The Radiance Sutras

The Radiance Sutras

a version of the vijnana bhairava tantra

by Lorin Roche

One day The Goddess sang to her lover Bhairava,

Beloved and radiant Lord of the space before birth,

Revealer of essence,

Slayer of the ignorance that binds us,

You, who in play have created this universe

and permeated all forms in it with never-ending truth.

I have been wondering . . .

I have been listening to the songs of creation,

I have heard the sacred sutras being sung,

and yet still I am curious.

What is this delight-filled universe

into which we find ourselves born?

. . .

The One Who is Intimate to All Beings replied,

Beloved, your questions require the answers that come

through direct living experience.

The way of experience begins with a breath

such as the breath you are breathing now.

Awakening into the luminous reality

may dawn in the momentary throb

between any two breaths.

The breath flows in and just before it turns

to flow out,

there is a flash of pure joy -

life is renewed.

Awaken into that.

As the breath is released and flows out,

there is a pulse as it turns to flow in.

In that turn, you are empty.

Enter that emptiness as the source of all life.

via The Radiance Sutras.

Shiva Tandava Stotram

shivatANDavastotram

by ERNEST WOOD, 1931

	O prosper us, Auspicious Lord,
		Performer of the frantic dance,
	O Bearer of the little drum
		Sounding damad, damad, damad;
	As through the forest of Thy hair,
		Descends the purifying stream
	About Thy neck, from which depends
		Thy garland made of serpent-kings.

	O may’st Thou be my constant joy,
		Who dost the young moon crest employ;
	Whose breadth of brow supports the fire
		Blazing dhagad, dhagad, dhagad;
	The river of the holy ones,
		Revolving in Thy mound of hair,
	Like wind-tossed creepers, waves upthrows
		And glory on Thy head bestows.

	May I find bliss within Thy being
		O Thou, enrobed in space alone;
	Whose mind is gladdened by the glance,
		Side-long and constant, love-entranced,
	Of Parvati, sweet daughter of
		The Lord of Mountains, Himavat;
	Whose eyes compassionful, dispel
		Our miseries insuff’rable.

	In Thee, O Master of all Life,
		My heart ecstatic joy may feed;
	O Thou, with upper garment smooth,
		The passion-blinded demon’s skin.
	The tawny serpents in Thy hair
		Upon the face of Nature paint
	Light from the jewels of their hoods-
		A radiance, like to saffron spread.

	O Great One, Bearer of a skull,
		May we be prosperous in Thee;
	On whose broad brow blazes the fire
		That with its flame consumed the god
	Of flower love; who art obeyed
		By all the leaders of the gods;
	Among whose hair the Ganges plays;
		Whose crest-jewel gleams with moon-like rays.

	May’st Thou, O Moon-Tiaraed One,
		To us eternal riches be;
	O Thou, the foot stool of whose throne
		Is carpeted with pollen strewn
	From flowers that deck the jeweled crowns
		Of all the gods, from Indra down;
	Whose twisted hair in coils is bound
		The King of serpents girdled round.

	Thou Three-Eyed One, be my delight;
		O Thou, who form’st, with highest skill,
	Rare figures on the breast of her
		Descended from the hard of Hills.
	Upon the tablet of Thy brow
		Blazes dhagad, dhagad, dhagad,
	The fire in which was sacrificed
		The fell five-arrowed God of Love.

	O Thou, Upholder of the Worlds,
		Extend to us Thy blessings rich;
	O skin-adorned, Moon beams-graced;
		Thou bearer of the holy flood;
	Whose neck, enwrapped in darkness thick
		As moonless midnight, flashes forth
	Amidst the ring of gathered clouds
		Its shining light unconq’rable.

	I worship Thee, destroyer of
		Death, passion and blind ignorance,
	The castles three, the elephant,
		The sacrifice and birth and death;
	Whose graceful plantain-stem-like throat
		Sheds radiance all about Thy neck,
	Resembling with its splendour dark
		The fully-blossomed lotus blue.

	I worship Thee, destroyer of
		Death, passion, and blind ignorance,
	The castles three, the elephant,
		The sacrifice, and birth and death.
	The arts of her who blesses all
		Are like the blossoms of a tree,
	From which the honeyed essence flows
		To Thee, the bee that in them joys.

	O Shiva, Thou art conqueror;
		Performer of the frantic dance,
	Which joins the beating of the drum,
		Sounding dhimin, dhimin, dhimin,
	With melody sublime and grand;
		While on Thy awful brow the fire
	Flares with the fanning of the breath
		Of serpents whirling rapidly.

	O Shiva, when shall I with true
		Adorning equally accept
	A hard stone and the softest bed,
		A serpent and a string of pearls,
	A priceless diamond and a clod
		Of earth, a friend and enemy,
	Mere grass and women lotus-eyed,
		His subjects and a mighty king?

	O when shall I be always glad,
		Dwelling in holy Ganges’ bower,
	From evil thoughts my mind released,
		My hands before my forehead joined,
	Repeating ever and again
		The chant of “Shiva, Shiva” writ
	Upon the forehead of her grace
		The best of women, Parvati?

	Extend to us our hearts’ delight,
		O Thou, joy-giving day and night;
	O Shining Presence, Lord Supreme
		To Parvati, of women queen,
	In Indra’s land the maidens fair
		Wear jasmine clusters in their hair;
	From these the pollen dropping free,
		Exudes a salve which graceth Thee.

 	O may the world be conquered by
		Thy marriage – music benison,
	With “Shiva, Shiva” as its theme,
		When sweet-eyed Parvati is bride;
	The sound of which melodious,
		By highly-gifted women sung,
	Destroys all evils, be they dire
		As the sub-ocean blazing fire.

Nithyananda- Mahashivaratri

 

Paramahamsa Nithyananda on the Day of Mahashivaratri. 

 

Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya
(Panchakshara Mantra)

Om Namah Shivaya (Panchakshara Mantra, five syllables) is a most potent and popular mantra, which is at the heart of the Vedas and Tantra, and is widely used in this and other variations in the Himalayan tradition, as well as by others. While there are other descriptions of the mantra, the following focuses on meanings for mantra meditation leading to Self-Realization.

 

OM/AUM: The three parts of Om (A-U-M) encompass the three states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, the three levels of gross, subtle, causal, and the three levels of conscious, unconscious, subconscious, as well as the three universal processes of coming, being, and going. Absolute silence beyond the three levels is the silence after AUM. It also refers to Tripura, the one who live in the “three cities” as in Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, as well as the light referred to in Gayatri Mantra.

Namah/Namaha: Adoration, homage, respect. Nothing is mine (as an individual person); everything is thine (as the Absolute Reality). The three levels of Om, the three worlds of gross, subtle, and causal, along with the three states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states of consciousness, as well as the three levels of conscious, unconscious, and subconscious themselves are “not mine” as the true properties of who I really am. Truly, “nothing is mine.” Rather, everything, all of these triads is “thine” or the “other” as the Absolute Reality.

Shivaya/Shiva: That Absolute Reality that is the ground out of which the others emerge. It is that “ink,” so to speak, that is not separate from the many forms which may appear to manifest or be created from that ink. In the Realization of this, one comes to see that he or she is one and the same with the Absolute Reality. The Mahavakyas, the great utterances, are seen to be true. Shiva (the static or ground) and Shakti (the active or creative) are seen to be one and the same. She (Shakti), while one with Shiva is realized in direct experience as the one in the three worlds (Tripura) outlined in Om.

The Five Sacred Syllables: The Om Namah Shivaya mantra has five syllables: na-mah-shi-va-ya (sometimes called six syllable mantra by including Om). Thus, Om Namah Shivaya mantra is called five-syllable mantra, or Panchakshara Mantra (panch means five). Among other things, these five represent the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. Thus, the Om Namah Shivaya mantra leads awareness in the reverse order from manifestation back to the source from which manifestation arose.

 

40 day practice

The period of 40 days has been widely recognized as an auspicious period both in the East and the West since ancient times. A traditional way to do an extended practice of Om Namah Shivaya mantra is to choose a number of repetitions per day, and to do that for 40 days. The mind likes to have a beginning and end to a practice, a sense of completion, such as comes with a 40 day (or longer) practice.

1. Fixed time per practice session: Mind finds comfort in knowing that it will do the practice of one round of 108 repetitions (or some other number of rounds), and that each round will take a predictable amount of time.
    

2. Same number of rounds: Mind also likes the predictability of doing a certain number of rounds done per day. Mind may resist at times, but once it gets started in the practice, mind likes the habit. 
    

3. Specific number of days: Mind also likes the plan of knowing how many days or months a practice will take to complete. This can be very beneficial in stabilizing a noisy mind, which is a common complaint.

A mala is a set of counting beads with 108 beads. Only 100 are counted, with the other 8 considered an offering to the divine, however you personally hold that. You might choose to do 1, 2, 3, 4, or more rounds of 108 mantras per day, counting with a set of mala beads.

It has been said that there is freedom in discipline; choosing to do a regular practice frees the mind from wondering what practice will be done that day. It is also important not to do the mantra practice with rote repetition, but rather, with feeling and awareness.

By running your own experiment for 40 days, you can decide for yourself whether or not the practice of Om Namah Shivaya mantra is beneficial.

 

Extended practice  

A noticeable level of mantra siddhi (power of the mantra) is said to come with 125,000 repetitions of a mantra (Such an extended practice is called apurascharna). This is equivalent to 1250 rounds of a mala.

Such an extended practice with Om Namah Shivaya mantra can have a tremendous effect in stabilizing the mind in preparation for advancing in meditation. Such a practice simply must be done personally to understand the benefits. It does take quite a commitment to do this practice every day for such a long period, but it is well worth the effort.

In choosing the level of practice per day, it is important to have stability from one day to the next, and to not skip any days. It is best to choose the level that works for you consistently, rather than changing the number from day to day. For example, if two rounds per day is a good number, then it’s better to stay with that amount each and every day, not to do none on one day, but four on the next day.

Bholenath

Shiva is not called Bhole nath for nothing. Bhole means Innocent and Nath means king. So he’s the primary amongst the innocents or the king of innocents.

Well at first sight shiva looks like a great tapasvi which he is. A lot of people more than reverance and love, fear Shiva, as he’s often taken to be the God of Destruction etc etc Then this funny name for such as man who wanders in graveyards and rubs his body with ashes and has ghouls & ghosts for company. For such a man how can the name bholenath fit in.

But it does, as it’s said none in the world is more innocent than the lord, He’s childlike with no sense of malice or cunningness, no sense of ego & no sense of power or arrogance. Hence BHOLENATH.

There is a story that once there was a Asura or a Demon who was praying for thousands of years, doing intense Penance and chanting Shiva’s name. Shiva the simpleton appeared before him knowing that he was a demon and is upto no good. Still he appeared and asked the Asura to pray for any boon and he shall be rewarded.

The asura by name “bhasmaSura” asked that whatsoever he touched should burn to ashes, without battling an eyelid, shiva granted the boon. Nw since The asura was in the himalayan region where there was only snow, he wanted to test the effects of the boon & knew that if he burnt shiva to ashes there’d be none superior ro defeat.

so he told shiva he wanted to test it on shiva himself. the story goes that since shiva cannot refuse a devotee, and since he cannot himself die since that will bring an end to the world shiva is supposed to have run.

Till vishnu came about disguised as a beautiful woman called “mohini” and danced in front of the demon and tricked him into touching his own head hence bringing an end to his tyranny.

The story is funny and is used only to describe shiva as Bholenath, he’s supposed to be easiest to beget boons from amongst the gods, and also the most gracious. He’s the easiest to pacify. yet all this is just once facet of the lord Shiva.

Shiva’s discourse to Vasishta Maharishi

My intense meditation was broken at this instant,
and my trance gave way to the sight of outward
objects, which I kept looking upon for sometime;
when I observed a flaming fire suddenly rising in
the forest to my view. It was a bright as a big
white cloud, and as brilliant as the shining orb
of the moon.

A Happy New Year

A very Happy New Year to all from Lotus Sutra. 

Kali Maa represents destructive aspect of Nature, but the deeper significance is that she destroys egos. The garland of heads you see around her neck are the egos she’s vanquished. She’s prakruti(nature) and shiva under her feet is Purusha(primordial being)

So this year may our egos be vanquished, may Mother nature nourish us and mother us and let us all lay still and equanimous and at peace just like shiva at the feet of kali shakti, the universal energy. Mother.

Mother always wants the best for her children, no matter how harsh she may seem, she loves, she knows what’s best for her child. Let us surrender at her feet and let go.

Jai Kali Ma

 

Meaning of Shiva

 

“Sham Mangalyam iti Shivam”

-That which is auspiciousness is Shiva

Jivan Mukti

 

Shankaracharya

When there is association with the good, there is the state of non-attachment.

When there is the state of non-attachment, there is freedom from delusion.

When there is freedom from delusion, there is the state of self-abidance.

When there is self-abidance, there is jIvanmukti.

[Sankaracarya's Bhaja Govindam verse 9 

via ACALAYOGA.

A glimpse of Haidakhan Baba

Have faith! Reciting the Name of the Lord is not the first, but the last stage of spiritual practice! When lions enter the forest, the other animals run away. Likewise, all evil thoughts will vanish with the recitation of the Lord’s name. Reciting the Name of the Lord will bring you the company of a good people and you will be near saints. Blessed are the few who will discard the kingdom of the world for the Lord’s name. Such a devotee always resides in My heart. In the womb, you take a vow not to get attached; but as soon as you come out, you get entangled. Abandon attachment! Your mind plays tricks on you! That is why you are after pleasures! All worldly things – including the desire for liberation – are obstacles to which you are attached. If you want divine peace, leave behind ignorant karma.

Shiva Tattwa

Shiva the name itself evokes a lot of emotions from people all over. one of devotion and also of fear. Recently a british friend of mine was surprised to see a shiva statue adorning a table in my space. She asked me why I have a statue of the God of Destruction. To her shiva is an equivalent of satan or the devil. I find this amusing. In eastern religions evil or destruction is an aspect of God, not a separate entity opposed to God. God is all encompassing. Creation and destruction are said to natural processes going on at all times in all places. Only God is, how then can any being be said to exist apart from this One God.

Shiva

All is self, you might call the ’self’ siva, jiva or any other name of fancy. But there is but one reality. There is no two. That is ‘A-dvaita’ non dual. All is one.