The realization of shiva-consciousness was more like the realization
that the glyph or iconography of shiva is a symbol for the state of
consciousness that is imparted (or awoken). A teacher shares his
experience of initiation into kali-shiva in our tradition:
The actual initiation consisted of three stages, spread out over
three days. The first was similar to the initiation I had already
received as a Natha. Of the last I cannot speak here, but the second
was an experience. It was, in many respects, similar to that given to
a householder. I only wore one garment, a Sadhu's robe, the word for
which means `a shroud'. This I was told to remove, and to go and sit
in the Kali temple for one hour. The Kali temple was the one suitable
and empty.
From Pagala Baba's residence I walked naked to the little temple.
Fortunately the translator who came to lock me in brought a mat for
me to sit upon. The Kali image was a crude effort made from clay. As
I sat in front of Kali Mata, the young man said that he would be back
in an hour, and closed the doors. This place the interior in
darkness, and I shivered a little from the cold and damp atmosphere.
As I closed my eyes, a wonderland of brilliant spectacle and vision,
all in vivid colour, opened up before me.
First, there was the shining naked Parvati, moving with life, and yet
standing still. I could hear Her rippling laughter as though
something filled Her with delight and not amusement. Suddenly, the
image began to change, and I became aware that the figure was Lord
Shiva, as naked as myself. He too was smiling with some delight, but
this was not the same as the laughter of his consort.
I suddenly became aware of two figures standing behind me. Shiva
waved his hand, indicating an instruction which the two figures
obeyed. They put their hands on my face and peeled off some gauze-
like material. As they did so the light and colour became so
brilliant that I held my hands over my face. The whole scene changed
into a whirling mass of stars and gyrating lights. Then came two
simple personal visions relating to my own future. One of them has
already matured, but the second can only occur afar after I am dead.
Suddenly, a knock, and the doors opened. At first I thought that the
translator had returned to give some message. I was sure that he had
left only five minutes ago, and certainly not more than ten minutes.
But the hour of full sixty minutes had passed. During the vision of
Shiva, I heard a Mantra clearly and loudly spoken. When I returned to
Pagala Baba, after my session in the temple, this was the same Mantra
which he gave to me. There was no question of coincidence or chance.
The Mantra was not only a very unusual one, but one which I had never
heard of before.
On May 12, 2009, at 10:55 PM, enlightened_dawn11 wrote:
not surprised-- you wouldn't know Shiva if he bit you on the ass.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote:
I never made a connection between MMY and my experience of Shiva, not
close. He always was clearly a Vaisnavite, white-silk kinda vibe to
me. Not enough tamas to be Shiva.
