Swami teaches... Potencies of Oneness

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

Swami teaches...

Potencies of Oneness

The coming together of Brahman and Maaya results in emergence of the

Brihath-Swaruupa (the Cosmic Form of the Lord). Brihath-Swaruupa is the

all-pervading energy. In every human being, both Divinity and the Maaya

principle are immanent. How is this to be comprehended? Sath-Chith-Aanandha

represent the Divine. The names and forms which human perceives are expressions

of the Maaya principle.

To neutralise Maaya, you have to prove your oneness with the Divine. This

has been proclaimed in the Upanishathik saying: "Adhvaitha dharshanam Jnaanam"

(The Supreme knowledge is the perception of the non-dual unity). This is the

path of knowledge. The other path is that of devotion. Imagine that the master

resides in the upper floor of the house. You are outside the gate, guarded by a

mastiff called Maaya. How, then, are you to approach the master, the

Paramaathma? The Lord comes down to help you when you chant His name at all

times. Here you offer every act to God.

All this is necessary till you secure God's grace. Thereafter, they are

unnecessary.

On the ocean, the wind is the cause of waves, on the ocean of

Sath-Chith-Aanandha (Being-Awareness-Bliss), the wind of Maaya gives rise to

the innumerable living creatures as waves. The Vedhas distinguish three

entities - the sea, the wave and the foam. The sea is the Kootastha, the

Unchanging Base, the Omniself, the Paramaathma. The wave that emerges from it

and merges in it is the jeevaathma (the particularised, individualised form of

the Paramaathma). The foam that forms on the crest of the wave and dissolves in

it is the dehaathma (the body consciousness, producing the illusion of

distinction from both wave and sea, though essentially it too is the sea).

From ancient times Bhaarath has been famous for its exposition of the four

Purushaarthas (the four goals of life - Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha, about

which have mentioned in the previous article "Swami teaches...") and the

teachings of the Vedhas and Vedhaangas. The Vedhas embody the sublime truths

experienced by the sages and the seers.

The Vedhas are known by nine names. The first is Shruthi - that is, what is

learnt by listening. This was necessary in ancient times when printing of books

was unknown. The others are: Anushravana, Aamnaaya, Samaamnaaya, Chandhas,

Adhyaasa, Gamana, Nigama, Aagama. Nigama and Aagama refer to the breathing

process of the Divine.

All the Vedhas relate to the affairs of the phenomenal world. Each Vedha

has a Samhitha (collection) made up of Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishaths.

All these lay down the practices that should be observed in the stages of

Grihastha (householder) and Vaanaprastha (hermit leading an ascetic life). The

practices were intended to control the mind. They are not designed to enable

one to have direct experience of God.

It is Vedhaantha that deals with the question of Self-Realisation. For the

spiritual journey, it is the guide-post and the destination. Vedhaantha in its

essence is extremely simple. It is easier to grasp than butter. To experience

God you have to apply the heat of Jnaana-Agni (the fire of spiritual knowledge)

to the heart filled with love. You must come near to God and become dear to Him

through your love. When that happens desires disappear.

In fact all are the Divine itself. Instead of being a lover, whose love is

confined to a few, become love itself so that you can love all. This is the

supreme truth proclaimed by Vedhaantha (Vedhic metaphysics). There are three

essential things to be understood regarding Vedhaantha. First is Thaarakam.

Second is Saankhya. Third is Amanaskam. Thaarakam calls for the

understanding of four, principles: Kesari, Dhesari, Madhyama and Bhagavathi.

Thaarakam calls for the investigation of five mudhras (ritualistic hand

gestures) and after realising their spiritual insignificance, concentrate on

Sath-Chith-Aanandha and merge the mind in the bliss of that experience.

A pictorial example expression of Thaarakam. Till the child in the womb is

four months and nine days old, the foetus is just a round mass of jelly. Then a

force of vibration enters the embryo. That is the Brahman principle. That is the

Praana-Thathva (Life Principle). From that moment the child in the womb starts

moving. Simultaneously the Brahman Principle enters the foetus. The combination

of the two in the body is Thaarakam. This is one of the secret doctrines of

Vedhaantha.

Saankhya envisages twenty five entities made up of the five sense organs,

the five sheaths, the five life-breaths, the five elements, the mind, the body,

the intellect, the inner motivator and the individual soul. This system of yoga

calls, for an enquiry into the reality of each of these entities leading to the

discovery that the Reality, Sath-Chith-Aanandha, is beyond all these and to

recognise one's identity with this transcendental Aathma. This calls for an

exploring of both the external world and the internal world of mind and spirit.

Amanaskam means the realisation that the entire universe is nothing but

Brahman, which is the only Reality. When there is this realisation of Brahman

the One - even the mind ceases to exist. It is only the operations of the mind

that result in the perception of diversity in the Universe. When oneness is

experienced, there is no mind at all. All is Brahman in that state of

consciousness. There is room only for Prema (Love) in this state.

Unless you brighten your vision with Love, you cannot see the Truth. Love

helps you to see God in everyone and everywhere. The Jagath (the Universe) is

not false, it is not a trap; it is the splendour of God, His reflection. It is

His own substance, manifesting as multiplicity, as latent or potent energy or

matter. You must realise that whatever scriptures one may master or

whatever power and wealth one many acquire, without love one cannot achieve

liberation. Turn your vision inward. It is when you look inward thatyou will

recognise your true form. You should realise what is most precious within you.

The three processes of Thaarakam, Saankhya and Amanaskam are extremely precious

spiritual gems. They are within you, but you are not aware of their existence,

because you have not related yourself to the owner, the Master within you. That

owner is the Paramaathma (the Supreme self).

The Jagath has to be used to instruct you on the glory and the power of God.

There are four stages in the journey towards this goal; each one is called a

loka, a region which you reach.

The first is A-vidhya loka (the region of ignorance and delusion) from which

you start, prompted by the chain of grief and pain it inflicts on you. The

second is the Vidhyaloka, where you penetrate into the intellectual plane and

are able to distinguish between the true and false, the kernel and the husk.

The third is the Aanandhaloka, where you are immersed in bliss, at the glimpse

of the eternal source of power and peace. And, lastly, you have the Go-loka,

where the Go-paala reigns, and all the go's (jeevas, sparks from the Divine),

waves of the ocean of love are one in ecstasy and enlightenment.

Unless you have love, you cannot claim kinship with the votaries of God;

mere ritualistic exactitude or pompous adoration, or loud acciamation will not

entitle you to enter the portals of Go-loka. Love is the bridge which helps

passage from birth to death to deathlessness, from death to birthlessness. When

you rise from the jeeva-sense to the Dheva-sense (human-ness to God-ness), then,

there is no more birth or death.

 

What exactly is the aim and purpose of all the sastras, the Bhaagavatam, the

Puraanas, these discourses and the harikathas? It is to tell human the truth

about himself. That is not the desire of the Sages who wrote down these annals

and their own experiences. You know only the present and what is happening

before your eyes. You do not know that the present is related to the past and

is preparing the course for the future.

Sparks emanating from fire are neither different from it, nor identical with

it. So, too the jeeva (individualised being) is neither different from Brahman,

nor identical with it. Jeeva and Brahman become identical only when

liberation is achieved. Until the sea is reached, the river remains as river.

It has a different name and a distinct form. So too, the jeeva so long as it is

involved with the physical case, the senses, the mind and the instruments of

consciousness, it does not merge in God. It remains apart. The Aathma is

ever self-contained, self-sufficient. The material world exists on account of

the other. The Aathma is the basic Unity which assumes the appearance of

diversity, the world. Its immanence is the unifying Truth, evident as the

Divine in all beings. The Aathma illumines all objects; it needs no other

source of illumination to shine. So the Aathma is self-luminous. It shines in

all; you have only to open your eyes and know it. It is the seer of the

Universe. For the Aathma, the entire Cosmos is an object that is seen. It is

the duty of every one to live in the awareness of this Truth.

 

Do not derive contentment simply adoring God's pictures and images, and

reading or reciting hymns or songs of praise. Do not cage God in a

picture-frame; do not confine Him in an idol. He is all forms. His is all

names. He is the Reality of all beings.

Be with others; in others; for others. Be with all, for all, in all. But,

nevertheless, be unattached, be the unfailing source of Love. Therein lies

success in spiritual endeavour, the triumph of spiritual discipline. Thus

is Swami in you manifested; thus is the world fostered; Swami within; thus is

the heart purified.

 

However, there are questions raised. Of what relation is the spirit and its

glory with society and its tangles and trickeries? Spiritual endeavour must aim

at individual illumination, social betterment and the divinisation of the human

community. While in society, the divinity inherent in human can blossom more

quickly, more widely, more fragrantly. Society is not another concrete

composite collective body. It is the expansion and expression of the Divine in

each of its components, denotable and enjoyable as One. Society is the

awareness of this cognisible Divinity. So, the one should not flee from the

many; the individual is not harmed by society. One should rather see the many

in a new light - the light which reveals that society is but God, who activates

and prompts the composite whole. All human beings are kith and kin, one family,

one aspiration, one attempt at one acquisition. They are all equally Divine,

all form the Universal Body of the One God.

Society does not happen when people gather by chance, or get together with

no common goal of good. The many-faceted skills and intelligences that are

contributed by the many must flow pure and clear, untarnished by egoistic

desires along the channel of the spirit; then, they will feed the roots of

truth and goodness; they will ensure peace, for, all ideas, of high and low

will disappear. This is the criterion for a stable society; not, mere numbers.

Understand the Aathma or God which is your core; that will establish

Shaanthi in you and you can share that Shaanthi with others. Society is the

reflection of the God whose nature is Aanandha. Adore society as the Divine

Body; that is the Truth, the eternal Vision. You are a guru unto yourself.

All potencies are within you. You have to feel at all times your inherent

divinity, which is also present in everyone.

You may ask whether you can ever acquire the powers possessed by Swami. That

power is latent in you. But you are not aware of it. You want to experience

bliss. If you truly follow Swami you will discover that bliss within you and

all around you, wherever you go. You cannot find that bliss in the physical

world. It is wholly within you. Consider yourself as Brahman (Divine) at all

times and in all situations. You will thereby become one with the Divine.When

you help or feed someone you must feel that the Divine in you is feeding the

Divine in others. The truth is you are part of the Samashti (collective).

This collective is a part of Srishti (creation). Beyond creation is Pushti (the

cosmic energy). Transcending that energy is Parameshtthi (the Supreme Omni

Self).

How do you realise the presence of the Divine within you?

 

Shankaraachaarya once poured out his heart in prayer, to have three errors

pardoned by God. "Lord", he said, "Knowing that you are beyond the intellect

and even beyond imagination, I am committing the error of meditating on you.

Knowing that you are indescribable by word, I am trying to describe your glory.

Knowing that you are everywhere and I have been preaching so, yet I have come on

pilgrimage to Kasi. My action belies my speech." Beware of this great error that

is prevalent - saying one thing and endeavouring to achieve the opposite.

The supremest result of spiritual effort is "beyond the reach of speech,

thought and imagination," as the Vedhas declare. The Vedhas use two words to

indicate that goal: Nithya and Swaagatha. Nithya means that which undergoes no

change, in the past, present and future. Swaagatha means that which, from one

unchanging position, illumines the awareness (jnaana prakaash) for all from

everywhere. The Sun spreads its splendour in all directions. The Aathma,

likewise, awakens all by the light of wisdom. The Sun has two properties:

light and heat. The Aathma too can be viewed in two aspects: Swaruupa and

Swabhaava - its "It-ness" and "the effect of Its Itness." The innate truth or

Swaruupa is known as dharmi and its effect or quality or Swabhaava is known as

dharma. When one is aware of the dharma, person can be said to have attained

the the transformation resulting from the knowledge of the Aathma Swabhaava or

dharma.

The Swaruupa of the Aathma is Anu or Atomic. This subtlest Anu, Aathma, is

in all things and its quality is therefore evident everywhere. It occupies all,

but it cannot be occupied by any other. The Aathma-principle, the

Brahman-principle, is immanent in all things in the Universe, but nothing can

penetrate it.

There is nothing in the Universe devoid of this Anu force. This quality of

the Anu is cognisable inall things as the dharma. The human body too is no

exception to this. The Atomic or Anu is immanent in it and so, we are the

embodiments of Aathma, of Aathmic energy. (Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai

Speaks. Vol. 11. "Raso vai sah," Chapter 31 and "Society, the Reality,"

Chapter 33; Sathya Sai Speaks. Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 15. "Awake! arise!"

Chapter 35; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 29. "Seek the guru within you," Chapter 30

and "The message of Vedhaantha," Chapter 31).

Namaste - Reet