The essence of Shiva's energies

Shiva is not described as light, but as darkness (not the conventional interpretation of darkness). Darkness is the only thing that is always. Light is a limited happening in the sense that any source of light – whether a light bulb or the sun – will eventually lose its ability to give out light. Light is not eternal. It is always a limited possibility because it happens and it ends. Darkness is a much bigger possibility than light. Nothing needs to burn, it is always – it is eternal. Darkness is everywhere. It is the only thing that is all pervading

If you have to contain the existence within you even for a moment as an experience, you have to be that nothingness. Only nothingness can hold everything. Something can never hold everything. A vessel cannot hold an ocean. This planet can hold an ocean, but it cannot hold the solar system. The solar system can hold these few planets and the sun, but it cannot hold the rest of the galaxy. If you go progressively like this, ultimately you will see it is only nothingness that can hold everything.

The word “Shiva” literally means “that which is not.” Today, modern science is proving to us that everything comes from nothing and goes back to nothing. The basis of existence and the fundamental quality of the cosmos is vast nothingness. The galaxies are just a small happening – a sprinkling. The rest is all vast empty space, which is referred to as Shiva. That is the womb from which everything is born, and that is the oblivion into which everything is sucked back. Everything comes from Shiva and goes back to Shiva.

Excerpts from "Shiva-Ultimate Outlaw" by Sadhguru. [Shiva's energy within us is the dark rebel energy within us that defies convention so that we can create our own path by expanding into the unknown. It is about embracing nothingness/ solitude which takes us beyond our roles/pretence/inauthenticity - unprotected, unresolved, undefended, where we truly discover our individuality. It is about celebrating your unique aspect and not being in fear to show others who you are. It is about acknowledging the wild energies within you which lets you enjoy without reserve the sun, the food, the seasons and natural rhythms of life without having to justify your existence or need to achieve.

Shiva is the energy which absorbs darkness of the world. He is enlightenment and he is soul, he is eyes and he is light, he is everything in the world wheather it us living or non living, masculine or feminine. He is Aadidev, Aadiyogi, the beginning of every thing in the universe. Sakshat Shiva is not a different form, it means Shiva himself. When we say Shiva.. It includes all the forms of him. He is Definitely Almighty, but when he enters the cosmos, he expands himself.. So he resides Kailash, Shiva because of his kindness, is also known as Bholenath. The same Bholenath when turns destructive..

He is known as Maha Rudra or simply as Rudra. Rudra further has 11 major manifestations (11 Rudras). Now when we talk about Sadashiva, it's still the same God with a 5 headed form that represents 5 aspects- Grace, Illusion, Creation, Preservation and Destruction. The same 5 aspects are also shown in Nataraj form of Shiva. So there's no difference between Shiva, Sadashiva or Rudra. Rudra is a destructive aspect of Shiva. Shiva Tattva is not separate from Par Brahman. All these Tattvas like Shiva Tattva, Vishnu Tattva etc. lie in Par Brahman. Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Lakshmi etc. are different forms of Par Brahman.

I can share my personal experience with Lord Shiva (Nothingness), I had witnessesd during a meditation camp in Uttarakhand Himalayan region. Since my childhood, Lord Shiva attracted me the most, probably because of the mysterious stories I had heard about him. I had an impression in my mind, that Lord Shiva lives in Himalayas in a human form (as we see in TV serials), but all my preconceived notions were about to get shattered. During a trekking expedition in Himalayas, I met an unknown “Realised Guru” in an unexpected situation and he changed my life.

Initially, he appeared to me like any other man, because he is not a sanyasi, lives with family, uses mobile phones, drives a car, he is young and wears urban clothes etc. But when we started to talk I realised he knows some deep secrets and he is a Himalayan Mystic. He never claimed that he was a realised being and till today he prefers to stay unknown. After the trek was over, I came down to the base camp, I met him again and we started the conversation in front of a bonfire. He systematically destroyed my belief system of Gods, Goddesses, heaven, traditional mode of prayers and borrowed knowledge from books.

He encouraged me to be a 'seeker', rather than a 'believer', which simply means -“Never believe in 'anything', until you experience it yourself” After that night long conversation, it was clear to me that Shiva is “formless and everywhere”, but I was yet to experience or feel his presence. Although I was feeling a strong attraction towards Guruji but I was still skeptical, whether I should trust him because it felt like probably he knows hypnotism or something which was making my mind calm. Later on, I started to visit him often and he used to teach me certain meditation techniques.

I realised that in his presence when I used to meditate, I used to feel an intense feeling in my spine and sometimes I used to feel mild oscillation in my body. One day, I was meditating and as soon as he arrived my upper body started rotating mildly on its own, as if there is some mild earthquake. After meditation I asked him why is it happening? He said: “your energies are moving upward and when you progress from one stage to another it happens. Don't bother about it and focus on the kriya.” No one is a resident meditator in his campsite because he doesn't have those facilities, but we go there often for meditation camps.

After many months, one day after meditation session I went to him to take his blessings because I was about to leave. He was on 'silent' (Maun vrat) that day and was sitting on his chair. I touched his feet to take his blessings and sat in front of him near his feet. He looked straight in my eyes and I felt something is about to happen. It felt like his eyes were saying something that my conscious mind was not able to interpret, however probably my sub conscious or unconscious mind was listening. For the first time he applied his thumb in my forehead in the Aagya chakra.

I felt an electric current in my whole body and I started crying out of joy for no reason. It felt as if something was transmitted from his body to my body and that was the ‘moment’ when I came to know who he is. For that moment ‘I’ vanished and only Shiva was everywhere…literally everywhere! That was the “miracle of Shiva”, when he made me realise that I was a fool to believe that I and Shiva are two separate entities. There were never two entities, only he is there, everywhere, there is nothing except him…

Later on I experienced many things which I will not reveal because certain experiences are personal and not meant to be shared. It sounds so simple, but why for ‘most people' it is very difficult to realise? Because of your identities or ego - I am this, I am that, I like this, I do not like this etc. The worst kind of identity is “I am spiritual” The whole process of yoga is to shatter your identities. Be a seeker, please do not believe anything, until you experience it yourself. In Advait Vedanta, Shiva is described as the infinitely vast dark empty space / void / nothingness, which is holding the entire universe.. Om Namah Shivay