Merging With Siva: Hinduism's Contemporary Metaphysics - Softcover

Subramuniyaswami, Satguru Sivaya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0945497741 ISBN 13: 9780945497745

Publisher: Himalayan Academy Pubns, 1999

Synopsis

Spirituality in the New Age has tended to reflect our technological obsessions. It is, usually, verbose, complicated and complex. The problem with this approach is that it works with the mind, even perhaps the emotions, but does not speak to the essential self. So much modern spiritual literature works to compete in the world with secular and mainstream writing, hence rather than really reaching us it simply presents another theory, another technique, a new form of yoga or meditation. This penchant for novelty may fill a consumer need, but does not necessarily feed the soul.

"Merging with Siva" is a very different sort of book. Its heart is comprised of 365 short sections which can be read in a year, spending around 10 minutes a day. Each section is very easy to read, simple and written in a direct style. It is only throughout the next day as you think over what you have read that you begin to realize the strength of each message. "Merging with Siva" embodies the concept that there is immense power in simplicity. Each section while flowing effortlessly seems to bypass emotions, intellect and body and touch something much deeper. While it may only take 10 minutes to read, one wonders if there is not a lifetime of meaning condensed into each passage. Condensing and distilling--each of these words describe "Merging with Siva." It is as though through a unique alchemical process the secrets of life have been condensed into simple but poignant and powerful expressions. The beauty of teaching in bite sized packages is the way in which quite complex subjects can be slowly unveiled.

"Merging with Siva" is like building a house, each brick is placed onto another until the whole edifice is revealed. This allows us to contemplate individual concepts which interconnect as the whole picture is unveiled. Accordingly, difficult and complex matters are taught with an ease which would make many school teachers jealous!

I personally find the Self God, which is included at the start of the book very meaningful. I first came across it many, many years ago in a small booklet I found at a second hand store. It was an ecstatic experience as I read what seemed to be like nectar, juice squeezed from the fruit of spiritual experience. This one booklet led me on a journey that culminated in my personal contact with the Himalayan Academy. It is included at the start of "Merging with Siva," printed in the handwriting of Subramuniyaswami. At first this seems annoying, even a nuisance. It cannot be quickly read or glossed over. Here, then, is the importance and power of the text. As you work to read each work, phrase and paragraph its message and vision begins to unfold. It is a great way to begin your journey through Merging with Siva.

There is so much more in this book that it is hard to summarize. There is, of course, good solid background information on the tradition of Saiva Siddhanta: its theology and practise and certainly more than enough to provide one of the better introductions to Shaivism as a living spiritual tradition. But what makes Merging with Siva so unique is its ability to bring that living tradition within reach of the seeker. It slowly draws the reader into a deep understanding of themselves, the universe and the great "spiritual chain of being" of which we are part. It does so simply, succinctly and yet with great erudition and wisdom.

Merging with Siva is a modest text. There is no new age hype, no outrageous claims, no UFO abductions nor calls to the bizarre or garish. There is a simple and honest presentation of the distilled wisdom of a lifetime and this makes Merging with Siva very rare and quite unique. In my personal collection I consider it one of the most important books I have. Its presentation matches its content. Superb. It is beautifully illustrated, easy on the eye and professionally presented. I commend Merging with Siva to you. Whether you are simply curious or a deep seeker, you will find something of great value here.

About this title

About the Author

For over four decades Subramuniyaswami, affectionately known as Gurudeva, has taught Hinduism to Hindus and seekers from all faiths. He is the 162nd successor of the Nandinatha Kailasa lineage and satguru of Kauai Aadheenam, a 51-acre temple-monastery complex on Hawaii's Garden Island of Kauai. From this verdant Polynesian ashrama on a river bank near the foot of an extinct volcano, he and his monastics live their cherished vision, following a contemplative and joyous existence, building a jewel-like white granite Siva temple, meditating together in the hours before dawn, then working, when rainbows fill the sky, to promote the dharma together through Saiva Siddhanta Church, Himalayan Academy and Hindu Heritage Endowment. Gurudeva is known as one of the strictest gurus in the world. His Church nurtures its membership and local missions on five continents and serves, personally and through books and courses, the community of Hindus of all sects. Its mission is to protect, preserve and promote the Saivite Hindu religion as expressed through three pillars: temples, satgurus and scripture. Its congregation is a disciplined, global fellowship of family initiates, monastics and students who are taught to follow the sadhana marga, the path of inner effort, yogic striving and personal transformation.

In 1986, New Delhi's World Religious Parliament named Gurudeva one of five modern-day Jagadacharyas, world teachers, for his international efforts in promoting a Hindu renaissance. Then in 1995 it bestowed on him the title of Dharmachakra for his remarkable publications. The Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders for Human Survival chose Subramuniyaswami as a Hindu representative at its unique conferences. Thus, at Oxford in 1988, Moscow in 1990 and Rio de Janiero in 1992, he joined religious, political and scientific leaders from all countries to discuss privately, for the first time, the future of human life on this planet.

From the Inside Flap

I find the lessons to be simple to use and filled with Divine light and grace. Pujya Swamiji's Merging with Siva is divinely inspired and an imperative lesson book for all in quest of a conscious life and inner freedom, the clear and trenchant means to walk the path of simplicity and consciousness by adhering to and following Hindu Dharma.--Maya Tiwari, Spiritual Head, Wise Earth School of Ayurveda

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami shows what the complete and authentic Yoga is, shining his vast light upon the great mountains and seas of inner experience, connecting us with the wisdom of the rishis of old. Merging with Siva is an elixir that can cure all the ills of the soul, one of the most important sadhana manuals available for all who wish to really connect to their higher Self and experience the infinite.--Dr. David Frawley, O.M.D., Vedacharya; Director, American Institute of Vedic Studies and noted author; Santa Fe, New Mexico

The program of daily spiritual contemplation and living is systematically laid out in a practical way, enabling seekers to cultivate their sadhana. Swamiji has revealed a vast fund of knowledge of Hindu philosophy and yoga psychology and spirituality, mainly on the basis of the southern school of Saiva Siddhanta, of which Swamiji is a living acharya. The entire trilogy seems to be Swamiji's personal offering to Parasiva, his dear Lord. Dr. Mahesh Mehta, author, editor and professor of Religious Studies and Oriental Studies, University of Windsor; Ontario, Canada

In my opinion, this is God's boon for modern society living in complexity and confusion. This book is a guiding light which illuminates the path to peace, prosperity and happiness by integration and harmony of mind, body and soul to lead towards the ultimate purpose and goal of human life. I highly recommend the precious work, Merging with Siva, to every serious-minded person. H.H. Sri Sri Swami Bua Maharaj, Centenarian, Founder and Head of Indo-American Yoga-Vedanta Society; New York

Merging with Siva is a splendidly written compendium of aphorisms and commentaries for daily practice that gives Saiva practitioners a lucid and simple method for inner transformation. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's clear articulation demonstrates a wisdom and a love of Saivism that is uplifting and heartening. His true spiritual depth shines through in this work which will be treasured by all readers who seek clarity, insight and a tool with which to merge in the Divine. Swami Chetanananda Saraswati, Spiritual Head of Nityananda Institute; Portland, Oregon

There are so many important things in Merging with Siva. My favorites: "The Story of Awareness." Philosophies are to be experienced step by step. Get acquainted with yourself as Being Awareness! Say to yourself, "I am not the body... I am not the emotions... I am not the thinking mind... I am Pure Awareness!" Each of the 36 contemporary dharmic principles opened up doors for me. Instead of paying attention to my real purposes in this life. Spreading my energy in too many directions. Try to save "the world" plus all of my relatives, friends, students and clients. This book has given me the knowledge and energy to move further onto my spiritual path. Patricia-Rochelle Diegel, Ph.D, well known teacher, intuitive healer and consultant on past lives, the human aura and numerology; Las Vegas, Nevada

Merging with Siva demonstrates the good news that sacred scriptures continue to be written for the benefit of spiritual seekers. At the heart of this monumental work are ninety-nine mystical aphorisms together with their commentaries. In the manner of the ancient Vedic seers, both aphorisms and commentaries spontaneously formulated themselves in Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's yoga-trained mind many years ago. Building on this revealed wisdom, Merging with Siva expounds in easily assimilated form the highest aspect of the Saiva Siddhanta path to liberation, which is jnana yoga. It consists in recognizing who you truly are—not this limited body-mind but the eternal, blissful Self that is seamlessly merged with Siva. For this recognition to be possible, you must first transmute your body and mind into a pure vessel through diligent yoga practice. This book discloses many secrets about the actual path and the subtle energetic system whose workings must be understood to achieve success in the noble endeavor of self-purification and self-transmutation. This magnificent volume is an empowered communication about wisdom and love, which are the two wings by which the human spirit can raise itself above primal ignorance (avidya) and its many baneful byproducts. There is not a page in this scripture that does not contain profound insights or helpful words of encouragement. Merging with Siva is not merely an indispensable sourcebook for practitioners of Saiva Siddhanta, its timeless wisdom also speaks to spiritual seekers within other traditions. May it open the eyes and hearts of countless individuals. Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., Director of the Yoga Research Center; author of thirty books, including The Yoga Tradition, The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga, and Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy; Lower Lake, California

It would seem that the countless paths of spirituality with which we are acquainted, especially in the West, have all been ramifications, offshoots at best, of what here is so clearly described, and which are the basic tenets of Hinduism. Looking into the future, it is to be seen that coming generations will consider this book a landmark, a condensation of what so many books had been trying to convey by supplying bits and pieces of the Truth as they could. And yet it has always been from the East that Western Metaphysics has derived its greatest inspirations, and indeed its very existence. Just as Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi first brought the concept of Self Realization as the ultimate goal of the spiritual path to the attention of a whole generation of Truth-seekers in the West, so also does this book, Merging with Siva, outline that goal and the means to achieve it. It has been said that all things return to the Source, and so it is that in this book Sivaya Subramuniyaswami has brought us back Home again to that Source which we all have been seeking, and which is and always has been, the Self God. Arthur Pacheco, well-known counselor, healer, astrologer, theosophist, occultist, medium and parapsychologist, lecturer on psychic development, cosmic laws, mediumship and astrology; Honolulu, Hawaii

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Each experience that we have is a good experience because it molds us. It shapes us, just like an artist would mold a piece of clay. From an ugly hunk of clay can emerge a divine being, molded by the artist. In that same way, the experiences of life, even those that boomerang back on us and those we think are terrible, mold us. But they only mold us quickly and benefit us tremendously if we hold our perspective as the inner man, the timeless man, the immortal being. Only in this way can this happen. That's the attitude, the thoughts we must have, as we go along on the path of enlightenment. The mere fact that you want Self Realization in this life means that you have been through hundreds of thousands of experiences. You have been nearly everything that there is to be on this planet. And now, in your last lifetime, you are finishing up the experiential patterns that you didn't handle in a life prior.

Life is a series of experiences, one after another. Each experience can be looked at as a classroom in the big university of life if we only approach it that way. Who is going to these classrooms? Who is the member of this university of life? It's not your instinctive mind. It's not your intellectual mind. It's the body of your soul, your superconscious self, that wonderful body of light. It's maturing under the stress and strain, as the intellect gives back its power to the soul, as the instinct gives back its power to the soul, as the physical elements give back their power to the soul and all merge into a beautiful oneness. In this way, the beings of the New Age are going to walk on Earth. Each one will have light flowing through his whole body and he will inwardly see his body glowing in light, even in the darkest night. The good-and-bad concept should be thrown out with a lot of other things, including the up-and-down concept. There is no good; there is no bad. You don't raise your consciousness, nor do you lower it. These are just concepts that have come in by various philosophers who tried to explain these deeper teachings the very best that they could. What is bad is good, and what is good is good. And a higher state of consciousness and a lower state of consciousness, they don't exist at all. We simply hold a certain perspective of awareness, and we look out, and we go in.

When you look out through the eyes of your soul, it's like a great executive in a large building's penthouse office. His desk is right in the middle of that office, and he looks out and he sees the people working around him. Then he looks farther out, and he sees the vast panes of windows. Then he looks farther out, and he sees the city below, and he sees the sky, he sees the traffic. Then he looks back into himself. He sees his subconscious mind, with thoughts about his home life and other things that do not involve his immediate surroundings in this grand office. He looks deeper into himself and he has an intuitive flash. Something has come to him, how he can help his enterprise be moved and motivated in a more dynamic way. He looks deeper within himself for the source of where that intuitive flash comes from, begins to see light within his head, light within his body. Again he becomes conscious of people working around him. Again he becomes conscious of the panes of the windows. He has to leave this office. He goes down in an elevator. He walks out onto the street. He is the same being. His perspective is an inner perspective. He doesn't go up and down in consciousness. The mystic does not go up and down in consciousness. It only seems like that. But that is not actually what happens. It makes it very difficult when we hold the up-and-down and good-and-bad concepts, because they work in time sequences. If we are bad, it takes a certain amount of time before we can become good. And if we are good, there is a great possibility that we might be bad during a certain period of our life. If we are in a high state of consciousness, percentages have it that we may be in a low state of consciousness. It's going to take a lot of time to climb up high, and we might fall down, so what's the use? We have all of these semantic connotations with the words good and bad and up and down, and therefore we throw them out of our mystical vocabulary and the connotations that go along with them. We say we go within, deep within. We say we come out, into outer consciousness. We say there is no good, there is no bad, there is just experience, and within each experience there is a lesson. Some experiences might make our nervous system react so strongly that it may take hours to pull ourselves together. But once we pull ourselves together, that exercise evolves the body of the soul that much more. We have transmuted tremendous instinctive and intellectual energies into this body of the soul. We have fed it. We have given it a good meal. And we never face that same experience again, nor react the same way.

Edition details

• Publisher: Himalayan Academy Pubns
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0945497741
• ISBN 13: 9780945497745
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1408