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"Devotion or passion for God Consciousness is everything." ~Swami Lakshmanjoo

This is an excerpt from the Hymns to Shiva, Utpaladeva’s Shivastotravali, which was one of Swamiji’s favorite texts. These hymns are so profound they have the power to free the devoted readers from the restrictions of their intellect and instantaneously elevate them to the experience of oneness with their very nature of divine consciousness.

When commenting on this text, Kashmir Shaiva master and saint, Swami Lakshmanjoo would tell his devotees that, as Utpaladeva taught us through these beautiful hymns, “Devotion or passion for God Consciousness is everything.” In his later years Swamiji would enjoy sitting on his veranda in the evenings, surrounded by his devotees, who would sing those hymns in the most beautiful Kashmiri way.

Chapter 1 (8:59)

अनन्तानन्दसिन्धोस्ते नाथ तत्त्वं विदन्ति ते  ।

तादृशा एव ये सान्द्रभक्त्यानन्दरसाप्लुताः  ॥६॥

anantānandasindhoste nātha tattvaṁ vidanti te/

tādṛśā eva ye sāndrabhaktyānandarasāplutāḥ //6//

Nātha, O Master, only those people experience the reality of Thy ocean of God consciousness. Those people only experience the reality, experience the position or state, the real state of Thy God consciousness. Those people only, they experience. Who?

Tādṛśā eva ye sāndrabhaktyānandarasāplutāḥ, who are really soaked in the nectar of that universal God consciousness, in the nectar of the ocean of universal God consciousness–those who are soaked in that.

JOHN: What is this “nectar”?

SWAMIJI: Amṛta is ānanda (bliss), the blissful state of God consciousness. And that blissful state of God consciousness is really an ocean, and in That ocean, those people who are soaked properly, only they can experience the reality of That ocean.

Those who are roaming on the shore of That ocean, they don’t know the depth and the reality of That ocean. They only experience It superficially.

That blissful state of God consciousness is really an ocean, and in That ocean, those people who are soaked properly, only they can experience the reality of That ocean. ~Swami Lakshmanjoo

Next:

Chapter 1 (10:35)

त्वमेवात्मेश सर्वस्य सर्वश्चात्मनि रागवान्  ।

इति स्वभावसिद्धां त्वद्भक्तिं जानञ्जयेज्जनः  ॥७॥

tvamevātmeśa sarvasya sarvaścātmani rāgavān/

iti svabhāvasiddhāṁ tvadbhaktiṁ jānañjayejjanaḥ //7//

O Lord, You are the nature of everybody. In fact, You are the nature of everybody.

Sarvaścātmani rāgavān. Everybody is attached to his own nature, to his own self.

[For example], you like your self, you want to live, you don’t want to be worried in any way, and everybody does the same [thing], individually.

JOHN: Loves himself?

SWAMIJI: Yes. 

And that “himself” is, in the real sense, Your nature.

JOHN: God’s nature.

SWAMIJI: God’s nature.

So, loving You is automatically achieved by everybody.

Everybody loves You because they love themselves, so they love You.

So, Thy devotion is acquired and achieved by everybody, every individual. But there is only one difference: jānañjayejjanaḥ, that [person] who knows this secret reality, he is glorified, others are not.

Source: Hymns to Shiva, Utpaladeva’s Shivastotravali, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo
All Content is subject to Copyright © John Hughes.
 
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  1. November 10, 2018

    🙏Jai Guru Dev 🙏

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