The SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Introduces Shiva Sutras
Let me give an introduction about this book… just a few words. Then we shall enter into the sutras. We shall then enter into the Shiva Sutras.
Shiva Sutras is a five thousand-year old book. It is the essence of Inner Science technology and the core of the Science of Enlightenment. It is the essence of five thousand years of research and development by more than one million inner scientists and more than one million inner science laboratories. By inner scientists, I mean the great ancient seers and sages who dedicated their whole lives to research of the inner world, of the science of enlightenment. In Bharat, we have more than one million inner science laboratories, meaning temples and ashrams that are alive, which are still maintained. More than a million temples receive everyday worship.
Please understand that I am not talking about the temples that are in the dilapidated condition. I am talking about the temples that receive daily worship, temples that are used by people. More than a million inner science laboratories and more than one million fulltime dedicated inner scientists worked on these concepts. Bharat even today has at least a million swamis who have dedicated their whole life to inner research and development. I am not speaking about the wandering swamis who are living in the streets, in caves, who are not living in the monasteries. If you count them the number increases to something like ten million. I am referring only to the those who are staying in one place and dedicating their life for the research and development of this inner science. That alone is one million. We have a billion people following this technology. This is the strength of this great inner science.
This book is the essence of this inner science, the inner science that was developed over five thousand years by one million inner scientists in one million inner science laboratories and practiced by one billion people. It is the ageless truth and ageless wisdom that we call Sanātana Dharma, the eternal path. This book is the essence of that wisdom, essence of that technology. This book gives hundred and twelve meditation techniques to experience bliss, to experience peace and joy that reside eternally in every one of us. This book gives the ultimate techniques to experience the ultimate bliss that is inside our being, which is in our inner space. This book has so many beautiful meditation techniques.
Not only we will read and understand the sutras, but we will also experience the sutras. These are Shiva's beautiful techniques to enlightenment. Let's enter into the sutras, and then we shall study their meaning.
Sometimes, I am shocked, how could this book have been written five thousand years ago. It's too long a period! We have a solid record of this book existing at least for the last five thousand years. Of course, we don't know the exact age of this book. At least five thousand years old, that's what we know.
The story how this book was discovered is this. A great devotee of Shiva had the darshan of Shiva and Shiva guided that devotee to go into a cave in a hill. Inside that cave all these sutras were written on the walls. Shiva told him: Just copy these sutras and give them to the whole world. Still the cave exists. The sutras are still there on the walls of the cave. The devotee brings the sutras and gives them to the world. This incident happened at least five thousand years ago. We have a solid proof that this book existed at least five thousand years ago.
I was shocked how five thousand years ago somebody could have thought so practically and so clearly about all modern day human problems. All our problems such as fantasies, phobias, fears and depression, each one of them is answered in this book. For every problem, Shiva gives solution. That's why I say this book is not just a book. It is the essence of five thousand years of research and development. The Hindu Vedic system is at least ten thousand years old. I can't say it is exactly ten thousand years, but at least ten thousand years. We have solid records to prove that the system is at least ten thousand years old. This book was discovered five thousand years ago. So, five thousand years of R & D expressed itself in the form of this book. Otherwise, it is impossible to give so many practical techniques.
It is very easy to hand out philosophy. It is very easy to deliver teachings. It is very easy to say what should be done and what should not be done. That is not a big thing. It is very easy to tell people, 'Do this, don't do that'. It is very easy to create a philosophy.
To create a philosophy, you don't need anything. I can tell you three simple ways by which you can become a philosopher from tomorrow. All you need to do is just criticize anything and everything. Whatever you see in front of your eyes, just start criticizing. Do not bother about what you are criticizing. Second way is that never create a system that people can understand. Third way is that make things as complicated as possible. That's all. Nothing else is necessary! To become a philosopher is very easy. Finally the fourth way that is an important footnote - never give any solution!
Shiva is not creating philosophy. Creating a philosophy is easy. He is not giving you philosophy. He is giving you the techniques, the technology, the 'how to'. He is not telling you what to do and what not to do. He is telling you 'how to do'. Straightaway he is giving you the technology to experience the inner consciousness, to experience the ultimate consciousness, to experience the Shivatvam, which means the consciousness of Shiva, the experience of Shiva. He is straightaway teaching us the techniques, not just giving words. That is why I say, this is the ultimate and amazing book that gives straightaway teachings and techniques to experience the ultimate consciousness.
Teachings vs. Techniques
Thousands and thousands of scriptures have been written on this planet, each by a different master and each one addressed to different types of disciples, for different purposes, at different times, in different countries, and for different conditions. Why have spiritual scriptures been written? What is the purpose of these spiritual scriptures? What is the point of all this spirituality?
The purpose and need for spiritual scripture is to liberate you from your conditioning. It is to give you a glimpse of your original nature. The real purpose is to give you the experience of who you really are.
There is a big problem in this field, in this field of spirituality. Nobody entering this area knows the end result. Nobody knows the method, and nobody knows even where to start! There is no clear logical system or no logical scale by which to measure the spiritual system. In the field of mathematics, it does not matter whether you are in Germany, Australia, or China. Two plus two is always equal to four. In the field of chemistry, we know that if you add element A to element B in the right conditions, you will get element C. Things are very clear. The method to reach the conclusion is written out in a straightforward way, and the answer is easily reproducible.
In the area of spirituality, things are totally different. Neither is the goal clear, nor the path from which you start. Nothing is clear. Each individual who has experienced spirituality simply expresses, proclaims, and shares the way in which they experienced. Each expression is unique. Therefore each scripture is unique. Each scripture is different.
This can be very confusing. It is confusing.
There is a beautiful saying in Bharat that says if two masters say the same thing, be sure that one of them is lying. A master can only be a master if he has experienced the truth. When one experiences the truth, the expression is always unique. So, if two people express something in exactly the same way, one of them has not truly experienced. One of them is copying the other.
That is why all the scriptures are so different. For the layperson, navigating this ocean becomes so difficult.
People come and ask me, again and again, 'Master, there is so much confusion in the spiritual world, where do we start?" This is a problem, especially for Hindus. There are not just one or two Hindu gods. Some scriptures say there are 3,300 gods. Some even say there are 33,000,000 gods. There are so many different gods, so many different methods. There is the concept of the Ishtadevata, or personally preferred god. Each individual picks a god of his personal choice. This has caused so much confusion.
People ask me, 'What is this, master, how do we know which God to follow? What should we do? This is the biggest weakness of Hinduism.'
I tell them, 'No, it's a great advantage. It is the biggest plus point of Hinduism. It is a wonderful level of freedom.' Of course, whenever you have freedom you tend to create variety.
Vivekananda says, 'Freedom is the basic condition for growth, any growth.' In the East, there is spiritual freedom. In the West, there is social freedom. Because there is spiritual freedom, East created so many gods, so many techniques, and so many methods to move on the spiritual path. It has become very difficult, though, to enter into the system for this very same reason. Because of the tremendous amount of variety and choice, it is very difficult to analyze the system! There is no scale by which to measure one aspect against another. Actually, you cannot say that this thing is right or that thing is wrong. In spirituality, there is in fact no good or bad. There is no judgment. The vast magnitude of the spiritual field defies measurement.
Within all of this variety, all of these scriptures, one finds oneself without a map with no understanding of the destination. People ask me again and again, in many places: 'Master, exactly what do you want to express? Please tell us.'
To tell you honestly, whatever I want to express is already expressed in the Shiva Sutras. If you look at all the scriptures and all the books written in the spiritual realm, you can classify them in three major categories.
The first category is books written for people who are head-oriented, for people who are intellectual. These are people who are constantly thinking, thinking, and thinking. Thinking about how to develop their life, how to develop their body, how to develop their mind. These intellectuals are constantly thinking about developing their external self. They understand about goals, about paths, about action. We call these śāstras.
The second category is the scriptures written by people who express themselves more from their hearts, from their emotions. These writings are more like songs, music, stotras (religious chants), reciting the glory of the divine.
The third category is about techniques. These are practical techniques to allow one to experience the path, to directly experience the goal. In Sanskrit, these are called sūtras.
In the first level – that is śāstras, the scriptures are more like teachings. You receive words and more words. It appeals to the intellect. At the next level are the stotras, in which you only hear of the experiences of others. It is as though somebody had a taste of nectar and then sings about the nectar. That is not really going to help you.
If someone states, or writes a scripture explaining that nectar is life, this would become a teaching. This is śāstra. This is the first category of scripture. If another person, after tasting the nectar, expresses his joy, that expression would be stotra, the second category. Neither of them, śāstras nor stotras, is going to help you directly.
It is only at the third level, which we call the sūtras, or techniques, where real help is given.
Actually, śāstras have done more damage to human consciousness than stotras have. At least stotras do not hurt anybody. When you express your love of the divine, when you let your heart flow with this expression, at least you do not become egoistic. But in śāstras, you start to claim that what you say is the ultimate truth. The ego behind the idea that this is the only truth starts penetrating the śāstras, which are simply intellectual knowledge, or teachings.
According to me, these spiritual teachings create the biggest problem. I can say that if somebody has not read the scriptures or śāstras, that person is actually saved by God. There are simply too many words and too many messages. To tell you honestly, almost all the teachings, almost all the scriptures either make you fell inferior, or create a deep guilt in you, nothing else.
People spread the message of spiritual scriptures to get customers for confession, so that their businesses can run. This is the basis of spiritual scriptures. Honestly, most scriptures are only political or social. The do not directly aim at spiritual growth. They do not liberate you. In the name of liberation, they play with words. With the teachings, you continue to struggle.
A small story,
A lady was driving a car and drove into a motorcyclist. A police officer came and asked 'How could you do this in broad daylight with no traffic? How did this happen?' She replied, 'I couldn't see through my windshield because there are so many 'Safety First' stickers on it.
See the irony? Too many stickers about safety made her less safe. In the same way, too many words and too much teaching completely corrupt your consciousness. You become too loaded with words.
Just yesterday I was telling one of my devotees that morality makes your bones weak. The idea of morality makes your bones weak. We are constantly just using blanket statements, like 'be good, be truthful, be this, or be that', but what do we do with these statements? You are not able to turn the statements into reality, but at the same time, you cannot forget the statements either. These statements are inserted into your consciousness very logically.
When something is put into your mind very logically, you start struggling with it. I tell you, almost all teachings are given to create deep guilt in human beings, so that they can be ruled, so that they can be exploited. Teachings, as such, are nothing but methods to exploit human beings.
For all these teachings, I can give you two or three methods that will make you a great teacher or a great philosopher. First, just start teaching or writing things that are impossible. Secondly, start writing or teaching that which cannot be done. Third, never speak or write in a simple way. Create as many complications as possible. Finally, maybe the most important thing, never give any solutions. These are a few tips on how to become a so-called great philosopher or teacher. This applies to almost all teachings.
Whosoever is giving only words, be very clear, they are not giving any solutions or guidance. People who can hide their personal lives, people who can keep their privacy, they go on intruding into other peoples' privacy in the name of teaching. If you enter deeply into your consciousness, you will understand just how much your consciousness is disturbed by these teachings. You will see just how much your inner space is stolen by these so-called teachings. You have lost your inner space because of these rough, dull, dead words. They have conditioned you and have become part of your samskaras. They have embedded themselves in your unconscious as your value system and beliefs without any understanding.
People who do not have concern for you give you only words. They do not create the condition within you to let the words transform you. They simply throw teachings at you. People who do not care for you only throw words at you whether or not you can catch them, or want to catch them. Such preachers and teachers have no concept of what they are actually doing to other human beings, because they themselves are not clear about what they are teaching. They express words that they themselves have not imbibed, words that have not become a part of their experience or being. A man who has experienced his being will never give you teachings, never. If he starts speaking, a man who has experienced his being will only express his message as techniques. Teachings are words that come from a man who has not experienced. Techniques are words that come from a man who has experienced.
Teachings create deep guilt in you. People who do not practice or who cannot practice go on giving you teachings, and you go on receiving more and more words. You are so filled with these words that you start overflowing with them. When you start overflowing with words and when you are not able to practice, you start catching other people and start to teach them. It's really a nice way of escaping from guilt. By making others feel guilty you reduce your guilt. Teachings are just words given to you to make you feel guilty so that you can be exploited easily. The moment a human being starts feeling guilty about something, he can be exploited. Now he starts fighting with himself. When you fight with yourself, it becomes much easier to exploit you. It becomes easy to cheat you. It becomes easy to control and enslave you.
Techniques, on the other hand, are entirely different from teachings. Teachings are just words and more words that create more and more conflicts. Actually, a kind of violence is present in teachings. They are violent because they do not care whether you are able to follow them or not. They do not care if you are able to practice it or not. The words are simply flung at you. From the start these words are given to you as commandments, orders.
Today I am introducing you to a book, which is not a set of commandments or orders. It is a beautiful expression of love and energy. One thing I can say about the great Shiva Sutras is that in these verses there is no argument. This is probably the only scripture where there is no argument. It is one of the only books where there is not a question and answer format. There is only one question and the rest of the book is the answer, that's all. There is no second question. Actually, the first question is really not even a question, it as a doubt. The word 'question' itself is too violent, because there is arrogance in the act of questioning.
Let me be very clear, I receive thousands of questions, but almost 99% of the questions are just expressing violence. What do I mean by this? The question is only arrogance or an expression of arrogance. Usually, we cannot accept or digest somebody sitting on a stage. You will ask yourself, why should he sit on the stage and not me? If he sits on the stage and he claims to be somebody 'superior', then let me check, poke, prod, and test him. Let me see whether or not he is really qualified. This subtle arrogance is what expresses itself in the form of a question. You see, if all that you were really seeking to know was the answer to your question, then that is one thing. The problem, though, is that you are trying to test something else using your question as a vehicle for this other test.
Somebody came to me and asked, 'Master, please tell me how to become enlightened. Tell me how to see God'. I started talking about something else. I started asking him about himself, where he came from, what kind of job he had, etc. He answered my questions. After that, he was with me for three hours and he did not raise his original question again. He no longer wanted to know how to become enlightened and how to see God. Now we can see the lack of intensity in the question itself. It was pure, simple curiosity. The question had no depth, no energy behind it. It was only a question, not a quest. If he really wanted to know the answer to his question, he would have persisted to find out. Some mere questions I posed to him about his life should not have distracted him so easily. He did not really want to know the answer. He just wanted to ask for the sake of asking, or he wanted to show that he is a seeker, or he just wanted to rate my response.
You do not want to know the actual truth, you only want to know whether the master knows it or not. This is why arguments happen. They happen because a real answer is not sought out. There is some other intention, arrogance, or purpose behind the question. Be very clear, when the master is speaking and the disciple asks questions, only teaching is happening. Techniques are not shared.
Here, in this book, the Shiva Sutras, there is no teaching. This book is filled completely with techniques. Another name for this book is the Vignana Bhairava Tantra. This book gives Shiva's techniques for reaching His consciousness. It is an expression of His consciousness. There are no teachings, no questions and no arguments.
You will find that the Shiva Sutras are completely beyond any country, religion, conditioning, or philosophy. If you want to enter into the world of Shiva, you have to completely drop all conditionings. He will not support any of them. He isn't the least bit bothered about creating another religion, establishment, or country. He is completely disinterested in developing a creed. He isn't bothered about anything. He is purely, simply, expressing what he feels. He is expressing what he experiences as the Ultimate Truth.
Somebody once asked me 'Master, why does Sanatana Dharma not have any organization?' Sanatana Dharma is the name by which the Vedic culture was known, and many religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism arose from this culture.
I answered that Sanatana Dharma, which is a culture and a philosophy, is just too vast to be covered by an organizational structure. The greatness or the beauty of our dharma is not that it is against organization, but that it is beyond it. It is beyond organizations. Of course, we do have small organizations where the scriptures are preserved and the techniques are kept alive, but these organizations do not represent Sanatana Dharma. They have no right to be representatives. They are only a small part of this whole ocean. The Sanatana Dharma is so vast that you cannot bring it within one umbrella or organization because it is not based on teachings. It is based on techniques. It is not based on violence. It is based on love.
Almost all teachings are directly or indirectly violent because the people spreading them are not experienced. Anything they teach will be only words, with no spirit, no experience behind it. It is like a knife in a child's hand. The same knife can perform a healing surgery by a surgeon, but in the wrong hands it can be dangerous and can maim or kill. Words without the spirit and experience of truth create violence. They create violence against others and violence against your own self. Words without knowledge or experience have no meaning.
If any help is to be given to humanity it can only be given through techniques that are based on the truth of experience. Techniques are the technology to experience the consciousness. Only those who have experienced the truth must give these techniques. If people who have not experienced the truth express techniques, they will become mere rituals. They too will be another teaching that is dead and dull. On the other hand, even teachings, if expressed by one who has experienced the Truth, will become techniques, or sūtra.
The underlying difference between teachings and techniques is that teachings are answers to the question 'Why?', whereas techniques are answers to the question 'How?' If you ask the questions, why there is suffering? or 'why death happens to innocent children?', or 'why life is full of pain and suffering?, there are no answers.
Even if you create some answer it will not be a solution. Again, you have created more and more words, and now you may create more pain and suffering.
People ask me, 'Why should I go through these problems, Master? Why should I have this suffering?' I tell them clearly not to ask me the question 'why?', but to ask me the question 'how can I come out of it?' Only then I can then help them come out of the problem situation.
After all, what good is it to know why you are suffering if you cannot get out of it. What use is the question when you are no longer suffering? We think suffering will reduce if we know the reason for it. Actually, by knowing the reason for suffering, more and more complexities are created. The situation becomes more and more complicated. You start to think that you can now solve this suffering by doing this or by doing that. By doing this and doing that, you create greater difficulties and greater problems. If the 'why' is answered, it becomes teaching. If the 'how' is answered, it becomes technique.
All of the Shiva Sutras are the answer given by Shiva to the question of how not why. It is an intense and intimate expression of energy. Usually, whenever energy is intense or powerful, intimacy is lost. Whenever intimacy is high or the energy is soft, intensity is lost. In the Shiva Sutras, though, Shiva's expression is both intense and intimate. By his very nature, Shiva is intense energy. Shiva is expressing himself to the intimate energy of Devi, who is his consort.
This combination of intensity and complete intimacy is why the Shiva Sutras is perhaps the purest spiritual scripture without politics, without any mixture of social conditioning. It is completely removed from social conditioning, and in that state it is a pure spiritual scripture. The one and only pure spiritual scripture on this planet is the Shiva Sutras. All other scriptures are influenced by the political setup or the social setup or need of the moment.
For example, Sankaracharya had a vested interest to convince the Buddhists, the dwaitis (dualists), and all other sects, that advaita (non-dualism) is the ultimate philosophy. He wrote the commentary to the Brahma Sutras for that reason, to convince everybody that advaita is the ultimate. The same thing happens with Ramanuja. He writes Sribhasya, his commentary on the Brahma Sutras, to convince people that his philosophy is the ultimate.
Even Krishna, he gives us the Gita to convince Arjuna to fight. There is a vested interest, there is some ulterior purpose. The moment something is written with vested interest, be very clear, the purity is lost. It is simply lost and is no longer a pure spiritual text.
Here, in the Shiva Sutras, Shiva has no vested interest to convince Devi. She has already disappeared into him. She is not even a seeker. Be very clear, even if you are speaking to your ordinary disciple, you have a vested interest. You want him to be under your control throughout his life. When Shiva speaks to Devi, there is no vested interest. She is far more than a disciple; she is his partner.
Shiva has no ulterior motive. He is just expressing himself. It is a pure expression of love. He has just opened himself, his whole being. When you have a very intimate moment with someone, the truth flows between both of you in a very pure and sincere way. There is no room for vested interests.
The Shiva Sutras are therefore not teachings, they are techniques shared intimately. In this intimacy, Shiva is not going to argue, and neither am I. There is going to be no effort to convince. I am simply opening up to what he says. I am just repeating what he says. I am not adding, making commentary, or trying to convince you through these discourses.
The way the Shiva Sutras start is a very beautiful setup. There is a beautiful ambience where the whole thing is expressed. Devi sits in the lap of Shiva, and Shiva expresses himself. You need to understand every word in this sentence and understand what it means. Devi is not somewhere else, she is not a disciple; she is the beloved. She is sitting in his lap in deep intimacy, where you do not need to tell a lie or convince the other person. There is no greed or fear, there is nothing to gain or lose. He has no need to convince Devi about his greatness, and no need to convince her that she needs to practice something. With teachings, they are given for a reason: either to express that I am great or that you are not yet at my level.
In this situation, neither of these reasons is present. Shiva has no need to say that he is great, and there is no need to convince Devi because she has already completely surrendered unto him. She is not even going to use these techniques as she is beyond them. She is completely in tune with Shiva. She has disappeared into him. Why is he even speaking? Why does he even express these techniques? The only reason for his expression is so that other people can experience this same Devi or Shiva consciousness. If you feel like arguing, or if you feel like questioning, you should study the Brahma Sutras or the Gita. If you are tired of reading and your sincere interest is to experience your Being, the Shiva Sutras is the book for you.
Someone once went to Ramana Maharishi and asked him 'Bhagavan, how does one practise the technique of self-inquiry?' Self-inquiry, in Sanskrit it is called atma-vichara, was Ramana Maharishi's cardinal technique of experiencing your being. In this technique one questions oneself with the question 'Who am I?' This inquiry into the nature of who you are leads to an understanding of your being, and experience of your being.
The man continued his question to Ramana, 'I cannot believe that just by asking myself the question, Who am I, I will become enlightened. Can I chant some mantras, can I do some stotras?'
Bhagavan Ramana said 'OK, please do it'. After two years the man came back and complained to Ramana. He said 'Bhagavan, I am tired. I have chanted all the mantras and done all the stotras that I can do. Still, I find no result. I find that there is no result at all.'
Bhagavan replied, 'No, never think what you have done is a waste. When you found out that there was no result, that itself is the result. Getting the knowledge that you will achieve nothing from these mantras was the greatest result. That is the result you were supposed to achieve! Now you are ready for higher level practice. Now it is time to enter into your inner space through self-inquiry.'
If you aren't yet tired of arguments, and if you still aren't tired of reading, of teachings, then the Shiva Sutras are not for you. Let me be very clear, this book is not for you. If you have read enough words, if your mind has had enough of them, this book is for you. If you are tired of speaking, then this book is for you. If you have fed your brain enough food, this book is for you. The Shiva Sutras is for you only if you are tired of simply swallowing words and tired of being bombarded with philosophy. That is the beauty of this book. There is no philosophy. At no point in this book does Shiva speak about Atman, Hiranyagarbha, Brahman, Non duality etc. He only gives you pure techniques. Straightaway, he gives you the technique.
The other day I was telling a devotee that I experienced Brahman (cosmic consciousness) before I knew the word Brahman. See, before I had read or heard of this word, Brahman, I was fortunate enough to actually experience the state. In this way, God actually saved me. If this had not happened, the experience would have been postponed.
The very idea of the words, before experiencing them, creates ideas that are not based in reality. They are simply fantasies. They simply make you know more and more words. Learning about more and more philosophy simply postpones the experience. You can never settle in the present moment when your mind is being pushed by these words. The Shiva Sutras are for people who are just tired of words. Once you say 'enough!' you have arrived at the time to experience the Truth. Instead of more words to describe the truth, Shiva gives you the pure technique.
The Shiva Sutras is not a book to analyze or argue about. The basic need for the student is trust. I am always telling people not to simply believe what I am saying. I encourage people to doubt and question what I say. With this book though, you need a deep trust because neither your doubts nor your questions are going to help you. If you are still in an inquisitive mood, please read the other books I have written and watch the other DVDs I have produced. These may be more satisfying. But if you really feel that you can enter into the zone of experience, read on.
I have no inclination to waste time on question and answers, and I do not want to spend any time convincing you. I am simply tired of convincing people. In this book, I decided to directly express what Shiva expressed. So, whoever can relax and listen with deep trust can experience what Shiva expressed through his Shiva Sutras. In the past three years I have answered more than three thousand questions giving answers to all the possible questions in the spiritual field. I will be coming out with a huge twelve-volume book filled with these questions and answers. I even threw in some questions I created and gave answers to them. All your questions will be answered in these twelve volumes. So, if you are still in a questioning mood, please play with these three thousand questions and answers. Play with them as long as you want.
Enter into the Shiva Sutras only if you are totally tired of playing with words and arguments and intellectual games. Here, I am not going to give you any brain candy to chew on. I am directly going to open up what Shiva expressed without convincing or teaching.
Everyday we shall have a meditation technique flowering from what Shiva expresses in each Sutra. He has given 112 meditation techniques in 112 sutras. Each day we will practice one technique and I will give more importance to technique rather than teaching. As I said before, teachings are trying to convince you whereas techniques are given for you to have the experience. With a teaching, at most you will think the teacher is a great person with some great knowledge. With teaching, my business will flourish, but yours will not. With technique, your life will flourish. Your experience will happen. If you are still interested in teachings, there are many volumes available. Go ahead and play with all these volumes, spend some time with them. If, however, the technique is what you are really interested in, you are at the right place.
Today, we will practice a technique of entering into the Devi consciousness. Unless you become like Devi, Shiva cannot land on you. He cannot descend upon you. Unless you completely drop the masculine energy in you, you cannot experience Shiva. Let me be very clear, I am not saying that a man cannot become a disciple of Shiva or that he cannot become a devotee of Shiva. However, if you flaunt your masculine energy, arrogance, violence, questioning, and argumentative mood, then you can never relate to Shiva. Maybe you will be able to relate to the Gita or Brahma Sutras, but not to the Shiva Sutras.
The Shiva Sutras are the solution for people who are ready to connect right away. It is the answer to people who are ready to feel intuitively connected and really want to experience. So, I am neither going to argue nor try to convince you. I am simply going to open up to what Shiva says. I will simply open my being for whoever wants to experience the breeze. So, just open the door and let the breeze in. May you open yourself so that you can experience Shiva consciousness, the eternal consciousness, so that you may enter into pure energy.
From tomorrow onwards, we will start the sutras, or aphorisms of Shiva, the Shiva Sutras. From tomorrow onwards, we will start the techniques of Shiva to enter into his consciousness. To begin, today we will first open ourselves so that we can enter into the Devi consciousness. This way Shiva will descend upon us so that we can experience Shiva consciousness. This way, Shiva can happen within us.
Now, let us enter into the Devi consciousness. When I say Devi consciousness I mean that you should just be completely open and receptive, with no opposing or supporting words. Just be available to whatever is happening inside and outside your being. Just make yourself available and you will be in Devi consciousness. I will just guide you. You will be visualizing yourself as a lotus. Just open yourself, petal by petal, leaf by leaf, and wait for Shiva to descend upon you in this deep, receptive mood. Lay aside all your doubts and questions. Become flexible ready to receive whatever that happens to you. When you are in this totally trusting mood, completely in the present moment, you are in the space of Devi, receptive, accepting and becoming a part of the energy that descends on you. Become Devi and experience the bliss of accepting and enjoying all that happens to you.
May you be in Nithyanandam, eternal bliss!
DEVI ASKS
In a sense Vigyana Bhairava Tantra is a dialogue. At least it starts as a dialogue between two people who could have just as well been one. In fact they were one. The womanly aspect of the ultimate form of the formless asks the manly aspect to clarify doubts that she has.
Why is that the woman asks and not the man?
I can easily say that it is in the nature of women, and it may be true as far as humans are concerned. But here we are talking about Shiva and Parvati, Shiva and Shakti, the ultimate energies of manliness and womanliness.
Shiva is purusha, the origin of all that there is, was and will ever be, and the passive, unmoving, undisturbed principle. Shakti is the active principle; the kinetic as different from the static energy. She created all that there is, was and ever will be. It is the ever moving, ever active cosmic energy asking the unmoving, centered cosmic intelligence to explain what it takes to reach the state of that unmoving center.
This dialogue, or if you prefer the monologue, between two parts of the same cosmic principle, is the most definitive guide to enlightenment that you would ever come across. It is delivered in a form that is cryptic, and for good reasons. It is meant only for those who have the ability to understand. It is said only to those who are ready for that state of consciousness that Shiva represents. For others, it needs a guide to walk them through this pathless land. Let me be your guide. Hold my hand and begin this journey. Listen to me with our heart and being and understand.
In order to fully comprehend and internalize the true meaning of what has been said in a book or a speech, one needs to understand completely the mindset of the person who has written the book or has spoken the words.
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM delivered these sutras to his consort, lover and disciple Devi Parvati. These words, these mantras and these techniques were spoken from the heart from a lover o his beloved. Shiva spoke and Devi heard. The wisdom of the speaker reflected the nature of the listener, so much in tune they were. The supreme master speaks to the supreme disciple. Unless we understand the mindset and body language of the speaker and listener, and their intense feelings for one another, we cannot grasp the truth of these techniques.
If you read superficially with your intellect without understanding the mindset and feelings of the master and disciple, without visualizing their body language, your understanding too will be superficial. You may wonder why one should have this understanding, what is the link? Unless there is an intense connection between the speaker and the listener truth can never be understood.
Only an enlightened master like Shiva would have the deep love and compassion to express the truth in line with the mindset, feelings and receptivity of the listener. Had he been a philosopher his concern would have been to establish his knowledge by using as complicated an expression as possible without any reference to the listener's ability to receive what is expressed.
Another complication would be if the listener was someone who considered himself more knowledgeable than the speaker, in which case his interest would be to argue to establish that he know better. Either way, whether the speaker is bent on establishing how clever he is or whether when the listener is bent of establishing how much he knows, in both cases the transmission suffers. In both cases just words flow unceasingly, but truth does not get expressed or received.
The reason for the expression is of great importance in the transmission of the truth. The speaker's emotional state, the listener's mindset and the reason for the expression are the three essential conditions that determine the character and the truth of a sutra.
In the case of Bhagavad Gita, the speaker Krishna was an enlightened master. However, Arjuna was a proud prince who had been conditioned all his life into an inflexible and uncaring mindset. This mindset became the biggest block to Arjuna's receiving the truth of what Krishna was trying to impart to him.
That is why Krishna had to speak for 18 chapters. There was nothing in what was said to warrant 18 chapters and 700 verses. Again and again Arjuna questions and Krishna has to repeat himself. One wonders what kind of a depressive mindset Arjuna would have been in.
Had Arjuna not been a prince but an ordinary man perhaps he would have led a life that would make him flexible enough to accept the views of other people. Being a ruler, he did not have to listen to others. He had no reason to change himself. Being a prince perhaps he was a better mirror of the attitudes of the people of that day. Had he been an ordinary man, there might not have been the need to deliver the Gita.
Because he was a prince and was of such a rigid frame of mind, Krishna had to express the truth to him in many different ways and many different angles. When truth is expressed in such diverse ways, there is a chance of completely missing it.
This is why Krishna had to express various aspects of the truth as Karma yoga, bhakti yoga, dhyana yoga, raja yoga etc. This creates the possibility of confusing the listener. Another issue here is the reason for Krishna's expression. Krishna wanted Arjuna to wage war against his kinsmen. Krishna had the need to inspire Arjuna to fight.
Whatever may have been the reason, it influenced the teaching. Reasons or objectives will compromise the teaching. Truth will not be revealed truly. Automatically, the Truth will be watered down. The moment there is a reason behind a teaching, the quality of the teaching suffers.
If you go by all these factors and look at Shiva Sutra, then you will know that Shiva Sutra does not belong to any other classification ordinary sastras, stotras and sutras. Shiva Sutra expresses the quality of the ultimate truth without dilution, since the person who teaches is an enlightened master, and the person who receives the highest teaching is also an enlightened soul. The sutras are delivered by Shiva to Parvati, after her enlightenment. The sutras are not delivered when Parvati was unenlightened. Another important thing is that there is no particular reason for the teaching. Shiva had no motive to influence Devi act in one way or the other. This dialogue is an exchange of divine love.
Without any reason, there was this exchange of divine love! Shiva Sutra is a wave of bliss born out of the ocean of bliss. Someone, somewhere, saw this bliss wave and documented it. That's all. The ocean of bliss for no reason created a wave of bliss and that is Shiva Sutra. By delivering Shiva Sutra, Shiva is not trying to prepare or inspire Devi to wage a war or to stop a war.
While Krishna delivered the Gita, Arjuna's ego and restless mind kept raising questions. Arjuna was not able to imbibe the truth before he was shown a glimpse of the Truth, the Vishwaroopa Darshan. He had doubts deep inside. He thought that Krishna was trying to make him wage war for His personal reasons. Here we have to understand an important issue. When the disciple is sitting in front of the Guru with a doubt, then Guru has to use so many words and different ways to convey the truth and in the process, the truth to be delivered is not delivered completely.
The truth cannot be delivered in such a manner. It disappears without being delivered fully and totally. It is like the seed not being allowed to become a tree. The Guru has to take a big responsibility to try to get the disciple out of doubt. When there is a doubt in the disciple's head, it certainly affects the quality of delivery of the truth. This is what happened in the case of Gita. Fortunately it did not happen to Shiva Sutra.
The person who delivered the Shiva Sutra was the genuine embodiment of the ultimate truth and the person who received it was also the genuine embodiment of the ultimate truth. There was no selfish or selfless reason for delivering the sutras. Because, even if there is a self-less reason, there is a possibility that the quality of the truth will suffer.
This is what is meant by the Zen Koan 'sound of one hand clapping'. Two hands become one. There is no differentiation between saying and listening. The speaker and Listener merge. Shiva and Devi have already merged.
If we look from these three perspectives, the state of the person who expresses the Shiva Sutra, the state of the person who receives it and the reason for its delivery, we can understand the highest level of quality of the Shiva Sutras.
Sometimes, if the disciple listens to the Guru without genuine seeking, the truth will be compromised. The disciple will sleep closing his eyes or with open eyes. There will be
tamas, if there is a compulsion or there is a lack of interest. When Arjuna was listening to Gita, he had only one reason. He wanted to get out of his dilemma. The desire to come out of depression makes him to ask more questions and keeps him listen to Krishna's words. He hopes hat he will come out of depression by listening to one aspect or another of Krishna's teachings. In Shiva Sutra the listener is also a great enlightened soul. Therefore, there is no reason for Shiva to water down the truth, dilute the quality of the Truth. Out of overflowing wisdom, love and compassion, Shiva teaches the sutras to His beloved as she sits on his lap.
Usually there is a compulsion for the Acharya or Guru to convince the disciple that he knows something more than the disciple. Only then will the disciple sit and listen. If this reason is present then it will dilute the quality of the teaching. When Adi Shankara offered his teachings to the disciples, they were not in poorna, they were not complete. When Buddha taught his disciples they were not in sunya, in mindless state They had to engage with and win over arguments with their disciples. There was a need for them to convince their disciples that they knew more than them. When someone tries to convince another, the quality naturally suffers.
For Shiva there was no reason to convince, prove or explain his inner state to Devi. Because Devi had already touched the peak of love, devotion and enlightenment! Not only that, she enjoys the proximity, physically and psychologically, to her Guru. She sits on Shiva's lap itself. She enjoys the spiritual presence of the Guru as well as physical presence of the Guru. She is already in communion with Guru at all levels. Hence there is no reason for Shiva to convince Devi.
In other words, Devi offers such a wonderful platform for the Guru that the Guru does not have to remain in a particular frame or state or be bound by a reason. We have to understand one thing clearly. It is because of the lack of such wonderful disciples that the Tamil Siddhas created fictional disciples and sung to them songs of wisdom. All along this has been the problem. Gurus are always there but there is always a dearth for disciples. A siddha sung songs to agappai (in Tamil, *agam* refers to one's inner space and *pei* to ghost), inner ghost. He took out his own mind and assumed it as his disciple. Paambatti Siddha sings 'aadu paambe, aadu paambe' (exhorting snake to dance); Idaikkaadar creates Koonaar and Kuthambai Siddha sings to Kuthambai, both being fictional characters.
This is a great problem for Masters. Only a disciple, who does not exist, despite his lack of presence can understand the truth that exists despite Maya. If disciples are not available even though they are physically present, they will not know how to go beyond the mind that shows what is not there. Only that one, who is not there even when he is there, can understand the truth by going beyond the mind that reveals what is not there.
Actually, when a genuine seeker is born truth reveals itself on its own. There always exist a deep connection between a genuine disciple and a genuine guru. There is no doubt between these two. There are no disturbances between them.
When Dakshinamurthy taught his four disciples, there was no disturbance between them. However, there were no intimacy of feeling or relationship between him and his disciples. In Shiva Sutra, there is a communion of body, mind and emotions between the guru and disciple. There is no boundary between the two.
Even though glorified in thousands of ways, exalted in thousands of ways, the relationship between Dakshinamurthy and his four disciples had nothing to say beyond a point. The disciples saw Dakshinamurthy as their leader. It is called dasa bhava, one of the devotional relationships between a guru and his disciple. Seeing guru as a friend is saka bhava. Arjuna saw Krishna as his friend. That's why when Krishna shows the Vishwaroopa Darshan, Arjuna cries out, 'Oh! Lord. Not knowing who you are, I called you Yadava, using your caste name, as a friend. Forgive me!' Since Arjuna saw Krishna as his friend, the truth cannot be revealed fully.
Seeing guru as a mother is matru bhava. The relationship between Ramakrishna and Kali is that of son and mother. Even here there is only so much that can be told. At this level, maybe the path can be shown. The full truth cannot be transferred. 'After this, you have to go beyond me', Kali herself says to him. Totapuri, Ramakrishna's guru, tells him to go beyond Kali. Matru bhava can only show you the path to the truth and not the truth itself. There will be always a boundary between guru and disciple.
Seeing Guru as a child is vatsalya bhava. Yashoda sees Krishna as her child. Krishna shows her the entire cosmos when he opens his mouth to her but he could not reveal the truth. There is a boundary in all these bhavas. Even if it is between the mother and the son, there is some limit. If the son is 15 years old or above, the mother cannot hug her son more than two minutes. If they hug for some more time, there will be some disturbances in their feelings. They both may feel uncomfortable. Whether it is son or daughter, as soon as they are physically matured to become a father or mother, the boundary between them and their parents gets established.
Only madhura bhava, seeing guru as the beloved transcends all boundaries. The relationship between Shiva and Devi is that of a pure madhura bhava. That is why there is no time gap, no space gap, no disturbances, no doubt between them and the truth is fully revealed. The wave of truth emerged from the sea of bliss, fell on the sea of bliss and consumed fully by the sea of bliss. Someone saw this and captured it. Thus did the Shiva Sutra get revealed. There is not an iota of dilution in the truth. The Truth was sculpted by the truth, revealed by the truth at the pinnacle of love, intimacy, and wisdom.
So far, we understood the environment in which the truth was revealed. Now, let us understand the Guru, Lord Shiva. We may have some doubt. Is it really written by Shiva or someone wrote the Shiva Sutra and attributed the authorship to Shiva?
People doubt even when they see me talk in the recorded video. Someone asked me, 'Swamiji do you keep a 'teleprompter' in front of you when you speak?' I told him, I can understand if you doubt a printed article because many appoint ghost writers. But this is the first time I understand that there is a possibility that people doubt even a video. When we are capable of doubting a video, there is all possibility that we will doubt a palm leaf. There is always a doubt as to whether Lord Shiva was in a human form? Whether he is a god? How can we call Lord Shiva, who is God, as a guru?
Someone asked Vivekananda: 'We can understand if you call Ramakrishna as your Guru but how can you say that he is God. Is it not an exaggeration?' Vivekananda asks this person. 'Do you know who is God? Can you tell me whatever you know about God?' Only then the questioner realized that whatever he knows as God is just the collection of ideas from his reading a few books and his listening to others. These ideas are imaginations and mere concepts. Ramakrishna was beyond all the ideas and imaginations. That is the reason why Vivekananda says his Guru is more than God.
There are five universal actions called pancha kriyas. They are: creation, protection, destruction, creating illusion and pulling a soul out of maya with grace. God performs these five actions. The dancing Shiva, Nataraja, has four hands. His upper right hand holds the drum, symbolizing creation; upper left hand holds fire, symbolizing destruction; lower right hand blesses seekers and lower left hand points to raised foot, both pulling them out of maya into liberation. Caught under his leg is the demon of ignorance. The snake around him symbolizes Shakti, who is the creator of maya. Inside of all this Shiva is tranquil.
Shiva carries out these five activities in what is called the Shiva Tandava, Ananda Koothu, Divine Dance*.* The energy that performs all these five activities is the Cosmic Energy. Shiva performs the first four actions from his inner most nirvanic layer or bliss layer. One needs to understand all the seven energy layers. The first layer is the gross physical layer which is made of flesh and bone. The second layer is the pranic layer of breath energy. The third is the mind layer, the layer of thoughts. The fourth is the etheric layer or subtle body, comprising the flow of emotions. The fifth layer is the causal layer that we experience as deep sleep. The sixth layer is the bliss body. We can experience this layer when one realizes oneself. The last Nirvanic layer is when we merge with Existence becoming one with God. The Divine Energy can perform all the four actions of creation, protection, destruction and putting souls into illusion, from the nirvanic layer itself. However, to perform the action of pulling souls out of maya or illusion, it has to take a human form. The reason is that Divine Energy does not need your cooperation to do the first four actions of creation, protection, destruction and putting you in maya, but when it comes to pulling you out of maya it needs your consent.
Creation is not done with your consent. Protection is also not dependent on you. Similarly destruction takes place without your consent. God puts you in maya without seeking your support.
However, to make you enlightened, God needs your support. Imagine that God asks you to fill an application requesting you to provide details of who you are as in a visa form to issue you the visa for liberation. You need to fill it up and sign it. You may not fill the application or you may delay the process. To get your support for your own enlightenment, God assumes the human body. God assumes all the seven layers or bodies when he descends on earth as Guru. When performing the first four actions, he only had nirvanic body but when he comes to give you enlightenment he assumes all the seven bodies. In fact, when God comes down as Guru, he is not coming down, he comes up!
Hence, when we say God is Guru, we are not belittling him. Lord Shiva was on earth like us with seven bodies. He was here as Guru. His lotus feet were on this earth. Wherever his feet touched, those places became locations of cosmic energy, places of worship of sacred water and temples of linga. The first truth is that Shiva assumed a physical body and was there on this earth.
Q: Swamiji, what is God and what happens during enlightenment?
A: Whatever I or anyone else can say will be inadequate and therefore will be a lie, whether it is about God or about enlightenment. This is why atheists have a field day. They gloat that you can prove nothing about God and realizing God.
Of course, they are right. And they are completely wrong as well.
You cannot prove anything to others but you can prove for yourself. You can experience God yourself if you have the courage, if you have the determination and if you have that quest. The problem is that one who has experienced God does not find it necessary to talk about it. It is no longer necessary because one feels fulfilled by that experience.
People who have not experienced can either talk about achieving that realization or that there is nothing to realize. Both are wrong.
There is nothing to achieve because you are already with God and in God. You just need to be aware that is all. Realization of God is merely the realization of your true nature.
Our true nature is divine. This is why again and again I say to you: I am not here to prove that I am God. My mission is to show you that you are God.
All that you need to do is to wake up to that awareness, that is all there is to it.
I can tell you only one thing; be aware and you will experience God, nothing else needs to be done. When you experience and come out you will also have the same trouble and you will tell others that you are not able to explain. Actually, before enlightenment before I read all these great books, I used to think that these fellows were playing a game. They don't have a definition for the main product they are selling, whether god or enlightenment. None of these fellows are able to give explanation. They are selling something that they can't even define. I thought, what is happening? What kind of business is this? But after I entered into the business I also understood. Nothing can be done about it. I can do one thing; I can put you in the same problem. I can put you in the same space where you will have same problem. Otherwise I can't explain. And whatever I say will be the half-truth.
What happens during enlightenment again it is difficult to explain. Let you be aware and experience for yourself. See, all these questions you ask because you don't have confidence that you can be reach that state. You don't have confidence, you think, no, no, what he talks is right, but I can't experience all those things, so let me at least have a little knowledge and go back to the house.
Please be clear, you can experience. Here in the talks that follow, Shiva gives you the techniques to help you into that awareness. Just be sincere and follow, that is all.
Discourse 1