cause. To most dualists, God is transcendent, eternal, Creator--efficient cause but not material cause. Aum.
Bhashya
To explain creation, philosophers speak of three kinds of causes: efficient, instrumental and material. These are likened to a potter's molding a pot from clay. The potter, who makes the process happen, is the efficient cause. The wheel he uses to spin and mold the pot is the instrumental cause, thought of as God's power, or shakti. The clay is the material cause. Theistic dualists believe in God as Lord and Creator, but He remains ever separate from man and the world and is not the material cause. Among the notable dualists have been Kapila, Madhva, Meykandar, Chaitanya, Aristotle, Augustine, Kant and virtually all Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians. The most prevalent monism is pantheism, "all is God," and its views do not permit of a God who is Lord and Creator. He is immanent, temporal--material cause but not efficient cause. History's pantheists include Shankara, Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Plotinus, the Stoics, Spinoza and Ashvaghosha. The Vedas proclaim, "As a thousand sparks from a fire well blazing spring forth, each one like the rest, so from the Imperishable all kinds of beings come forth, my dear, and to Him return." Aum Namah Sivaya.
Lesson 297 from Living with Siva
Maintaining Magnetism
Today, more than ever, parents everywhere are concerned about keeping the family together. I have found that the key is to keep the pranas flowing harmoniously. A true family is a clan of individuals who love each other, which means they are bound together by positive pranic magnetism. When sons-in-law and daughters-in-law join the family, their pranic magnetism intermingles, and the family extends itself harmoniously, especially if the jyotisha compatibilities are good between the bride and her husband and the bride and her mother-in-law. This magnetism is maintained through the principle of zero tolerance for disharmonious conditions, to keep the pranas flowing within their homes in a positive, loving way. This means that if there is a disruption of the pranas, caused by interpersonal conflict--argument, angry words or worse--the matter must be settled among those involved before they retire to sleep, even if it means staying up all night. What is prana? Prana is vital energy. There are three phases of the mind: instinctive, intellectual and superconscious. They comprise three different kinds of prana in every human being: instinctive prana, intellectual prana and refined, superconscious prana, also known as actinic energy. Instinctive pranas digest our food and maintain the functions of the physical body. They also give rise to the emotions of fear, anger, jealousy and other base instincts. The instinctive energies affect the mind, emotions and behavior. Without well-developed intellectual pranas, the mind is ruled by the lower nature and is easily influenced by others, often in a negative way. This is why children must be closely watched and guided during their formative years until their intellectual pranas develop in the form of good memory, discernment and willpower. The superconscious pranas bring through creativity, inspiration and intuition. These are the energies to be sought after and nurtured through various kinds of religious devotion and sadhana. In nearly every home, all three kinds of prana are at work. Little children are functioning mainly in the instinctive pranas. Students are in the intellectual pranas. Parents, hopefully, are functioning in the spiritual pranas, at least part of the time, drawing into the home the cosmic, actinic rays of the soul, while balancing all three forms of prana within themselves. It is the duty of the head of the house and his wife to take charge of all the three pranas within the home and keep them flowing harmoniously day after day after day after day. How do they do that? By prayer and regular, early-morning daily sadhana, bringing wisdom and other refined, actinic pranas through from the superconscious mind. When everyone is bound together with love, everything goes along fairly smoothly.
Sutra 297 of the Nandinatha Sutras
Benedictions For Greeting And Parting
All my devotees greet others by saying Aum Namah Sivaya, Aum Sivaya or the more general benedictions vanakkam, namaste or namaskara. These, or the sweet expression Aum, Aum, also serve when parting. Aum.
Lesson 297 from Merging with Siva
Creating the Golden Yoke
Each lineage has within it a nada of a different velocity of sound, varied in pitch and depth. This is Hindu mysticism. This is the magic of Hindu oneness. This is sampradaya. This is parampara. This is what I want you to do: in the beginning, don't try to hear your nada. Try instead to hear mine. You will know you are hearing my nada and not your own when it is slightly louder. This is nada-nadi shakti. This is your first siddhi. It will bring many good benefits into your life, smooth out the karmas, bringing you from future to future, keep you inspired and on the subtle path, strengthening your psychic protection, strengthening your personal force field and that of all the loved ones connected to you, whether they themselves hear nada or not. There is a large religious movement in India whose one and only practice is to gaze at the founder's picture and to listen to the inner sound, which is the followers' connection to him and thus to the Divine in all. I'm hearing the nada now, as I speak, that of my satguru, Yogaswami; his satguru, Chellappaswami; and his satguru, Kadaitswami, and that of innumerable rishis, back to Tirumular and his satguru, Nandinatha, and those beyond and beyond and beyond, to the beginning of time, for there has never been a time on this planet or any of the earths the same distance from other suns in our galaxy or any of the others when our Nandinatha Sampradaya has not existed. Nada is always present and within divine lineages of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal path, the eternal religion, the eternal truth, more advanced than modern science, but not conflicting in any way with the discoveries of science, as these good souls penetrate into Sanatana Dharma and unravel its mysteries. There are advanced forms of communication and training that utilize these energy rays. Two people may be a continent apart, entirely separated from each other's odic, conscious and subconscious force fields, and still be subject to actinic mind communication. This has been called soul communication. It is possible because in the superconscious mind, where actinic rays exist, time and space are conceptually different. In the evolutionary cycle, man eventually becomes conscious of the actinic force as it flows through the odic areas of the mind. On these rays, education comes from the inside of himself out to the conscious mind. A person going through such an experience feels he has tapped a higher, intuitive resource. Psychically seen, an intellect developed in this manner, rather than through mere sensory observation, has a golden appearance. The education of the mind's odic force field from its actinic source creates what I call the "golden yoke." It is the yoke of liberation, because in its exercise one penetrates to the very depths of the inner being. In so doing, the inner awakening and knowledge brought forth from this superconscious realm registers on the odic force field of the conscious mind's intellect. It is known that sages have learned languages, mathematics and all flows of knowledge in meditation. Uneducated men have become scholars by opening what Jnanaguru Yogaswami called "your own book." Now, we can lose this expanded consciousness, once it has been gained, by allowing ourselves to become identified again with the odic world. As soon as we stop making the effort to penetrate the actinic realms, the ordinary forces of attachment, fear and desire force in upon us. It then requires extra effort to balance the forces and penetrate the life-giving, light-giving regions in meditation. When this happens again, one has the experience of seeing light within the cranium, the friction of the actinic force permeating and lighting up the odic force field. A guru-disciple relationship may be established on the actinic plane for years before a physical meeting and training takes place. The study and unfoldment begins when one turns within himself, creating the irrevocable "golden yoke" and attuning himself to the same actinic ray of consciousness in which the guru functions. Teachings can then be conveyed on these rays, as long as guru and disciple are in harmony. By working with this golden yoke, one's karmic experiences are hastened, but at the same time they are encountered in a more orderly fashion.
