Uma Haimavati

Once upon a time, it is said, long before history was recorded, there lived a young female ascetic. We know very little of that young woman, except what we can surmise through writings in ancient books of lore that were recorded many centuries, perhaps millennia, after she walked on this earth. Perhaps not knowing her familial identity, texts of ancient lore have called her Parvati (Daughter of the Mountain) or Haimavati (Daughter of the Himalayas) after the mountains where she is thought to have lived and meditated.

Otherwise known as Uma, there is a real possibility that this young female ascetic was a historic figure from many millennia ago. While the name Uma can signify golden light, it is according to sacred knowledge, a restructuring of the holy syllable AUM. In certain schools of thought, AUM is Shakti representing the three conditions of the self and the phenomenal world, and the half-syllable of silence that follows is Shiva, the unconditioned, the Fourth (Turiya). By her very name, therefore, Uma Haimavati has been identified with Shakti, the Mother of all existence. Little surprise then that in Her form as Parvati, the Divine Mother attains and unites with Her Beloved, the Divine Father!

Though we know very little about the ascetic Uma, we can conjecture that if and when she lived, she was a sage of extraordinary spiritual accomplishment. In the extant canon of the holy Veda, we find Uma Haimavati's name mentioned in a narration contained within the Kena Upanishad (III.12-IV.1). Here, when the Deities of the earth (Agni), atmosphere (Vayu) and heaven (Indra) seek and fail to understand the Supreme Brahman, they find a beautiful, radiant figure of Uma who enlightens them. By the time of the composition of the Kena Upanishad, one can surmise that Uma was already a sage of great renown.

Had her great teachings been recorded, they would without doubt have been identical to those found in the Devi Gita of the Devi Bhagavatam, a puranic text that was realized in Bengal in the first millennium of the common era.

Brahman (is) free from all passions and parts

(Manifest externally) as the highest Golden Sheath (Hiranyagarbha).

That is pure, That is the highest of Lights,

It is that which the knowers of Atman know.

He is even in the centre of our Sun and illumining all planets.

The Sun does not shine there in His Presence nor the Moon and the stars

Nor lightning, and much less does this fire shine there.

When He shines, everything shines after Him;

By His Light all this becomes manifest.

The eternally Free is verily this Brahman only.

He is in the west, in the north and the south, in the zenith and the nadir.

The Brahman alone is; it is He who pervades all directions.

This Brahman alone is it who pervades,

This Brahman alone is the Fullness.

This Brahman is the highest.

Srimad Devi Bhagavatam,

Book 7 (Devi Gita):36:12-14

Before Radha or Mira, before Andal or Janabai, before Mahadevi Akka or Lalleshvari, before Karikal Ammaiyar or Rup Bhavani, perhaps even before Vag Ambhrini and Gargi Vacaknavi, there was the immortal yogini, Uma Haimavati, the foremost of female ascetics and the teacher of the Supreme Eternal.

Aum Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

Great Realizations

As if struck by lightning, great realizations in this world occur suddenly, in a rapid flash. Without rhyme or reason, realizations descend upon us, but not without having dwelt upon the subject for many-a-year. So it is said that great scientists of our world as with the great philosophers came upon their grand conclusions in just such moments. While we presently live in a dichotomous world – one which separates out science from spirituality, intuition from evidence, realized truths from demonstrable truths – in the realm of consciousness the two are not, and have never been, separate or mutually exclusive. But, why is it that the great men and women have come upon answers to queries greater than themselves merely by thought and simple observations that defy all others?

In the grand Shaiva-Shakta traditions of Sanatana Dharma all of reality exists, so to speak, but in thought. There is no reality without thought and no thought without reality. Is it possible to have a knower without something to know? Conversely, is it possible to have something to know without a knower? Reality is but a word to describe consciousness and its activity. What activity? Self-reflective activity. What self? The Self-Divine. When we go into deep thought, whether scientific or spiritual, or meditative states, we too are tapping into that activity, of which we are but a part. It is this self-reflective activity that gives birth to both the knower and the known. It is She who is called Shiva’s Shakti, the Mother of the Universe. Knowing Her, we come to know all things, as She is the nature of all things, all phenomenon, all conditioned reality.

Is it then surprising that all great thinkers of this world have come upon timeless truths about the phenomenal or spiritual world, as their goal may be? It is so surprising then that truths of the world are simple and intuitive? Every time a great being uncovers a profound mathematical equation describing the universe or unveils a hidden grand theory of physics, cosmic or subatomic, he or she is but ushering humanity into a deeper level of the spiritual. Shakti is especially strong among the scientifically-minded!

Unto the feet of the Divine Mother, who is but Shiva, we offer our hearts, minds and souls. 

Aum Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

Ever-Auspicious

The Shiva in me is the Shiva in you,
That Shiva in us all, that is Shiva truly!
That Shiva, that inscrutable Shiva, that Supreme
He who is not a He, nor She, nor both, nor neither
That is Shiva, all-pervasive, all-knowing, all-Being One.
Aum Shivaya.

The Shiva in this world is the Shiva in the next,
That Shiva in all the worlds, that is Shiva verily!
That Shiva, that boundless Self Divine, that Infinitude
He who is neither here, nor there, nor everywhere, nor nowhere
That is Shiva, ever-resplendent, ever-blissful, ever-auspicious One.
Aum Shivaya Namah.

Agnideva © 2010. All rights reserved.

Light of Lights

This is That, the Truth of things: as from one high-kindled fire thousands of different sparks are born and all have the same form of fire, so, O fair son, from the immutable manifold becomings are born and even into that they depart.


The Purusha is divine, the formless, even He is the outward and the inward and He the Unborn; He is beyond life, beyond mind, luminous, Supreme  beyond the immutable. Life and mind and the senses are born from Him; and the sky, and the wind, and light, and the waters and earth upholding all that is. Fire is the head of Him and His eyes are the Sun and Moon, the quarters His organs of hearing and the revealed Vedas are His voice, air is His breath, the universe is His heart, Earth lies at His feet. He is the inner Self in all beings.


From Him is fire, of which the Sun is the fuel, then rain from the Moon, herbs upon the earth, and the male casts his seed into woman: thus are these many peoples born from the Purusha. From Him are the hymns of the Rigveda, the Sama, and the Yajus, initiation, and all sacrifices and works of sacrifice, and dues given, the year and the giver of the sacrifice and the worlds, on which the moon shines and the sun.


And from Him have issued many Gods, and demi-gods and men and beasts and birds, the main breath and downward breath, and rice and barley, and askesis and faith and Truth, and chastity and rule of right practice. The seven breaths are born from Him and the seven lights and kinds of fuel and the seven oblations and these seven worlds in which move the life-breaths set within with the secret heart for their dwelling-place, seven and seven. From Him are the oceans and all these mountains and from Him flow rivers of all forms, and from Him are all plants, and sensible delight which makes the soul to abide with the material elements.


The Purusha is all this universe; He is works and askesis and the Brahman, supreme and immortal. O fair son, he who knows this hidden in the secret heart, scatters even here in this world the knot of the ignorance. Manifested, it is here set close within, moving in the secret heart, this is the mighty foundation and into it is consigned all that moves and breathes and sees. This that is that great foundation here, know, as the Is and Is-not, the supremely desirable, greatest and the Most High, beyond the knowledge of creatures.


That which is the Luminous, that which is smaller than the atoms, that in which are set the worlds and their peoples, That is This - it is Brahman immutable: life is That, it is speech and mind. That is This, the True and Real, it is That which is immortal: it is into That that thou must pierce, O fair son, into That penetrate.


Take up the bow of the Upanishad, that mighty weapon, set to it an arrow sharpened by adoration, draw the bow with a heart wholly devoted to the contemplation of That, and O fair son, penetrate into That as thy target, even into the Immutable. OM is the bow and the soul is the arrow, and That, even the Brahman, is spoken of as the target. That must be pierced with an unfaltering aim; one must be absorbed into That as an arrow is lost in its target.


He in whom are inwoven heaven and earth and the mid-region, and mind with all the life-currents, Him know to be the one Self; other words put away from you: this is the bridge to immortality. Where the nerves are brought close together like the spokes in the nave of a chariot-wheel, this is He that moves within, - there is He manifoldly born. Meditate on the Self as OM and happy be your passage to the other shore beyond the darkness.


The Omniscient, the All-wise, whose is this might and majesty upon the earth, is this Self enthroned in the Divine city of the Brahman, in his ethereal heaven. A mental being, leader of the life and the body, has set a heart in matter, in matter he has taken his firm foundation. By its knowing the wise see everywhere around them That which shines in its effulgence, a shape of Bliss and immortal. The knot of the heart-strings is rent, cut away are all doubts, and a man's works are spent and perish, when is seen That which is at once the being below and the Supreme. 


In a supreme golden sheath the Brahman lies, stainless, without parts. A Splendour is That, It is the Light of Lights, It is That which the self-knowers know. There the sun shines not and the moon has no splendour and the stars are blind; there these lightnings flash not, how then shall burn this earthly fire? All that shines is but the shadow of His shining; all this universe is effulgent with His light.


All this is Brahman immortal, naught else; Brahman is in front of us, Brahman behind us, and to the south of us and to the north of us, and below us and above us; it stretches everywhere. All this is Brahman alone, all this magnificent universe.


Mundaka Upanishad (II:1:1-10; II:2:1-12) of the holy Atharvaveda
Translated by Sri Aurobindo

-----

The Mundaka is a very ancient text that comes to us from the upanishadic era (800-400 BCE). By this time, the Vedic hymn collections were already of hoary antiquity and the esoteric principles hidden therein were being lost. A new generation of sages took it upon themselves to reveal again the esotery of the holy hymns to their disciples and put in written form this ancient knowledge. The body of teaching of these enlightened sages and the traditions which were founded upon these teachings are called Vedanta, the very essence of the holy Veda.


In the above text of the Mundaka we find an elaboration of Purusha Sukta, a key hymn from the Rigveda. Purusha in essence is  a personification of the infinite Divine Being, who is both the Creator and the fabric of creation. Personified He is called Purusha or Ishvara, God; sometimes prefixed by Parama- (supreme). In Shaiva tradition, Ishvara is called Shiva, or more aptly Sadashiva, the benevolent, all-knowing Lord. Fully realized, that Sat, the formless, the immutable Reality is called Brahman in the Vedanta, and Parashiva/Paramashiva in the Shaiva texts.


Once all polemics and argumentative mental states melt away, what is left is pure peace and unity. As the name would suggest, what yokes together the tradition of the Agama-Tantra with that of Vedanta is Yoga.


Aum Namah Shivaya.

Transformation of Sundaranatha

It just so happened that once, a long time ago, a great siddha-yogi started heading southward on foot. At the behest of his illustrious master, he was to walk to the southern plains, to the land which long ago had been graced by Agastya, the ancient sage of legends. There, he was to spread the glory of the holy texts of Shiva, the Lord of all that exists. To fulfill the command of Nandikeshvara, his guru, Sundaranatha walked for a long time from the Himalayas down to the Tamil country in peninsular southern India.

He had almost reached his destination, when all of a sudden he saw in a meadow cows running hither and tither. The cowherd had died and the cattle were without a master to lead them homeward. Sundaranatha felt for the poor creatures. Under a tree, he sat and meditated. Entering deep yogic stasis, he left his own body and took over the lifeless body of Mulan the cowherd. As night fell, he drove the cattle home to safety. Upon return, to his surprise Sundaranatha’s own body had disappeared and nowhere to be found. He was left with no choice. He had to fulfill the command of his master and disseminate the holy knowledge that had been imparted to him. He had become a cowherd and was to remain as such forever more. Thus the great siddha-yogi came to be known as Tirumular (an honorific form of Mulan).

The above is a very simplified story of the ancient sage Tirumular, the author of the Tirumantiram in the Tamil language, a text fundamental to the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. The Tirumantiram is an interesting work which blends together Shaivite Agamic doctrines with the Vedanta of the Upanishads, ritual worship and yoga, tantra and mantra, theism and monism. Without doubt, it was composed to bridge the gap that was developing between the growing Tantric and Vedantic streams. Though popular legends place the composition of the Tirumantiram as far back as 3000 years ago or more, purely historical analyses date the text to the 5th or 6th century CE.

Much has been said and written about the Tirumantiram. Here, however, our focus is not on the theology of the text, but the esoteric meaning of the legend of its author. What does it mean for the siddha-yogi to become a cowherd?

To understand the analogy of the cowherd, one must go back to the essential Shaivite terms: Pati and pashu. Literally, Pati means Master or Lord, and pashu means beast or cattle. In ancient Shaivism, Pati and pashu were terms used respectively to describe the Lord and individual souls who depend upon Him, as cows depend on their herder to bring them back home safely. He is Pashupati, Lord of souls, and they are his pashus. Pashupati is an exalted name of Shiva mentioned in the Yajurveda.

The transformation of Sundaranatha into Tirumular, therefore, carries great significance apart from the mundane. The transformation of Sundaranatha signifies the full realization of the siddha-yogi of his oneness with Shiva. The pashu has realized his complete oneness with Pashupati, the jiva (individual entity) has become Shiva; the atman has realized Brahman. He who was known as Sundaranatha is now Tirumular, a jivan-mukta. He has verily become Sadashiva. 

Thus expounding I bore His Word

Down Kailasa's unchanging path,

The Word of Him, the Eternal, the Truth Effulgence,

The Limitless Great, Nandi, the Joyous One,

He of the Blissful Dance that all impurity dispels.

With Nandi's Grace I sought the Primal Cause,

With Nandi's Grace I Sadasiva became,

With Nandi's Grace Truth Divine attained,

With Nandi's Grace I so remained.

Tirumantiram, Mantra 91-92.

Such is the realization; such is the story of Tirumular.
 

Aum Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2010. All rights reserved.

Thou art music

Thou art music, O Shiva; Thine Shakti is melody!

Thou art the Sun, O Shiva; Thine Shakti is its luster!

Thou art soul, O Shiva; Thine Shakti is its realization!

Thou art time, O Shiva; Thine Shakti is its progression!

Thou art space, O Shiva; Thine Shakti is its measure!

Thou art eternal, O Shiva; Thine Shakti eternity!

Thou art existence, O Shiva; Thine Shakti its consciousness!

Aum Hrim Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2009. All rights reserved.

Dakshinamurti

Dakshinamurti and the Dakshinamurtis

Dakshinamurti is a term often met with in Shaivism and Shaivite iconography. Generally, the term Dakshinamurti is translated loosely as "the One facing south," but a more apt translation would be "Favorable Form." The term originally referred to the southern benevolent face of the Panchamukha (five-faced) Shiva Lingam. At the temple of Pashupatinath in Nepal, for example, the southern face of the Shiva Lingam is still called Dakshinamurti. Alternatively, any Linga icon facing southward may also be called Dakshinamurti. An example of this is the Mahakala Jyotirlingam in Ujjain.

Apart from these above rare usages, the term Dakshinamurti, now, is generally associated with specific anthropomorphic forms of Lord Shiva. In the Shaivite tradition, Dakshinamurti is not a singular iconographic form, but a class of forms, all of which are yoga murtis, wherein Shakti is not separately represented but is implicit within the representation of Shiva. While there are several Dakshinamurti forms, three are prominent:

1. Yoga Dakshinamurti - Shiva as the idyllic Himalayan Yogi in meditation.
2. Jnana or Vyakhyana Dakshinamurti - Shiva as the divine Teacher under a banyan tree.
3. Vinadhara Dakshinamurti - Shiva as the divine Teacher of music and arts, holding a lute.

Of these three, the Yoga Dakshinamurti is perhaps the most represented and recognized form of Shiva, and the Vinadhara Dakshinamurti is rarely seen. In common usage, however, when one says Dakshinamurti, the image that comes to mind is that of Jnana or Vyakhyana Dakshinamurti, the idyllic Teacher. It is to this form that the rest of the article is dedicated.

Jnana/Vyakhyana Dakshinamurti

I contemplate, for the attainment of the highest end,

The Supreme Guru, the Lord of Bhavani,
The serene-faced Primal Being,
He who is spoken of in all the Vedas,
Whose hands shine with the symbol of wisdom,
With a book and fire and a serpent,
Bedecked with garlands of pearls,
And a crown blazing forth brilliant,
With the digit of the moon,
Resides at the foot of a fig tree,
And removes the ignorance of all.

~ Dakshinamurti Upanishad the Krsna Yajurveda (Mantra 14)

The landscape of ancient India was dotted with numerous centers of Shiva worship. In that the region known as Tamilakam was no different. Within this region, two important and competing kingdoms flourished - the Cholan kingdom to the north and the Pandyan kingdom to the south. In the kingdom of the Cholas, in the city of Chidambaram, a magnificent universal form of Shiva called Nataraja was realized. Around the same time, in the city of Madurai, within the kingdom of the Pandyas, yet another magnificent form of Shiva called Dakshinamurti was realized. While in Madurai, Shiva sat in perfect stillness, in Chidambaram, Shiva stood in perpetual motion.

Like the ever-famous Nataraja, Dakshinamurti is a highly exalted and deeply mystical form of Shiva conveying Him as the Lord of Yoga and the embodiment of all knowledge - worldly and spiritual. In the Dakshinamurti icon we find the Lord in perfect stillness and perpetual serenity. He sits under the banyan tree, the tree of knowledge, facing southward. In His upper hands, He holds a drum representing the sound of creation and a flame representing the fire of dissolution. In one of His lower hands, He holds the holy Vedas, and the other is raised in jnana mudra, imparting knowledge upon the world. Under His foot is the Apasmara Purusha, the personification of ignorance.

Dakshinamurti is the great unseen Master, the eternal Teacher. It is from Him that the holy Vedas and the holy Agamas, and indeed all knowledge has flowed down through the ages and through the sages. He teaches without words and imparts without letters. He guides without speaking and blesses without blinking. His teachings are imparted upon all whose minds are pure and whose hearts are full of devotion. He impels especially those who are on the path of renunciation, those who have given up worldly life to realize Divinity within. He is the Ocean of compassion and Source of the stream of endless consciousness that flows through all.

In all traditions of Dharma, we have unbroken lineages of gurus and teachers. Each of these gurus was instructed and initiated by gurus before them, who were in turn instructed by their own gurus all the way back to remote antiquity. But who was the first Guru, the original source of knowledge? In theistic Dharma traditions, the Lord Himself is considered the Primal Guru, the Adi Guru; the Guru of all gurus; the Jagadguru, the universal Master; or Waheguru (to borrow a term from Sikhism). It is from the Lord that all knowledge descended down, later to be condensed into volumes of holy books. It is this principle that is embodied most perfectly and beautifully in the form of Dakshinamurti. He is the Bestower of all knowledge (jnana) and Origin of all explanations (vyakhyana). Such is the beauty and esotery of Lord Shiva-Dakshinamurti.

Legend of the Four Kumaras

In the beginning, it is said, the Creator, Prajapati-Brahmā, Himself was born from the supreme Unborn Divine Being, Ishvara, who is called Shiva in Shaivism. The Creator was the firstborn being, and the Golden Germ (Hiranyagarbha) of all further creation.

In the beginning of creation did Brahmā, having worshipped Shiva,
Attain the power to create and was delighted at heart.

~ Dakshinamurti Upanishad (Mantra 20)

Brahmā then began to create. His first creations were his four mind-born sons - Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and Sanatkumara (Sanatsujata) - known collectively as the Kumaras. The four Kumaras were instructed to further create beings in this world, but the Kumaras were not interested in worldly life. Their only interest was the pursuit of the Divine. They did not obey their Father's command and instead sought a life of renunciation and meditation.

Seated at the foot of Shiva-Dakshinamurti are these four Kumaras, the founders of the path of renunciation followed by sages and sannyasis everywhere. Forever do the Kumaras look upon Lord Shiva-Dakshinamurti, the Supreme, the Eternal, the Unchanging, the Fountainhead of all knowledge. Esoterically, the four Kumaras represent the four components of the antahkarana ("inner organ") - manas (sensory mind), buddhi (intellect), ahamkara (ego) and chitta (mind stuff) - ever given to and focused on realizing the Divine Reality within.

Aum, Obeisances to Him who is the very meaning of Omkara,
The Form of pure knowledge, who is serene and without flaw,
To Lord Dakshinamurti obeisances be.
~ Dakshinamurti Stotra, Dhyana Shloka 5

Aum Dakshinamurtaye Namah.

Agnideva © 2009. All rights reserved.

Vaishakha Shukla 1, 2066 V.S. (Yugabda 5111)

Ancient Shiva temple found in India

Tuesday, 24 Feb 2009 15:57:07 GMT

The Shiva temple unearthed by a team from Lucknow University's ancient Indian history and archaeology department.

A team of Indian archeologists has unearthed a 2,000-year-old Shiva temple complex in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh state.

The five-temple site was found during excavations conducted by Lucknow University's department of ancient Indian history and archaeology.

“While four temples belong to the Kushana period (2,000 years ago), it appears that the primary temple was constructed during the Sunga period (2,200 years ago),” said Professor D.P. Tewari of Lucknow University.

Spanning an area of 600 acres, the brick temple has been constructed in an 'apsidal' (semi-circular or u-shaped) form, the Times of India reported.

Archeologists also found a number of artifacts that they believe are evidence of the temple being used for the worship of the Hindu God, Lord Shiva.

Source: http://www.presstv.ir
Also see: Times of India article

There is the Shining One...

The following excerpt comes to us from the Garuda Purana. The Garuda Purana is a middle puranic text (ca. 600-700 ce) and is composed in the form of a dialogue between Vishnu and Garuda, the divine man-eagle servant of Vishnu. The Garuda Purana is famous as a funerary text because it explains various funerary customs and rituals, and provides detailed accounts of the afterlife in multitudes of heavenly and hellish realms.

After twenty-four chapters discussing life, death, afterlife and rebirth, the Garuda Purana concludes with a chapter entitled An Account on the Law of Liberation which discusses liberation from the cycle of samsara. In this chapter, we find a description of Shiva exalted as the supreme Divine, the Sacchidananda, who is the beginningless, timeless entity. The philosophical purport that follows is very close to Shaivite thought embodied in the earlier Agamas which tended toward dualism (pluralism). The descripition of the individual ("soul") as a spark of the divine which is endowed with beginningless ignorance (anava), and encased in bodies of beginningless karma are clearly doctrines of earlier Agamic thought.

A key feature of earlier dualistic Agamic thought is that the individual entities ("souls" or pashus) existed beginninglessly steeped in anava and karma. But, through repeated cycles of creation, these pashus have the privilege of gaining physical bodies within the field of maya. In gaining physical bodies, pashus can work out their karmas and overcome anava through yogic meditation and with the grace of Shiva, and thus become liberated from individual existence. It is this Agamic principle that is explained in the puranic excerpt below.

It might be somewhat surprising to find this sort of "Shaivite" thought in a so-called "Vaishnava Purana." However, this should not be all that surprising because all schools of Agamic thought came from the same place, and still share all the key features of Tantra - Deity worship, iconography, definite theism, mantra mediation, yantra-mandalas, rituals, initiations, etc. It is only in the second millennium of the common era that we see Agamic schools divide into distinct branches (Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta), and further divide into sub-branches based on philosophy.

Aum Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2009. All rights reserved.
-----

The Blessed Lord said:

Listen, O [Garuda], and I will explain to you what you have asked, even by the hearing of which a man is released from the world of change.

There is the Shining One, Siva, who has the nature of Supreme Brahman, who is partless, all-knowing, all-doing, Lord of all, stainless and secondless, Self-illumined, beginningless and endless, beyond the Beyond, without attributes, Being and Knowing and Bliss. That which is considered the individual is from a part of Him.

These, like sparks of a fire, with beginningless ignorance, separated and encased in bodies by beginningless karma, are fettered by forms of good and evil, giving happiness and misery – with nationality of body, length of life, and fortune born of karma. In every life obtained, they have also, O Bird, a higher and more subtle body, the linga(-deha), lasting until liberation.

The unmoving things, worms, goats, birds, animals, men, the righteous, the thirty-three Devas [of the Vedas], and also the liberated, according to their order, having worn and cast aside the four sorts of bodies thousands of times, one becomes a man by good deeds, and if he becomes a knower he attains liberation. The embodied, in the eighty-four hundred thousands of bodies before attaining human birth, can obtain no knowledge of the truth.

Through millions of myriads of thousands of births sometimes a being obtains human birth, through the accumulation of merit. He who, having obtained a human body, difficult to get, and a step to liberation, does not help himself over – who in this world is more sinful than he? The man who, having obtained this highest birth and superior senses, does not understand what benefits the soul is [termed] a “slayer of Brahman”.

Without a body, nobody obtains the object of human life; therefore should he guard his body as wealth and perform meritorious deeds. He should always guard his body, which is the means to everything. Living, he should make every effort to protect it, in view of welfare. A village again, a field again, wealth again, a house again, good and evil actions again – the body never again.

The wise always adopt means for the preservation of the body; even those afflicted with diseases such as leprosy do not wish to give it up. It should be guarded for the sake of duty; duty for the sake of knowledge; knowledge for the sake of Yoga-meditation – then he is soon released.

Excerpted from:
The Garuda Purana
Chapter XVI: 5-21
Trans. E. Wood and SV Subrahmanyam [1911].

Hail to the infinite Shiva

Hail to the infinite Shiva, personified as the Lord most high!
Beyond description, beyond words and meanings, beyond experiences is He,
Who is neither a He nor a She nor anything in between.

Hail to the compassionate Shankara, personified as the Lord of light!
Beyond representation, beyond shapes and forms, beyond grasp is He,
Who is neither here nor there nor anywhere in between.

Hail to the divine Shambhu, personified as the Lord of power!
Beyond comprehension, beyond heavens and earths, beyond realms is He,
Who is neither in the past nor in the future or anytime in between.

Beyond the beyond indeed is Paramashiva, the neti neti [1],
The unrestricted, unbound, immutable, the Supreme.

Aum Namah Shivaya.

Agnideva © 2009. All rights reserved.

[1] Vide: Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (II.iii.6) of the Shukla Yajurveda.

Hindu New Year

Today, March 27, 2009, with the first rays of the Sun, we begin the Hindu Lunar New Year. Hindu Lunar New Year occurs on the first day of the waxing moon of the month of Chaitra (Chaitra Shukla Pratipada), when the Sun is in sidereal constellation Pisces (Meena Rashi) between March 14 and April 14.

According to the Vikram Samvat era popular in northern India, today we begin the year 2066 and the name of the year is Shubhakrita (शुभकृत). According to the Shalivahana Shaka era popular in southern India, today we begin the year 1931 and the name of the year is Virodhi (विरोधी). Per the Kaliyuga year count, we begin the year 5111 as of today.

The associated Hindu Solar New Year, which begins when the Sun enters the sidereal constellation Aries (Mesha Rashi), will be celebrated on April 14, 2009.

We commence this new year with an excerpt from a famous Yajurvedic prayer. This prayer is particularly apt for beginning the new year because it is essentially a prayer for peace, friendship, serenity, prosperity and longevity. It asks that peace be firmly established within us, that we look upon all as friends, that our enemies (those that fight us from within) be destroyed, and that we receive light (of realization). May we live a hundred autumns (years), the prayer asks, a blissful, rich, full, long life. There is perhaps no better message for beginning a new year.

नव संवत्सर की हार्दिंक शुभकामनाएं.

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Yajurvedic Prayer

The peace in the sky, the peace in the mid-air,
The peace on the earth, the peace in waters,
The peace in plants, the peace in forest trees,
The peace in all Devās, the peace in Brahman,
The peace in all things, the peace in peace,--
May that peace come to me!

Strong One, make me strong.
May all beings with the eye of friend!
May I look on all beings with the eye of friend!
May we look on one another with the eye of friend!

Strong One, make me strong!
May I live long to look on Thee!
May I live long to look on Thee!

Welcome to Thy wrath and to Thy glow!
Our welcome to be Thy flame!
Let Thy missiles burn our enemies.
Be our Purifier, be graceful to us!

Welcome to the lightning, welcome to the thunder,
Homage to Thee, glorious Lord, who winnest us heavenly light.

Make us free from the fear of all that Thou wishest;
Give bliss to our children, security to our animals.

Friendly be to us waters and plants,
And unfriendly be they to him
Who is hostile to us and to whom we are hostile.

That Eye of the sky, divinely placed, rising bright before us,
May we see for a hundred autumns!
And may we live for a hundred autumns,
May we hear for a hundred autumns,
May we speak for a hundred autumns,
And may we hold our heads high for a hundred autumns,
Yes, even more than a hundred autumns.

Holy Shukla Yajurveda Samhita XXXVI:17-24.
Trans. R. L. Kashyap

Aum Namah Shivaya.