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VIDEO

Why Does Shiva Sit in the

Smashana or Cremation
Ground?
12 May 2014

12 Comments

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Why is Shiva sometimes depicted as

sitting in the smashana or cremation
ground? Sadhguru looks at the
symbolism behind this representation
and explores some fundamental aspects of life and
death.

Sadhguru: The only problem that I have with people

is that they lack the needed intensity. If they were
intense enough, we would not have to work towards
the ultimate for a lifetime today, the work could be
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done. The moment of death or the possibility of death

is the most intense experience in most human beings
lives. Most of them would have never touched that
level of intensity throughout their lives. In their love,
in their laughter, in their joy, in their ecstasy, in their
misery nowhere else do they touch that level of
intensity only in death.
Because of that, Shiva went and sat in the cremation
ground or kayanta, waiting. Kaya means body, anta
means ending. Kayanta means where the body
ends not where life ends. It is a kayanta, not a
jeevanta. All that you picked up on the planet, you
have to leave behind. If you have lived in such a way
that your body is all you know, then the moment
when you have to shed it becomes the most intense
moment of your life. If you know something beyond
the body, it is not of great significance. For one who
has realized the nature of who he is and what he is,
kayanta is not such a great moment. It is just one
more moment, thats all. But for those who lived just
as a physical body, when the time to part with all that
you know as yourself comes, it is going to be a very
intense moment.
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Immortality is a natural state for everybody. Mortality

is a mistake that you have made. It is a wrong
perception of life. As for the physical body, kayanta,
the end of the body, will definitely come. But if instead
of being just a kaya, you become a jeeva, if you are
not just a living body but a living being, then
immortality is a natural state for you. Whether you
are mortal or immortal is only a question of
perception no existential change is needed.
That is why
enlightenment is
referred to as
realization, not as an
accomplishment or
achievement. If you see
it, it is there for you. If
you do not see it, it is
not there for you. It is
only a question of
perception no
fundamental,
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Shiva sits at
the smashan,
bored with
you and your
play, bored
because the
whole drama
all over town

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existential change. If
you are equipped, not
with the senses, but
with your pragna, then
you know not only the
kaya but the jeeva, and
you are naturally
immortal. Y ou do not
have to work towards
your immortality. Y ou
just have to realize that

all over town

is absolutely
stupid. The
only real
thing
happens at
the
cremation
ground.

this is the way it is.

So, Shiva shifted his residence to kayanta or smashan.
Shma refers to shava or corpse, shan refers to shanya
or bed. Where the dead bodies lie, that is where he
resides, because he realized working with living people
is a waste of time. Y ou cannot get them to the pitch of
intensity that is needed. Y ou have to do so many tricks
to make people a little intense.
Intensity does not arise because you have made the
instinct of survival the biggest thing within you. There
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are two fundamental forces in this living body. One is

the instinct of survival another is the longing to
expand limitlessly. If you empower the instinct of
survival, it always tries to play low, because survival
means playing safe. If you empower the longing to
become limitless, if you are seeking limitless
expansion, if that is what all your energy is focused
on, then there will be full intensity of life.
The instinct of survival is dominant in every other
creature. With the phase of evolution where we have
become human, a higher level of awareness and
intelligence has entered into our lives this is the time
where the instinct of survival can be kept down and
the longing to expand should be fired up. Out of these
two forces, one is always trying to fuel the intensity in
you, the other is always trying to keep you at a
simmer. Y ou may have to save resources that are
scarce, but life is not scarce.
Shiva sits at the smashan, bored with you and your
play, bored because the whole drama all over town is
absolutely stupid. The only real thing happens at the
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cremation ground. Maybe at the moment of birth and

the moment of death, something is happening.
Maternity homes and cremation grounds are the only
two sensible places, though maternity is happening a
little too much.
Shiva is sitting at a
place where life makes
utmost sense. But if you
are fearful, if you are
on survival or selfpreservation mode, this
will not make sense to
you. Only if you are
longing to expand and
touch the ultimate, it
will make sense to you.
He is not interested in
those who want to
survive. To survive, you
just need four limbs and

Is it wrong to
be limited?
No. But it is
painful to be
limited. Is it
wrong to be
in pain? No.
If you enjoy
it, what is my
problem?

a few working brain

cells. Whether they are
earthworms, grasshoppers, or any other creature
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they are all surviving, doing fine. That is all the brain
you need to survive. So if you are in survival mode, if
self-preservation is the most dominant thing in you,
he is bored with you he is waiting for you to die.
He is referred to as the destroyer not because he wants
to destroy you. He is waiting at the cremation ground
so that the body is destroyed, because until the body is
destroyed, even people around do not realize what
death is. Y ou may have seen that when someone dear
to them dies, people will fall all over the dead body,
hug it, kiss it, try to bring it back to life many things.
But once you set fire to the body, no one ever goes and
hugs the flames. Their instinct of self-preservation tells
them this is not it.
This is not a question of right and wrong but of limited
sense versus ultimate sense. Is it wrong to be limited?
No. But it is painful to be limited. Is it wrong to be in
pain? No. If you enjoy it, what is my problem? I am
not against anything. The only thing that I do not like
is if you want to go in one direction, but you are going
in the opposite direction.
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Senselessness is the only thing that I am against,

because the essence of human life is that you have
much more sense than any other creature or you
are supposed to, but a whole lot of people are trying to
disprove that. Creation means intelligence. The
Creator means ultimate intelligence. Unfortunately, a
lot of people who are in all kinds of mess talk about
God, and most people only talk about God when they
are in a mess. If you have a nice, warm shower, you
will sing a cinema song. If we put you in the cold
theerthakund Shiva! Shiva! The moment there is
difficulty, Shiva comes to your mind. When life is
going the way you want it, you will think of all kinds
of people and all kinds of things. If someone puts a
gun to your head Shiva! Shiva! He is the wrong
guy to call. He is waiting at the cremation ground. If
someone puts a gun to your head, and you call Shiva
to save you he will not.
Trying to turn it
backward is the one
thing that will not work
with life. If you run
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with life. If you run

forward, whichever
direction you go,
whatever you want to
do you sing, you
dance, you meditate,
you cry, you laugh as
long as it takes you
towards a higher level
of intensity, it will all

If you are not

just a living
body but a
living being,
then
immortality
is a natural
state for you.

work. If you try to roll

it back, it does not
work. Most human beings you do not have to poke
with a dagger to make them miserable. If you simply
leave them alone, they will become miserable. Their
instinct of self-preservation has crossed reasonable
limits and is trying to curtail life and turn it backward.
Sitting in the cremation ground, this is Shivas
message: even if you die, it will work, but if you curtail
life, it will not work. The question whether you curtail
life or allow life to happen does not depend upon what
you do and what you do not do, but upon how
effervescent and how intense this life process is right
now.
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It is not a question of whether what you do is useful or

not. If you can bring intensity into useless things, it
will still work. But you need meaning for everything
that you do. Unless it is meaningful, unless it is useful,
you cannot throw yourself into it. In that context,
meaningfulness and usefulness are important.
Otherwise, meaningfulness and usefulness are
essentially psychological. They are an inspiration, not
an end in themselves.

Editors Note: Download Sadhgurus ebook, Shiva

Ultimate Outlaw, along with Vairagya, an album of
sacred chants (also available as an Android App).
Theyre free!

Download Now

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POSTED IN:

YOGA & MEDITATION, DEMYSTIFYING

YOGA

TAGS:

Shiva

Comments Community

Recommend 6

Join the discussion

Jim Fessenden

a year ago

This Master, Sadhguru, has and is providing an infinite number of approaches to get YOU and ME to simply turn
around and RUN WITHIN....not to wak, skip, or even trot but to run as hard as you possibly can. Little desire = little
movement. Hear what he is saying! He is talking about LIGHTING YOURSELF UP WITH DESIRE TO KNOW WHO
AND WHAT YOU ARE AND IT IS only with unbridled "INTENSITY" that this can occur less you not finish the race a
end up with intensive fear at the moment you must return your borrowed flesh.
It is our preoccupation with what "is not" that keeps us from uncovering "what is." You must have such desire that
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nothing else of the world/3rd dimension can compare to finishing the race which begun with you as a single atom
who desired to become a fully realized Adam...and the evolution was on. Sadhguru's sacrifice to remain here amo
the living dead cannot be measured or even understood, it would serve you well to become available to his guidanc
as I know it is serving me.
4

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notinsanse

a year ago

hahaha
3

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kunal sinha

a year ago

i have a question,, is there anything like GOD in this world. well, i don't find it true that there is anything like this. all t
irrational myths make my belief stronger. i believe in no god. any miracle occurring sometimes is mere a coincidence and nothing else. all the god were good humans and they are now known as god. like after sometime
mahatma gandhi, modi, tendulkar they will be known as god.. its just a creation of common people or say very clev
people who want others'conduct well regulated so that they serve their own purpose..
2

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twittendra > kunal sinha

9 months ago

Kunal(Patna),
I am from Chhapra Bihar, I had thousand of similar questions before I did inner engineering program 2 year
back. After that most of my questions were gone ..... evaporated :-)
1

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Madhusudan Shettigar > twittendra

13 hours ago

How much do they charge for inner engineering program ?

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Manoj Muthukuru

a year ago

The limited physical dimensions, i.e. the body and mind somehow seem to become aware of their limited nature
when one enter a cremation ground. This makes perceiving the boundless nature more effortless. Experiencing a
blissful state is little effortless when one sits in a Ghat at Varanasi. It is not that one cannot experience this in a
cremation ground in Chennai, but people may find this insane and start throwing stones! Shiva sitting in a smasha
is a symbolism to perceive the dimension that is beyond the physical. Pranam
2

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naresh > Manoj Muthukuru

9 months ago

Where there is a creation there is a CREATOR (GOD).

chintu

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21 hours ago

Jai Guru DEv!! Jai Guru Dev11

Reply Share

Sumit Vikrant

a day ago

just tell me how can i see god?i want to see shiva

Reply Share

Nagarathna Balaji

2 months ago

y all the gods have two wives...

Reply Share

Jaya

4 months ago

"You may have seen that when someone dear to them dies, people will fall all over the dead body, hug it, kiss it, try
bring it back to life many things. But once you set fire to the body, no one ever goes and hugs the flames. Their
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instinct of self-preservation tells them this is not it." - Namaskaram Sadhguru seems like these five senses are
clever aren't they ? Shambho I bow down

yogish

Reply Share

7 months ago

Not intefereing with the survival instinct and intention for limitless expansion,the needed intensity is hidden behind t
intentions that who is mortal , who is immortal and who is sitting in smashan.

Reply Share

Ravi

7 months ago

Wow...fantastic post...gives a glimpse of the intensity of Sadhguru

Reply Share

Arvind Sunder

a year ago

Suffering is normal, but accepting the fact that there is always an end to everything that begins is something that
would calm everybody. Thanks for the wonderful explanation guruji. It answers quite a few questions and also mak
the path ahead more easier and ofcourse intense...

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Varun K. Sharma

a year ago

Nice one! I liked your perspective of looking at things around!

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