v0.9: Jai Shree Ram

O Lord, while I identify myself with my body, I am Thy servant.
When I consider myself as Individual Soul, I am Thy part.
But when I look upon myself as Pure Awareness, I am one with Thee Thyself.

The problem of tasting sugar versus being sugar is a real one. When one thinks of oneself as the sugar it is hard to perform action in the world. The advaitic method may be the eventual goal but as a day to day you want to taste sugar. This is the reason I think Ramakrishna said it was easier to be a Bhakta than the other paths because we identify with our bodies.

While I meditate on Lord Shiva, it is in the form of the Shiva Linga. While this is well and good for the sake of meditation when doing action in the world it is not really motivational! While I sympathies to the plight of Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita and his love of Krishna, Arjuna was always represented as having a will of his own. While Arjuna realizes his love of Krishna, it had to be developed through the discourse in the Gita.

In this regard I think Hanuman is the best representation of a soul’s love for God. Hanuman was the instrument of Rama. He did everything that Rama asked of him with devotion and love. And being an avatara of Lord Shiva the worship of Hanuman becomes a worship of Lord Shiva. This is likely why Hanuman is represented so heavily in modern Hinduism as a form of worship.

Hanuman represents pure devotion and the combination of the powers of Hari and Hara. While the Bhagavad Gita goes into the love of God’s love for all and the philosophical aspects of how to show that love, Hanuman shows that love in a pure form always thinking himself the instrument of Rama. His strength and power are always used at the service of Rama.

While I will continue my worship of Lord Shiva in the Linga form for Raja Yoga, I will use Lord Shiva in the Hanuman form as the primary method of worship for Karma Yoga.

Jai Shree Ram!