God and Human Merge at the Time of Your Crucifixion

What is the true spiritual meaning of Halloween? In this classic teaching recorded in 2018, Shunyamurti explores the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain as a symbolic passage through darkness and death into divine rebirth. Drawing on the Tree of Life, heroic myths, and the spiritual significance of sacrifice, he explains why the ego is the ultimate obstacle to humanity's return to divine consciousness, and why every new Golden Age must begin with the death of the old.

Note: Shunyamurti did not complete his explanation of why the Gaelic holiday pronounced Sahwen is spelled Samhain. The original settlers were Aryan speakers of early Sanskrit, and the holy day was a coming together of the living and the spirits of their dead ancestors, who were the gods of earlier yugas. The idea of coming together was expressed as a sangham, which could also be written as samhan. Thus, the Sanskrit root was preserved, though the spoken language evolved.

We celebrate Easter from the perspective of the sages of the docetic version of Christianity. This leads to the recognition that the whole world is a holographic projection—none of us is really here. The Self transmits the holographic image of a body; and consciousness mistakenly identifies with that form, rather than with the Light and Intelligence projecting all forms in a motion picture epic of Divine Authorship. That epic is rendered into animation by the Goddess and destined to reach its climax with Revelation, Rapture, and Redemption.

We gather for our ritual celebration of Maha Shiva Ratri, the most holy day and symbolic moment of the kalpa. It is the night when the grace of the highest potentiality of consciousness is available to receive if one wants it with all one’s heart, mind, and will. Shunyamurti emphasizes the importance of the symbol of the dancing Nataraj and The Forty Verses on Reality by Sri Ramana Maharshi. Though the ego is not willing to surrender its identification with a fictional character, the soul yearns for union with the ultimate Truth, Tat Tvam Asi. Whether one likes it or not, ultimately Thou Art That. If only we use the power of Imagination to know there is no will separate from Shiva to surrender, that is our saving grace.

The Supreme Trickster turns the One into the Many, then delivers the ultimate treat: returning all to Zero. When your mind has been completely emptied of thought and desire, you will be filled with the Uncreated Light and the Divine Nectar of eternal ecstasy. This is the gift of grace signified by Maha Shiva Ratri.

This sacred story of giving birth to God can be understood on many levels. The most important for yogis is the level of nonduality, in which the nativity of the God-Self is understood as your own story of realization of your essential nature. This is accomplished through the symbolic replication of the acts of your purified soul, represented by the Virgin Mother (Shakti) bringing to life through divine love the Advent of the uncreated Supreme Self (as Presence in immediacy), and the ecstatic recognition of the Infinite Light pervading the entire cosmos and appearing as the Self of every being. May the grace that grants you the strength to surrender your will to God bring instant rapture and redemption.