Mystic mantra: Of guru & Shiv shakti

Ever wondered the significance of a bull outside every Shiv temple? Only Shiv is the Swami (Lord) of shakti. Everyone asks for shakti to meet different ends — wealth, power, health, etc. but hardly anyone seeks the darshan of shakti because they do not understand what shakti is. They reach the doorway of Shiv dham to create disturbance. Therefore, ganas are appointed at Shiv dham — bhoot, pret, pisach… and Nandi, the bull.

The job of ganas is to prevent the entry of miscreants. Because if shakti comes in the hands of the unworthy, they will misuse it. So these ganas create obstacles to prevent an individual from walking the path to Shiv dham. While bhoot, pret and pisach trouble and intimidate the sadhak, the biggest hindrance is created by Nandi. How?

Go to any gaushala and start taking care of a nandi (bull). Nourish it and ensure no pain is meted out to it and take seven parikramas (circumambulations) of it daily. Then whatever you wish for, nandi gives it to you. And then, you get stuck in it…

What is it that you would ask for? A better job? More money? More power? Improved relationship? Better health? No one will ask for the darshan of shakti or to reach Shiv dham… This is darkness or avidya. Because all of these things pertain to improving the life, which is short, the body will go as will the relationship and job and status or wealth. You keep asking for the physical or temporary and get stuck in darkness… Engrossed in the physical pleasures, the thought of Shiv will not come to you; you will not walk the path of Shiv.

To stop the sadhak, who treads the path to Shiv with a physical desire, these energies guard the doors of Shiv dham. Evolution is in the form of a pyramid. There is a lot of space at the base and as one progresses the space keeps getting less. At the top, there is only needlepoint space. Only the one who has the desire for Shiv and the karmas to attain it is entitled to reach there. The ganas ensure it.

Seva of nandi earns you the greatest of punyas, but only a guru can give you the sadbuddhi (discernment) to use this punya to reach Shiv dham, and not to tie yourself more in the physical, which will leave you anyway. Whatever you perceive and understand with the five senses, which are in turn the function of seven-eight per cent of the brain, is darkness or avidya. It is like layers of mud that cloud your vision and prevent you from seeing reality or truth. The job of the guru is to show you the light, and to put you on the path to achieve it.

Asato ma sadgamaya, Tamso ma jyotirgamaya, Mrityorma amritam gamaya (From untruth to truth, from darkness to light, then from death to permanancy).

Yogi Ashwini, the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation, is an authority on yoga, tantra and the Vedic sciences. His recent book is Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension. Contact him at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com