Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness
*Chapter 10 - Shiva, The Fourth State Of Consciousness*
*Day 47*
Upasana is a beautiful word. 'Upa' means near and 'asana' means coming close, sitting. Upasana is worship, to worship that as 'vana' as a forest , as abundance or as the store house of all gifts.
It can give you many things, everything. One who knows it like this, every creature and everything will love him. So, the Rishi is also giving a little encouragement. What is the effect of it? So what?
What will happen? Okay, I understand everything. So what? what do I get? It says you get something. What? Everybody will fall in love with you, every creature will love you.
Bhuta is not just a creature. It is also the element. Every element and the entire universe will fall in love with you. Ancient people begun every ritual with the sowing of seeds of many types of grains.
Suppose a celebration is about to happen in a hall, you put decorations, you put buntings or streamers or whatever. The ancient people put different types of seeds and some sand.
They also would sow the seeds three or four days before the ceremony. Five bright ladies are chosen to sow the seeds and they would do it chanting the mantras, singing, and wishing good and prosperity for all the people.
With that feeling they sowed the seeds and when they sprouted, then the congregation would begin. Whether is a congregation, a wedding or naming ceremony, the first ceremony was sowing the seeds.
How happy environmentalist would be to hear about these ancient customs. Even today it is being followed, just out of fear. People think, "Maybe if you don't follow the tradition, something will happen. God is going to punish you."
But there is such sense in sowing the seeds. Trees are sacred. They are honoured, and if you want to cut one tree, you have to first take the permission from that tree.
There is a whole procedure for cutting a tree, you promise the tree, "I am going to plant five of same kind as you, not another kind. So, please give me permission to cut you", and then they cut it.
That's how this planet has been in a sustainable condition until now. Just imagine if a thousand years ago peopel cut down all the trees and ransacked this planet earth, you wouldn't be seeing the world as it is today.
Maybe, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't exist. People have been following certain traditions. If you go to any tribal village, whether you go into Maoris tribes in New Zealand or tribes in India, you will find they keep their villages so clean.
There is no plastic and no garbage laying around here and there. You will be astonished to know that tribal villages are so clean. Because they are living with the nature and they are so simple.
Their mind is simple and not complicated like ours, worrying, "What is that person thinking about me? Or what does that person think? How I will impress him or her? Or, how can I take revenge on that person?"
My God. This mind we got is so complicated. Upasana means getting close to the universal consciousness, the simplest form of our own consciousness. So, you do not have to do too much for that.
It's not that you have to sit in a lotus position for 10,000 years or stand on one leg for 40 days to attain something like that. No. Just let go. You are already there. You are in it. You have no ways outside of it.
As a fish cannot be alive out of water, so we can never be outside of Brahman. We can never be outside the divinity. We are in it. We will be in it and we will die in it, though you won't die. Your body will die. Your body will separate from you and disintegrate, but you are there forever.