91.THE SHIVA-SHAKTI - connecting the dots

This is very often misunderstood and seized upon by those in organised religions to be something deviant and dirty....

As with mass worship dealing with the masses, it's hard to explain something that's esoteric when you can't feel, touch or see this 'Thing' one calls 'God' or 'Holy Spirit' or 'Chakras' or 'auras' etc........which can explain why organised religions have been so successful. Perhaps it's part of a Divine Plan to gather together the masses into believing that they better be good for there's a 'Big Brother' watching them and recording all their deeds, good and bad - far easier to be a follower. 
It's hard work being an earnest seeker what with the discipline involved in meditation, fasting, control of the senses, detachment.......

THE DIVINE COUPLE SHIVA-SHAKTI
In the Tantric cosmology, the whole universe is perceived as being created, penetrated and sustained by two fundamental forces, which are permanently in a perfect, indestructible union. These forces or universal aspects are called Shiva and Shakti.

The tradition has associated to these principles a form, respectively that of a masculine deity and that of a feminine one. Accordingly, Shiva represents the constitutive elements of the universe, while Shakti is the dynamic potency, which makes these elements come to life and act.


From a metaphysical point of view, the divine couple Shiva-Shakti corresponds to two essential aspects of the One.........the masculine yang principle (Shiva), which represents the abiding aspect of God, and the feminine yin principle (Shakti), which represents its Energy, the Force which acts in the manifested world, life itself considered at a cosmic level.

From this point of view, Shakti represents the immanent aspect of the Divine, that is the act of active participation in the act of creation.
Maybe exactly this Tantric view of the Feminine in creation contributed to the orientation of the human being towards the active principles of the universe, rather than towards those of pure transcendence.

The eternal and indestructible union between Shiva and Shakti gives birth to the whole Macrocosm in its stable, static aspect as well as in its dynamic one.

Thus, on one hand is presented the cosmic dance of Shakti on the lying body of Shiva, on the other, the 2 deities are pictured in tantric sexual union (Viparita-Maithuna). This is usually understood in western traditions that man is immobile while the woman, embracing him, assumes an active role during the sexual act.

The Tantrism envisages the cosmic evolution as a polarisation within the Supreme Being, which is 'God', the Unmanifested Absolute, in its two fundamental aspects: static and kinetic.









sea bean - l
sea coconut - r

Tantra symbolizes this aspect by comparing the couple Shiva and Shakti with a seed of grain (Chanaka). Such a seed is made up of two halves so closely linked that they seem one and one single cover covers them.  
Symbolically the two halves represent Shiva and Shakti, the cover represents Maya (the cosmic illusion). 
When the cover is on, the two halves are separated, but the cover goes off when the seed is about to germinate, unifying thus the two halves in one.

Symbol of the Tao & Taoism - the dynamic Force, constantly interacting with one another. This symbol represents the primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the Universe.

 
The yin-yang icon stands for the Universe composed of yin (feminine) and yang (masculine), which together in combination form a whole. The 2 spots indicate that each of the 2 energies at the highest stage of its realisation already contains the seed of, and is about to transform into its polar opposite. 
Yin-Yang represent 2 fundamental forces that create and harmonise the Universe by their interaction. 
The 2 polar energies, by their fluctuation and interaction, produce change - all things are brought about and come into being.


The 7 Major Chakras (Wheels in constant motion), their colours and governing Elements, their locations in the spiritual subtle body....

 

 

The Crown Chakra - Sahasrara. Element - Thought - top of the head




The Brow - Ajna. Element - Light - between the eyes





The 5th Visuddha. Throat area - Element - Sound



 
The 4th Anahata - the Heart region - love, flow, emotional sharing - Air

 



3rd Chakra The Manipura. Element - Fire - above navel





2nd Chakra - Svadhisthana. Element - Water - behind, just below the navel in the sacral region




The Base/Root Chakra - the Muladhara. Element - Earth - the anal region



Apart from the 7 major chakras, there are 21 minor ones distributed throughout the body. They are at the points where the energy strands cross each other 14 times creating smaller vortices. Where the energy strands cross each other only 7 times these correspond to the acupuncture points of Traditional Chinese Medicine


The Kundalini Serpent Fire


 























As the female energy rises from the Base or Root Chakra - the Muladhara - travels upwards to the Crown Chakra - the Sahasrara. Along the way, it passes through the other Chakras, vivifying them (pretty much like a train making stops at various stations). At the same time, the male energy enters the crown chakra and unites with its female counterpart.

This surge of divine energy travels in a spiral intertwining motion, like a dance, and is the 'marriage' of the yin and yang energies - the Shiva-Shakti. When it reaches the Crown Chakra, enlightenment takes place (Samadhi), described at times as 'thy whole body shall be full of light'

This is putting it all very simply. How does one tell the masses, where does one even begin? Seeking is hard work and all consuming, many will be called only a few will be chosen, the path is a solitary one and may take a lifetime - care to join me?

  





The 7 major chakras - front and back















The sex energy in its transformed state becomes Love..... Osho

...The Kingdom of Heaven is within you...
Luke 17:20-21

'Be still like a Mountain and flow like a Great River' - Lao Tzu

'Be still and know that I am God' - Psalm 46:10

'One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye' -
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French author of The Little Prince)

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?.....
1 Corinthians 3:16

I and the Father are one - John 10:30

Do not go into the garden of flowers O friend! Go not there. In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the 1000 petals of the lotus, and there, gaze on the infinite Beauty - Kabir