SPIRITUAL COMMENTARY-SHIVA CONCIOUSNESS

[Tapan Mukherjee]

1. Jnanis are mindless. To Jnanis, all are the same. They have no slumber, no dreams, nor sleep. They are always in sleep. The sun and the moon are the same to them. To them, it is always sunrise. The glass of a chimney lamp, when covered with carbon, is not transparent. Similarly, the carbon of the mind should be removed.

Commentary: A being who is immersed in the state of Supreme Shiva, the state of Shiva Consciousness, is a knower of the Truth. One who sees and experiences God in everything and everyone, everywhere is called a Jnani. To such a person, only God exists. For such a being, this world-appearance is neither real or unreal. It is a reflection of God's Bliss. A Jnani is immersed in Equality Consciousness and is the Revealer of that Equality Consciousness. Equality Consciousness is the vision that all sentient and insenient creations are the same because God exists in them equally. For one whose experience of Equality Consciousness is uninterrupted, the "Sun" of Supreme Awareness never sets. Such a being is always aware that the Revealer exists in that which is revealed. The physical covering is transparent for such a being. A Jnani is one who has destroyed the restless mind so that this Truth becomes a constant revelation.

2. There are three nerves in the body: the sun or the Sushumna; the moon or the Ida; the star or the Pingala. The first is red in color, the second, blue, and the third, green.

Commentary: Inside the covering known as your physical body, there are many channels or paths through which spiritual energy flows. These paths are subtle. Of these, there are three channels or paths of spiritual energy that are of primary importance to a yogi. And of these three channels, one is the most important. The subtle path that moves up inside your physical form through the right nostril is known as Pingala. The subtle path that moves up inside your physical form through the left nostril is known as Ida.

The third subtle path is the most important because it is the Siddha Path. It is through this path that the awakened Mula or Kundalini Shakti, once fully awakened, makes her journey through all the subtle spiritual energy centers of your being (Chakras) to union with Shiva in the Sahasrar. This is why it is called the Siddha Path, the path of the Perfected Beings. This is the subtle energy channel called Sushumna. This covering is also called the subtle body. This path begins at Muladhara Chakra which is the entrance to the Sushumna. This "gateway" to Sushumna, known as Muladhara Chakra, is red in color. This Muladhara is also the "gateway" to the subtle paths of Pingala and Ida. Depending on how a yogi directs his/her Prana (breath) through these three channels, one can experience various colors such as Green, Red and Blue.

3. Where these three nerves meet is the heart space. As we go on practicing yoga, the Bindu-sound is heard in the head. This sound is one, indivisible.

Commentary: The Ida, Pingala and Sushumna paths within your being all merge in the Crown Chakra at the top of your head. When your conscious awareness expands to the point where you are able to direct your entire consciousness to become absorbed in this Crown Chakra, there is a sound that is heard on a constant basis. This sound is called Bindu Nada or point of vibration. This sound is the Vibration of Divine Consciousness known as Spanda or Chiti. It is called "one" or "indivisible" because it is the very frequency of God from which this entire cosmos is manifested.

4. Just as camphor is consumed by the flames of fire, so also, mind must be consumed by soul-fire.

Commentary: When camphor is consumed by flames, it burns completely and not even the seed of camphor remains. In the same way, for a yogi who wants to merge with his/her natural, free state of being, the restless mind must be burned in the fire of Shiva Consciousness. When the mind is silent, the impressions left behind on the mind still remain in subtle form. These impressions rise over and over again to make the mind restless. In the fire of a yogi's daily spiritual practice, by the Grace of a Sadguru, these impressions left behind on the mind are destroyed completely and the mind also dissolves in the fire of Shiva Consciousness.

[Tapan Mukherjee]

5 . The copra, detached from the shell, makes a dull sound when shaken; so also the body and soul must be thought of as separate. The first is light; by that light, all vices are consumed.
Commentary: When we remove the coconut kernel (copra) from the coconut shell, we do not mistake the shell for the kernel. We know that the copra is not its shell. In the same way, a person seeking to know the Truth should cultivate the understanding that the physical body and the internal soul are separate. One is a reflection of the other. The internal soul is actually the light of Divine Consciousness. The body is merely a shell that this internal soul parades around in. When a yogi has this realization on a constant basis, all the ego attachments created by the mind and the senses are destroyed.
[6. Just as we draw water from a well, we should draw breath. When we breathe out, it should be like letting down the bucket into the well. When we breathe out, it is the carbon (the impurities of the body); when we breathe in, it is the breath of Omkar. Breath of Omkar is the manas (mind).[/

Commentary: In our Siddha Path, the breath is called Prana Shakti. The internal soul comes and goes on the movement of this Prana Shakti within your being. When you breathe in, the mind is born and creation manifests. When you exhale, the mind begins to calm down as the impurities of the body and the attachments of the mind are expelled from your being. The primordial sound, the mantra OM, is the cause of the manifestation of this Universe. When you breathe in, this act of creation occurs within your being due to the vibration of this same Omkar.
The coming and going of Prana Shakti inside your being is the creation, sustenance and withdrawal of this world-appearance.
7. Manas is Jiva; but their positions are different. Jivatman is Paramatman.
Commentary: In our Siddha Path, Manas is a word for the Mind. The mind is considered to be the Jiva, the individual bound soul. When, by the Grace of a Siddhacharya (Siddha Guru) and your own daily spiritual practice, you are able to turn the mind within to make it merge with the Absolute, the mind becomes Jivatman, the reflection of the Supreme formless Absolute in the body. One who has fully realized God by merging his/her mind into Shiva Consciousness is said to be Paramatman, the Supreme God Consciousness, while still in the body.
8. A man or woman should be educated. What is education? Jiva should know the secret that He is the Paramatman.
Commentary: Education in mundane life is limited knowledge. True education is complete knowledge and experience of That by whose light all things shine. This is the only real knowledge since it is by this knowledge that all other things are understood. Every individual should embark upon the path that will uncover the secret that he/she is really God himself.

[Tapan Mukherjee]

9. Paramatman is in Jivatman. The real Mukti is to know the subtle in the gross.
Commentary: The one Universal Expedient, the one God who is worshipped by so many different names, is actually the same one who takes the form of the individual bound soul. There are spiritual paths that espouse that Mukti or Liberation occurs when you achieve complete silence of mind while sitting for meditation. This is not Deliverance or Liberation. It is not the real Mukti. Mukti is the constant awareness that the subtle, the Supreme Shiva Consciousness referred to as God, is contained in all the gross objects of this world. Mukti is the constant awareness of that fact

10. We should leave off the gross sleep and sleep the subtle sleep. We should enjoy the sleep obtained from the practice of Pranayam.

Commentary: My Gurudev used to say that sleep is death. In the gross sleep, you experience the state of deep sleep where you are not aware of anything at all. The subtle sleep is one in which, while in the state of deep sleep, you are able to maintain the awareness that you are God and that your deep sleep is merely one of God's coverings. The way to enjoy this subtle sleep in which you are actually fully aware (and therefore fully awake) is by means of Pranayam. Pranayam is the practice of controlling and directing your breath so that it enters the Sushumna Nadi and moves about there, rising and falling, without the necessity to take any air in from the outside.

11. The upgoing breath is like the wheels inside a clock. Its movement is inside. When the movement of the breath is internal, one will see the world in himself.

Commentary: Prana Shakti is your breath. The upgoing breath is the Prana when it moves inside the Sushumna Nadi, rising through the Chakras. This is what causes Kundalini Shakti to rise after Kundalini has been fully awakened by a Liberated Sage. Just as the wheels inside a clock control the movement of a clock, the upgoing breath controls the creation, sustenance and withdrawal of the entire Universe. When a yogi, by the instruction and Grace of his/her Guru, is able to direct and maintain the Prana inside this Sushumna Nadi, without taking any breath in through the nose or mouth, such a yogi experiences all 36 Tattvas (stages of manifestation and withdrawal of the Universe) inside his own being.

12. Just as we see the sky reflected in the water in an earthen pot, so also, to the internal vision, the sky of consciousness becomes visible.
Commentary: The water inside a pot has the ability to reflect the sky above. But when doing so, the water, which is the reflecting surface, does not become the sky. It remains as water and the sky remains the sky. This is due to the reflective nature of the Supreme Subject (Parama Shiva) who becomes the internal soul of all sentient and insentient objects. One who knows this from the personal experience gained by Guru's Grace, is able to attain the internal vision by which Chidakasha, the great inner expanse of Divine Consciousness, becomes completely visible.

[Tapan Mukherjee]

13. If food is prepared in a gold vessel, the dog eats it. If it is prepared in an earthen vessel, then also the dog eats it.

Commentary: A dog's only interest is food. Regardless of what the food is cooked in, the dog will eat it because it has become absorbed in food. A person who desires after sex, only wants sex, regardless of the context. One whose only desire is for money, will eventually pursue money, regardless of the means. You get what you meditate on. One who desires only God becomes God.

14. The sunlight is reflected in the salt water of the sea. It is also reflected in the clear water of a tank at the top of a hill. It is not enough if we see with the eye but we should experience it.

Commentary: Eventhough sunlight is reflected in water and other surfaces, to experience the sun directly, we need to sit in the sunlight. We can't get a tan by starring at the reflection of the sun. In the same way, it is not enough to have the intellectual understanding that God exists in His reflection as the various forms of this world. If we want God, we have to experience Him directly by going to His source, Spanda Shakti, inside our very own being.

15. On a tree grow numberless flowers. The flowers all perish but the tree does not perish for a long time. The visible is like flowers, the invisible is like the tree.

Commentary: This world-appearance is like the flowers growing on a tree. Just as the flowers wither and die and then take birth again in an endless cycle of birth and death, but the tree remains as the source of birth and death of the flowers; so too, this world-appearance and all the objects in it perishes and is born again by the power of God which remains changeless. Objects (people, places and things) are visible like the flowers. God is subtle and not readily visible to those who do not have the subtle discrimination.


16. There are matches in a matchbox. Fire is produced only when the match is rubbed against the side of the box. So also, the Manas is the match; intelligence (Buddhi) is the side of the box. We should rub the Manas against Buddhi and then we get the kingdom of Self which is the same as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Commentary: Buddhi (will) has two aspects; transcendental and immanent. The transcendental aspect is Lord Shiva's Svatantrya or God's sweet will. When we align ourselves with God's will we attain the kingdom of the Lord and are able to bask in God's Grace all the time. We become God's responsibility. This is a state that dawns on a person when the mind is merged in one's natural, free state of being. When the mind is "rubbed" against the higher intelligence of Buddhi, it becomes God. For this to happen one needs a Guru and a spiritual path.

[Tapan Mukherjee]

17. A man should be quite indifferent to honor and dishonor. He should not have the least love for his body; such a man will see the Supreme Being in everything and everywhere.
Commentary: To experience the state of Bliss, Joy, complete Inner Peace and total Freedom, you have to rise above praise and blame. You have to become immune to the perceptions created by words and your ego has to be destroyed so that it no longer responds to virtue or vice. This is Vairagya, dispassion. By cultivating Vairagya, you are able to destroy the notion that you are the body. Once this limitation of the ego is destroyed, you merge with the Supreme Being and see only him in everything and everyone, everywhere.

18. The Supreme Light and the Universal Light are identical.

Commentary: Shiva and His Shakti are identical. God's transcendental and immanent aspects are two parts of the very same Consciousness. There is no Shakti without Shiva and there is no Shiva without Shakti. This world of forms is identical to the Supreme I-Consciousness that created it. Only God exists.

19. From a plank, are manufactured tables, chairs, etc. So also, Brahman is the primordial substance from which numberless worlds are formed.

Commentary: Planks of wood are used to manufacture wooden chairs and tables. Yet the chairs and tables remain essentially wood, even though they seem to have taken on a different form. Without the wood, there would be no chairs and tables. In the same way, this universe is not separate from Brahman (Divine Consciousness) because Brahman is the substance from which this universe is created. Therefore, this universe of forms is essentially that same Shiva Consciousness fashioned into what we perceive as this universe.

20. Manas and the Atman are the same to all people. At the final stage of the universe, all is one. At the present stage, there is difference in their mode of breathing, thinking, and their mental tendencies.

Commentary: There are four ages known as Yugas (Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvarpara Yuga and Kali Yuga). These four form one world cycle. We are now in the fourth age known as Kali Yuga. At the end of this age, the entire Universe will be dissolved and reabsorbed back into the formless Absolute. When this happens all activity ceases, as all objects (people, places and things) are withdrawn into one formless Absolute. Prior to this cosmic dissolution, the Universe would seem to be full of duality and diversity, full of many different forms, seemingly independent of each other. In Truth, they are not. Only the One who creates, sustains and withdraws actually exists.

[Tapan Mukherjee]

21. Fire, air, water, and earth are common to all. These may be used by all people alike. Similarly, well-water may be used by a brahmin, a pariah, and children alike.

Commentary: Just as all beings use fire, air, water and the earth and claim these as their own, regardless of race, creed, color, caste or past deeds; God belongs to everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, caste or past deeds. Also, anyone seeking the means to experience God in order to become a Liberated being, may do so. The water from the well of knowledge of Divine Consciousness may be drunk by all. On the spiritual path, no sincere seeker should be discriminated against. God wishes to redeem ALL His children.

22. Manas is the gingilly; Buddhi is the oil mill; Amrita (ambrosia) is the oil.

Commentary: To extract oil from a seed, you have to grind the seed in a mill. Then you get oil. In the same way, to extract the ambrosia of the Supreme "I" Consciousness, you have to "grind" the mind in the mill of Divine Intelligence. The restless mind must be made silent. This happens when the mind is fed to the Buddhi and devoured by this Supreme Intelligence.


23. Buddhi is the king. Manas is the minister. Manas should be subordinated to Buddhi.

Commentary: When the contracted intellect (Buddhi) of the individual expands and merges with Iccha (Shiva's Will), Buddhi then becomes the channel for real Intelligence. When this occurs, the mind should be subordinated to Buddhi so that the yogi always has access to That which is real knowledge, to That which is worth knowing. A yogi must learn to follow God's Will. That is what being a yogi means.

24. When a road is crowded with five or six thousand people, it is almost impossible to drive a horse carriage along the road. The driver must be careful in driving the carriage. A cyclist's attention is not directed towards himself but towards the passerby.

Commentary: Being a yogi, being a disciple on a spiritual path does not mean being a "space cadet." One who follows a Siddha Guru and engages in daily spiritual practice must also take responsibility for his/her worldly life. A yogi should become very focused and make his/her mind very sharp through Meditation. Such a person should perform his/her daily mundane activities masterfully and in a way that is the heritage of sages.

25. When a man is entirely sunk in cold water, he no longer feels the cold of the cold water. A perfect man is not subject to anger.

Commentary: If you stay in cold water long enough, your body becomes indifferent to the cold and you are able to remain in the cold water without being affected by it. In the same way, a yogi should remain in the world without being of the world. A perfect yogi is one who is not swayed by anger or the other emotions that are common to this world. A perfected being does not lose his/her equipoise even for a moment, even though he is still immersed in worldly activity. He moves through this world as a spectator, remaining indifferent and unattached to that which is experienced by the body.