Shiva and Shakti, November 22, 2005

Even when we sit here, in this intimate, small group, we can become aware of two things: one is the deep, witness-based Silence of Total Meditation; the other is the profound Current or Energy that runs through that Silence.

In the ancient literature of India, in the Vedic literature, they refer to that Silence as Shiva and that Energy or Current, as Shakti. And what I am describing to you, from a Western point of view, is the Interpenetration of Silence and Energy or as the Vedic language would state it: the Union of Shiva and Shakti.

Flat, Unbounded, Quietness, or Total Silence in the Self, the witness-consciousness is only one half of the Awakened Heart-Consciousness; the other half is indicated by this movement of Energy in Silence that — from the point of view of logic — disturbs that Silence. It perturbs the Silence so that the Silence can actually rise up into a Higher Frequency. Flat Silence, all by Itself, will simply yield Emptiness, the Emptiness of Nothingness: Divine, Perfect and Uncreated. But That, by itself, is not the Wholeness of Enlightenment. For that to happen, its contradiction must be born: the movement of Energy, Shakti, Current — and that Current may also carry the fervor of Devotion.

Stated even differently, you can say that Feeling begins to permeate Silence; Feeling, which conveys both the Energetic and Devotional aspect[s] of Awakening.

Now Feeling brings up all sorts of issues, which seem to contradict Silence. It brings up the issue of the human personality, the ego, the senses, the whole field of perception and it questions, it asks, “How does that fit into a life of Silence? How does the activity of the individual mind, intellect, ego — how does the intuition — all those active aspects of the human being fit into empty Nothingness?” And it’s a strange answer. They do not fit in and they do. The Silence always remains larger than the Feeling, that upon which the Feeling, or relative aspect, dances. At least from the point of view of logic this illogical answer is the answer.