Does Shiva incarnate?

January 10, 2007

Dear All,

Recently there has been talk, more like loose and careless talk, among Sahaja Yogis that Sir CP might be the incarnation of Lord Shiva. It is remarkable that nobody, especially the great and the good of Sahaja Yoga's world council, has seen it appropriate to clarify the matter, at least with reference to what Shri Mataji has spoken on the subject of Shiva's incarnation. This omission may be deliberate since the ruling clique is probably the main beneficiary of the deception.

The fact of the matter is Shri Mataji has mentioned several times before that Shiva, being the witness aspect of God never incarnates. A relevant extract from a talk given in Houston, Texas in 1981 is appended below.

Be that as it may, in an apparent contradiction, Shri Mataji has also mentioned in earlier days when She was in England that Shri Ramana Maharshi (1879 - 1950) was an incarnation of Shiva. This is documented in the Sahaja Book of Prophecies (excerpted below) by our friend John Noyce, who needs no further introduction on this forum.

At the age of sixteen, Shri Ramana ran away from home and started staying at Arunachala hill in southern India, and he subsequently spent the rest of his life there. Arunachala is apparently a swayambhu of Shiva and Shri Ramana was probably an embodiment of Arunachala, hence he was a partial incarnation of Shiva. This is an important distinction because Shri Mataji was actually talking of Sadashiva, the God Almighty aspect of the Divine; it is He who never incarnates.

As for Sir CP, with all due respect to the husband of Shri Mataji, in his younger days he would have been a contemporary of Shri Ramana, so it would have been unlikely that he was an incarnation of Shiva.

Chandra

" The Spirit resides in our heart; it's the reflection of God Almighty. In Sanskrit language, this aspect of God which is all-pervading and is the first and the last, is called as Sadashiva; is the Father, who does not incarnate. We say Yehovah, we can say, or the God who does not incarnate. This great aspect which encompasses everything ultimately and also manifests everything is the reflection within our heart as the Spirit. This aspect is just the witness aspect; it witnesses the play of its power, the Primordial Power, the Holy Ghost, to see what is created by Her. He's the only enjoyer of the game. He sees the game, the Leela, the fun.

She organises everything, it is She who gets divided into three powers, it is She who creates the whole universe, it is She who gives us this evolution, it is She who makes us human beings and it is She who has to make us the higher human being. That's the Holy Ghost, the Primordial Holy Ghost and the reflection of that is this Kundalini within us. "

( " Sat Chit Ananda, " Houston, Texas, Oct 7, 1981)

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80Ramana Maharshi, Sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi

In reply to a question from a sannyasi, Ramana Maharshi made the following statementabout samadhi:

1. Holding on to Reality is samadhi.2. Holding on to samadhi with effort is savikalpa samadhi.3. Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is nirvikalpasamadhi.4. Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep.

5. Remaining in the primal, pure, natural state without effort is sahajanirvikalpa samadhi.

When we have tendencies that we are trying to give up, that is to saywhen we are still imperfect and have to make conscious efforts to keepthe mind one-pointed or free from thought, the thoughtless state which

we thus attain is nirvikalpa samadhi. When, through practice, we arealways in that state, not going into samadhi and coming out again,that is the sahaja state. In the sahaja state one sees only the Self and

one sees the world as a form assumed by the Self.

On another occasion in reply to the question "What is samadhi?", Shri RamanaMaharashi stated:

In yoga the term is used to indicate some kind of trance and thereare various kinds of samadhi. But the samadhi I speak to you aboutis different. It is sahaja samadhi. In this state you remain calm andcomposed during activity. You realise that you are moved by the

deeper self within and are unaffected by what you do or say or think.You have no worries, anxieties or cares, for you realise that there isnothing that belongs to you as ego and that everything is being done

by something with which you are in conscious union.

81Muruganar, There was in me a thirst (1923)

Previously a well-respected Tamil scholar, C.K.Subramania Iyer (Muruganar) was granted his realisation by Ramana Maharshi. He had composed some verses in Tamil addressing his future guru as Shiva. It should be noted that Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi has indicated to the Sahaja Yogis that Ramana Maharshi was an incarnation of Lord Shiva.

There was in me a thirst, an intense longing to subside [into the Self], that wasprompted by the thought of the divine feet, which abound in grace. So, like onewho, suffering from thirst, comes across a Ganges of cold water, on an

auspicious day, a golden day for my thirst, I went [to Ramana Maharshi] witheleven verses that began 'Leaving Mount Kailas…' and met the excellent sage,the jnana Guru, the ocean of mauna, the bestower of jnana.

In the same way that wax melts on encountering fire, on seeing his feet, my minddissolved and lost its form. Like the calf finding its mother, my heart melted andrejoiced in his feet. The hairs on my body stood on end. Devotion surged in me

like an ocean that has seen the full moon. Through the grace of chitsakti [thepower inherent in consciousness], my soul was in ecstasy.

With an unsteady and quivering voice, I read the eleven verses and placed themat his feet. At that very moment he graciously looked at me with his lotus eyes.From that day on, the praises given out by my impartial tongue belonged only to

him.

From the way he bestowed his grace, becoming my Lord and Master, I wascompletely convinced that he was Siva himself. As my new 'owner', he made my'I' and 'mine' his own.Even if I get submerged in the miry mud [of this world], I will not forget the

mighty nobility of the bountiful bestower of grace.

82N.R.Krishnamurti Aiyer, While sitting there (1934)

A description of kundalini awakening and the granting of self-realisation whilst in thepresence of his guru, Ramana Maharshi.

While sitting there, my eyes were intensely fixed upon the Maharshi and I saw hisform assume different manifestations. It first changed to the Avatar of Vishnu(Vahar Avatar). Then his form changed into that of Ganesha, the elephant God.

Next it suddenly changed and I saw Ramana and Arunachala as one. Then I hadthe vision of the whole Arunachala Hill — the top of the Hill was transparent andinside it I saw a Shiva Lingam, similar to what we see in temples.

Devotees were singing the Marital Garland of Letters. When they began singingthe last couplet, " My Lord let us exchange garlands — the devotee (the bride)garlands the Lord Arunachala (the groom), and the Lord garlands the devotee, " I

suddenly saw garlands of flowers all over the pondal. The Maharshi had a stringof flowers garlanded around his neck, and all the devotees (including myself)had a string of flowers around their necks. I saw a large garland around the

Shiva Lingam on the hill top. All these garlands were shining with a dazzlingbrilliance. This experience convinced me of the existence of the deitiesmentioned in our ancient scriptures.

Later that evening in the Old Hall I sat at the feet of the Maharshi. He wasreclining on the couch gazing westward and I sat on the floor facing him. Oureyes fixed, one upon the other, were pinned together for quite a long time. I then

saw the form of the Maharshi take the shape of Ardhanareswara.

Ardhanareswara is one aspect of Shiva — one half is the Mother and the otherhalf is the Father; one half of the form had a breast and the other had a trident.Around us the pundits were reciting Sanskrit verses.

As it went on, I began to witness certain changes in my body taking place. I sawa pair of serpents rising from the base of my spine in a crisscross, spirallingmanner. They rose to the crown of my head and spread their hoods. One was

red; the other blue. The whole cranium became suffused with a bright light. Myattention was fixed upon the point between my eyebrows where the serpents'heads were pointed.

All of a sudden there was a splitting of the skull from the top front to the back.This was followed by an upward gush of a reddish flame shooting out from thetop of my head. While this was flowing out, a stream of nectar issued from the

single breast of the Ardhanareswara form of the Maharshi and a second stream

83of nectar flowed out from the top of Arunachala. Both streams landed on myhead and sealed the break in my skull.

When the skull was sealed I experienced a brilliant light, like that of an arc lamp,and an indescribable joy and coolness filled my being. This light and joycontinued for several hours. During this time I didn't move about and I was

unconscious of what was going on around me. You may have seen a lightfocused on to a concave mirror. Its light is reflected with a single beam onto apoint. Well, sometime about midnight all the light, like a concave mirror, was

focussed onto the Heart. Then all the light drained into the Heart. The Kundaliniwas completely sucked into the Heart and the Heart was opened — that is theseat of Arunachala Ramana.

The Heart is normally closed, but when it was opened — I never knew any ofthese things and never read any theory. These are all practical experiences — aflood of nectar gushed forth and drenched every pore of my skin, drenched my

whole physical system. It poured out, went on coming out in a great flood. Thewhole Universe was filled with that Nectar.

(Sahaja Book of Prophecies, John Noyce)