IS IT POSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO THE COSMOS?

 IS IT POSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO THE COSMOS?

Events that happen to us over which we have no control can be our best teachers if we allow them to be. After all, incidents must be our teachers unless we choose foolishness over wisdom. Isn't learning from experience always the inevitable path?

I contend we have no option other than to learn. Even if it happens unconsciously, it will happen the hard way. We can take the other path too and start complaining about our situation, free will has been given to us. What is referred to as Śiva (शिव) is the Supreme Reason as to why all things exist, happen and don't happen; including our life within the Past, Present and Future. He moves in Ways that we cannot control in entirety. Many believe that they possess control over the manifest world. To a certain extent they do, but we cannot even control or predict the flight of one single butterfly even if we wanted to. We can only speculate over transient truths. Yogins (योगिन्) instead focus on the fact that we can control our inside by our effort, which in turn influences what happens on the outside. In a seeming paradox to some, Śaivadharma (शैवधर्म) also suggests that Grace comes with surrender, which is the absence of effort.

Is there necessarily a dichotomy between disciplined effort versus letting things happen or letting the Universe decide? In fact, the individual has no choice but to do his best over what he has control, the other things that happen are simply not up to him whether he agrees with it or not. So, is it the right attitude to have that if things go ‘my way’, it's God listening to my prayers, and if things go otherwise, I blame some evil spirit or someone else. No, it is only a simple belief system trying to justify our own ignorance, misunderstanding, and the mistakes we make. We see things as "good and bad" depending on how we react to them. For the most part, our happiness largely depends on our Inner Being. The three types of suffering that we experience are physical, mental and emotional. Mental conditions plague us in the form of anxiety, fear, obsessive behavior...etc. The condition of our Inner Being determines the quality of our life. How we create or react to things in our lives is what our lives end up being. Is destiny pre-written by God? No!

If there is such an entity as a Supreme Creator, its superbly and exquisitely magnificent Creation is the Source of all beauty and wonder, is it not? We can choose to listen and partake in that vision if we wish to. Do we notice things around us enough? Life is in bloom, and not just the earth, but the entire Universe is telling us that it is very alive and expanding. It is the individual's choice to live like a dead person within before their body dies. The individual writes his destiny. No one is chosen or called upon, it is just that some listen and hear, observe and see. What we are doing matters, yes, but how we do it is fundamental. When we make things happen deliberately, that is the victory.

Śiva or "Reality" is not a name nor a noun; it is a verb. It is happening everywhere, always. There is no location or time where the Principles of Dharma i.e. the Eternal Natural Laws are not happening.

Quantum physicists today fully agree that since even the elementary particles are not the finest substance of the Universe, everything is not what it seems to be. This means that in the strictest sense what the individual sees doesn't actually really exist how he thinks it does. Our five senses are limited and cannot perceive and experience Śiva in entirety. Scientists use microscopes, infrared light, X-rays…etc. to see beyond the usual capability of human senses. Grandmaster Yogin Śiva i.e. Mahāyogī Śiva (महायोगी शिव) is tapped into the intricate infrastructure of the human system, and that which constitutes the Infinite Fabric of the Universe that can only be known beyond our finite thought constructs and ordinary sensory perception. Lord Śiva (शिव) thus constitutes the very tantra (तन्त्र) i.e. the structure and functioning of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm. Modern science for many years reluctantly studied the idea of Consciousness as being the basis for all things in the Universe. Nowadays quantum scientists are the ones revealing this knowledge cutting across the boundaries of Matter and Energy! Therefore, the scientific understanding of the Omnipresent Principle known as Śiva or Puruṣa (पुरुष) or The Cosmic Consciousness and His Śakti (शक्ति) i.e. Prakṛti (प्रकृति) or The Cosmic Energy as constituting the basic stuff of the Universe tells us that it must not only be around us but within us too as All-Pervading and All-Transcending.

Because transcendental knowledge is quite misunderstood by the uninitiated, it sometimes is called the "secret knowledge". Because of its subtlety, however in its wondrous and sometimes terrifying beauty and magnitude; personified as Śiva (शिव) and His Śakti (शक्ति this Omnipresent Reality is nonetheless unequivocally there right in front of our nose. That Reality is subject neither to time - since Śiva is timeless; nor, can any place delimit Mahādeva (महादेव). In the same way, ascribing a place and time to the so-called Enlightenment would mean that Existence has an end. Modern scientists cannot propound a theory that could show the concept of "ending" easily. Rather, mathematically the concept of Infinite Boundless Existence is a more scientifically sound understanding. Self-realization is not something that the individual needs to suffer for, in order to deserve it. Since Śiva is the most compassionate and is an embodiment of forgiveness itself, it is only by that true and essential quality of the Nature of the Self that we are able to evolve into our Spiritual Path. When the Yogin (योगिन्) tunes into the Source, he realizes that It has always been there - Within and Without. "It is neither a matter of earning some kind of degree; nor is it a struggle about finding yourself - as if you were some lost object.

Obscurity cannot survive in the same space as light and one tiny candle can remove all shadows in an empty room. Likewise, the darkness i.e. andhakāra (अन्धकार) of ignorance i.e. ajñāna (अज्ञान) cannot survive in the same space as Light i.e. Prakāśa (प्रकाश) of Wisdom i.e. Jñāna (ज्ञान), and as one’s Self-Luminous quality i.e. Ātmaprakaśa (आत्मप्रकश) intensifies, it results in Self-Realization i.e., Ātmasākṣātkāra (आत्मसाक्षात्कार). This healing effect consequently removes contrived thoughts, contracted feelings, self-defeating belief systems, prejudice, assumptions, dogmas, concepts, ideologies…etc. and the True Inner Self shines forth. Anybody can do this.

The Brilliant, Unconditionally Loving and Infinitely Creative - Potential is within each one of us as a seed, the mystic nectar of which extremely rarely explored fully by very few individuals. It is a constant aspect within every individual and is often something that they are just unaware of, and can only be realized by the Grace i.e. Anugraha (अनुग्रह) of Śiva , who infact is that very Aspect within our Inner Universe. It is due to our narrow human understanding and perception that we often unknowingly reduce this Limitless and Boundless Subsistence within us, because of the false ego's dominance over our being. If the claim that at the core of our individual being we are “Sat-Cit- Ānanda (सत्-चित्-आनन्द)” is true, then by deduction, the less of our conditioned mind we identify with, the more we realize and resonate with this Living Inherent Luminous Quality.

The purely logical mind, despite its display of the highest cognizance of all known species, cannot understand life as does the eye of the mystic. The mind always finds logic in everything, which indeed is of paramount importance. However, some deluded people find logic in their strange and mad behavior. They are fully convinced and involved, and whatever they are doing makes perfect logical sense to them!

All things can be achieved with this intellect; anything in the material realm can be gained with a focused intellect, all except one thing. Thoughts are considered to be essential, and unquestionably so, but they are not able to know the Spiritual Dimension. For example, the thoughts we have about others or ourselves often cause us to retrogress. When the thoughts transform the student in such a way that he feels he is moving forward, evolving within, they eventually occupy less space in the mind too. The process starts becoming a catalyst for expansion.

The famous third eye that looks into the mirror of the Inner Self, is indeed Consciousness looking into itself. Jīva (जीव) finds the qualities of the Auspicious One Śiva, within himself. When you take the time to look within, that is when you have a chance to remember. Observe a Microcosm. It is only by making the time to do so, that we find the time to connect our hearts to our actions. How will we nourish our spiritual life if we do not prepare the ingredients that are necessary to energize its growth? How can we hear and see if we do not listen or observe? There is One Source, why do we forget all the time? How can we expect blessings when we are not there to receive them, and when we do not know where to find them?

Śiva is never absent, He is always there, it is us that become absent. How many times will The Compassionate One send His Blessings showering while we are looking the other away, unable to see the gems right in front of us? How can the mystical, ecstatic Bliss of Spiritual Love infuse our every molecule if our heart is not in it? How will the qualities of Śiva be realized within when we have forgotten who we are? How will we open the auspicious third eye if we are unable to see with our two eyes?

"How can there be any possibility of Contemplation on That which is Limitless and Unknowable? Due to its inaccessibility to any means such as reasoning etc...i.e., Nirguṇa (निर्गुण). Owing to its nature of Pure Consciousness as also perfection and ultimacy, this state is known as Mahāpracaya (महाप्रचय), the largest collectivity. Owing to its Perfectness, there is no scope for any kind of distinction in it. It is for the sake of the elimination of any such possibility that it has been left unspecified. Characterization of it as constantly manifest, is indicative of its Omnipresence, as what is one can never by no means be differentiated from itself. As such, there is no possibility of distinction in this state."