*Chapter 2 - Energy Centres*
*Day 16*
In this way the whole world is one shakti chakra. Your life will end in 40-60 years. After that, the breath, mind and soul of this life will be recycled into a new body, which will also die and be recycled.
Everything in this world has a cycle. Whether a dog, cat, parrot, crow, or owl, all die only to be born as some other species in another womb.
This recycling is also known as punarjanma, or rebirth. This world is a wheel made up of different wombs. You are now born as a human, maybe a man or woman.
A rat may be born as a cat and the cat as some other creature. Understand that you take rebirth in the form that you adore, hate or fear.
The rat, which is afraid of the cat, dies with a cat impressed on its memory, and will be reborn as a cat. The cat hates the dog and so will be reborn as a dog.
If a dog fears man, it will take rebirth as a man. Humans are the only creature that scares everything. In this century, we see different types of people, some like tigers and others like crows, snakes and so on.
We also give the name "Nagraj"- king of the snakes. It is not their fault if they are like snakes. Snakes are very scared of people and people of snakes.
Look at the world from another point of view as a large wheel full of infinite energy. The moment you realise that everything is changing, your mind becomes pleasant.
Knowing this, let us come back to the Shiva Sutras. Practice this awareness as an experiment- like the shakti chakras, everything in this world is changing.
Here in India, people visit temples and apply sacred ash. Devotees of Shiva apply ash in three stripes all over the body, especially on forehead, cheeks, neck and abdomen.
Sometimes people do not know why and so they say, "My father applied them, so I also apply them," or "I apply it because it was offered in the temple."
We apply ash as a symbol of Shiva, of auspiciousness. Ash indicates that the skin, or body, will return to ash. It is only a question of time.
This understanding helps you become detached from the
world in your mind. Understand the ultimate truth while applying ash because the ash alone is real.
When we look for permanence in impermanent objects, we find only misery. Today, a young boy came, he was in love with a young woman.
The couple swore to each other, "We will stay together forever." Later, it became known that the boy had been with some other girl for 5-6 days, and they had been to a movie together.
Both of them became disturbed. The young woman demanded to know why he had not confessed this earlier and accused him of cheating.
The relationship ended. There was no question of staying together forever or of being made for each others. Let us not search for permanence in impermanent objects.
Ash reminds you that everyone will eventually die. A person with a bank balance of 10 lakhs and someone with only 10 rupees, both will die one day.
You have created this world. Only you can come out of it. The entire creation is a shakti chakra. Understand this truth and keep it close to you, then there will be no more duality in the mind.
