There is a beautiful Shiva shrine at Ananda Village, a sacred place where many have meditated over the years. It is larger than life size and was sculpted by a talented artist who lived here. Michael, a longtime Village resident, lives nearby, and by helping tend it has developed a deep connection with this image of God. Some years back, he also acquired a lovely little murti of his beloved Shiva that had been abandoned, and it has been a central feature of his meditation room. A year or more ago he felt the inspiration to share the blessings that come from the statue, and has asked a number of people if they would like to “caretake” Shiva for a few weeks.
When he called us recently, he said something very perceptive. “I noticed that in the last several days, I haven’t thought about Shiva. I think my lack of attention means that he wants to move to a new home for a while. Would you like to take him?” And so Shiva now sits in our meditation room, radiating his blessings to us. I always try to bow to him, along with our other masters, before I leave the silence and start the day’s business.
As you know, Devi and I alternate the week when we write the blog. There is a little secret that we should keep quiet, so please don’t spread it around: Unfortunately, we often don’t know what to write about and sometimes struggle to find an inspiring theme. I was in the midst of this dilemma, but this morning as I was bowing to Shiva preparing to leave the meditation room, he whispered the thought, “Why don’t you write about me, and about sharing inspiration?”
Sharing our inspiration with others is central to our spiritual growth. It is a spiritual law that the things we share grow stronger, and those that we hoard to ourselves shrivel up and die. When we share that which inspires us it not only grows stronger within us, but multiplies its power. Thanks to Michael, there are now many residents who have been blessed by his murti.
The inspiration we share rarely has a physical form. Usually it is an encounter, a story, a technique, or a new insight. Where would we all be if Paramhansa Yogananda had not shared his wisdom and insights with Swami Kriyananda or with us? The selfless sharing of love from a mother and father makes it possible for life to survive. But there is also the opposite tendency, to be greedy with the gifts we have been given.
Each week our Sunday service ends with a reading of the Festival of Light, written by Swami Kriyananda. In this ceremony there is a passage that depicts the journey of the soul. Swamiji has written it in poetic form as the story of a little bird. For the bird, as for every soul, there comes a time, before wisdom has had a chance to grow, when it rebels. “What else is wisdom,” it decides, “if not to keep what is mine for myself?”
So, friends, every day we have a choice to make. Should we rebel and keep what is ours for ourselves, or should we share Shiva? If you look at the smile on Shiva’s photo, you will see his answer.
In the joy of sharing,
Nayaswami Jyotish
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13 Comments
Give a little something
Take a little something
Give a little something
Take a little something
One more time
Take a little something
Give a little something
Bob Marley
Yes,and thank you for sharing! I bow to my Alter and say Yes to Life! Thank you Shiva!
Lord Shiva danced with his Creation yet his his glory from it.
The external world is the expansion of his glory.
Yet his Creation was not Seperate from him. For God gave his Creation the Glory of discovering his God Conciousness.
Today is Oct 29th, woke up early and read “Sharing Shiva” so beautiful🙏.
Took me back to the Queen Devi Ahilyabhai of Holkar who was born in 1725! Lord Shiva devotee and built Shiva temples.
Thanks to Nayaswami Jyotish for this wonderful Blog. If I were close by I would like to “caretaker” Shiva 🙏
Best Regards
Anu
https://shaivam.org/devotees/queen-devi-ahilyabhai-holkarThank
Thank you dear Jyotish for responding to Shiva’s request! I am grateful to him for inspiring you. Your encouragement and inspiration came at just the right time for me. Imagine that :-) Have a beautiful day, joy to you💜
Thank you for this inspiration from Shiva today, just what I needed. You so often capture the right message for the moment we are in. Master certainly works through you and Devi!
Thank you for sharing. And reminding us if the wisdom of sharing. It is a blessing to the recipient truly, but it is even more so a blessing to the person who gives or shares. It is an outward sign of a pure and unconditional love that is the only currency of the universe. And it survives our physical death and is all we carry forward. Devotion to Shiva surely is out of unconditional love. Giving that same unconditional love to every living being we encounter is also devotion to Shiva, but even more so. And accordingly the more love we give, the more love we will get. Now. In future. Perhaps when we least expect it.
Bless you and thank you and may we all be so fortunate as to care for Shiva in our hearts and perhaps as a murti or lingam even once in our lives.
Here’s something from someone who’s been visited in dreams by Sri Yukteswar (2x), Yogananda atop an octagonal Ashram within a glass lotus bud in Aug of ’18 five months after sharing with the SRF my experience with the breathless state when my pineal gland briefly relaxed seven hours after attending one of their 3-hour meditation sessions, leading them to refund my tuition.
It was because of Yogananda’s visitation, I was able to discover Ananda Village via the internet since the trees in that dream reminded of Grass Valley.
Then approximately 18 months later I was visited by another Indian gentleman dressed only in a white turban and loin cloth sitting cross-legged on my bed in the spot where I lay my head.
After motioning to his heart with his left hand (speaking of things I know not just as with Sri Yukteswar) I excitedly hugged him at which point a plethora of unique galaxies exploded outwards in a spherical direction., I pulled back a little to look towards him through my right peripheral with the thought of., “Was it not ok to hug you?”
(Who’s the energy and who’s the consciousness in this scenario?)
I’ve also been able to identify both the woman and man that had been burned at the stake for their beliefs., which I knew as a child I had experienced., which were Marguerite Porete and Giordano Bruno.
“My” credentials seem to be beyond “human” comprehension.
How does our consciousness create our reality?
Asked by Barbara Young Capalbo on Quora
“Our” reality?
Here’s my response.
“Gods” are as eggs that have yet to be seeded, but whose initial experience upon fertilization spawn “our”/all realities.
From within a higher-vibrational realm of ethereal light came the conception of the Being “we” are all currently a part of.
The further the light produced by that conception travels from the center, realms with varying densities of light-matter begin to coalesce.
Within the realm “we” are experiencing, exists the necessary substrate to form and house souls which are yet just another kind of prison.
In this denser, physical realm made of condensed light, flesh (Mineral, Vegetable, Animal) can be compared with soil, souls with seeds and the consciousness/character of an individual as the embryo within.
It takes countless incarnations for a soul to mature to the point where the consciousness within could even conceive of the idea of what it means to be Self-Aware.
When stars die in this physical realm (which take place within these lesser universes that “briefly” expand and contract like heartbeats while being housed within great Universal Engines) innumerable soul templates are released, but not all will find their destination meant for the Mineral realm, where an incubation process marries souls with the nascent-light-awareness that still pervades these denser realms, seeking a home to grow in.
Eventually, as it matures, an awareness develops the capacity for “self” transcendence beyond the soul capsule, sprouting within towards higher-vibrational levels of being where it will merge with others that have already been filtered inwards due to “their” individual pursuit of character refinement.
Lastly, though souls may start out inconceivably small, through the experience of living, some manage to expand to encompass cities if not worlds.
Offering my deep gratitude appreciation to you both!❤️
Today I for some unknown reason I entrusted my son before doing anything else to Lord Shiva & prayed to Him/Her as to protect my son from negative energy from some of them, whom he thinks his very own, and also sent my prayers compassionately for them too, due to their ignorance and short sightedness people repeat mistakes..
only to read from you and see this most beatific face of Lord Shiva.
First time I seen such compassionate, loving face of Lord Shiva..
It is soo very charming..
Thank you so much for sharing! May you both be attain Supreme Bliss of Nirvana in this life time itself..
Om Shanthi !Shanthi !Shanthi !🌅❤️🪔🌹😊🎈🎈
Already imbued with devotion, this sweet image of Maheshwar will bless all, even those who don’t bow to it! Yet, continued reverence and prayer will only increase the attunement and strengthen the vibration… What a lovely shared image and blessing to all!
OM Namah Shivaya
Dear Nayaswami Jyotish Ji,
Thank you for sharing the inspiration.
A wonderful blog. Enjoyed reading and listening to it. Very important message about the spiritual quality of sharing.
Joy,
Prem
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