Narayana and Shiva-- one God, two forms

 Hari Aum.

I hope all readers are well and that your spiritual practice is going smoothly. With regard to my sadhana, I am glad to say that I am plodding on with the current purascharana. It is continuing at a modest seven malas of japa per day. 

I am also worshipping the Divine Mother daily-- I completed one year of Mother Lakshmi worship this month (on average, did 1 mala of Her mantra a day along with my Narayana mantra sadhana) and it has been lovely. My health and wellbeing are much better than they were this time last year and I am very grateful to Her for this. 

My plan is now to worship Mother Sarasvati for a few weeks or months by doing japa of Her mantra (again, around 1 mala a day). I feel inspired to connect with Her particularly since I have restarted my studies of music and dance in recent years. I will also recite the Saptasloki Durga more regularly (I want to keep the worship of the Mother mostly spontaneous though unlike the Narayana mantra recitation which is a daily discipline).

I want to say to anyone else contemplating the path of purascharana that it is very well worth it. I will admit that this practice is not without its challenges, but it undoubtedly brings support and encouragement from the Divine. And this support is often completely unexpected. There can also be spiritual warnings which should be heeded.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I sometimes get random dreams about the Divine (these often contain some help or guidance related to my life situation at the time; this started happening only after performing a regular mantra practice for some years). Recently, I had a completely out-of-the-blue dream of Lord Shiva. 

The past month has been very busy for various reasons including preparing for a trip to see my family in Kerala and to have a mini-pilgrimage. My evening mantra practice during this time has been less than ideal as a result-- done as a chore with not much devotion (the morning practice has been better luckily).

I feel the recent dream of Lord Shiva was a much-needed rap on my knuckles; it felt like a spiritual warning, being told off for being a bit sloppy with my practice. 

I will not go into all the details of the dream here but I will say that it was a darshan of Him in the form often depicted in pictures (matted hair, wearing tiger skin etc- this is a form that I never meditate upon nor do I even have pictures of this or contemplate Him in this way. If I worship Shiva, which is very occasional, this is always in the linga form. That made this dream seem even odder from my perspective). 

The themes of the dream were i) the value of time ii) death (this part was a bit unnerving to say the least as I seemed about to die in the dream but then quite unexpectedly did not!) and iii) the great importance of practicing the mantra of God. 

I have decided not to ignore this dream of Shiva and the message within it-- I will take it seriously (based on lessons learned from ignoring a warning from the Mother in a dream two years ago which I had dismissed as mere imagination; I have written another post on this. I ended up with a very unpleasant health issue during Navaratri that year as a result-- a slipped disc in my neck-- which by Her grace, I have now recovered from very well). 

As the New Year approaches therefore, I am pulling up my socks and re-dedicating myself to my spiritual practice. 

In the dream, when I saw Shiva, I greeted Him with 'Om Namah Shivaya' and 'Mrityunjayaya Namah' (meaning, Salutations to the One who is victorious over death, a well-known name of Lord Shiva). I was slightly on tenterhooks the morning after the dream wondering if it was a sign that my death was imminent (who knows, it might be, but I hope and pray it is not, as I feel I have much more to do here, including a lot more spiritual practice)! 

I did calm down after a while though and told myself that we all have to die one day and there is no point in being overly worried about it-- if it has to happen, it will happen, and one might as well make the best of the time one has left especially by doing spiritual practice and mantra japa in particular (my husband was not too happy with the dream though--he worships Shiva daily-- and half-jokingly, half-seriously periodically checked up on me that day to ensure that I was still alive and kicking!). The dream did have the desired effect of making me recite my mantra much more sincerely afterwards though. 

After the dream, I also wondered why I have recently been dreaming much more of Lord Shiva compared with Lord Narayana/Krishna (whom I think of much more in the waking state and actually worship every day). 

I therefore asked Krishna, 'Why don't You appear in my dreams more often? Why do I keep dreaming of Lord Shiva?" (Of course I am delighted to dream of Shiva too-- even if it was a bit scary!). This is possibly the third or fourth time I have dreamt of Shiva in recent years (and each dream seems to contain some poignant message relevant to my life).

It is true that I do not see Narayana/Krishna and Shiva as different at all. I see them as two equal forms of One God, one Supreme Being. I have great reverence for both forms whom I regard as equally sacred. 

However, many spiritual seekers have a personal favourite form of God, the ishta devata, whose darshan or vision they often long to see (in dream or the waking state or in some state of consciousness). And, I too have my ishta devata-- I chose Krishna/Narayana over twenty years ago and this has always felt comfortable, felt completely right for me. 

So it was quite puzzling to say the least to worship one form in the daytime and then dream of a different form at night. For a short while after the dream, I wondered if God Himself was advising me to worship Him as Shiva rather than Narayana/Krishna. 'Does God want me to switch ishta devatas?!', I wondered, 'Am I being asked to change paths?'.

The scandalous thought 'Should I change my mantra?' (to that of Shiva) flitted very briefly through my mind, a thought that was unthinkable in the past. The cardinal rule of yoga is that once one has chosen a mantra and been initiated into it and practiced it, come hell or highwater, one should never, ever change it. One must stick with one mantra until the end, until God is realised. 

One form of God, one mantra, one Guru-- the 'rule of the one' must be kept according to the yogis. This is essential for spiritual success and I have hitherto tried my best to keep this rule.

The thought then occurred to me that, despite all my spiritual interests, I do have a very sceptical side to my nature. Unfortunately I am not easily persuaded by 'signs' from the universe, whether in dreams or in the waking state. I often tend to doubt and dismiss these as mere imagination. The universe usually needs to give me a fairly big hint to get me to take it seriously I'm afraid (especially when it is a message that I really do not want to hear)!

Had I dreamt of Krishna or Narayana, therefore, I would immediately have told myself that this was hardly surprising as I often think of God in this form during the day; and of course, it is quite normal to dream at night about things that we see or think of in the daytime. I would have therefore have been more likely to feel that the dream was merely my imagination.

Dreaming of Shiva (especially this particular form that I have not seen in dream before) was therefore much more effective in getting me to listen, to sit up and pay attention. And I assume that is why this occurred.

So, the long and short of it, is that I am going to stick with my mantra and stick with my spiritual practice, and revive my sincerity while doing this. I respect all forms of God, and regard both Shiva and Narayana as one. I regard any dream of the Divine (regardless of the form) as a sign that my current spiritual practice is working and should be continued (not as a sign to change deities or mantras).

On that note, I would like to wish all of you a wonderful festive season/Christmas and New Year. Hope your sadhana is going well, and that God blesses all of us and the whole world with peace, joy and wisdom. As in previous years, let us keep up the daily prayers for peace in the world.

Om Namah Shivaya.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

P.S. As in previous years, the Krishna books that I have published on Amazon (in Kindle format) will be available for free download over the New Year period (from midnight PDT on Dec 30 to Jan 3 inclusive). Hope you enjoy them.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07B95YQCV/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=8d7d457a-fa06-4834-973e-c17fac521a35&store_ref=ap_rdr&ref_=ap_rdr

Clay, moulding and the potter's wheel

 Hari Aum.

I have always been interested in trying my hand at pottery. I like the look of clay and have always wondered what it would feel like to work with it to create something. For a while now, I have wanted to attend a pottery class and I finally got around to this recently.

I attended a beginners pottery workshop a few days ago which involved an introduction to the potter's wheel and also some simple hand building techniques. I discovered that I love, not only the look, but also the feel of clay-- the texture and working with it. It was fun to make some small pieces of crockery such as bowls and plates. I didn't get around to creating anything more exciting as a beginner but this felt like a good start to my pottery journey.

The potter's wheel is a particularly fascinating object in my view. Our teacher set it to spin at medium speed (it can spin slowly, quickly or something in between) as she said this would be ideal to enable us to create something (especially as beginners). Too fast and the slightest error would be quickly magnified, too slow and the clay would not respond too well to our touch. So the middle way, medium speed, was the best.

She then explained how to 'center the clay' onto the wheel, a process which looks simple until one actually tries it. Getting a lump of clay to sit perfectly in the middle of the potter's wheel is required to avoid making wobbly and lumpy creations-- if one wishes to make something smooth with proper symmetry, then centering correctly is apparently essential. There are various techniques used to center clay and we were introduced to one popular method.

Our teacher told us that 'the feel' of the clay was more important when trying to figure out whether or not it had been properly centered (rather than how it looked). It took some time and practice to work out what the proper 'feel' of centered clay was but we all got there in the end.

Once she centered the clay on the wheel, it was extraordinary to see that the slightest movement of her fingers produced dramatic changes in its appearance. A slight downward pressure on the spinning clay and it would rapidly transform into a flattened structure; a gentle upward movement at the edges and it would rise into a cylindrical shape. It was actually quite hypnotic to watch the wheel spinning steadily and magical to see the clay transform from one shape to another.  

It was a very good experience overall and I feel I would like to build upon my basic pottery skills by possibly joining a longer course over some weeks if time permits in the new year. 

The art of pottery seems to have a lot of parallels with spiritual life which is also an art. Not-too-fast but not-too-slow with the wheel very much applies to the speed of our spiritual practice--  to the amount of mantra japa, meditation and yogic practices that we do. The mind, like clay, responds to the slightest 'pressure' -- like clay is pliable and transforms like magic, so too does the mind. 

Sivananda says, in his writings, that we need to give permission to God to mould us (this is putting down the barriers of the ego), just as clay 'allows' us to mould it. A shapeless lump of clay may appear rather unappealing. But once moulded, by hand or on a potter's wheel, it can transform into a variety of beautiful shapes, some of which can of course be very useful (such as pots, plates and the like).

The problem, says Sivananda, is that the moulding process can sometimes be rather painful. Imagine if we were a lump of clay in the hands of a potter. We would be kneaded, pounded and beaten to have our rough edges smoothened! We would have water poured over us and have our texture altered. Then we would be rolled and pressed in various ways into a size and shape that looks pleasing to the eye and is possibly also useful!  

An instrument or two would also very likely be used to remove some unwanted extra bits of clay and to maybe decorate us. Now, in the hands of a talented and experienced potter, we would look very beautiful indeed at the end! But, the process that we would have gone through to end up there, all that pressing and kneading and cutting, would not have been very pleasant at all. 

If we cry out to the potter to stop the moulding halfway, or refuse to begin the process of being moulded at all, then we will sadly remain as mere lumps of clay-- that would be most unfortunate, as we would not be fulfilling our potential. Our potential to express the beautiful side of our nature as clay.

And this is why Sivananda tells us to avoid protesting when we embark upon our spiritual journey, when God begins to use various techniques to mould us into an image that He would like to see. Our higher mind, the spiritual side, is generally willing (and perhaps even happy) to be moulded but the lower mind most certainly is not. Our moulding in life involves being given all sorts of challenges and difficulties, things that we would not regard as pleasant at all. 

However, on the positive side, the Gurus assure us that, at any point in time, we will only be subjected by God to that amount of moulding that we can actually handle. The Divine Potter, being very skilled, always ensures that we are subjected to just the right amount of 'pressure', this is tailored to our needs. If, like clay, we respond well to this pressure, then something beautiful will happen-- we will find ourselves transforming and expressing the divine aspect of our nature.

Just like pottery though, this is an art and takes time. It is a slow and laborious process. But, it does bear fruit. So, as our Gurus advise, we need to plod on with our spiritual practices day after day, month after month, and year after year, until the spiritual goal is reached. 

And, from time to time, we also need to remind ourselves and accept that we all have feet of clay, we all have flaws of character and weaknesses within-- and that is ok, that is part of being human and precisely the reason we are on a spiritual journey (we would be expected to actively work upon these issues though and gradually improve over time). 

There really is no room for a 'holier than thou'  approach or moral policing on the spiritual path (some people on the spiritual path sadly develop this unfortunate habit which is not only unhelpful but rather harmful on this journey). (Note- this does not mean that we should accept negative/toxic behaviours from anyone in our lives; in this sort of situation, we would need to take practical action to protect ourselves).

Each one of us has a duty only to become a willing, mouldable piece of clay in the hands of the Divine. And, our Gurus advise us to achieve this goal by performing a simple, regular spiritual practice every single day (such as mantra chanting/meditation which enables us to connect with Him/Her). In addition, we need to accept the various life experiences that we are given (whether or not we particularly like them) as a form of divine moulding. Like centering the clay, this sounds easy but is of course not so simple to do. We do need to keep at it, however, just little-by-little, every single day (so that He can keep up His side of the work too!).

I will conclude by sharing a link to a beautiful song in praise of the Divine Mother that I recently discovered:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_0PVXI4RJ0 

May the Divine mould us all into that which He/She would like us to be.

Om Shri Durgayai Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.