「我们之所以把某些声音称为“真言”，因为它们是钥匙。」
「如果你能以正确的觉知使用某个特定的真言，它就能为你打开一个全新的生命维度。」
求道者：
萨古鲁，你曾说 Shambho 是Shiva（湿婆）的一种「形态」。这到底是什么意思？我不是很明白。我记得你也说过，Shiva是一个真言（mantra）。如果Shiva是真言，那真言怎么会有形态呢？Shambho 到底是Shiva的一种形态、一个真言，还是一种存在状态？
萨古鲁：
你看，这个文化本身是作为一门科学被创造出来的，目的就是让你能够追求终极解脱。你生命中的每一个面向——无论是歌唱、舞蹈、饮食，或是学习——其唯一的指向，都是你的解脱（mukti）。
你的宗教、教育、家庭、事业，这些全都是次要的；对你而言，唯一重要的事情就是你的解脱。这本来就该是这样的，不是吗？所以，当解脱成为你唯一的追求，一切都会以此为导向。
舞蹈不是娱乐。如果你深度投入其中，你就会变得具有冥想性。它就是这样被设计的。音乐也不是娱乐：如果你深度投入，你也会变得具有冥想性。一切的一切，都只为了一件事：解放你，带你走向终极的自由。
这种文化在很长一段时间里都是这样看待生命的。在一万多年甚至更久的时间里，它没有受到过任何干扰。
一个安定有序的社会，恒久地关注着解脱——你知道他们可以用多少万种方式来开发人的潜能吗？只因为整个社会的智慧都聚焦在一个方向上，每一种探索内在本质的可能方式都被挖掘了出来。
世界上没有任何其他文化——你可以尽情研究——像这个文化一样，对人类的内在有如此深刻的理解。它所探究的不是表面，而是人类存在的最核心。
正因为这些是主观的科学，它们被以某些方式表达、以某些方式编码，使得你在逻辑上无法随意曲解。前人花了极大心力，确保不会发生误解。尽管如此，随着时间的推移，误解总是不可避免地会出现，因此这门科学需要被注入新的活力。
作为这门科学的一部分，这个文化还创造了各种能量形态（Energy forms），以促进你的成长。这种能量形态的创造——创造出强大的能量场，让人可以通过它寻求自我的成长与福祉——就是我们所说的“圣化”（Consecration）。
以 Dhyanalinga 为例，它就是一种能量形态。它耗费了 18 或 19 年的准备，以及大约三年半的高强度圣化。那些见证这三年半中所发生之事的人，从此再也不一样了。数百人亲眼目睹了这一切。
他们所见证的奇迹，如果告诉任何人，都会被视为纯粹的胡言乱语。没有人会相信这样的事情真的可能发生。在圣化期间，那个空间里发生的事情，简直不可思议。这就是我们所说的创造一个“能量形态”。
你看到的是那块石制的灵伽（Linga），但那并不重要。石灵伽只是被用作一个脚手架，用来承载并建立能量形态。一旦能量形态被建立，其实我们完全可以把灵伽移除，什么都不会改变。
但人们想用眼睛看到实物，否则他们无法建立连接。再加上，我们也花了很多钱，所以我们不会拆掉它！（笑）
但事实上，就你的体验和能量而言，即使移除灵伽，也完全不会有任何改变。
一般来说，“Linga”这个词指的是“形态”。为什么称它为形态？因为现代宇宙学家告诉你：每一个星系的核心，都是一个完美的椭圆体（Ellipsoid）。你知道这一点吗？每一个星系的核心，始终是椭圆体。而所谓完美的椭圆体，正是“Linga”所指的形态。
你知道什么是椭圆体吗？椭圆体是一个三维的椭圆。所以，从“非显现”到“显现”的过程中，造物所呈现的第一个形态，永远都是椭圆体。这是当今宇宙学家的发现。而从我们的经验来看，当你把能量提升到某个特定的强度，在最终消融之前，能量所呈现的最后形态，同样也是椭圆体。
所以，第一个形态是Linga，最后一个形态也是Linga。这就是为什么 Linga 被看作是一个门户，通往超越“你所知一切”的维度。
因此，Shambho这个词与此相关。
它是真言吗？是的。那什么是真言？
现代科学告诉你，整个存在本质上就是振动，也就是说，整个存在就是声音。
在这极其复杂的、被称为“造物”的声音排列中，有一些关键音。这些关键音可以为你开启不同的维度。这些关键音，就是我们所说的真言。
每一种声音都是咒音。但我们之所以把某些声音称为“真言”，因为它们是钥匙。
如果你拿到一把钥匙，你可以爱它、抱它、亲它，但这并不会产生任何效果。你必须知道该把钥匙插在哪里，以及如何转动它。如此，它就能为你打开整个世界。
真言是一种你必须以特定方式学会使用的工具。如果你能以正确的觉知使用某个特定的真言，它就能为你打开一个全新的生命维度。如果你只是对真言产生情感依附——情感确实甜美而多汁——但它不会带你去任何地方。所以，真言本质上是一种工具。
它是形态吗？是的，因为每一个声音都伴随着一个形态。Shambho这个词有它自己的形态。
它是某个人吗？是的。
它是活的吗？是的，绝对是活的，因为存在中的一切都是活的。从一个原子、一块岩石、一棵树、一株植物，到一只动物，实际上一切都是活的，不是吗？你是否能感知到，才是唯一的问题。此刻你正在呼吸，空气是活的，所以它才能给你生命，不是吗？也许它不像你那样活，但它以它自己的方式活着。
正因如此，这个文化开始以一种完全不同的方式来看待生命。
这是一个崇拜树木的文化，崇拜你行走的大地、你饮用的水、你吃下的食物。在世界其他地方，人们通常会在食物出现时，感谢某个他们看不见的神。但在这里，我们没有这样的礼仪问题。我们只是直接向食物本身低头致敬。
我们不知道是哪个神创造了这些食物。你知道吗？你其实不知道。你唯一知道的是，如果你不吃它，你就会死。你唯一知道的是，盘子里的这些食物，在几个小时内就会变成你自己。它正在支撑你的生命。所以，你对你所吃的食物心生敬意。
如果你带着敬意进食，无论你吃的是什么，它都会在你之中奇迹般地运作。你饮用的水也是如此，你对它心生敬意，因为你的身体中有超过百分之七十是水。当你珍视自己的身体，你怎能不珍视构成这个身体的元素？
你爱你的丈夫、妻子、孩子、母亲、父亲，不是吗？如果你爱他们，那么构成这些人的元素，难道不值得你敬畏吗？如果水在你母亲的身体里失衡，她就完了。对不对？如果空气在你丈夫或妻子的身体里失衡，他们就完了。如果地、火，或五大元素（Pancha Bhootas）中的任何一个稍有失控，你的丈夫、妻子、孩子、父母，全都会完结。是不是这样？
每一个时刻，正是这五大元素在支撑你、滋养你，让一切得以发生。所以，你对它们心生敬意。存在中的每一个层面，实际上都与你的生命息息相关，不是吗？如果某个星系发生一点失衡，你下一刻就可能直接蒸发。
因此，这个传统创造了某些强大而稳定的形态，你可以去召唤它们。在某些瑜伽系统中，人们精通这些形态。
你可能听说过这些故事。罗摩克里希那·帕拉玛汉萨（Ramakrishna Paramahamsa）曾亲手喂食卡莉（Kali）女神，而她真的会吃食物。我告诉你，这是百分之百的事实。
对于任何理性、思考型的头脑来说，这看起来完全像胡说八道，不是吗？看起来他一定是在幻觉中。但他没有幻觉。他只是意识高度结晶化（Crystallized）了，他所思及并敬奉的任何形态，都能在当下被创造出来。所以，如果你想要卡莉，卡莉就在那里。任何你想要的形态都可以被创造出来，因为这些形态早已为Sadhana而建立。
不同的瑜伽士、不同的系统，创造了各种形态。有非常美的，也有极其可怖的。
Shambho 是其中较为吉祥的一种。他是Shiva一种非常温柔的形态，这很罕见。Shiva通常是狂野而疯狂的，但Shambho是其极为温柔、美丽的形态。
前人建立了这些形态，以便他人可以利用。它们被建立为永恒的形态。如果你愿意，你可以在你的体验中召唤它们。这是现实吗？这些东西原本就在创造之中吗？不是的。这些都是由那些对自身系统、能量与创造拥有绝对掌控力的人所创造的。
当我们说某人是瑜伽士，并不是指他能倒立，或能憋气。一位瑜伽士，是能够拆解自己的创造，并再次将其组装起来的人。这是瑜伽的根本。
瑜伽的基础在于所谓的五大元素净化（Bhoota Shuddhi）。你知道 Pancha Bhootas 吗？自然界的五大元素？这意味着对构成你的五大元素拥有绝对的掌控。一旦你拥有了这种掌控，你就能拆解自己，并再次把自己组装起来。
这就是瑜伽的意义。真正理解瑜伽这门科学，意味着你知道你自身创造的每一个螺丝与螺帽。你深入到你是谁的最深层次——身体、头脑、能量，以及更深的层面。你在自己之内，如其所是地看见了一切。
你正是从那样的状态中存在，因为你所说的“我”，本身就是一个微型宇宙。如果你认识了这一个，你就认识了一切。当你认识了自己，存在中所有值得了解的事物，你都已经知晓了。
——摘自《Himalayan Lust》
Seeker: Sadhguru, you’ve said that Shambho is a ‘form’ of Shiva. What exactly does that mean? I’m not sure I understand. I thought you said Shiva was a mantra. And if Shiva is a mantra, how does a mantra have a form? Is Shambho a form of Shiva, a mantra or a state of being?
Sadhguru: See, this culture was created as a science to enable you to seek your ultimate liberation. Every aspect of your life – whether you sing, dance, eat, or study – was only aimed at your mukti. Your religion, education, family, and your business, all these things are secondary; the only thing that matters to you is your mukti. That’s how it’s supposed to be, isn’t it? So when mukti is the only thing that you’re seeking, everything is oriented towards that.
Dance was not entertainment. If you get deeply involved in it, you will become meditative. That’s how it was structured. Music was not entertainment either: if you get deeply involved in it, you become meditative. Everything was oriented only towards your emancipation, taking you towards ultimate liberation.
This culture has looked at it this way for a long period of time. Over ten thousand years or even more, it did not know any disturbance. A well-settled society, constantly looking at liberation – you know in how many million ways they could have developed people? All because the whole society’s intelligence is focused in one direction? Every possible way of exploring your inner nature was brought forth. Nowhere else in the world – you can investigate it as much as you want – have people understood the interiority of a human being as this culture has. With enormous depth, it has been looked at – not the surface, but the very core of the human being. It is just that because they’re subjective sciences, they were expressed in certain ways, coded in certain ways, so that logically you cannot misinterpret them. Such care was taken to see that misinterpretations don’t happen. In spite of that, over a period of time, misinterpretation invariably happens, and the science needs to be rejuvenated.
So as a part of this, this culture also created various energy forms which could be conducive to your growth. This creation of energy forms – powerful energy forms through which one can seek one’s own growth and well-being – is again another dimension of what we call consecration.
The Dhyanalinga, for example, is an energy form. It took eighteen or nineteen years of preparation, and about three-and-a-half years of intense consecration. People who witnessed what happened in these three-and-a-half years have never been the same again. Hundreds of people were witness to this. What they saw is so miraculous that if they talk to anybody about it, it will be pure mumbo-jumbo. Nobody will believe that such things can happen. Absolutely incredible things were happening around that whole space during the consecration. This is what we mean by creating an energy form.
You see the stone linga; that is not significant. The stone linga was used only as a scaffolding to create an energy form. Once the energy form was created, actually we could have removed the stone linga. Nothing would change. But people want to see things with their eyes, otherwise they cannot relate to it. And also we spent a lot of money, so we won’t remove the stone linga! But actually, as far as your experience and the energy is concerned, even if we remove the stone linga, it will still be the same. Nothing will change there.
Generally, the word ‘linga’ is referred to as the ‘form’. Why we are calling it the ‘form’ is because today modern cosmologists are telling you the core of every galaxy is a perfect ellipsoid. Are you aware of this? The core of every galaxy is always an ellipsoid. A perfect ellipsoid is what is referred to as a linga. You know what an ellipsoid is? An ellipsoid is a three dimensional ellipse. So the first form – from the unmanifest to manifest – that creation takes, is always the form of an ellipsoid. This is something cosmologists are saying today. And from our experience we know that if you raise your energies to a certain pitch, the final form that your energy takes before dissolution is also that of an ellipsoid. So the first form is the linga; the final form is also the linga. This is why the linga is seen as a doorway to the beyond, from both ends. Because the A and Z of creation happen to be the linga, it is seen as a doorway to the beyond.
So the word, ‘Shambho’, is associated with this. Is it a mantra? Yes. What does a mantra mean? Now, modern science is telling you that the whole existence is just a vibration. That means the whole of existence is just sound. In this complex arrangement of sounds which you call creation, there are a few key sounds. These key sounds can open up dimensions for you. So that is what is being referred to as a mantra. Every sound is a mantra. But we are referring to certain sounds as mantras, because they are key sounds. If a key is given to you, you could start loving the key, hugging or kissing the key, but it doesn’t do anything. If a key is given to you, you just have to understand where you should insert it and how you should turn it. It can open up a whole world for you. So a mantra is a device that you learn to use in a particular way. If you know how to use the particular mantra with the right sense of awareness, it can open up a completely new dimension of life for you. If you were just emotionally attached to the mantra – you know, emotions can be juicy and nice – it won’t lead you anywhere. So what you call as a mantra is basically a device.
Is it a form? Yes, because every sound has a form attached to it. The word, ‘Shambho’, has its own form. Is it a person? Yes. Is it a living thing? Yes, very much, because everything in the existence is alive. From a single atom, a rock, a tree, a plant, to an animal, everything is alive actually, isn’t it? Whether you are able to perceive this or not, that’s the only question. Right now, you’re breathing; the air is alive, that is why it can give you life, isn’t it? Maybe it is not alive like you, but it is alive in its own way. Because of this, here in this culture, we started looking at life in a different way.
This is a culture which worshipped trees, which worshipped the earth that you walk on, the water that you drink, the food that you eat. Generally, everywhere in the world, if food appears in front of people, they will thank the god that they have not seen for it. Here, we have no such etiquette problems. Here we just bow down to the food itself. We don’t know what gods created this. Do you know? You really don’t know what gods created this. All you know is, if you do not eat this, you’ll fall dead. All you know is that this food on your plate is actually going to become you within the next few hours, isn’t it? This is sustaining your life. So you become reverential to the food that you eat.
If you eat your food reverentially, whatever you eat will work miraculously within you. The water that you drink, you become reverential to it, because over seventy per cent of this body is water. When you value your body, should you not value the ingredients which make this body? You cherish and love your husband, wife, child, mother, father, isn’t it? If you love them, then the ingredients that make all these people – should you not be reverential to them? If water plays havoc in your mother’s body, she’s finished. Yes or no? If air plays havoc in your husband or wife’s body, they’re finished. If earth, fire, or any aspect of the five elements just go a little out of hand, your husband, wife, child, mother, father are finished. Isn’t it so? So, every moment, it is these five elements which are sustaining you, nourishing you, and making things happen. You just become reverential to that. Every aspect of existence actually has something to do with your life, isn’t it? If some imbalance happens in some galaxy, you could just evaporate the next moment.
So this tradition created certain powerful forms, well-established forms, that you can call for. In certain systems of yoga, people master these forms. You have heard these kinds of things. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to feed Kali with his own hands and she used to eat food. This is a hundred per cent reality, I’m telling you. For any logical, thinking mind, it looks like absolute nonsense, isn’t it? It looks like he must be hallucinating. He’s not hallucinating. It is just that his consciousness is so crystallized, whatever form he thinks of and reveres, he just creates it right there. So if you want Kali, Kali is right there. Anything that you want can be created right there, simply because all these forms were established long ago for sadhana.
Different yogis, different systems created various forms. There are very beautiful forms and very hideous forms. Shambho is one of the more auspicious ones. He is a very gentle form of Shiva, which is rare. Shiva is usually wild and crazy. But this is a very gentle form of Shiva, a beautiful form. These forms were established by people so that others could make use of it. They are made into eternal forms. If you are willing, you could bring them down in your experience. Is this a reality? Is this something that is there in the creation? No, these things were created by people who had absolute mastery over their own systems, their own energies and their own creation.
When we say somebody is a yogi, it does not mean he stands on his head, or holds his breath. A yogi is somebody who is able to dismantle his own creation and put it together again. These are the fundamentals of yoga. The basis of yoga is in what is called bhoota shuddhi. You know the pancha bhootas? The five elements in nature? It means having absolute mastery over the five elements which make you. So once you have this mastery, you can dismantle yourself, and put yourself back once again. So that is what yoga means. Knowing the science of yoga means that you know every nut and bolt of your creation. You have gone into the depths of who you are, on all levels: the physical body, the mental, the energy levels, much deeper levels. You have seen everything, the way it is within yourself. It is from that context that you exist because what you call ‘myself’ is a mini cosmos by itself. If you know this one, you know everything. Everything that is worth knowing in existence you know the moment you know yourself.
— Himalayan Lust