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Sloka 143 from Dancing with Siva
Are Monism and Dualism Reconcilable?
Monists, from their mountaintop perspective, perceive a one reality in all things. Dualists, from the foothills, see God, souls and world as eternally separate. Monistic theism is the perfect reconciliation of these two views. Aum.
Bhashya
Visualize a mountain and the path leading to its icy summit. As the climber traverses the lower ranges, he sees the meadows, the passes, the giant boulders. This we can liken to dualism, the natural, theistic state where God and man are different. Reaching the summit, the climber sees that the many parts are actually a one mountain. This realization is likened to pure monism. Unfortunately, many monists, reaching the summit, teach a denial of the foothills they themselves climbed on the way to their monistic platform. However, by going a little higher, lifting the kundalini into the space above the mountain's peak, the entire Truth is known. The bottom and the top are viewed as a one whole, just as theism and monism are accepted by the awakened soul. Monistic theism, Advaita Ishvaravada, reconciles the dichotomy of being and becoming, the apparent contradiction of God's eternality and temporal activity, the confusion of good and evil, the impasse of one and two. The Vedas affirm, "He who knows this becomes a knower of the One and of duality, he who has attained to the oneness of the One, to the self-same nature." Aum Namah Sivaya.
Lesson 298 from Living with Siva
Keeping Peace With Yourself
The older children and young adults in the family must be taught that it is their responsibility, too, to see that the pranas are all flowing nicely in the home, so the little children and babies are protected. Young adults, having just come out of the instinctive mind themselves, are breaking the barriers into the intellect, experiencing these new pranas and beginning to think for themselves. This is the time when elders can guide them into the zero-tolerance-for-disharmonious-conditions philosophical outlook. Youths who have accepted the concept are most respectful of loving relationships. They tried it out and found for themselves that "Yes, we do have control over the instinctive mind" and "No, we won't allow it to run wild within our home, among our friends or in our associations with the community." They will be the ones to keep the flow of pranas harmonious. Then the next step unfolds from within most naturally: zero tolerance for disharmonious conditions within our own self. This brings us back to my guru's wisdom: claim the strength to stop being miserable, to stop tolerating turmoil inside yourself. How is this accomplished? We have to boldly affirm, "I will not allow the instinctive mind that I experienced as a child to control me in any way. I will not allow anger to come up. I will not allow jealousy to dominate my thinking and make me feel inferior or superior to someone else. I will not allow fear to permeate my aura." Then, each day before bedtime, settle any unresolved matters within yourself by performing the vasana daha tantra, "subconscious purification by fire." Vasanas are sub-subconscious traits, complexes or subliminal tendencies which, as driving forces, color and motivate one's attitudes and actions. Vasanas are conglomerates of subconscious impressions, samskaras, created through repeated or powerful experience. Daha means to burn, consume by fire, and a tantra is a method or technique, and the method here is to write out clearly all problems as well as emotional happenings, unhappy or happy, that are vibrating in the subconscious, instinctive-intellectual mind. When the eyes, through the intellectual mind or conscious mind, see the problem written down, the emotion attached to the memory begins to diminish. Then crumple up the paper and burn it in an ordinary fire, such as in a fireplace, urn or garbage can, to totally release some of life's burdens from the subconscious and dispel the suppressed emotions as the fire consumes the paper. This simple tantra removes the vasanas from the memory and emotional recesses along with the emotion, resentments, hurt feelings and misunderstandings. Soon the superconscious pranas will begin to flow, and our natural, peaceful self emerges, and we may be left wondering, "Why was I ever bothered about that trivial incident?" What happens if we don't resolve inharmonious or congested matters within ourself before sleep? The condition will go to seed, and those vrittis, waves of the mind, which were disturbed by the experiential creation of the situation, will form a vasana to germinate at a later time in life, perhaps many years in the future, or even in another lifetime. This daily mental maintenance, of course, requires discipline. It may be easier to simply drop off to sleep feeling angry, jealous, guilty, dejected or sorry for oneself. Yes, zero tolerance for disharmonious conditions can be applied within oneself as well as among a family or any group of people. This practice can be established in one of two ways. Start with yourself and then carry it out to others. Or start with your relationships with others, smoothing out the pranas when they go a little crazy, and then finally apply it to yourself when you are convinced that this is the way life should be lived. Zero tolerance for disharmonious conditions is clearly the only way once one fully accepts the basic principles of the Sanatana Dharma: all-pervasive energy, cause and effect, and coming back in a physical birth until all scores are settled. Remember the inspiring words of the Atharva Veda, "Let us have concord with our own people and concord with people who are strangers to us. Ashvins, create between us and the strangers a unity of hearts. May we unite in our midst, unite in our purposes and not fight against the divine spirit within us" (7.52.1-2. hv, p 205).
Sutra 298 of the Nandinatha Sutras
Saivism's Affirmation Of Faith
Just before sleep, all my devotees utter: "Anbe Sivamayam Satyame Parasivam," while pondering the great depths of this affirmation. Upon awakening, their first words are "Anbe Sivamayam Satyame Parasivam." Aum.
Lesson 298 from Merging with Siva
The State of Contemplation
The force field of actinic consciousness is one which a guru has worked perhaps for many years to enter. His awareness of it is his control of it. This mechanism works in the same way a corporate executive guides the forces of his business, through knowledge of the field and experience. A guru learns control of actinic force fields just as a businessman learns to control his odic force fields. The odic force and the actinic force make up this planet. The action and interaction of these two forces working together cause the life that we see on Earth. Quite often in meditation I see the planet as completely transparent, just like a tremendous, transparent, translucent sphere. It looks light, and it is floating in a clear space, a blue space. This space is called akasha. I am seeing the planet in the akasha, vibrantly seeing the collective odic and actinic forces working within and through it. Coming out of this state, one can see easily the way in which human beings are created. The woman holds the power of the odic force field. The man holds the power of the actinic force field. Between them they cause a chemicalization that brings through the soul and the physical and emotional body of a newborn child. Depending upon this chemical balance, they give birth to an old soul or a young soul. That is why it is so important for families to have a deeply religious life. What is a religious life? It is the balance of these two forces, the odic force and the actinic force. It is so important that there is an absolute harmony between the man and the woman. This guides and governs the inner currents of the children until the age of twenty-one. At that time, the inner forces dissolve from the family and are governed by their own superconscious mind. I have seen this all happen from the inside. It is a vast and beautiful picture. Of course, with vast populations now covering the planet, it is happening more than ever--more births, more deaths, more forces to contend with. At this time in the evolution of this planet, the actinic forces are breaking through the odic force fields due to the planetary configurations, making this an actinic age, an age of light and great illumination, an age of contemplation. The state of contemplation is not just peacefully sitting and getting all jazzed up on the inside. It is as refined an activity as penetrating subtle thoughts and feelings on the superconscious plane until all intellectual structure dissolves in the atom's essence within superconsciousness. If you have ever had the experience of tracing a vibration of consciousness to the point where consciousness is no more, you will know how subtle is the fiber of an actinic ray. The explosion of light so commonly associated with the contemplative state is only the first breakthrough. After this, an aspirant is ready to begin the study which will give him the mastery of these subtle forces. Striving in meditation for a continuing contemplative awareness, a strong actinic vehicle is built. The aura of a person who has created access to this inner world gives evidence of a higher energy source. This is what is behind the ancient myths wherein the Gods rode through the skies in golden chariots. The golden chariot is the actinic vehicle of the superconscious. A satguru must be able to control his travel on more than one actinic ray. In doing so, he is able to establish a continuity of contact in the deeper consciousness within his various disciples. It is on an actinic ray that intuitive knowledge is gained and passed along. At first the odic forces seem warm and friendly, and the actinic force registers more as an emptiness or nothingness existing inside of you. But if you can find out what and where this nothingness is, you will not have to think anymore about purging the subconscious, because the actinic flow will take over the outer mind and you will find yourself lifted in love, light and perception.
