Does Shri Shiva incarnate? and does He actually reside at Mount Kailash?

[Guest guest]

, " my2 pai " <my2pai

wrote:

>

> 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

>

>

 

Dear All,

 

In the above quote Shri Mataji is definitely referring to Shri

Sadashiva (God Almighty/Brahman) who is entirely impersonal, and

entirely impossible to know or to describe. Shri Sadashiva is a

supreme, perfect spirit or force that permeates everything ..... and

never incarnates.

 

Shri Shiva, on the other hand incarnates, and is believed by Hindus

to reside at Mount Kailash. Their Holy Scriptures confirm this fact.

But is it true?

 

" Situated in the south-western part of Tibet bordering the Kumaon

hills and Nepal, is Mount Kailash. It is supremely sacred mountain,

cosmology connected with Mount Meru, the great mythological mountain

that forms the axis of this world system. Being a central watershed

of Asia, it has always been the most sacred mountains for Hindus,

Buddhists, Jains and Bons.

 

This region is steeped in religion and mythology and every year

hundreds of pilgrims traverse some of the remotest and toughest

regions of the Himalayas to pay their obeisance to the Lord. It is a

land where Lord Shiva lives with his consort Parvati. According to

ancient religious texts, the abode of creator Brahma is called

Brahmaloka, the abode of Lord Vishnu is called Vaikunta abd the abode

of Lord Shiva is called Kailash. Of the three, one can only go bodily

and return in this life from Kailash having experienced divinity. "

 

Mount Kailash, Where the Heaven meets the Earth

Dr. Sethumadhava

 

 

Lord Shiva was one of the deities Kash was told to visit to find out

if Shri Mataji was indeed the Adi Shakti. This is part of the first

fax sent November 1994 to Malaysia. Shri Mataji was also read the fax

contents June 1994 (UK) by Harsh Mehra and She confirmed it was true.

i quote:

 

" 2) Lord Shiva

 

— He lives far out in the Universe in a Land completely different

from ours.

— He is surrounded by mountains and He sits on the highest one.

— He has a cobra snake around His neck. The cobra snake is coiled 3

times round His neck, with its head on Lord Shiva's right shoulder.

— He has His hair tied up in a bundle on top of the head, with the

rest of it falling down His neck and shoulders.

— He is holding a trishul, with another cobra coiled around it.

— There are 2 bowls on both His sides and there is smoke coming out

of them.

— On one occasion Kash saw both Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna walking

away after meditation and talking to each other in a language that

was like the mantra he recited in i.e. Sanskrit. "

 

" Naga, the cobra, is a symbol of kundalini power, cosmic energy

coiled and slumbering within man. It inspires seekers to overcome

misdeeds and suffering by lifting the serpent power up the spine into

God Realization. Aum. "

 

(Himalayan Academy, 1998. www.hinduismtoday.kauai.hi.us/welcome.html)

 

" Trishula, Siva's trident carried by Himalayan yogis, is the royal

scepter of the Saiva Dharma. Its triple prongs betoken desire, action

and wisdom; ida, pingala and sushumna; and the gunas — sattva, rajas

and tamas. Aum. "

 

(Himalayan Academy, 1998. www.hinduismtoday.kauai.hi.us/welcome.html)

 

" SANSKRIT: Often referred to as " Devanagari, " the language of the

gods, Sanskrit is probably the most ancient of human languages. Yoga

uses many Sanskrit terms, as they cannot be exactly translated into

English or any other Western language. "

 

Yoga Mind and Body, Sivananda Yoga Videnta Centre, 1966, p. 163.

 

SHRI ADI SHAKTI: THE KINGDOM OF GOD pg. 143

 

 

Please note that at that early stage i had no idea where Shri Mataji

had taken 13-year-old Kash. Even he had no idea and thought the

mountainous region was somewhere in the Universe. Subsequently i

realized that the Divine Mother had taken him to Mount Kailah.

 

" The Single-Nail Clogs

 

A few weeks after Shri Maha-kailasa-nilaya Nirmala Devi had taken

Kash to visit Shri Shiva meditating on Mount Kailash, he informed his

father about one peculiar fact — that Shri Shiva was seen wearing

wooden clogs with a single thick wide-head nail. These single-nailed

clogs worn centuries ago are practically non-existent today. Kash has

never seen this type of footwear in all his life on Earth, but is

absolutely sure that Shri Shiva had them. "

 

Shri Maha-kailasa-nilaya (578th): Residing in the great Kailas — Maha

Kailasa means in Sri Chakra, the innermost Bindu and in the body the

Sahasrara-Padma below the Brahmarandhra.

 

SHRI ADI SHAKTI: THE KINGDOM OF GOD pg. 173

 

So the Hindu belief that Shri Shiva resides at Mount Kailash is

absolutely true. The Adi Shakti gave evidence of that too. There are

indeed many deep mystical facts of Hinduism that are all true. It is

most difficult to challenge this religion and its Holy Scriptures

easily the most spiritual, mystical, enlightening, and all-

encompassing. Without question the Sanatana Dharma bestows the

greatest benefit to humanity because it embraces and nourishes all

religions - the Adi Shakti's Divine Message to humanity wholesomely

embraces this joyous synthesis and religious harmony - only the

Divine Source of all religions can give such evidence. Now i am at

peace with all religions, scriptures and messengers......and my Self.

 

Jai Shri Mataji,

 

 

jagbir

 

 

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Related Articles:

 

" Parvati is mythological represented as the daughter of King Himalaya

(lit., " abode of the snows " ) whose home is a certain peak on the

Tibetan border. Astonished travelers, passing below that inaccessible

peak, view afar a vast snow formation resembling a palace, with icy

domes and turrets.

 

Parvati, Kali, Durga, Uma, and other goddesses are aspects of

Jaganmatri, the Divine Mother of the World, " variously names to

signalize particular functions. God or Shiva in His para or

transcendental aspect is inactive in creation. His shakti (energy,

activating force) is relegated to His " consorts, " the productive

" female " powers that make possible the infinite unfoldments in the

cosmos.

 

Mythological tales in the Purana say that the Himalayas are the abode

of Shiva ... "

 

Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi,

Self-Realization Fellowship, 1974, p. 194-95.

 

 

------------------------------

 

" MOUNT KAILAS

 

With its four facades facing north, east, south, and west, Mount

Kailas looks like an enormous diamond. Seventy-five percent as high

as Mount Everest, the mountain is one of the tallest peaks in the

Himalayas. Nearby is the source of the Indus, Sutlej, and Brahmaputra

Rivers. The source of the Ganges is not far away. On its southern

face, a vertical gash crosses horizontal layers, creating the image

of a swastika. The word comes from svastika, Sanskrit for well-being

and good fortune. Buddhists regard the mountain as a mandala -— the

sacred circle from which the sacred rivers flow like the spokes of

the eternal wheel. "

 

Colin Wilson, The Atlas of Holy Places & Sacred Sites,

Penguin Books Ltd., 1996 p. 119.

 

 

------------------------------

 

" One of the greatest and most austere pilgrimages, Mount Kailas,

Himalayan abode of Lord Siva, is sacred to five religions. Pilgrims

perform a three-day, 33-mile circumambulation of the peak. At the

foot of Kailas lies Lake Manasarovara, symbolizing a quieted mind,

free from all thought. Kailas is the Mount Meru of Hindu cosmology,

center of the universe. Within 50 miles are the sources of four

of India's auspicious rivers. "

 

Hinduism Today, May 1997

 

 

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" Mount Kailash, or Kangrinpoche, where Shiva and Parvati lie together

in bliss and where eternity meshes with time, lies hidden at the

western end of the Great Himalaya. All of the pilgrim routes to

the " precious jewel of eternal snow " cross at least one pass above

17,000 feet....

 

Kailash stands alone, behind a sea of mountains where Tibet and India

meet, its four faces to the four directions, with a great river

flowing from each: the Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej, and Karnali, a

tributary of the holy Gangga. Here is the abode of Shiva, where the

waters of heaven pass through the god's matted hair and become

healing springs; the tirtha, the place where the waters meet,

the focus of all Hindu pilgrimage. Some devotees say the Kailash is

the Shivalinga; others that it is Mount Meru, the presence of eternal

in time....

 

Pilgrims take three days to circle Mount Kailash, a walk of just over

30 miles. Every step is rich with prayers and praise of those who

have walked the way before, for more years than humankind can

recall....

 

Tibetans make three, five, or thirteen circumambulations of Mount

Kailash, or even more. Sometimes they prostrate themselves, rising to

walk the length of one prostration only, then once again falling to

the ground. To circle the mountain in this way may take up to four

weeks of patient and meditative movement. These pilgrims may then

turn and return, rapt in their awareness of the eternal. The

way has no beginning and no end. "

 

Jennifer Westwood, Sacred Journeys,

Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1997 p.78.

 

 

------------------------------

 

The disciple leads the prana until Mooladhara.

The air thus inspired awakens the lower Fire which was asleep,

meditating on

Pranava that is nothing else than Brahman,

And concentrating his thought, he rises the breath until to the lower

Fire,

until the navel and beyond, within the subtle body.

On the top of the body, over the head there is the lotus with

thousand petals,

shining like the heavenly Light.

It's that which gives the liberation. Its secret name is Kailash, the

mountain

where Shiva abides.

The one who knows this secret place is delivered from samsara.

 

Amritananda Upanishad

 

 

------------------------------

 

" Mountains of Mystery

 

The Earth's most dramatic features, mountains are to Hindus the abode

of Gods, the haunt of holy sages and the supreme pilgrimage

destination.

 

Viewed through the eyes of a Buddhist or Hindu, mountains are

mystical realms of Gods, heavens, spirits and spiritual masters. In

Sacred Mountains of the World, a remarkable book by Edwin Bernbaum

(University of California Press, 1997), the perspectives of mountains

and lore from disparate cultures of the world are explored. Focusing

solely on the prominent peaks of the Himalayas, the following

article is excerpted from Bernbaum's work.

 

By Edwin Bernbaum, Berkeley

 

An enormous range 1,500 miles long, the Himalayas rise in the monsoon-

drenched jungles north of Burma to sweep in a great arc of snow and

ice northwest along the borders of India and Tibet, through Bhutan,

Sikkim and Nepal, up to the dusty glaciers of the Karakoram on the

remote desert frontier between Pakistan and China. As the loftiest

mountains on Earth, the Himalayas have come to embody the highest

ideals and aspirations. The sight of their sublime peaks, soaring

high and clean above the dusty, congested plains of India, has for

centuries inspired visions of transcendent splendor and spiritual

liberation. Invoking such visions, the Puranas, ancient works of

Hindu mythology, have this to say of Himachal, or the Himalayas: In

the space of a hundred ages of the Gods, I could not describe to you

the glories of Himachal; that Himachal where Siva dwells and where

the Ganges falls like the tendril of a lotus from the foot of Vishnu.

There are no other mountains like Himachal, for there are found Mount

Kailas and Lake Manasarovar. As the dew is dried up by the morning

sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himachal.

 

Millions of years ago the summit of Mount Everest, today the world's

highest mountain, lay beneath the Tethys, an ancient sea separating

Asia from the Indian subcontinent. Through the gradual movement of

the Earth's tectonic plates — till ongoing today — the two great land

masses collided to fold and thrust up the peaks of the Himalayas and

the Tibetan Plateau. Fossils formed in sedimentary rocks near the

tops of the highest mountains attest to the submarine origins of the

range. The fracturing of the Earth's crust also led to injections

of magma, forming here and there, as a result of glacial action,

magnificent walls and peaks of granite, but no volcanoes. The

youngest mountains on Earth, the Himalayas have risen so recently

within the last few million years that the watershed lies a hundred

miles north of their crest. As a consequence, preexisting rivers have

cut through the range, creating the deepest valleys in the world,

such as the Kali Gandaki Valley between Annapurna and Dhaulagiri in

central Nepal, nearly four miles deep.

 

The Himalayas are sacred for followers of five Asian religions —

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and the indigenous Bon tradition

of Tibet. These religions revere the mountains as places of power

where many of their most important sages and teachers have attained

the heights of spiritual realization. According to Jain mythology,

Rishabhanatha, the first of twenty-four saviors of this age, achieved

enlightenment on Mount Kailas, the most sacred peak in the

Himalayan region. There, in the vicinity of the same mountain,

Shenrab, the legendary founder of Bon, is said to have taught and

meditated. Sikhs, followers of an Indian religion that developed from

the interaction of Islam and Hinduism in the fifteenth century ce,

revere Hemkund, a mountain lake near the source of the Ganges, as the

place where Guru Gobind Singh, the last of their ten principal

teachers, practiced meditation in a previous life. The Himalayas

abound with caves and shrines where Buddhist sages, such as the

Tibetan yogi Milarepa, have meditated and attained enlightenment.

 

Hindus, by far the largest group in India with more than 800 million

adherents, regard the entire range as the God Himalaya, father of

Parvati, the wife of Siva. King of the mountains, Himalaya lives high

on a peak with his queen, the Goddess Mena, in a palace ablaze with

gold, attended by divine guardians, maidens, scent-eating creatures

and other magical beings. His name, composed of the words hima and

alaya, means in the Sanskrit language of ancient India the " abode of

snow. " As a reservoir of frozen water, the body and home of the God

Himalaya is the divine source of sacred rivers, such as the Ganges

and Indus, that sustain life on the hot and dusty plains of northern

India. The ancient poets and sages regarded the range as more than a

realm of snow; they saw it as an earthly paradise sparkling with

streams and forests set beneath beautiful peaks. Above and beyond the

earthly paradise of the Himalayas lie the heights of heaven....

 

Mount Kailas: One peak in the Himalayan region stands out above all

others as the ultimate sacred mountain for more than half-a-billion

people in India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Hidden behind the main

range of the Himalayas at a high point of the Tibetan Plateau

northwest of Nepal, Mount Kailas rises in isolated splendor near the

sources of four major rivers of the Indian subcontinent — the

Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej and Karnali. Hindus also regard Kailas as

the place where the divine form of the Ganges, the holiest river of

all, cascades from heaven to first touch the Earth and course

invisibly through the locks of Siva's hair before spewing forth from

a glacier 140 miles to the west. Not far from the foot of the peak

itself, at nearly 15,000 feet above sea level, reflecting the light

of its snows, repose the calm blue waters of the most sacred lake of

Hindu religion and mythology — holy Lake Manasarovar, " Lake of the

Mind. " The hardiest of Hindu pilgrims aspire to take the long and

dangerous journey over high passes to bathe in Manasarovar's icy

waters and cleanse their minds of the sins that threaten to condemn

them to the suffering of rebirth.

 

At only 22,028 feet, Kailas is thousands of feet lower than Everest

and other Himalayan peaks. Yet its extraordinary setting and

appearance more than make up for its modest height. Kailas retains

its grandeur when viewed from a distance. More than any other peak in

the Himalayas, it opens the mind to the cosmos around it, evoking a

sense of infinite space that makes one aware of a vaster universe

encompassing the limited world of ordinary experience. It has served

as an inspiration for numerous Hindu temples and shrines in the

distant plains of India. The sight of the peak has a powerful effect,

bringing tears to the eyes of many who behold it, leaving them

convinced that they have glimpsed the abode of the Gods beyond the

round of life and death. Neither Hindus, Buddhists, nor any Tibetans

would ever contemplate trying to climb Kailas.

 

Hindus view Kailas as the divine dwelling place of God Siva and

Goddess Parvati. There, as the Supreme Yogi, naked and smeared with

ashes, His matted hair coiled on top of His head, He sits on a tiger

skin, steeped in the indescribable bliss of meditation. From His

position of aloof splendor on the summit, His third eye blazing with

supernatural power and awareness, the lord of the mountain calmly

surveys the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and tragedies, the entire

play of illusion that make up life in the world below. The power of

His meditation destroys the world of illusions that bind people to

the painful cycle of death and rebirth. When He rises to dance, He

takes on the functions of Brahma and Vishnu and creates and preserves

the universe itself.

 

The [buddhist] mandala of Demchog on Kailas presents the universe as

a circle of mountains, oceans and continents arrayed around a

mythical mountain at the very center. This mountain, called Meru by

Hindus and Sumeru by Buddhists, plays a pivotal role in Hinduism and

Buddhism as the divine axis of the cosmos. According to Hindu

mythology, Brahma, the supreme deity in the form of the creator,

lives on its summit, surrounded by lesser deities. Meru and Kailas

appear as separate mountains in early texts of Buddhist and Hindu

mythology, but later tradition has tended to bring them together and

identify them as one and the same. Today many Indians and Tibetans

view Kailas as the place where the invisible form of Meru breaks

through to appear in the physical plane of existence. A pilgrimage to

the mountain, therefore, represents for them a journey to the very

center of the universe — the cosmic point where everything begins and

ends, the divine source of all that exists and has significance. In

circling the peak and paying homage to a vision of Siva or Demchog on

its shining summit, they make contact with something deep within

themselves that links them to the supreme reality underlying and

infusing the cosmos itself. For most Hindus and Buddhists of India

and Tibet, the journey to Kailas is, in fact, the ultimate

pilgrimage, both in terms of the sanctity of its goal and the

difficulty of the way.

 

Goddess of Bliss: In addition to the paradise She shares with Siva on

Kailas, Parvati has her abode on a number of other mountains. As

Nanda Devi, the " Goddess of Bliss, " She dwells in beauty on the

lovely peak of that name in the Himalayas northeast of Delhi. The

highest mountain in India outside the principality of Sikkim, Nanda

Devi soars in alluring curves of rock and ice to culminate in a

delicate summit, poised at 25,645 feet above a ring of snow peaks

that form a sanctuary protecting the Goddess from all but Her most

determined admirers. The only break in their otherwise impregnable

wall of rock and snow is the terrifying gorge of the Rishi Ganga, one

of the sources of the sacred Ganges, named after seven sages of Hindu

mythology who fled the oppression of demons to seek refuge with the

Goddess before departing this world to become enshrined as seven

stars in the constellation of Ursa Major. Shepherds and porters from

nearby villages who venture into the area believe that they can

sometimes hear the sounds of these sages — drums beating, the blare

of trumpets and the eerie barking of dogs. The few foreign

mountaineers who manage to penetrate the gorge, inching their way

along the sides of sheer cliffs that plunge thousands of feet into

the river roaring below, find themselves in a paradise of gentle

meadows filled with flowers at the foot of the sacred peak, which

stands like a temple in the middle of the sanctuary itself.

 

Nanda Devi lies in Uttarakhand, the principal area of pilgrimage in

the Indian Himalayas. This region ranks second only to Kailas and

Manasarovar in the degree of its sanctity for Hindus. Closer to the

lowlands and much more accessible, it is visited by many more

pilgrims, who come by the tens of thousands to bathe at Gomukh, the

glacial source of the Ganges, and to worship at Kedarnath and

Badrinath, lofty temples of Siva and Vishnu sequestered in narrow

valleys beneath the icy thrones of the Gods themselves. The region is

also the favorite haunt of holy men and wandering yogis, who come to

follow the example of Siva and meditate in the sharp clear air of the

heights, within sight of the peaks that lead to heaven and the goal

they seek.

 

As the Goddess who resides on the highest mountain in the region,

Nanda Devi has many shrines and temples dedicated to Her. One of the

better-known ones is in the hill station of Almora, which affords one

of the best views of the peak itself and the mountains that surround

it. Although primarily a benevolent deity, Nanda can take on the form

of Durga, the wrathful Goddess. The people of the region also view

Nanda Devi as a benevolent source of life and renewal.

 

According to ancient Hindu mythology, a flood once covered the entire

world. A sage named Manu was warned of the impending disaster and

built a boat in which he survived. Vishnu incarnated himself as a

fish and towed the craft to safety on a mountain peak. As the waters

receded, Manu together with his family and the remnants of all living

creatures went down the slope to repopulate the Earth.

 

The people of Uttarakhand identify the mountain of the flood as Nanda

Devi, and one local group, the Rajis, still regard the peak as the

abode of their ancestors. According to one legend, the seven sages

accompanied Manu and remained behind to dwell in the company of the

Goddess.

 

Annapurna and Machapuchare: Goddess Parvati dwells in yet another

form on sacred Annapurna One, named like Nanda Devi for the deity

said to reside on its summit. A range of peaks that includes

Gangapurna, Machapuchare and Annapurnas One through Four, Annapurna

rises in one long sweep above the lush green hills of central Nepal.

Seen from the tropical valley of Pokhara in the twilight before

dawn, the range's peaks appear to float like bluish-gray icebergs on

a sea of liquid shadows. Etched with shadowed flutings, the

corrugated face of Annapurna One — the highest summit at 26,545-feet —

becomes a golden backdrop to the slender pointed peak of

Machapuchare, the " Fish's Tail. "

 

Annapurna means in Sanskrit " She who is filled with food. " Unlike

Nanda Devi, who can take on the wrathful form of Durga, Annapurna is

regarded as a purely benevolent deity. A kindhearted Goddess of

plenty, She is the Queen of Banaras, the holy city of the Hindus on

the banks of the Ganges south of Nepal. Each year, after the autumn

harvest, the people of Banaras celebrate a festival dedicated to Her

called Annakuta, the " Food Mountain, " in which they fill Her temple

with a mountain of food — rice, lentils, and sweets of all kinds to be

distributed to those who come to receive Her blessings. "

 

Hinduism Today, February 1999