Maha Shiva Ratri: From the Dark Night of the Soul to the Supernal Light of God
Is the day holy, or do we bring holiness to the day?
Today is marked out as that day in which to devote full attention to Shiva-consciousness, to never fall into the forgetfulness of who and what we are, why we are here, and what is our ultimate destination.
Is the day holy, or do we bring holiness to the day?
Today is marked out as that day in which to devote full attention to Shiva-consciousness, to never fall into the forgetfulness of who and what we are, why we are here, and what is our ultimate destination.
Those who have forgotten who they are fall into false attempts to find security, in holding on to objects and persons and signifiers and numbers in a bank book, and other fictional representations of safety.
Others recognize that there is more safety in developing the capacities to navigate reality with wisdom, and they may come to believe that knowledge is power. But they soon discover that all knowledge that relates to the plane of maya is illusory knowledge. It fails at the moments when it is most needed.
Others would say that love is the power that we need. But love without truth, without wisdom, without willpower, will also prove insufficient.
And those who know, realize that power is knowledge. But it must be the power of God. That power is also love, and will, and the capacity for the miraculous. For the appearance of the magical. The “synchronicitous”. The unpredictable. The unprecedented. Because that power transcends cause and effect, or all limitations that are thought “realistic” by the ordinary mind.
And that power of God-consciousness, because it has neither fear nor desire, remains able to pass through the illusion of space and time, without being touched by its traumatizing nature, when it is taken for a reality, for a material matrix that is able to cause harm.
And so, the significance of Maha Shiva Ratri is to enter that abode of God-consciousness, in which no harm can befall you. No fear. No desire. No impurity. No catastrophe. It is that abode that is filled with blessing. With goodness. That is beyond the delusional duality of life and death. And does not torment itself with self-righteous pseudo-moral judgements. Or fall into either inferiority or superiority complexes, that cause it to fall into the further anguish of envy, or arrogance, or other forms of un-love that bring conflict and produce the results that are now writ large as Kali Yuga in its final phase.
A Sat Yogi does not abide in Kali Yuga, but in a more subtle yuga that intersects with it: Sangam Yuga, the yuga of the confluence of the Atman and the Paramatman. It is this reunification of the Self with the supreme One, that brings an end to Kali Yuga, and the birth of a new Sat Yuga, and the transcendence of the illusion of the cosmos itself.
But it requires the dedication of absolute consistent and coherent refusal to fall into the thoughts that the ego-mind would produce. It is that refusal to entertain egoic thought, that raises the vibrational level of the consciousness to transcend the gravity of the matrix, and become free to fly into the infinite Chidakasha, the sky of the supreme mind of God, in which this universe is simply a point of conscious awareness, that has no reality, except that of a passing dream.
On Maha Shiva Ratri, we are commanded by Shiva to awaken from the dream; to become the co-dreamer of the dream.
It is the best offer one will ever receive. To transcend the misery of the human level of consciousness, to enter into that of the divine. Would anyone pass up such an offer? Would anyone continue to entertain egoic thoughts? Once you understand that that is the only obstacle to your coronation and divination as the spiritual royalty of the new avataric generation that is to bring salvation to a dying world?
Would anyone choose the futility of the egoic desires, pettiness, emptiness, over this divine gift of grace?
This gift of intelligence, coherence, clarity, lucidity—this gift that is beyond mind, this gift that is beyond even the heart, beyond all attributes, that supreme absolute Source of all that is, or ever shall be, is offering to consummate a union that is eternal, and end your nomadic wandering in the bardos of despair.
It is open to all to receive this gift of grace, simply though the sacrifice of the ego identity, and its stream of thoughts, that interrupt silence, in which God’s presence can fully emerge, as yourself.
May we take advantage of this unique offering, that can be consummated only now, at the end of Kali Yuga, by entering into this more subtle yuga of unity, in which the world’s illusory nature will no longer deceive the discernment of the awakened buddhi, and the bliss of eternal Presence overrides all temptation to suffer.
With the clarity of pure intelligence, we can see without doubt, that all desire leads to pain and suffering, disappointment, devastation, and all fear is illusory. And all attachment to others is a rejection of God, and a falling into a miasma of helplessness, because we can offer no support to anyone, until we have taken the full support of God. No one can be rescued from maya, if you still require rescue yourself.
This is the moment that is given with the optimal conditions for Self-liberation. May you realize the appropriateness of accepting and moving through this widow of opportunity, without hesitation.
God offers his grace, but it is your own consciousness that must accept or refuse. Must transform and transcend, or stagnate and wither away on the egoic plane, along with all beings in this dying Kali Yuga. It is a choice of death or eternal life. There are no halfway measures, one cannot be in two boats, or two yugas.
Every soul is being weighed in the balance, and each of us must face God, knowing that there will be no excuses, and that all karma must be fulfilled.
Thus, we are at a time of deep solemnity and, yet, of infinite blissful liberated potentiality. Each of us must make this choice in the heart, and then act to bring the power of God into your heart, and mind, without obscuration.
It is not a part-time pursuit. May we have the wisdom, the courage, and the strength to make this choice, and to extinguish all sanskaras of the ego-mind, from disturbing that peace, that creates the inner temple, of a level of purity that is worthy for the arrival of God.
It is for this purpose that this day is set apart. May we make use of it, for the purposes for which it was intended by Lord Shiva.
Namaste, Shunyamurti