Shiv Shiva Hara Mahadev Mahadeva Maheshwara Rudra Shankara : While popular belief has him residing on Mount Kailās in the Himalayas which Kālidāsa called “the massed laughter of Shiva”, for Sri Aurobindo “He sits on being’s summit grand, a peak of immense fire.... His voice is the last murmur silence hears, tranquil & dire” [SABCL 5:302], for he is the Divine’s Personality of Force, the Auspicious One, the Pure & White, the Ascetic, the Still, Contemplative Yogin, Lord of Tapas, Lord of Transformation. “Brahma, Vishnu, & Shiva, are only three Powers & Personalities of the One Cosmic Godhead…. All three are often spoken of as creating the universe.” – “Mahāshiva means a greater manifestation than that ordinarily worshipped as Shiva – the creative dance of a greater Divine manifesting Power.” [SABCL 22:390-91; s/a the Great Gods] He is Mahā-Kāla when complementing Mahākāli. Shiva as Omkāra expresses Brahma, Vishnu, as well as Rudra [Vayaviya Saṃhita 6.23-6.30]. Yoga begins with karma-yajña, progresses step by step from self-analysis or self-study, Jñāna-yajña, to the discovery of & meditation on the Self, then to tapo-yajña until one attains sāyujya, intimate union, with Supreme Shiva. The present Manvantara is the seventh. Mahā Shiva’s Tāndava, accompanied by his damaru (the echoes of whose powerful spiritual reverberation thunder all over the Brahmānda) transforms each Manvantara by destroying the old & creating the next evolutionary cycle on earth [Vishnu Purana]. The triangular upward & the triangular downward shapes of his damaru represent the Lingam & the Yoni (male & female procreativity) – a manvantara begins when they meet at the mid-point & ends when they separate from each other. The Nāga (cobra) round his neck indicates, with its upraised hood & light the illumination & victorious position of the emerged Kundalini Shakti, the divine power asleep in the human body’s lowest energy centre which, awakened in the yoga, ascends in light through the opening centres to meet the Divine in the highest centre & so connect the manifest & the unmanifested, joining spirit & Matter. Shiva’s trishūla symbolises various trinities: creation-maintenance-destruction, Sattwa-Rajas-Tamas. As his weapon, it destroys the physical world, the world of the forefathers (representing culture drawn from the past) & the world of the mind (representing the processes of sensing & acting) into a single non-dual plane of existence that is bliss alone. It also represents the three main nādi or energy channels: Idā, Pingalā & Sūshūmnā which, in the human body, meet at the brow, where the 6th chakra is centred; thence Sūshūmnā, the central one, continues upward to Sahasranāma, the 7th & highest energy centre at the top of the head. This is why its central spike, representing Sūshūmnā, is longer than the other two. [Shiva-mahā Purāṇa] The three-petalled Bilwa leaf represents Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, the three guṇas, his three eyes, & his three ayūdham (damaru, trishūla, pināka). Sōma (q.v.) was the first to invoke the Grace of Shiva by making a Shiva-lingam & worshipping it with cleansed Bilwas, in a sanctified site that later grew into Prabhāsa-Pātaṇ or Sōmanātha-Pātaṇ. Since Shiva appeared as a Column of Light in that Lingam, it became the first Jyōtirlinga & is called Sōmeshwara or Sōmanātha. The temple he built over it, according to the Dwādasha Jyotirlingam Stotram, is the first of the twelve most auspicious Jyōtirlingams (of sixty-four mentioned in other Purāṇas). Each of them is a specific emanation descended for a specific purpose, they are: Sōmanātha (Prabhāsa Pātaṇ), Mallikārjunam (Srisailam), Mahākāleshwara (Ujjain), Omkāreshwara (Māmaleshwaram), Vaidyanātha (Parali, Mahārāshtra), Bhīmashankaram, Rameshwaram, Nāgeshwara (Dwārkā), Vishwanātha (Vārānasi), Triambakeshwara (Nāshik), Kedārnātha, Gushmeshwara (Ellora).
... O, the Mother of the worlds! O, the Father! I bow to Ishwari (Shiva) and I bow to Ishwara (Shiv). Ever She embellishes the good, Ever He embellishes the evil; She is one with Ishwara (Shiv) And He is one with Ishwari (Shiva); I bow down to Ishwari (Shiva), I bow down to Ishwara (Shiv). Page 54 ... Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 8 Hymn to Hara-Gauri SHE is anointed with camphor and sandal And He with ashes of the funeral pyre; She wears true ear-rings And He rings of swaying snakes; I bow to Her, I bow to Him. She is decorated with garlands of Mandara And He with garlands of ...
... and restoring earth's balance, at first Agastya was reluctant as he had no wish to leave the pleasant side of the Great God. But Mahadeva persuaded him with the promise that wherever he, Agastya, found himself, there Shiva would show himself. Then Agastya prayed to Shiva to give him a knowledge of the country where he was being sent, and enable him to communicate with people there. The great God started... Therefore nobody was really surprised when Mahadeva called him. Yes, Rishi Agastya could attract people to him and restore normalcy in the earth's balance. Well, we know that today's happening is tomorrow's story and the legend of the day after. Tamils venerate Agastya as the first teacher of science and literature. The legend has it that when Shiva laid on him the task of going down South... divine Marriage. Obviously, that posed a great threat to the earth's equilibrium. 3 How to restore the balance? Imploring eyes turned, not to Vishnu who had tied the knot, but to the Bridegroom. Mahadev looked at the high assembly, then beckoned Agastya. Agastya, the offspring of Mitra and Varuna, the Sun-god and the Ocean-god, was born in a water jar, tiny as a fish, but of great lustre. He ...
... of the aspect. Thus Shiva has mostly been invoked to grant a liberation from the cosmic imbroglio — "Hara, Hara! Vyom, Vyom!" ("The Free, the Free! The Void, the Void!"): this has been the Shiva-mantra. The Free and the Void are indispensable to Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, for they are the base and the milieu for the supramental dynamism in the world. But if we go in for the Shiva-mantra as made effective... Sri Aurobindo any past spiritual way would be helpful for our ultimate purpose without the least qualification, without the slightest reorientation. Sri Aurobindo has never said: "Go and follow Shankara and you will reach the Supermind. Be a follower of Ramanuja or Chaitanya and you will automatically do the Supramental Yoga." Nor has he gone out of his way to advise people to take up old cults, ...
... or was it real - disappeared. There's another thing I would like to add. If there was a Deity that I had loved or worshipped before having the darshan of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, it was Mahadeva or Shiva. Perhaps that was why He had appeared to me in this subtle Vision. Page 17 ... was telling her, Mahadeva's hazy face emerged before my eyes. Ma told me to write about it in detail to the Mother. So I sent a letter through Nolini-da to the Mother recounting this incident Page 16 and requesting Her blessing. A few days later I received a letter from Nolini-da: Dear Shobha, I told the Mother about your darshan of Mahadeva. The Mother said... Living in The Presence Darshan of Mahadeva We returned to Calcutta after the August darshan in 1943. I was no doubt very young but Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's darshan had changed something very deep within me. In Calcutta, it was my responsibility to organise the puja for Narayan at home before I left for school. After returning from Pondicherry this time ...
... Indeed, dark like clouds are Her massive hair And His the twisted locks and a body smeared with ashes; O, the Mother of the worlds! O, the Father! I bow to Ishwari (Shivā) and I bow to Ishwara (Shiv). Haragauryashtakam 2, 7 Translated by Nolini Kanta Gupta CWNKG Vol. 8, pp. 53-54 वन्दे वरदम् वन्दे वरदं शुभम् वन्दे श्रीअरविन्दम्। vande varadam vande varadaṁ śubham vande... māheśvari varāṅgane, aśeṣarūpe rāpasthe jagaddhātri namo'stu te.8 tvameva sarvaṁ sarvasthe jagaddhātri namo'stu te.10 O Jagaddhatri, Thou art seated in the heart of the Great Lord of Yogis, Mahadeva on the Highest world, I bow to Thee. O Jagaddhatri, Thou art unapproachable, the Origin of the entire universe, the Consort of the greatest Lord, Siva, extremely beautiful, and art residing in ...
... care? Who has stolen your blazing might? Is it Krishna or Mahadeva or any other bold enough In the still night trembling to enter Lanka while she lay asleep? Oh! the irony of Fate! the unconquerable race Is conquered at last in a petty skirmish! Petty man is victorious in Titan's land! I could understand, if Rudra with his trident rushed in, His Cosmic might teeming with demi-gods... enfeeble the ardour of these senses. Page 186 I am a Rakshasa, once more I shall conquer All the world and enjoy the Infinite itself. Otherwise rest content, O jackals of Shiva's consort, Rest content, O you host of vultures A deathbed for me shall I build up like a hill With thousands and thousands of human and ape heads. Or I shall throw into devouring fire ...
... Puranic Triad Vishnu-Shiva-Brahma, provided the conditions of the Vedic work and stood themselves behind the more present and active gods, but are less close to it and in appearance less continually concerned with daily movements. The Puranic understanding of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva has a direct link and dependence on the Vedic understanding of Brahmanaspati, Rudra and Vishnu. The Veda... all the primitive material necessary for the evolution of the Puranic Shiva-Rudra, the destroyer and healer, the auspicious and the terrible. As far as Vishnu is concerned, we find that in the Veda, Vishnu supplies the necessary static elements in the formations of Brahmanaspati's words and for the actions of Rudra’s force. These static elements are represented by Space, the ordered movement... Brahmanaspati that the later conception of Brahma, the Creator seems to have developed. Both Brahmanaspati and Rudra are closely connected with each other in the Veda. The upward movement of Brahmanaspati needs a special uplifting force, and Rudra supplies this force. Rudra is named in the Veda the Mighty One of heaven. He is described as the One who leads the upward evolution of the Conscious ...
... addresses Rudra - the terrible and destructive aspect of the tradition al Shiva - as "most bounteous", "the good, the best among the Gods", granting "health unto our steeds, well-being to our rams and ewes, to men and women, and to kine" 19 Here Rudra is, as Ralph T.H. Griffith notes, "a gentle and beneficent deity", 20 the typical Shiva. Hymn II. 33.8 calls Rudra "fair-complexioned"... As we have been told by both Venkateswara and Griffith, the Rigvedic Rudra has on occasion a white or fair complexion and, as Griffith informs us, it is by this colour that the Rigvedic Rudra exhibits one of the origins of later Hinduism's Shiva. Not by being red but by being white in hue does the tradition al Shiva distinguish himself. How, then, can the Dravidian term Śiva, signifying... if Vishnu has an alter ego in Rudra, one can say of the latter, as Sri Aurobindo does: "Rudra is a fierce and violent godhead with a beneficent aspect which approaches the supreme blissful reality of Vishnu." 28 And Sri Aurobindo is aware of the Rigveda's own direct picturing of Rudra in tones anticipating the character of the post-Rigvedic Shiva. He refers to "a current opinion ...
... god are all the primitive materials necessary for the evolution of the Puranic Shiva-Rudra, the destroyer and healer, the auspicious and terrible, the Master of the force that acts in the worlds and the Yogin who enjoys the supreme liberty and peace. For the formations of Brahmanaspati's word, for the actions of Rudra's force Vishnu supplies the necessary static elements,—Space, the ordered movements... become and himself identical with the unity and totality of their embattled forces. Rudra is the Deva or Deity ascending in the Page 344 cosmos, Vishnu the same Deva or Deity helping and evoking the powers of the ascent. It was a view long popularised by European scholars that the greatness of Vishnu and Shiva in the Puranic theogonies was a later development and that in the Veda these gods... connection with other gods, because the function they fulfilled was of a constant and immediate importance in the Vedic discipline. On the other hand, Vishnu, Rudra, Brahmanaspati, the Vedic originals of the later Puranic Triad, Vishnu-Shiva-Brahma, provide the conditions of the Vedic work and assist it from behind the more present and active gods, but are less close to it and in appearance less c ...
... Dilip, 189 Rudras, the, 144-5 SAGAR, 56 St. Helena , 22 Saraha, 273, 278, 281-2 Sarama, 271 Saraswati, 138 Satyavan, 26-30 Savitri, 27-31, 112 Shabara,288 Shakespeare, 38n., 58, 59n. –Hamlet, 22 –Macbeth, 38n. –Ruhard the Third, 59n. Shankara, 195 Shanti... Shanti, 274-5 Shantipada, 267 Shastri, Pandit Haraprasad, 254 Shiva, 13, 41, 150-5 Shobhanaka,77-9,81 Shyam, Ruhira, 167 Page 312 Shyama, 159 Siddhacharya, 254 Sindh, 239 Soma, 134-6, 144,288 Sri Aurobindo, 3-14,22-3, 26-31, 35, 38-9, 52n., 57, 60 – 1, 66-7, 70-1, 88-9,93,95-6 ...
... pain, resentment, terror pass away. He feels the joy of the immortal play; He has the silence and the unflinching force, He knows the oneness and the eternal course. He too is Rudra and thunder and the Fire, He Shiva and the white Light no shadows tire, The Strength that rides abroad on Time's wide wings, The Calm in the heart of all immortal things. ... oppress the hills, And at the vision of His burning eyes The hearts of men grew faint with dread surmise Of sin and punishment. Their cry was loud, "O master of the stormwind and the cloud, Spare, Rudra, spare! Show us that other form Auspicious, not incarnate wrath and storm." The God of Force, the God of Love are one; Not least He loves whom most He smites. Alone Who towers above fear and plays... Epiphany Know more > Immortal, moveless, calm, alone, august, A silence throned, to just and to unjust One Lord of still unutterable love, I saw Him, Shiva, like a brooding dove Close-winged upon her nest. The outcasts came, The sinners gathered to that quiet flame, The demons by the other sterner gods Rejected from their luminous abodes Gathered ...
... following five statements.) Sri Aurobindo writes in his Essays on the Gita: "The law of Vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is paid." What does this mean? Mother, is the present situation in India like the debt which must be paid to Rudra? Here is the whole quotation which I had prepared in advance for those who would ask the wherefore of the present situation... the debt to Rudra is paid. To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind the law of love and oneness? Teachers of the law of love and oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate salvation. But not till the Time-Spirit in man is ready can the inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality. Christ and Buddha have come and gone, but it is Rudra who still holds... India is not the earth, rivers and mountains of this land, neither is it a collective name for the inhabitants of this country. India is a living being, as much living as, say, Shiva. India is a goddess as Shiva is a god. If she likes, she can manifest in human form. * India is the country in which the psychic law can and must reign and the time has come for that here. Besides ...
... great Prajapati, had a daughter, named Sati, whom he loved beyond all his children, and the Rishis wedded her to Page 1073 Mahadeva, the great lord of the Universe. The choice of the Rishis was not pleasing to Daksha, because he was unable to see in Mahadeva anything but a houseless ascetic wandering with the beasts of the field and the demons of the night, a beggar's bowl in his hand, his... the young Indian Nation. When the time for her marriage came, she chose for herself the bridegroom offered to her by the Rishis who declared him to be Mahadeva, the Destiny of India and her fated Lord. It was at sacred Benares that she first saw Mahadeva face to face and betrothed herself to him, but the marriage took place at Calcutta with a fourfold mantra, Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott, National Education... again, in a better and more beautiful body, and by terrible tapasya she will meet Mahadeva once more and be wedded to him in nobler Page 1076 fashion, with kinder auguries, for a happier and greater future. For this thing is written in the book of God and nothing can prevent it, that Sati shall wed Mahadeva, that the national life of India shall meet and possess its divine and mighty destiny ...
... with mercies without end. The abysmal night opens its secret smile And all the world cries out it is the dawn! Shiva is the One who is seated above, but it is the Rudra aspect that first appears. Although he is a child of the Dawn, Rudra is described by Sri Aurobindo as the most terrible of all the Vedic Gods - the Violent One who breaks down all defective formations... that hungers for release, the pyramid is able to be seen as the triangle-yantra in which the serpent power of evolution is pent up, reminding us that Rudra/Shiva is the one who leads the upward evolution of the conscious being. Shiva in his "measureless trance of truth" has his counterpart below in one who is locked in "the body's swoon of rock", whence the flames of his aspiration... the poem, no distinction is made between the Self above and the self below. They blend to a single identity, and in their union Rudra the terrible becomes Shiva of the "sweet silent face" who heals all wounds. The brain that bursts to a "hammer of heaven" is Shiva's - and it is also Earth's Roof, that is, the dome of human mind that Must bear a trampling terror Before we find ...
... wander fearlessly. Colourful birds continuously chant Her name melodiously among the splendours of magnificent nature. The Supreme Mother reclines on a unique divan supported by Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Maheshwara. The whole Universe dwells in the nail of the big toe of Her right foot. I once related this story to the Mother. She was charmed. I never forgot to kiss her right foot whenever I went ...
... Paul, 411 Sankhya,45,85 Satan, 46 Savitri, 163, 165 Second Empire, the, 418 Shakespeare, 79, 116n., 406 -Julius Caesar, 116n. -Hamlet, 72n. Shankara, 17, 21, 68, 71,403 Shelley, 209 Shiva, 129, 208, 339 Socrates, 116 Soma, 70, 208 Spanish Armada, the, 198 Sri Aurobindo, 3-4, 7-10, 17-19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 34, 36, 44, 59-60, 71, 84n., 85-6,89-91, 95... Raghus, the, 214 Rakshasas, 46 Rama, 58 Ramakrishna, 116, 128, 141, 160, 243, 247,383 Raphael, 210 Ravana, 58 Ravel, 427 Red Sea, 324 Ribhus, the, 208 Rome, 199,421 Rudra, 160, 163, 208 Russell, Bertrand, 56 Russo-Japanese War, 213 SAHARA,324 St. Augustine, 73 St. Francis of Assisi, 243 St. (}enevieve, 199 St. Matthew, 186 St. Paul, 73 ...
... the world and therefore utterly pitiless. She called the Yatudhani in her to her aid and summoned up the Rakshasi. The Yatudhani is the delight of destruction, the fury of slaughter, Rudra in the Universal Being, Rudra, the bhuta, the criminal, the lord of the animal in man, the lord of the demoniac, Pashupati, Pramathanatha. The Rakshasi is the unbridled, licentious self-assertion of the ego which... convention She danced over all Europe and the whole continent was filled with the war-cry and the carnage and rang with the hunkara and the attahasyam. It was only when She found that She was trampling on Mahadeva, God expressed in the principle of Nationalism, that She remembered Herself, flung aside Napoleon, the mighty Rakshasa, and settled down quietly to her work of perfecting nationality as the outer ...
... IV GENERAL Buddha and Shankara (I) To escape from life is a teaching based on the view that life is an illusion. The teaching began with Buddha. Buddha said that life or existence is the fruit of desire and that there was only one way of getting out of the misery, namely, to go out of existence. Shankara continued in that line. He added, however, that existence... , who come to prove that the Divine can live upon earth; whereas, each time that Shiva has manifested (the aspect that works to transform and destroy), it was in persons who have tried to fight against illusion and demolish what existed. I have reasons to think that the Buddha manifested something of the Shiva power. It was the same compassion and comprehension for all misery and it was the... He was on the brink of saying that the world was purely subjective, that is to say, a collective illusion, and if the illusion ceased the world would also cease. But he did not go so far. It was Shankara who took up the line and completed the teaching. In the more ancient wisdom, however, if one goes back to the teaching of the Vedic Rishis, for example, one finds no idea of escape from the ...
... Buddha and Shankara (1) To escape from life is a teaching based on the view that life is an illusion. The teaching began with Buddha. Buddha said that life or existence is the fruit of desire and that there was only one way of getting out of the misery, namely, to go out of existence. Shankara continued in that line. He added, however, that existence... preserves), who come to prove that the Divine can live upon earth; whereas, each time that Shiva has manifested (the aspect that works to transform and destroy), it was in persons who have tried to fight against illusion and demolish what existed. I have reasons to think that 'the Buddha manifested something of the Shiva power. It was the same compassion and comprehension of all misery and it was the same... He was on the verge of saying that the world was purely subjective, that is to say, a collective illusion, and if the illusion ceased the world would also cease. But he did not go so far. It was Shankara who took up the line and completed the teaching. In the more ancient wisdom, however, if one goes back to the teaching of the Vedic Rishis, for example, one finds no idea of escape from the world; ...
... Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva came to dominate and gave rise to a new pantheon. It must, however, be remarked that the predominance of this Trinity was a result of the significance that was attached to these three Gods in the Veda. Brahma evidently developed out of Brahmanaspati, Vishnu was already recognised as the all-pervading Godhead and Vishnu has a close connection with Rudra or Shiva. It is true... smites the sinner and the enemy. Agni, Kumara, prototype of the Puranic Skanda, is on earth the child of this force of Rudra. In these and many other aspects which are described in the Veda, we have all the materials necessary for the evolution of puranic Shiva-Rudra, the Destroyer and Healer, the Auspicious and Terrible, the Master of the force that acts in the worlds and the Yogin who enjoys... Vishnu and Rudra. In the Veda, Vishnu, Rudra and Brahmanaspati provide the conditions of the Vedic work and assisted from behind the more present and active Gods. Brahmanaspati is the Creator by the word, and it is from this creative aspect of Brahmanaspati that the Puranic conception of Brahma, the Creator, arose. For the upward movement of Brahmanaspati's formations, Rudra supplies ...
... poverty, instead of dimming your splendour, has, like the poison which casts off lustre around the throat of Mahadeva, 1 created such a halo of beauty round you as will animate all Bengal with hope, will regulate the license of every heart, will bring a new life to Bengal. 1. Lord Shiva, who drank the poison that emerged from the churning of the ocean and held it in his throat (hence his ...
... our cross." Disciple : Is Rudra Bhava something like Ramakrishna's story about the snake, where anger is to be shown without really feeling it. Sri Aurobindo : Not at all. It is something genuine, a violent severity against something very wrong. e.g. the Rudra Bhava of Shiva. Anger one knows by its feeling of sensations, it rises from below, while Rudra Bhava rises from the heart. I will ...
... uses His might under the guidance of the Knowledge. Balarama is the Kshatriya. He allows Srikrishna in Him to guide His strength and wrath, but He does not guide them Himself, He enjoys them. He is Rudra. Pradyumna is the Vaishya. He is for dana, prema, karuna. He gives Himself to men and buys their love in exchange. He is the universal philanthropist. He is the sweet and throbbing heart in things.... Once in each chaturyuga they come down together,—the chaturvyuha, Srikrishna, Balarama, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. Srikrishna contains all the others and puts them out from His being. He is Ishwara, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu. Lordship is His manifestation, Might and Wisdom are His gunas. Balarama is the second Power. Force is His manifestation; strength and wrath are His attributes. Pradyumna is the third ...
... powers that you saw passing in your vision. Parvati-Shankara It is probably the realm of the dynamic creative Spirit on the highest mental plane which you saw as the world of ParvatiShankara. Narayana, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ananta Narayana is usually taken as a name of Vishnu—to the Vaishnavas he is the Supreme as Shiva is to the Shaivas. Both are Page 155 cosmic... The vision you saw of the man and the fire at his feet was probably a vision of the God Agni from whom flows the fire of tapasya and purification in the sadhana. Shiva The vision you had was of the way to the goal. Shiva on the way is the Power that pours the light but also scrutinises the sadhak to see whether he is ready for the farther advance. When he lets him pass, then is the rush of... victory and Kartikeya the leader of the divine forces. Sanatkumar Sanatkumar is, I believe, one of the four mind-born sons of Brahma; he cannot therefore be identical with Skanda who is a son of Shiva. Buddha Buddha stands for the conquest over the Ignorance of the lower Nature. Apsaras Apsaras generally indicate sexual desire. Page 159 ...
... harbour early this century 25 An overview of Port Said 's harbour early this century 84 Rajnarain Bose in his later years (reproduced from his autobiography, courtesy the late Dr. Hara Prasad Mitra) 95 Krishna Dhan Chose (reproduced from Barin's autobiography) 104 Swarnalata with Manmohan, around 1877 (courtesy Sri Lab Kumar Bose and the late Sri Nirmal Ranjan Mitra) ...
... Parvati's lower lip trembled with anger. The corners of her eyes reddened. Contracting her graceful brows, she cast a scornful glance at this brahmin who dared say such harsh words. "You don't know Hara to speak to me in this way. Because petty minds don't understand the motives of great souls, so different from ordinary people, they criticise them. "People perform auspicious rites with the aim... Parvati's Tapasya Parvati's Tapasya A blazing fire sprung from Shiva's third eye, had consumed Cupid, 1 the mind-born god, and reduced him to ashes in front of Parvati, thereby shattering her hopes. Then the daughter of the Mountain 2 blamed her own beauty in her heart. For what use is beauty if it does not attract the beloved? She decided to take... austerities and mind-centered meditation in order to make her beauty bear fruit; for how else could she secure such love and such a husband? Mena, hearing that her daughter, who had set her heart on Shiva, was resolved to practise asceticism, clasped her to her bosom and spoke, trying to dissuade her from the terrible vow of hermits: "There are other lovable gods that don't dwell in wild woods or ...
... heart, for she was childless. Then an aunt-in-law living in Benares called her there. At Benares, with great devotion, she poured Ganga water everyday on the head of Vireshwar Shiva. One day she saw in a dream-vision Mahadev. He blessed her and then changed himself into a small boy. She took the child in her arms. It was the day of Ganga-puja — Makarsankranti — and group after group of people... of Vivekananda." The Master used to say about his Noren that he was a portion of Shiva — Ishwara Koti—and that he was of the eternally liberated souls — Nitya mukti— who can go up and down the ladder of existence. "And what was Vivekananda ?" asked Sri Aurobindo and answered: "A radiant glance from the eye of Shiva ..." The lion-heart of Vivekananda sought to shake the world. Yet ... "Vivekananda... Nor could he be distracted. Neither caresses nor scoldings did ever stop his lusty crying. One day his adoring mother lost her patience and exclaimed, "Oh, why, why instead of coming himself, has Shiva sent one of his bhuts [attendants] ?" But soon she discovered a remedy: whenever Bilay became uncontrollable, she would pour water over his head and say "Shiy-Shiy," and instantly the child would ...
... needs or enjoyments, her mind reject all thoughts, her heart abandon all attachments. Only the need for Shiva, the thought of Shiva, the love for Shiva should exist. In a bold effort she must refuse to be anything else than an intense flame burning only for Shiva. Thus for the love of Shiva, the Lord of Tapas, did Parvati resolve to undertake a great tapasya. The word tapasya so significantly... images from entering their minds; but when Kama had been ready to shoot his arrow of mango-buds at Shiva's heart, a blazing fire had flown out of the third eye of the great God, angry to be disturbed in his meditation. Only ashes were left where the god of Desire had stood. Not by desire indeed was Shiva's love to be won. Then Parvati understood that she had to go beyond beauty, beyond desire,... Then we discover the peak where Shiva meditates, "desireless in the blind desire of things". The scenery changes in the second canto and the reader is transported to Brahma's abode: all the gods have gathered there. They are harassed by the demon Taraka, and they complain that they are powerless against this great evil being; Brahma reveals that only a son born from Shiva and Parvati (Kumara, also known ...
... victory to Mother Mira. (3) Om the Supreme Mother of Bliss, Consciousness and Truth (3) Om... Om... Om... Om... Om... Om... Om... Guru is Creator, Guru is Sustainer, Guru is god Maheshwara, Guru is God incarnate, I bow to that glorious Guru, I bow to that glorious Guru. (3) Gurupurnima (13.7.1984) (Twelfth Night at half past twelve) ...
... metaphysical position helps one to ascertain the probable line of experience. For instance, if you accept Shankara's view of the Absolute then to you world would be an illusion. In an illusory world beauty can be merely an appearance. The Absolute of Shankara can have no such Lakshana. 1 Shankara perhaps might admit Delight—a pure white self-existent delight, but not colourful play of Delight nor beauty... formulas. There is no reason why art should go on repeating the same forms in order to express the higher Reality of the worlds above mind. For instance, Shiva and Ganesh need not have their steriotyped forms. As an illustration take the paintings of Shiva by the great artist Nandalal Bose in which the traditional rules of technique have not been strictly adhered to. And yet the work does not seem to be ...
... Narmada. It is one of the biggest rivers of India. Starting from the Amarkantak hills and after a long westward flow, it meets the Bay of Cambay. The Narmada is said to have issued from the body of Rudra. She is specially Page 180 View from Parvati Hill near Poona at the beginning of the century invoked for the cure of snake bites. In 1939 Sri Aurobindo described... metres high and one and a half Page 177 The temple atop Shankaracharya Hill metres in diametre. Behind it stands a South Indian bronze: a statue of Nataraja —Shiva in the dancing pose. He is shown four-armed. The upper hands hold the drum and the fire; and the upraised palm of a third hand gives blessing and reassurance, while the fourth hand points to his raised... This holy place has an atmosphere. But the whole of Kashmir is supposed to be holy. According to legend the land of Kashmir was originally a lake called Satisaras, the lake of Sati, consort of Shiva. Later a demon made the lake his residence and killed Nagas (serpents) and men living around it. King Nila of the Nagas invoked Vishnu, who counselled him to drain the water from the lake. To Ananta ...
... protecting the world and humanity. Every time the Mother has come down into this physical world, Brahman too has been present near Her in a physical body. Where there is Parvati, there is always Mahadev, Shiva. Where there is Ishwari, there is also Ishwara. Even though two they are in fact One. One cannot exist without the Other. The Mother has clearly revealed: Without him, I exist not; without... is halahal or poison. On the path of sadhana, the first thing that rises in the sadhak is all the poison from inside. And it is this halahal that is graciously drunk by our ever-ready redeemer, Shiva. The Divine, by agreeing to drink this accumulated poison that rises from the human sadhak, is in fact protecting him.1 I stood there speechlessly for some time. Then I whispered to the Mother:... the creation! And in trying to protect man and the world from the grip of these negative forces, I have had to swallow all this poison. In this way I am protecting the world and man.” We know that Shiva had swallowed halahal and it was lodged in his throat. But that was in the subtle world. And now Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were doing the same with all the poison and falsehood and deceit that ...
... his consciousness. He has done the sacrifice of the passions at the golden feet of the Divine Mother. Who can know the infinite power of the name, Kali? The God of gods, the great God, Mahadeva himself sings multiple-tongued praises to her. Page 59 ...
... Overmind My Pilgrimage to the Spirit February 20, 1932 Your experience means manifestly the uniting of the Ishwara-Shakti sides of the manifestation—as in the Hara-Gauri figure—with the result of a universalization of the individual consciousness indicated by the shooting out towards infinite distances. The currents are of course, the currents of the double force ...
... beginning I sought to recognize in Sri Aurobindo the Vedic Agni in its dual aspect —the blazing force of Rudra and the serene force of the Brahmic consciousness, radiant with supernal knowledge. When he started his work in the heaving politics of Bengal, it was the blazing, fiery aspect of Rudra that stood out in front. But those who associated with him in the National College saw his serene figure... of the trumpet of Shiva. "Another day. It was Saraswati Puja. We were all squatting in the courtyard. Sri Aurobindo sat next to me, his heavenly body almost touching mine. The Vaishnavic music of Kirtan was playing. It moved me so profoundly that I could not restrain my tears —they flowed in an incessant stream of ecstasy. But Sri Aurobindo sat, silent and immobile, like Shiva in trance. Even now... figure, glowing with a mellow lustre. These two aspects were fused into one in Sri Aurobindo as in the third eye of Shiva. 1. An acknowledged authority on Tantra, the Swami had collaborated with Sir John Woodroffe in his exposition on Tantric sadhana. Our text is derived from Rishabhchand. Page 334 "From among the days when I came into close contact with Sri Aurobindo, I can single ...
... entered the temple. They were wearing gar- lands of bones, carried tridents tucked in their waistbands and daggers and staffs in their hands. They rushed in shouting 'Hara, Hara, Thikarji!' They were a sect of Kapaliks that belonged to the Rudra-Bhairav group, addicted to liquor and who lived on what they got from their raids. The first thing they did was search the bag of the Bengali sadhu but they found... and sheltered himself inside even as he kept muttering the name of his beloved Lord. "The Kapaliks inside the temple went on drinking and making a lot of noise, shouting from time to time: 'Hara, Hara, Thikarji.' "Rain and thunder were raging outside. Just then a thunder-bolt struck the temple and one side of a wall collapsed onto the Kapaliks and they were all crushed to death. "Fate... had to rely on his sago and sugar-candy. "It has been observed among some fierce clans or sects of sadhus that they often raid one another. "One night this Bengali sadhu found refuge in a Shiva temple in a forest on the bank of Narmada. He settled down comfortably in a corner after tidying up the place. He lit a fire and sat on his blanket. It was winter-time and the night was very cold. He ...
... I read the following in The Indian Express of 2.9.88: Auroville Foundation Bill introduced. New Delhi, Sept 1 (UNI): Human Resource Development Minister P. Shiv Shankar on Wednesday introduced a bill in the Rajya Sabha to provide for acquisition and transfer of the undertakings of Auroville in Pondicherry to a foundation. The Auroville Foundation Bill 1988 ...
... participated in the meetings of the concerned Working Groups and especially those who chaired these meetings Dr T.N. Seshan, Professor S.P. Singh, Dr (Mrs) Shashi Sharma, Dr Ramarao Pappu, Mr Justice Shiv Dayal, and Professor S.R. Bhatt. I am also thankful to Professor M.M. Sankhdher who convened all these meetings. MADHAV K. MANGALMURTI President, Hinduja Foundation vi ...
... worship of Kartikeya prevails in some parts; Sri Rama or Sita and Rama are worshipped in some parts. But the full significance of Radha's pining for Krishna has been appreciated only by the Bengalis. Mahadeva (Siva) has taken his abode in many places, but it is the Bengalis who have been mad over his consort, Gauri. The doctrine of Vedanta has spread all over and has absorbed all other doctrines, but the... vital emotion, there they have excelled. They have adhered to it steadily and persistently like a leech and have brought forth argument after argument, truth after truth. It would be difficult for a Shankara to see the light ofday on the soil of Bengal; Page 206 but the birth of someone like Nimai Pundit (Chaitanya) is quite consistent, because there was a vast ocean of vital emotion... austerities in the temperament of the Bengalis. They cannot accept from the bottom of their hearts the stoic ideal of Mahatma Gandhi. Rabindranath is the model of a Bengali. The Deccan has produced Shankara; Nanak and Surdas appeared in the North; but in the fertile soil of Bengal were born Sri Chaitanya, Chandidas and Ramprasad. The cult of devotion exists, no doubt, in other parts of India; but the ...
... Mother, Blissful Mother, Mother of Consciousness, Mother of Truth, Supreme Mother, Supreme Mother, Supreme Mother, (3) Guru is Brahma (Creator), Guru is Vishnu (Sustainer) Guru is Maheshwara (Great God), Guru is God incarnate, I bow to that Glorious Guru. I bow to Guru; I bow to Guru; I bow to Guru; He who has the form of the infinite universe, who permeates Everything mobile ...
... battleloving Mahakali calms down and the universe is saved. This sadhak was saved only because Sri Aurobindo had Himself interceded on his behalf with the Mother. I still cannot forget that scene. Shiva, Mahadeva himself, taking Mahakali’s tremendous power upon him! Once while taking the French class in the Playground, the Mother spoke at length about the different forms of Kali. The Mother had... painting by Pramode Kumar Chatterjee: Mahadeva lying at the feet of Mahakali in her fearful dance in order to destroy the whole creation with that terrifying dreadful aspect of hers. She will not tolerate falsehood or the slightest deviation from the divine work. Mahadeva sees the danger and lies down at Mahakali’s feet. And unknowingly her feet fall upon Mahadeva’s chest and she suddenly stops. She withdraws... within the Mother. And unknowingly we would all feel a little of the different aspects of the Mother. When one is close to the fire, one cannot but be touched by its warmth. The Mother kept the Rudra aspect of Mahakali always under control but in spite of that sometimes this terrible aspect of hers did come through. I remember an incident. One day a young man of about 23 was talking very excitedly ...
... supporting and helping presence, an eternal greatness and calm or love or Delight behind; the very goddess of destruction is at the same time the compassionate and loving Mother; the austere Maheshwara, Rudra, is also Shiva, the auspicious, Ashutosha, the refuge of men. The Indian thinking and religious mind looks with calm, without shrinking or repulsion, with an understanding born of its agelong effort... Western mind is here thrusting in its own habitual reactions Page 281 upon things in the indigenous conception in which they have no proper place. Mark the curious misreading of the dance of Shiva as a dance of Death or Destruction, whereas, as anybody ought to be able to see who looks upon the Nataraja, it expresses on the contrary the rapture of the cosmic dance with the profundities behind ...
... who attains to the knowledge of meaning becomes free from sin and proceeds towards heaven. Page 100 There have been several commentaries on Nirukta such as those of Durgāchārya, Skanda Maheshwara and Vararuchi. Nirukta deals with various subjects which are very close to Grammar or Vyākarana, and therefore Nirukta is often considered to be a part of Vyākarana. However, Vyākarana is considered... Vyākarana is looked upon as the mouth among the Vedāngas. According to the ancient tradition, Brahmā was the first to expound Vyākarana, and he was followed by Grammarians like Brihaspati, Indra, Maheshwara, etc. The most celebrated author of Vyākarana is Pānini, who has himself mentioned several great names of the great Grammarians. Pānini's famous book is Ashtādhyāyi, in which he has discussed both... of the known books are Dhanurvidhi, Drauna Vidyā, Kodanda Mandana and Dhanurveda Samhitā. According to the tradition, the originator of Dhanurveda is lord Shankara himself. Parashurama is supposed to have learnt Dhanurveda from Lord Shankara. Dronacharya learnt this science from Parashurāma, and Arjuna learnt it from Dronācharya. Sattyaki is supposed to have learnt this science and art from Arjuna ...
... Vision and Work of Sri Aurobindo What is Essence? A Note on Two Answers — Shankara's and Sri Aurobindo's 1 THE ONTOLOGICAL VIEW: ESSENCE AS BEING Essence, according to both Shankara and Sri Aurobindo, is the Reality which persists through all states and changes and of which all things and beings are ultimately... objects in the universe and yet declared that that unity was as real as the multiplicity composing it. Shankara dubbed such unity a mere empty logical abstraction because it has no nature of its own. If anything is constituted only of its parts, then the parts alone are real. Here Shankara was irrefutable. Where he went wrong was in arguing that the existence of finites as a real expression... it boils down to postulating that essentiality, qua essentiality, is one and indivisible. If, however, the axiom bears upon the numerically multiple, as Shankara intended, the two sections are not genuine contradictories and Shankara, in passing to the second, has substituted in his mind numerical oneness for the essential unity which is not contradicted by even infinite multiplicity of ...
... duty. And as to my decision, that would be unshaken, "as long as shone a sun and a moon", yavaccandra-divakarau. I was now reminded of the story of Parvati in the Kumarasambhava of Kalidasa. Mahadeva comes in disguise to beguile her mind. He says, "What you have set your heart on is but Page 329 a ghost, a goblin, a dirty creature. Is it meet to have such a low despicable thing... old maxim of the sages, yad-ahar-eva virajet, tad-ahar-eva pravrajet, "one must leave one's home the day one feels the attachments cease to bind." The Buddha did that, Chaitanya did that, though Shankara wanted to arrive at an understanding with his mother first. I thought I should now break the news to my father. I distinctly remember the scene. I was then aged seventeen and a student of the Third... has acquired a name and some fame and will be able to work for the country ten times better as a man of position. And besides, there is another thing. If you feel a true urge for renunciation, like Shankara or Chaitanya, that is another matter, for that would add lustre to our family. But you must first look into yourself carefully to see if you have developed in yourself that strength and capacity. ...
... mosques. He may endeavour to set his feet on the paths of spiritual experience. He may imitate or live with Agni, Indra, Shiva, Krishna and Christ, sit at the feet of Agastya, Yajnavalkya, Aruni and Buddha, laugh with the sanyasin at the snaring net of Maya and meditate with Shankara on the reality of the Brahman, and yet yearn with Chaitanya for divine love and ecstasy. He may do all this and yet ...
... upwards and kindle the spiritual light by the nectarous rays of the Abode of Shiva. " "The Kundalini Power rises up with all her immortal sweetness and through various processes that consolidate the vehicle, by worshipping Shiva, the seed of the three status ; may She, Shiva's consort, bring the supreme good. She is Shiva's Consort. May she bestow on us an immeasurable splendour. She has the glow... Sweats of passion flow in streams down his temples, Their fragrance draws swarms of bees that swirl about driven by his fanning ears. Gods and angels and seraphs sing to Him. He is Shiva's son, Shiva who bears the Goddess Ganges on his head. In Him I take refuge. He dwells in the thousand-petalled lotus, luminous cool like the full orb of the moon, his lotus-hands carry grace and protection... wash of those Feet purge him of all evil and free him from all the impurities obstructing the fulfilment, viz., the inflow of the Force (Shakti-pata) that must result from the Shiva-Initiation, contemplation on the Supreme Shiva as Guru, uttering the Japa-mantra of the Holy Feet. It is thus that the sadhak must adore the divine Master. Then he must contemplate, as force in his mantric vision, the ...
... Ones, the great Vivekananda, who was in outward seeming a storm of speech and thought & force and action, was yet reaching always to the rare, remote & icy-pure linga of Amarnath, the still & silent Mahadeva, as his inmost self & goal; in him too the millennial endeavour, the irresistible yearning endured. But is then this sacrifice really the ultimate sacrifice, this yearning the supreme human tendency... into the shoreless & streamless peace of Nirvana. Shankara, one of the mightiest of metaphysical intellects, a far greater intellect than the Buddha, though a less mighty soul, built up by his intuitions and reasonings a third position which reconciles Vedic Brahmavada and the Karmavada of Buddhistic rationalism & Rationalistic materialism. Shankara asserts the real existence of the Atman, self or soul... original & eternal negation of all these succeeding negations. There can be no more direct contradiction to the negative element in Shankara's teaching than the uncompromising phrases of the Isha Upanishad, kurvanneveha karmani, nanyatheto'sti, na karma lipyate nare. Both Shankara and the Seer of the Upanishad start from the same premises, the universality of Brahman, the bondage of desire and ignorance, ...
... Aurobindo's objection to publicising it was that it would raise controversies and spoil the work. He didn't want to get into any controversy. When he decided that Abhay shouldn't write anything to Mahadev Desai, Purani pleaded that if Sri Aurobindo didn't want it he wouldn't write anything in Sri Aurobindo's name nor show the letter to anyone. SATYENDRA: It will profit many people to know your points ...
... Saraswati, 189 Sati, 184 Satyavan, 242-6 Savitri, 242-6, 252-3, 307 Shakespeare, 228, 386, 391 – Hamlet, 386n – Julius Caesar, 386n – King Lear, 391n Shankara, 104-5, 309, 344 Sindhus, 330 Shiva, 106, 182, 184, 207, 297 Socrates, 196,297, 379 Soma, 330 Sri Aurobindo, 3, 8,9, 29n., 42,46,51, 90, 101n., 105, 120, 135, 151, 163, 168,212,236-7,248, 254-5, ...
... reveals itself in the fall of the sparrow and the death of the ant as well as in the earthquake that destroys great cities and the floods that make thousands destitute and homeless. Rudra and Page 61 Shiva reveal themselves as one. The Yogin sees God in all things, not only in all beings but in all events. He is the flood, He is the earthquake, He is Death that leads to a higher life, He ...
... force that we shall use: the other enjoys the victory and the delight. And therefore to the great God Shiva the stained and stormy Titan is very dear,—Shiva who took for himself the fierce, dark and bitter poison first churned up from the sea of life and left to others the nectar. But the choice that Shiva made with knowledge and from love, the Titans made from darkness and passion,—desirous really of something... austerity to find at last the lotus of the heart dulled and fading—happy if its more divine faculties are not already atrophied—and ourselves standing impotent with our science while the thunders of Rudra crash through and devastate the world we have organised so well by our victorious and clear-minded efficiency. Or we run after a vague and mechanical zero we call unity and when we have sterilised our ...
... he is force, he is capacity; he is the second power of God, wrath, strength, grandeur, rushing impetuosity, overbearing courage, the avalanche, the thunderbolt; he is Balaram, he is Jehovah, he is Rudra. As such we may admire and study him. But the vibhuti, though he takes self-gratification and enjoyment on his way, never comes for self-gratification and enjoyment. He comes for work, to help... more than one occasion, drinking wine, breaking the Sabbath, consorting with publicans and harlots; as Buddha did when he abandoned his self-accepted duties as a husband, a citizen and a father; as Shankara did when he broke the holy law and trampled upon custom and achar to satisfy his dead mother. In our literature they are described as Gods or Siddhas or Titans or Giants. Valmeki depicts Ravana ...
... not know that washermen make such marks in order to distinguish clothes belonging to different customers. He took me and Kanti along when he visited Palanpur and from there we went to Balarama Mahadev. We were also with him when he went to the Sahitya Parishad in Ahmedabad. Later he went away to the Himalayas. When he learnt that our ashram in Patan was closed, he wrote two letters to me calling ...
... vindictive. SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? DR. MANILAL: We know of the Divine as protective, kind and benevolent. SRI AUROBINDO: That is Vishnu. There is also Shiva. DR. MANILAL: Shiva is Bholanath.2 SRI AUROBINDO: He is also Rudra.3 DR. MANILAL: But he can't be vindictive to a Bhakta for such things. SRI AUROBINDO: It depends on the mood the Divine is in. NIRODBARAN (to Dr. Manilal) ...
... Mother's exact words, but they reflect more or less the essence of what she said. × Yogeshananda Pandit Nilakantha Mahadev Joshi was born in Rameshwaram in 1903. In his childhood his father initiated him in temple worship and allied matters of the Shaiva tradition. A disciplined and determined youth, he spared no efforts ...
... (Circa 1902-1912) Kena and Other Upanishads Nila Rudra Upanishad First Part Translation ॐ अपश्यं त्वावरोहन्तं दिवितः पृथिवीमवः । अपश्यमस्यन्तं रुद्रं नीलग्रीवं शिखण्डिनम् ॥१॥ 1) OM. Thee I beheld in thy descending down from the heavens to the earth, I saw Rudra, the Terrible, the azure-throated, the peacock-feathered, as he hurled. दिव उग्रो... Upanishad, a prince of the Aryan people, as we see from the fifth verse. He records a vision of Rudra descending from the heavens to the earth. अवः, down, is repeated for the sake of vividness. In the second half of the sloka the murti or image in which he beheld the Divine Manifestation is described, Rudra, the God of might and wrath, the neck and throat blue, a peacock's feather as a crest, in the... and throat. मह is strength, bulk, greatness. The manifestation is that of wrath and might. The people see Rudra as a mass of brilliance, scarlet-ringed and crested with blue, the scarlet in Yoga denoting violent passion of anger or desire, the blue sraddha, bhakti, piety or religion. 3) Rudra, whom we know as the slayer of evil, comes. The Rajarshi describes him as born of the tree that is in the ...
... Page 292 that the Divine can come upon earth; whereas each time Shiva has manifested he has always manifested like this, in beings who have tried to fight against an illusion and demolish what is there. I have reasons to think that the Buddha was one. To speak more accurately, he manifested something of the power of Shiva: it was the same compassion, the same understanding of all the misery... Buddha who said that existence was the fruit of desire, and that there was only one way of coming out of misery and suffering and desire; it was to come out of existence. And then this continued with Shankara who added that not only is it the fruit of desire but it is a total illusion, and as long as you live in this illusion you cannot realise the Divine. For him there was not even the Divine, I think;... was just on the point of saying that this world was purely subjective, that is, a collective illusion, and that if the illusion ceased the world would cease to be. But he did not come so far. It is Shankara who took over and made the thing altogether complete in his teaching. If we go back to the teaching of the Rishis, for example, there was no idea of flight out of the world; for them the realisation ...
... and more. The European mind is much taken up with Buddhism. Magre was first a Buddhist. Blavatsky was much influenced by it. Next, when the Europeans understood Shankara they considered that there was nothing more in India than Shankara's Vedanta. Buddhism is most severe and exacting. It is one of the most difficult paths, a path of hard Tapasya. NIRODBARAN: By the way, somebody said that woman... addressed to Krishna. NIRODBARAN: I see. Then I will ask him to write to you now. SRI AUROBINDO: No, no, don't do that. In that case I shall have to be as hard as Krishna. NIRODBARAN: They say Shiva is a very kind and generous god and very easily gives boons. Is it true? SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know. Very inconveniently he gives boons to the demons also and then has somehow to wriggle out. He ...
... to find out the way of the spirit. If in his present mood of perversity, he pursues blindly the urge that has possessed him, he will surely annihilate himself—willingly or unwillingly he will commit hara-kiri. Fortunately for man, souls are there yet upon earth who have found the truth, souls that have declared unhesitatingly with the Upanishadic Rishi: "I know this being luminous as ...
... find out the way of the spirit. If in his present mood of perversity, he pursues blindly the urge that has possessed him, he will surely annihilate himself – willingly or unwillingly he will commit hara-kiri. Fortunately for man, souls are there yet upon earth who have found the truth, souls that have declared unhesitatingly with the Upanishadic Rishi: "1 know this being luminous as the sun beyond ...
... made the following five statements. ) Sri Aurobindo writes in his Essays on the Gita: "The law of Vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is paid." What does this mean? Mother, is the present situation in India like the debt which must be paid to Rudra? Here is the whole quotation which I had prepared in advance for those who would ask the wherefore of the present situation. I am sending... the debt to Rudra is paid. To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind the law of love and oneness? Teachers of the law of love and oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate salvation. But not till the Time-Spirit in man is ready, can the inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality. Christ and Buddha have come and gone, but it is Rudra who still... India? India is not the earth, rivers and mountains of this land, neither is it a collective name for the inhabitants of this country. India is a living being, as much living as, say, Shiva. India is a goddess as Shiva is a god. If she likes, she can manifest in human form. 7 It is one of the greatest weapons of the Asura at work when you are taught to shun beauty. It has been the ruin of ...
... without it. It may be said to be surrounded by it or Page 102 clothed by it. The Lord himself is present on the Ocean in various forms, Prajna, Hiranyagarbha & Virat, or Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara. This is what the Puranas represent as Vishnu on the Serpent of Time & Space in the Causal Ocean & Brahma growing out of the lotus in his navel etc. This is the Lord, the King & Ruler. We must therefore... Ordainer, the Manifested Brahman dealing with a world of phenomena already created, then division has taken place, the Shakti has gone forth to its works, and the great male Trinity, Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara, filled with the force of that Shakti are creating, preserving & destroying the countless worlds and the innumerable myriads of their inhabiting forms. Both these Trinities are in reality one Trinity... repulsion, or of evolution, it is an eternal presence & the very nature of the world, प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म. This power of divine instinctive thought is Page 163 one capacity of Paramatman as Chit-Mahadev-Prajna (Tamas, Sthanu). His other capacity is that of destruction, for He is the Spirit of immobility to whom the deep sleep of perfect unconditioned thought is the culmination (Chit) and if it were ...
... The Mother: Questions and Answers 1953, 2 September. × Rudra is the terrible aspect of Shiva. × Sri Aurobindo: Essays on the Gita , p. 386. ... (563-483 BC) as gifted with a “penetrating rational intellect supported by an intuitive vision”, 11 and called Adi Shankara (788-820 AD) “easily the first of metaphysical thinkers, the greatest genius in the history of philosophy”. All the same, “it remains true that Shankara’s commentary is interesting not so much for the light it sheds on the Upanishad as for its digressions into his own philosophy... must come the ultimate salvation. But not till the time-spirit in man is ready can the inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality. Christ and Buddha have come and gone, but it is Rudra 47 who still holds the world in the hollow of his hand. And meanwhile the fierce forward labour of mankind tormented and oppressed by the Powers that are profiteers of egoistic force and their servants ...
... strength, mildness and force, saumya and raudra , the force that bears and harmonises, the force that imposes itself and compels, Vishnu and Ishana, Shiva and Rudra. The two are equally necessary to a perfect world-action. The perversions of the Rudra power in the heart are stormy passion, wrath and fierceness and harshness, hardness, brutality, cruelty, egoistic ambition and love of violence and ... only the strength that endures or to cultivate only a heart of love, charity, tolerance, mildness, meekness and forbearance. The other side of perfection is a self-contained and calm and unegoistic Rudra-power armed with psychic force, the energy of the strong heart which is capable of supporting without shrinking an insistent, an outwardly austere or even, where need is, a violent action. An unlimited... The universal love has to be founded on the heart's sight and psychical and emotional sense of the one Divine, the one Self in all existence. All four elements will then form a unity and even the Rudra power to do battle for the right and the good proceed on the basis of a power of universal love. This is the highest and the most characteristic perfection of the heart, prema-sāmarthya . Page ...
... debt to Rudra is paid. To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind the law of love and oneness? Teachers of the law of love and oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate salvation. But not till the Time-Spirit in man is ready can the inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality. Christ and Buddha have come and gone, but it is Rudra who still... of an ape and setting it up in the temple of Shiva. 139On November 24,1926, the Overmind Consciousness was established permanently in Sri Aurobindo. 140A spiritual collective, with all members following a common goal. Page 95 We have a Bengali proverb: 'Shib godte banor goda hold (Instead of the image of Shiva, a monkey's image was made.) If... of the lower nature, even of the body. It is not an escape into God's ocean of Sat-chit-ananda, but the very divinization of matter itself. 131Master of simplicity; another name for Lord Shiva. 132As Nirod-da clarifies in the next talk, dated 13 August 1969, this was a conversation Page 88 there because you don't expect me to remember everything that I heard and said ...
... some good or deliverance coming to them through whatever apparent evil. All of us know he will not suffer fools and knaves for a moment; they call out his wrath in an ample measure. But Rudra soon yields to Shiva. He feels immediately sorry for his temper and makes up for it abundantly and gracefully. Like a child, bālavat, he will tell you how anger has been his curse, how he cannot help it until ...
... November 1933 Rudra Power I have dropped using the Rudra power—its effects used to be too catastrophic and now from a long disuse the inclination to use it has become rusty. Not that I am a convert to Satyagraha and Ahimsa,—but Himsa too has its inconvenience. So the fires sleep. 26 June 1936 Neither Rejection nor Attachment I have no special liking for the ideal of Shiva, though something... something of the Shiva temperament must necessarily be present. I have never had any turn for rejection of the money power nor any attachment to it; one has to rise above these things as your Guru did but it is precisely when one has risen above that one can Page 47 more easily command them. 15 January 1936 It depends on what is meant by asceticism. I have no desires but I don't lead outwardly ...
... in us and we would not be what we are without them. But of no precise form can we say that this was what the man meant, still less that this form was the very body of that spirit. The example of Mahadev Govind Ranade presents itself to my mind as the very type of this peculiar action so necessary to a period of large and complex formation. If a foreigner were to ask us what this Mahratta economist... the great figures of present-day Indian life who received the breath of his spirit. And in the end we should have to reply by a counter question, "What would Maharashtra of today have been without Mahadev Govind Ranade and what would India of today be without Maharashtra?" But even with those who were less amorphous and diffusive in their pressure on men and things, even with workers of a more distinct ...
... writes against machines, art, etc. Once he wrote from a train to somebody decrying machines and the addressee replied, "I see that you wrote the letter from the train and yet you decry machines." Mahadev Desai, of course, defended Gandhi. SRI AUROBINDO: He is as inconsistent. ...
... Aurobindo स एव हि महादेवः स एव हि महाहरिः॥४॥ स एव ज्योतिषां ज्योतिः स एव परमेश्वरः ॥५॥ sa eva hi mahādevaḥ sa eva hi mahāhariḥ. 4 sa eva jyotiṣāṁ jyotiḥ sa eva parameśvaraḥ, 5 It is He Who is Mahadeva, It is He Who is Mahahari (Narayana), It is He Who is the Light of Lights, It is He Who is the Highest God. Skanda Upanishad Hariharabrahmastotram 4, 5 नारायणः परो ज्योतिरात्मा नारायणः ...
... Destruction clears the way for new creation, and it is a folly to fight shy of it and zealously try to keep one's hands clean. Ancient spirituality imaged Shiva, the beneficent God of kindness and Page 27 compassion, as also Rudra, the terrible Godhead of destructive violence and scourging wrath. It is this truth that Sri Krishna taught Arjuna while exhorting him to fight—"Fight, but... unfailing strength to those who engage in such a dharma yuddha— a battle for the safeguarding or salvaging of the spiritual and cultural heritage of humanity. The Kshatriya element, the aspect of Rudra and Mahakali, has its undeniable truth and function, at least in the present economy of the world, and a willful ignoring of it can only lead to chaos and confusion Page 28 and untold... multitudinous elements and progresses forward through whatever zigzags and detours, because an unshakable peace upholds it from below. This truth was sought to be conveyed by the symbolic image of Shiva supporting upon his prostrate, moveless body the unceasing dance of Kali, the supreme creative Force. Peace is the last of he three principles of jyoti, Tejas and Shama or Shanti, which .are the ...
... more nor less than the truth proclaimed by the Vedas, "One existent the sages call by many names." Brahman is willing to be called Vishnu, and yet he is not willing, because he is also Brahma and Maheshwara and all the gods and the world and all principles and all that is, and yet not any of these things, neti neti . As men approach him, so he accepts them. But the One to Heraclitus as to the Vedantin ...
... What the anvil? What dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? The questions inevitably lead to the climactic "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"—is Rudra the fierce also Shiva the serene and auspicious? The last lines but feebly echo the first; as in Thompson's The Hound of Heaven, here too the chase of discovery is over; the wheel has come full circle; the... what a difference! This is the very incandescence of poetry truly wrought by a cosmic consciousness; we see the tiger poised in its terrible beauty, and dread and wonder strive for mastery; isn't he Rudra the fierce, or is he only the God's great creation? In quick short gasps the frenzy of fascination finds self-expression: And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the ...
... following outline at the end of the notebook: Page 446 II. God Turiya Brahman. Swayambhu. Prajna. Kavih. Sacchidananda. The Sakshi. Isha in contemplation. Maheshwara. Ananda. The Seed State. Sleep. Hiranyagarbha. Manishi The Will in Buddhi God Manifold. The Saguna Brahman. The Qualities of God. The Dream State. ... commentary in English is followed by a commentary in Sanskrit, which is published in Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit , volume 9 of T HE C OMPLETE W ORKS OF S RI A UROBINDO . Nila Rudra Upanishad . Sri Aurobindo translated the first of the three parts of this Upanishad, with a commentary on the first five verses, in Pondicherry around 1912. It was first published in The Upanishads ...
... this race. And the root-cause of this weakness could be said to derive from the influence of Buddha and Shankara. This indifference towards the physical and the intense attraction for the spiritual life has made India very Page 97 one-sided. But then thanks to Buddha and Shankara the soul :, pf the country has been saved. Spiritual thought, spiritual feeling and philosophy have survived... What if he disappears with the money and the food ?" "No, no. Can't you see just when we needed him he turned up to help us to the top? He is not a human being. He is Shiva Himself. When a bhakta or devotee is in trouble Shiva always comes to his rescue." And surprise of surprises! Hardly had we mentioned him that the man, within that short time, had gone down and come up again carrying our... some- where. I was very happy to hear this. I wandered around on the Arunachalam hill and then I met the priest of the temple. He told me: "Sir, Kailash is the abode of Shiva but Arunachalam is Shiva Himself." Even after this I have been three more times to the top of the Arunachalam hill,' Dada added. * One day in the course of a conversation Dada ...
... Spirituality is an intrinsic part of Indian culture and life. Every Indian home is adorned with a poojaa shrine containing a picture of Lord Krishna, Shri Ganesh, Lord Shiv, the Goddess Lakshmi, Saraswati, or some other deity surrounded by candles and incense and garlanded with a maalaa. It is here that people stop for a praanaam to the devi or devtaa, ...
... the method of Shankara based upon these concepts of his philosophy, it is the renunciation of life as an illusion of which we ordinarily think when we speak Page 84 now of the Yoga of knowledge. But in the time of the Gita Maya was evidently not yet quite the master word of the Vedantic philosophy, nor had it, at least with any decisive clearness, the connotation which Shankara brought out... recognition of this impermanence by the discriminating mind its means of liberation. When the reaction against Buddhism arrived, it took up not the old Sankhya notion, but the Vedantic form popularised by Shankara who replaced the Buddhistic impermanence by the cognate Vedantic idea of illusion, Maya, and the Buddhistic idea of Non-Being, indefinable Nirvana, a negative Absolute, by the opposite and yet cognate... × This is a little doubtful, but we may say at least that there was a strong tendency in that direction of which Shankara's philosophy was the last culmination. × In reality the idea of the Purushottama is already announced ...
... baldness is there to advertise drugs against hairiness; it is to show the ladies how to get rid of the hair which they don't want to show through their short sleeves." (Laughter) PURANI: It seems Mahadev Desai has asked for a copy of The life Divine . NIRODBARAN: For Gandhi? PURANI: No, for himself. He doesn't think that in the strict sense Gandhi has any spiritual experience or knowledge. Desai ...
... there threatened to be an accident to my carriage. Precise enough? By the Self, I suppose, you mean the individual Self! Good Lord, no. I mean the Self, sir, the Self, the Adwaita, Vedantic, Shankara self. Atman, Atman! A thing I knew nothing about, never bargained for, didn't understand either. 31 October 1935 This-Worldliness and Other-Worldliness One thing I feel I must say in connection... other planes in between and their possible effects upon our life and material world; but it will be quite possible to insist only on the realisation of the supreme Being or Ishwara even in one aspect, Shiva, Krishna as Lord of the world and Master of ourselves and our works or else the universal Sachchidananda, and attain to the essential results of this Yoga and afterwards to proceed from them to the... is some kind of occult vision there very near to the surface. 25 February 1932 If seeing the Divine depended on the developed occult faculty, how do you explain people's seeing Ram, Krishna, Shiva, etc. in you at Darshan?—I mean by people who have apparently no such faculty. We've heard about Krishna presenting himself before small boys, taking them to school, etc.—fables? With many people ...
... 1940 Talks with Sri Aurobindo 25 JANUARY 1940 PURANI: Mahadev Desai has advised poor people to wear paper if cloth runs short. NIRODBARAN: Why wear anything at all? PURANI: He has got this idea from Gandhi. Once Gandhi put a piece of paper in between the two folds of his loin cloth. People say that paper will be short now. SRI AUROBINDO: Doesn't ...
... Brahman all by itself in a worldless eternity. At least that is what I have read—I don't know whether Shankara himself says that. One is always being told by modern Adwaitins that Shankara did not mean what people say he meant—so one has to be careful in attributing any opinion to him. Of course Shankara must have meant Mayavada. It is hardly possible that everybody should have misunderstood his ideas... Yoga and Other Spiritual Paths Other Spiritual Paths and the Integral Yoga Letters on Yoga - II Chapter VI The Adwaita of Shankaracharya Shankara's Mayavada If Shankara's conception of the undifferentiated pure Consciousness as the Brahman is your view of it, then it is not the path of this Yoga that you should choose; for here the realisation of pure... can accept the call to such a change should enter into this Yoga. The Shankara knowledge is, as your Guru pointed out, only one side of the Truth; it is the knowledge of the Supreme as realised by the spiritual Mind through the static silence of the pure Existence. It was because he went by this side only that Shankara was unable to accept or explain the origin of the universe except as illusion ...
... the debt to Rudra is paid. To turn aside then and preach to a still unevolved mankind the law of love and oneness? Teachers of the law of love and oneness there must be, for by that way must come the ultimate salvation. But not till the Time-Spirit in man is ready, can the inner and ultimate prevail over the outer and immediate reality. Christ and Buddha have come and gone, but it is Rudra who still ...
... the landscape in Sj. Abanindranath Tagore's "Slaying of the Enchanted Deer", the decorative beauty of the "Last Days of Dasarath", and the epic grandeur and grace and strange romantic mystery of "Mahadev receiving the Descent of the Ganges". We would only suggest to the readers whose artistic perceptions are awakened but in need of training, to use the comparative method for which Sj. Ramānanda Chatterji ...
... 478 सप्ततिं. Here and in I.11.1. associated with wealth—वाजानां सप्ततिं पतिं 14 परि वृज्याः—cf आवृज् .. परावृज्.. I.33. V. 1. Rudra, Pita marutam, Surya 2 – 5 Rudra. 6. Vrishabha Marutwan. 7 – 11 Rudra 12.Rudra-Kumara. 13 Maruts 14 – 15 Rudra 34. 1 धारावराः not covering with showers, but probably like ऋतावर etc “अर्चिनः” not “worshipping”; probably “luminous” or else... The chariot fashioned is the धिइति, the thought and the divine power has to take possession of it as the horse that attains to the goal सप्तिर्न रथ्यो अह धीतिमश्याः (1) Mitra, Varuna, Adityas, Rudras, Vasus. (2) Visve Devah. (3) Indra and the Maruts. (4) Twashtri, the “Gna”s, Bhaga, Brihaddiva, Rodasi, Pusha, Purandhi (Suryâ), A¸cwins. (5) Day & Night, Earth & Heaven. (6) Ahir Budhnya, Aja... ways or adverse, alien to us. 3 अभीतीः 4 सहूती. Probably “confusion of the offerings” 5 अवदिषीय — अवखंडयामि — पृथिक्करोमि — दो अवखंडने — ष must be as in स्तुषे, गृणीषे ऋदूदरः “बभ्रु” Rudra—elsewhere Agni. मनायै mind or wrath. Probably state of mind, evil or wrong being understood, or simply (inferior) mentality, cause of error in नमस् etc. 6 त्वक्षीयसा वयसा S. दीप्तेन “विवासेयं” ...
... "I too am not the right person. Go to Mahadeva." To Mount Kailash sped Narada. Shiva was seated on a tiger skin. His face was grand and still. A mountain of matted hair was coiled on that deathless head. A sickle moon, blue and pale, stretched afar its finger of still light. Narada tremulously asked him, "Will you, Lord, sing?" "I can, but only ..." Shiva paused. "Only if there is someone who... to Brahma and Vishnu and brought them to Kailash. As soon as the two great gods were Page 165 seated, Mahadeva 1 began his great song. Over the still face came a quiver and a colour of crimson flame. Listening with his whole being to the song of Rudra 1 the Destroyer, Vishnu entered the diamond heart wherein the undraped fires burn. In that brazier of gold he melted. ... when the Creator saw that the Preserver was melting, he gathered up the waters in his water-pot, the kamandalu. As Shankara, 1 the Curer, sang the notes in their purity, the disfigured Ragas and Raginis became whole and beautiful again. And Ganga was born. Mahadeva sang. Narayana melted. Brahma gathered the waters. And Ganga was born. There, in heaven, the Pure Song lingered through ...
... It. Shankara s philosophy has been called the philosophy of the Advaita, since it is based upon the monistic experience of the unqualified Reality, described as the One without a second. There are other philosophies which came after Shankara, and they maintained that the Ultimate Reality is qualified by inherent qualities or that it is dual or plural. They did not accept Shankara s view that... of a practice or way of life. Page 167 Shankara, as he is habitually known, had a short span of life — barely 32 years. He lived towards the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century AD. Not much is known of his life but the, little that comes down to us conjures, up a most interesting and striking image. Shankara belonged to the simple, learned and hardworking Nambudri... intellectual form in which it is presented. In the history of Indian experience and thought, this fact is recognised and Shankara is sometimes seen as carrying forward the work done by the Buddha. It would be interesting for us now to make a direct approach to the work of Shankara. We would like to get a living feel of the experience of the world and of existence as made by him and to understand ...
... philosophic, religious or ethical sentimental-ism, that which loves to look upon Nature as love and life and beauty and good, but turns away from her grim mask of death, adoring God as Shiva but refusing to adore him as Rudra; secondly, because unless we have the honesty and courage to look existence straight in the face, we shall never arrive at any effective solution of its discords and oppositions. We... Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures.... No real peace can be till the heart of man deserves peace; the law of Vishnu cannot prevail till the debt to Rudra is paid. To turn aside then and preach to a still un evolved mankind the law of love and oneness... it; it took its stand on the strength and beauty and joy of the Veda, unlike modern or post-Buddhistic Hinduism which is oppressed with Buddha's sense of universal sorrow and Shankara's sense of universal illusion,— Shankara who was the better able to destroy Buddhism because he was himself half a Buddhist. Ancient Hinduism aimed socially at our fulfilment in God in life, modern Hinduism at the escape ...
... well as beyond it and the true nature of existence. Shankara, Buddhism, Evolution I don't know that I can help you very much with an answer to your friend's questions. I can only state my own position with regard to these matters. 1) Shankara's explanation of the universe. It is rather difficult to say nowadays what really was Shankara's philosophy: there are numberless exponents and none... greatest exponent of the theory of Maya, but rather, the greatest Realist in philosophical history. One eminent follower of Shankara even declared that my philosophy and Shankara's were identical, a statement which rather took my breath away. One used to think that Shankara's philosophy was this that the Supreme Reality is a spaceless and timeless Absolute (Parabrahman) which is beyond all feature... works of Maya and the apparently individual soul is really nothing but Brahman itself. In the end, however, all this seems to be a myth of Maya, mithyā , and not anything really true. If that is Shankara's philosophy, it is to me unacceptable and incredible, however brilliantly ingenious it may be and however boldly and incisively reasoned; it does not satisfy my reason and it does not agree with my ...
... satisfaction of the Self in the body . Shankara : The meaning of these two verses has been explained. त्रिषु धामसु यद् भोज्यं भोक्ता यश्च प्रकीर्तितः । वेदैतदुभयं यस्तु स भुञ्जानो न लिप्यते ॥५॥ 5) That which is enjoyed in the three conditions and that which is the enjoyer, he who knoweth both these as one enjoyeth & receiveth no stain. Shankara : That which is enjoyed under the names... often suggestive Anandagiri. To modern students there can be no better introduction to Vedanta philosophy—after some brooding over the sense of the Upanishads—than a study of Gaudapada's Karikas and Shankara's commentary with Deussen's System of the Vedanta in one hand and any brief & popular exposition of the Six Darshanas in the other. It is only after the Monistic School has been thoroughly understood... external, Taijasa he who is conscious of the internal, Prajna he in whom consciousness is (densified and) drawn into itself, the Self presents himself to the memory as One under three conditions. Shankara : The position taken is this, as the entity which cognizes enters into three conditions one after another and not simultaneously , and is moreover in all three connected by the memory which ...
... destroyers of our being and enemies of its divine progress, the sons of Limitation and Ignorance. × Rudras. Rudra is the Divine as the master of our evolution by violence and battle, smiting and destroying the Sons of Darkness and the evil they create in man. Varuna and Mitra as helpers in the upward struggle ...
... occasion for a mirthquake! Besides, south-east Mexico seems far too out of the range of immediately meaningful places in the Aurobindonian world-vision. And to think of Rudra Pralaya, the world-destructive dance of Shiva, commencing in El Chinchonal is quite a fantasy. The present manifestation, which is to culminate in a supramentalisation of earth-life, has been said by the Mother to need no ...
... Aurobindo reinterpreted the story of Daksha-Sati-Shiva in terms of the contemporaneous political struggle in India. The Congress was Daksha, at Surat he came to grief (as Daksha did during the great Sacrifice), and when he revived it was with a goat's head (the Convention) turned backwards to the past. Sati was the pure-souled Indian Nation, and Shiva or Mahadeva was India's Destiny. For the time, of course... born again, in a better and more beautiful body, and by terrible tapasyā she will meet Mahadeva once more and be wedded to him in nobler fashion, with kinder auguries, for a happier and greater future. For this thing is written in the book of God and nothing can prevent it, that Sati shall wed Mahadeva, that the national life of India shall meet and possess its divine and mighty destiny. 22... and consecrated Bhavani Mandir? Here are a few verses from the Hymn in Nolini Kanta Gupta's powerful English version: Mother Durga! Rider on the lion, giver of all strength. Mother, beloved of Shiva! We born from thy parts of Power, we the youth of India, are seated here in thy Temple. Listen, O Mother, descend upon the earth, make thyself manifest in this land of India.... Mother Durga ...
... The One and the Supreme Mother The Shankara knowledge is, as your Guru pointed out, only one side of the Truth; it is the knowledge of the Supreme as realised by the spiritual Mind through the static silence of the pure Existence. It was because he went by this side only that Shankara was unable to accept or explain the origin of the universe except as illusion... unified, can arrive at the integral knowledge. But philosophically this is what your Guru's teaching comes to and it is obviously a completer truth and a wider knowledge than that given by the Shankara formula. It is already indicated in the Gita's teaching of the Purushottama and the Parashakti (Adya Shakti) who becomes the Jiva and upholds the universe. It is evident that Purushottama and Parashakti ...
... एधि। āvirāvīrma edhi. O Luminous One, Thyself manifest to me. Aitteriya Upanishad Shantivacanam रुद्र यत्ते दक्षिणं मुखम् । तेन मां पाहि नित्यम् ॥८॥ rudra yatte dakṣiṇaṁ mukham, tena māṁ pāhi nityam.8 O Rudra, O thou Terrible, Thou hast that other kind and smiling face, with that sweet smile protect me. Swetaswatara Upanishad 4.21 Translation by Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo ...
... Life Divine by N.C. Brahma Sri Aurobindo read it and kept silent. PURANI: He says that what you have said is what Shankara has said. (Laughter) It is all Adwaita philosophy. SRI AUROBINDO: Adwaita, yes, but not Shankara's Adwaita. And so many people have interpreted Shankara in so many ways that had he been alive he would himself have been shocked at what they had made of him. ...
... our beneficence hold back the sword when it is necessary that it should strike—for sometimes to strike is the highest beneficence, as those only can thoroughly realise who know that God is Rudra as well as Shiva, Chamunda Kali with the necklace of skulls no less than Durga, the protectress & Gauri, the wife & mother. Our courage does not bind itself by the ostentations of the fighter, but knows when... subtlety & loftiness Shankara has no equal; he is not so supreme in breadth & flexibility of understanding. His was a spirit visited with some marvellous intuitions & realisations, but it would be to limit the capacities of the human soul to suppose that his intuitions exclude others equally great or that his realisations are the only or final word of spiritual knowledge. Shankara of the Commentaries... manifest being & in it one great infinite indwelling Consciousness, Allah, Shiva, Krishna, Narayana, God. When we see around us man & animal & leaf & clod, king & beggar, philosopher & peasant, saint & criminal, we must look on these names & forms as so many houses of being and within each the same great inhabitant, Allah, Shiva, Krishna, Narayana, the Lord. Manhood & animality, animation & inanimation ...
... experience it might be mere Maya, he granted the traditional Indian view of the individual soul reincarnating or transmigrating. Aquinas can escape just as little as Shankara the destiny, whatever it may be, of each separate man. Both Shankara and Aquinas are brought in by Griffiths in order not to abandon the dogma of a new soul called into existence ex nihilo at every birth and to evade the concept... Christianity, Reincarnation and Krishna In Griffiths's remarkably wide-visioned book as well as in his recent elevating speech another sad deficiency is in regard to Reincarnation. He quotes Shankara to the effect that "the Lord is the only transmigrator". Reasoning from this, he infers that the one Self dwelling in humanity as in everything is alone the reality that passes from life to life.... Man." The whole argument strikes me as an evasion of what the theory of reincarnation implies. Did not Aquinas write at some length on the individual soul created by God at birth? And did not Shankara too grant a "jivatman"? He may have regarded the "jivatman" as ultimately an illusion, but then he regarded the "Lord" also as the highest illusion and believed the birthless and deathless, undivided ...
... Shakuntala and considers this a great virtue! He has learned Sanskrit in order to read the Gita and the Upanishads. SRI AUROBINDO: Not Shakuntala because it is erotic? PURANI: Probably. Mahadev Desai has put forth Vinoba's philosophy in the Hindu today. Vinoba says: We live because we can't die. We eat and walk, etc., because we are compelled to. We sleep because sleep overcomes us. ...
... s. Men set up an authority and put it between themselves and knowledge. The orthodox are indignant that a mere modern should presume to differ from Shankara in interpreting the Vedanta or from Sayana in interpreting the Veda. They forget that Shankara and Sayana are themselves moderns, separated from ourselves by some hundreds of years only, but the Vedas are many thousands of years old. The commentator... of that prehistoric age. Shankara's commentary on the Upanishads helps me by showing what a man of immense metaphysical genius and rare logical force after arriving at some fundamental realisations thought to be the sense of the Vedanta. But it is evident that he is often at a loss and always prepossessed by the necessity of justifying his philosophy. I find that Shankara had grasped much of Vedantic... itself and, if there is any light there on the unknown or on the infinite, to follow the ray till I come face to face with that which it illumines. There are those who follow neither Sayana and Shankara nor the Europeans, but interpret Veda and Vedanta for themselves, yet permit themselves to be the slaves of another kind of irrelevancy. They come to the Veda with a preconceived and established opinion ...
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