SHIVA -- Maha Shivaratri -- February Yearly

Culture Note -- Maha Shivaratri -- February 2017

I will offering 'spiritual' references to ponder on. You take a word put it up on Google it' will tell you all you need to know -- search, never not search....

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Akasa here ~ I hope this moment is a strong one for you in the middle of your creating the next one, the next Breath, in this timely, very special 'metaphysical' series of Shivaratri breaths -- these stormy, early Spring weeks of the most mystical Holy Breath itself -- breaths that re-create us so close to the very edge of non-breath, to the very edge of non-creation.
These days and nights are in a sorta' suspended Samadhi-like sublime state of Recognition of the Existence of an Energy-to-Entity relationship--

"THAT" Namo Shivayo / Named Shiva
'That' is Our Lord, The Lord's Net of Indra,
This Weave that is Wove for This World,
this Embodiment this Ultimate Self-Reflective
Comprehending Awake Human Being-ness. 
Maha Shivaratri: The Only ISN'T "THAT IS" 
--and certainly our Shiva, Prince of All Deities,
Hindu King of Pagan Spirit and All Elements -- 
is so loved, so ardently adored and listened to
so attentively in each millennium moment ---
"I too can declare that I Am That" ! 
"I declare that I Am That" !
"I declare that I AM THAT" ! 
Every so often I get
a confirmation of That-- 

 

Tat Twam Asi -- Cultivate a Gentle Potent Powerful Prana Breath -- Spring Onset, This is a really good time to re-build your personal strength. All Monk, Swami, Sannyasi, Yogi, Bhikkhu and Sadhu are quietly 'Taking the One Seat' - It's the Only seat in the house --yours. Everyone's up for this in your mind now like a conference call under the vines --my Lama  your Baba Maharaj, we're all Here in attendance on The Great Dance Master, Lord of The Yogi -- there is a lot of wonderful metaphorical sacred story-talk to read into here, some auspicious mo-jo words and a receptive altar to behold and hold my focus. My brother Billy can show you what n' how to build one. So here's a lot to interpret for yourself -- It's all metaphorical, I promise you... "Only the Unreal is Unreal" -- said an old ancient monk - maybe It's all just a 'Story'...

 "IT" being "THAT"   ~A~

Nirvana Shatakam
By Adhi Shankara
(788 AD - 820 AD)
 
"Neti Neti"
I am not mind, not intellect, not ego,

not thought. I am not the ears,

the tongue, the nose or the eyes,
or what they witness,
I am neither earth nor sky,

not air nor light.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

I am not the breath of prana,
nor its five currents.
I am not the seven elements,
nor the five organs,
Nor am I the voice or hands
or anything that acts.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

I have no hatred or preference,
neither greed nor desire nor delusion.
Pride, conflict, jealousy --
these have no part of me.
Nothing do I own, nothing do I seek,
and not even liberation itself.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

I know neither virtue nor vice,
neither pleasure nor pain.
I know no sacred chants,
no holy places, no scriptures, no rituals.
I know neither the taste nor the taster.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

I am unborn. I fear not death.
I am unborn. I doubt neither
my being nor my place. Unborn.
I have no father or mother;
I have no relatives, no friends.
I have no guru and no devotees.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

Free from doubt, I am formless.
With knowledge, in knowledge,
I am everywhere, beyond perception.
I am always the same.
Not free, Not trapped -- I just am. I am.

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

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Truly, I am Shiva, Pure Awareness.
Shivo Hom! Shivo Hom!

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Hey, Hi  Akasa-swami

 

Namo Shivo to You -- I wrote you some commentary.

In the Hindu calendar, this moment is Maha Shivaratri, the Great Night of Shiva, honoring the god Shiva and the awakening of life and light and enlightenment in the world. So I thought we should honor this night with one of the great poems in the Shiva tradition by one of the most important philosopher-saints of 800 AD India, Adi Shankara.

 

These lines are a distillation of Advaita Vedanta, the vision of Non-dual Reality. Advaita is the realization that underlying the complex diversity of creation is a single Unity. And within that Unity, even the individual is in no way separate or different from that vast Divine.

This is why Shankara keeps returning to his refrain:

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

 

Why Shiva? If all is One, why then 'identify' with just one god from among the many gods in the Hindu pantheon? Some schools of Advaita Vedanta do, in fact, avoid the theistic language of gods and, instead, speak only of the 'Self' -- the 'Immense Self' that is at once the heart of every individual and also the heart of All Being.

 

But when adherents of Advaita do speak of gods, they often speak of Shiva. Shiva is the favored god of meditators, yogis, ascetics, those on the path of gnosis. Shiva is seen as Pure Being, the Fountain of All Being. When Shankara repeats, “I am Shiva!” he is declaring that he finds no separation between his individual Self and the Center of All Selves.

I Am...

 

Shankara asserts, “I am,” throughout. By reading this poem, we repeat with him, “I am... I am...” Doing so, we enter into his Realization. We take on his Awareness. His declaration of what he is and is not becomes our own.
 

. " I am not mind,
  not thought 
 not intellect,
not ego ..."

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The Poem -- Much of this poem is a list of what Shankara realizes we are not. This is an expression of the ancient practice of neti neti -- not this, not that. It is a spiritual examination of everything, while slowly recognizing that no single thing contains the full Reality we seek. We realize we are not.

We are not the mind or intellect. We are not the senses or the organs through which we perceive the world. We are not the elemental building blocks of the body or thought.

He also states we are not the preferences of the personality. The things that tug at us or repel us, they are not what we are, and they are not fundamentally real. Relationships, family, even life and death -- none of these things defines us or truly tells us who we are.

 

Shankara has basically negated everything: the body, the mind, desires and fears, relationships, even the hope for liberation itself. What then is left? That’s the question that resonates throughout.
Who Am I ?  ( Sri Ramana ) Identity issues -- superficial ideas of 'identity' would tell us that nothing remains and one has hit a dead end. Not so. Something remains. When all the rest has been swept aside, something remains. All the things we thought we were can be lost, yet what we are fundamentally remains. Beneath it all, there has always been that glowing Self, steady, aware, at rest, blissful, invulnerable. And it says simply, “I am”

 

Free from doubt, I am formless.
With knowledge, in knowledge,
I am everywhere, beyond perception.
I am always the same.
Not free, not trapped -- I am.

In Great Maha celebration,
we can sing with Shankara --

I am knowledge and bliss.
I am Shiva !  I am Shiva !

Truly, I am Shiva,
Pure Awareness.
Shivo Hom ! Shivo Hom !

Shankara ( or Sankara, often referred to reverently as Adi Shankara or Shankaracharya ) is a central figure within Advaita Vedanta ( Non-dualist Hinduism ). The name Shankara is an epithet associated with the god Shiva -- "Giver of Joy." Adi Shankara was an important philosopher, sage, holy man, and poet who, more than any other figure, unified the Non-Dualist teachings into an essential philosophical tradition within Hinduism.

BIO: Shankara was born in the Kerala region of India. His father died while he was still young, and he was raised by his mother. He showed early brilliance in his study of the Vedas and other sacred texts and by the age of 8 he left home to seek a guru and receive initiation into sannyasa, wishing to renounce the world and live a monastic life.

The young monk grew into a gifted scholar and holy man. He traveled extensively, engaging in profound philosophical debates, spreading the essential truths of the non-dual nature of reality.

Shankara is also remembered for reorganizing monastic structures within Hinduism, and many monastic lineages trace their roots back to Adi Shankaracharya as their founder.
Nama'este everyone !

 

Have a beautiful day, My Friend !

Ivan