Beyond Shiva

This is part VI of Shiva the Supreme. Beyond Shiva we talk about Mahadeva, Sadashiva and Kameshwara. Anything beyond Shiva, talks about the advanced activities of Shiva. In fact there is nothing beyond Shiva. Shiva also exists in shoonya or vacuum too. In Kundalini meditation, a stage called turiya is often referred. Turiya is nothing but bliss. This turiya stage is the fourth stage, the other three being awake, dream and sleep. Turiya is a stage where universal consciousness is contemplated. Shiva is individual consciousness as well as universal consciousness. So, both are Shiva consciousness. Shiva exists everywhere, with out exceptions. Either contemplating universal consciousness or individual consciousness means the same thing that is contemplating Shiva. Every one of us is witnessing Shiva consciousness in all our activities, but we fail to realise that. Realising Shiva consciousness is called bliss or ananda. Why we are not able to realise that? Our accumulated karmas prevent this. Karma is the bundle of good and bad deeds done during our past births. Is there any way out for this? Yes. Shiva himself gives answer in his Dakshinamurthy form. Dakshinamurthy form of Shiva can be explained as the form of Supreme teacher who clarifies the doubts of students. Dakshnamurthy is worshiped as the one who removes maya and leads to the path of self realization. Dakshinamurthy in a nut shell says ‘Brahman created That and Brahman entered into That’. Here that means Brahman. In the form of Dakshinamurthy, Shiva has become a Guru who teaches self realization. For liberation you have to cut off your bondage. For cutting off bondage, you need to know some ways and means. The ways and means are taught by Shiva himself. This is called ‘Brahman created That and Brahman entered into That’. When I consciousness gets merged with the Supreme consciousness, it is called self realization. But this self realisation should be achieved and realised in every second of our life without any efforts.

In the initial stages, you need to have Guru, read scriptures, perform yogic exercises, do pranayama, do stretching exercises, sit for meditation, do japas, do poojas, do havanas etc. etc. All this will lead you to the right path. These rituals are tools in tuning your mind. Ultimately you will stop all this rituals and you will become disinterested in this once you attain liberation. If this is not happening at some point of time in your life, then you have wasted your precious time. This is the true self realization. What does Shiva mean? Shiva means auspiciousness, good health and prosperity. Observe the beauty of the meaning. When Shiva is identified within, He gives us all round prosperity. Why He is addressed as Mahadeva or Maheshwara (maha+Ishwara) or Parameshwara (Param+Ishwara)? Maha or Para means the supreme. Since there is nothing beyond Shiva He is invoked by these names. There is one more name of Shiva called Sadashiva. This again is a tatwa. Shiva tatwa comprises of five divisions called Shivan, Shakthi, Sadashivan, Ishwaran and suddha vidya. The experience of ‘I’ is predominant here. The experience of self is more visible than the experience of this. In other words, the subject gets importance than the object. Subject is Shiva and object is maya. Beyond Sadashiva, there is Mahakameshwarar. Mahakameshwarar with Mahakameshwari is the form of the Absolute, which is the ultimate. We will conclude this discussion in the next posting.