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.
If there is anything in this universe that cannot be defined, it is love. If you can describe love, then it is far from the truth. Nature of love is that which you cannot express or define. You give flowers, you hug, you prostrate, you offer but still something remains unexpressed. We can only find a little expression, just a glimpse of it.
There is a story about Hanuman. He loved Lord Rama. Once Rama asked Hanuman: ‘Tell me how much you love me?’ Hanuman said: ‘My lord I cannot express my love for you, you want to see? I will tear open my heart and show you’. You can see the picture of Hanuman tearing open his heart and showing Rama: ‘Only you reside in my heart.’
There are three types of love - Satvik, rajasic and tamasic. Satvik love is that which does not expect anything in return. Rajasic love, is the love combined with feverishness and a desire to get something back. Tamasic love is love for destroying things. But Divine love is free from all these three.
When you love somebody, what do you love in them? Do you love their qualities, attributes or the person? The love for someone just because they are great, have wonderful qualities, look very beautiful or they are kind, these are all elements of business and not Divine love.
Often love diminishes. A child loves its mother and as the child gets older, the love for the mother goes to the background because it starts loving its friends, then their husband or wife and then their own children.
But Divine love is contrary to this: Every moment it grows, the more time you spend, there is a feeling of wanting more. It’s a form of experience. You can live it, you can be it, you can shed tears of gratitude, you cannot express it. You cannot fully share it with anyone.
Divine love is uninterrupted, there are no gaps in it. There are no flaws there. Divine love is continual. Your love is so unconditional, it does not depend on the behaviour of the other person. It does not depend on the attributes of the other person. Does not depend upon what they do or don’t do to you. You are in love because you can’t be but in love. You have no choice as it is your very nature.
You can’t take credit for your own devotion. You can’t say, ‘I am so devoted’. If you are devoted, it is a blessing. Devotion gives you immense happiness, deep love and siddhi. Siddhi means what you think happens and what you want happens, you bless somebody, and it happens; all this happen through that state of your being. In the yoga sutras, Rishi Patanjali said, “Devotion towards the Divine brings the perfection of samadhi. It makes your meditation so serene and takes you to the perfected state.”
So just pray that this stays with you forever. Let nothing else spoil it. Devotion is like a diamond; don’t trade it for mud. It is the small things, little desires where we lose devotion, like not getting what we want, say a job or relationship. You lose your job, and your devotion suffers. If somebody blames you, then your devotion is gone. If your work does not happen, then your devotion is gone. So we are losing our devotion over nothing.
See, if you are a medical professional, you give medicine to people, and most of the time, it works, but sometimes it does not work. Similarly, many things happen in your life, and some things don’t happen, but at least hold onto the devotion. Sometimes it appears to have gone or is going away; then also, you can’t do anything about it. Then just relax and pray for it. If you are devoted, feel grateful for being devoted, then the devotion grows every moment.
Now, if you think, ‘Oh, I don’t feel the devotion, what do I do?’ Do nothing, just relax. Don’t think you don’t have it. You have it, it has not manifested now, but it will. Be in knowledge, and it will come up. Devotion is a strong bond, a sense of belongingness. Everybody is born with it. It’s just like becoming a child again. No child or mother ask each other, ‘Do you love me?’ The baby and the mother have no choice but to love each other. Similarly, devotion is inbuilt in every one of us.
Sometimes it is covered with ignorance, hesitation, doubts and insecurity. It is only a matter of time for that strip of ignorance and ego to give way, and then the inner devotee will shine up. Devotion brings faith, compassion, and responsibility.
Let your devotion flower. Give it a chance to work. So have the depth of devotion, love, and confidence that the Divinity loves me. You should not ask for proof of the Divine’s love for you. Always know that the Divine loves you. Love with wisdom is devotion. The one who has tasted devotion knows.
Everything in this creation has certain vibrations. Each animal is connected to the macrocosm and brings down a particular type of cosmic ray into the planet, that manifests particular vibrations. The gods are all depicted as riding on different vahanas (vehicles) — elephants attract the vibrations specific to Ganesha; tigers, the Devi vibrations; peacocks attract the vibrations of Lord Subramanya. Today scientists say, even if one animal species becomes extinct on the planet, the planet cannot survive. This is what our ancient people also said.
So honour and respect every creature on the planet because God is present in every atom of creation. The whole creation is filled with consciousness, filled with knowledge. You are nothing but a particular vibration, a wave function, a frequency. Your body is emitting vibrations or energy all the time. You are losing energy and gaining energy from the cosmos. There is a continuous flow and every cell in your body is changing. You are exchanging energy all the time.
Your consciousness is also a wave function and it has so many possibilities, so many avenues. It is like the sun. When the sun shines in your window, you can’t say, ‘Oh I have captured the sun!’ The same sun will be there in your neighbour's window as well, and all over the world. So the sun is here totally and there also totally. And you are just a vibration. As the body you can’t be everywhere, but as consciousness you can be in many places. If you have touched a flower, your vibrations have gone into the flower. So the whole universe is a field of consciousness.
Many times you meet someone and you feel that you should stay away from them. And with some other person, you feel like meeting them more frequently. Many times, you wonder why someone dislikes you. We are unable to understand this. This is because of our vibrations. Most of what we convey to people is simply by our presence. Through speech whatever is conveyed is on the next level, but first the vibrations in our presence influence others. We have to change our vibrations, make them more positive by doing meditation and pranayama. Vedanta and Buddhism talk about the same thing; both talk about that inner consciousness, only in a slightly different way. The emptiness in Buddhism is the fullness in Vedanta, that matter and everything is vibrations, and these vibrations keep changing, and it can change our life. It can bring what we desire or what we want for us.
Every day, for ten minutes meditate and become hollow and empty. If someone is getting annoyed, just say, ‘Hey! Wave function! The frequency has changed.’ If someone is happy, they have a different frequency. If there is jealousy, ‘Oh, they have changed to third frequency.’ If someone is upset, or depressed, ‘frequency has changed again.’ Would anyone be upset about the changing frequencies? No. So see everybody as nothing but frequencies. Then nothing will touch you. Enjoy the variety, enjoy the diversity and don’t lose your smile.
Do you love someone, because they are great or unique? I tell you - you are hopeless!
If love is based on the qualities of a person, then the love is not stable. After sometime when the qualities change, the love becomes shaky.
Loving someone because of their greatness or uniqueness is third-rate love. Loving someone because they belong to you, great or otherwise, is unconditional love.
#1 No celebration without sharing!
Makar Sankranti is harvest season in India. When there is harvest, the first crop you get, you share with everyone! Celebration cannot happen without sharing.
#2 Celebration comes with wisdom
In India, every celebration is linked with some wisdom. That’s the beauty here. In Maharashtra, they exchange sesame seed and jaggery balls and say, ‘tilgud ghya, gode gode bola,’ which means, “you have this, and let sweet words come out of you.”
#3 Harsh winter always makes way for pleasant sunshine
This is the time that marks the end of the harsh winter, and the beginning of a time of pleasant sunshine! So we celebrate that.
We are often disturbed by others’ behaviour towards us. This is why we feel that our happiness depends on many other factors.
Someone who is stressed, and unhappy, spreads unhappiness.
Why do you have to succumb to it? Instead of succumbing to it, say to yourself, “I can be in control of myself. I can spread happiness. I can be the source of happiness when I have compassion for others.”
When Duryodhana saw the strength of the Pandavas, he went straight to his teacher, Dronacharya, to complain. Duryodhana felt weaker when he looked at the strength of the Pandavas.
If your sight is stuck on the other, you are bound to feel weak. Duryodhana failed to see his own massive army because his eyes were fixed on the other. He started getting angry, frustrated and tense, and started accusing his own men of not doing anything for him.
Strength comes from gratitude. Strength comes from recognising one’s strength.
When you crave happiness, you invite misery. If you do not crave happiness, you are happy.
Happiness is a state of mind. When the mind is free of past regrets and future cravings, you are naturally happy. Delink your happiness from your desires & outer events. When mind is in the present moment, one experiences true happiness. Be happy now!
When your mind is expecting something in the future or regretting the past, you are not in the moment. But when you are centered, you are totally in the moment. So when you are eating, you can enjoy every bite. Every look, every sight is fresh and new. Your love is like the first love. You look at everything like it is the first time.
The term ‘dispassion’ can also be misunderstood and appear so dry. People who are melancholic or sad think that they are being dispassionate. They run away from the world and say that they have renounced it. That is not renunciation.
Dispassion is something more precious, refined and more valuable in life. There are several types of dispassion. You are dispassionate because you realize the misery in the world. The events in life — the pain, the suffering one experience’s or sees — brings dispassion.
The second type of dispassion is born out of the desire to reach something higher. Some consider dispassion as a path to enlightenment. If you renounce something here you gain something out there. Those who are seeking enlightenment practice austerities and take vows for a better place in heaven.
The third type of dispassion comes out of wisdom or knowledge. A broader understanding of the transient nature of things brings a state of non-attachment to any events, objects, people or situations, that lets you remain calm and unperturbed.
Dispassion does not take you away from joy. It gives the joy which nothing else can give. Because you are so totally in the moment, every moment is a joyful experience.