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140 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
of Mahashivarathri. Shiva, the destroyer God of the Hindu trinity (Brahma, creator; Vishnu, protector; Shiva, destroyer)—he who adorns himself with the cloak of an elephant skin, symbolic of the elemental bestial primitve traits which his grace destroys and makes powerless and harmless — he who is impervious to temptation and is in perfect balance always—is implored, beseeched and prayed to for the self-control and even-mindedness which destroys desire —the root cause of delusion.
(Sathya Sai Baba)
During Mahasivarathri Baba clearly shows his union with Shiva by performing two major public miracles in the presence of a crowd of thousands: the miracle of the Vibuthi Abheshekam,2 and the holy act of Lingobhava,3 the materialization of the sacred Shiva Lingam.
I was coming to Baba this eighth time to witness the creation of the lingam, for it and the holy and monumental act of its creation have profound spiritual significance. Indeed, the whole of Baba’s message is contained in this sacred form, and the major focus of this book is an attempt to grasp the lingam’s inner significance.
The lingam has more to do with dimensions of consciousness than with its material substance. It is the symbol of duality emerging out of, and merging back into, the one. The sphere, a symbol of unity, has one centerpoint—but the lingam, ellipsoid in shape, has two centers, emerging and merging in and out of one another. Here is the symbol of the two (duality) coming out of and returning into the one—the one being the source, the sustenance—the basis of the two.
The purpose of our life, says Baba, is to purify our heart so that love expands and broadens our consciousness until we see beyond the consciousness of duality—beyond the difference of subject and object—until we are able to see the underlying unity. We must not only see this reality but merge with it through love as well.
You have had the good fortune of looking at the divine vision. You have also seen the divine significance of the lingam and that will grant you complete salvation. So far as you are concerned, you have attained complete salvation and there are no more rebirths for you. It is a piece of great good fortune for you. Some of you have seen this manifestation as a specific form, some as a light and some only as a streak or a flash of light; but it does not matter in what form


































































































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