Shiva The Enternal Joy

Sri Sri Ravishankar

• Publisher: Aslan eReads
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9789385898174
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

"Shiva tattva is total; it is complete. Shiva is where the mind dissolves. He is formless yet sees all. He is the formless core of existence and also the goal. He is the seer, sight and the scene. He is without a beginning or end. He permeates the entire creation. He is never born and is eternal. He is the fourth state of consciousness, the non-dual consciousness that is present everywhere." - H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and humanitarian, was born in 1956 in southern India. He was often found deep in meditation as a child. At the age of four, he astonished his teachers by reciting the Bhagawad Gita.
To globalise the knowledge of leading a happy, stress-free life, H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar established an international educational and humanitarian NGO - The Art of Living, in 1982. Today, with a presence in over 151 countries, the Art of Living is one of the largest voluntary organizations in the world

The Mystery of Ganesha

The lord of the diverse universe is called Ganesha. Gana means ‘a group’. The whole world is pervaded by the One. There is no other. This is the ultimate truth on one level. When we come down from that level then the whole universe is nothing but groups of atoms, of energy. A garland is a group of flowers, there is a group of stars, and all people seated here are a group too. Our body is a group of many cells. A group of atoms form a molecule. All molecules of water, milk, stones group themselves together and become water, milk, stones respectively.

A group cannot exist without a lord. Like the queen bee whose mere existence brings forth the honeycomb, this diverse universe in itself is enough evidence for Ganesha’s presence. So, the whole world is made of groups-gana and the adhipati or the head of all the ganas, groups is Ganesha.

There is no difference between the Self and Ganesha.

Twameva prathyaksham Brahmasi, Brahmastvam, Vishnustvam, Indrastvam, Rudrastvam...

This is how Ganesha is described. You are the Self, you are Brahma, you are Vishnu, you are Shiva, everybody is you. There is nothing here other than you.

Paschaat, purataat, dakshinaat, urdhvaat...

You are front, behind, to the right, to the left, you are everywhere.

Ganesha was born out of the unmanifest transcendental consciousness, the Self, called Shiva. Just as when atoms get bonded, matter comes into existence; when all the fragmented aspects of the human consciousness get bonded, Divine manifests effortlessly and that is the birth of Ganesha from Shiva.

Ganesha is ‘Achintya’, ‘Avyakta’ and ‘Ananta’. That is beyond thought, beyond expression and is eternal. Thus no other is as beautiful as Him and He is omnipresent. Now the question arises that why this one-consciousness and one supreme power is depicted in the form of an elephant?

Rationale and Significance of Elephant Head of Ganesha

According to one story Parvati went to have bath. She collected all the dirt from Her body and created a baby boy and gave life to it. She made the child as her own. Shiva had gone out of Kailas that time, when returned He saw a boy guarding His house. The boy prevented Shiva from entering the house. Shiva got angry and chopped off the boy’s head. When Parvati came to know about this She was greatly distressed, “Oh! You have cut off my son’s head,” she cried. Shiva told his attendants to look for an animal or a person sleeping with head towards north direction and bring back that head. They only found an elephant sleeping with its head towards the north. So, that elephant’s head was brought.

Ganesha was created after the elephant head was placed on the beheaded body of the boy and he was granted a boon that He will always be the first God to be worshipped.

This is a story. On listening to this many questions may arise. Was there so much dirt on Parvati’s body that she could make a baby from it? Not only that, Shiva, being all knowing, how could He not recognise that the boy was His son? The third question which arises is, was Shiva so impatient? Was he such an arrogant deity? Just because a child said, “I cannot let you inside now,” He cut off the child’s head? Is God so cruel, so hard?! People who do not have a good understanding of the ancient Hindu tradition deride this story. We ourselves do not know anything about this.

A child’s body is so small and an elephant’s head was placed on it. An elephant can never sit on a mouse, in spite of this he was given a mouse as a vehicle! Small mouse and a human possessing the head of an elephant seated on it! One who cannot understand this can never be a wise one.

This is a wrong understanding; this is not how the story of Ganesha is. It is entirely different in reality.

Parva means celebration, festival and Parvati means the energy of Parva. When we are celebrating we are outward. When we are increasingly outward, then the dirt in us keeps on increasing too. Due to the dirt we become restless and from this craving, aversion, anxiety arises. When all this happens we cannot handle it. The reason why this happens is that Shakti (energy) is separated from Shiva. When this body of dirt encountered the ‘Shiva element’, the ‘Advait Tattva’ its head, that is ego, fell apart and was then replaced by the head of an elephant.

So what is the significance of Ganesha? There is a secret behind this. Shiva and Parvati (this is where the word ‘Power’ comes from; Parvati represents power) had been celebrating with great enthusiasm and Parvati had become dirty–signifying that celebration can easily become Rajasic or feverish and take you away from your centre, so She removed all the dirt (symbolic of ignorance) from her body and created a boy–doll from this. She gave the doll life and asked him to guard the door while She bathed. When Shiva (Supreme Innocence, Peace and Knowledge) returned to Kailas the boy could not recognize Him and stopped Him from entering. This signifies that ignorance (dirt) cannot recognise wisdom or innocence. However, truth cannot be stopped by ignorance and so Shiva chopped off the boy’s head–the head of ignorance and entered. But when Parvati realised what had happened She explained to Shiva that the boy was their son and Shiva had to save him. So He instructed His helpers to go and find someone with his head pointing to the North, someone in tune with the natural flow of energy and to bring back his head. They searched far and wide and were only able to find an elephant in such a state. So they brought back the head of the elephant and this became Ganesha’s head.

The Big Mind is depicted by the head of an elephant. Elephant does everything by its trunk. It feeds through its trunk and works through its trunk. An elephant signifies unified power of knowledge and action. The elephant is endowed with peculiar qualities, like its fearless and royal walk. It proudly destroys any obstacle on its path. An elephant is also a symbol of authority, endurance, strength and courage. We are thus, able to imbibe all these qualities into our consciousness.

Elephant has no fear and when an elephant walks, it walks majestically, unlike a hen. If you look at a hen you can see that it walks out of fear. A cat, a cow, a dog all walk and run in fear. They get frightened if somebody goes near them, whereas an elephant walks majestically like a king. It is very important to have this quality in us.

The strength and bravery of an elephant is very specia...

Table of contents

• Title
• Preface
• Introduction
• Shiva-Innocence and Infinity
• Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram
• Shiva Tattva
• Shiva Shakti
• Dark Matter
• God Particle
• Shivaratri
• Shivam, Shantam, Advaitam
• The Cosmic Connection
• Tattva Gyan
• Om Namah Shivaya
• Three Types of Maya
• Higher States of Consciousness
• The Mystery of Ganesha
• Kartikeya–The Guru Tattva
• Prayer
• Bhakti–Divine Love
• Pooja
• Yagnas
• Our Traditions and Rituals
• God is the very core of your Existence
• Divine Surrender
• Shiv Pooja
• Ganesha Stotram
• Guru Stotram
• Mrityunjaya Mantra
• Shiv Manas Pooja
• Aatmashatakam
• Shri Rudrashtakam
• Dwadasa Jyotirlinga Stotra
• Shiva Shadakshara Stotram
• Shivoham
• Lingashtakam
• 108 Names of Shiva
• Bhajans
• The Promise
• The Founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• The Art of Living
• The Art of Living Programs
• International Centres