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Shiva is within us

A discourse on Śiva consciousness and the purpose of human life.

"Śiva is within us. That means the consciousness. That consciousness is ever awakened, which is spread throughout the whole universe."

"The liberation of the individual consciousness, to merge into the cosmic consciousness, means Śiva. The unity of Śiva and Śakti is Śiva."

A speaker explains that the aim of human life is to realize Śiva, defined as the universal consciousness, and to merge individual awareness into it. He contrasts this spiritual education with modern culture, which he describes as destructive and distracting. The talk outlines prerequisites for awakening this consciousness, including proper diet, breath control (prāṇāyāma), positive thinking, and the practice of yogic principles like non-violence and kindness, which are common to all religions.

Filming location: Banska Bystrica, Sk.

DVD 239

Śiva is within us. That means the consciousness. That consciousness is ever awakened, which is spread throughout the whole universe. And that consciousness means Śiva. The liberation of the individual consciousness, to merge into the cosmic consciousness, means Śiva. The unity of Śiva and Śakti is Śiva. Śakti is matter, Śakti is this Jīvātmā, and Śiva is the consciousness. Every individual soul has its destination towards the Supreme, to become one with the Supreme. Becoming one with the Supreme means one without a second, beyond time and space. It means this individual becomes one with the whole universe. You are throughout the whole universe, in every atom and in every part of the universe. And that is called becoming one with Śiva. Then there is no separation. Like one drop falls into the ocean and it becomes one, or like electric power: you get a connection to each individual house, every single room, everywhere, and connect it to the powerhouse, so everything is one with that. So, this individual consciousness merges into the cosmic consciousness; that's called yoga. The union. The creator on this planet, Mṛtyuloka, has created 8.4 million different creatures, divided into four categories: Jalchar, Thalchar, and Nabchar—creatures in the water, on the earth, and in the air. All these different creatures make 8.4 million. And out of them, one is the human. The speciality or the difference between other creatures and humans is this: that humans have got more intellect. It means that human intellect can be trained endlessly. Human intellect also needs education. And the education makes the human capable. There are different kinds of education. That's jasa kare saṅga, vesa lage raṅga. In whichever society you will be, that color you will take. It means habits. Also, that through society and education, you become a criminal, or what they call in modern language, a terrorist, or a thief. It depends on how you educate it. It means that the human intellect is manipulated in a positive way or in a negative way. Suppose you can't drive a car and you go to a driving school. After some time, you will be capable of driving the car. What changed in you? You are the same person. Nothing changed physically, but your intellect is trained. That knowledge has appeared to you, and you have to follow the principles. If you do not follow, there will be an accident. Similarly, you become either a doctor, an engineer, a gardener, a yoga teacher, or a yoga instructor. All depends on your education. Similarly, there is a cultural education, and when you are used to being only in one culture, and you happen to come to another culture, then you get a culture shock. It is very hard to maintain the life situation in another culture. And then you miss your own culture, because it was one-sided. What means one-sided? You did not have any opportunity to see the other culture. And now you see, for the first time, they are also human, and you are also human. But you have different cultural education. In the same way, there is spiritual education. That spiritual education means to have the higher aims in life. We are not born only to eat, sleep, and create children. Animals can do this also, very well. Then there is no difference between animals and humans. So humans have got a higher mission in their life. And that higher mission means God realization. Many things happen in human life, good and bad. But the most terrible tragedy, the biggest tragedy that will happen, is that a man will die without the realization of God. And this realization also needs education. Education here means to awaken in your consciousness. Obrazovanje ovde znači da u vašoj svesti probudi jasnu sliku, da vam postane veoma jasna, da ja mislim da je to božanska svest. Iako to nije prisutno u vašoj svijesti, nećete imati zanimanje za to. And when this motivation is lost, then everything is lost. Now we are existing in two different cultures. One is old culture, to which belong people whose age is about 45 years—40, 45. Above this, they belong to the old culture. And the modern culture is below 40 years. Now, that's why the third generation, which is about below 15 years, does not understand the elder generation anymore. What for us, the elder third generation, is something not understandable to do—what we call ethics and morals—this young generation doesn't understand this. They have not got this education. The entire education is changed. We are living in two cultures. One culture is at home, and one is outdoor. The outdoor culture is completely confusing, and the problem is this, that no one cares about that. In this Kali Yuga, in this iron time, dark time, money is God, and for money, humans are able to do anything. And so, the female has become a model, a symbol of the commercial, a commercial object. If we care about it, we will not do it, but we do not care. But we don't want our family members to be projected there. Your wife or your daughter, if she appears on that screen, you will be very unhappy. And you will say, "My God, how could this happen to our family?" But when outside you see differently, you don't feel any attachment, anything. And there is a difference between modern culture and ancient culture. So perfect education was the ancient culture. This modern education is a destructive education. It destroyed humanity, it destroyed the environment, it destroyed the peace, and it destroyed the relations of humans. That human has become very individualistic, that they say, "We don't care." And that's a great pity. So the human intellect needs a proper education. And to get this education back again, what is a higher education, is not so easy now. Before 50 years, to drink water from a bottle was a joke. There were only alcohol bottles. And now, in every house, there are mineral water bottles. In every car, in every pocket. And before, 15 years, 20 years ago, when mineral water began, it was in glass bottles, and now it is in these ugly plastic bottles. But what to do? And you know, even the water loses its quality when it's in the plastic bottles. The radiance of the plastic is different than the glass, but no one cares, because the plastic bottle is light, and you can use it many times. So we don't think of the healthiness, but we think of something which is easier. So many things, if we think of our diet, it's also like that. And this has destroyed the human intellect. Humans are developing towards distractions. That's the result of this modern education. So the higher education, spiritual education, only through that you can achieve God consciousness, and God is God. There is no two Gods; there is only one God. And there is no God of the Hindus, or God of the Christians, or God of the Muslims. Every god is the same god, with some little differences in preaching or the message, like water from Slovakia, or water from Japan, or water from America, or South Africa, or from India. Water is the water. Water is the water. It can be a little different in some qualities or minerals. The water element is the same. There are many ornaments: earrings, necklaces, rings. They are different ornaments. But the reality of all this is one: gold. Everything made out of the same gold. So, spiritual consciousness means to see equality in everyone. Otherwise, you adore God and criticize the same God. This is the problem, why there is restlessness in the world. Tolerance in culture, religion. Understanding for every nation. Respect to every culture. Steps to world peace and to purify the consciousness. So it is Śiva who is the author of all knowledge, education. The education, the vidyā, began with Śiva. Vidyā means knowledge. Vidyā means what you learn in school. Vidyā means any techniques, and avidyā is ignorance. So it is said in the Upaniṣad, "Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya"—lead us from the darkness to the light. Darkness of ignorance and the light of knowledge, the light of wisdom. So this human consciousness, which is in the darkness, is covered by avidyā, and through education, it comes to the vidyā, and vidyā is the knowledge, vidyā is the wisdom. Vidyā is happiness. Vidyā is contentment. And Vidyā is liberation. Vidyā is clarity, and therefore, this Vidyā means Śiva consciousness. And so the Lord Śiva, who is Svayambhu, at the beginning of all creation in this universe, even though our Earth planet was still not existing, from that time, the manifestation when it begins to take place was with the sound, the resonance. And the yoga is that old. So, at that time, there were no religions. The oldest religion, what we call Hinduism, was also not there. And not Judaism. Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam are very young religions. But at that time, there was only one religion: God. Humanity began after very, very late, many billion years. And to come to this knowledge and education took a long time. So the Universe and Universal Consciousness balance between these two. We don't say "Consciousness-Universe," but we say "Universal Consciousness." So the Universe is your mother principle. This all space, what you see, endless space, is Mother. That's the Cosmic Mother, and within this space is the Cosmic Consciousness. It's called the Golden Embryo. So first is the Mother Principle. And within this Mother Principle is the Father Principle, and so balance between these two is called yoga. And where there's a balance, there's a harmony, so all the elements in this universe, visible or invisible, they are balanced and harmonized. So harmony means yoga. And where there is balance and harmony, there is union or unity. And so finally, yoga means union, the union of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. Now, with this big sound, the resonance of the Aum, where the cosmic consciousness has divided itself into billions of parts, different cells, and now this again desires to come back, and that is the purpose of yoga, which helps us to come back. So, the yogīs in the Himalayas, why in the Himalayas? Why not somewhere in Rajasthan or down somewhere else in the desert? Because this all was under the water or under the ice. The peak of the bounties was outside. And there, at that time, there were different kinds of humans. Also, the humans who were behaving like animals—living, eating, everything like animals. But there were some developed, civilized ones. And then we call them yogīs, or ṛṣis, or hermitages, or the holy saints. They came to this point: how should the individual one again become, or come to, the universal one, the cosmic one. Because barriers are created between the cosmic one and the universal one. And due to these barriers, there is no direct access. These barriers are known as the obstacles of the temptations: temptations, māyā, illusion, desires. So again we need purification. Spirituality means purity. Where there is purity, there is spirituality. And where there is no purity, there is no spirituality. So pure consciousness, pure mind, pure thoughts, pure words, and pure actions are the signs of this spirituality. And that should remove all the barriers. So, they came to the point that humans are able to do this. But humans have got, again, human weakness. And that is again the cause of our suffering. So, they came to this point: only through the human life can you come to the supreme. And in human life, to follow the spiritual principles: love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy, helpfulness, belief, goodness. Do not take away from anyone, do not steal, no violence, non-violence. These all are the principles of yoga, which are adopted by all religions. Every religion speaks about God, and be good, be helpful, be kind. If we will do this, this is already yoga. But at the same time, this body is also a natural thing. So the body has three principles: what we call dharma—to be born, to grow, to die. You cannot stop this. Yes, you can slow down the process. Some become older quickly, and those who practice yoga become older slowly. But sooner or later, you will be old. So you can slow down the process, but you can't avoid the process. So what will happen? If you don't realize God or the cosmic union, and you die. Now, some believe in rebirth, and some don't believe in rebirth. If you will not be born again, what's going to happen with this? With this spirit, with this consciousness, with this intellect, with this entire being. We have not only a physical body, we have different bodies: physical, mental, subtle body, causal body, and within that is the Self. So if the physical body is dying, it does not mean that all the five bodies will die. No. The physical body is here in Banska Bistrica. And you are dreaming that you are in Prague. Who is in Prague? You are with the astral body there. It is very clear. It means that when the physical body is sleeping, it does not mean that the astral body is also sleeping. It means that the causal body is also not active. It means that the mental body is not also sleeping. It doesn't mean that the body is sleeping mentally; it is very clear. Therefore, after the death of this body, these five elements merge into the origin: water in water, earth in earth, fire in fire, air in air. But what is happening with the other part of your being? Either you are stuck in the astral world, because you don't believe that you will be born again. And if you are born again, you are not sure that you will be born as a human. Because that soul and destiny are not depending on this one thing. So, what will happen if we don't come back to this planet, or we don't come as a human? Then, where is our chance to become one with the Supreme? Heaven and hell are just nothing. Heaven is a five-star hotel, and hell is under the bridge. That's all. But how long will you stay in a five-star hotel? As long as you have credit on your card, then you have to check out. That's it. But to merge into the Cosmic Consciousness, that is called everlasting, one without a second. And for that, one has to be realized. So it means, yogīs came to this point: don't die unless you have realization. But others said, it's not in your hands. It's a natural dharma. The body will die. So they said, "We shall try to prolong our life, so that in this life we will achieve." What does "prolong" mean? A healthy life. One scientist said that health is not everything, but everything is nothing without health. So our physical health means something. Okay, the question came. Now we are on the right way. Now we've got the cause, but how to be healthy? That's a question. Now, there's a petrol engine. And you put water inside, what will happen, you know? And there is a timber, there's a water engine, and you put petrol inside, what will happen? Similarly, this human body engine is made for water and not for vodka. So when you constantly put in whiskey and vodka and pivo and all this, and when you constantly pour into that engine beer, vodka, whiskey, how long will this engine function? Therefore, the first point came for the health: nourishment. When you have a plant in your room that is not blossoming and not growing properly, then it means light is missing. Maybe too much or too little water, or there is some fertilizer missing. Similarly, we should know what we should eat and what we should not eat. My doctor told me, "Swamiji, do you want to be healthy? That 80% thinks you have to quit out what you are eating." So I said, "Dear doctor, then I will die." He said, "No. 80% of your life will increase." So that's very important: healthy food, organic food. But what is important, it is said in Āyurveda, eat only when it is necessary. When you are really hungry, and when are we hungry? When the one-week-old dry bread is so tasty, like a nice cake with cream on it, that means now you are hungry. Now your digestive system is functioning, and your digestive fire, jāṭharāgni, will burn all the rest of the impurities, and whatever you eat, your body will preserve all the nutrition that is inside. No cancer, no blood pressure, high blood pressure, no diabetes. No diabetes, no headache, no joint pain, many, many things. If you don't know what this all means, you can ask me, and I will tell you. And you will ask why? Because I love food. So, the second thing is that we eat too much. The Germans used to say, "Selbstmord mit Gabel und Messer." So, it means we have to avoid about 70% of our diet. Then we will be very healthy, and we will live long. Second, movement. Movement is nourishment. So, yoga postures develop. Now, the difference between sport and yoga is this: yoga is done slowly, and sport is quicker. As slow movement coordinated with the breath has a great effect on your body circulation, gland systems, muscles, joints, and concentration, and to calm down your mind. Therefore, as slowly as you do it, it has a more profound effect on the body than said breathing. Breath is nourishment. We can live a few days without eating. We can live some hours, a few hours, without water. But without breathing, we cannot live even a few minutes. Who was thinking about this? Why? What is something so important in the breath? That we cannot live a few minutes without breath? That is something very secret in it. There is a big secret in that. Breathing is life. When we were born, we first inhaled. And when we die, we will exhale and will not be able to inhale anymore. So imagine a long ocean, a big ocean, from one shore to the other shore. And these are the waves between what we are inhaling and exhaling; it is only some waves. So in the breath are the most secret things there. That breath can prolong your life. In yoga, it is said for every individual: when one is born, it is given how many breaths one will take, and then one will die. So now, look in your account: how much credit do you still have for your breathing? So try to save your breath: deep breath, slow breath. And it means you can only breathe deeply and slowly if you have enough oxygen in the body. So it developed the prāṇāyāma technique, the exercise of the breath. That's why breathing exercises have been developed, prāṇāyāma. And then society, in which you are moving, and society is food. Thinking is food. Modern psychologists say, "Don't think negative." If you have some problems, then look in the mirror and say, or think, "I look better today, my cheeks have a nice color today." You will see every day your health improves. We have to help ourselves with our thinking power. We have to help ourselves with our power of thinking. If someone tells you that you are ugly, you go to the mirror and say, "Oh, how ugly I am. How can someone say that I am ugly? I am sick. God, the doctor said that I am missing something." Thinking negatively, giving blackmail to yourself, and that will make you ill again. So the third power is the power of thoughts. That's called telepathy. In yoga, there are 26 siddhis, perfections, and one of them is telepathy. While sitting here, I talk to you without a telephone, and you talk to me without a telephone. But if my telephone is functioning and yours is not functioning, you can't talk. Now, modern technology has made it possible that, without siddhi, you can talk on the telephone. So this is the power of the thoughts, the power of nourishment, the movement, the breath, and the mental power. This all makes a complete program for the human, and within this, yoga is developed. The environment, the society, the movements, the diet, the breathing—these are the major things to observe in life. Then the spiritual consciousness will awake in you. Then the consciousness is filtered. And you will have this God consciousness. It means that you will always think of God.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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