Vibhuti

When I wear the vibhuti, also known as bhasma, it tells me a story. It tells me that whatever there is, has its ending as ash! The body, our possessions, all of that made over years and years is but, temporary. People say that possessions will be carried over to generations' benefit, but I see that as being temporary too. Why collect things when someday its got to be thrown away or turned to ashes? That sounds like death of matter.

On the other hand, someday even those doings, thoughts and the other subtle stuff such as mind, intelligence, memory and whatever there is, in essence, will be burned to ashes. Thats what vibhuti represents to me. It says out loud to defocus from the impermanent foreground that will automatically take one to the permanent background of the eternal self. Akin to photography, where one defocuses with the lens all the objects to clearly see the subject. Technically, its shifting to the background process, disowning all those overlapping foreground processes with their innumerous threads and dangling pointers turn into zombies in totality and let them die their own death!

chidAnanda rUpa shivohaM shivohaM