Shiva Mahimna - The Glory of Shiva | Swami Sarvapriyananda

thank you umaya Thomas [Music] [Music] home lead us from the unreal to the real lead us from Darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality om peace peace peace good morning and namaste shivaratri the annual night long worship of Shiva it's a few days hence actually but we are doing an early observance and I was thinking what better way to worship Shiva than to you know seeing the glories of of Shiva In Praise of Shiva and what better way to praise Shiva than through the Shiva mahimna stotra we probably the most beloved most well-known and most magnificent hymn Sanskrit him for Shiva so I'm going to talk about that it's something that's recited by millions of people who were Hindus in India and elsewhere every day um monks Who as a rule do not frequent temples and do ritualistic worship but they worship Shiva Shiva is the god of them for them for the monks and so I remember this Monastery I stayed in for for a couple of nights in the foothills of the Himalayas ashram kailash is the Abode of Shiva and the ashram is also called kailash ashram there it is all about studying non-dual vedanta but one thing was compulsory that you have to go in the morning to the temple it's the Temple of Shiva abhinava chandreshwara so you have to go to the temple and attend the morning meditation and that combinates with a chanting of this hymn the shivama and so on and this is something that is chanted by people that in their homes temples Shiva temples across India and also across the world now so I'll talk about this of course I cannot go through the entire uh hymn with so many verses a few of them initial ones um it's also storytelling because it's full of the most Charming stories how do you deal with these stories how do you you know um get maximum benefit from these stories is a puranic Legends mythology but the moment you use the English word mythology myth means something that's not real you know but the really the religions called the Reza Islam said myths are always true because they are not about historical fact they're about spiritual truths so those are always true for all times for All Peoples to Vivekananda in one place he talks about uh how you how do you deal with these stories you just don't scrutinize them for which one is true because you will find the same story with multiple versions and all of them are true because they are meant to show us something not to tell us about a particular historical event they don't look at it scrutinize it historically don't scrutinize it scientifically but he gives a beautiful analogy it's like water washing over you let it wash over you listen to it you know with reverentially Let It wash over you and let the flood waters recede it will leave behind he says it will leave behind in you a nugget of Truth leave behind some intuitive understanding which is difficult to put in language but you will get it so that's how you deal with these stories but just stories very nice stories anyway I sometimes think they would make a make a wonderful you know science fiction series or something like that with Hollywood special effects they would really so it starts with a story um with a one of those mischievous talented Celestial beings called gandharbas the gandharvas are the celestial you know the Heavenly musicians artists dancers poets they're very talented people I always say it's like Perpetual Juliet school here you know so they are so the greatest of artists they after they die they go to this world of the gandharvas now they are often also a little mischievous um they're fun loving people very talented but also a little mischievous now one of these gandhar was his name was pushpadanta the the author of this this hymn so this gandarva um once he was merely on his way he was a great devotee of Shiva the worshiper of Shiva he was merely on his way and according to multiple versions one version is he was on his way on his chill Chariot um so this Chariot Which flies through the sky another question was he was flying through the sky so he had super powers like Superman or something and then uh he saw this amazing Garden below him and then he swooped down this Garden belonged to the king chitra who was also a devotee of Shiva but he had this most wonderful garden and pushparanta who had super powers of invisibility so he becomes invisible and sweeps swoops in down on the garden and he sees these beautiful flowers and his first thought is such wonderful flowers they should be offered in the worship of Shiva so he goes straight away and he picks those flowers steals them basically and then he flies away again and he worships Shiva with those flowers now all wonderful devotional but it's not moral it's he's stealing things that do not belong to him so this is something you see throughout the stories of the gandharvas they create trouble now um the king he saw the garden was Barren wherever did the flowers go and he asked the guards the God said we didn't see anything he changed the gods and the next night Before Sunrise again and he saw the flowers which were blooming and he took them away again and the guards couldn't catch him wins it happened two three four nights in a row then the king thought this is not there's no humir human who's behind this it must be a Celestial being now how do I trap this being so what he did was he took the what is called nirmalya means the the you know the Bale leaves and the flowers which have been offered to Shiva and so they become sacred after the offering so he took them and he had them scattered around the garden just like ordinary leaves on the soil so the next night when uh swooped in and to collect his booty of flowers he accidentally trod upon the uh offerings which had been given to Shiva the leaves which are on the ground and immediately all his powers went away he lost all his powers and he became visible to the guards who were immediately rushed in and got hold of him he tried to become invisible not working he tried to fly away not working I mean one version says The Chariot was became just an ordinary child it couldn't fly anymore couldn't become invisible so he was in one version of the stories at that moment he composed this hymn to praise Shiva and to repent for his misdeeds another version is that he was thrown into prison without all his powers he lost his glory and thrown into prison there in Repentance in tears he composed this him to Shiva and Shiva appears before him and restores all his former glory and blesses him and releases him from prison so that's the story of pushpalanta and the composition of this beautiful hymn Shiva mahim na stotra so we are going to there is also a slight addendum to the story after being released when Shiva appeared before him and after being released from prison pushpasanta became slightly vain he thought look I have composed the greatest hymn to Shiva so this is my glory and immediately nandi the bull shiva's bull who's there always with Shiva then they grinned at him and on the gleaming teeth of the bull he saw the entire him already written there long before he composed it so that smashed his ego you know that it's not by his own powers that he came up he was able to do this but uh out of the grace of Shiva himself so that's the story I'll chant the [Music] um verses and talk about it a little bit so it starts like this foreign what does this mean he starts off by saying if praising thee O Lord Shiva if praising thee by one someone who is ignorant of thy greatness it's Unbecoming in that case even the Praises of Brahma and all the other gods they are inadequate because they also do not know your glory not the full extent of your glory and if it is all all right not blameworthy if someone Praises thee according to that according to their powers you know whatever their capacity is in that case it's all right then in that case even the some humble offering which I am composing this is also without blemish so it starts up on a very uh humble tone that um even the gods they cannot praise you see when you praise somebody or something that depends upon knowledge one must know what one is praising but then it becomes that becomes a difficult condition because when it comes to God who knows God who knows the extent of the magnificence and the greatness of God in that case who is qualified to praise God Swami Vivekananda once he was asked why don't you write a biography you know SRI Ram Krishna more than better than anybody else why don't you write a biography of Sri ramakrishna and he replied in a Bengali phrase he says when you um you know it was the a practice to make clay images of Shiva and worship so sometimes if the person who's making the image is not a good Craftsman or maybe a child so instead of looking like Shiva it looks like a monkey so the phrase goes this Bengali saying goes that um you know you start off trying to make an image of Shiva and end up with a monkey so Vivekananda said that you know when he was asked why don't you write a biography of Sri ramakrishna he says I'm going to I start off writing you know making an image of Shiva and end up with a monkey that means I I cannot I mean whatever even the best effort that I put forth is nowhere close to the what's SRI ramakrishna um was or is just by the way this hymn is so popular Vivekananda quoted from the same in the world Parliament religions the first talk he gave on 11th September 1893 in Chicago in that first talk there was a verse which he quoted from this hymn which we'll come to later on so one must know something about God but then it becomes difficult because Brahm and the Ultimate Reality the absolute existence Consciousness Bliss is beyond all attributes nirguna beyond all attributes so it's never an object of knowledge then how can you know Brahman or Brahman as God as the Creator preserver destroyer of this universe is so full of infinite auspicious attributes I'm translating from the commentator ramanuja who is a great devotee of God and in his commentary on the bhagavad-gita the first sentence is one page where he writes about the auspicious qualities of Vishnu so there's so many auspicious wonderful infinite qualities of God who is capable of mentioning all of that in either case God Beyond attributes the absolute reality or God with attributes it's impossible for anyone to you know adequately praise God so that's what he's saying that avidusha those who do not know they will if they try to describe you asadrishi it will not be like you what you truly are it will not be an adequate description and who can know you who can know you or Shiva so there's a story yes another story about this who can know Shiva so when the universe was created you know the story that Vishnu the lord of the universe is always a couch potato he's lying on this this Cosmic Serpent and from his Neville comes the Lotus which blooms and on which Brahma the Creator is sitting so Brahma vishnaveshwara is the three deities you know Vishnu is the preserver of this universe Brahma is the Creator and maheshwar or Shiva is one of his aspects is that he dissolves or destroys the universe at the end of one cycle so in popular iconography in Hindu iconography you will see Vishnu reclining and on the net from the Neville of Vishnu there's a Lotus blooming and on that Brahma is sitting who will proceed to create the universe so Brahma creates the universe and then he happens to look down and sees Vishnu and says who are you and Vishnu says I am your creator Brahma said I created the universe you're my Creator what do you mean you're my Creator You're Nobody and so they start quarreling about who is greater Vishnu or Brahma and the gods become scared of this quarrel between Vishnu and Brahma so they appeal to Shiva do settle this quarrel and then Shiva appears before them in a pillar of Radiance or light or fire which stresses which stretches from one end of the universe to the other end so this is a very popular story so this is this Tower of light stretching from one end from the top to the bottom don't ask me how this is a top and a bottom to the universe there's just days you have to take it so I'm vivekan this to say this you know uh so there's this pastor in a small town in somewhere in in the United States he's giving a sermon on the creation of the universe so God created the universe and he set it out on the fence to dry and then somebody asked where did the fence come from and the pastor was Furious you keep quiet you will destroy all theology so let's just take it there's a top of the universe and the bottom and the pillar of fire extended all the way up and all the way down and whoever sees the top and the bottom of this Pillar of Fire pillar of Radiance they are great they are greater it's either Vishnu or Brahma Brahma says Okay I accept the challenge and he's rajasek you know he's the creator of the universe Dynamic and his Mount is the swan he writes on the swan so he goes into Swan he says I will go to the I'll fly to the top of the universe and find find out the upper limit of this Pillar of Fire um Vishnu is humble he says all right I will dive down and go to the bottom up and get to the bottom of this what is this Pillar of Fire and what is its extent so he takes the form of the varaha the boar the cosmic board the avatars are there so so he Dives he goes shooting downwards and Brahma flies upwards flapping up and on his Swan he travels and travels and travels and years and years pass and neither comes to the end of this endless pillar of a fire now Brahma is tired and his Swan can't probably can't take it anymore and so Brahma thinks what do I do if I go back and supposing Vishnu has found the bottom of this thing and then he will you know Lord it over me and he'll say I am greater than you so he decides to lie and he um those who lie they always get hold of witnesses so he says I'll have witnesses to back me up he gets hold of the sacred cow unless he tells the sacred cow that you you tell Vishnu that you were at the top of the this jyotirlinga the Ling of of a fire of light and you were sprinkling it with your milk because you have to pour milk on the shivalinga and then he gets hold of the ketaki flower it's a beautiful flower and tells the flower you you give false witness then you know that you were on top of the jyotirlinga because you put flowers on the shivalinga flowers leaves milk and water so both of them said all right you are the boss Brahma you know so they come back and Vishnu comes back and Brahma says well did you find the bottom did you get to the bottom of this Vishnu says I'm sorry but I didn't I couldn't find it it's bottomless all these years of traveling and I couldn't get to the bottom of it but Brahma says I got to the top of it and here are my Witnesses so if somebody's making a big claim and immediately produces Witnesses you know there's something fishy there here are the witnesses the and the cow said yes I was at the top of the um of the jyotirlinga and then the flower also said yes I was put on the top of this Pillar of Fire and then Shiva his booming voice comes and says oh Brahma shame on you you are you are charged with the creation of the worlds and you tell these lies so from now on Vishnu will be worshiped as I am worshiped but nowhere in all the lands will you be worshiped there's only one Temple of Brahma I think pushkar has been there otherwise nobody worships Brahma and then he told the sacred cow that fire on you for lying and so from now on you will lick dirt with your tongue so and the flower kataki and fire on you for lying you will never be used for worship and in fact that's true the ketaki flower is not supposed to be used for worship of Shiva or for for worship of the Gods I checked I asked Chad GPT um is the flower UK turkey flower used for worship and the first thing it says don't use it for worship stop I'm not in those words and then told this story with with a Twist a different different version of this story different version of this story but anyway so even Chad jpt agrees you should not use the ketaki flower for worship in fact story about being unable even Brahma and Vishnu being unable to find the limits of Shiva pushpadantha mentions it in this hymn he says this is the tenth verse in this hymn I'm just skipping it to chant that is Brahma Brahma who tried going high up and Vishnu who tried going down below failed to measure the you had taken the form of a pillar of fire of a of an infinite Pillar of Fire afterwards when they praised thee with great devotion and Faith you reveal yourself to them of thy own accord showing that your worship never goes without result so this is how he has put it anyway the point being he says even Brahma and others even their praise is not adequate because they cannot measure your limits so this is the the story is meant to show that um another beautiful verse here which says that if you know your qualities your auspicious qualities are Without End and if the goddess of learning Saraswati were to write about your qualities and if the whole world where it's you know the scroll on which it uh the goddess of learning rights and if the Blue Mountain with the you know powdered into ink and the ocean where the ink part and the branch of the Heavenly tree Surat the tree in the heavens the branch where heard pen the quill even then she would not come to the you know it would not be adequate to write all of your qualities a very beautiful verse um so I'm vivekanth has quoted it once and more than once Swami turiananda you find he writes he say he quotes this when he was asked to talk about SRI ramakrishna he says he quotes this verse it's a famous verse I'll jump ahead and just chant it because we're not going to get this is almost towards the end of the hymn the 32nd verse where he has almost come finished the hymn and then he says it's not adequate it's nowhere near adequate he says yati oh Lord Shiva if the Blue Mountain were powdered into ink you know if the ocean where the ink pot if the branch of the Heavenly tree where the quill or the pen and the Earth the leaf on which is written and if the goddess of learning Saraswati are called sarada if she were the one who was writing for eternity even then the limit of thy virtues would not be reached so what to speak of my humble effort at praising you it's full of wonderful hymns like that I am reminded of the story of the Buddha one of his disciples bowed down to him and said Master you have surpassed all the great teachers is none equal to you the Buddha immediately rebuked him he said why do you speak thus have you known and studied all the teachers of the past the student said no do you know all the great teachers who are there today students the monk said no and do you have any idea of all the great ones who will come in the sen you know in in the future in the Unseen future he said no then why do you speak thus never speak to us um that's why it's why Vivekananda called Buddha the sanest man who ever lived he said no cobwebs in that brain so it's a full of humility and devotion in Hinduism the Ultimate Reality God is understood in at least four different ways primarily one is of course the absolute the Transcendent absolute nirgunabram and existence Consciousness Place pure being pure awareness pure Bliss foreign the other is the creator of this universe God or lake Shiva for example so God is the creator of the universe the third one is not only creator of this universe but imminent in this universe everywhere because I said we Hindus worship a Transcendent imminent God Transcendent Beyond Time space causation Beyond Maya the absolute reality imminent in and through this universe and the fourth one would be the avatar so ishwara bhagavan saguna Brahman God the theistic god of religion also comes as an Incarnation so Hinduism is very big on incarnations mostly the incarnations of Vishnu fewer incarnations of Shiva but incarnation of God basically incarnation of God Avatar so four four aspects one the Ultimate Reality existence Consciousness place which we talk about in advaita vedanta which is where you can say I the individual being um and the God of this universe are basically one Limitless existence Consciousness place I am Brahman in that sense then the second one is ishwara or bhagavan second third one is um the imminent God in all beings in the in this universe the whole universe is divinized by the presence of God and the fourth one is um the avatara there is a very beautiful verse about Rama joram dasharat Ka beta foreign that Rama who is the son of the king dasharata is Avatar is the Incarnation is worshiped as ramachandra that drama is also the creator of this entire universe is the creator of this entire universe how how can the one who is born as the son of a king be the creator of the universe but not as as the son of the king in his real nature as Vishnu or as a you know as God second Abram manishwara that drama is also present in all his Creations every object in this universe the Divinity is present and finally and that is and that Rama also is transcendent Beyond everything time space causation is pure existence pure being so these different aspects are there we will come across it in the next verse the second verse by pushpadantham foreign and the really beautiful verse which says thy greatness is beyond the reach of mind and speech who can praise that which is even The Vedas described with trepidation by the method of not this not this 1980 how many qualities that does that possess and how and can be perceived by whom yet to that form taken later whose mind and speech do not turn so all these ideas of God are here one is the Ultimate Reality Brahman described in the open issues only as that he says it it is not an object it says of speech and thought that Ultimate Reality it cannot be seen heard smelt tasted touch it's not an object of a senses but at least we can think about it you can speak about it no it's not even an object of language it's not even an object of thought should Swami you are talking about it something that cannot be talked over you're talking a lot about it the great philosopher Wittgenstein he said um that which cannot be expressed in language must be passed over in silence and he says that is the mystical it talks about that um no it cannot be expressed in language why not ADI shankaracharya in his commentary on the manduki upanishad the seventh Mantra of the manduki upanishad sort of the climax of The manduki upanishad there the word is used it cannot be designated by words and then shankaracharya explains why can it not be designated by words why cannot Ultimate Reality why can't you talk about it why would language fail um he says in just one phrase you know there's a lot of philosophy of language What language can do and what language cannot do all of that in one sentence there are certain things which instigate the use of language and those factors are absent in that Ultimate Reality so what are the things which instigate the use of language um he gives you know these where can we use language what can language do so you can use language if something belongs to a class you know jati a Class A species so example he gives a cow I mean that's the typical example you'd get in India so cow and the cow is a member of a set of of a class of a species so you can use that word this is the definition of this set and this is a member of that set so you can use the word cow for that but Brahman the Ultimate Reality is not a member of a set there is not a whole set of Brahman and out of that this is one no so it's not a Class A set or a species you can't use a set designator set in the mathematical sense of a set so it's not it's not a member of a set second he says that quality Guna you can use language if something has some attribute here is a yellow flower and there's a white flower and there is a green flower and immediately you know what I'm speaking about as a point to it you immediately note them why how did this language work yellow flower because the flower is yellow the color yellow is there I was able to speak about it and you understood what I'm saying so flower member of a species a class so you immediately understand I'm not speaking about the altar I'm not speaking about the vas and speaking about the flower and you know what a flower is because it's a part of a class of objects with which you are familiar immediately identify it and when I say yellow flower it works even better you know specifically which flower I'm talking about here so quality you can use language if there's a quality if there's some attribute characteristic but Brahman the Ultimate Reality we say it's beyond all attributes just now we heard so Ram sabse different from everything else quite a part Transcendent no attribute can describe it no attribute can limit it therefore no quality nirguna what else can language do well language can describe action kriya shankaracharya says in that one sentence he says it can describe action so would the person the driver of the car parked outside the ashram don't worry there's no nothing like that right now would they your car is getting towed would you just go out there and take a look no that there isn't right now uh now how do I how did it work how did this language work there is a driver somebody who fulfills a particular function an activity and we understand what that activity is so when I use the word driver of that car um you see the word driver can designate an action a person who's doing that action can we do that to Brahman yes Brahman is without action nishkriya the Swami didn't you just say Brahman creates this universe but remember in advance actually does not create this universe it's like in your dreams you went to a place and you saw the sky and the Earth and people and maybe a restaurant and you're having a cup of tea or coffee and then afterwards if I say you were the you are the one who made that cup of tea and made that restaurant and all those people and you said no I didn't make them I dreamed it up they appeared but I'm not actually I never actually did any any of that similarly Brahman from an advantic perspective the universe actually doesn't exist it's an appearance in Brahman our Brahman itself appears as this universe subraman is not really the creator of this universe you cannot ascribe any action to Brahman it doesn't work is there any other thing that language can do language can express a relationship Guru or a father or mother some kind of relationship human non-human whatever relationship but relationship always requires two in Sanskrit with sambandha relation the definition is a relationship exists in two terms at least today must be a second thing apart from that absolute reality for it took have a relationship with something even see God has a relationship Creator created but the absolute by the very definition moment you said the second thing apart from the absolute then the absolute you don't understand the definition of the word absolute there cannot be anything apart from the absolute absolutely then it is no longer the absolute it's non-dual non-dual literally means no second if there is no second what relationship is possible so relationship also won't work language cannot express Brahman because there's no relationship but there's one last fling that language can take in an attempt to express Brahman what is that last attempt it's called designation in Sanskrit Rudy conventional designation is a fancy word but for saying naming so when you name a baby Mary or Sita or Ram or something how does that work it has it has no particular you know it's not designating a Class A quality or an action or relationship it's just a name from now on this baby is called say Ram or something how does it work you have to point the baby out point the person out this person is named such and such thing then only the naming will work if you just say um that person is wrong you will ask which person who are you talking about point that person out you say I can't then the naming didn't work so you can't say for example let's just call it Brahman Atman God the question will be which one what are you talking about I can't point it out it didn't work then nobody understood what you talked about so all of these the five ways in which language functions jati class or you know set or species the relationship or conventional designation naming Rudy none of them apply to the Ultimate Reality and hence it says language doesn't work all of that he just said it in one word here transcends language the use of language you cannot objectify it with thought I'm thinking about Atman now well whatever you're thinking about it's not the Atman it's not Brahman Brahman is however there it's because of that you are able to think the canopanishad says starts and the the first thing is a question what an amazing question it's a literally Cutting Edge now a question of consciousness because of what bright being of what bright existence Deva The Shining existence are we having this experience of thinking of speaking of seeing of hearing all these first person experiences we are having because of what one thing see he's not asking there about the vocal mechanism how do you speak or he's not asking about the visual or auditory mechanism how do the years function rise function no no he's not asking a physiological question he's not asking a linguistic question or biological question or medical question no not even asking a question about brain science if you're asking a question about our first person experience what the neuroscientist Christopher calls the feeling of life itself this life which we have with experience which we have the feeling of life itself of seeing hearing enjoying suffering thinking understanding remembering forgetting all of these experiences their experience itself is possible because of consciousness this is the essence of Consciousness and that's why this is not a whole heart problem of Consciousness and all this is going on right now it's Cutting Edge we say vedanta is ancient god often describe the ancient spiritual philosophical wisdom of India but professor in them chakravarti said another meaning of vedanta is The Cutting Edge of knowledge not ancient means Edge so the original meaning is the final last highest teachings of The Vedas that is vedanta therefore it's vedant the end of The Vedas but he says also the edge of The Vedas the word The Razor's Edge is used in the upanishads shurasyadhara to describe of course there is to describe the delicate difficult nature of this knowledge but arindam chakravarti the philosopher he says that it also describes the very nature of this knowledge that it is always The Cutting Edge of knowledge even today in the 21st century and specially true today because we're talking about the you know the heart problem of Consciousness and all of that um language cannot describe it mind cannot objectify it and again upanishad says it's because of you the Consciousness that the mind is able to you get the experience of thinking speaking hearing seeing so what do the upanishads do what does the how does it express Brahman because if language cannot express it what are the upanishads what are The Vedas their language and if they're trying to express the highest the highest reality which cannot be expressed by language what option do they have so pushparanta here says Vedas upanishads they designate they talk about the Ultimate Reality Brahman you in which way not this not this not this not this and says scared nervously even the highest spiritual texts they nervously refer to you you know shakily referred to you as not this not this the only way if you cannot directly refer to the Ultimate Reality the way you can refer to the Ultimate Reality is by saying what it is not I can't say what it is but I can tell you what it is not how does that work not this what whatever you can designate by this so this thing which I see not what I hear not smell taste touch not that what I can speak about not that whatever I can think about not that If you deny all of that nathi not it not that then what you're what are you left with now why at emptiness so Brahman doesn't exist not that native the second native refers to that there's a beautiful story a monk told us um that imagine there's this little kid who has never seen a cinema a movie a film and his father takes him to see a movie in a cinema Hall so this example worked even when we were kids but now it doesn't work at all because everywhere people have seen movies on their mobile devices or whatever it is anyhow just imagine somebody a kid who hasn't seen it as being taken by the father to the city to see a cinema of a film so they enter the film Hall a cinema Hall and the movie has started imagine the movie has started see that's the problem right we always when we enter Life the movie has already started we never none of us got in at the beginning of the movie so we are thrown into the middle of the movie so movie has started and the kid is there and he's watching so I always use the example of the Mahabharata or ramayana you know maybe because the first movie I ever saw was um I think it was not Mahabharat it was ramayana where Rama and ravana were fighting and the special effects people kids would laugh at it today but those were amazing for us when we were kids so after some time you know before entering the hall the father explained to the kid you know what a movie is there's a screen and there'll be light and pictures on that and there's sound and all of a sudden that's a movie so after some time the kid asks the Father Dad where's the screen and the father points there and the kid goes imagine it's the battlefield of kurukshetra and Arjuna and Krishna are standing in so that that that guy with the bow and arrow said no no behind him or behind him the Chariot that's the screen no no Behind The Chariot Behind The Chariot you mean the battlefield that's the screen no no behind that the sky is the screen no no no no apart from all of that native you see apart from all of that by now I think people around there must be shushing them apart from all of that then the kid goes oh the screen is nothing then if you take it all of it then there's no screen nothing it's nothing says no no no it is all of that so he says Oh you mean the screen is the people with the bows and arrows and the Chariots and the elephants and the horses and the bad no no no no no how will the father point out because whatever he points out to there's a picture there there's a name and a form an appearance there which is true that Brahman is here in every every being but you can't point to it directly you have to negate so this is the word used which means the method of 1980 not this not this you have to deny that this is not brahmana it's not that the Ultimate Reality is a table or a chair or a person or space or time none of this then immediate mistake will be so that Ultimate Reality doesn't exist and you have to say not that either foreign from whatever you know whatever anybody knows that ultimate reality is different from it oh so it's unknown no it's different from that too it is other than the known also it's unknown no it's higher than known beyond the unknown so what's the one thing which is not known and yet not unknown also what's one thing you know it within codes yes you correct one brave soul owned up I am that yes you are that think about it even without all fancy philosophy what is it that we know about ourselves whatever we know about ourselves can be designated as this this body this mind this life this resume this this this this narrative these memories and If you deny that then nothing no not even that so that which is the real you you the Consciousness can never be designated as this in fact everything is designated as this to it it up to it to it appears this entire universe designated as this so he says this is how the upanishads scared nervously refer to that Ultimate Reality or there is another way not the Ultimate Reality but as the God of this universe you are the Creator preserver destroyer of this universe full of endless qualities even then it's difficult to refer to you because your qualities are endless as we just said the goddess of learning also cannot exhaust your qualities by writing about them then finally the third form see what I'm talking about are the different ways in which God is understood so next he says the later forms that you assume for the sake of devotees those attract our mind and speech what is the later form which one incarnations also is sure in the form in which Shiva Vishnu Devi you know so there is a form in which you can visualize and there is a story associated with all these stories there's a name Shiva maheshwara mahadeva so there's he says the form that you assume later for the sake of the devotees what is that form on Mount kailasha you are sitting there and dressed as a yogi with flowing matted locks and the moon on your forehead and the ganga flowing down your lock locks of hair and your blue in Hue sitted in meditation with a third eye with a snake coiled around your neck we're wearing clothes of the tiger skin things like that all the descriptions of Shiva he says when you have this description then all of our minds and speech are attracted that which is beyond mind and speech because it's not an object that's the Ultimate Reality next that which is so infinite in uh in auspicious qualities ishwara bhagavan the creator of this universe the one God of all religions and that is so infinite it you know praise can ever exhaust that can talk about it but now you have a further step down that God can assume multiple forms this is where Hinduism comes to its force that we are really great at that endless forms and names so you just have to go to a Hindu temple and see what are those forms and names he talks about it the arvachina means later they're very conscious that it's a later projection it's not the Ultimate Reality but it has this very great Advantage what is the advantage first of all it retains the Divinity of that Ultimate Reality second you can now talk about it praise it visualize it worship it all of the rituals you know hymns like this all of it now becomes effective so that is the special technology in Hinduism where the names and forms are the Divine names and forms are there see the names and forms in this universe what happens like the names and forms on the movie screen they prevent the child from seeing or understanding what the movie screen is because the attention is always drawn to those names and forms so similarly in samsara there is only one Brahman everywhere the same Rama is everywhere in every object however we don't see it why don't we see it our attention is diverted and confused by the presence of the names and forms the objects but now suppose you have a name and a form object and yet so it's divine it's satwik it doesn't Veil The Divinity behind so you can focus on an uh form image of Rama of Krishna of Shiva of Devi of Vishnu and that reveals the Divinity behind it sachidananda so that is the technology of you know names forms image worship so basically what he says is those names and forms projected afterwards whose mind does not go there whose speech does not go there so that's why I am also composing this him he's still making a case for why you should compose to him then the next we are only on the third mantra all right we'll just do that near me [Music] so he says obrahman or Shiva even the praise of Brahman of Brahma it falls short of thee who is the author of The nectar like Vedas so here another thing in Hinduism god not only creates the universe that's secondary God's Great glory is that God gives The Vedas God is the source of The Vedas The Vedas are even more important than the universe are so holy to the Hindu that if he loses his cow he goes to search for the cow in The Vedas because everything is in The Vedas you know he actually says this in complete works in a talk here he says when the Hindu loses his cow he goes to search for it in the way that it does because everything is in The Vedas so here you see that uh push presenter Praises you are the Creator not literally the Creator there are different theories on this The Vedas are Eternal coexisting with ishwara and from cycle to cycle when the universe is created each time God gives out The Vedas The Vedas are the storehouse of spiritual knowledge which are you find in the four Vedas of the Hindu religion but also vivekantha says wherever there is spirituality in every religion you will find this core spiritual truths which come from God so those are The Vedas you have given out this nectar-like Vedas so even the greatest of Praise Is you know small compared to what you have done um then why am I praising you he says my speech this hymn which I am composing he hasn't started yet he's just making a case for it which I am composing it it will purify my speech I am the beneficiary by composing this it's not that I have really glorified You by uh composing this hymn so this is the humility I've seen many great arthritic texts sureshwarachary is the most learned of shankarachary's disciples when he writes his Masterpiece the nashik teaching what shankaracharya has taught and then he says at the beginning why am I writing this I I can't hope to improve upon what shankaracharya has done but it's only to clarify my understanding that's why I'm writing so that's how the great Masters used to you know give for these great Spiritual Works philosophical works but with great humility I am purifying my speech that's why I am composing this particular hymn puramathana is do we have time for one yeah we have time for One More Story it's a nice story so I'll just tell that story um so here puramathana means the one who destroyed the three cities the story of the tripura Asura the demon who dwelt in the three cities actually there were three demons but I won't go into that that's a long story again so at one time this tripura these demons or three demons they asked Brahma for a boon and Brahma and they said let us be mortal and remember I said I can't give you that then they said all right in that case construct three invulnerable cities for us where we will stay one on earth made of iron one in the sky is made of silver and one in deep space made of gold the three cities and we will stay there and nobody can destroy us and it's only when all the three cities are together and that will happen once for an instant in thousands of years at that moment only it it can be destroyed and that too with if somebody can destroy all the cities with one Arrow then it can be destroyed something like that some very difficult conditions which means basically we'll be immortal nothing can be done to us and Brahma said all right you see this motive again and again in mythology in Hindu mythology so the this is how the three cities came to being and the demons lived there one city on earth made of iron one city in the sky is made of silver one city in the in space made of gold again very symbolic I'll tell you what it means actually now the demons became encourageable created havoc on the different worlds and anytime the gods or the humans start try to capture them they would Retreat into their invulnerable cities and nobody could do anything to them and they captured so many uh you know sentient beings and imprisoned them in these terrible cities finally the gods prayed to Shiva do something about these demons so Shiva is a very dramatic description in fact in this verse itself he gives a description how Shiva went and destroyed the cities in regards gave all their weapons and equipment to Shiva and Shiva goes up into the sky and you know there's this Silver City does it remind of your balloon floating in the sky somewhere and he shoots one Arrow at it and the the cities which had that moment they had coincided you know that they came in in uh in one line the three three of them were shot down on recently the third one over Canada yesterday so uh all the cities were destroyed in an instant so Shiva is also given the name Pura Matana or tripura the one who destroyed the three cities um there is I'll tell you the actual meaning but there's a very beautiful verse here which describes a dramatic verse which describes yes the 18th verse pushpadantha talks about this story I'll chant it and then translate it for you it's a destruction of the three cities [Music] when you wanted to thou you you wanted to burn the three cities which were like a piece of straw to you your chariot Earth the the Earth itself became your chariot Brahma became your charioteer the great Mountain meru was your bow the your bow the sun and the moons where the wheels of your chariot were how dramatic you know the Sun and the Moon with the wheels of your chariot your arrow was none other than Vishnu Vishnu was the arrow and yet why all this paraphernalia why all this equipment so equipped with f-22s and the missiles and it says you the Lord you are not dependent on anything you are playing with these things it is it's your Play It's Your Leela you could destroy the three cities if you wanted they exist at your whim they are destroyed at your whim but it's part of your Divine play all this drama of the of the planet Earth being your chariot and the Sun and the Moon being the wheels of The Chariot and brahmad you know driving this Cosmic Chariot and the meru being your bow and the Vishnu being the arrow and so and so forth and the three cities were pierced and destroyed and all beings were liberated that's the story um there is a Tamil version of the story which I just read in English translation which goes takes this little further it says you do not depend upon any of these actually do you know how the cities were destroyed when in the middle of this tremendous tumult of this Cosmic battle going on you smiled you're amused and the cities weren't were reduced to ashes you destroyed the three cities with a smile this it's actually a Tamil verse what does this mean is there any deeper meaning it's a nice story I'm not I'm sure Hollywood can take it up as like a science fiction space battle or whatnot uh but there's a of course a very deep meaning to it the meaning is that the three bodies the physical body and the subtle body and the causal body the physical body is this this is the Iron City the city on Earth where in the gross physical body and the sentient being we are trapped imprisoned here our real nature is Shiva but we are imprisoned here we don't we don't we are stuck in this life and there is a even worse City the silver thing not the balloon the silver thing in the sky the Silver City is a subtle body thoughts feelings emotions ideas our inner personality closer to us than our physical body also it doesn't matter so much what the body is as what our inner personalities our thoughts feelings our own little story and we are trapped there also get trapped even more so by that even that's not you that's also a prison that's also a city in the sky and there is a seed state in the darkness of outer space there is a golden city which is the seed the causal state which we experience in deep sleep in waking we are on this city on earth the Iron City in dreams we are in the city in the sky the Silver City and in deep Sleep the darkness of outer space it's the Golden City it's the seed of our entire limited personality Shiva who is the fourth not the Waker not the dreamer not the deep sleeper the fourth turia the Consciousness from that perspective he shoots the arrow of knowledge which pierces all three cities and showing us liberating the sentient being trapped in these cities showing us your real nature is pure Consciousness Shiva so this is the meaning no amazing these stories this is what Vivekananda means when he says let these stories sweep through you like water and when the waters have receded they'll leave a nugget of Truth inside you which is most valuable I'll end with a verse again from this hymn which is the last verse chanted in all the worship of Shiva when Shiva is worshiped shivaratri in all Shiva worship at the end this verse is chanted um or before that what was the words that Vivekananda chanted in the world Parliament religions yes I didn't get to it actually but uh here is a very famous verse from this you can see the where SRI ramakrishna his Harmony of religions everything is coming from is from the seventh verse here one of the most famous verses the verse goes trees there are all these different paths there's the path of The Vedas three The Vedic path there is the path of the sankhya which talks about Consciousness and matter purusha prakriti there is the path of yoga the patanjali yoga the path of samadhi yoga nirutha there is the pashupata path the path of worship of Shiva where we shiva's the Ultimate Reality and we are all um pashu that means animals we are bound by Maya Pasha means Maya the Rope and the master of that rope is Shiva pashupati SRI ramakrishna used to say the same entity tied in the ropes is pashu the animal Jiva and tied and released from the bondage is Shiva you are Shiva in knowledge in ignorance tired in in this samsara u r g we can see the same story of the three cities you know he says even that even this teaching vaishnavam the vaishnava doctrine of Vishnu is God and all of Rama Krishna all of that comes from the vaishnava teaching vaishnava flavor of Hinduism different paths and they quarrel among each other mine is better this is better come to this path come here come here you can stand in the subway and hand out brochures come here this is better but pushparanta says because of difference in our mental Constitution and taste if they're all true why not why it's just one because we are not one we are various we have various mental constitutions some are devotional by nature some are philosophical by nature some are meditative some are action oriented most of us are a mix of these things most of them we have multiple cultural backgrounds so there is something or the other which will work for you once Swami Vivekananda this is the key to Swami vivekananda's apparent contradictoriness many people say you contradict yourself you say so many different things um once after one of his talks somebody came to him and said um I really liked what you said and Vivekananda said it's for you and somebody else nearby piped up and said I didn't think it was all that great vivekan said then it's not for you this is this idea we are not all the same there are we are trapped in different ways and different techniques and different methods different approaches will free us different stories will free us different stories suit us the truth will it will point out the same truth within us but since we are trapped in different ways the methods of freeing us also must be a little different because of different difference in Constitution and taste Ruchi taste did all these wonderful beloved most praised paths some are straight some are long and winding but what happens you are the one ultimate goal of all beings of all sentient beings yield at Ultimate Reality and notice he's being pretty non-sectarian here he's worshiping Shiva but he's already included the path of Shiva in one of the many paths just like then it gives a beautiful example just as all the rivers flow into the ocean similarly all these paths flow into thee so these are different paths are different they take different courses they're different each of them has its and this is they are all beloved they are all Noble they're all wonderful paths and they're all different from each other they're all unique and that's the economy of God in which all these paths are there these last two lines like as it all rivers flow into the ocean oh Lord all all men worship you in different ways this vivekantha quoted in the world parliament of religions in the first speech itself so the final verse I'll chant and end this is how the Puja of Shiva the worship of Shiva ends um where is this verse at the very end of this hymn pushparanta says truly speaking I do not know your reality what you are and what you are like I do not know I do not understand who knows whatever you are like oh great God mahadeva my salutations to you as you are whatever you are you only know what you are o mahadeva tadres in that form known only to you in that reality my salutations again and again to you I pray to Lord Shiva mahadeva and the Beloved of pushparanta srirama Krishna Masha Radha Swami Vivekananda to bless us all with devotion knowledge and enlightenment [Music] thank you

Channel: Vedanta Society of New York

Views: 118,110

Keywords: vedantany, vedanta society of new york, sarvapriyananda, swami sarvapriyananda, sarvapriyananda lectures, swami vivekananda, vivekananda, vivekananda teachings, vedanta ny, vedanta, vedanta lectures, belur math, jnana yoga, hinduism, spirituality, enlightenment, higher consciousness, meditation, mindfulness, realization, consciousness, moksha, nirvana

Id: B9w_BcGl1o0

Length: 69min 23sec (4163 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 18 2023