
What is needful? Righteousness and sacred learning
and teaching; truth and sacred learning and teaching; meditation and
sacred learning and teaching; self-control and sacred learning and
teaching; peace and sacred learning and teaching; ritual and sacred
learning and teaching; humanity and sacred learning and teaching.
Krishna Yajur Veda, Taittariya Upanishad 1.9. UPM, P. 109

Diet and Food
SUTRA 186: THE AYURVEDIC VEGETARIAN DIET
Siva's devotees cook and eat in the balanced, varied, vegetarian, Indian ayurvedic manner,
enjoying healthy, unprocessed, freshly cooked foods. Occasionally, they
may partake of cuisine from other world cultures. Aum.
SUTRA 187: MEALTIME TRADITIONS
Siva's devotees eat with their fingers to energize food.
They chew well and include the six tastes daily (sweet, salty, sour,
pungent, bitter and astringent) and a balance of protein and
carbohydrates at all meals. Aum.
SUTRA 188: GOOD EATING HABITS
Siva's devotees adhere to the ayurvedic principles
of eating at regular times, only when hungry, always seated, at a
moderate pace; never between meals, in a disturbed atmosphere or when
angry or emotionally upset. Aum.
SUTRA 189: UNFANATICAL VEGETARIANISM
Siva's devotees are forbidden to eat meat, fish,
shellfish, fowl or eggs, but they may regard as regrettable exceptions
unseen traces of nonfleshy ingredients, such as eggs and gelatin, in
packaged or restaurant foods. Aum.
SUTRA 190: GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD HEALTH
Siva's devotees know that a good diet is the best
medicine. They drink two liters of water daily, minimize fried foods
and avoid junk foods, white rice, white flour, processed sugar and
degraded oils. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Health and Exercise
SUTRA 191: NOT EATING TOO MUCH
Siva's devotees eat in moderation. Meals seldom exceed
what two hands cupped together can hold. If hunger persists, another
handful may be taken. Eating right extends life and maintains higher
consciousness. Aum.
SUTRA 192: FASTING FOR HEALTH AND PENANCE
Siva's devotees may fast for twenty-four hours on water, herb teas or fruit juices each Friday or twice a month on pradosha. Longer fasting, such as a festival penance, is done only with the guru's or a doctor's sanction. Aum.
SUTRA 193: CHOOSING APPROPRIATE HEALING ARTS
Siva's devotees know wellness is balance. If the
imbalance called illness occurs, they apply self-healing, then resort
as needed to such arts as ayurveda, acupuncture, chiropractic, allopathy, pranic healing or massage. Aum.
SUTRA 194: WEARING THE BODY LIKE A SANDAL
Siva's devotees do not indulge in inordinate concerns
about food, undue physical worries or extensive personal health studies
other than ayurveda. They avoid extreme diets, except under medical supervision. Aum.
SUTRA 195: EXERCISING DAILY
Siva's devotees keep strong and healthy by exercising at
least one half hour each day through such activities as brisk walking,
swimming, dancing, salutations to the sun, hatha yoga and vigorous work. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Tobacco and Drugs
SUTRA 196: FORBIDDING TOBACCO
Siva's devotees are forbidden to smoke, chew tobacco or
inhale snuff. They know nicotine's deadly, addictive power and value
health and longevity as primary to fulfilling good karmas and serving the community. Aum.
SUTRA 197: NOT USING DANGEROUS DRUGS
Siva's devotees are forbidden to use drugs of abuse,
such as cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, barbiturates, psychedelics and
marijuana, unless prescribed by a licensed physician. They know their
devastating effects. Aum.
SUTRA 198: CHILDREN SAY NO TO DRUGS
Siva's devotees educate their children to say no to any
and all known or unknown illicit drugs offered to them, whether by
friends or strangers. Pure and well informed by caring parents,
children avoid these dangers. Aum.
SUTRA 199: CHEMICAL CHAOS
Siva's devotees know that drugs may awaken simultaneously the chakra of
divine love and those of fear, confusion and malice, producing vast
mood swings and a stunted intellect. They dread this chemical chaos.
Aum.
SUTRA 200: THE DEMONIC DRUG CULTURE
Siva's devotees stand against drugs and never mix with
those who use them or listen to talk extolling them. The drug culture
and its demonic music erode the very fabric of human character and
culture. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Alcohol
SUTRA 201: MODERATION WITH ALCOHOL
All strong and intoxicating distilled alcohols are
forbidden to Siva's devotees. They may moderately partake of the family
of wines and beers, including honey mead, for these are wholesome when
properly enjoyed. Aum.
SUTRA 202: NOT DRINKING ALONE OR WHEN UPSET
Even in moderation, Siva's devotees do not drink
alcohol in solitude, when depressed, angry or under extreme stress.
When one is emotionally unstable, alcohol inhibits the ability to
confront and solve problems. Aum.
SUTRA 203: MONITORING DRINKING AMONG PEERS
Siva's devotees gently enforce temperance among peers
whenever necessary. They know that those unable to observe moderation
may have to abstain entirely and restrict themselves to nonalcoholic
beverages. Aum.
SUTRA 204: WOMEN DO NOT DRINK IN PUBLIC
All Hindu women, respecting customs of decorum and
demureness, refrain from drinking alcohol in public. During pregnancy,
they abstain completely to protect the health and well-being of their
unborn child. Aum.
SUTRA 205: TOTAL ABSTINENCE FOR SOME
Siva's devotees know that if, despite the help of peers
or elders, alcohol becomes a spiritual obstacle or a burden to family
or community, the preceptor is duty-bound to deny the privilege
altogether. Aum Namah Sivaya.
The Four Stages of Life
SUTRA 206: LIFE'S FOUR SEASONS
Siva's ardent souls honor and conscientiously fulfill the duties of each of life's four progressive stages of dharma: student (age 12 -- 24), householder (24 -- 48), respected elder (48 -- 72) and religious solitaire after age 72. Aum.
SUTRA 207: TWO PSYCHOLOGICAL JUNCTURES
Siva's ardent souls recognize that the natural human
life span is 120 years. They confidently plan ahead at each 40-year
juncture. Elders counsel, as needed, persons in life transitions,
around 40 and 80 years of age. Aum.
SUTRA 208: AGING WITH DIGNITY
Siva's ardent souls grow old gracefully, without fear,
knowing that the soul is immortal and the mental body does not age, but
becomes stronger and more mature, as do the emotions, if regulated
stage by stage. Aum.
SUTRA 209: SELFLESS DUTIES AFTER RETIREMENT
Siva's ardent souls intensify religious disciplines
after retirement, give guidance to younger generations, teach,
encourage, uplift, serve the community in various ways and support
endowments to educate the young. Aum.
SUTRA 210: RENUNCIATION AFTER AGE 72
Siva's unmarried men and widowers may renounce the world
after age 72, severing all ties with their community and living as
unordained, self-declared sannyasins among the holy monks of India. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Approaching Death
SUTRA 211: FACING THE PAST TO PREPARE FOR DEATH
Siva's devotees give spiritual counseling to the
terminally ill who are blessed with the knowledge of death's approach,
showing ways to resolve the past so that Siva consciousness is their
bridge during transition. Aum.
SUTRA 212: FORGIVING AND SEEKING FORGIVENESS
Siva's devotees facing death perform vasana daha tantra, reconcile with and seek forgiveness from anyone they have offended, lest they leave unresolved kukarmas to go to seed and bear bitter fruit in future births. Aum.
SUTRA 213: DRAWING WITHIN, RELEASING THE WORLD
Siva's devotees who are dying concentrate on their mantra and
find solace in the holy Vedic teachings on the soul's immortality, ever
seeking the highest realizations as they consciously, joyously release
the world. Aum.
SUTRA 214: SEEKING A NATURAL DEATH AT HOME
Siva's devotees welcome life-saving medical
interventions, but in their last days avoid heroic, artificial
perpetuation of life and prefer not to die in a hospital but at home
with loved ones, who keep prayerful vigil. Aum.
SUTRA 215: THE MOMENT OF GRAND DEPARTURE
Siva's devotees strive at the moment of death to depart the body through the crown chakra and consciously enter the clear white light and beyond. A perfect transition culminates in God realization. Aum Namah Sivaya.
Death's Aftermath
SUTRA 216: CREMATION AND DISPERSAL OF ASHES
Devout Hindus always cremate their dead. Burial is
forbidden by tradition. Embalming is never permitted, and no autopsy is
performed unless required by law. Ashes are ceremoniously committed to
a river or ocean. Aum.
SUTRA 217: THE MYSTICAL BENEFIT OF CREMATION
Siva's devotees arrange swift cremation, ideally within
24 hours. The fire and accompanying rites sever ties to earthly life
and give momentum to the soul, granting at least momentary access to
superconscious realms. Aum.
SUTRA 218: FUNERAL RITES AND REMEMBRANCES
At the death of a Siva devotee, family and friends
gather for funeral rites in the home. They prepare the body and arrange
for cremation. On the seventh day, the deceased's picture is honored,
and food is offered. Aum.
SUTRA 219: MEMORIAL RITES FOR THE DEPARTED
Family and friends of a deceased Siva devotee hold a
memorial on the thirty-first day after the transition and again one
year later, cleaning the home and making food offerings to ancestors
and to the departed. Aum.
SUTRA 220: JOYFULLY RELEASING THE DEPARTED
Knowing that the soul is deathless, Siva's devotees
never suffer undue or prolonged sorrow for the departed, lest they bind
these souls to Earth. They rejoice in the continuing journey of loved
ones. Aum Namah Sivaya.
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