As Summer Solstice approaches in the Northern Hemisphere on June 21st, we experience the longest light filled days.

May all beings be well, peaceful, happy and free.

With the glorious sunshine here in Spain, Isvara gave me the appropriate thoughts to write this piece.

Back in March, inspired by Suus’ chanting class at Mundo Sundaram, hosted so graciously by Sundari and Ramji, I began learning the sanskrit alphabet and how to chant properly. Thank you Suus! “Never stop learning Kate!” She enthusiastically cheered me on.

Blessed with a simple life by God’s grace, I have little incomings and outgoings therefore, rich on time. This affords listening to satsang hours upon end and contemplating life. My preferred method is to listen to an entire seminar.  The teaching, including a particular text, has more time to unfold – the momentum builds and the depth and richness of Vedanta really sings through.

 Some of my favourite Ramji seminars include Mandukya Upanishad-Bad Meinberg 2019, Atma Bodha Spain 2019 and Yoga of Love at Yoga Vidya 2020 (available on Youtube). I’m sure you have your most memorable ones too and listening to them all if you can is highly recommended!

Recently I have been blessed to find the voice and mouthpiece of Swami Tattvavidananda, his meditations and seminars are wonderful. It was during one of his talks that I came across an unfolding of the Gayatri Mantra that touched my heart deeply and within the context for realizing your divinity and oneness with Isvara. The following is inspired from there. Om and pranams…

You must recognise Isvara in your life as the light of your own being. We get caught in the things of the world and we assume the world is conducting its own cause and effect. It’s easy to get lost in thought of cause and effect and you lose sight of the Higher Power. There is only one cause, Isvara – and you have to understand that.

Suppose you are anxious, getting frustrated, passing through a crisis, this is just how people feel. Old age, sickness, defects of the body, the world, the people – there is some frustration. Worldly people are distressed, even younger people – career not progressing, parents not cooperating, girlfriend or boyfriend not obliging. Everybody is frustrated.

In this world, people who have education and people who don’t, both are frustrated. The rich and the poor, both are frustrated. Employed and unemployed, both are equally unhappy and frustrated. Samsara is a very funny thing. Getting frustrated and becoming anxious – there’s nothing unusual about it, you need not condemn yourself. That is how we are, the world makes us very insecure and unhappy. That is how the world is. We are living in the world and we are getting attached more and more to the world so that makes us anxious. Therefore we are the candidates for this mantra…

oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ

tat-savitur-vareṇyaṃ

bhargo devasya dhīmahi

dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt

~ Stand or sit alone quietly. Chant if you can, if not the English translation will do. The main thing is to feel this prayer in your heart. Address God Isvara in the Solar Orb.

‘O Isvara, you are Shining so magnificently, so brilliantly, so unimaginably in the Solar Orb, thereby illumining this entire world of things. Making life possible on this vast globe called prthvi. You are illumining and animating the entire solar system with Light and energy, with Infinite Power you are Shining in the Solar Orb.

 At the same time you are equally Shining in my Heart. Making this intellect shine. Making the intellect functional in the field of the intellectual. Making the mind functional and making the sense organs function – meaning enabling the eyes to see, ears to hear etc. and then enabling the legs to walk, the hands to hold etc., the organ of speech to speak, making the body alive. Thus you are shining equally in my Heart.

 I surrender myself unto You. I am devoted to You. You are outside and you are inside. You are All. You are all pervading. I surrender entirely unto You.”

Say this to yourself. Try it. Try to say it with love. Don’t ask questions, just do it. When you do this at least once or twice a day you will overcome all anxieties. This is the true ritual. This is true jnanam. It’s a very powerful mantra, the Gayatri Mantra. This is yoga when karma, bhakti and jnana, all three are brought in contact. When you feel some sorrow, try this and don’t get overwhelmed with the sorrow. Say it with love, with spirit, with feeling, not mechanically.

University education might help you earn a living but it doesn’t teach us how to live. That is the problem. Life is only worth calling life only if the life reflects the Real in action, it should reflect the Real. Real is another name for God. The Real is One without 2nd. It is the same Real in the Solar Orb and also in your Heart, there are not two different reals. This should reflect in life. How?

Treat everybody as one and the same Self, One in All, All in One. That should inspire your interactions with others. Even if the other person is not so polite to you, it doesn’t matter, you still love him. You still interact with him with love and respect. “No no, he’s not polite, therefore I don’t care for him.” That is arrogance, that is the ego’s response. It doesn’t matter who’s younger or older, more or less experienced. From my side, bless him and interact with him with love. That is how the Real reflects in action.

Here’s a video to help with the mantra

Correct Way to Chant Gayatri Mantra Yajur Veda with Pronunciations and Intonation

Thank you for the Satsangs.

I read about karma yoga again and my notes on Sadhana which have both got me thinking. I was off to the gym after reading about karma yoga again and it made me realise how I say I hate the gym but I go anyway. So I thought of gratitude and that instead of hating the gym I am grateful for the fact there’s such a lovely empty studio there to practice in, I’m so lucky to have somewhere so close I can walk to it and I’m so grateful for it’s pool and sauna! So no more ‘hate gym’ and instead gratitude.

Sadhana gave me pause for thought. My notes talk about a disciplined practice that (amongst other practices) involves surrendering the ego. I need to work on this, so much! I appreciate this takes time and so much practice. I think perhaps catching oneself and letting it go? Recognising the Self and that I am only that, nothing else is real?

But putting it into practice is hard, before I know it I think I have to be right about something, or be seen to be a ‘good person’. I am beginning to realise that my point of view is not important and that in social discussions if it doesn’t come across it doesn’t matter, that does feel like a good release.

No worries about answering if you are busy Kate, as always, but next time we’re online I’d love to hear more about this.

(I have ordered Rory’s new book which will arrive today and look forward to being deep in it! )

Loads of love as always,

Kate: Great to read your words! A positive shift to gratitude, so much nicer for the systems, takes the “chore” feeling of everyday life. My mother is excellent at this.”Isn’t it great to be able to do it!” She would say for duties, washing up, gardening, painting you name it. It took me some time to really adopt karma yoga sincerely, now I’m even seeing Isvara ‘doing’ my actions, I take my lead from Isvara and manage the gunas accordingly (remember you can always say ‘no’ to Isvara!) This leads me into your questions which I think we can tie in…

My notes talk about a disciplined practice that (amongst other practices) involves surrendering the ego.

I would say it is the ego that needs practice. The Self is already pure and perfect. It’s for the sake of the Self you do anything. Think about it. Every action you do is to remove some sense of limitation. Eat to remove hunger. Work-out to remove lethargy. Read a book to remove boredom. Of course you can see it as adding energy and stimulation to the body/mind. It’s a both/and not an either or, a ‘no-sum’ reality. You see duality play out, ‘see how the pendulum swings’, therefore it can’t be real. For every gain there’s a loss and every loss there’s a gain, but what’s real, Me, the Self never changes.

However I understand where you’re coming from with surrender. One should surrender the mind / the ego to the teaching. These words are Isvara’s words, they don’t come from humans, they come to humans, they haven’t been corrupted and don’t have an agenda other than ‘suffering is bad’. All Isvara is saying is you’re totally great, just as you are. Follow the logic the teaching presents, pretty soon you’ll see it makes perfect sense! You can trust knowledge. Let it take care of your life. I think what you’re catching is the ‘knower/doer split’. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. The knower knows what is good for oneself, the doer has all the clever justifications to procrastinate or sabotage. Everyone experiences this.

Recognising the Self and that I am only that, nothing else is real?

Yes and if you continue to take a stand in your true nature you’ll see how silly the jiva’s fancies and fusses are. Standing in your true nature you know wholeheartedly ‘I am what is good in every time, place and circumstance’ This heals the past and takes care of the future. See all beings as Isvara, this mighty reflection of myself, although most albeit temporarily bewitched by ignorance – not knowing the difference between what is real and unreal, they suffer endlessly in the ocean of misery.

I am beginning to realise that my point of view is not important and that in social discussions if it doesn’t come across it doesn’t matter, that does feel like a good release.

Yes good for you, so what if I’m ‘understood’ or not, how are we ever to know what goes on in anyone else’s mind, the best we can do is infer what they think or feel and even then, caring what others think of you is a waste of time. There are no ‘others’. If I see you as me, I won’t injure or hurt you in any way. Or fear you for that matter. That being said, no good deed goes unpunished or keeping in mind the law of unintended consequences. Say what you gotta say and let go of the need for any certain outcome. “All beings follow their nature. What use is control?” Karma yoga all the way, acting in accordance with my nature, appropriate and timely, with the right attitude. My words, deeds and thoughts need to be in yoga, harmony, less room for conflict. You want to make your jiva happy here, it’s a beautiful reflection of You after all. Let the sadhana, the truth be the centre of your life and ‘life’/worldly stuff on the periphery, not the other way round. Otherwise the tendency is to run off the old program which sees itself as separate and inadequate and doing lots of actions to complete itself.

Waking up as the Self, you wake up fresh every day. You’re the boss! No formula or prescription for the ‘perfect spiritual person’, (which there aren’t any by the way) you’ve affirmed, confirmed and validated – I’m already perfect as the Self! By default my program/jiva tunes in to what’s best to make myself happy, to my environment and its needs, I trust Isvara implicitly to unfold my journey every step of the way. Things may not always be smooth, no worries! I don’t feel obliged to do or not do. I don’t feel guilty if I do or don’t. Letting the teaching transform your life is the gateway to constant steady bliss. If anything practice doesn’t feel like practice anymore, but just a natural outpouring of love of the Self. Everything is a blessing. Truly. See this marvel of life here. It says in the Bhakti Sutras – the Yoga of Love something like this ‘How amazing Isvara is. How great the teaching, the teacher, that led me back to Me and freedom. How great I am for all my efforts, perseverance and understanding.’ Differences cease and I relax into is-ness, pure Being.

Hope this helps, let me know.

Always a pleasure to converse with you,

Love,

Kate

Thank you, it’s so much clarification so aptly. I have replied with quotes from your previous satsang in italics.

A few times you say, “as you know”, honestly I did not, not fully yet. I was aware, as the Self, these things are true but have not assimilated them yet.

Sundari: I hear you. You do know, it just has to assimilate fully, and this takes as long as it takes.

Frank: You said: “Karma does not burn up for the Self as there is no karma for it. For the Self nothing ever happened.  It is not a doer.  Karma is not real, as you know.”

As you said this, a cartoon popped in my mind from the Higgs Boson discovery. The reason they took decades to “find” the tiny particle was they could only infer it, not see it. It turns out it was actually a “field” (pic 1, the field shown as a room full of people) and it only apparently becomes a particle when actions happen around it.

Albert Einstein walks in, making action – the doer / ego – for the doer, as I see it now and so gathers mass, creating Karma. This is in contrast to a “rumour” (loosely represented  as Knowledge/the Self outside the field) where the action is doerless and it’s for the field (not for the doer). Karma happens but not for the Self.

Sundari: I followed the discovery of the HB particle and found it quite fascinating – and a good analogy for the subtlety of the nondual teachings, in a way. Anecdotally, the Higgs Boson was (apparently) first referred to in frustration as that ‘goddamn particle’ because though physicists couldn’t find it they hypothesized it had to exist. This name morphed into the “God Particle’ because of the particle’s spiritual implications—much to the chagrin of scientists who prefer the official name, and especially to the man who first theorized its existence (Peter Higgs), who must be decidedly unamused as he’s a proclaimed atheist!

Frank: Your quote” Karma yoga is an attitude of consecration, my combat tool for desires and fears that arise in ‘me’ under the spell of ignorance. They are not ‘in’ me but a product of ignorance of my true nature – Maya.

This is also new for me because the doer I see now is also part of Iswara, God.

Sundari: It’s true that as this is a nondual reality everything in existence ‘comes’ from, or exists thanks to the presence of, Isvara/God/Consciousness. But it is more accurate to say that the doer/doership is a product of mithya, which is the effects of ignorance. Isvara is the Self, and the Self is a partless whole and thus cannot be a doer, so neither is Isvara. To be a doer, Isvara would have to be ‘in’ the creation, which it never is.  Isvara is the cause and the effects of the creation but is always free of the creation and never enters it. I explained this in more detail in my previous satsang with you – Isvara Knowns Only the Self.

Frank: I as the Self didn’t know this because of Maya, at least my mind could not perceive it yet – a fallacy of all dualistic cults and religions which perpetuate this idea. The doer is therefore Mithya, created by the Self + Maya.

Sundari: The identification with doership is the real problem, not the doer per se. The jiva cannot not do. The Self is never actually conditioned by Maya, and doesn’t ‘know’ anything because there is only itself to know . Even though the jiva/doer is the Self apparently under the spell of ignorance – i.e., Maya. Apparently is the operative word. Knowing is a function of the omniscience of Isvara, and Isvara ‘bestows’ knowing/consciousness onto the jiva, though both Isvara and jiva owe their consciousness to the Self. Assimilating this teaching is very subtle, and it is called the non-origination teaching – which basically asks, and answers the logical question at this point of the teachings:

How can Sat, Consciousness, be the basis of the material creation if it is non-dual Consciousness? The material creation is not material. It has no actual substance; it is a mirage. The deeper you delve into it, the further it recedes.  Just like a movie, the creation is a projection caused by Maya, which is not the same OR not different from Sat, Existence/Awareness. Very important distinction, not the same and not different, essential to nondual vision, i.e., discriminating Satya from mithya.

(Please see satsang attached on the Reflection teaching for further clarification)

Frank: Your quote: There is no greatness in this life – it’s an illusion. It feels very good to achieve our goals as a jiva, and success is possible in mithya, which is great. Life would be pretty grim if that were not so, nobody would get out of bed in the morning. …..But  everything here is transitory.”

As a Jiva yes it feels good, as the Self more and more it makes no difference. Even when it does feel good it is not liberating much anymore; good feelings carry a weight, even an addictive quality. The “dealer” Maya binds (impartially) the Jiva into a next Vasana fix, even for “love”.

Sundari: Well put. As the quote from the scriptures goes – the gold and the crow shit are one and the same to one who knows the Self, because nothing in mithya is real, only the Self.  Any seeking for objects boils down to the need for love – seeking the Self. I call it the ‘hungry ghost’ syndrome. The need for love is natural for humans but the need only exists when you do not know your true nature is the source of love.

Frank: Your quote: “And to be full of love you have to feel right about the way you are living. When you are satisfied that you are taking care of yourself properly the mind relaxes and the love that you are comes out…and attracts people”.

Oh goodness yes, countless times I have perceived a potential action as not being the best idea; the way I could be living Dharmically both before an adharmic action and after was known in my mind and yet “I still did it and rejected intrinsic (?) love. I start to see the Self’s nature is love and understand how many a guru ended up with followings like a millstone around their necks – for the following and the guru. Not Ramji nor you thank goodness!

Sundari: Self-knowledge is Dharma with a big ‘D’. It allows us to be fearless because we are no longer chasing objects nor do we fear loss. We love and contact objects not for happiness but because we are happy. A true teacher – and a guru is simply someone who has had their ignorance removed by the nondual scriptures and can wield the knowledge to guide you in the removal of your personal ignorance – will model this for you.

Frank: If we provisionally accept that the creation exists. Except ‘the universe’ or Isvara is not waiting for anything because Isvara is the Self and for the Self, nothing is going on. This creation is a leela, a game or mirage taking place in you, the Self.

I have not assimilated this yet. The Self = Iswara (+ Maya). Iswara is everything, including me as the doer, the entire field from people, their and my feelings, perceptions, objects, even “my mind”. Recently during Sattvic moments I have seen Iswara as like a complete, all encompassing Everything. Nothing missing, no get outs, no exceptions. This is both wonderful and yet, as a Jiva, apparently suffocating and weirdly “boring” to Maya’s temporary ownership of the mind: nothing will happen, it’s all on train tracks now, look what you’ve done getting into Vedanta! even new is not new. This passes and I know it passes, it reverses. I just tell it that we can carry on that way but inevitably it then shrinks – it knows I know and it knows it.

Sundari: I explained this in more detail in the aforementioned satsang, and there is further clarification on it in the satsang I attached for you to read.

The ego hates the idea of surrender to Isvara.  It will find it boring and try to convince the mind that the world of experience is far more interesting.  Maybe it is, for the ego, because though it is always dissatisfied with experience because no experience ever delivers what the ego is seeking (not for long anyway), it even prefers suffering to facing its own demise! It’s only when we get tired of such a mind, tired of suffering, that the mind turns inwards and grows the courage (qualifications) to override the ego.

Frank: “You as an ego can’t make this happen. If Self-knowledge is at work, it will be correcting the lens setting of the mind from automatically dualistic to spontaneously nondual. Vedanta works on freeing the mind. “

Like suddenly being able to breathe underwater or walk through solid walls in a dream, now it is in the waking state figuratively. Knowledge does the work; the water is not scary, the walls are not solid and we can just breathe or pass through with the Knowledge and tools of qualifications. You often mention the word “lens” and this is so true – the experience of Knowledge is like a lens – just in reading attentively or listening and practicing it flips objects, previously upside down, the right way up to Mithya.

The truth from Vedanta is known by the Self-evident lifting of ignorance to reveal the Self. I see now the Self cannot be found, nor can the Jiva find it. This would be like looking for oneself (as a person) as if it were another separate person in an empty house, when no one else is actually there. Thank you and much love to you both,

Sundari: Amen. Well put.

Much love

Sundari

James:  I think it’s always best to think of enlightenment as an event process rather than a one-off goal…lots of mini insights into some aspect of one’s true nature from a particular vantage point, followed by a challenging period of self-protecting ego resistance as it grapples with the implication of what has been seen in terms of its habit structure.

Nobody or no thing can know the mystery.  Only the fact that the mystery has no actual impact on the Self or the reflected self, the individual can be known because it is a projection of ignorance of one’s immortal wholeness.  Letting go to attain being is futile because the one that let’s go already is.  The letting go happens reflexively downline when the knowledge of one’s immortal knowingness is assimilated.  Let mysteries remain mysterious and enjoy the mysteriousness of the mystery.  Knowing it will not pay the rent or improve your love life, but letting life be a mystery will. 

James:  Good to go!

I’ve been reading a commentary on Ramana’s UPDESHA SARAM.   I could use a teacher’s wisdom with this.

I “heard” something in a different way.  In my words, neither knowledge or ignorance has any affect on the object (human being) or what we authentically are.  The battle of the light/dark is fought in the mind only and has no bearing whatsoever on what we are.  Could you tease this out more?

James:  Knowledge and ignorance affect human beings in ignorance.  Human beings who have hard and fast Self knowledge are not affected by duality.   The battle of light and dark does not affect the Self, unborn existence shining as ever-present ordinary bliss consciousness.  It is associationless.

Is it that the SELF just totally accepts whatever the human object and mind is going through because it belongs to the domain of Ishvara

James:  Yes, but “accepts” isn’t the right word because it implies agency.  It is better to say that the Self is unaware of thoughts and feelings unless Isvara is present.  Isvara is unaffected because it is the thoughts and feelings so there is no duality there.  Only in duality does one thing affect another.

The absolute self, without Maya, is not involved at all in the phenomenal play?

James: Yes.  It is not involved.  Isvara isn’t absolute because it depends on the Self.

If so, why is it allowed – this battle of knowledge/ignorance?  Why is SELF only the space on which the drama unfolds?  (I have the image of the SELF watching TV on a Saturday night…LOL).

James:  Because there are no other Selves.  That’s what non-dual means. If there were more Selves we would have names for them.  Look at your own experience.  Are there two of you?  If there are, which one is real?

How can it be completely passive and be completely, albeit, seemingly active, as Ishvara?

James:  Because it is seemingly active as you point out.  Seeming means it is as good as non-existent.  Non-existent somethings are inactive.

So it is both.  

James:  Both are it in so far as both exist.  But no, there are not two things in reality, unless one of them is a seeming thing, which means it is as good as non-existent.  You might have to think about this a bit.

Not one or the other.

James:  Yes.  Now you’re onto something.  It is a third factor because of which we know both.  It is neither one or the other.  It is unborn ordinary ever-present awareness….yourself.

I would find it so helpful if you would just teach a little around these concepts…if possible.

James:  I’ve been teaching them every day.  How about following my Reditt feed?  These topics come up all the time.  Thousands of people listen.  You can join in the discussion.  It’s quick and easy. I’m on one or two hours a day. Here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/user/JamesSwartzVedanta/

So in the SELF we are no things and in Ishvara, we are seeming all things.

James:  Yes, we are not an object to be known.  We are the unattached unaffected subject that knows.

So it seems like the keystone here is the MIND…it acts as the culprit here, the transformer so to speak.   When we are focused on “our” mind, we believe the rope is a snake.

James: Yes.

When we focus on SELF, we just see an object.  Okay?

James:  Not Okay.  You can’t focus on the Self because it is not an object of thought.  But you can focus on the idea I am the Self, which will turn your attention away from the mind and you will notice the presence of yourself, awareness/consciousness.  The trick is to identify the unseen presence as you. 

So what about the objects (the rope) that is seen.  That is not real either…Nothing is real, so no good/bad. Knowledge/ignorance.  Yikes.

James: The Self, existence shining as awareness, is real, meaning unchanging and always present but yes, everything that comes and goes isn’t real.

My mind  can’t seem to be comfortable with a totally dreamed existence.  It’s way above my mind’s pay grade.   Yet, I want to know. Can you shed some light on my confusion?

James: The mind is cheapskate and a debtor; it is living on borrowed awareness.  It has to give it back when its karma runs out so it is always worried about death.  But the lack of comfort is normal for it because it has been conditioned for 60 years to the belief that life and death are real.  It seems your practice then is to get the mind comfortable.  The easy way is to understand that what you’re experiencing is just a movie.  Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream.  Merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream.”  If the mind knows it’s not real, it settles down.  So educate it: the joy is not in the object.

In Atma Bodh Shankaracharya says, “I (awareness) live without breathing.“

With love & gratitude,

CC

Love you, C! 

I know both you and Sundari are so busy with Shiningworld and students and I should not be writing you so often but I can not seem to help myself because you are both in my heart so much. This is particularly true at this time, even this whole past year, with what Ishvara has been putting our family through. 

Anyway, I happened to see you in the trailer “Mystic By Default with Swami Chinmayananda” done six years ago and thoroughly enjoyed seeing and listening to you. I haven’t watched you for months, so it was nice. It seems to me that much has been happening around you and the Shiningworld website. I think you have a good team around you. Sundari is even more amazing than I’d thought.

However, small talk aside (I hear your voice) I need a little slap in the head James, so I’m writing you rather than Sundari. She’s much too kind. 

Two things, first some reassurance that I’m staying true to the teaching and then a question that arose from something you wrote in your book “How to Attain Enlightenment”, (which by the way, I love, particularly the first and twelfth chapters, actually all the chapters),  this morning that set “me” on my heels.

On the matter of asking for some reassurance, I had just written in my journal earlier in the morning the following: The Self, non-dual limitless, consciously aware existence does not occupy space because space or the idea of space depends on conscious awareness. The universe is the creation of Ishvara which provides the mirror, the means for the Self to (see) reflect its Self to its Self, with the reflection in the polished mirror being the jivan mukta, atman.

That understanding arises from my questioning as to why is there an (apparent) jiva and an apparent universe since I understand the Self,  being non-dual and without the instruments of knowing, not being a knower of “any thing”. Your comments please.

Second, just when I was sailing along thinking I was pretty firm in my understanding of the teaching and was experiencing the fruit, (with the ego sneaking in of course), you wrote under the chapter on meditation page 249, that the soul undergoes evolution.

Could you clarify as I am not sure what is meant by the use of the word soul and the use of the word evolution?

Thank you James and again forgive me for wanting to keep in touch.

Love

James:  You are one of the most exasperating people I know.   We have been through this issue many times in the last few years and you know that it’s not cool to revisit it so why do you want me to scold you again?  It’s not my job to reassure you.   Put on your big boy pants, if you have any, and do proper sadhana.  A teacher is only a temporary psychological aid.  Maybe personal bhakti works for you but what about me?  If I have to hold the hands of every Tom, Dick and Mary, when to I get to do my duty to myself?  Faith pending the application of the teaching is the guru.  Thousands of people listen to ShiningWorld’s offerings and nearly everbody plays by the rules, except you.  How does this letter endear me to you?

You don’t attend the Sunday satsang.  You don’t donate for your own good or the good of the world.  You obviously haven’t retained even the most rudimentary information from my books and videos and you seem to think that it is my job to answer the most elementary questions. 

I’m not your personal guru.  The people I serve personally are sensitive, sincere, classy people who appreciate me and who actively support our mission to disseminate non-dual wisdom for the benefit of the world. 

You may write with a serious question after you have attended the Sunday satsang for one year, make a recurring monthly donation of $25 for one year, and generally show some kind of appreciation for my situation assuming I’m still alive, which is anybody’s guess.  You don’t even know that I’m in New York waiting for a second surgical procedure this month!  If you’re sailing along with Vedanta, I wonder what kind of Vedanta you’re talking about.  You know who got the message and corrected himself on the basis of one short friendly conversation.  Please do the same.

Meditation (nididyasana) – Sunday December 10, 2023

• What is meditation?  The process of Complete Objectification of the Doer.  5-10-15 rule is a long (or short) process depending on the teacher’s karma.
  
• What does the Objectification of the Doer imply?  That I need to take my vasanas seriously i.e. see that they are unhelpful to myself and others.  What is the downside of taking them seriously?  I may get stuck in the necessary satya/mithya teaching.  I will dismiss my vasanas as unreal (mithya) when they are real (satya) for a jiva.  Jivas are deluded; although they are unreal, they think they are real.     
  
• Why should the Doer be Objectifed? 

               (a)  Suffering remains if it isn’t.  Suffering is
                      attachment to the results of my actions.
               (b) Why does objectification create a doubt in the
                     doer? Because the Self is attached to the doer
                     owing to Maya. 
               (c)  Objectification obscures the misunderstanding
                      that freedom is only happiness for the me-self,
                      not for others. 
             (d) It generates the belief that saving the world, not
                   saving the me-self is the greatest virtue, causing
                   individuals with low self-esteem to seek fame and
                   suffer grandiosity.  AHAM story

The Power of Fear

              (4)  Can a teacher help in this process or is a teacher only
               meant to teach moksha?
Yes, but most teachers don’t because fear causes emotional relationships.  Why don’t emotional relationships work?   They destroy friendships because from the jiva point of view both the teacher and the taught are right.  Nobody is right.  Both the teacher and the student are virtue itself.

(5)  What is trust? 

Willingly following a teacher’s suggestions assuming the teacher’s ego is completely objectified.  When a doubt occurs, the student knows he or she is always wrong and Isvara’s words in the form of scripture is always right as explained by the teacher. 

Why is it difficult for the student to trust the teacher?  Because he or she has no way of knowing if the teacher’s ego is completely actualized. 

Lack of knowledge of the stages of objectification
creates doubt and prevents growth.

The Stages

•   A Self-Realized teacher who thinks that Self-Realization is the last stage and doesn’t know the value of Self-actualization.  Dharma trumps moksha.
  
•   A Self-Realized teacher who is in the process of objectifying the doer.  He or she identifies with the “still small voice” that speaks when the mind is sattvic i.e. Ishwara2.  Identification with Isvara 2 is the God complex.  It is an inability to accommodate uncertainty.  “I am right because I know the facts!” 

        Why should I accommodate uncertainty and desire?  
     Because no matter how much you know
there is always something that it unknown.  

Remember, Vedanta objectifies the Doer and the Self objectifies Vedanta, which  means that the teacher and the teaching are only real until the nididyasana practice disappears.  Until then a teacher in nididyasana is liable to trust Isvara2, when in fact Isvara 2 is not trustworthy.   

Why is There No Final Stage?

Because there is only ME, existence shining as unborn consciousness.  I am not a teacher because I am not a jiva.  It is me but I am not it.  I am not right or wrong.

 I don’t trust Isvara because I am Isvara. 
                         

DONATIONS!

People say they want bliss without thoughts but that doesn’t work because the intellect will obscure bliss with worry until it obtains doubt-free knowledge.   You have people who worship the image of Shiva for an experience of bliss, which never lasts. It is absurd because you are always experiencing the bliss of existence even as you are attempting to ‘connect.”   

Reality is non-dual existence shining as unborn whole and complete consciousness.  It is everything that is.  Not only is there no single word that can explain it, there are so many existent names and forms that it is impossible to categorize them all.  But categorize them we must if we are going to remove our ignorance.  Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad reduces everything that exists to two categories, Subject (consciousness) and Matter (known and unknown objects).  The Gita is the essence of the Upanishads, the source texts of Vedanta, a proven means of Self knowledge. 

Neither category can create by itself.  Consciousness can’t because it is uncreated and eternal.  It cannot modify matter, be modified by matter, or modify itself.  Matter can’t create because it is inert.  However, when these two factors come together creation happens.  Think Big Bang:  It is important to know this fact if you want the freedom that is non-different from unconditional love; the freedom that is perfect satisfaction with yourself, however you conceive it, and the satisfaction that comes from appreciating the radiant perfect beauty of the Creation.  If you ever wondered if you are a spiritual entity with a material body or a material entity with spiritual inclinations, Vedanta, the science of existence shining as consciousness, solves your problem. 

Vedanta accomplishes this for us in two ways.  It resolves this confusion and others generated by it by using using words in a logical way, which is known as informal meditation.  Logic is extremely subtle patterns of thought that generate the knowledge that remove ignorance.  The second way is called formal meditation, of which this wonderful image, Dancing Shiva, is one of the most elegant, eloquent examples.  It is particularly suitable for individuals who have difficulty following logical trains of thought but is an image of such provocative transcendent beauty and power that it appeals to most individuals with spiritual aspirations once it is unfolded.    

Shiva Nataraj

The Dance of Bliss (ananda tandava) reconciles science, devotional love and beauty in one complex but simple image.  Metaphors can remove ignorance of things we desire to know that cannot be perceived with the senses or accurately inferred by the mind.

The word Shiva means auspiciousness, the one uncreated ever-present and available thing that is good at all times, in all places and in any set of circumstances—our essence or Self—the balanced, poised confident four-armed figure momentarily suspended in time in the center of life’s passionate dancing radiant ring of fire  

The dancing Ring of Fire symbolizes the dynamic, created, changing, material aspect of our selves, the body, mind, intellect and the world.  The Self is always auspicious.  Matter is sometimes auspicious, sometimes inauspicious, with reference to the happiness we continually seek.  The poised, balanced self-contained figure symbolizes the ever-auspicious Self, whereas the ring of fire symbolizes our extroverted grasping, unreliable, insecure, material self.  That self is unreliable because it is never the same from one moment to the next.  The spiritual or conscious Self is always reliable because it is always-desirable, ever-reliable Bliss.  It is what is to be known if you want to be secure, adequate and permanently fulfilled. 

A. Meditation – Focus on the Self

Formal meditation starts with a visual symbol, which is internalized by the practice of meditation.  Before you begin, see to it that the image is hanging on a wall or sitting on a desk or dresser in a clean, quiet attractive space in your home or garden.  Sit in front of the image and mentally ask Shiva to give you a successful meditation.  Sitting is a symbol of non-doing.  Light a candle, ring a bell and burn a stick of incense to get the  attention of your innermost Self.  Keeping in mind that any result is acceptable (karma yoga).  Because this is a dualistic meditation, we need to use “he” for the Self and “she” for the not-self.  He and she do not imply a power imbalance.  Brother and sister is perhaps a better metaphor.    

Thinking, “I am Shiva,” focus exclusively on the pure, poised, balanced, self-contained image, ignoring all non-Shiva-related thoughts until the ring of fire disappears.  You should gradually extend your concentration over time.   Achieving the unbroken “I thought” is easy or difficult depending on the purity of your mind.  The longer you can comfortably concentrate, the deeper the inquiry.  Don’t be surprised if it brings up disturbing subconscious content, which you should gratefully accommodate during the mediation and probably investigate, once the meditation is over. 

Just as dances are carefully choreographed works of artistic beauty, the blissful Dance of Life is a rhythmic choreographed work of art underlying the whole non-dual creation, designed by the Artist in Chief, Isvara/Maya the non-dual creator.  It has many features or principles or truths (tattvas).  It is an extremely effective practice.

Here is a testimonial from a member of the ShiningWorld community.  “With great interest I listened to your satsang on Shiva, meditation and devotion.  It reminds me strongly of  ‘Nirvana Shatakam’ of Adi Shankaracharya. It struck me how powerful your explanation of the symbolism is.  Both the image and the poem are now much more alive. The key for me is the fact that ‘i am shiva.’  I never thought about it, but I realize that’s the meaning of shivoham.*  So the poem is about me, the Self.  My meditation deepens my devotion further and further.  Thank you for your beautiful explanation.  I hope to attend your satsang next Sunday.” 

*Oham or aham means “I am” and Shiva means I am always the Good that is beyond good and bad.” 

Incorporating this practice into your daily life, deepens dualistic bhakti to the point where it merges into non-dual devotional bhakti.  Seeking stops and the doer is cancelled.  The teaching tradition is Indebted to John Baxter for the timely introduction of a contemporary attractive sound bite that should cement this concept in your mind, “story upgrade.”   I am Shiva is an upgrade, a vertical integration.     

The aforementioned six Meditations on Myself by Shankaracharya follow.  You need to contemplate on the meaning of every statement that follows until it is undeniably true about yourself, however you define yourself.  Pause after each statement to confirm that it is really true.  Think twice if the ego eagerly claims that it is true because it is subject to the dreaded enlightenment disease: a premature claim of enlightenment.  Ask if you actually have anything to gain by making this claim. 

If you do, you are not the real you.  If you don’t, it means these statements are not claims.  They are simple facts, like, “It is hot today.”  Even if you turn on the air-conditioner, the weather doesn’t change, only your experience of it.  Knowing what you are is never a gain.  It is a loss of ignorance that appears to be a gain.   

Mano buddhy-ahamkara chittani naham
Na cha srotra jihwe na cha ghrana netre
Na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vayu
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(1)

I am not the mind, intellect, ego or memory.   I don’t hear, see, touch, taste or smell.  I am not space, air, fire, water or earth.  I am auspiciousness itself…pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

Na cha prana sangno na vai panchavayu
Nava sapthadhatur na va pancha koshaha
Na vakpani padau na cho pastha payu
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(2)

I am not universal energy or the five physiological functions.* 
I am not the body’s seven constituents* or the five sheaths.* 
I am not a speaker, listener, grasper, procreator, or excreter.  I am auspiciousness itself…pure unborn non-dual consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

* Five physiological functions: expulsion, respiration, digestion, circulation, excretion
* Seven constituents: skin, muscle, fat, flesh blood, bone and marrow.
* Five sheaths: the body, five physiological systems, emotions, intellect and bliss.

Namae dwesha ragau na mae lobha mohau
Mado naiva mae naiva matsarya bhavaha
Na dharmo na chardho na kamo na mokshaha
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(3)

I don’t have likes and dislikes.  I am not greedy, covetous, or infatuated.  I am free of pride, envy and jealousy.  I don’t seek security, pleasure or freedom and I am dharma itself…pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

Na punyam na papam na saukhyam na dhukkam
Na mantro na teertham na veda na yagnaha
Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhoktha
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(4)

I am unaffected by sin or virtue so I don’t suffer pleasure, pain, joy or sorrow.  I am not attached to scripture, sacred rituals or holy places.  I don’t sacrifice.  I am not the enjoyer, the enjoyed or the enjoyment.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure unborn non-dual consciousness.  I am Shiva.  I am Shiva. 

Na mruthyu na sangka na mae jathi bedha
Pita naiva mae naiva mata na janma
Na bandhur na mitram gururnaiva sishya
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(5)

I don’t die nor am I affected by castes and creeds. I was never born so I have no father, mother, relatives, or friends. I have no teacher nor any disciples.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva I am Shiva. 

Aham nirvikalpo nirakara rupo
Vibhutwaccha sarvatra sarvendriyanam
Na cha sanga tham naiva mukthir na meya
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(6)

I am the formless changeless unmodified thought-free non-dual Self.  I am the substance of all that appears and the power that permits the senses to know.  I am unassociated with anything and unattached to everything.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure non-dual blissful consciousness. I am Shiva I am Shiva. 

All objects in existence are symbolized by the black background, the context of the image.  It is known as Ignorance because it creates a world of such transcendent beauty and ugliness that we are forced to deal with it.  Our likes, the beautiful bits, attract and our dislikes, the ugly bits, repel.  What we think and feel about the world is nothing but our likes and dislikes personalizing it because Maya hides our whole and complete impersonal Self.  It causes the auspicious Self to assume that whatever objects are attractive are capable of removing its unwarranted sense of incompleteness and inadequacy.  Maya is a sense of magic created by not knowing how a trick works.  Once you know however, the magic vanishes, but you still enjoy the show because you appreciate the trick’s trickiness.    

Next, let’s analyze the Features of Experience.

1.  Evolution

Your Shiva self is uncreated.  It does not evolve.  But your material self is created.  It evolves and devolves.   

2.  Maintenance, Sustainability

Anything that is created exists from a fraction of a second to multiple billions of years.  Getting what you want is fine, but it does not solve the inadequacy problem.  Objects…read experiences…have legs and go south, so you are forever attached to keeping them.  

3. Destruction Dissolution

Creation is Time, the interval between the birth and death of an object.  Objects are experiences, which are thoughts generated by words.  (See Mandukya and Karika for details.  Primordial Matter itself cannot be created or destroyed.  It is eternal.  Discrete material experiences momentarily enter a potential state, only to remanifest in another form.  Time is circular, not linear as we imagine.  If it is circular, it is unreal since the beginning depends upon the end and the end depends on the beginning.  It is impossible to determine which came first, the chicken or the egg for instance, leading to the valid conclusion that time is not real. 

Something is real (free) if it doesn’t depend on something else for its existence.  The poised secure unborn Shiva self is free. Therefore, nothing, except the removal of ignorance, can be done to attain it.  We think destruction is bad because it sweeps away the things we are attached to but it is good too, as it sets the stage for the appearance of uplifting satisfying experiences.  Enough background.  Back to the meditation.

B.  Focus on Objects

Relax your focus to include the burning ring of fire.  Imagine it spinning around and around like a firebrand until it becomes an unbroken circle.  Say to yourself, “The whirling circle of my experiences is caused by desire born of ignorance of my Shiva self.  It generates a nagging sense of incompleteness, inadequacy, and instability.  I see it.  It does not see me.  It does not affect me.” 

4. Denial, Concealment, and Projection Cause Bondage

If something exists, it is possible not to know it.  Not knowing is called denial.  Conscious denial is lying.  Although it is always present, the Self is seemingly (mithya) concealed because it is not perceptible to the physical senses, which is the primary means of knowledge of most individuals.  When you don’t know you are unborn, whole and complete, you incorrectly assume that the objects that present themselves to your senses can remove the feeling of incompleteness. 

Objects can’t compete or complete you for two reasons: because you are already complete and because they are not substantial, what the sometimes called “emptiness” by our Budhist friends.  No matter how much sympathy your sad story elicits, bondage doesn’t work for anybody because, compared what you actually are, it sucks.  Compared to less miserable stories it shines, however.  If you are in love with your miserable life keep repeating your miserable story.  If not, upgrade your story.

5.  Extroversion

Not knowing something generates the two most salient features of sentient beings: fear and desire.  When you are in the dark, you can’t move, so you desire light.  You cannot blame yourself for extroversion.  It comes with the wonder of human birth.  Seeing, knowing, being the light is freedom. (moksha)

6.  Grace, Release Freedom

At some point in evolution the rare animals that became aware of “the light,” were called human beings.  We could say that they became “aware of awareness,” not knowing that it is not possible to become what they always were.  In any case, way back in the day, Shiva, aided by the reflecting medium, the mind, graciously transmitted Vedanta to qualified individuals with inward-turned, curious, unselfish “scientific” minds who just want to know what life is and are not concerned with discrete bits of knowledge that indicate but obscure the total.    

Vedanta ends the search for discrete bits of knowledge and discrete experiences, revealing the fact that you are Bliss itself.  Your pre-orchestrated role in the dance of life is fun when you know this fact.  Ignorance is “released” with the gain of Self knowledge.  Without doubt you can say, “I am free.”

The Drum in Your Upper Right Hand

Sound is only meaningful in the context of silence.  A single beat is preceded and followed by silence.  If no silence follows, sound doesn’t exist.  Sound and silence are unreal because they are mutually dependent.  The beat represents the material changing parts of yourself and the silence represents the unchanging silent part.  Shiva itself, however, is not only the unchanging part; it is “meta-silence,” the Awareness of the sound that is not opposed to silence.    

Shiva as Ishwara

When Shiva stops “beating his drum,” the first beat of which is a Big Bang, creation begins and when He stops, the universe begins unbanging, which ends in the dissolution of Creation.  Scripture says, the self “sleeps” for billions of years only to wake up later for additional billions (even quadrillions) based on its previous momentum, whereupon it unbangs again in an endless cycle of monotonous Bliss.   The word monotony only means boring to a bored mind.  It is a statement of wholeness, oneness.  Not to worry, ladies, “He” can’t do it without the “She,” the Ring of Fire.  He needs you.  Love is Spirit and Matter endlessly locked in conjugal bliss.

7.  Protection – Reassurance – Dharma

The right hand with raised palm facing outward and an OM symbol is a gesture of protection to those souls caught in the tortuous whirligig of life.  Shiva says, “Because of my eternal  presence, you can relax.  “Take it easy; there is nothing to fear.  I have your back.”  It implies knowledge of karma yoga.

7.  Destruction – Regeneration

Worry stands to reason since everything dear to people who think they are subject to time are subject to Shiva’s next playful trick.  The left hand holding the flame, symbolizes destruction which is unreal (mithya) because energy/matter cannot be created or destroyed.  It is eternal.  Scientific “discoveries” of hidden sources of energy are simply “uncoveries” brought about the application of reason—inference and other logical principles. 

Vedanta, a “subjective” science uncovers what is always present and partially-known by application of the scientific method to the “inner” world, not only to the “outer” world, which is the obsession of material science.  That we can’t fully appreciate the significance of the outer world without an investigation of the inner world is slowing dawning on the community of material scientists.   

8.  Grace – Salvation, Liberation (moksha)

The left hand extends across the chest, its fingers pointing graciously to the tip of the uplifted left leg, which is raised in a dancing posture.  The leg symbolizes Vedanta, a uplifting mirror of words in which your true Self is revealed, granting knowledge of your completeness, which saves you from change by removing the energy (tamoguna) that conceals your fullness.

It is positioned just below the OM because knowledge of OM (everything that is) is required for freedom.  In similar images, Vishnu sleeping on the Cosmic Serpent for instance, the downward hand is depicted with a noose, enabling the Self to pluck ripe souls from the ocean of samsara, the mistaken belief in the cycle of births and deaths.  In the image above, his right partially-submerged hand symbolizes grace.  Notice that Shiva’s hand is not grasping.  It is simply offering an opportunity.  The opportunity, however, implies action.  In Vishnu’s case the offhand and seemingly subconscious gesture represents opportunity, which also implies action.  Freedom that doesn’t require action is not free.  At every stage of evolution, Vedanta requires action.  Knowledge without the transformation of the personality brought about by yoga is just more suffering. 

9.  Concealment – Denial – Ignorance

Transformation is as inspiring as it is emotionally challenging.  Everything in the mind is actually a symbol.  Persistence pays off because at some point the symbol is going to deliver what it purports to symbolize—freedom and non-dual love.  But persevere, you must. 

This feature of consciousness is more complex and hard to grasp.  In conjunction with Maya (Macrocosmic Ignorance) Isvara has three energies at Its disposal as does Jiva, a “mini-Isvara.”  Shiva Isvara generates the waking dream and deep sleep states, which conceal, project, and reveal.  (See the Yoga of Three Energies).  Jiva Shiva manages the concealing, projecting and revealing thoughts in its reflected (pratibimba) awareness in an attempt to keep the mind under its control.

This Shiva is an image of a graceful well-balanced mature Self actualized person.  The right foot is firmly placed on the back of the wiggling infantile dwarfish ego so that devotional love can flow unrestricted toward the selfless Self.  To vow to actualize your full spiritual potential is the “right” thing to do for a committed inquirer. 

10.  Ecstasy

The ecstatic and vibrant nature of the dance, with the Lord whirling round on the one right leg is indicated by the matted hair flying on both sides of this head.  When creation bangs, Shiva arises from His rapture sending flowing undulating waves of bliss, sustaining manifold phenomena reflecting the light of Awareness.  Among other things snakes represent the rhymical undulating patterns of life.  As He whirls with fire in hand, He destroys all names and forms, lies down and sleeps His apparently endless night.   Jiva too whirls around and around in its a whirlpool of memories and desires for most of the day, lies down and sleeps fretfully for a few hours, reawakens and starts its hectic dance once more. 

Introduced September 17, 2023

The Dance of Shiva – Vedanta in Code.
Understanding Non-dual Reality

DONATIONS!

People say they want bliss without thoughts but that doesn’t work because the intellect will obscure bliss with worry until it obtains doubt-free knowledge.   You have people who worship the image of Shiva for an experience of bliss, which never lasts. It is absurd because you are always experiencing the bliss of existence even as you are attempting to ‘connect.”   

Reality is non-dual existence shining as unborn whole and complete consciousness.  It is everything that is.  Not only is there no single word that can explain it, there are so many existent names and forms that it is impossible to categorize them all.  But categorize them we must if we are going to remove our ignorance.  Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad reduces everything that exists to two categories, Subject (consciousness) and Matter (known and unknown objects).  The Gita is the essence of the Upanishads, the source texts of Vedanta, a proven means of Self knowledge. 

Neither category can create by itself.  Consciousness can’t because it is uncreated and eternal.  It cannot modify matter, be modified by matter, or modify itself.  Matter can’t create because it is inert.  However, when these two factors come together creation happens.  Think Big Bang:  It is important to know this fact if you want the freedom that is non-different from unconditional love; the freedom that is perfect satisfaction with yourself, however you conceive it, and the satisfaction that comes from appreciating the radiant perfect beauty of the Creation.  If you ever wondered if you are a spiritual entity with a material body or a material entity with spiritual inclinations, Vedanta, the science of existence shining as consciousness, solves your problem. 

Vedanta accomplishes this for us in two ways.  It resolves this confusion and others generated by it by using using words in a logical way, which is known as informal meditation.  Logic is extremely subtle patterns of thought that generate the knowledge that remove ignorance.  The second way is called formal meditation, of which this wonderful image, Dancing Shiva, is one of the most elegant, eloquent examples.  It is particularly suitable for individuals who have difficulty following logical trains of thought but is an image of such provocative transcendent beauty and power that it appeals to most individuals with spiritual aspirations once it is unfolded.    

Shiva Nataraj

The Dance of Bliss (ananda tandava) reconciles science, devotional love and beauty in one complex but simple image.  Metaphors can remove ignorance of things we desire to know that cannot be perceived with the senses or accurately inferred by the mind.

The word Shiva means auspiciousness, the one uncreated ever-present and available thing that is good at all times, in all places and in any set of circumstances—our essence or Self—the balanced, poised confident four-armed figure momentarily suspended in time in the center of life’s passionate dancing radiant ring of fire  

The dancing Ring of Fire symbolizes the dynamic, created, changing, material aspect of our selves, the body, mind, intellect and the world.  The Self is always auspicious.  Matter is sometimes auspicious, sometimes inauspicious, with reference to the happiness we continually seek.  The poised, balanced self-contained figure symbolizes the ever-auspicious Self, whereas the ring of fire symbolizes our extroverted grasping, unreliable, insecure, material self.  That self is unreliable because it is never the same from one moment to the next.  The spiritual or conscious Self is always reliable because it is always-desirable, ever-reliable Bliss.  It is what is to be known if you want to be secure, adequate and permanently fulfilled. 

A. Meditation – Focus on the Self

Formal meditation starts with a visual symbol, which is internalized by the practice of meditation.  Before you begin, see to it that the image is hanging on a wall or sitting on a desk or dresser in a clean, quiet attractive space in your home or garden.  Sit in front of the image and mentally ask Shiva to give you a successful meditation.  Sitting is a symbol of non-doing.  Light a candle, ring a bell and burn a stick of incense to get the  attention of your innermost Self.  Keeping in mind that any result is acceptable (karma yoga).  Because this is a dualistic meditation, we need to use “he” for the Self and “she” for the not-self.  He and she do not imply a power imbalance.  Brother and sister is perhaps a better metaphor.    

Thinking, “I am Shiva,” focus exclusively on the pure, poised, balanced, self-contained image, ignoring all non-Shiva-related thoughts until the ring of fire disappears.  You should gradually extend your concentration over time.   Achieving the unbroken “I thought” is easy or difficult depending on the purity of your mind.  The longer you can comfortably concentrate, the deeper the inquiry.  Don’t be surprised if it brings up disturbing subconscious content, which you should gratefully accommodate during the mediation and probably investigate, once the meditation is over. 

Just as dances are carefully choreographed works of artistic beauty, the blissful Dance of Life is a rhythmic choreographed work of art underlying the whole non-dual creation, designed by the Artist in Chief, Isvara/Maya the non-dual creator.  It has many features or principles or truths (tattvas).  It is an extremely effective practice.

Here is a testimonial from a member of the ShiningWorld community.  “With great interest I listened to your satsang on Shiva, meditation and devotion.  It reminds me strongly of  ‘Nirvana Shatakam’ of Adi Shankaracharya. It struck me how powerful your explanation of the symbolism is.  Both the image and the poem are now much more alive. The key for me is the fact that ‘i am shiva.’  I never thought about it, but I realize that’s the meaning of shivoham.*  So the poem is about me, the Self.  My meditation deepens my devotion further and further.  Thank you for your beautiful explanation.  I hope to attend your satsang next Sunday.” 

*Oham or aham means “I am” and Shiva means I am always the Good that is beyond good and bad.” 

Incorporating this practice into your daily life, deepens dualistic bhakti to the point where it merges into non-dual devotional bhakti.  Seeking stops and the doer is cancelled.  The teaching tradition is Indebted to John Baxter for the timely introduction of a contemporary attractive sound bite that should cement this concept in your mind, “story upgrade.”   I am Shiva is an upgrade, a vertical integration.     

The aforementioned six Meditations on Myself by Shankaracharya follow.  You need to contemplate on the meaning of every statement that follows until it is undeniably true about yourself, however you define yourself.  Pause after each statement to confirm that it is really true.  Think twice if the ego eagerly claims that it is true because it is subject to the dreaded enlightenment disease: a premature claim of enlightenment.  Ask if you actually have anything to gain by making this claim. 

If you do, you are not the real you.  If you don’t, it means these statements are not claims.  They are simple facts, like, “It is hot today.”  Even if you turn on the air-conditioner, the weather doesn’t change, only your experience of it.  Knowing what you are is never a gain.  It is a loss of ignorance that appears to be a gain.   

Mano buddhy-ahamkara chittani naham
Na cha srotra jihwe na cha ghrana netre
Na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vayu
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(1)

I am not the mind, intellect, ego or memory.   I don’t hear, see, touch, taste or smell.  I am not space, air, fire, water or earth.  I am auspiciousness itself…pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

Na cha prana sangno na vai panchavayu
Nava sapthadhatur na va pancha koshaha
Na vakpani padau na cho pastha payu
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(2)

I am not universal energy or the five physiological functions.* 
I am not the body’s seven constituents* or the five sheaths.* 
I am not a speaker, listener, grasper, procreator, or excreter.  I am auspiciousness itself…pure unborn non-dual consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

* Five physiological functions: expulsion, respiration, digestion, circulation, excretion
* Seven constituents: skin, muscle, fat, flesh blood, bone and marrow.
* Five sheaths: the body, five physiological systems, emotions, intellect and bliss.

Namae dwesha ragau na mae lobha mohau
Mado naiva mae naiva matsarya bhavaha
Na dharmo na chardho na kamo na mokshaha
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(3)

I don’t have likes and dislikes.  I am not greedy, covetous, or infatuated.  I am free of pride, envy and jealousy.  I don’t seek security, pleasure or freedom and I am dharma itself…pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva. I am Shiva.

Na punyam na papam na saukhyam na dhukkam
Na mantro na teertham na veda na yagnaha
Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhoktha
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(4)

I am unaffected by sin or virtue so I don’t suffer pleasure, pain, joy or sorrow.  I am not attached to scripture, sacred rituals or holy places.  I don’t sacrifice.  I am not the enjoyer, the enjoyed or the enjoyment.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure unborn non-dual consciousness.  I am Shiva.  I am Shiva. 

Na mruthyu na sangka na mae jathi bedha
Pita naiva mae naiva mata na janma
Na bandhur na mitram gururnaiva sishya
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(5)

I don’t die nor am I affected by castes and creeds. I was never born so I have no father, mother, relatives, or friends. I have no teacher nor any disciples.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure unborn blissful consciousness.  I am Shiva I am Shiva. 

Aham nirvikalpo nirakara rupo
Vibhutwaccha sarvatra sarvendriyanam
Na cha sanga tham naiva mukthir na meya
Chidananda rupah Shivoham Shivoham
(6)

I am the formless changeless unmodified thought-free non-dual Self.  I am the substance of all that appears and the power that permits the senses to know.  I am unassociated with anything and unattached to everything.  I am auspiciousness itself, pure non-dual blissful consciousness. I am Shiva I am Shiva. 

All objects in existence are symbolized by the black background, the context of the image.  It is known as Ignorance because it creates a world of such transcendent beauty and ugliness that we are forced to deal with it.  Our likes, the beautiful bits, attract and our dislikes, the ugly bits, repel.  What we think and feel about the world is nothing but our likes and dislikes personalizing it because Maya hides our whole and complete impersonal Self.  It causes the auspicious Self to assume that whatever objects are attractive are capable of removing its unwarranted sense of incompleteness and inadequacy.  Maya is a sense of magic created by not knowing how a trick works.  Once you know however, the magic vanishes, but you still enjoy the show because you appreciate the trick’s trickiness.    

Next, let’s analyze the Features of Experience.

1.  Evolution

Your Shiva self is uncreated.  It does not evolve.  But your material self is created.  It evolves and devolves.   

2.  Maintenance, Sustainability

Anything that is created exists from a fraction of a second to multiple billions of years.  Getting what you want is fine, but it does not solve the inadequacy problem.  Objects…read experiences…have legs and go south, so you are forever attached to keeping them.  

3. Destruction Dissolution

Creation is Time, the interval between the birth and death of an object.  Objects are experiences, which are thoughts generated by words.  (See Mandukya and Karika for details.  Primordial Matter itself cannot be created or destroyed.  It is eternal.  Discrete material experiences momentarily enter a potential state, only to remanifest in another form.  Time is circular, not linear as we imagine.  If it is circular, it is unreal since the beginning depends upon the end and the end depends on the beginning.  It is impossible to determine which came first, the chicken or the egg for instance, leading to the valid conclusion that time is not real. 

Something is real (free) if it doesn’t depend on something else for its existence.  The poised secure unborn Shiva self is free. Therefore, nothing, except the removal of ignorance, can be done to attain it.  We think destruction is bad because it sweeps away the things we are attached to but it is good too, as it sets the stage for the appearance of uplifting satisfying experiences.  Enough background.  Back to the meditation.

B.  Focus on Objects

Relax your focus to include the burning ring of fire.  Imagine it spinning around and around like a firebrand until it becomes an unbroken circle.  Say to yourself, “The whirling circle of my experiences is caused by desire born of ignorance of my Shiva self.  It generates a nagging sense of incompleteness, inadequacy, and instability.  I see it.  It does not see me.  It does not affect me.” 

4. Denial, Concealment, and Projection Cause Bondage

If something exists, it is possible not to know it.  Not knowing is called denial.  Conscious denial is lying.  Although it is always present, the Self is seemingly (mithya) concealed because it is not perceptible to the physical senses, which is the primary means of knowledge of most individuals.  When you don’t know you are unborn, whole and complete, you incorrectly assume that the objects that present themselves to your senses can remove the feeling of incompleteness. 

Objects can’t compete or complete you for two reasons: because you are already complete and because they are not substantial, what the sometimes called “emptiness” by our Budhist friends.  No matter how much sympathy your sad story elicits, bondage doesn’t work for anybody because, compared what you actually are, it sucks.  Compared to less miserable stories it shines, however.  If you are in love with your miserable life keep repeating your miserable story.  If not, upgrade your story.

5.  Extroversion

Not knowing something generates the two most salient features of sentient beings: fear and desire.  When you are in the dark, you can’t move, so you desire light.  You cannot blame yourself for extroversion.  It comes with the wonder of human birth.  Seeing, knowing, being the light is freedom. (moksha)

6.  Grace, Release Freedom

At some point in evolution the rare animals that became aware of “the light,” were called human beings.  We could say that they became “aware of awareness,” not knowing that it is not possible to become what they always were.  In any case, way back in the day, Shiva, aided by the reflecting medium, the mind, graciously transmitted Vedanta to qualified individuals with inward-turned, curious, unselfish “scientific” minds who just want to know what life is and are not concerned with discrete bits of knowledge that indicate but obscure the total.    

Vedanta ends the search for discrete bits of knowledge and discrete experiences, revealing the fact that you are Bliss itself.  Your pre-orchestrated role in the dance of life is fun when you know this fact.  Ignorance is “released” with the gain of Self knowledge.  Without doubt you can say, “I am free.”

The Drum in Your Upper Right Hand

Sound is only meaningful in the context of silence.  A single beat is preceded and followed by silence.  If no silence follows, sound doesn’t exist.  Sound and silence are unreal because they are mutually dependent.  The beat represents the material changing parts of yourself and the silence represents the unchanging silent part.  Shiva itself, however, is not only the unchanging part; it is “meta-silence,” the Awareness of the sound that is not opposed to silence.    

Shiva as Ishwara

When Shiva stops “beating his drum,” the first beat of which is a Big Bang, creation begins and when He stops, the universe begins unbanging, which ends in the dissolution of Creation.  Scripture says, the self “sleeps” for billions of years only to wake up later for additional billions (even quadrillions) based on its previous momentum, whereupon it unbangs again in an endless cycle of monotonous Bliss.   The word monotony only means boring to a bored mind.  It is a statement of wholeness, oneness.  Not to worry, ladies, “He” can’t do it without the “She,” the Ring of Fire.  He needs you.  Love is Spirit and Matter endlessly locked in conjugal bliss.

7.  Protection – Reassurance – Dharma

The right hand with raised palm facing outward and an OM symbol is a gesture of protection to those souls caught in the tortuous whirligig of life.  Shiva says, “Because of my eternal  presence, you can relax.  “Take it easy; there is nothing to fear.  I have your back.”  It implies knowledge of karma yoga.

7.  Destruction – Regeneration

Worry stands to reason since everything dear to people who think they are subject to time are subject to Shiva’s next playful trick.  The left hand holding the flame, symbolizes destruction which is unreal (mithya) because energy/matter cannot be created or destroyed.  It is eternal.  Scientific “discoveries” of hidden sources of energy are simply “uncoveries” brought about the application of reason—inference and other logical principles. 

Vedanta, a “subjective” science uncovers what is always present and partially-known by application of the scientific method to the “inner” world, not only to the “outer” world, which is the obsession of material science.  That we can’t fully appreciate the significance of the outer world without an investigation of the inner world is slowing dawning on the community of material scientists.   

8.  Grace – Salvation, Liberation (moksha)

The left hand extends across the chest, its fingers pointing graciously to the tip of the uplifted left leg, which is raised in a dancing posture.  The leg symbolizes Vedanta, a uplifting mirror of words in which your true Self is revealed, granting knowledge of your completeness, which saves you from change by removing the energy (tamoguna) that conceals your fullness.

It is positioned just below the OM because knowledge of OM (everything that is) is required for freedom.  In similar images, Vishnu sleeping on the Cosmic Serpent for instance, the downward hand is depicted with a noose, enabling the Self to pluck ripe souls from the ocean of samsara, the mistaken belief in the cycle of births and deaths.  In the image above, his right partially-submerged hand symbolizes grace.  Notice that Shiva’s hand is not grasping.  It is simply offering an opportunity.  The opportunity, however, implies action.  In Vishnu’s case the offhand and seemingly subconscious gesture represents opportunity, which also implies action.  Freedom that doesn’t require action is not free.  At every stage of evolution, Vedanta requires action.  Knowledge without the transformation of the personality brought about by yoga is just more suffering. 

9.  Concealment – Denial – Ignorance

Transformation is as inspiring as it is emotionally challenging.  Everything in the mind is actually a symbol.  Persistence pays off because at some point the symbol is going to deliver what it purports to symbolize—freedom and non-dual love.  But persevere, you must. 

This feature of consciousness is more complex and hard to grasp.  In conjunction with Maya (Macrocosmic Ignorance) Isvara has three energies at Its disposal as does Jiva, a “mini-Isvara.”  Shiva Isvara generates the waking dream and deep sleep states, which conceal, project, and reveal.  (See the Yoga of Three Energies).  Jiva Shiva manages the concealing, projecting and revealing thoughts in its reflected (pratibimba) awareness in an attempt to keep the mind under its control.

This Shiva is an image of a graceful well-balanced mature Self actualized person.  The right foot is firmly placed on the back of the wiggling infantile dwarfish ego so that devotional love can flow unrestricted toward the selfless Self.  To vow to actualize your full spiritual potential is the “right” thing to do for a committed inquirer. 

10.  Ecstasy

The ecstatic and vibrant nature of the dance, with the Lord whirling round on the one right leg is indicated by the matted hair flying on both sides of this head.  When creation bangs, Shiva arises from His rapture sending flowing undulating waves of bliss, sustaining manifold phenomena reflecting the light of Awareness.  Among other things snakes represent the rhymical undulating patterns of life.  As He whirls with fire in hand, He destroys all names and forms, lies down and sleeps His apparently endless night.   Jiva too whirls around and around in its a whirlpool of memories and desires for most of the day, lies down and sleeps fretfully for a few hours, reawakens and starts its hectic dance once more. 

I heard you mention that you regularly communicate with God. I also find solace in talking to God, particularly during times of anger or fear, when I express gratitude for these emotions “Thank you Isvara for the fear feeling”.  I am curious, is there a specific term for this act of talking to God? I tried searching for it on your website and in your books but couldn’t find anything related. Can you please let me know if there is a specific term (maybe a Sanskrit term) to look for?

Thank you.

James:  It is called bhakti or devotion.  I don’t communicate “regularly.”  I communicate all the time without a sense of doership.  All communications are communications with God because God is all there is, so I don’t think that I’m communicating with God.  I just communicate normally and make a point at some point in the conversation that the person people think they are talking to is as much as object to me as I am to them.

A person who knows that is called a bhakta or a jnani in Sanskrit.  The words are interchangeable at the non-dual (paramarthika) level.  When you fully appreciate non-duality, you cease to be an individual.  You can cease to be one because you never were one in the first place. To yourself and people who don’t know, you look like a person who “communicates” but you aren’t. 

To people who have no doubt about non-duality communication happens by the grace of Maya/Isvara but it is known to be unreal.  It’s hard for doers to understand because they are so deeply anchored in duality.  Non-duality is so simple people don’t see it.  It is like gravity, nobody thinks about it because it is always present.  When you understand non-duality, you won’t obsess about your diet and your vasanas, etc.  You will have a normal relationship with them.  Right now, they are an issue for you because you believe they are real because you aren’t clear about reality.  Doers think what they experience is real and therefore they feel that they need to change something because fears and desires, which they take to be real, are always operating.  But you can’t change something that isn’t real.  And you can’t change something that is real.  So, doing things to change things is inherently frustrating.  

We call this samsara, going round and round like tumble dryer that won’t switch off.  This question shows that although you are immersed in Vedanta and doing very well with it, the big picture isn’t yet clear to you.  It will become clear at some point.  When that point comes is only known by Isvara, which is to say by grace, which is earned by sticking to dharma, in your case, in your relationship with me or someone like me.  And by sticking with scripture, i.e. doing karma yoga and listening to satsangs.  I was totally into Vedanta for two years and then one day I was sitting on my bed staring at the wall and life suddenly made sense.  I got up and walked out of the ashram, which was forbidden.  I didn’t need the ashram, my teacher, or the teaching anymore.  There was nothing left to do.  Isvara keeps the world and the jivas going and I just watch it with amusement.  So don’t give up.  Keep doing what you are doing. 

Love,

James

When I walked away, I predictably joined the ranks of the abusive authoritarians who provide easy hooks on which to hang projections, not that many old white guys are not responsible for a fair share of the world’s miseries.  I just don’t happen to be one of them.  He attacked me aggressively, which convinced me that letting Maya, an unforgetting taskmaster, teach him was a wise decision.   

When you are not working daily on uncomfortable tendencies because you are obsessed with security, pleasure, power, fame, status or virtue, you probably have no real friends because you don’t know how to love. 

In the end, the cause of most miseries is a lack of love, which usually starts in childhood because many parents don’t know how to love.  They “have” children as one has objects and madly set out to secure the child’s future with “generational wealth”, which translates as neglect here and now.  Parents’ primary duty is to model a loving relationship and show unconditional love for their children, which in turn allows children to confidently face life’s innumerable challenges. 

Life is only “personal” if you take it personally.  There is only one life-threatening virus…ignorance of one’s wholeness…and one reliable vaccine…Self inquiry guided by scripture.  What we call people is just blissful existence shining as consciousness momentarily bewitched by Maya.   Here’s what I said.

“Dear Self,

If you knew how to love, you would have seen that taking issue with my stance on the vaccine was inappropriate.  You would have taken it gladly as Isvara’s grace and learned from it.  Karma yoga is a loving conversation with Isvara.  Offer your thoughts to Isvara and let Isvara’s revealing words lead you to self-love.  If you knew how to love, you would have compassion for that neglected voice inside that is crying for love.  What use is a comfortable lifestyle if you don’t know how to love?

If you knew how to love, you would be so fascinated with a rich inner life unfolding within that you would be uninterested in changing the minds of others.  People would be attracted to your radiance and would long for the pleasure of your company. 

If you knew how to love, your life would be centered around your spirituality, not your spirituality around your life.  Only when you get a short break after “a long period of “demanding professional requirements” and “have some breathing space” you would take care of your friends first.      

You have studied enough Vedanta.  Now study yourself.”

Love,

James