DHYAN FOUNDATION

Nature has its way of providing balance in Creation. For every aspect, there exists one that is equal and opposite. Darkness is nothing but the absence of light. Similarly, silence is the absence of sound. It is only duality in nature, the coexistence of the positive and the negative, that lends meaning to the whole of existence. If at any given time, there exists the entire gamut of the positive and the negative, the two will balance each other out completely, the net result being shunya or zero. There would be everything, yet nothing. The only thing that could fit such a description is the formless, the Nirakaar or Para Brahmn. This is the swaroop or essence of Shiva. In the words of Shankaracharya: "N a punyam na paapam na saukhyam na dukham, chidananda rupa Shivoham Shivoham" ^ Neither good nor bad, there is no joy or sorrow, only the Universal Presence. What then do we make of Nataraja, the dancing male form, or the half-man half-woman Ardhanareeswara, or the sadhu...

The movements of earth change the dimensions of time. Earth lies tilted on its axis; when it rotates about the axis, seasons change and when the axis shifts, yugas change. Every transition from one dimension to the other brings about a transformation because each day has its own unique energy patterns. Based on the energy patterns, four nights are given great importance in the life of a spiritual aspirant — Maha Shivratri, Holi, Guru Purnima and Diwali. Maha Shivratri falls in the Krishna Paksha (waning moon) of the month of Phalguna. The energy patterns on this night are most conducive to the progress of a practitioner of yoga, this being the night of the union of Shiv and Shakti. Life, which we call as the journey of the spirit, requires a yogi to go through the process of continuous cleansing and tapasya to cause an awakening of higher forces in the self. This is done by accessing certain very powerful energies prevalent on specific days, by a simple phenomenon which modern p...