Dissolving arrogance to hear truth

‘Guru’ simply means ‘dispeller of darkness’ in other words one who removes and strips away delusion to uncover the light that is already there, so that it can radiate, like the sun, in all directions.  This is why the metaphor of Jesus healing the blind so that they can see clearly is so powerful.  Absorbing the teachings of a true guru wakes you up!  It is like removing a cataract from our eyes, with the light of truth, lifting one out of the suffering and trauma of appearing to be separate from God, separate from the one reality.  Whether or not we know it, we come from and are one with this magnificent infinite source, this divine oneness and yet the fall from grace into the belief that we are all separate objects, trying to get back to the source (that we already are) can be excruciating.  It is like we are in a kind of hypnosis, or dream.  We know somewhere inside something doesn’t feel right.

In the west, because of conditioning, there is often much pride and arrogance, born of the false egoic self (seeming to be real) to even begin to stop, step down from the throne of the ego, turn (metanoia), sit at the feet of the guru, listen, absorb, swallow and digest in the heart what these sages are pointing to. There can be such a strong conviction in the mind that duality is the only reality that anyone who dares to say ‘I am THAT’ or ‘I am one with God’ is seen as arrogant or putting themselves higher than others.  This stance is from the point of view of ego alone.  Quite the opposite is true.  The sage is truly humble.  He or she knows that his or her nature is non-phenomenal, that we are truly one, that there is no separation, there is only God and that divine source is our True Nature.  But ego thinking tends to completely deny that this is possible, in fact it’s life depends upon disputing this!

There is a strong inner voice of doubt that says ‘well why is he or she so special?  Why do they bow down to Him?  I am not going to just blindly follow the word of some guy!’  It is good to be discerning! But if you are listening to someone with pure heart and integrity we are not listening to ‘some guy’ but to the almighty power of God coming through this humble, empty channel, pure of heart, self sacrificing servant of God.

This stance of doubt and suspicion can be seen as healthy doubt for sure – there are sharks out there!  But is all from the perspective of the ego that believes itself to be real and often wants and ‘needs’ to be someone special in the world.  It wants to be loved, missing the point that its own original nature is love itself, is formless consciousness if only it is recognised.  Because it only sees the world through the eyes of duality and phenomenality  – it only sees the ‘guru’ as such and therefore cannot agree that transcendence can actually occur.  The eyes that look from the egoic perspective sees unity with God therefore as blasphemy.  Isn’t this one of the reasons Christ was crucified?  Christ actually is a remover of darkness who reveals the light within – he is a true guru.  This revelation of light is salvation.  No wonder thousands flocked to be by his side.  He brings healing in his wings.  Jesus did not actually say to worship him but to ‘follow’ him.  To ‘believe’ in him as ‘truth’ (in other words ‘reality’), that means faith and trust in Him for he is one with the Father, in harmony with the supreme source of this universe.  Jesus also said ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.’ (John 14:12)  Yet do we really trust this statement?  Do we believe that faith filled beings can do greater things than Jesus – as he said?  Doesn’t this encourage us to be open to this grace from unexpected places?  Or do we shut down, distrust and perhaps miss the ‘celestial gem’ of truth even when it has landed right in front of us?

It is true that in a way there is nothing different between us and a guru, or fully liberated being on a deeper level.  This is what these masters are always actually pointing to  – we literally are the one True Self in our essential nature!  However when we BELIEVE ourselves to be separate, we are bound!  We believe separation and isolation into existence and we suffer.  Whilst we still want things for ourselves from the world, driven by selfish desires, competitive, fearful, striving to get somewhere.  We suffer.  Only when true metanoia occurs, this great turning, turning inward to look deeply into our true nature, guided by one who really knows and embodies and radiates the immensity of God’s love and light.  Only then can we begin to DISCOVER.  Oh blessed are we to have the auspiciousness of this human form through which such enquiry is not only possible, but inevitable!

Why is Shiva depicted here?

Shiva literally means “that which is not” (Vasudeva 2003); Shiva means “nothing”; Shiva is the nothingness from which everything has come. Shiva creates and Shiva destroys; Shiva is neither good nor bad; Shiva is that which makes everything and that which gives meaning to everything. Nothing means nothing but in a sense means everything; for its mystery lies in its beauty, from dark to light and from light to dark. Shiva has no form, but Shiva takes form of everything that we perceive and that which all perceive. Shakti or energy is what brings the mind out of the body. It stores the information of the mind. It is the source of all knowledge, the source of both delusion and release from delusion. Shiva, call him Atma, Purusha, Universal soul, Ultimate reality, God, etc., Shiva is the one, the absolute, the one without a second, the embodiment of pure consciousness; true reality (Sadhguru 2014). All duality exists in the manifested universe and Shiva is beyond all that. Shiva is formless, which means Shiva can assume all forms at will and is the pivot on which the entire universe turns (Felming 2009). Shiva connects the forms to no form; he is the fulcrum, the tangent between infinity and zero.

It strikes me that another name for Shiva is the cosmic eternal Universal Christ.  And another name for the Universal Christ is Shiva.  There are other names of course from other paths.  Regardless of the name, the formless awareness, the no thing ness from which everything springs exists!   Perhaps it is the only thing that is real?