Moon
There are many names for Shiva.
One name that is very commonly
used is Soma or Somasundara.
Soma could literally mean the
moon, but soma essentially means
inebriation or intoxication. If one
does not get inebriated, not with
outside substances but with the
life process itself, the simple
process of waking up in the
morning, attending to your body’s needs, eating, earning your living,
protecting yourself from all the predators around you and going back
to bed every day can take such a big toll. That’s all that is happening
to most human beings right now. The simple process of life has turned
into a hell. This is simply because they are just trying to live life without
drinking from it.
The moon is referred to as soma, which means the source of intoxication.
If you have gone out on a moonlit night somewhere where there are
no electric lights, or if you just look at the moonlight, slowly, you will
get lightheaded. Have you noticed this? We can do it without the
moonlight also, but moonlight does it very well! It is because of this
quality that the moon is referred to as the source of intoxication.
Shiva uses the moon as a decoration because he is a great yogi who
is intoxicated all the time, but he sits in great alertness. To enjoy the
intoxication, you must be alert. Even when you drink, you try to stay
awake and enjoy the intoxication. And that is how yogis are – totally
drunk, but fully alert.
The science of yoga gives this pleasure to you to be internally drunk all
the time. Yogis are not against pleasure. It is just that they are unwilling
to settle for little pleasures. They are greedy. They know if you drink a
glass of wine it just gets you a little buzz, and tomorrow morning, you
get a headache and the works. They are not willing to settle for that.
With yoga, they can be totally drunk all the time, but one hundred
percent stable and alert. This cannot happen by drinking something
or taking in a chemical. This can happen only if you are producing
and consuming your own narcotic! And nature has given you this
possibility.
There has been..............