What ‘OM NAMAH SHIVAYA’ did for me….

At one point of time, suddenly during my spiritual journey, Lord Shiva or Shivji as I like to call him, started connecting with me. Being a Jain, I had no previous experience of Shiv bhakti. But a lot of coincidences happened one after the other that left me confused and surprised. My daughter heard shiv tandav stotram at school and suddenly came home and started playing it. And that stotram kept pulling my attention constantly. A book at book library suddenly attracted me and when I started reading it, it went on to explain how all mantras (which have as it is always had tremendous effect on me) originated from the sounds of Shivji’s damroo. Then there was suddenly this very strong urge to chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. The words of this mantra would just form in my mind constantly even though I was consciously not trying to chant it. Around same time I co-incidentally learnt that a close friend of mine, who is a spiritual seeker, has also been connected by Shivji and has completely surrendered to him. And then was the final straw. My husband was decluttering his office and came across a very old tin box, which he somehow decided not to discard and got it home to ask me if it could be of some use to me. And guess wat?! That box had a big picture of Shivji on the top. It is impossible to have a box with a picture of Shivji in the office of a Jain! Shivji had himself walked right into my life! How could I ignore this???

Then for some time I was guided to chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ on a regular basis and it gave me inner strength, clarity and positivity to the next level. Gradually this active regular chanting phase subsided. Though a passive connection with Shivji always remained. Then I came across few miraculous experiences which I am about to share here.

In stark contrast to my personality (who prefers to keep to herself) I am strongly guided to share these very personal experiences. Even right now as I type I don’t know which unknown force is making me type these experiences. But since I am being guided to do this, it definitely must be for a higher purpose. So here I go….

Experience 1

We had gone out of town. By evening I had started feeling little weak and by night fall I had fever and extreme body ache. Only thing possible to do at that point of time was to take a paracetamol and that’s what I did. Though fever came down with paracetamol, the body ache, especially leg pain was very extreme and subsided hardly by 10-15%. I tried for some time but soon realised it was difficult to sleep with such pain and almost impossible to see through night like this. I tried a lot of other things to subside the pain but nothing worked. Then suddenly a thought struck me and I started chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. Hardly 12-15 chants and my pain subsided substantially and I was able to drift off to comfortable sleep. Every time during that night I woke up with unbearable pain, I would chant and pain would subside and I would comfortably go off to sleep. Had it not been for this Shiva energy, I cannot imagine how I would have seen through that night. Next day morning we visited the doctor and took prescribed medicine.

Experience 2

We were on a vacation and had taken up a short uphill trek at high altitude. Half way through the trek I could not manage anymore, the high altitude was making it difficult to breathe. I decided to stop right there and rest, while my husband continued the trek with our guide. It was a very sunny day and in sometime the intense heat of the high altitude was starting to affect me. To my dismay I realised that my husband had carried with him our common water bottle. I was getting thirsty. After sometime the sun was beginning to burn up my skin. I tried calling my husband but he had no network. At such an high altitude when you don’t move for a long time and do not drink water at regular intervals, High Altitude Sickness may affect you. My mouth was getting drier and eventually I started feeling light headed, nauseous and slightly dizzy. There was valley close to me and it was starting to slowly sway side to side. I was feeling sick and loosing balance. At that point of time, I don’t know how, but I started chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ in my mind. Again just 10-15 chants and the dizziness stopped. I gradually regained my balance and started feeling better. I was much better by the time my husband arrived and was comfortably able to climb down the hill. 

Experience 3

We were visiting a very small town in the interiors. In the middle of the night suddenly I was feeling breathless. My breathing was getting longer and more and more difficult. I could feel extreme pressure at my lungs. This was very sudden and difficult to understand. Nothing was working. Helplessly I started chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. In sometime I started releasing gas. Burp upon burp upon burp! And within 10-15 minutes all the pressure on my lungs released and I was able to breathe normally and drift off to sleep. Later on, I realized this excessive gas accumulation could be because of some undesirable food eaten the previous day.

After these miraculous experiences, my faith in Shivji became deeper and deeper, though I was not actively chanting the Shiv mantra any more.

Later on, through a video and a forwarded message on Whatsapp, an insight came to me. That Shiva means nothing. Even Sadhguru gives this explanation. Shiva literally means ‘nothing’. Shiva refers to the vast nothingness or the vast emptiness from which the entire cosmos came into being. And Shiva refers to the vast nothingness or the vast emptiness into which all of creation will finally merge into. That’s why Shiva has so much energy. It is raw unmanifested energy of the universe. Even Sadhguru says that once you connect with the Shiva, connect with the energy, not the form. The form will distract you. The form of Shiva is not important, it’s the energy, the concept behind it that is important. Shiva is not about Hindutva or Shiva is not about God. Shiva is just the original source you came from and the final destination you will merge into. It is as simple as that. That’s why Shiv mandir does not have any God in any form, but just a Shivling. You may give it any name other than Shiva and it will not matter. What is, will remain. It is up to you to access this tremendous energy and power to positively transform your life.

The mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ generates tremendous energy, tremendous power, tremendous positivity and balances all five elements in your body, for the simple reason these five elements have come from this raw unmanifested energy called ‘SHIVA’.

Anyone interested in group chanting of the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ online, may kindly connect with me.