26 Feb 2014 satsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
The occasion of
Magha Triyodashi is celebrated all over the world as Mahashivratri. The
14th night of the month of Phalgun is the ideal time to experience Shiva
Tattva. Up North in Kashi, the city of learning, Shiva is the bestower
of salvation while in the South he is the respite of Rama by the
tranquil waters of Indian Ocean.
Almost all villages in India have at
least a dozen kids who are named after Shiva. You can read about Shiva
in the internet or in books, but only in the presence of a Master can
these words translate into experience. We are so fortunate today that
our beloved Master is there to guide us on this mystical journey into
the space of Shiva. we would like to begin this journey with an
auspicious invocation in the ethereal voice of Bhanu Didi, sister of
Poojya Gurudev.
Q: Who is Shiva?
Sri Sri: I would ask the question
what is not Shiva. Just now you heard the invocation. Is Shiva a form,
is he someone sitting somewhere? Shiva is the one from where everything
has come and in which everything is sustained, and into which everything
dissolves. There is no way you can step out of Shiva. Shiva is Vishwa
Rupa, the form of Shiva is the whole Universe, yet he is formless.
Through Omkara you can know him. Go deep into the primordial sound of
the Universe. How can you understand? Through the knowledge you hear in
deep meditation - the shrutis. Only in the depth of wisdom, you can
understand what Shiva is.
Tamo yoga gamaya- through penance and yoga
you can experience. There is a beautiful story, once Brahma and Vishnu
wanted to understand Shiva completely. Vishnu went down for thousands of
years to find Shiva's feet and Brahma went up to find Shiva's head.
Means there is no beginning and no end to Shiva.
Linga is simply a
symbol. Shiva tattva is the most beautiful tattva and it is most
difficult to talk about also. It can only be felt, beyond understanding.
Still we make a little effort to understand it. When words go that
close and returns, that is Shiva. Even mind cannot understand it. That
is a big challenge to even talk about this most beautiful tattva.
Q: Mrityunjaya mantra is supposed to give victory over death.
Sri
Sri: Mrityunjaya mantra is one of the most reverent mantra in the Vedic
tradition. Markandaya Rishi chanted this mantra. Mrtiyu means death.
Jaya means victory over death. Victory for the soul or the body? Every
moment the body is changing. Our body is a township. Like in a town new
children are being born. Mrityunjaya means victory over the mind, the
mind realizes that there is something in me that is not changing. Then
there is no fear. Fear is one of the signs of death. You win over the
fear. You win over the small mindedness of identification with the
perishable and move to the imperishable. We are combination of both: our
spirit is imperishable and the body is perishable.
There is a prayer
: Let Shiva make me strong. Let him make me strong. Let him give me
relief. Desire to be free from bondage takes you out from bondage.
Q: How can we experience Shiva every moment?
Sri
Sri: The experiencer himself is Shiva. You simply have to be present in
the moment and Shiva tattva is already there. We have waking, dreaming,
and sleeping states of consciousness. The fourth state of consciousness
is Shiva. When you are meditating, you are neither waking nor sleeping.
That glimpse of the fourth state is Shiva tattva. It is so auspicious,
there is no two, peace, that is what is your Self, that is worth
knowing: that is what the Vedanta says. Who you think you are is not
just a name, is not just a form, that scintillating consciousness in you
is Shiva.
Q: Why is Shiva depicted as Nataraja?
Sri Sri: The
cosmos is not a journey to somewhere. Usually people ask what is the
purpose of life. Creation is simple a display and play of consciousness.
Like the dancer and dance cannot be separated, similarly the Creation
and the Creator are not two separate things. This truth was depicted in
the form of Nataraja. There is wind in one hand, deer depicts air, fire
element, space element is depicted with a little conical drum (damru).
The dance of consciousness is the whole Universe. This universe is
celebrating everyday. This truth is brought out. One who does not know
this, suffers. One who knows that this whole creation is a dance, is an
expression of joy, that truth is Shiva tattva.
Q: Can you speak about Dakshinamurthy?
Sri
Sri: There are several levels of Knowledge: through reason and through
vibration (gut feeling). Dakshinamurthy is the ultimate knowledge where
direct transfer of knowledge happens in silence. The first Guru of the
tradition. From then the Guru tradition began. Under a Peepul tree sat a
young boy, around him sat elderly people and all their doubts
disappeared. You do not need to verbalize everything. The Creation
converses non-verbally. Animals converse from another level of
existence. See young kids, 1 or 2-year-old communicate with gestures and
something much deeper.
When you sit in front of a teacher, you go
into meditation, you do not have to ask questions, every question is
within you and answer is within you. Guru gives you a technique to go
deep within, let go of all the rigidity, stress, ignorance and realize
So Hum - I am that, I am Shiva. That knowledge is puts you back into
you. All that knowledge comes out of you. Many teachers after Teacher
Training have experienced, the answers come out from you.
Sri
Sri: Another aspect of Shiva is beauty. Shiva is Sundaresha. The lord of
beauty. And also Aghora: very fearful also. The fearful forms in the
Universe are also his forms. Most beautiful and most terrifying. To the
one who follows righteousness, he is most beautiful. To the one who
creates terror in others, he is terror. The center most of our being is
innocence - Shiva is called Bholenath (innocence) - with which we were
all born, everything else we get later - going into the core of our
existence is meditation.
Q: We request Bhanu didi to sing the
song: Om Namah Shivaya Shivaya Namah Om and request Sri Sri to explain
the meaning of the song.
Sri Sri: Here the saint says people do not
believe, they simply call the name of God without conviction. But if you
really call with all your heart, will he not respond to you? So with
all your heart you call. Not just with pomp and show, but with that
inner yearning. That is the essence of the song.
Q: Lord Shiva
wears Vibhuti on his body. There is a song which expounds the importance
of Vibhuti. Could you please explain the song?
Sri Sri: Shiva's
temple is the consciousness. Shiva is not in the stones, in temples, he
is in the consciousness of the human beings. Our body all becomes ashes,
ash is the last, the ultimate. Vibhuti does not mean the ashes one puts
on the head. The devotee says you are the mantra and you are above all
Gods, you are all wealth, you are everything. Vibhuti also means
blessings that get bestowed, the great things, the ultimate things. The
devotee always thinks bigger, he wears the ultimate. Shiva means in the
consciousness of the Universe. That which encompasses the whole
Universe, that something in which every life is. Reminding everyone of
the unfathomable, incomprehensible, the mystical Shiva tattva.
Atma
tvam - The stage comes when the realization comes - my intellect is
Parvati, the Prana is all paraphernalia Gods or accompaniments. There
are 5 pranas and 5 up-pranas. The Puranas give something for people at
every level. You cannot give Quantum Physics knowledge to a child.
Different levels of understanding exist in the society and the Puranas
cater to every level.
A popular TV serial has come on Shiva. In TV,
they dramatize a little more. It does not have a scriptural basis.
Parvati keeps crying and Shiva has to please her. I told them and sent
them a letter that you have not shown the mental state of Parvati
properly. From Kashmir's Shaivism to the South, there is very beautiful
depiction of the Shiva Tattva.
