In the Union of Shiva and Shakti

On this holy night of Diwali, O Divine Mother
On this dark moonless night, O Kali
When the longitude of the Moon is one with that of the Sun
On this night before the beginning of the auspicious month of Kartik
Marks the union of Thee with Thy Beloved!
May Thou appear to us as Shiva Himself, who is but Thyself!
May Thou appear to us as Ramachandra Dasharathi, as He returns triumphant to Ayodhya
May Thou appear to us as Krishna Vasudeva, as He returns triumphant to Dwaraka
May Thou appear to us as the dwarf Vamana, the Subdoer of King Mahabali
May Thou appear to us as resplendent Lakshmi emerging from the ocean of nectar
May Thou appear to us Dhanvantari, the Healer of all ailments
May Thou appear to us Bhadrakali, the Destroyer of all things evil
O Shakti, the embodiment of Shiva, Thou are all the forms of Divine indeed
O Universal Mother, whose praises know no beginning nor end
Guide us always, always on the path of truth and of realization
For in the union of Shiva and Shakti is reality so pure and bliss eternal.

Aum Namah Shivaya.
Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

Mother Mine

Mother mine, give me the strength to change
That which I feel I have no power to change.
Mother mine, give me the ability to overcome
That which I feel I cannot possibly overcome.
Mother mine, give me the know how to be
The person whom I feel I cannot yet be.
Mother mine, give me the wisdom to know
The things I feel I cannot possibly know.
Mother mine, give my spirit the stability
So I may rise up again and sing Thy glories.

Obeisances to the Primal Mother!

Aum Namah Shivaya.
Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

In the moments before time

In the moments before time, Shiva alone is
In the moments after time, Shiva alone is
In the moments between the moments, Shiva alone is
In the momentlessness of all reality, Shiva alone is
Shiva is, Shiva is, Shiva is absolutely
Independent, unchanging, unflailing, unconditional
The Divine alone is and always has been. 


Aum Namah Shivaya.  

Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan

The Atharvasira Upanishad is a very ancient text that comes to us from the Pashupatas, who formed the first and oldest sect of Shaivism known to history. Atharvashira means "head of the Atharva(veda)", and is meant to convey the very essence of the most esoteric of the Vedas. 

Though some scholars assign a date of ca. 700 CE to the Atharvashira, the original text is without doubt much older. Again and again the old books of law, the Dharma Shastras, have mentioned the Atharvashira as a purifying text alongside the Vedic Samhitas and Upanishads (vide Gautama XIX.12; Baudhayana III.10.9; Vasishtha XXII.9). Given that these Dharma Shastras themselves were composed between 600-200 BCE, we may safely assume that the Atharvashira was already in existence some 2500 years ago. 

It is possible that the Atharvashira was originally an independent mystical text of the Pashupatas and not considered an upanishad, as such. However with time, given its great import to the Shaivite religion, it may have incorporated itself into Vedantic literature as an upanishad in its own right. Whatever be its history, we know that various recensions of this holy text are in existence in different areas of India, owing to the fact that the Pashupatas were once a widely-distributed and highly-influential sect. 

One finds in the Atharvashira teachings of a deep spiritual nature centered around the single Deity, Rudra, who is Lord (Bhagavan) and the nucleus of all existence. He is the One who exists in all forms, all shapes, and all experiences. It is He who fills the void between all things. He exists in vibrational form as Omkara, the holiest of syllables. He is to be mediated upon, and He is to be realized. He is the Source and the Destination. 

Shame indeed it is that primary texts of such spiritual caliber fail to be adequately and fully translated, while the defunct Dharma Shastras enjoy much scholarship. 

Tanno Rudra Prachodayat ~ May Rudra impel us!

Mahashivaratri 5112 (2011 CE).

-----
Aum!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Brahmā. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Vishnu. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.
He is Skanda. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Indra. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Agni. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Vayu. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Surya (Sun). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Soma (Moon). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is the eight grahas (planets). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is the eight pratigrahas (offerings). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Bhuloka, the world of mortals. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.
He is Bhuvarloka, the world of the ancestors. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Svarloka, the world of the Devas. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Maharloka, the world of Gandharvas. Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Prthivi (Earth). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Antariksha (Mid-Region). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Dhyaus (Heaven). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Apas (Water). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Tejas (Fire). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Kala (Time). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Yama (Ender of time). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Mrityu (Death). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Amrita (Immortality). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Akasha (Space). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Vishva (Universe). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.
He is Sthula (Gross). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Sukshma (Subtle). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Shukla (Bright). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Krsna (Dark). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Krtsna (Entirety). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Satya (Truth). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

He who is Rudra, He is Bhagavan.

He is Sarva (Everything). Salutations be, salutations be unto Him!

~Atharvashira Upanishad (II:1-32)

ॐ नमो भगवते रुद्राय.
Agnideva © 2011. All rights reserved. 

Happy Shivaratri

To all my readers and friends, a Happy and Blessed Shivaratri! May Shiva guide us all unto the path of knowledge, service to mankind, and to eventual moksha.

Aum Namah Shivaya.
Mahashivaratri 5112 (2011 CE).

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.