Trimantra
33
Dadashri : There is not just one Shankar. There are
many Shankars. When a person achieves a state void of
attachment or abhorrence (samata), he becomes a Shankar
(Sam= impartial; kara=doer); he becomes impartial, unreactive,
the doer of that which is in balance. Therefore there are many
Shankars and they are all at a very high spiritual state, in other
higher worlds. The one who propagates equanimity is a Shankar.
When you chant the mantra, ‘Aum Namah Shivaaya’,
you should simultaneously visualise the image of Shiva swaroop,
the embodiment of salvation.
The Reason For Idols
When one worships Mahadev, the Lord of the Shaivites,
He redirects your ‘letter’ (worship) to the Soul within you,
saying ‘This is your correspondence, not mine’. This is called
indirect worship (paroksha bhakti). The same applies to when
one worships Lord Krishna or anyone else for that matter. Such
worship is indirect worship. But what would happen if we did
not have idols and images of these Gods? Without idols people
would forget the real God as well as the deity that it represents.
That is why idols and deities have been placed everywhere. So
when people come across a temple of Mahadev, they do darshan
of Mahadev. They can only do darshan if they see the image,
right? Seeing the idol will jog their memory will it not? That is
why idols have been placed everywhere. Ultimately it is all done
for the purpose of recognizing the One that resides within.
Jai Sat Chit Anand
The first portion of the Trimantra represents the Jains,
then comes the portion for the Vasudevs and the last portion
represents Shiva. And ‘Sat Chit Anand’ includes everyone: the
Moslems, the Christians, everyone else. Jai means glory. Sat
means eternal. Chit means the complex of vision and knowledge.
Anand means bliss. Therefore, Sat Chit Anand means that the
pure awareness of the eternal is bliss.