A Non-dual Prayer to Consciousness
Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya
Consciousness, awareness, presence.
The universe, the void, all-pervading, Spaciousness.
Transcendent.
“The mother and father of the universe”
The arising and subsiding of all.
The source of all creation; “the ground of being.”
Śivā, the pure one, auspicious one.
Personified as tryambakaṁ (three-eyed one), as Naṭarāja (Lord of the Dance),cross-legged in meditation as the Adiyogi (first yogi), in abstract as a liṅga sitting on a yoni (symbolizing the divine merge of microcosm with the macrocosm), and as the destroyer as part of the Trimūrti.
Śivā meaning blessing. Śivā meaning pure. Śivā as Oṃ or Auṃ.
Śivā the name of the Divine we can’t see. Śivā the name of the Divine we can feel.
The unmanifested space holder of all of Her powers -- cit, ānanda, icchā, jñāna, and kriyā. The manifested powers of consciousness, bliss, will, knowing, and action.
Śivā. Mahadev. The great God.
Śivā who holds a trident.
Śivā who cries the seeds of rudrākṣa which we hold to chant his name.
Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya.
Shivo’ham. “I am Śivā.”
Shivo’ham. “I am divine.”
Shivo’ham.
🕉️ 🔱 👁️ 📿
Śivā, pronounced ‘Shiva’, is all of these and more. In the tantra I practice, non-dual Shaiva/Shakta tantra, Śivā is the unmanifested divine and Śakti (pronounced Shakti) is the divine manifested. She is everything we see, touch, think, smell, act. But they are not two, they are one and we are not separate from them.
Since August, I’ve devoted every Monday to a Śivā practice: chanting ‘Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya,’ trying to learn the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, consuming less, being in devotion, and most of all resting in the presence that is Śivā.
Picture 1. Me at Bhootnath Temple, Rishikesh
2. Widow in devotion to Shiva at Nepali Shiva temple, Varanasi
3. Bhootnath Temple at night
4. Mural of Shiva
5. Shiva kirtan with Neelkanth, Topavon Rishikesh (Video)