Friday, March 7, 2008

Shiva: Causeless Auspicious Energy!

For the first time in our lives, Shiva Raatri was really a raatri with Shiva! We started off the evening of Shiva Raatri, 6th March 2008 with a special satsang here, where we watched Swamiji talk about 'Shiva: the Causeless Auspicious Energy'. Truly, nothing could be more auspicious than being in His energy field. The beautiful energy play during the meditation and the energy darshan that followed!!!

Totally charged and rejuvenated after the satsang, four of us headed to our place with a resolve to do a jaagaran (night out). Initially none of us thought we could pull through a full night out physically, considering we had to be back in office/work/meetings/presentations the next day. But somehow, we decided strongly "today we will not allow our mind to cause us any fatigue, sleep or boredom"... after all, what better opportunity to soak into the causeless energy!

We selected and watched a few of our favorite videos of Swamiji, interspersed it with some Ananda Natana (blissful dance...yes, at about 3 am we were dancing away to the latest breathless Nithya dance beats!) and did a beautiful darkness meditation that converted whatever trace of sleep into fresh bursts of energy! There was simply so much energy everywhere, we thought to ourselves "its not just the four of us in that house.. Swamiji was definitely with us!!"

We then went for a 'Nithya Yoga walk' at about 5 am, every step with intensity, awareness, breathing in the cool fresh prana (life energy) of braahmi muhurtam (referred to wee hours of morning, ideal for meditation). It was such a fun packed day (night!).

At the end of it, something that proved to be an interesting learning experience for us. We could clearly see the liberation and energizing process that happens when we ignore the mind (in this case, the context of lethargy or tiredness). Swami in His latest talks on Nithya Dhyaan at Bangalore speaks about a wonderful concept, that of chronic fatigue. He gives an example. When we are running, after a while, the mind says "no no, I think you are tired.. I think you need some rest..etc". If at that point, we choose to ignore the ranting of the mind and continue running, He says we suddenly feel a tremendous burst of energy. This is because the samskara of chronic fatigue would have left our system for those moments and hence the liberation.. the energy rush happens. He goes on to say that if a seeker has crossed this layer of chronic fatigue, then 90% of his spiritual journey has been covered.

What a great opportunity to internalize so many truths! Truly, a night with Shiva, a night with the Truth, a night with Nithyaaaaananda!!

Here's Paramahamsa Nithyananda's video on Shiva:


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