Dhyanalinga: Going Beyond Duality
“Without duality, there is no creation. It is only because of these opposites that creation happened.” —Sadhguru
Feminine and masculine, Shiva and Shakti, Yin and Yang – whatever you call them, this duality shapes life as we know it. Sadhguru explains how Dhyanalinga offers a possibility to experience that which is beyond the senses and beyond this duality of creation.
December 12, 2016, marks the 17th anniversary of Dhyanalinga Offering Day. Following consecration, Dhyanalinga was first offered to the world on this day in 1999 and has sown the seed of meditation within countless seekers on each day since.
Q: You say that the Dhyanalinga offers the possibility for each human being to experience life in its totality. Can you tell us how?
Sadhguru: I think we need to bring some understanding of the science behind the Dhyanalinga. In the yogic tradition, the whole aspect of what we call Shiva and Shakti is about the duality of life. When you experience life through your sense perceptions, the experience of it is in a certain duality. It is this duality that is traditionally personified as Shiva and Shakti, the Ardhanarishwara. In yoga, we call this Ida and Pingala, and in the far-eastern cultures as Yin and Yang. You can also call it the feminine and masculine or the intuitive and logical aspect of oneself. These are the two dimensions in which you and the world around you exist.
It is based on this duality that life is created. Without these two dualities, life does not exist as it is right now. In the beginning, everything was primordial – there was no duality. Once creation happened, there was duality. To experience and limit you to this duality is the reason why there are sense organs. You experience everything through your senses: seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing and touching. These sense organs manifest and enhance the sense of duality in the world. The sense of light and dark, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant is what makes everything appear more established. As you get more involved with the sense perception, as you think and feel about life, the duality only gets deeper.
Duality: The Source of Pleasure & Pain
Is there something wrong with the duality? Without duality, there is no creation. It is only because of these opposites that creation happened. But to be trapped within the duality is the problem. If one is limited to the duality, one does not know the beyond. It becomes a great limitation in your life. Duality is the source of all the pleasures in the world. If there were no opposites, there would be no pleasures. At the same time, duality is the source of all suffering in the world. It is only because of these opposites that man suffers. Caught in this “pleasure and pain” experience of life, people do not become wise with life, they become wounded by it. They are not able to handle this duality, nor are they able to transcend it.
When you have limited yourself to your sense perceptions, you are bound by this duality – you cannot help it. The sense organs seem to be an access to freedom. Your eyes for example, your vision, seems to be your freedom. If you have no eyes, you have no experience of the outside, but it is the eye which is limiting you in so many ways. The eye is like a window of your body – it is through this window that you can look out. This window seems to be a great possibility, but the window is also a limitation for you. If you remove this limitation, then you will observe that it is not the eyes that see, it is you who sees. Your eyes are only an opening to the world. So sense perceptions are just a small opening and at the same time a great bondage within you.
Experience Life, The Way It Is
The process or science of the Dhyanalinga is an establishment of the exuberance of the duality of life. Through the nadis of the Ida and Pingala, through the seven chakras and the wide range of manifestation and experience, life has happened. The many forms of life, the many levels of life, the many ways of experiencing life are there in the world only because of this duality and the seven chakras or the seven dimensions of life. The Dhyanalinga is manifested on all of these levels, but its purpose is to help a person go beyond this duality.
This is not against sense perception, but seeing the limitation that it is, one needs to go beyond that. Through this manifestation of Ida and Pingala or Shiva and Shakti, both dimensions – the logical and the intuitive – can be enjoyed and experienced. Knowing that both the logical and the intuitive are not sufficient, one has to know that which is beyond this, which in yoga we refer to as pratibha, where you are neither intuitive nor logical. You have a direct perception of the world the way it is. You experience life simply the way it is, not through the interpretation of the senses.
Editor’s Note: “Mystic’s Musings” includes more of Sadhguru’s insights on the science of Dhyanalinga. Read the free sample [pdf] or purchase the ebook.
