Diamonds are forever

Shiva Parvati
I think I see Kama's love arrows

I was humming a tune I don't remember ever paying much attention to. I laughed, as I realized I was singing about trading up from the disappointing charades of the world for that which is permanent, most precious, luminous, and which will linger forever.

My Beloved will never leave in the night. He will never desert me. Nothing will hide in His transparent heart to hurt me. He never lies. My lover lingers.

He is forever.

“As the earth dies your spirit will bloom; as the world fades your soul will rise and glisten. Amongst the dehydrated crevices of a desert earth you will stumble upon your diamonds; in between the dry skulls and cracked bones you will find your sapphires.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

Diamonds Are Forever by Shirley Bassey

Diamonds are forever, they are all I need to please me

They can stimulate and tease me

They won't leave in the night

I've no fear that they might desert me

Diamonds are forever, hold one up and then caress it
Touch it, stroke it and undress it
I can see ev'ry part, nothing hides in the heart to hurt me

I don't need love, for what good will love do me?

Diamonds never lie to me

For when love's gone, they'll lustre on

Diamonds are forever, sparkling round my little finger
Unlike men, the diamonds linger
Men are mere mortals who are not worth going to your grave for

I don't need love, for what good will love do me?
Diamonds never lie to me
For when love's gone, they'll lustre on

Diamonds are forever, forever, forever

Theme from the James Bond film 

"Diamonds are Forever"

It is so much better

It is so much better to step out of the world's frenetic twirl, to be this soft smile of shared bliss. It is so much better when I remember, and want to stay, not just wander by. I have dreamed of just this, all of my life.

My bliss in your instruction, in your abode. 
There is no place, no other for me.

A different day

The step is different, it starts a different moment, a different day.

A step outside of story, history or time.

Now. The little step that embraces freedom, free because I experience just this, the place that dreams of this, but I am more.

God can be anything, paramashiva is not fettered in any way. He/she takes Her pleasure by becoming everything. I am one version of so very many that can be.

My story includes shedding my story, at just the pace and delight of my Beloved, finding Him just so, in just this way. It is a beautiful, delicate dance that includes the liberating fire of karma to purify me, to render me as essence, intention and love.

I finally understand why the story doesn't end as soon as I know who I am. What happens after I know who I am is part of the story, the best part.

I honor my Beloved's delight in me, taking me back at last. I am finding my way back to Him. In this and every moment, we are already One.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Never to wander

How many times I passed this spot on the way.

The way to this, not this... what about this?

I felt bliss again, and this time I stopped... then at last I sat down.

Endless bliss... 

My guru has been here forever.

Did we ever move at all?

Here I am at my guru's feet.... never to wander away again.

The path is Shakti, not Shiva

The path is Śakti (energy); the path is not Śiva. (Vijnana Bhairava verse 20-21)

This lecture is an excerpt from the Vijnana Bhairava: The Manual for Self Realization, verses 20-21, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo . . .

शक्त्यावस्थाप्रविष्टस्य
निर्विभागेन भावना ।
तदासौ शिवरूपी स्यात्
शैवी मुखमिहोच्यते ॥२०॥

śaktyāvasthāpraviṣṭasya
nirvibhāgena bhāvanā /
tadāsau śivarūpī syāt
śaivī mukhamihocyate // 20 //

When you enter in the state of energy, and leave your individual state (you have not to enter in the state of energy for always), you have to throw off the individual state and enter in the energy to enter in the universal state in the end. Because unless you ignore, [throw] off, your individuality, universality will not rise, universality won’t take place.

So you have to enter in the state of energy first, śakti avasthā praviṣṭasya; then afterwards yadā nirvibhāgena bhāvanā bhavet, when you feel that undifferentiatedness comes in your consciousness–undifferentiatedness between energy and the holder of energy–tadāsau śivarūpī syāt, at that very moment, this sādhaka, this bhāvanā [contemplation] becomes one with Lord Śiva.

So the path is Śakti; the path is not Śiva (śaivī means Śakti). Energy is mukham, the path is, iha, here,ucyate, explained. Energy is the real path you have to tread.

यथालोकेन दीपस्य
किरणैर्भास्करस्य च ।
ज्ञायते दिग्विभागादि
तद्वच्छक्त्या शिवः प्रिये ॥२१॥

yathālokena dīpasya
kiraṇairbhāskarasya ca /
jñāyate digvibhāgādi
tadvacchaktyā śivaḥ priye // 21 //

O dear Pārvatī, just like with the light of your candle or torch, dīspasya ālokena, by the light of your torch or candle, or by the rays of the sun, all the differentiated points of deśa, space, are known, are understood, in the same way Śiva is being understood by Śakti, by his energy. Energy is the means by which you can understand and enter in the state of Lord Śiva.

–––––––––––––

37. The sense here is that this sadhaka (the aspirant) through contemplation with one-pointed awareness (bhavana) becomes one with Lord Shiva (Bhairava). [Editor's note]

(source: Vijnana Bhairava, by Swami Lakshmanjoo)

All Content is subject to Copyright © Universal Shaiva Fellowship, John Hughes.

sat chit ananda

~Shiva Nataraja~
Lord Shiva
in the dance of ALL
is seen with His consciousness
emanating and taking form
through His aspect as the
Goddess Shakti (flames)

शिव 
Shiva

Shiva is one of God's given, "proper" names. It means "auspicious one." Auspicious means promising success, opportune, favorable; an auspicious occasion.

Paramashiva refers to Shiva as Universal Consciousness. "Parama" means supreme.

~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~

सच्चिदानन्द
sat chit ananda
being consciousness bliss

These three words fill me with ecstatic delight! They describe my Beloved. There is no more basic description of God. He is being, consciousness and bliss.

Being

God is, has being. God exists, "sat." Sat is eternal; it never changes. Sat is real. Everything is real, and made out of...

Consciousness

Everything is made of God's consciousness (chit). Everything. There is nothing that is not God. The creative consciousness (power) of God is often worshiped as feminine, as the Devi (Goddess), who is chit shakti, literally "conscious (divine) energy." She moves, she does. She is what all this is made of. Jaya Shiva Devi.

If everything is real, then what is illusion? Illusion is seeing many where there is only One. This is a part of the play.

God is free in every way. He chooses to contract his consciousness into the many forms of the universe. Eventually he takes it all back, dissolving it back into himself. Eventually he begins again. Why? Because it pleases him. Everything I do pleases God, pleases my true Self. Then... offering what I do to him creates a shower of delicious bliss. Then this... finding him inside myself is the eternal fountain of supreme bliss.

Bliss

The nature of Paramashiva is bliss. Why does music bring about bliss? Dance? Art? Parenthood? Where does the bliss come from?

Bliss that is uncovered during situations in life can be claimed at the source, where it has no beginning and end. To identify with Shiva as my Beloved and my true Self is... bliss.

~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ... ~

"Shiva can be understood in a more personalised and abstract sense. Abstractly, it stands for Brahma, the 'Absolute,' and may, in this sense, be prefixed by Parama, meaning the 'highest' or 'supreme.' This is the transcendental aspect of Shiva.

Shiva Shakti

"The 'power' or 'energy' of Shiva [remember chit? consciousness??] is characterised as a feminine consort, Shakti. Although Shiva and Shakti are often represented as distinct deities, they may best be understood as the static and dynamic poles of the creative process. Shakti is not separate from Shiva. It is his consciousness, the intensity, power and purpose to create."

 ~ Shiva as the Central Theme of Hatha Yoga, (Indianetzone)

Outside

Adulthood has always been bargaining. Tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, and I will try to do it, and then I'll get ________.

The ultimate dualism. Mormonism.

The question that has ruled all other questions: What am I supposed to be doing about this? What is the right choice? "THE RIGHT CHOICE EXISTS OUTSIDE OF ME."

Now I avoid this dualism. I weigh the options. There is not necessarily one correct choice. Choosing can be made with a light step and deliciously savored fun. God loves to party.

I choose how to act. Decision and consequence are all part of the divine play which comes from God's consciousness. It is harmful to my growth as a soul to choose evil and lack of responsibility. It is also a source of pain to try to claim authorship of consequence (karma). I CHOOSE action, then observe action and consequence. I seek to let go of attachment (to the "fruits" of my action). 

I choose based on rising above the three gunas: rajas, tamas and sattva. I don't run around in rajistic pursuit of whatever. I simply choose, and act. I don't hide out in tamas, or seek the fruits of sattva.

If I do not seek the fruits of my actions, I offer my actions to God as dharma, duty. An offering is purifying. Grasping, pulling, pushing and reaching are outside of dharma, and create the spiritual debt. More burning. Ack.

It all comes down to how much of every minute I can spend in consciousness of my Beloved, who is closer than close.