SHIVA - THE MAHAKALA - His aghora aspect!

April 3, 2010

vedic astrology , gaya sar'nath <aghorabhairav wrote:

>

> SHIVA

> (An Excerpt from the aghora book by Dr. Robert E.Svoboda, as told by aghori

Vimalananda)

>

> The world considers You inauspicious, O Destroyer of Lust who plays in the

Smashan smeared with the ash from funeral pyres, wearing a necklace of human

skulls, with ghouls for comrades. But for those who remember You with devotion,

O Bestower of Boons, You are supremely auspicious.

> (Shiva

Mahimna Stotra, 24)

>

> MAHAKALA

>

> One day I said to Smashan Tara, " You are my Ma, my Mother, but who is my

Father? I know the Mother always shows the child the face of its Father, so

won't You show me mine? " We have a saying in Hindi: " Only your conscience knows

all your sins, and only a child's mother knows its true father. " Without Smashan

Tara I could never have succeeded at the sadhana for Her Grand Consort, Lord

Shiva. Tantrikas and Aghoris work this way: First they achieve success at

sadhana for Shakti and then use that Shakti to move on to the Universal Soul,

Shiva.

>

> I spent three years at the Worli Smashan in Bombay performing

rituals before my Tara would finally agree to show me he sadhana for Mahakala,

the Destroyer of the Cosmos. That sadhana was impossible to perform in Bombay.

First I went to Neemtolla Ghat in Calcutta, and then I spent ten months on

Manikarnika Ghat in Benares.

>

> Manikarnika Ghat is called Mahasmashan, the Greatest Smashan. Not

even one second passes there in idleness; there is at least one body burning at

all times, around the clock. This has been going on for untold thousands of

years. The fire which is used to ignite the pyres has been maintained

continuously for centuries; it is never allowed to go out. People come for

thousands of miles Benares just so they can die there and be burned on

Manikarnika Ghat. Every day dozens of bodies arrive by train, the bodies of

those who died outside Benares but yearned to be cremated there. There are too

many bodies for them to burn down all the way to ash, so as soon as the skull

pops open and most of the flesh is incinerated the priests recite the

appropriate verses and push the corpse into the Ganges River to make way for

another one. As soon as the body hits the river, packs of dogs fight each other

for remaining morsels, and then the turtles and fish devour whatever is left.

> If you were to stay there ten months at a stretch like I did, and still not

realize that you are going to die, well, then, there is no hope for you. You'll

never realize it; you'll die in ignorance.

>

> I used to sit there all day and all night. I would cook my rice in

a fresh skull each day, without even cleaning out the bits of brain. The Smashan

is the ideal place for the worship of Lord Shiva because death is the eternal

reality and Lord Shiva is the Destroyer, the very embodiment of death. You will

always find Him among the dead, amidst spirits, corpse, and the ashes of burnt

bodies. Manikarnika Ghat is Shiva's favorite haunt.

>

> While I was doing this sadhana of Mahakala there eventually came a

time when I began to hear someone laughing in my ear and telling me, " You fool!

Do you realize what you are doing? If I come and stand in front of you, you will

have to die; there is no escape. No one can see Me and live because no one can

see Me except at the moment of death. "

>

> I laughed and said, " I don't care. I have to die some day, so why

not now? I am ready to die, but I want to see You. "

>

> This went on for several days. Then the voice said, " Listen, I'm

serious. If you keep this up it will mean your end. " Again I explained, " I am

ready to die, life means nothing to me. I am waiting for You. "

>

> Finally Mahakala became pleased with my sadhana and told me, " I

know you want Me to come and stand before you but you will not be able to endure

seeing Me and still continue to live. I will come and stand behind you, and I

will always remain with you at your back. "

>

> Since that day I have never been afraid of death. How can I be,

with the Destroyer Himself to back me up? I now know what death is and when it

comes to me I will embrace it, because it is my own beloved deity Mahakala.

>

> I started our talking about Shiva and then began to call Him

Mahakala. Shiva and Mahakala are two aspects of the same being. Call Him Atma,

Purusha, Universal Soul, Ultimate reality, God the Father or what you will,

Shiva is the One, the Absolute, the One without a Second, the embodiment of pure

consciousness. All duality exists in the manifested universe, and Shiva is

beyond all that.

>

> Or rather, almost beyond all that. Shiva has a form, which means

that His personality exists within Nature, created from Adya. Lord Shiva is not

absolutely absolute because out of compassion He has taken on an attributes,

though, do give Him certain limitations; very subtle ones, of course. So subtle

that from our point of view they are no limitations at all. But they are

sufficient to distinguish Him from Mahakala.

>

> Mahakala has no limitation of any kind whatsoever, at least in the

universe we know. He has no form at all, none. At least Shiva manifests a form

we can concentrate on. Mahakala is utterly formless, which means He can assume

all forms at will.

>

> Mahakala is the God of Time. He is Satya Sri Akala: True,

Suspicious, Beyond Time. He is Time: How can He be subject to it? Since time

exists only for mortals, Mahakala must be immortal, which makes Him true because

He is absolute, free of any taint of Maya. This makes Him auspicious, in the

true sense of the word. Mahakala is the only being of all possible beings in the

universe who never falls prey to Maya. Even Lord Shiva, the same essence as

Mahakala in a different manifestation with a different job to do, fell once or

twice. But Mahakala never even looks at Maya. No one can persuade Him to. When

He comes for you, no matter how hard you beg for five minutes just to put your

affairs in order, " no " is the only answer you will get. When even Lord Krishna

Himself could not induce death to wait for even a moment how will you be able to

do it?

>

> Why is this? Because Mahakala is the pivot on which the entire

universe turns. On the one hand there is the Saguna Brahman, the samsara, which

is the infinity of forms, endless. On the other, the Nirguna Brahman, which is

formless infinity, absolutely no form, zero as far as form is concerned. Between

these two, connecting them together, is Mahakala. He is the fulcrum, the tangent

between Infinity and Zero.

>

> DEATH AND THE SMASHAN

>

> If you know about birth you know about death, and vice versa. The

best place to learn about death is the Smashan. The Smashan is the true temple,

the place of Eternal Reality. When you go into an ordinary temple you go to ask

for some benefit – and if you see a pretty girl or a handsome man there in the

temple you will forget about the deity and start thinking about how to get hold

of that attractive but very impermanent human body. In the Smashan, though, all

you know is sadness and tears. If a man sees a woman he has to think, " Yes, she

will die and be burned or buried like everyone else " .

>

> When you go to live in the smashan you first lose repugnance as

you get used to living among corpses and bones and all sorts of other filthy

thing. After repugnance goes, fear goes because when you know what a thing is

you are no longer afraid of it. You learn about death, and it can scare you no

longer. After fear goes, shame goes, because you are no longer afraid to walk

about nude or to do what must be done there. You care for nothing then. Little

by little all the Eight Snares disappear.

>

> Most people go to the Smashan for only a day/ for the next week or

so they will have no taste for the things of the world, but gradually that taste

will return. This is what we call Smashan renunciation. It is false, fleeting,

easy to forget. Mahakala causes them to forget. If you stay in the Smashan long

enough Mahakala will cause you to forget the world permanently. You will forget

family, your friends, everything, and everyone. All you will be able to remember

is that you are going to die. This is true renunciation, which Lord Shiva alone

can give you. No one else.

>

> One day when I was sitting in the Banganga Smashan in Bombay I saw

the state funeral for the Governor of Bombay, Girija Shankar Bajpai. Soldiers

were firing rifles, politicians were making speeches: It was a big show. Right

next to the Governor's body was the body of a washer man burning quietly on its

own pyre. I thought to myself, " No matter what your position in life, everyone

ends up here sooner or later. " Another time I saw an old Jain Sadhu on one pyre

and a young child on another. " Age makes no difference to Mahakala, " I mused.

" When your time is up you pass away. " After so many experiences of death you

forget all about life; your renunciation is complete.

>

> The Smashan is called Shahr-e-Khamosh, the City of Silence. No one

goes there to sing or dance or laugh or enjoy themselves. No one goes there

without being forced to do so, and all those who do go there cry for their loved

ones who have left their bodies. Everyone cries—except the corpses. They laugh,

because at last they have been set free from their earthly shackles.

>

> Many people are terribly surprised to discover they have died.

It's not unusual; suppose you had been at work doing what you like best, and you

had a heart attack and died. Your mind would still be engaged in your work and

would take some time to disentangle itself from its worldly attachments.

>

> When death comes very suddenly like this, from a sudden heart

attack or an accident or whatever, the deceased becomes very confused after

death and must hover about as a spirit until he or she can figure out where to

go. This is why I always say that even though there may be great physical agony

it is better for the individual to be alert at the time of death or even to be

asleep and dreaming, to permit the personality to project inward and search out

the desires which will determine the next rebirth. My mother was well aware of

her impending death; my father had many weeks to prepare for his. But for most

people even the act of dying is full of terrifying uncertainty.

>

> You may do your best to communicate with dying people but it will

not help much. They have already entered a different world. You will notice that

a stage comes when the eyes begin to move rapidly and the lips form

unintelligible words. If you know about death you will know that the individual

is seeing Chitragupta's account book. What a beautiful word: Chitra, which means

picture, plus Gupta, which means secret. Secret pictures, images no one else can

see. And what is it? Only the subconscious memory, the causal body, the record

of all the life's karmas. While you are in there in the subconscious seeing all

the activities of your life flash before your eyes like a movie, as you review

all your past mistakes, can you be at all conscious of the outside world? No.

your ego, which up until then has projected outward through your sense organs

into the external world, self-identifying with the body, now projects inward

into the subconscious, trying to find something

> to self-identify with, selecting the karmas for the next birth. So, the son

or daughter may be wailing, " Oh, mother, mother, mother, please forgive me, I

never knew, " but it is too late, because the mother is entirely unaware of what

is being said. She has had to leave all connections with her physical body.

>

> There is a way to force a person to be alert at the moment of

death. You can actually force the ego back into the conscious mind and then

communicate with the dying person for a few minutes. But it is very difficult to

do.

>

> It is always best to have gone through the process of dying while

you are still alive. This happens, for example, when someone dies on the

operating table and is then brought back to life. The scientists who are

studying death nowadays have interviewed a bunch of these people, and they have

identified some of the sensations which one experiences at death: the movement

of the consciousness through a dark tunnel, the roaring noise, and

what-have-you.

>

> My foster daughter Roshni once experienced this. She used to drink

bhang (a preparation of milk and cannabis) every day. One day I was in a queer

mood, and I gave her the bhang personally. She drank it, sat down in the

armchair, and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes her pulse and her breathing

had both stopped. She came out of it after a bit, and I asked her what had

happened.

>

> " I was sitting in the armchair and flying through a long tunnel.

It took a long time to get to the other end, and when I got there I started to

go higher and higher. I was so scared I held onto the armchair very tightly. It

was a very big space, and immense space, that we—the chair and I—were flying

through, and I could see so many stars and other things that I can't express in

words. I felt myself being attracted to a source of divinity, of love, and just

then someone made me come back to my body. "

>

> And ever since that day she has been different. In fact, she

complains to me, " why did you have to being me back?' It was just like death,

and now she knows what it will be like to die, just as those other people who

have already experienced death now. And all of them will be much better prepared

for death than ordinary person, and their deaths will be much easier and better,

because they know there is nothing to fear. Death is not to be feared; birth is

to be feared.

>

> " Ante mati sa gatih " – whatever you are thinking about at the

moment of death determines your next rebirth. If you are aware at the moment you

die and you remember God you will definitely go to Him, there is no doubt about

it. It is much more likely that you will remember God at the moment of your

death id you have been remembering Him regularly all during your life. This is

why you must lose yourself in love for your deity so that you'll die with His or

Her name on your lips. So many of our holy books advise that in today's world

the greatest worship is the simple remembering of God's name. The Sufis do it

this way also. But do you think it is so easy to remember God at the moment of

death? Oh no!

>

> Once there was a guru sitting under a tree with his pet disciple.

As he was relaxing the guru saw a mango growing on the tree, very near the

ground, and thought to himself, " How much I would like that mango! " And just in

the act of asking his disciple to pluck the mango for him, he died.

>

> The disciple didn't know what to do. He was distraught: " Guruji is

gone! Now who will look after me and teach me? " Suddenly he had a thought: If it

is true that you go to whatever you were thinking of at the moment of death, and

since his guruji had asked him for a mango just as he died, then he must still

be somewhere around the area trying to get at the mango to fulfill that last

desire.

>

> So the boy plucked the mango, and, not knowing precisely what he

was looking for, inspected it carefully. He found an ant crawling on it, and

from nowhere, seemingly, another thought came to him: " Why shouldn't guruji be

in this insect? " He took the ant between his thumb and forefinger and crushed

it.

>

> Immediately his mentor was standing in front of him. " Thank you,

my beloved boy, for what you have done for me. I was indeed trapped in that any,

desirous of tasting a mango. You have saved me from many lives of grouping about

in Maya. " And he blessed the boy and disappeared.

>

> This does not mean that you should go around squashing ants. You

had better know what you are doing before you play around like this. The boy in

this story was just lucky – or perhaps you might say destined for it. How did he

know that the ant was his teacher? In fact, how did he even get the idea to

investigate where his mentor might have gone? It was all the play of his guru.

His guru inserted these two thoughts into the boy's mind. This is the beautiful

play of guru and disciple. The guru always knows what is going on but pretends

to be ignorant; the disciple is expected only to be sincere.

>

> But if you are not in a position to know about these things then

don't fool about with them. In this case the guru himself was lucky. Suppose the

boy had been a dullard, or ignored his intuition? The guru might easily have

become entangled in Maya again, through even such a small desire.

>

> Here is another story: There was an old woman who was truly pious.

She worshipped God regularly, daily for several hours, and in fact didn't do

much else. Towards the end of her life she became blind and had to grope from

place to place, but this made her worship all the more perfectly since she lost

most of the distractions of the outside world along with her sight.

>

> She was purely a vegetarian and ate very little. One day as she

preparing her food she accidentally stepped on a baby mouse, which she was

unable to see, of course. The mouse died with a squeal. She was softhearted and

thought immediately, " What has happened? I have killed something! " And with this

in her mind she suddenly died.

>

> Well, " ante mati sa gatih. " That last thought at the time of death

was for the mouse, so she had to be reborn as a mouse. Then, because of the

eternal flight for food, greed and anger returned to her, and she was back on

the downward spiral through the samsara.

>

> So, even the slightest attachment can do you in. on the other

hand, even the slightest attachment to God can save you. There was a man named

Ajamila who had performed plenty of bad karmas in his lifetime. As he lay dying

he could remember nothing but the name of his son Narayana. Now, Narayana is the

name of Vishnu, the Preserver of the Cosmos. And at the moment of death the name

of Narayana was on Ajamila's lips.

>

> Two demons came to drag his soul down into hell so that he could

atone for some of his karmas, but an angel stopped them and said, " How dare you

try to carry this man away? Don't you know he died with the name `Narayana' on

his lips? "

>

> The demons laughed and said, " Oh sure, he was calling his son. Is

that devotion? "

>

> " The fact is, he remembered Narayana, who exists in every human

anyway. He is coming with me, " said the angel, and Ajamila did get into heaven.

Of course he must have done plenty of penance in earlier births to get an

opportunity like that, but that shows the power of God's name.

>

> Almost no one knows the time of their death. But, thanks to

Mahakala, I can know everything about my friends will die, when they are due to

die, how death will occur; how many people will be present to witness it, under

what conditions the death will occur. Since now I have a special relationship

with Mahakala, sometimes He can be induced to show His magnanimity to them.

Suppose someone's destiny mentions a lingering death after accident. Mahakala

can arrange to finish that person off immediately at the time of the accident—no

suffering.

>

> You cannot outwit Mahakala, but you may be able to prolong life.

Mahakala always needs an excuse to take you, a concomitant cause. If you avoid

the specific situation which is fated to cause your death you can go on and on –

but very few can avoid it. Mahakala's effect on the mind is just too intense.

>

> Just recently one of my friends decided to go to Telegaon, a town

nearly Poona, on a holiday. I told him, " The next fortnight is extremely crucial

for you; don't leave Bombay if you value your life. " But he insisted upon going.

When he got to the railway station the lines were blocked and no trains were

moving. Instead of interpreting it as a bad omen and going home, he and his wife

sat on the platform and waited several hours until they could get train. They

went to Talegaon, and a few days later he died. No matter how long you are able

to evade it, death becomes inevitable eventually. You can't cheat death.

>

> Only one person is excepted: the Yogi. If he knows enough he will

know about his own death six months before it occurs, because then the Prana

will start to leave his body. Then, if he likes, he can decide the best day and

time to leave his body, and when he is ready he will call all his " children "

together to receive his last blessings. After he says good-bye to each one, and

the auspicious moment he has waited for has arrived, he sits in the Lotus

Posture and goes into a trance. Suddenly there is a loud pop – Phat! – and a jet

of blood spurts up from his Shivarandhra (posterior fontanelle of the skull).

That is it; he is gone, free.

>

> Remember what Kabir says: " When you come into the world you are

crying, and the world is laughing. You must live your life in such a way that

when you go the whole world will cry, and you will laugh. " And he did it too.

>

> But it is very uncommon to die aware like a Yogi does.

>

> If people could only know what happens at death and after death

they would not make so many mistakes. My Ravi and I burned my father at

Banganga, in the same place where I burned my mother and my son, Ranu, and where

I will be burned one day. When my father's body was in flames, don't you think

his spirit must have been hovering about it somewhere? Of course it would have.

Suppose you came home from work one day to find that your landlord had thrown

you out of your flat, and the building had been condemned by the city and then

demolished. Wouldn't you hand around the area for a few hours or a few days to

reorient yourself? Every dead person hovers about the body, wondering what to do

next. Why do you think the Hindus cremate their dead only a few hours after

death? Because the spirit may have some hope of returning to the body as long as

the body exists. When that body has been reduced to ashes, though, the spirit

has to find its own path. Burial encourages the

> spirit to hover about for quite a long time, especially if the body is well

preserved. Muslims hold a forty-day reading of the korant to which the spirit is

specially invited, but this is not good because it makes the spirit linger. The

sooner the spirit leaves and begins to find its own way, the better.

>

> The poor dead person wants to let everyone know he is still alive

and may become quite perturbed when no one around his body is listening him,

which is only reasonable, of course. You too would feel offended if all your

relatives suddenly started to act as if you weren't there, when it is obvious to

you that you are quite present. You can't blame the friends and relatives for

failing to respond to the deceased's calls. Humans, except those few who posses

very subtle perception, cannot see or hear the dead.

>

> This is why I say that very few death rituals in any religion have

any significance at all for the dead person. The priests invented most of the

ceremonies as a means of making money from people's gullibility, which is bad

enough except that almost none of the priests know anything at all about

spirits, nor can they see and converse with them. The Vedic religion is not

composed of useless rituals; those which are meaningless were added later by

greedy priests.

>

> After death the corpse is to be bathed, according to tradition.

This is a good example of a meaningless ritual. Is there any use in bathing a

corpse? Have you ever heard of anything more ridiculous? What is the use in

cleaning it when is a few hours it will become ash, or worm or vulture food? Is

the deceased worried about feeling clean when he no longer has a body?

>

> You know, one day I had an interesting thought: We Indians are

mostly vegetarian, and when we die we are eaten by vegetables; that is, we are

consumed by wood, which is a plant material. We eat us in return. This is the

Law of Karma. Muslims and Christians are predominantly meat-eaters, and when

they die they are buried and become meat for worms to eat. Parsis are also

meat-eaters, and when they die they are exposed on the Towers of Silence, and

the vultures come and feast on them. I tell you, there is no escaping karma at

all, except by grace.

>

> What is even more amazing to me than the way people hold tightly

to tradition is the changes which come over the deceased's loved ones. I will

never cease to be in awe of Nature, of the power She has over the human mind.

Five minutes before he dies a man's wife hugs him, kisses him, and cries over

him. Five minutes after he dies she is afraid to touch the dead body; that

peculiar feelings is there. Of course she feels peculiar. Even when they used to

enjoy sex and thought they were getting enjoyment from the body, they were

really enjoying something else: each other. You never feel like cuddling or

fondling a dead person because there is nothing within to cuddle or fondle; only

the outer shell remains.

>

> Shall I go further? After the husband dies his corpse is removed

from the house, and even after his cremation the ashes are never brought home.

Why? Because his spirit might come and trouble his wife. How absurd! Don't

people have any common sense? They have been married for years, and they must

have made love hundred of times. If the spirit does come he will love her, he

will try to help her out; isn't it logical? But when it comes to death, very few

do what is logical.

>

> When Roshni's father died I warned all his relatives not to waste

money on any rituals. I told them frankly that there was no use and whatever

could be done for him was up to me to do. His sister said to me, " You are a

Hindu; what do you know about our Parsi religion? All the rituals will be

performed and the family will pay for it; that is our way. "

>

> I told her, " This has nothing to do with religion; this is a case

of looting my poor children of part of the money their father left and that too

for something which is useless. If it could do some good I would never object. "

>

> But she wouldn't listen to me. Eventually I lost my temper and

said, " Go ahead and do it and face the consequences. " They did, and within a few

months this lady and all the relatives who had abetted her injured their left

legs. She broke hers so badly it had to be put back together with screws and a

metal plate. Only my foster daughter, Roshni, was spared; I've always been fond

of her.

>

> When one of my Guru Maharaj's disciples died I was told that he

was going to be burned on a sandalwood funeral pyre which would cost about

$3,000. Isn't it the stupidest thing? When the spirit has left the body, is

burning it on sandal wood going to make any difference? When you finally leave

your body you see so many new things, you experience so many unique things, that

you have no time to bother about how your old body is being destroyed.

>

> At the time of cremation a Pinda (ball of rice flour) is put out

for crows to eat. The crow is a very smart bird. If a good observer is nearby he

will notice that sometimes no crow will take the Pinda. Now, crows are always

hungry and they would like to take it, but that spirit is hovering around the

Pinda and is refusing to allow any crow to eat it. The spirit is very

frustrated. He has been calling and calling but no one can hear him. This is the

only way in which he can draw attention to himself.

>

> When you notice that the crows are not eating the Pinda, you must

understand that the spirit has some Vasana remaining, some earnest desire that

was left unfulfilled during his lifetime. Then, if you care for the peace of the

spirit you must go to the Pinda and say, " If you have some unfulfilled desire,

come to me in a dream or tell me in some other way, " and the spirit will try to

contact you.

>

> This very thing happened to one of my " children " not too long ago.

He did not talk to the Pinda, but one of his recently deceased friends came to

him in a peculiar sort of dream and asked him to help provide a better home for

his now fatherless children. And he is going to do that now, to satisfy the

spirit.

>

> Both the Hindus and the Parsis offer food to their departed loved

ones, who consume it ethereally by smelling rather than tasting it. The external

form of the food doesn't change. I caution everyone I know never to eat food

offered to a dead person. Such food has been polluted by the spirit's intense

desire to return to physical life, which has a ruinous effect on the mind. You

can even make a practical demonstration of this. Find a saint in Samadhi and put

some of this food into his mouth; he will directly come down from his Samadhi,

the pull of the physical is so strong. Priests are well intellects are so

materialistic even though they worship continuously.

>

> The rituals of death in their simplest forms have been propounded

because there is some value in doing them. But you need to know what you are

doing. Do you have any idea why we Hindus always lay the corpse out on the

ground with the head to the north? You know that the magnetic lines of force of

the earth run north and south. There are three important benefits in this

practice. First, rigor mortis stets in quickly and decomposition is hastened.

Second, the magnetic field reacts with the body in such a way that the spirit

cannot reenter the body even if it tries. Third, in this position it is easier

to perform Kilana on the spirit and do Pitri Tarpana immediately, which will

help the spirit find its way to a new womb much faster and easier. After death

the spirit is confused, uncertain of what to do. It is up to you as a loved one

to do your utmost to give some direction to the after-death experiences to

minimize the feelings of loneliness and terror of the

> unknown.

>

> Pitri Tarpana is one of the after-death rituals which is really

useful, if you perform it correctly. It is a process by which you invite your

dead ancestors and attempt to satisfy their lingering desires which prevent them

from making their way higher in the hierarchy of existence. Did you know that

this can actually alter you genes and chromosomes for the better? Suppose one of

your ancestors was a debauchee, very fond of sex. When he dies his lust will not

disappear, he will carry it along with him. He will long for sex, but since his

body no longer exists he will have no way in which to satisfy his desire.

>

> However, his genes and chromosomes still exist. They have been

passed down to his children and grandchildren and so on. There is no real

difference between seed and tree, is there? One old geezer's lust will be left

by his descendants; so long as they have some of his genetic material in them

they will vibrate at his wavelength, at lease to some extent. You have millions

of genes; not all of them work at once. How does the body decide which ones

work? This is one way.

>

> Now, if Pitri Tarpana is performed and this ancestor is made to

take birth in a new womb – probably an animal womb since he is so overcome with

the animalistic desire to copulate – he will have a nice new body with which to

enjoy sex. He will self-identify with his new genes and chromosomes, because he

won't be there broad-casting lust for you top resonate with. This will make your

mind firmer, less sexy.

>

> Your ancestor will bless you for giving him a means through which

to fulfill his desires. Besides, you owe a debt to all your ancestors for having

provided your physical body to you, and this is one way to pay off that debt and

eliminate the karmic bond. Isn't this wonderful? Everyone is happy.

>

> This is one of many reasons I hate communism. Communists are

taught to forget their parents, to denounce them if they work against the state.

If you destroy your parents, who are your roots, how do you ever expect to

prosper? On the contrary, you'll degenerate, become more primitive and barbaric.

I hate communism!

>

> Your ancestors are one of the reasons it is troublesome to be reborn. Every

time you are reborn you have to cope with the idiosyncrasies and whims of all

your dead forebears, and by the time you are finished overcoming all those

limitations your life is over. That is why once you reach a certain stage in

your sadhana you begin to crave for freedom from the obligation of being reborn.

And let me tell you: salvation, Moksha, freedom from rebirth, or whatever you

want to call it is Shiva's grace, nothing else. Lord Shiva tells His Shakti,

" All these fools You have created to play with should be put to sleep; male them

unaware of the truth and let them grope about. Only a few will I allow to reach

for Me and come to Me, and then merge into Me when they are perfectly aware. "

>

> This is why everyone who goes to the cemetery cries; in fact the Smashan is

also known as Rudra Bhumi, the place where tears flow. Ordinary people cry

because they are deluded by Maya and are self-identifying with the relative or

friend who has just died. Saints and immortal beings cry tears of joy because it

is in the Smashan that they see their true personalities, their true selves;

because what is Lord Shiva but pure consciousness?

>

> What state is Shiva in? Samadhi nishto: permanent samadhi, eternal oneness

with the universe. Shiva's samadhi is different from ordinary states of samadhi

because Shiva is aware of everything at all times. In ordinary samadhi you may

lose your awareness of external reality: Shiva, though, is perfect awareness.

>

> Shiva is almost never touched by Maya. He is the creator of Maya and allows

Her to play about as She wishes. He can never die, because all other gods and

celestial beings in the universe are subject to His jurisdiction; if He were to

die how could He take them when their time came to cease to exist? The God of

Death is the only being in the universe with the authority to take life; without

that authority even He could not do it. An ordinary policeman can arrest a

governor or a prime minister on the strength of his badge; without his badge he

is powerless. Shiva has the right to kill.

>

> Since Shiva cannot die He was never born, because everything which was born

must die. Death treats all beings alike. This is why Shiva is called Swayambhu

or self-existent, not subject to birth and death. You may have seen the icon of

Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of Dance, where he us surrounded by the flames of

dissolution as His dance creates, preserves, and destroys innumerable universes

simultaneously according to the rhythm of His two-headed drum. Shiva is the

source of that sound. He is pure rhythm.

>

> You see, Shiva is absolute. Any form you worship is only a form, and your

worship is worship of the absoluteness behind it. For example, take the Shiva

Linga, the most commonly worshipped image in India for thousands of years. What

is it reality? It is absolute firmness, stability. What is firmer than a rock?

You may beat on it, shake it or do whatever you please to it but it will never

budge.

>

> The Shiva Linga is Shiva's penis, and the base in which it is mounted is His

wife Parvati's vagina. There is a saying in Sanskrit: " Bhagamukhe linga,

agnimukhe parada, " which means " no matter how well you discipline the penis or

solidify mercury alchemically, the penis will always ejaculate when place into

the vagina, and mercury will always melt when put into fire. " But this is not

true of Shiva. He has completely burned lust from His consciousness. His penis

forever resides in Parvati's vagina and yet He never loses control. This is why

the Tantric alchemists worship Shiva, because mercury is Shiva's semen and only

through His grace can they achieve the ability to solidify it so that it will

not melt even when cast into fire.

>

> Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas is said to be Shiva's abode. Why? Because it

is intensely cold. Where there is no heat there is no mental turmoil. Heat is

turmoil, which arises from desire. Lord Shiva has gone beyond all desire – but

that is not so easy.

> Life is only a memory. It may be a sweet memory or a bitter memory, but it

is only a memory. As long as you remember that you are such-and-such a person

with such-and-such an address and you have relatives and friends and whatnot,

you can stay alive. When you forget—when your karmic debts have been paid and

your warehouse of karmas is empty—you can no longer self-identify with anything.

Without memory there is no life. In Sanskrit the word for memory and the word

for the God of lust is the same: samsara. Desire is the cause of karma, and when

desire is destroyed memory too will go, and you will be free. This is why Lord

Shiva is called Smarahara (meaning Destroyer of Lust as well as Destroyer of

Memory). Sma in grammar means " past. " Memory is only of the past. Sma-rahara is

He who transforms you from present tense to past tense, He who kill you.

Sma-shan is the place where you go from present to past, where you are

transformed from existence into a memory.

> What happens at death? During life the body is sustained by the ego, which

self-identifies with the body, the relatives, the personality, and so on. Your

ego is nothing but your Kundalini Shakti, your own personal fragment of Adya.

All during life your ego tries to find Her mate, Her controller – Lord Shiva –

and because we have forgotten the truth we find evidence of Shiva in other

people, and convince ourselves that we have located what we have been searching

for.

> When Mahakala comes to a person He calls to the Shakti to come and unite

with Him. This is why Mahakala has no form; He has every form. Every created

being is only half and spends its entire life trying to reunite with its missing

half, to return to the state of unity. Mahakala is like a master key which

temporarily provides that perfect missing half, long enough for the individual

to forget his or her previous existence and tart on the road to a new existence.

> When Mahakala comes to a person and the ego-Shakti sees Him face to face She

suddenly realizes, " Oh, no! I am not the body, I am not this limited

personality, I am the Grand Consort of my Lord, the unlimited, eternal

Personality! " because of overwhelming love the Shakti leaves the body to unite

with Her Lord, and forgets who She had been self-identify with. As soon as the

ego forgets to self-identify with the body, the individual dies.

> Some Yogis and some other higher beings exist in the Sadashiva form: Their

individual ego-Shaktis are merged together with Shiva at all times, but they are

not fully united since if they were, individual existence would have to be

terminated. This is very rare, no doubt, but when it happens you can go beyond

death.

> Mahakala is a Rudra; He makes everyone cry. Do you know that He also cries,

out of joy, whenever He takes anyone? He thinks, " By my magnanimity, I have

removed this individual from all the pains and miseries of existence, and the

fellow was not even aware of my presence. Now he is truly at peace. People are

fools to cry for their dead; they should cry for themselves. "

> Lord Shiva is Bholenath, the Lord of Compassion. He has not one atom of

cruelty in person. He is the kindest being there is because He receives you of

all your earthly agonies. Can anyone ever think of asking for more than that?

> Everyone is afraid of dying, which explains why no one is willing to love

Mahakala. Only two persons in all our scriptures have loved Mahakala and both of

them became immortal: Markandeya and Nachiketas. Destruction is necessary, but,

unfortunately, no one is willing to face death. Even for Rama and Krishna who

were real incarnations of God there was one moment of shock, one tremor, when

Mahakala appeared before Them. Some slight Maya was there, a momentary

remembrance of Their children or whoever. So, you see, the sight of Mahakala is

so terrible that even God incarnate quails before Him. Even Jesus had a moment

on the cross when His faith almost failed Him.

> Of course the sight of Mahakala is not terrible; it is wonderful. But the

ego sees Him as terrible because He has come to rip Her away from all Her

attachments, and some attachments go very deep. When she is free, She realizes

who She is and who Mahakala is. To remain alert at the moment of death is the

achievement of a lifetime.

> People think death is to be feared. It just isn't so. Birth is to be feared,

because when you are born you forget all about what you did in your past lives

and you go out and ruin yourself. But death is release from your physical

shackles.

> When Shiva comes to take someone He is very gentle, especially to innocent

and harmless people. And children! How he hates to takes children! He'll do

almost anything for a child just so it won't feel any fear; just so He can

release it from its suffering. Why does He love children so much? Because of

their innocence. They remind him of Gopala, Vishnu in the form of a baby. Shiva

cannot do without Vishnu, nor Vishnu without Shiva; preservation and destruction

go hand in hand.

>

> On 7

> Answers: 25 million answers and counting. Learn something new today

>

April 4, 2010

Becasue He knows that MA is WATCHING! :-)

vedic astrology , " Sangeeta " <avina121 wrote:

>When Shiva comes to take someone He is very gentle

April 4, 2010

Wonderful piece ! " To remain alert at the moment of death is the achievement of

a lifetime.... "

vedic astrology , " Sangeeta " <avina121 wrote:

>

> vedic astrology , gaya sar'nath <aghorabhairav@> wrote:

> >

> > SHIVA

> > (An Excerpt from the aghora book by Dr. Robert E.Svoboda, as told by

aghori Vimalananda)

> >

> > The world considers You inauspicious, O Destroyer of Lust who plays in the

Smashan smeared with the ash from funeral pyres, wearing a necklace of human

skulls, with ghouls for comrades. But for those who remember You with devotion,

O Bestower of Boons, You are supremely auspicious.

> > (Shiva

Mahimna Stotra, 24)

> >

> > MAHAKALA

> >

> > One day I said to Smashan Tara, " You are my Ma, my Mother, but who is my