What is Yoga ?

Lord Shiva is the Primal abhyasi (practitioner) The yogi par excellence.
After having experimented on the Self innumerable times, after dexterously recording His findings in His own mind, He carefully guided his snake from the Karakotaka tribe, in all the eight limbs of the yoga that He had himself developed. The snake became the great Rishi Patanjali in his next birth. Remembering sincerely what his Lord had taught him, Patanjali laid down Shiva's teachings as the Yoga sutras for seekers to practise. It is also known as Ashtanga yoga, or that which has eight steps.
Yoga begins with Yama ( Moral restraints or " do nots " )
Next is Niyama (Moral observances or the" Dos" )
The third limb is Asana. These are the various poses we learn in Hatha Yoga.
Asana is a gateway , and can be understood as 'seats' for this great flight to the Divine Self.
We get to the subtle heights by more subtle steps, to the fourth stage called Pranayama-the training of the prana or breath,
Fifth is Prathyahara-the cessation of outward distraction by isolating our mind,
The sixth step is Dharana, focusing the mind on a single stream of thought ,perhaps on an object that is Divine, like God or Guru.
Shiva teaches that next we must reach the highest peaks of yoga, the seventh realm called Dhyana ( meditation)
and finally the Kailash of yoga, the highest eighth realm called Samadhi ( absorption into Supreme consciousness)

“So do you get all these deep wisdoms in your Yoga abhyasa? I’ve been seeing you do all sorts of postures; Asanas as you call them.” asked Sati one day.

“Yoga asana is only a seat for the great flight to the self. meditation can be as synergized, as natural as my rides on Nandi, or as tumultuous, with the energy of an untamed beast of the natural order.
All of Nature’s things are like that; You need to be completely at oneness with them before you even start to mount the ride. Else you will just be overturned, which too is an important part in the process of learning, Sati,” replied Shiva.
“It’s simple,” He said. “Yoga is not about your body. Yoga is about discovering your soul.”


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Why is Shiva shown in some pictures with multiple faces?

Dear friends and Shiva bhakts, we often see pictures and paintings which show Lord Shiva with multiple faces, like the one i have chosen here for you. What does this mean really?
While the traditional meaning is that the Lord is Omnipresent, He is everywhere, North South, East, West etc. And as the Panchamukhi ( Five faced one) He is known briefly as :

Sadyojata ( The Revealer) West

Sadyojata shows the creative aspect of lord Shiva. As a being exists in this world through his birth, this aspect of Lord Shiva is worshiped first. It represents our mind and our tastes and pleasures life.

Vamadeva ( The Concealer) North

The term Vama means left . When we stand facing the east direction, the north is to our left.  If we stand facing east, north direction is again to our left. So, in this aspect Shiva is the north faced lord  worshiped as Vamadeva. In this aspect Shiva grants wishes and protection.

Aghora (The destroyer) South

This aspect is also known as Rudra. In Aghora – ghora means the dreaded. So in this aspect Shiva has raw powers and his main function is destruction. He enforces law and gives justice.  Those who worship the aghora form of Shiva are called as Aghoris. Their main belief is that there is no such thing called “inauspicious” in this world because all that exists if Shiva himself.

Tatpurusha (The Cosmic being) East

In Tatpurusha, the word ‘Tat’ means Supreme Consciuosness.This form of Shiva is always in meditation and gives blessings to all. This form represents the power of bliss. Also since it  represents our focusing power.

Ishana (The Lord) Skyward

Ishana is derived from the word ‘Ishvara’ which is a combination of ‘Isha’ and ‘Aishwarya. Hence this form of Shiva represents him as the lord or Ishana of all the Universe. In this form the face of Shiva is towards the sky. This fifth face of Shiva represents the creation – balance – annihilation energies and control and chaos energies. It indicates the total encompassing energy of Lord Shiva. In humans it represents the power of their consciousness to realize universal consciousness.

~ Source Temple Purohit

 

BUT IT ALSO DENOTES THIS :

The lessons with Shiva were endless. They had to be. His talk was profound, but so was His silence.
“You seem to be talking to me even when you are silent. Is it true or am I just too madly in love with you?”She asked.
“Silence is a language only a few understand,” said Shiva. “Those special moments when silence speaks, when stillness gives wings,” He whispered.
Even His smile was profound. Everything about Him was the embodiment of wisdom. Sati noticed that there were traces of this wisdom even when He joked.
~ From the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller. by Shail Gulhati
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MEDITATION

“ Life is a process of learning, every moment of unfolding is a learning. Life is ever on the move, never stagnating. It is like a meditation, a meditation in being.” said the Yogi.
The snake had known what it was to be in meditation. But he wondered why the Yogi talked of ‘meditation in being’.
“This is an echo process you know” , said the Yogi. “Being in meditation, being in meditation, and then meditation in being”. “Tell me” , said the Yogi, “what do you know of being in meditation, and I shall tell you of meditation in being”.

"Since I had no formal teaching in meditation. I made my own improvisations, said the snake, I took a blanket, folded it for a seat, closed my eyes and meditated upon what there was when there was nothing".

  "Good" , said the yogi, "This is a direct way of looking for the source, the beginning. What did you realise?"

"The curious mind, which has, so far identified itself with its conditioning, thoughts, and own conceptions, yearns to transcend itself, to know the truth about the truth, to reach the unreachable. Meditation, is a step to introduce this mind to the truth.During meditation, the meditator strives for maximum awareness." said the snake.

   " Yes, and this striving is paradoxical too, it comes only after complete relaxation and ‘at easeness’. One should not be, therefore, rigid or conditioned even about approaches to meditation. Continue", said the Yogi.

 " In due course, it perceives many new sensory lights, sounds and smells, which of it, did not exist earlier. These serve as indicators of progress. The mind now knows that there is nothing known as soundless. That in fact, the absence of noise which we call silence, alone leads to anahata, the eternal reasonance, vibrating the universal hum. Similarly, that, which we have known as darkness, is actually permeated by lights.Then, the meditator becomes conscious of an energy formation that rises slowly, up the spine. This is a higher awareness and the arrangement is being made for the mind to meet the self, through (within) the meditator. The steadily rising energy reaches the brain and explodes into permeation. This one moment of culmination is spontaneous and the mind meets with, knows, and fuses into the self, all at once. This is the highest awareness. There is nothing more to be seen, heard or smelled; only a knowingness.This knowingness is known by itself.  The mind that has been so stilled by the meditator into perfect awareness, knows that it has transcended itself, that it stands in the truth. That, it is experiencing eternity, void, nothingness, everythingness, all at once. There is the experience of the great ‘I am’ness and all previous conceptions of duality between the meditator and the self stand erased. You are at once the knower and the known, the experiencer and the experienced." said the snake.

  "Do not forget the vital links", said the yogi," You are not only the experiencer and the experienced you are the experience. You are the knowing."

   "The concept of time too, stands radically altered, because you know you have taken a cosmic journey in a split second; indeed, you have experienced time immemorial in a fraction of the present. Later, when the mind returns to the level of intellect, and then reflects upon the experience, it may be called ‘near death’ since there was no body or mind consciousness at the time; and you are trying to understand it through memory. You are filled with the wonderment again, who was it that experienced all that?" Exclaimed the snake.

    "Only pure consciousness reflecting upon pure consciousness", said the Yogi. A declaration of the primordial state of being. So did you realise what there was, when there was nothing?Pure consciousness, pure energy, pure transcendence; no matter, no manifestation, nothing of dynamics, only lots of potential energy. Nothing gross, only a subtle state. Like a seed not sprouted, an egg not hatched, a baby not born to the outer world; Prakasa!"

~ From the book The Yogi and the snake ( conversations with God Shiva)

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Kundalini, the Chakras, and Raja Yoga of Lord Shiva.

Kundalini is the Universal energy force present in each of us in its microcosmic aspect, symbolised in the form of a sleeping serpent.Yogis teach that since this force is latent, it needs to be raised from its lowest residence, passing through various stations, called Chakras, to the highest peak, where lord Shiva Himself resides. When she does reach the summit and merge into her lord, the person is supposed to become 'enlightened', having really found himself ( That's why you may have noticed the portayal  of a serpent head over the head of many of our saints )

The whole inner journey of arousing the energy and raising it to its highest potential, is supposed to be the summary purpose of human evolution to a higher being, carefully systemized under Raja Yoga marg by Lord Shiva. And this divine power, itself permeates both the inner and the outer world. And speaking of  the outer, or macrocosmic dimension of the force, while Tibet ,Egypt, and many other civilizations learnt of the force,even the gnostics of western tradition knew of it, but  the ancient Indian science of spirituality ,is now becoming truly becoming international. Or should we say kundalini has risen above geographical boundaries ,in her macrocosmic arousal! And we find a whole lot of literature, research and teaching going on, the world over.
In India, of course our peers have always known of the chakkers! but extensive work has been done on this esoteric science right  in Jammu and kashmir, from Lal ded, Abhinava Gupta,down to Swami Lakshman jee and Pandit Gopi krishna in our own age, all of who have been doyens in teaching of this sacred science. The very basics of the science state that a human has seven major levels of existence, each corresponding to a station within his own body, like a vortice or dominative energy field of that particular realm of existence.
So , we have :

1) Muladhar, The base Chakra below the spinal cord, where Kundalini sleeps, happy with her shelter, and if this Chakra is not transcended,one would lead an existence of food/shelter needs.
This can go on for years, as in the human evolution itself,and we know that our forefather, the first man, lived as a cave dweller for years before he wandered out to explore.
Even today, though the human race as a whole has evolved past just looking for shelter,
the first Chakra dwellers would be  those individuals who never rise above material realms.So it can be a moneyed man or even a nation that does not think beyond materialism.

2) Svadhisthan,the second Chakra at the root of the progenitive organ, which,appropriately, stands for the procreative need of the individual or race.

3) Manipura, the third Chakra,at the navel, symbolising the 'power' need, a sort of umblical cord of the individual to his higher potential.

4) Hrdya, the fourth, at the heart,denoting the emotive need. Behaviours may be better understood at this level.

5) Visudhha, the fifth at the throat, denoting eloquence .An appreciation of arts and crafts leads to 'culture'.

6) Ajna, the sixth, at the forehead, also the third eye, or Gyan chakshu,denoting intuition, again, appropriately, the sixth sense.

7) Sahasrara, the seventh, over the roof of the head,meaning literally,the thousand petalled, or, symbolically, where the individual becomes, anant- endless,or the Universal itself.

Interestingly, in the outer macrocosm, this is true of sacred geography,and so you may understand even Yatras, to be gradual ascents,
for example, at Vaishno deviji Yatra, say from Kol kondoli ,to Charan paduka, Ardh kawari, Haathi matha and finally Mata darbar at Vaishno devi; or at our Amarnath yatra , beginning from Pahal gam, Chandanwari, Sheshnag,Panchtarni, the Mahagunas, and finally the linga at the top, called Amarnath!
Of course, this is true for even the geographical abode of Shiva ,Kailash! where one traverses through various stations,before the  culmination of Kailash darsana itself.
You may even realise that the older day maharajas had gardens,palaces, even cities designed in the chakra weave, Jaipur , with its pols(gates) may be a fine example of sacred geometry. Such was the importance given and pointers erected in honour of Kundalini.
 Aum Namah Shivaye.

Shail Gulhati is the Author of the books :
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
The Yogi and the snake
Shiva Poetry
NAAM ROOP- A Tribute to the Divine
And Life Said.

Available on Amazon E books :
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