[ॐ नमः शिवाय — न (Na) is Earth; मः (Ma) is Water; शि (Śi) is Fire; वा (Vā) is Air; य (Ya) is Ether. Na is the Lord’s Concealing Grace; Ma is the Universe; Śi stands for Shiva; Vā is His Revealing Grace; Ya is the Ātman, is the Soul.. “His Feet are Letter ‘Na’ \ His navel is Letter ‘Ma’ \ His shoulders are Letter ‘Śi’ \ His mouth Letter ‘Vā’ \ His cranial center aloft is Letter ‘Ya’ \ —Thus Five-Letter Form of Śiva is.” (Tirumantiram 941)
The “five syllable mantra” (or “six syllable mantra”, including Om) roots from one of the four Vedas, the eldest texts of Sanskrit literary lineage. Shiva in the Yajurveda is used as an adjective of Lord Rudra. And so Shiva is “Auspicious, benign, friendly” — as well as “That-which-is-not”. The nothingness, which is the womb (of consciousness), which is the constant, the container, the eternal — is auspicious, benign, friendly. Look deeply into the void, beyond the conditioned fear of void. To find its blissful embrace~
Last night I was immersed in OM NAMAH SHIVAYA, the mantra repeating in my mind hundreds of times before bed. Rattling. I decided to sit for an hour to settle into the experience. I then went into the hallway and kneeled and bent my forehead down to the ground. I stayed that way for some time. Forever. Then getting into bed—the recitations continuing. I could barely see where I was walking. I was submerged in the cosmic seabody of Shiva. It was my first immersion inwith him — I was completely overtaken. As I entered the dreamsea, my consciousness barely shifted; only an ever-so-slight adjustment in place. In my dreams I was repeating the mantra inside my head and outside, and all around me was the sound, repeating and echoing in ten thousand tones, resounding. Thousands and thousands of times. Millions of lifetimes spent reciting this one set of syllables in the great shadow of a single enormous shape, a vaguely human silhouette which with one pinch would obliterate ten million black holes — and, releasing, birth again that many. Somehow the presence was calm, was calming. There was nothing to do in such presence but repeat the recitation.. I woke several times, mid-recitation inside, my mind sharp yet blurred. And by the end of the mantra I was back in the dreamcosmic sea. They say reality is the place you return to.. this is the place I returned to each time I was brought back under.
Eventually I woke in a new day. This whole day I have been in the echo of Shiva, my state wholly altered. Tonight, two hours ago on the edge of sleep, this little missive came through in a blink, in a sheer moment. The shaking in my voice is the shaking of my soul. May you enjoy it; may it take you under. May it find you in the nick of time~ ] Received 8/23/24 | 1:35am
Listen to the Recitation:
INSPIRATE ASPIRANT
Om namaḥ shivāya
There is nothing
But the cosmic sea
OM NAMAH SHIVAYA
I am nothing
In the cosmic sea, of
Om NAMAH SHIVAYA
The cosmic sea
Is nothing, in me
OM namah shivaya
The cosmic sea is
Us, is we, as we
Are nothing
Om namah shivaya
The that which is not
Is not nothing.
Nothing is not nothing;
Nothing is everything
Om Na•Ma•Śi•Vā•Ya
Om namah shivaya
Om namah shivaya...
