ISHVARA PRANIDHARANA

One of the most beautiful characteristics we may find in the human being is definitely (devotion), which is the real and complete faith in . It occurs when we realize the existence of that which is Supreme, and everything going on just happens by His Will (Iccha ). Through this realization you put your ego down in his right place, assuming that the ego is not as big, great and good as he thought before. He, the Pure Consciousness, is the One without a second, the great the glorious, and even the inmanifest. Ultimately he is the one who acts and in that point a natural felling of complete gratefulness arises in our heart. explain that those who can completely perfect the surrender to God ( or Ishvara Pranidhana) surely achieves . He also says that without God’s grace we cannot do or have anything, specially Samadhi which is the ultimate goal. To have the grace of God it is not really necessary to meditate 10 hours a day, or to chant thousands of thousands . To complete surrender yourself to God, you live God 24 for 7. Giving him the maxim effort you can do and accepting everything that happens to you as God’s gift or Atma Prasada according to Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri. I am however, not saying that you should not pray or meditate on Him. You should do so, but you should not limit your devotion and surrender to Him just while praying or meditating, indeed do all your activities in surrender to Him. These two practices are very important in our . Praying, especially in can help us a lot in our spiritual life. May you ask then, “Why Sanskrit? Can’t I pray in my own language?”- The answer is yes, of course you can pray in your own language, but when you use Sanskrit you use the vibrational sound of the universe. The ancient Rishis were so connect with the universe that they could perceive these vibrations or sounds in the Cosmic field, and then they systematized these in a language that lead human being to spiritual evolution or realization. Sanskrit is the language of God. In Sanskrit the sun, for instance, is called because the vibration of these syllables together vibrates exactly the vibration of the sun. A person with some level and capacity of concentration and purity of mind may find the meaning of the word Surya just by concentrating on its sound. The object revels itself through the Sanskrit word. That is the truth of Sanskrit, and the Rishis were able to tune themselves with these vibrations of the universe which is God itself, and through that they received all the higher knowledge and by grace it came to us. When we learn Sanskrit alphabet here, we are not just learning Ka-Kha-Ga- Gha-Na. We are leaning the sacred language which eventually will tune us with God. It lines up the chakras, and put your mind in order. Mantras are also a bridge between the inner and outer world if we are to consider these both to exist as different realities. In a deeper view of Sanskrit each letter or syllable is related to different aspects of the manifestation of the universe. One example of that is the letter ‘a’. “A” in Sanskrit alphabet is , Pure Consciousness or illumination, prakasha, the Being; and ‘ha’ is Sakti, the energy aspect thereof, or the inherent expressive activity called vimar-sha, the phenomenal emergence. The two are paralleled by and in Advata . The coming together of the two categories (the union being symbolized by the terminal ‘m’) is signified by the Sanskrit expression ‘a-ham’ I, which also comprehends in itself all the entire Sankrit alphabet. The mass of this union is technically termed ‘mithuna pinda’ (the pair body or two in one), or Shiva-Shakti (awareness- energy). Another magnificent religious aspect in India is the beautiful concept of holy images called Murthi. The statue has to be made of specific materials and it is necessary to have special rituals which call the specific to dwell in the statue with the purpose of being worshiped. Then this statue can be called murthi. A murthi therefore, is believed to be God Itself. A Murthi is a wonderful way to worship God, and it is very helpful to have one at home, because all the time when you see It, It reminds you that God is present, especially if you reserve a certain period of time every day to do your . It is one of the good ways to thanks God and tune with Him. Many Indians have their own altar at home and do their puja every day, many times twice a day, always at the same time without failing. It brings a spiritual strength and an intimacy with the deity. All of these holy statutes have their own specific energy and each detail has a very big meaning. The very beautiful (The of dance), symbolizes the Pancakshra itself, Namah Shivaya. The right hand which holds the Damaru symbolizes the primal musical Nada of creation represented by the letter Shi. The left hand which has the palm facing down symbolizes release from maya and is represented by the letter Va. The right hand that poses the fear-not symbolizes maintenance and protection and is represented by letter Ya. The letter Na is represented by left hand that holds fire, fire represents destruction. The letter Ma is represented by the foot fixed firm on the demon called Mayalangan or the symbol of man’s ignorance. Unmaivilakam explain the fiery Arch: The Pancakshara and the Dance are identified with the mystic syllable , the arch being the kombu or hook of the ideograph of the symbol. The arch over Shri Nataraja is Omkara(OM), and the akshara which is never separate from the omkara is the contained splendor. So the body of Shiva is the five-letters which dance inside the Om. As we see here, every specific form of the Murthi has its meaning and vibration with the Cosmic reality, and when worshipping it we must go beyond the material aspect of it. The many statues and many in Sanata are different aspects or manifestations of the same God, the Absolute, the Pure consciousness. Sanatana dharma is the path which understands the different characteristics and needs of each person, and because of that it is the culture of many paths, the culture of many Gods which are in just One without a second. When a person chooses one God as his because of certain characteristics which matches with his personality; he there after worships this God as the ultimate reality. And so, the Vaishnavas worship , the Shaivas Shiva, and the Shaktas Shakti, not merely as the maintainer, the destroyer, and the Goddess, but rather as the Purusa, the Paramatma, the Brahmam, ParamaShiva, the Highest One, the Absolute. And through surrender to him, she or it, the sadhaka attains samadhi. Through perfection of Ishvara Pranidhana one attains Samadhi. However it is a quite long path until we are really able to surrender ourselves to God. It is said in Sanatana Dharma that there are three different levels of evolution on the worshipping and surrender. There are external, external-internal and internal. In the first stage the sadhaka perform his sadhana, rituals and practices mainly externally. He does is quite mechanically, knowing the reality just intellectually. As he progress in the spiritual path for the second stage he does perform all sadhana and rituals experiencing and having more awareness about the relation between inner and outer. For the third stage he then realizes that there is no such a thing as internal and external and every single thing he does is purely devotion, purely surrender. He stops being the one who thinks he acts and lives the ultimate reality of his role as an actor in all this drama called the Dance of Shiva, or the dance of life. He is perfect in Ishvara Pranidhana.