Connection between Shiva and Ganesha

 

The lord of the diverse universe is called Ganesha. 

The whole universe is nothing but clusters of atoms – groups of qualities, of energy. Gana means group and a group cannot exist without a “lord.” Like the queen bee whose mere existence brings forth the honeycomb, this diverse universe in itself is enough evidence for Ganesha’s presence. 

Ganesha, or lord, was born from the unmanifest transcendental consciousness, the Self, called Shiva. Just as when atoms bond and matter comes into existence, so when all the fragmented aspects of human consciousness bond, divinity happens effortlessly and that is the birth of Ganesha from Shiva.

On Shivaratri

 

Peace is your nature, yet you remain restless. 

Freedom is your nature, yet you remain in bondage. 

Happiness is your nature, yet you become miserable for some reason or another. 

Contentment is your nature, yet you continue to reel in desires. 

Benevolence is your nature, yet you do not reach out. 

Moving towards your nature is sadhana. 

Sadhana is becoming what you truly are! Your true nature is Shiva. And Shiva is peace, infinity, beauty and the non-dual One. Ratri means “to take refuge.” Shivaratri is taking refuge in Shiva.

Believing in time

 

An ignorant person either disbelieves or believes what an individual says, but the wise one does neither. His faith rests on kaal, or time. 

When the time is good, a foe will behave like a friend. When the time is not good, even a friend will behave like a foe. 

An ignorant person disbelieves in both time and the Divine beyond time, while the wise one believes in Mahakaal – the Grand Time, or Shiva. 

In the world and in time there is always room for improvement. You can improve your time and your nature. Only Being is perfect all the time. Take refuge in Being and become immutable. Know that I am immutable.

Finding one's identity

 

You have many faces, only you do not face them. From time to time in different phases, different faces appear. When you come face to face with your faces then conflicts, confusion and chaos arise in you. As you come close to your being, all the faces melt and leave you as the space that you are. 

At the gross level, you identify yourself as someone. As you move to more subtle levels, you may identify yourself as some energy or as an incarnation of some angel, saint or prophet. When you go beyond even this identity, you are whole, holy, Brahman Purna Brahman Narayana.

Shiva is called Chandrashekhara, which means “that mind which is in Shiva and is always above the peak”. 

Buddha is not on the peak, rather the peak is beneath Buddha. One who goes up to the peak comes down, but the peak seeks the one who is stationed higher, in the inner space. People run after parties and celebrations, but for the one who does not run after them, parties and celebrations follow him wherever he goes. If you run after parties, loneliness comes to you. If you are in the solitude of the self, parties surround you. 

Don't go chasing angels

 

Infinity has diverse qualities and specific qualities assume names; they are called angels. Angels are simply rays of your big self. They are there to serve you when you are centered. Just as roots and stems come out of a seed as it sprouts, so angels manifest in your life when you are centered. 

Angels are like your extended arms. Just as all the colours are present in white sunlight, all the angels are present in your higher self. Bliss is their breath, dispassion is their abode. 

Angels rejoice in your company, but you have nothing to gain from them. They only come around those who have nothing to gain from them. 

Shiva is the bestower of dispassion. Shiva is the consciousness that is bliss, innocence and omnipresence. Krishna is the outer manifestation of Shiva. Shiva is the inner silence of Krishna.

Three forces of nature and how to balance them

 

There are three forces in nature - Brahma shakti, Vishnu shakti, and Shiva shakti. One of these may predominate in you. Brahma shakti is the force that creates something new, Vishnu shakti is the ability to maintain and Shiva shakti infuses new life, destroys old things and brings transformation. 

Some of you have Brahma shakti. You may create something well, but you may not be able to maintain it. For example, you may make friends very quickly, but the friendships do not last long. 

Others among you have Vishnu shakti. You cannot create but you are good at maintenance. For example, you have long-lasting friendships, but you cannot make any new friends. 

Some of you have more Shiva shakti. You bring in new life or transformation, or you can destroy the whole setup. With Guru shakti, all three shaktis have fully blossomed. So, identify which shakti predominates in you and aspire for Guru shakti. Guru makes a group but a group cannot make a Guru. 

Often people think they are in control of their life, their situation, their world. Control is an illusion. The whole world moves according to the laws of Nature in an auspicious rhythm of innocence, intelligence, and divinity. That is Shiva. Shiva is the eternal state of being, the One without a second, the harmonious innocence that knows no control. 

Control is Vashi –Shiva reversed. Vashi is of the mind. Vashi is weakness. Vashi is doing something by exerting unnatural pressure. Vashi requires two, and duality is the cause of fear. 

Shiva, that harmonious innocence, dissolves duality. Shiva means wholeness of the moment. When there is no regret of past, no want of future, the moment is whole and compete. Time stops, mind stops. Every cell in your body has the ability of all five senses. You can see without the eyes, vision is part of consciousness, which is why in dreams you can see without the eyes. 

Love vs lust

 

In love even an object is elevated to life. Stones and trees speak to you, the sun, the moon, the entire creation becomes alive and divine. In lust even a living being becomes a mere object. You want to even use people like objects.

- Lust brings tension, love brings relaxation.

- In lust there is cunningness and manipulation, in love there is playfulness.

- Lust focuses on a part, love focuses on the whole.

- In lust you want to grasp and possess, in love you want to give and surrender.

- In lust there is effort, love is effortless.

- Lust brings violence, love brings sacrifice.

- Lust demands, love commands.

- In lust you are mixed up and confused in love you are focused and spaced out.

- Lust is dark and monotonous, love has many modes and colours.

- Lust says, "All I want you to have is what I want". Love says, "I want you to have what you want".

- Lust causes feverishness and frustration, love causes longing and pain.

- Lust imprisons and destroys, love liberates and sets you free.

If someone's lust is interrupted, they become angry and start hating. Hatred in the world today is not out of love, it is out of lust. 

Shiva, the embodiment of innocence and love, was meditating. His meditation was disturbed by an arrow of flowers from the lord of lust. As soon as Shiva awoke, he opened his third eye and the lord of lust, Manmathava - one who churns the mind - was reduced to ashes. Lust grips the mind, tires the body and dulls the intellect. Lust when indulged brings inertia, and when suppressed brings anger. 

Lust is nothing but primordial unharnessed energy. The same energy when harnessed manifests as enthusiasm, sparkle, sharpness of intellect and love.

What can you do to sublimate lust and transform it into love?

    - Be playful. People who are in the grip of lust cannot be genuinely playful. When you are playful, then there is no lust.

    - Be generous. When you realize that you are here only to give, then lust is sublimated. Lust makes you possessive and greedy.

    - Take cold-water baths.

    - Moderate your intake of food.

    - Undertake creative challenges.

    - Remember death.

    - Be in love with the Divine.

Insight into Shiva Sutras

 

A sutra is a thread and Shiva means that which is auspicious. Among many negative things, take that one positive thing and hold on to it. If someone has fallen in a deep well, what do you do? You help them come up with a rope. That is what Shiv Sutras are meant to do. These are simple one-line sutras that make you aware that your true nature is “Swatmananda Praksha Vapushe”. Your true nature is bliss; your true nature is joy. Your nature is light.

That is why it is said: Namah śrī śambhave svātmānanda prakāśa vapuśe.

I bow down to the wealth that brings peace and fills the body with joy.

How does auspiciousness begin? It happens when the mind turns inwards. When the mind wanders outside, it is caught up in problems and confusion. Do you know what misery is? Misery is when the mind gets caught up in the world and forgets itself. Happiness can be described as remembering yourself.

Suppose a close relative or friend visits you after a long time. You prepare sweets, arrange everything to welcome them and go to the railway station to receive them. You feel thrilled when you finally meet them. The mind instantly blossoms. Where there is no eagerness and anticipation, there is less love.

The mind naturally flows towards that which you love. When you read the word ‘mana’ meaning mind, from the other direction, it becomes “nama.” What does it mean? When the mind turns inward it is namah, and an outward mind is manah. When you enter a temple, you say ‘namah’ and the mind automatically turns inwards.

What attracts the mind outward? It is prosperity, wealth, success and beauty. The sight of anything beautiful draws the mind towards it. The whole world revolves around only one thing, and that is ‘Srī’, which means prosperity. You yearn for knowledge, yearn for happiness, yearn for beauty, wealth, success, advancement – whatever you long for, it is only for one desire, and that is Srī. When we are in a state of namah, when we are introspective, we find Srī and true wealth is born.

‘Śambhave’ – Wealth and prosperity should bring peace. However, often one acquires wealth and problems follow it. While we do need money, along with wealth we also get diseases like stomach pains, ulcers, diabetes, heart attack, etc.

‘Svātmānanda’ – filled with bliss, having a cheerful state of mind. There are some people who do good acts, but do not have peace and joy. But look at children. They are not very serious. They are happy. What kind of happiness do they have? ‘Svātmānanda prakāśā vapuse’ – happiness overflows in them. One characteristic of life is that it should end where it began, and life is a cycle that starts with happiness.

‘Ānandena jātāni jīvanti’ – it is said in the Upanishads: “Life happens in joy and finds completion in joy.” The soul should be filled with happiness – that is the goal of the Shiva Sūtras: svātmānanda prakāśa vapuśe.

Giving prime time to the Divine

When you are talking, connecting with someone, when you look at your friend or somebody you love, something happens inside you. You feel as though some new energy is coursing through you, a joy that is hard to describe. Capture that great moment, for those moments are timeless. But don’t stop there. Okay, you might have experienced those timeless moments by the presence of that person, that person might have brought forth those emotions in you. So what? Instead of getting immersed in that person or in the situation, just be with the spring of bliss rising in you.

The Divine has given you all the small pleasures in the world but has kept the bliss to Him. To get the highest bliss, you have to go to Him and Him alone. Be sincere in your attempts. Once you get bliss, then everything else is joyful. Without bliss, joy in anything in the world will not stay.

Give satsang and meditation your highest priority. Give prime time to the Divine and know that God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice, you reach the same spot. When you know you are part of the divine plan, you stop demanding. Then you know everything is being done for you. You are taken care of. Usually we do it the other way: we hurry the mind and are slow in our action. Patience in the mind and dynamism in action are the right formula.

Usually, when the word ‘god’ is mentioned, everybody looks up immediately. What is there up above? It only rains from above. There is nothing above. Everything is inside, neither above nor below. Looking inside, being inside is meditation and this brings real joy, real happiness. Time and beauty are not elsewhere; they are here, right now, in this very moment. Every single moment is important. Live every moment of life. Make life a celebration.

The silent part of the Divine is known as mahakaal. Shiva is known as mahakaal. Mahakaal means great time. We often say, “I had a great time.” Great time means the moments present in the timeless moments. Shiva is also known as Kaal Samhaara Murti. It means the lord who slays time. How is it possible to slay time? It is possible by extreme bliss. When you are blissful, you do not feel the passage of time. When you are not aware of the passage of time, then it is said that time has been slayed.

There is a close relation between time and sadness. When we are very sad, we perceive time to be too long. When you are happy, you do not feel time. When there is peace in the mind, you will not sense the passage of time. When there is no peace in the mind, even two passing minutes make you feel as though two hours were spent. So what is happiness, or bliss? It is our very self. That self is the Shiva tattva.

Make your body God’s abode, and there will be peace and bliss. God is not an object of senses but the feeling of feelings, the presence of the presence, the sound of silence, the essence of the world and a taste of bliss.

Understanding Shiva

 

Shiva is vishwaroopa which means that the entire universe is his form and yet he is formless or niraakar. You can know Him by going deep into Om, the primordial sound of the Universe. How can you understand Shiva? Only through meditation.

There is a beautiful story. Once Brahma, the creator and Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe wanted to know the expanse of Shiva. Brahma said, “I will go and look for his head and you find his feet.” So for thousands of years Vishnu travelled downwards to find Shiva’s feet and Brahma went upwards to find his head but they couldn’t find it. Finally they both met at the middle and said that they couldn’t find either. There is no beginning and no end to Shiva.

Shiva comprises of the entire creation and the creation is full of opposites. On one hand he is considered shweth vastra dhaar (wearing white clothes) and on the other hand, he is krishna varna meaning he is dark. He is the Lord of the Universe and yet he doesn’t have even a piece of cloth or jewellery. He is Rudra or the fierce on one side and Bholenaath or the most innocent on the other. He is Sundaresha, the lord of beauty and he is also Aghora – dreadfully intense. Shiva tattva binds the dynamism of the beautiful dance and stillness of meditation, darkness and light, innocence and intelligence, ferocity and compassion.

Shiva

 

Wherever there is truth there is Shiva. Wherever there is beauty there is Shiva. Wherever there is benevolence there is Shiva. And there is not a place where the principle that is Shiva, is not there. Shivaratri is an occasion to remember that, ‘I am Shiva, I am that principle, I am the truth, eternity, beauty, and benevolence'.

Shiva is Beauty, yet He is Unseen

Shiva is Benevolent, yet He is Fierce

Shiva is Truth, yet He cannot be known by the intellect

Shiva is Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram.

Ganapati - Remover of obstacles and Giver of gyana

 

The stories in the Puranas contain many incredible and hard-to-believe occurrences. But they should not be interpreted as a nursery rhyme. Their language is Shakespearean and laden with great depth and meaning. We need to interpret these stories with a very refined state of mind.

The story goes that Parvati created a boy out of dirt from her body and appointed him to guard the doorstep. The first question that comes is how could Parvati, the Goddess Herself, have so much dirt? Parvati symbolizes the triguna – sattva, rajas and tamas. The entire creation is made up of trigunas. The dosha or imperfections that originate out of the triguna is an obstruction for the functioning of prakriti. That was the boy that Parvati created to stand guard at the door. 

Shiva is shuddha chaitanya, pure consciousness. Like the sun does not recognize darkness and cuts through it, Shiva does not recognize dosha and slays the impurity. But prakriti cannot stay without impurity. So Shiva replaces the dosha with the head of an elephant, which symbolizes knowledge. Through knowledge, all the doshas or obstructions of prakriti can be taken care of. This is the spiritual and metaphysical meaning of Ganapati being slain.

So worshipping Ganapati as the remover of obstacles and the giver of gyana, knowledge, is the most amazing depiction of the nature of consciousness.  Going a step further, even this difference between prakriti and purusha is done away with. That is why, the Ganapati Upanishad says,

ajam nirvikalpam niraakaaram-ekam

niraanandam aanandam advaita poornam

param nirgunam nirvishesham nireeham

para brahma roopam ganesham bhajema

Ganesha is the only one unborn unmanifest reality. He is nirvikalpa and advaita – the formless, undivided One. This is the play and display of consciousness within itself. While Ganapati is certainly the nirakara parabrahman, he is invoked and worshipped in the mud idol for a period of time for the joy of the devotees. Then Ganapati is asked to merge back into our heart and the idol is immersed in water. This ritual is observed for the sake of devotees, not for the sake of Ganapati. He who is without form is invoked in a form and then his spirit is invoked back into one’s heart as the idol is immersed.

Attaining a higher state of consciousness

We live most of our lives through three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and sleeping. In the waking state of consciousness, we experience the world through the five senses. We seek elevation and joy from these senses. If any one of the senses is missing, the entire dimension of that sense is lost. One who cannot hear is bereft of the whole arena of sound. Similarly, he who cannot see is deprived of all the beautiful sights and colours. So, the sense is more important and much bigger than the object of the sense.

The mind is higher than the senses. The mind is infinite, its desires are many, but the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited. Greed is wanting more and more of sensory objects. Even though one can only enjoy a limited amount during a lifetime, one wants all the wealth in the world. Giving too much importance to sensory objects leads to greed; giving too much importance to the senses leads to lust; and giving too much importance to the mind and its desires leads to delusion.

We hold on to the concepts of the mind and want things to happen in a certain way. Thus, the concepts in our mind impede us from perceiving the infinite consciousness that is a part of us. This is not to say that the senses or the mind are bad. But we must learn to discriminate between things and be aware of what is happening at all times. That is when clarity dawns on us. This is the first step toward the higher state of consciousness.

In the waking state, one is constantly engaged in looking, eating, working etc. The other extreme is the sleeping state where one is completely cut off and dull. The dullness and heaviness linger even after waking. The more one sleeps, the duller one feels since a lot of energy is expended in sleep. Then there is the dreaming state where one is neither asleep nor awake. Here, you neither feel at rest nor are aware of your surroundings.

The higher state of consciousness is somewhere in between the waking, sleeping and dreaming states. Here, we know we “are” but we don’t know “where” we are. This knowledge that I “am”, but I don’t know “where” I am or “what” I am, is called Shiva. This state gives the deepest possible rest that one can experience. And one can achieve this through meditation. 

Meditation helps in two ways – it prevents stress from entering the system and simultaneously releases accumulated stress. With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, a higher state of consciousness called cosmic consciousness dawns within us. Cosmic consciousness perceives the whole universe as part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to overcome the opposing forces and the disturbances in life. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.

A higher state of consciousness will not simply happen one fine morning. The sapling of consciousness is within you – it needs to be nurtured through spiritual practices like meditation. Some coconut trees yield in three years, and some in 10 years. And those that are not nurtured never yield, they simply exist. Attaining higher states of consciousness does not require any complicated strategy; one just needs to learn the art of letting go. The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off-balance by different situations and disturbances. You become strong yet soft – a delicate and beautiful individual capable of accommodating different values in life without any conditions. As your consciousness opens and the whole system gets physically, mentally and spiritually elevated, your life truly becomes worth living.

The Power of Surrender

When you meditate what do you feel? When you take a dip in the emptiness that you are - that emptiness is full of all glory, all bliss. We get so fried by our desires and fears and our anxiety and wants and dislikes we need to rest. That rest is what meditation is. Meditation is that which leads to Shiva Tattva, Shiva principle. For a moment you see the whole world as ephemeral, as temporary. The dream nature of everything lifts you to the reality that you are. The way is devotion. 

Divinity accepts everything. You have guilt, offer it. You have thorns or flowers, they belong to the divine. Anything that you hold on within you, know that it is not yours, it belongs to Shiva. It all belongs to Shiva. 

With surrender, you experience saamipiya. Shiva accepts everything. In life wanted, unwanted things happen. There’s happiness, there’s sorrow, anger, greed, lust - all of them arise. We get entangled in it and get frustrated. Don’t try to get rid of them. Surrender them. Surrender your good and bad qualities. When you hold on to your good qualities you become arrogant. When you hold on to bad qualities, then you get stuck in low self-esteem.

On Mahashivaratri 2021

Shivaratri is when you repose in your being. You know night gives you comfort however frustrated you are. When you sleep you are not touched by frustration; sleep relieves you of pain, suffering, frustration, desires, fear, everything. There is no fear in sleep, there are none of these emotions in sleep because it relieves you from all these and it comforts you.

When we are awake we are so busy, we are caught up in so many things and when we are tired we fall asleep, we get into inertia but there is something in between. When you consciously repose in your being you encounter that which is magnificent, that which is universal, that which has no boundaries, that which has no time.

Shiva is beyond time and yet he is called Maha (grand) in time. You know you feel the timelessness, isn’t it? When you meditate what do you feel? When you take a dip into that emptiness that you are, that emptiness is full of all glory, all bliss.

We get so fried by our desires and our fears and our anxiety and wants and dislikes we need rest and that rest is what meditation is and meditation is that, which leads to Shiva tattva, the Shiva principle.

For a moment you will see all the activities and the entire phenomenal world as ephemeral, as temporary, it’s like a dream and the dream nature of everything lifts you to the reality that you are. You are that vast consciousness which has no limit and the way to realise that is devotion.

You know the divine accepts everything from you, you know whatever you have, offer it. You have guilt, offer it to the divine. Thoughts are flowers because it all belongs to the divine. So anything that is bothering you, anything that you hold on to within you, which is bothering you, anything you have in you, you have to simply let go, know that it is not yours, it belongs to Shiva. Shiva is very personal, yet he is universal, Shiva is beauty yet he is unseen, Shiva is in every particle of the being, everything that we see is Shiva.

Yet, what we don’t see is also Shiva. It’s the night that gives you the vision of infinity, in the day time you can not see infinity. In the night you see how many universes are there, how many stars? The glory of existence is visible in the night and in the night you don’t see many things right? In the same way, night takes you in its lap and comforts you and soothes you of every other emotion, good or bad and it’s the same in meditation.

When you go into meditation it brings relief to you, it uplifts you and that is what Shivaratri is about. Be awake inside and repose in yourself. Many devotees from time immemorial who have sung (Om Namah Shivaya), have seen that all their sins vanished. Just say “Om Namah Shivaya”, all the lack will disappear from you, with “Om Namah Shivaya” fears will fly away, just say “Om Namah Shivaya”, what more do you want?

When lack disappears, fear disappears, tiredness goes away you are left with bliss and pure bliss and that is Shiva. Shiva is: sat i.e. the truth, chit i.e. consciousness and anand i.e. bliss. The yogi finds it so obvious and the one who is not a yogi finds it just a hearsay or a story and it just goes above him. But a yogi knows it all and will say yes, that is correct. Right? So you are all yogis.

“Shivoham, Shivoham”, “I am Shiva”, “I am Shiva”, this “I” is nothing but Shiva and then “Sarvam Shivamayam Jagat” means everything here is filled with Shiva, is soaked with Shiva, is manifestation of Shiva”. These two feelings “Everything is Shiva” and “I am Shiva”, that’s it, done.

So for you to go deep in meditation, know that you are loved, Shiva loves you so dearly. You are loved and you are lovely because you are made by Shiva. So you have to be lovely, there is no choice. However you have been created, the creator is responsible, so however you are and that role that you have been given is given by Shiva and so it has got to be lovely, it has got to be beautiful! "You are loved" and "you are lovely"; see how the mind becomes free with these two understandings. Putting yourself in this positive, beautiful vibration, universal vibration of the mantras, of the chants, uplifts our consciousness in more than one way, in many many ways.

Mahashivratri

Mahashivratri is the day of Shiva. Wherever there is beauty, truth, and benevolence, there is Shiva. And, there is no place where the Shiva-principle is absent. But, Shiva is not a person. It is that principle which is the summum bonum of the whole creation and pervades the entire universe. This principle, called the Shiva tattva, is the quintessence of life and is present deep within every living being.

On Mahashivratri, we celebrate the Shiva tattva by going deep within us, meditating, and rejoicing in the Shiva energy. There are certain days and time frames in a year when one’s mental health and spiritual faculties are enhanced and Mahashivratri is one such precious day.

Why is there only one God in all religions and in Hindu religion there are so many?

God likes variety. God did not just make egg plant or just potatoes. Just imagine having only potatoes all your life. 

He made different types of interesting vegetables. When God has made so many different types of vegetables, different types of flowers for you, would the same God like to be in one uniform? He will be wearing different types of costumes. 

And so he will manifest in different names and different forms. He has the right to do that. 

He who likes variety and has created so many varieties of forms also is available in different names and forms. That is why we say one God but with different names and different forms. That is why they say, see ‘One’ in everyone, and see everyone in that ‘One’. This is what is ‘Vishwaroop Darsan’, where Krishna showed Arjuna that everything was in him. ‘Rudra, Shiva, Ganapati, it is me who is present in all forms.’ 

So do not think Gods as separate from one another. God is only one, but there are different Devatas.

Just like how one cell becomes the human body. A drop of semen and one egg joined together forms one cell. From this one cell the human body is formed, but in this there are 33 different aspects. One aspect becomes the eyes, one aspect becomes the ears, and one becomes the throat and tongue. The textures are so different. 

Your nails are different from your eyes and eyes are different from your ears. These are Devatas. That is what the ancient people have said; in our body Devatas are present. In each organ there is a Devata which means divine quality. All these divine qualities, all these Devatas are one God’s manifestation. These are 33 chromosomes derived from the one cell. That is why our ancestors have spoke about 33 crore Devatas.

Changing the world by changing yourself - II

I would say that we should all focus our attention on some issues.

The foremost among them is a corruption-free society that we all need to envision. Corruption begins right where belongingness ends. One does not behave in a deceitful manner with their own people. The corrupt accept bribes from people they do not consider their own. We want to sacrifice ourselves for those whom we consider our very own, and we want to grab from those with whom we feel separateness.

Spirituality is where no one is a stranger. It is the mantra of love and the absence of separateness from anyone; where no one is an outsider.

So we need to envision a corruption-free society. Law is necessary, but that law alone can abolish corruption; I am not willing to believe. We all will have to join hands and, to begin with, take an oath not to give or accept bribes.

Next is female foeticide. We have to put an end to female foeticide. In this country we have always believed that man and woman are equal - God's one half is Shakti. Shiva Shaktyayukto Yadi Bhavati Shatah Prabhavitum.

You must have heard of the concept of 'Ardha Nareshwar', it is so scientific. In every individual both elements exist, the female and the male. Committing female feticide or any act of violence against women is a very bad thing to do. We have to stop it.

The third issue is alcohol. Nowadays, alcohol has acquired the status of God in India. People drink in sorrow and people drink when they are happy. They drink at weddings, and when someone dies to forget the departed. When the election is won, alcohol flows, and when it is lost, then too alcohol is there - it has become excessive.

It is being said that the sale of alcohol has risen in our society. Addiction has gone out of bounds. We have to protect ourselves from this. The only way to save us is if we experience a greater euphoria than alcohol - that which one can get in our midst.
If you sit in satsang, you experience such a high that is hard to get over. One can afford to remain in that high as one doesn't have to spend anything, and one's health is also protected.

This universe has five qualities: naam, roop, asti, bhati and preeti. This entire universe is name (naam) and form (roop); everything has a name and a form, and consciousness (asti), which is experienced (bhati) and whose nature is love (preeti).

Go to any corner of the world and look into the eyes of a child - you will find nothing but love. Every child born in this world is an image of love and a treasure of joy and smiles. A child smiles all day long. And as it grows up, no one knows where the love disappears, and the smile vanishes.

The meaning of education is to save the smile and spread the love. Both you and I have died several times; I remember, whether you remember or not, I do not know. When we die, only two questions appear before us: how many people have you shared love with, and how much knowledge have you gained.

Knowledge does not mean information, it means awareness. So we have named this process of gaining awareness, and sharing love, the Art of Living. Putting together certain techniques, various programs such as Yes+, ART Excel, etc., were created so that people might find it easy to learn.

Too much knowledge all at once cannot be digested. Knowledge should be given in small doses, like in a five course dinner: first the appetizer, then the soup, then the mail meal and in the end dessert. This way we can digest the food.

It has been thirty years since the Art of Living began. This world is one family - this dream has been realized today. This was a very ancient dream of our Rishis. It is inscribed in our parliament also, ‘Gananda laghu chetasaam udara charitaanaam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam'.

In our country this knowledge and this tradition has been there since eternity. There are such beautiful and timeless truths that we have overlooked, and neither learnt nor implemented in our lives. Application of this knowledge keeps our body healthy, mind at ease and happy, sharpens the intellect, and there is such a feeling of peace within!

If you all ask me Guruji, what do you want? Why you are doing all these things and why are you holding these satsangs? Why are you traveling to all these places? Shall I tell you my secret, why I am doing all this? I want to see an India where there is no violence. Where in every individual there is creativity and joy. I want to see a divine society. I want to create a violence-free and trouble-free society.

How many of you are with me in this? We all have to come together and bring about the divine society till the time we are in this world. We have to do things in such a way that we should leave behind a beautiful society for the next generations. When we leave this world behind, we should leave it better than how we got it.

What do you think? One day or the other, we are going to die. So for today’s younger generation we have to give a better society. Will you all work together for this? Yes?!
Just look around whoever is not raising their hands up! Just ask them, ‘what is the problem!’

Shiva is complete; then why does he get married to Parvati?

This is like asking if God is complete, then why did he create this world. A spider is complete, yet it creates a web by its own saliva, and moves within its own web. Waves rise in the ocean, then where do they go? Are they going somewhere? Why do they rise? Got it? The ocean is complete, yet it comes up with waves.

Shiva and Shakti are the same, that is why the concept of Ardhanareeshwar, who is half Shiva and half Parvati. 

This is true in all of us. In each one, there is a mother’s DNA and a father’s DNA; a male aspect and a female aspect, and together you become complete. Physically, you may be a woman, but you have your father’s aspect inside of you. Is it that only females are born out of females and males are born out of males? No! Inside each one of you, there is a male aspect and a female aspect. 

Shiva and Shakti are one, yet they are different. Parvati is Shakti (the manifest world, i.e., air, earth, fire, water, air, mind, ego and memory), Shiva is the unmanifest. The form and the formless are married; like your mind is formless, the body is form, and they are married. 

Yet, it is all just one wave function when you go to Quantum Mechanics; there is no male, no female. However, when you want to have a baby, you cannot say that it is all one Quantum Mechanics, it is different there.

When you want to eat food, Quantum Mechanics does not work there. You should know what to eat and what not to eatn correct? So, the world of differences and the world of unity co-exist, yet they are different. That is why it is said that the unmanifest Shiva Tatva has no parallel, there is no two; it is complete. 

As Shiva, as a male energy, it is consciousness; then there is female energy, i.e., the manifest universe or the body. When you talk about body and mind, then there are two things, the manifest and the unmanifest. But when you talk about atoms or wave function in Quantum Mechanics, it is all just one vibration. 

When you watch television, you see an episode, but if you see it from another angle, you perceive electronic waves. On the other side, you are seeing an episode, and getting some information; they are not opposite. In fact, they are interwoven in nature. 

This is a little bit scientific; if it does not go in, just relax. At some time, you may get it.

PIf you are a Physics student or interested in Physics, then you will catch it easily.
That is why in ancient India, one had to first understand the five elements. They would say that you do not worry about atman (soul), self or God; save that for a later time. First, learn about the five elements and their special permutations. 

Several years ago, a nuclear scientist had come to the Bangalore ashram. In a satsang, I spoke about the five elements. He said that nobody knew about the fifth element; scientists discovered the fifth element recently. The Greeks knew of only four elements.

I told him that he did not know of the Indian philosophy. Since ancient times, they have spoken of five elements in India. Then I told him about the three types of space; he was startled to know that. I asked him to read Yoga Vasishta; it is published by New York University Press. This knowledge has been there. 

So, first they would say that one should understand the five elements and then go to the next three, i.e., mind, intellect and ego. Then, you will come to the Self, to God; before that, they would say do not even think about it!

The Shiva Tattva

“Shiva doesn’t have a body, he was never a person at all. To symbolize the unfathomable, the infinite divinity, and to make it comprehensible for young people, for children and others, they made a form. In fact, there is no form to Shiva.

Shiva is a principle (tattva) from where everything has come, everything is sustained in it, and everything dissolves into it. Shiva is the space, it is the consciousness. There is no way that you can even step out of Shiva at anytime because Shiva is the summum bonum of the whole creation. That is why Shiva’s body is depicted in blue because blue signifies the sky; the all pervading infinity which has no limits, and no shape.

The consciousness which is bliss and innocence, the consciousness which is the bestower of dispassion – is Shiva. The whole world is moving in an auspicious rhythm of innocence and intelligence – that is Shiva.

The permanent and eternal source of energy, the eternal state of being, the one and only one – is Shiva.”