Living with Siva Nandinatha Sutras: Section 4, Personal Life
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Personal Life
An aspirant reads from the ancient scriptures of his lineage and chants on his holy rudraksha beads as part of a daily sadhana. Lord Ganesha hovers nearby, holding his noose in one hand and blessing the seeker's inner efforts with his other hand, held in the "fear not" abhaya mudra.

Vyakti Jivanam

Ethics Block Art

Section 4
Personal Life

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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

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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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