The Magic Ladder- Snakes and Ladder !

[Guest guest]

In the course of one day , we have read posts using two

important 'metaphors' to explain spiritual Truths ! That of 'Ladder '

and 'poison' in the 'Snake' - The 'poison in the snake' was used to

explain the 'magical' mAyA and now Chitta is using the

magical 'ladder' to explain 'the spiritual aascent ' ! I have read

about a toy called 'Jacob's Ladder ' named after the biblical Jacob

who saw a ladder leading from earth to heaven in a vision!

 

yes! We are back to the days of playing 'Snakes and Ladders'- an

indoor game i used to love to play when i was a young girl of 8 -

going up the ladder in a mood of Ecstasy and coming down 'dejected'

when i fell into the hands of the 'snake' ! Have things really

changed since then ? AT this ripe age of 63 , the spiritual ascent by

way of a ladder ( be it adwaita . dwaita or visishtadwaita ) is still

elusive like a rabbit in a magician's hat !

 

And Coming to MaYa - she is a as much of a 'mystery' in this cosmos

whether described as a 'snake or 'a rope' appearing like a 'snake' in

the dark - you just cannot jump over 'mAyA'thinking she is rope for

she can very well be a 'snake' pretending to be a rope ! ( of course

rope cannot pretend to be snake ! but the ignorants among us caN

mistake a rope for a snake in the dark )

 

Swami Krishnananda (od Divine Life Society says eloquently

 

" Maya is Indescribable (Sat-Asat-Vilakshana Anadi Bhava Rupa

Anirvachaniya Maya). She is neither Sat nor Asat. Maya is Anadi

Santam. She is beginningless but has an end only for the sage who has

realised the Self. Maya is Suddha Sattwa or pure Sattwa. "

 

Chitta writes"

 

( Mr. Ludwig Wittgenstein said that employing language to get at the

metaphysical is non-sense and he wrote many large tomes on

metaphysics wherein he declared that he was talking non-sense. He in

fact struggled hard with non-sense to get to sense and he said that

after we use the ladder of non-sense to climb to sense, the ladder

should be thrown away. )

 

Chitta - I don't know about 'metaphysical language ' but Tantricks

use 'Sandhya bhasha ' in explaing great spiritual truths! Even our

beloved Adi Shankara Bhagvadapada used this technique of 'TWILIGHT'

language frequently more so In 'SAUNDARYA LAHARI WHICH IS CONSIDERED

A tANTRIC SCRIPTURE ANYWAY ! !

 

For Example:

 

a Tantrik Text says :

 

".Having drunk, drink and drink again; having fallen, rise again and

attain liberation."

 

Does this mean "druunkenness" leads to liberation ?

 

What is the 'Drunkenness ' we are talking about ?

 

The esoteric meaning is by drinking " the drops of wisdom the

tantrik adept experiences the awakening of the Kundalini. "

 

That is the 'Twilight Language' Of Tantra !

 

Twilight language is "a secret, dark, ambiguous language in which a

state of consciousness is expressed by an erotic term and the

vocabulary of mythology or cosmology is charged with Hatha-yogic

meanings."

 

In the shaivite text 'Thirumandiram' , the poet saint

Thirumoolar uses this technique of 'sandhya bhasha'

 

an example

 

On the Peaked Mountain is a Summit High,

Beyond the Summit blows a Gusty Wind;

There blossomed a Flower that its fragrance spread

Within that Flower, a Bee its Nectar imbibed,

 

explanation...

 

The gusty wind of the controlled breath spreads the fragrance of the

Sahasraara lotus at the crown of the head in which the Lord as a tiny

bumble bee sits, lapping up the nectar of immortality. The image of

the mountain usually infers the body seated in meditation or the

central nadi Shashumna through which the kundalini shakti flows.

 

Yes! The union of the devotee with the 'absolute' !

 

And Adi Shankara Bhagavadapada is describing Sri Lalita Devi's

physical form in such great detail in 'SAUNDARYA LAHARI' including

Sri Mata's 'breasts' where the two Breasts stand for 'ida and

pingala' - hatha yoga terms 'sun and moon' representing knowledge and

wisdom! ( professorji- could you knndly furnish the exact sloka? pl)

 

So, Language is very tricky - more so in the realm of

spirituality ... What seems 'non-sense' on first reading may turn out

to be 'pure' sense when you climb up the Ladder , rung by rung ,

overcoming all the 'vrittis' .... and it is then that we will be

grounded in 'truth' till then we will be caught in the web of 'mAya'

only!

 

Btw, even the 'snake' moves away when it sees a Yogi in MEDITATION!

Smile!

 

in closing

>From the CHANDOGYA-UPANISAD:

 

Where there is ecstacy, there is Creation.

Where there is no ecstacy, there is no Creation.

In the Infinite, there is ecstacy;

There is no ecstacy in the finite.

 

Hari AuM Tat Sat! !