Friends, there is a story in Shivpuran that once an arrogant demon named Ravana started worshiping Shiva devotedly on Mount Kailash. When Lord Shiva was not pleased with this, he took another solution. He made a fine pit in the land full of trees to the south of the Himalayan Mountains, lit a fire in it, installed Lord Shiva near it and started performing yajana havan. He started doing penance in three ways – sitting amidst the five fires during the summer season, sitting on a platform during the rainy season and staying under water during the winter season. In this way, he performed severe penance, yet Lord Shiva, who was fierce for the evil spirits, was not pleased. Then Ravana cut off his head and started worshiping Shiva. In this way he cut off his nine heads one by one. Then Sadashiv became happy and appeared before him when only one head remained. Shiva healed his heads as before and gave him the desired results and immense strength. Then Ravana folded his hands and said to Shiva, “Swami, please come with me to Lankapuri, I am under your protection.” Due to this, Lord Shiva, feeling distressed, told him with an upset heart that of course he should take away his best Shivalinga, but wherever he placed it on the ground, it would be established there. But on the way, Ravana felt like having an urge to pee. He handed it over to the Gop standing nearby and went slightly away to pee. The Gop could not bear its weight for long, so he kept it there on the ground. In this way, that Linga, which originated from Vajrasara, became established there, which can remove sins and fulfill all the desires just by seeing it. Its name was Vaidyanatheshwar who is the giver of enjoyment and salvation and the destroyer of all sins. Ravana then went home. All the gods gathered together and worshiped and established that Linga properly. All the gods and sages got worried and went to Narad and said that this evil Ravana is already troubling them a lot, after getting the boon of Shiva, he will make them more sad. Narad went to Ravana’s house to help them and praised him falsely. When asked by Narada, Ravana proudly narrated the entire incident of Shiva’s boon, how he kept increasing his ferocity in the way of pleasing Shiva and when he started cutting off his tenth and last head, Shiva appeared and stopped him and like a physician attached all his heads as before. Along with this he was also blessed with immense strength. Ravana then said that now he has come home to conquer the three worlds after worshiping the Jyotirlinga. Narad laughingly told him that Shiva is vicious, he lives casually under the influence of cannabis, what lie he can’t tell, so he should not believe him. Saying this, he instigated Ravana to uproot Kailash and said that this would test Shiva’s boon. Doing the same, he lifted Mount Kailash in his arms. Due to this, everything situated on Kailash started shaking and everything started colliding with each other and falling. When Shiva surprisingly asked Parvati about this, she sarcastically replied that his best disciple Ravana was doing all that. Due to this, Shiva considered Ravana ungrateful and egoistic of his power and cursed him that soon someone would be born there who could take away the pride of his arms. Narad heard the curse of Shiva and Ravana also kept Kailash down and went home happily. Thus, accepting Shiva’s boon as true, Ravana controlled the entire world with his power. At that time, there was no enemy of Ravana who could match him with the powerful divine weapon obtained by the order of Shiva.
Psychological explanation of the above myth
Ravana means one who makes one cry. A person who is full of mental defects makes the world cry, not laugh. Meaning that he can only give sorrow to everyone, not happiness. When people oppose him, he is unable to compete with them. Therefore, he meditates on Shiva in the brain or Sahasrara called black magic in common language to gain strength to fight with them. Guilty people often like Shiva, because they see Shiva as full of faults like them. How can Shiva be pleased with simple meditation? Shiva demands complete dedication towards himself. Whether you consider it as Shiva’s wish or the principle of awakening that only by inculcating the only image of Shiva or any other single image in the mind fully, one gets awakened. Right now Ravana had many faulty thoughts inside him, that is why he was not able to concentrate properly on the image of Shiva. Then, with the inspiration of Shiva, he tried the second solution i.e. leftist tantric solution. The second one can be completely different from the first one. If the first was a pure Vaishnav, the second automatically proved to be a Tantrik. It is not the other that gives the sense of number, but the one that gives the sense of otherness or oppositeness. If the Himalayas are the brain or Sahasrara and are considered to be in the north, because the geographical location of the Himalayas is also in the north of India, then its southern part is the ocean or Mooladhar region. The pit dug in that area is the muladhara chakra. The powerful deity named Gaddha of a particular caste group is probably created by the power of Mooladhar, that is why its name is Gaddha or pit. It is notorious for witchcraft, and black exploits. It is said that no one, only Hanuman can protect from him. Perhaps Hanuman’s sattvik power would have defeated his tamasic power. Ravana established fire in that pit, which means he concentrated his life force there through breathing pranayama. The establishment of Lord Shiva near it means that the idol or picture of Lord Shiva was meditated there. Havan means burning the glucose, fat etc. stored in one’s body in the fire of life force or prana, which generates power or energy. At the time of emergency, Kundalini Shakti located at Muladhar inside body is required, due to which it becomes active. That is why it has been said to bear the heat of five types of fire in summer, to sit on a platform in the rainy season and to practice meditation by being submerged in water till neck in the winter season. It is only when Muladhar becomes active that lovers remember each other in times of sorrow or distress. That is why loving couples like to stay together even in good times and at the time of death. That is why penance and control over luxuries are considered great in most religions. Yet Shiva did not appear before Ravana because he was an evil spirit and was full of the defects of the senses. The conscience is made up of four types of subtle organs, mind, intellect, chitta and ego. Similarly, the senses are made up of five subtle organs or elements, eyes, ears, smell, skin and genitals. Ravana disabled all these nine organs one by one. This is called cutting off his nine heads by Ravana. Because each organ provides a different type of knowledge, each organ has been considered a separate head in the story. When he started preparing to cut off the last tenth head i.e. his real head on which all the other heads are supported, Shiva appeared. This means that he had become so weak while doing sadhana that he was close to dying, when he got awakening. When a man is in a “do or die” situation, he has the maximum chances of success. Then Shiva restored his head and gave him the desired boon, meaning Ravana became eligible to return to the worldly life again. In worldly life, all the senses and also the ego are needed. Anyway, perhaps Ravana had only got a momentary glimpse of awakening, due to which he became exactly the same as before immediately without any sudden transformation. Whatever a man can desire or achieve, the ultimate limit is awakening. When one gets awakening, it feels as if he has got everything. This is Shiva’s way of giving him the desired results and immense strength. Strength arises from weapons and the attainment of power. All these also come under the attainment of awakening. He who has something left to achieve is afraid. Zero fear means infinite strength, because strength exists only to attain fearlessness. Ravana wanted to take the power awakened in Muladhar to his favorite chakra. It is said that he wanted to take his Shivalinga to golden Lanka. Perhaps it is some special chakra or point of the body, which is not known to us, and by awakening which one gets incomparable demonic power. That’s why Shiva felt sad because he could misuse it. Gopa means cowherd watchman, that is, one who grazes cows, and cow means senses. Ravana could take that semen power only to a nearby chakra and then he went for peeing. Due to this, the sense organ related to Muladhara became relaxed, and the Shakti remained stuck there, because it is from this sense that Shakti gets the strength to climb up. Where the power got stuck on a particular chakra in the middle, that too appears to be an unknown chakra. It was named Vaidyanatheshwar Linga. It is said in the story that that Linga was made of Vajrasara. This also indicates that it was sublimated semen. Vajra is formed from the spinal cord, hence its essence is the power passing through the sushumna inside the spinal cord, which kills the Vritrasur demon or ignorance by striking the Vajra in the form of awakening. That sensory power is formed in Muladhar, in the formation of which semen plays a major role. Because Shiva, like a doctor aka vaidya, had joined all the heads of Ravana, that is why that Linga was named Vaidyanatheshwar. All the gods came to worship it. This gives an indication that no matter where this Linga Shakti was located, it had not reached the area of the brain that could be experienced by the soul. It is only over this area that the living beings themselves have complete control, not the gods. Meaning, the will of the living being operates in this area. All other parts of the body are under the control of the gods. Like we can move around as per our wish, we can think, we can work, but we cannot digest food, our heart cannot beat on our will, and we cannot do countless other body functions. Perhaps this voluntary area is Sahasrara itself. If Shakti had reached there, Ravana would have caused so much harm to the world. The mind itself is Narad Muni. After ravana’s momentary awakening or shiva darshan whatever, he realized that now he can trouble the gods to his heart’s content. This is what the gods have to complain to Narad Muni. Encouraged by this, Ravana’s mind thought that why not go to Sahasrara once again and see whether he has really got power. He was engrossed in the devotion of Shiva and was looking only at Shiva in everything, although of course under the influence of selfishness. Suddenly, when he went to Sahasrara, his flow of devotion to Shiva stopped, because there is an atmosphere of non-dualism in Sahasrar, and where there is non-dualism, there is no devotion. Devotion happens only in duality. Therefore for a short time the worldly objects related to the devotion of Shiva fell away. It is said that everything turned upside down in Kailash. One should know Kailash here with a mind filled with devotion and as concerned to raising it up, it should be Sahasrara area. One who lives too much in non-duality does not know the loving brotherhood full of worldly duality. Due to this, ego can also develop in him. It is natural that he has many enemies, one of whom may become his death. This is said to be cursed by Shiva after getting angry. This made the gods happy, because if everyone became completely monistic then how would the world created by them be able to function. It is heard that erotic paintings were made in the ancient temples and caves of India because of the wave of monism. People were leaving their homes and going to the forest. Now I don’t know how correct this analysis is, but it seems necessary to make the story scientifically fit into Kundalini Yoga and to remember it.
What else can we call the darshan aka visualisation of Shiva other than awakening of Kundalini, because both are supreme achievements. There can be only one supreme achievement, not two, hence both are one and the same. It is also possible that darshan of gods is such a deep state of meditation in which the gods are clearly visible and one can also talk to them. Of course, this should be a little below the highest level of Kundalini awakening. Because if Devdarshan itself was Kundalini awakening, then at least one demon would have gained wisdom from Devdarshan, but it appears that no one got it, on the contrary, whatever was there also went away due to the arrogance of power. Secondly, in the state of Kundalini awakening, one cannot ask for anything because by feeling complete unity with the Supreme, a person also feels his own completeness, then what is left to ask for. On the other hand, during Devdarshan, the demons used to place a long and detailed demand letter in front of the deity. Well, even if both experiences are similar, this story also refutes the belief that an awakened person can do no wrong. In fact, awakening inspires to do good work, but there is no guarantee that good work will be done. It is like someone getting the company of a great person but ignoring his inspiration and not doing any great work. Culture, mentality and practices are responsible for good or bad work. This story also shows that just as good deeds are done by power, bad deeds are also done by power. The powerless cannot do anything. Mischievous people have a lot of power. If their power is channeled in the right direction they can awaken most quickly. Perhaps the same happened with Ravana also. He was a mischievous person but with the desire for more power, he started worshiping Shiva. The mind of mischievous people wants immediate results, just as a thief cannot wait to earn money, so he steals something to get it immediately. Similarly, when Ravana did not see any benefit from worship, he adopted another method. Meaning, when did the vicious mind start liking the simple, slow, idealistic and ordinary way like the general public? Therefore he adopted a crooked, sharp, idealless and extraordinary Tantric method. Perhaps due to the success of Tantric method, he might have been under the illusion that he is expert in sexual activity and can do it with anyone without any restrictions. Due to this confusion, he might have violated the modesty of Rambha Apsara, Kubera’s future daughter-in-law, and under this confusion, he might have abducted Sita, due to which he was killed by Sitapati Ram.
I think Ravana’s own home was Sahasrara Chakra, because it is believed that the soul resides there. That is why Lanka is called the city of gold. In Chinese Tao philosophy, the Golden Flower is felt on the Ajna Chakra under Golden Flower Meditation. Ajna Chakra can also be a golden Lanka because an egoistic man like Ravana is not going to live in a divine place like Sahasrara, certainly he can live in a materialistic and rationalistic Ajna Chakra. There is a mythological story that a tunnel like a lotus stem used to go from Lanka to the underworld. This suggests that Lanka was agya chakra connected by nadi to Muladhara, as Muladhara is often referred to as Patala. Lanka has been described as lying between Trikuta Parvat meaning between three mountain peaks. If one peak is considered to be the left brow bone, the second peak is considered to be the right brow bone and the third is considered to be the nose bone, then Lanka appears to be Ajna Chakra.
Shiva knew that Ravana was evil by nature, hence if his intelligence got the brilliance of Shivalinga then he would become more evil. It is also possible that Sahasrara was his home, but he misused its divinity. This means that it is not necessary that by visiting Sahasrara a man himself becomes a gentleman. He will still have to try. The heads of many particular religions probably awakened the Sahasrara and always resided in it, but they carried out endless massacres in the name of religion and God, which continues till today. If such people get derailed then they can become the embodiment of death. No one can do any harm to them because they themselves are situated at the supreme position. Probably that is why theology would have been kept secret in ancient times. Now even the nuclear bomb is no longer a secret, what to fear now? I also feel that those who try forcefully for awakening through Tantra etc., get only momentary or partial awakening, like Ravana got, not complete awakening. Ravana was seeking the same complete awakening from Shiva, who is said to have wanted to keep the Shivalinga permanently in his house. But Shiva did not allow this to happen considering him as unauthorized. Meaning, before becoming awakened one has to become human.
This story can also be given a little more twist. Ravana is ego only. The tenth head was the ego form itself. An attempt to cut it meant he had become very weak and was about to die when Shiva appeared. Meaning, if the ego becomes zero, the person will definitely die, then who will attain awakening and how? Giving darshan by Shiva means the remaining ego gets merged into Shiva, not destroyed. Ravana’s Lanka is also Mooladhara, as it is in the middle of the ocean, and in most stories Mooladhara is shown as the ocean. The ten senses of Ravana steal the Shakti as Sita and carry that to muladhara as Lanka. Meaning that man wanders in worldly affairs through ten senses. Due to this, the pictures of the world become powerful in his mind. These come into expressed form and called as expressed shakti or dancing goddess, and then soon get buried and registered in the subconscious mind in latent form. This is where the power in the form of Sita has to go to the muladhara chakra in the form of Lanka. Now the readers will say that earlier Ajna Chakra was called Lanka, and now they are calling it as Muladhar Chakra. There is no contradiction in this, because Muladhara and Ajna Chakra are directly connected.
There can also be a doubt that earlier the mind was called Brahma, and now it is called Narad Muni. There is no contradiction in this either. Narada Muni is the son of Brahma, meaning only a small part of the entire mind in the form of Brahma is the messenger mind in the form of Narada.