Kala Bhairava

Shree Kala Bhairava

Significance of Kala Bhairava Worship

Adapted from Sringeri.net

Kala Bhairava represents the march of time. As the fierce aspect of Lord Shiva, Kala Bhairava is the destroyer of all through destroying Time (Maha Kala). He oversees the march of the mysterious time itself, through which he not only controls human life, but also countries and planets as well, ensuring the evanescence (impermanence) of all phenomena.

Hymns on Kala Bhairava highlight a truth; “Time is the most precious. Time lost is lost for ever. Wise people should use every moment of time effectively. Lord Kala Bhairava helps everyone to make one’s time useful.”

He is not only the protector of the sacred place but also the deity of liberation.

The worship of Shiva in the aspect of Kala Bhairava helps one realize the transitory nature of worldly existence and make the most of the rare human birth to realize Brahman, the supreme reality.

Kala Bhairavashtakam has been composed by Adi Shankara, and Jagadguru  Sri Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Swamigal the 33rd Acharya of Sringeri Math.

Devotees offer vadesara, abhisheka and even silver anklets to Kala Bhairava on ashtami tithi.

Kala Bhairava teaches you the highest truth that your life is going to depend on how you relate to time. If you insult time by idling it away, you will be cursed by Kala Bhairava. On the other hand if you worship time, even a millisecond will matter and bring you prosperity, victory and peace. As a human being you think that nothing is going to happen in one millisecond, but then the divine knows methods to change your life in a millisecond.

If you are endlessly waiting for things to happen and it never happens, this means you have offended time either in this life or previous life All that you need is a worshipful attitude towards time.  You can fix the problem by worshiping Kala Bhairava.

Kala Bhairava ~ the fierce aspect of Shiva

Significance of Kala Bhairava Worship

Adapted from Sringeri.net

Kala Bhairava represents the march of time. As the fierce aspect of Lord Shiva, Kala Bhairava is the destroyer of all through destroying Time (Maha Kala). He oversees the march of the mysterious time itself, through which he not only controls human life, but also countries and planets as well, ensuring the evanescence (impermanence) of all phenomena.

Hymns on Kala Bhairava highlights a truth; “Time is the most precious. Time lost is lost for ever. Wise people should use every moment of time effectively. Lord Kala Bhairava helps everyone to make one’s time useful.”

He is not only the protector of the sacred place but also the deity of liberation.

The worship of Shiva in the aspect of Kala Bhairava helps one realize the transitory nature of worldly existence and make the most of the rare human birth to realize Brahman, the supreme reality.

 
Kala Bhairavashtakam has been composed by Adi Shankara, and Jagadguru  Sri Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Swamigal the 33rd Acharya of Sringeri Math.

Devotees offer vadesara, abhisheka and even silver anklets to Kala Bhairava on ashtami tithi.

Kala Bhairava teaches you the highest truth that your life is going to depend on how you relate to time. If you insult time by idling it away, you will be cursed by Kala Bhairava. On the other hand if you worship time, even a millisecond will matter and bring you prosperity, victory and peace. As a human being you think that nothing is going to happen in one millisecond, but then the divine knows methods to change your life in a millisecond.

If you are endlessly waiting for things to happen and it never happens, this means you have offended time either in this life or previous life All that you need is a worshipful attitude towards time.  You can fix the problem by worshiping Kala Bhairava.

The quality of Nandi

Nandi Temple in Khajuraho

From an interview with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Nandi is a symbolism of eternal waiting, because waiting is considered the greatest virtue in Indian culture. One who knows how to simply sit and wait is naturally meditative. Nandi is not expecting Shiva to come out tomorrow.* He is not anticipating or expecting anything. He is just waiting. He will wait forever. That quality is the essence of receptivity. Before you go into a temple, you must have the quality of Nandi – to simply sit. 


You are not trying to go to heaven, you are not trying to get this or that – you simply sit.

Some Nandis have one leg ready as they wait

People have always misunderstood meditation as some kind of activity. No – it is a quality. That is the fundamental difference. Prayer means you are trying to talk to God. Meditation means you are willing to listen to God. You are willing to just listen to existence, to the ultimate nature of creation. You have nothing to say, you simply listen. That is the quality of Nandi – he just sits, alert.

This is very important – he is alert, not sleepy. He is not sitting in a passive way. He is sitting, very active, full of alertness, full of life, but just sitting – that is meditation.

Brihadiswar Temple Tamil Nadu 

Meditation essentially means the individual person is not doing his own thing. He is just there. Once you are simply there, you become aware of the larger dimension of the existence that is always in action. You become aware that you are a part of it.

Even now you are a part of it but becoming aware that “I’m a part of it” is meditativeness. Nandi is the symbolism of that. He just sits and reminds everyone, “You must sit like me.”

___________

*NOTE from Jana: Nandi is Shiva's "vehicle," and is traditionally found at Shiva temples. His qualities are related to the qualities of Shiva, who is often portrayed as the master yogi sitting in meditation. Nandi is also considered a deity in his own right.

Sri Yantra

The Sri Yantra is a mystical diagram formed by nine interlocking triangles that surround and radiate out from a central (bindu) point. It is worshiped as a form of the divine in Hindu tantra, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism.

The Sri Yantra expresses Advaita or non-duality, which includes the union of the Masculine and the Feminine Divine. Four upward triangles represent Shiva or the Masculine, which is potentiality, while five downward triangles symbolize the female embodiment of Shakti, from whom all creation is made.

Together the nine triangles are interlaced in such a way as to form 43 smaller triangles in a web symbolic of the entire cosmos or a womb symbolic of creation. The triangles are of various sizes and intersect with one another in various ways, creating three-dimensional patterns. In the middle is the power point (bindu), visualizing the highest, seeming elusive center from which the entire figure and the cosmos expand.

The Yantra is a way to express the form of the divine, but also serves as a vehicle. It moves the gaze and consciousness of the viewer into the center, where all consciousness as multiplicity resolves back into the One.

Based in part upon Wikipedia: Sri Yantra

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Very cool... and delicious

"May 21, 2013 ~ Swami Chetanananda gave a program on the Shaivite text Pratyabijnahrdyam. In this short commentary, given after class, he talks about the essential nature of the practices."

The breath itself is something that we experience as arising and subsiding from within us. And part of the process we will undergo is following that breath back to its ultimate stillness. It is extremely cool, and not only that, as you do this you will discover that it is delicious (emphases mine). ~ Swami Chetananda 

I've just discovered Swami Chetananda and The Movement Center. I have joined their email list, and this short commentary was this week's topic. NOTE: I lost the URL for this talk. Can someone please help?

Fun! I find that I have been doing breathwork in more ways that I quite realized, and "I" have little siddhis associated with it. ("I" am delighted, and more than slightly miffed!).

How it resonated when swamiji described this work as "extremely cool," and "delicious." For me, it's like being dipped then soaked in cosmic nectar. No long, dry years of sadhana for me! 

[Mind shift: Certain steps, already defined, why can't I skip all this? Oh hell, no. I do hear Krishna laughing! My sadhana is a divine dance with my guru's shakti. It's a cosmic gift. Talkin.] 

What a coincidence(!) that this particular quote followed the beginning of teachings about the Pratyabijnahrdyam, which is the shaivite text my guru is focusing on this year with her devotees, and my favorite text from Kashmir Shaivism.

And... I see from this photo from another talk, that there is a murti of Baba Nityananada lovingly installed, and so the divine guru/shakti of this *sampradaya is the same that has come to me through my sampradaya's lineage (Nityananda-Muktananda-Chidvilasananda). There are a lot of lineages that come from Nityananda, a guru among gurus.

*In Hinduism, a sampradaya [lineage] can be translated as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious system’. It relates to a succession of masters and disciples, which serves as a spiritual channel, and provides a delicate network of relationships that lends stability to a religious identity. ~ 'Sampradaya' on Wikipedia

NOTE: This term is sometimes used to describe lineages in other religions, such as Buddhism and Sufism.