TV Channel

Hariyoma pavitra pavitra bhava sarva bhastam gato viva yasmrita pichhe tramvakam yajamahe sugandhyam kushtivardhanam urvarukam eva vandana metyur makshir yama mritah. Tramvakam yajamahe sugandhyam kushtivardhanam urvarukam eva vandana metyur makshir yama mritah. Iti bhasmadhāraṇ iti bhasmadhāraṇ iti Oṁ, this is how it is played. Bhasmadhāraṇeti śrī sadāśivāyaṇa pinakāyaṇa mahā yakṣasurūpāyaṇa mahā jaṭādharāyaṇa mahā Oṁ sanātanāyaṇa mahā bhasmadhārāyaṇa mahā pinakāyaṇa mahā yakṣadhārāyaṇa mahā devayadebhyāya digambarāyaṇa. But as of which a diva a diggum was an aha, O Śrī Nīla Kaṇṭhāya Vṛṣad Vajāya, Śrī Nīla Kaṇṭhāya Vṛṣad Vajāya Śivāya Gaurī Badhanam Javidya Oṁ Śivāya Gaurī Sarasvatī Yakṣa Svarūpāya Jaṭā Dhārāya Pināka Hastāya Sanāt. So today is the very auspicious day, Mahā Śiva Rātri. It is said, "Why are we calling it Śiva Rātri?" Śiva is the Satya in Sanskrit. Śiva means beauty, truth, ultimate truth. And Ratrī means dark time, Śiva Ratrī. In the Kali Yuga, this time in the modern age, there is lots of ego, ignorance, jealousy, stress, and anxiety. To avoid all those things, all those difficulties of ignorance, this is the time, this is the rātri, this is a dark time. So, to remove all the dark things, all the ignorance, we need Śiva, the Satya, the truth, the eternal truth, and the self-realization that can be attained only through meditation, yoga, or bhakti. Śiva was the first yogī. When you see the picture of Śiva, we can see every time that meditating posture. Whatever these thousand and eight names we chant, all are explanations. You can see that in Śiva's head, there is a half moon, the crescent moon, and also a river is flowing over there. A snake is around his neck, a triśūla, the trident, is nearby, and also a ḍamaru, the cosmic drum, is there. How can it be possible that one person can hold the whole moon and the snake, everything? So we need to know today, symbolically, what Śivajī's meaning is. As I mentioned, Śiva means Satya. When we go to the triśūla, the trident, first, there are three things. I hope you can see that human beings have the potentiality to make sin from three things. The first thing is the mind, the thought. If you thought something bad about somebody else, that is also violence. If you thought anything, that is the source of one sin. Secondly, the mind, and then karma. Another symbol of the triśūla, the trident, is karma. Whatever action we perform, there are also difficulties, and we might have the bondage of karma. Another is word. So, with our word, sometimes knowingly or unknowingly, we speak something wrong, or an abusing word, or a harsh word, or a word not that much desirable to other people. That's why we collect the karma. That's what Śiva, with meditating power, blocks all the bad karmas. That's what the trend is there. Similarly, you can see that we chant many times that Śivajī is Ḍamaru's name, and all his names and meditative name, and he is the guru, he is the master, he is the God, he is the teacher, and everyone. When we meditate on that, we will find the eternal truth, and the eternal truth is God. So no matter whatever faith or religion, they always have the target of human being as liberation, salvation, mokṣa, nirvāṇa, the transcendental state. That is our goal, and Śiva is that fulfillment. If you read the Bible, in the Bible also it says, "Know thyself." You have to know yourself, as Śiva said. If you read the Tripiṭaka, the Buddhist scripture, it also says Śiva is light. You have to see who you are. If you read the Qur'ān, the Muslims' Qur'ān, it also says, in summary, whatever light you use within yourself, that is God. If you read all the Bhagavad Gītā scripture, all the Hindu scripture, it is said, summarized, that means whatever you are searching outside, that is you. And who is that? That is the light, the eternal force, Śiva. That Śiva we have. Is it possible that we chant many times, "Nāgendra hāra, nāga, nāga," one snake? There is a snake around there, and you can see Śivajī's body is naked. As our Viśvagurū said to everyone, you can see why he is naked, or all we are naked. You know that truth is naked truth; it doesn't need to cover. So, as seen, that yogī mahāpuruṣa is naked, like a truth. Thus, this is the symbol also of Śivajī. Of course, you can see the snake there on the neck. Is it possible one man can hold the snake? It's not scary, but this is only a symbol you can see. If you meditate, if you find the eternal truth, if you practice day to day, if you follow God and Guru's instruction, then you will have a fearless state, free from the material world, anxiety, desire, suffering, or stress, whatever we are suffering now. So we'll be free. That's why the snake means that you will be free after meditating. Similarly, you can see that bhasma is everywhere on our body. Like, Viśvagurū has also got bhasma, and we all are wearing bhasma. What does it mean? That means one day we have to go to the cemetery, no matter sooner or later, and the day we will convert the whole body into ashes. That's the realization of death. When you know death, then we will not have cheating or doing anything wrong or collecting sin. So that's also another symbol. Similarly, we chant in the thousand and eight names, that is, "Gajānanāya Umāpatāya," then everything. So how come that Śivajī put the elephant's head on his son's head? Everyone can ask. Sometime yesterday, people asked me, "Oh, how come Śivajī should be non-violence? But when he brought that elephant's head, doesn't he make mistakes? He did the violence." But that was, if we see in the material way, then we might explain in that way. But in reality, while Gaṇeśa was blocking his way, and his mom, he is following his mom's instruction, and he's blocking his father's way. At that time, Gaṇeśa did not have viveka. Viveka means wisdom. That's why he dispelled all the ignorance, and he put the wisdom. That's why the symbol of wisdom is the elephant, and that's why we chant this "gajānanāya." That one has lots of significance, meaning that the light, while you meditate internally, you will see all souls are equal. You can see the third eye. In the Śiva liṅga also we put three lines, and in between there is a bindu. Gurujī also is wearing, and everyone, you can see in here there are three lines. Why three lines? At the bottom, there is one point that means everything. There are three qualities: rajasa, tamasa, sattvic. One is a better quality, moderate, and then lower quality. All three qualities are within the self, and everything is three, so that's why we put three in this line. What is bindu? That means the third eye. So where is our third eye then? Śivajī has three eyes. Why should we have only two? When you close your eyes, then you will see. Otherwise, when you open your eyes, we are constantly influenced by this material world: ego, hatred, property, acid, lots of attachment. But when you close that, then you will be free from your external influences, and slowly go deeper down, and you will find the real nature of the soul. That's the prime goal of the sādhanā. That's why you need to follow your goal no matter what people say. A yogī will not be disturbed; they always follow their life. Their guidance, as Bhagavad Gītā in Chapter 18, Verse 66 says, means whatever you are supposed to do, your dharma. Like a fish can swim in the water; it cannot fly. So that's the dharma of a fish, to swim. Similarly, a bird can fly; flying is the bird's dharma. Similarly, a human being always has to practice with bhakti, with the guidance of gurus, with the guidance of God. You have to practice day to day, every day, elevating your spiritual elevation. That is your dharma, and you never go otherwise from your dharma. All these thousand and eight signs you can see. Everything in our beads there is 108 numerically. If you count, there's 108, which is equal to nine: one plus zero plus eight is nine. Nine is the complete completion; after nine, there is no number. That is the completeness that we chant, that means accomplishment. So that's why we have got here that knowledge. Sometimes it doesn't come; we always need satsaṅg. Satsaṅg can come only through the guidance of masters. Without masters, like we cannot drive a car; we need somebody. Somebody needs to teach you for swimming also. Doing everything, so that's why, to know to hook something from inside, also you need a master. When you know the goal, then ultimately you have to go. Otherwise, you will come back and you will fall down. That's why the Śivas, today the Śivarātrīs, from today we commit, we transform, then we can manifest many things. Many yogīs, they transform. Like, recently there was a research in London University, and the scientist Ruth Campbell found out that in our brain there are thousands and thousands and thousands of cells, and they are mirror cells. That mirror says whatever you see, watch here continuously day to day, that you will follow. If you watch somebody doing something wrong, you don't know that you don't like it, but you continuously watch that mirror self-capture, and ultimately the influence you will copy in the same way. That's why, if you see all the time the good things, then you will have that quality. That's the cyber quality, civil quality. Always said, find out the company and associate with the āśram, and practice day to day, and come to the satsaṅg. Do meditation and our aṣṭāṅga yoga: yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi, final liberation. But for that, you can't sit directly for meditation. First, you need to purify your body. The food, whatever food habits we have got, we need to slowly control. After that, slowly, whatever thought we have got, slowly try to see the positivity in every difficulty. You can see the positivity. So then, that's from Śiva we can learn. Also, the cosmic drum. That cosmic drum is the energy that can create the beauty from inside. Whatever mantra we chanted in Sanskrit, that came from the ḍamaru. The ḍamaru, when Śivajī played that cosmic drum, those words came, and those words were converted by the sage Pāṇini into Sanskrit as the fourteen sūtras, the Maheśvarāṇī Sūtrāṇī. When he played, Pāṇini was meditating, and Śiva went there and played the ḍamaru. Pāṇini did not understand. Śiva did not communicate anything, and he thought the blessing is the ḍamaru. Then I really like this sound; it goes to the 14 formulas, and he made this formula, and that was the base of the Sanskrit language. So Śiva was the first yogī. Śiva is the universe holder, and you can see that without Śiva's blessings, we cannot be here. While you chant today, "Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya," even one time, that will purify your heart. This is the great meditation as well, and great silence. Tonight, the web is following the spirituality. This is the great day to transform yourself. If you have any confusion, any dilemma, or any doubt that leads you downwards, totally, put your faith towards Śiva. Śiva is within yourself. You just need to realize that. That will come with a guru's kṛpā, and the goal realization comes with your self-practice. The guru will show the path only, but you have to walk yourself. If you don't do sādhanā, and if you don't follow that, it is strictly spiritual rules. We cannot be ahead. So that's why Śivarātrī has the great things. You can say trident, also triangle, and bilvapatra we offer, there is also the three. So, everything. Also, we offer the kuśa grass. That is kuśa grass. Why do we offer the kuśa grass also? It has also medicinal value and some other. If you know the medicinal value, you will love to keep the kuśa grass every day in your home and offer it to Śivajī. In kuśa, there is, and recently there was a recent... it has got 1.7 percent ether and nitrogen also. If you eat every day in a curry that kuśa grass, even a little piece, that can avoid your sickness of your joint pain or teeth falling or some headache, as well. That's why every time while we sit for prayer, we put the kuśa āsana, and that is to disconnect the earth thing as well, and it will be helpful for us. Also, it is said that if you put the kuśa grass in your āśram, in your house, it helps to avoid the thunderstorm. So you can see that, what sort of great ideas our sages and ancient ṛṣis have got. So that's why we offer so everything. That is, it's showing that symbolically, and it comes to bhakti. When you devote it one hundred percent, that will come. Like Einstein said, that if you believe in anything one hundred percent, that will come definitely. In the same way, if you believe Śiva, if you trust the bhakti, if you trust your path, if you follow that, no matter whatever happens, then you definitely reach there. Like the Gaṅgā is flowing from the head of Śivajī, what does it mean? The one river can flow from the head all the times. That is also symbolically. You can find the river. It is started from the mountain and all the way it reaches to the ocean. It doesn't have any rest day; it doesn't have a holiday; it doesn't have Sunday or Saturday. So it doesn't have any break, continuously flowing. The same way, it's showing the bhakti. The seva, the guru bhakti, the Śiva bhakti, the Bhagavān bhakti, when you continuously evolve every day, chanting, doing yoga, meditation, and finding your path, and finding the like-minded people, and reading the scripture, you will reach that ultimate destination. That is the ocean. Whatever purity you carry from the mountain, that pure water from the mountain, you are continuously carrying. The other thing is, the Gaṅgā doesn't need any road, any highway. The river doesn't need any highway; it makes its own way. It doesn't need anyone's navigator or path or anything. It can flow no matter with a rock or tree or anything. That's why it also symbolizes that our devotion, that human life is... this is the life we find out. This is a very valuable life. It might be the last chance, or maybe the only one chance, for a human being. This is the great life. So, with this life, using our hands, legs, and this body, we can use the good karma and finish the bad karma from many, many lifetimes, years, whatever we accomplish. So this is the golden opportunity for this one. Today is the day we can manifest. If we lost our track, if you have some doubt, if you have some misinterpretation, if you have the bad things or thoughts in your mind, then today is the track down, and we can come and with wholeheartedly we can follow. In the evening, there is so many things to tell about Śivajī, but Swāmījī would like to share some more things, Swāmījī. So thank you very much. This day will be a very important day for you, and after that we will have now again the Liṅga Pūjā and also the Śivajī's Pūjā. If you have any doubt, any concern, any dilemma, you can ask. Viśvagurujī is here, I am also here, and anything. That whatever, sometimes the bhakti, our devotion, can be blocked because of a little doubt: "Why is he doing this? Oh, he is not supposed to do this," or this sort of thing. So if you have anything, please, you are welcome to ask. Whatever literal meaning, spiritual meaning, scripture says, our God and Guru says, sages say, we will try to offer. Okay, thank you very much. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.... Svāyambhū, Sadāśiva, Bhagavān kī Jaya, Sanātana Dharma kī Jaya, Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī, Devādideva, Devīśvara Mahādeva kī. Blessed Self, dear sisters and brothers, good evening, our respected dear Ācārya Jī, the organizers, center manager, Śivjyotī, Sādhvī, all the members of the Australian Association of Yoga and their life, and many bhaktas came from different parts of the world. Welcome. Also, the devotees around the world are with us through webcast, from different parts of the world, different continents, and different times, but they were looking forward. Our Acharyajī, he is coming from Nepal. Nepal belongs to that kingdom of the Himālaya, and the king of the Himālaya is known as Śiva. Swayambho Śiva means that he has no father or mother. He manifests himself from the universe, so his holy seat is in the Himalayas, Mount Kailash, which is now a province of China, a part of what is called Tibet. Long ago, well, you know, there was always fighting between people, always. So, it is said that the Buddhists killed the king of the Himalaya, Śiva. The paramparā was Śiva. That's Pārvatī, meaning the daughter of the Parvat, the Himalayas. And then they made the head of the king in that palace from the Buddhists. And that's what, how many new incarnations of the Buddhist successor came? And the last one is the Dalai Lama. But the Dalai Lama is not the head of all Buddhists. Only this particular Tibet. The Buddha himself is Hindu, born as a Hindu. He was a prince. Buddha means enlightened soul. Buddhi means intellect.