Ego (lessness), the Shiva Tattvam

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Nagendra haraya Trilochanaya,

Basmanga ragaya maheswaraya,

Nithyaya shudhaya digambaraya,

Tasmai nakaraya namashivaya.

 

My salutations to the letter 'Na' , which is Shiva,

Who wears as garland the king of snakes.

Who has three eyes,

Who wears ash all over Him,

Who is the greatest Lord,

Who is forever,

Who is the cleanest,

And who wears the directions themselves as dress.

 

As seen in the above stanzas, Shiva is referred to as " Nagendra Haraya " and

" Trilochanaya " or " He who wears as a harmless garland the king of snakes,

Nagendra " and " He who has three eyes " .  What is the underlying symbolism and

tattvam of these?

 

The king of snakes has two meanings, in one sense, it shows that Shiva, the

Great Lord (Maheshwara), is the Lord of Time (Kala).  Time devours everything,

like a gigantic python devouring everything in its path, nothing is exempt from

the clutches of time -  all things eventually wither, decay, die, and are

renewed by Time alone.  In another sense, the origin of time is the mind, more

specifically, the Ego.  Hence, Shiva is the one who wears the garland of the Ego

as a harmless black cobra. 

 

In ordinary people, the ego is like a snake that grows with time and eventually

swallows the individual.  It lies quietly in the mind like a python swallowing

its prey piece by piece, expanding its jaws gradually until the individual is

fully engulfed.  If one is not careful, the ego wrapped around one's neck will

attack one's self.  So it is not for other people's sake that you should be

weary of your ego, but for your own sake.  No one is exempt from their own ego. 

Even Ganapati who initially showed pride with Shiva in his strictly following

his mother's command, was subject to the consequences.  However, Shiva's actions

are always for the good of the world (Loka Kalyana, or 'marriage of the world'

or 'auspiciousness of the world') and it was prophecied that the one who would

defeat Mushika and Gajasura (two demons / rakshasas) would lose his head and be

refitted with the head of an elephant.  In this way, the prophecy was fulfilled,

by the

grace of Shiva - who showers his grace in mysterious ways.  Eventually,

Gajasura's head became Ganapati's head, and Mushikasura became Ganapati's mouse

(vehicle).

 

For this reason, Swamiji has said:  " The mind is the friend of one who has

mastered it, and also the enemy of one who has not mastered it. "   This is the

Ganapati tattva - his unyielding surrender to Shiva (Lord of Consciousness) and

Parvathi (Prakrithi) is the basis for his entire Tattvam, and why he defeated

Skanda (the fastest, smartest, most beautiful, etc. etc.) in the race around the

universe to win the Mango (jnana-palam, or 'fruit of knowledge').

 

To master the mind and succeed in winning " the race " , surrender to the SatGuru

is absolutely necessary pre-requisite.  Of course, the moment it is met, the

race is already won.

 

For one who masters the ego, the ego remains as a harmless snake around the

neck, adorning him as an ornament.  Hence, he who is eternally ego-less, Sada

Shiva, is represented as one who has unpredictable and erratic moods.  Sometimes

these moods are expressed in the form of dance, and He is known as Nataraja

(Lord of Dance) for his mastery of the movements of the ego, and who gave dance

itself to the world.  Dance itself is a form of yoga - it represents the link

between the mental kriya and physical mudra, or the relationship between

physical action and the emotion behind the action.  Often he is shown as fierce

or angry or terrible (Bhairava) for this reason.  It is not that He is not in

control of his Ego, but that he uses it as a deluding and testing tool to weed

out the wheat from the chaff.  The snake (of ego) adorning Shiva's neck scares

away the false, leaving behind only the One Truth.  Underneath the facade of the

false ego, Shiva

is in fact the most compassionate, ...he is known as " Bhola Shankara " for this

reason.  He gives more than what is asked to those who are not even necessarily

deserving of what they ask for.   He is known as the one whose heart is like

that of soft butter.  But to access the Great Lord's heart (hridaya) one must

overcome the fear of the external obstacle (the apparent ego) that adorns Him. 

Only a true devotee who has mastered their ego (/mind) can shed his/her ego to

gain access to the fullness of Shiva within themselves.

 

Shiva appears most inauspicious because he is seen dancing in grave yards,

wearing burnt ashes all over his body, and having unkempt matted hair.  However,

the scriptures say he is also the Most Auspicious, as he is the Great Lord

(Mahedeva) and (God before all other Gods) Lord of Lords (Deva-adi Deva).  It is

because He is without attributes and qualities (nirguna / " digambaraya " ), that

he is considered most auspicious, hence, he is said to be " Nithyaya Shudhaya "

(eternal and eternally clean) and untained by the ignorance (the ego adorning

his neck, under His complete control).  The ashes adorning his body represent

the holy remnants (jnanam) that come from the burning of all ignorance (karma). 

He has thus the fruit of acquired knowledge accrued from the burning of karma,

by means of jnana tapas (sacrifice of knowledge), which remains on His body as

ash (representing the true eternal wisdom).  

 

If one approaches Shiva with deceit, arrogance, pride, and/or ego, one can be

sure that his head will get chopped off before (s)he can blink.  Shiva does not

accept falsehood and untruth in any form.  Shiva is known to carry an axe for

that explicit purpose.  He once chopped off one of the the heads of Brahma

because of Brahma's willingness to lie to win a contest between Brahma and

Vishnu, as to who could see the top of Shiva's head first.  This lead to the

curse of Brahma-hatya (killing of a knower of Brahman) for which Shiva is said

to have to undergone penance by roaming the earth as a fierce looking mendicant

holding Brahma's decapitated skull as a begging bowl.  One who approaches Shiva

without any pride, ego, arrogance, or other qualities, will be given unlimited

grace and knowledge - more than one is ready to accept.  Shiva destroys what is

false within one's self and renews and awakens oneself to the absolute Truth -

hence, he is the

SatGuru.

 

This is the Guru principle/tattva, and the tattvam of Sada Shiva.  May everyone

get the blessings of the most auspicious and beautiful Sada Shiva.

 

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Jaya Sri Swamiji! Jaya Guru Datta! Jaya Guru Datta! Jaya Guru Datta! 

 

---

Gurorangripadme ManaScenna Lagnam tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim! tata: kim!?

Sarva Kartha, Sarva Dhartha, Sarva Hartha, Mangalam!

Satchidananda, Satchidananda, Satchidananda Mangalam!

Tasmai Sri Guru-murthaye Nama Idam Sri Dakshinamurtaye!

 

 

Ata Nityo Narayanaha, Brahma Narayanaha, Sivascha Narayanaha, Kalascha

Narayanaha. Disascha Narayanaha, Vidisascha Narayanaha, Urdwamscha Narayanaha,

Adhascha Narayanaha, Antar-bahischa-Narayana.Narayana Eh Vedam Sarvam, Yat

BhootamYacchha Bhavyam.Nish-kalango Niranjano Nirvikalpo Nirakyadhas,suddhho

Deva Eko Narayanaha, Na dwiteeyosthi kaschit,ya evam Vedas Vishnu reva Bhavati,

Sa Vishnureva Bhavathi, Etat yajur veda sirodeeyathe.

 

 

Nagendra haraya trilochanaya bhasmanga ragaaya maheshwaraya nityaya shudhaya

digambaraya tasmai nakaraya na-ma-si-va-ya.

 

 

~*Om * Ayim * Hreem * Sreem * Siva * Rama * Anagha * Dattaya * Namaha*~