Talks Excerpt 234. Swamiji explains the multifaceted nature of Lord Shiva, as Dakshinamurti.
From Mother Radha’s notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.
God is One – but He acts out of His grace, out of His free will. He is not bound by anything. He is the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer.
We use this free will and are bound again – we start creating, preserving and destroying. We are bound again because we do not know the Seer of creation, preservation and destruction. When you do know Him the lila [divine play] is over.
God created this lila, this maya [revelation of partial truth]. Avidya and maya [God’s power of revealing partial truth] hide the Divine from man. Avidya [ignorance] hides the soul from you but vidya [knowledge] reveals it to you.
They say there are only three facets of God – creator, preserver and destroyer – but Shiva is known for five: creator, preserver, destroyer, veiler and revealer. And therefore you use the five sounds – na ma shi vaa ya.
Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘I do not want to be sugar. I want to taste sugar.’ And we feel: ‘I do not want to be God, I want to taste God.’ So you become a bhakta [devotee]. If you want to become God, you are a jnani [on the path of knowledge].
Shiva is the complete revealer. All five functions work through the elements, the earth etc., the visible forms of Lord Shiva. Worship him in any of the functions, then he is Dakshinamurti – the Guru of Gurus – he silently reveals himself. Other gurus instruct you, but Dakshinamurti does not speak, he sits like a mirror that reflects your real Self. That which you think is poison, in reality, is nectar.
If you take the nectar of Shiva bhakti, then you will be full of knowledge and you can impart that knowledge. It is Dakshinamurti that imparts knowledge.
The five functions, the five elements, are the murti of Shiva himself. Nowhere will you find all the elements not present – thus God is omnipresent.
May the Knowledge that came to the gods and goddesses, when Shiva drank the poison, be your Knowledge. So that which is poison may become nectar – and may you be immortalised. Go with the love of God, the love of the Ishta Devata.
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These recordings or the excerpts from them, were made from the early 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.