The Role of Satan [a.k.a. 'Apara-Prakriti'] in God's Creation-Pt. 12

[Guest guest]

The Role of Satan [a.k.a. 'Apara-Prakriti'] in God's Creation-Part 12

 

(p.152) The duplexity of Satan as both subjective and objective accounts for the

whole of evil manifestations. An objective Satan, as an independent adversarial

force opposing Divinity, explains the origin of evil that cannot be relegated

solely to the individual or collective subjective ignorance of man. (p.153)

Satan has to be acknowledged as conjointly the objective evil in nature, and as

a power that can also work as the wrong subjective consciousness in man.

 

Perceiving the taintless

Spirit by transcending

the dualities of delusion

 

Recognizing the existence of Satan does not negate the conception of one God who

alone is the Alpha and Omega in the cosmos. In essence, in reality, there is

nothing but Spirit, the only Substance: ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new

Bliss. The evil of delusion exists only in form, not in the essence of the

Spirit. As long as there is creation, a coalescence of finite phenomena in the

Infinite Substance, formal delusion will produce the consciousness of a

conception of imperfection apart from the Absolute Inimitability.

 

In St. John 1:10-11 it is written: " He was in the world, and the world was made

by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received

him not. " [1] Spirit, the Prime Cause and Substance of creation, pervades the

creation It has made; but the world neither perceives nor understands this

Divine Inherence. " Made " does not mean created as man builds a house. Rather, as

water transforms itself into ice, so the Spirit, by the condensing power of

will, materialized Itself by cosmic delusion [maya] into a fabulous universe.

" He came unto his own, and his own received him not. " That is, having manifested

Itself as Its own creation, that creation did not " receive, " did not reflect,

its true Spirit Essence. The illusory dichotomy falsely defined matter as a

substance apart from Spirit, whereas nothing exists that is not Spirit,

everlastingly indivisible.

 

Spirit is perceived as the only Reality, the sole Eternal Substance, when one's

consciousness enters the deep 'samadhi' experience of divine union with Spirit.

After attaining this realization, one is then qualified to say assuredly that

there is neither a subjective nor objective Satan, but only the blissful Spirit.

However, while the incarnate soul views its existence as a part of the dualities

of creation, there must needs be acknowledgment that God and Satan are facts,

even if the latter exists only in a delusive, relative nonreality. If one is

dreaming, he cannot deny the resultant dream pain of the collision of his dream

head with a dream-conceived wall. While dreaming the delusion of the universe,

one cannot say that Satan or evil, or pain, or disease, and matter do not exist.

This transcendent overview sets apart one who awakens in Cosmic Consciousness.

(p.154) His soul rejoices in the repossession of its memory of wisdom: " Ah,

nothing exists but Pure Eternal Goodness--the one Immutable Spirit. "

 

While Jesus was striving to reach the final state of complete absorption in

Spirit--enacting the full drama of human consciousness to set a pattern for the

world--Satan began to tempt him and try to dissuade him from God through the

accumulated memory of subjective and objective evil born of delusive mortal

habits of incarnations of short-lived pleasures from contact with finite sensory

objects.

 

Jesus did not deny this Evil Force. His intuitive knowledge recognized this

power as a conscious Satan who lured him with the patterns of evil arrayed side

by side with the divine patterns of God. Addressing this objectified Force,

Jesus destroyed its binding effect with the power of wisdom in his command: " Get

thee behind me, Satan " --which is to say: " Let delusion be left behind my soul

racing toward Spirit. "

 

It is folly to deny subjective or objective evil while one is still grappling

with delusion. The urgent need is to be watchful and protect oneself from the

destructive patterns of evil everywhere, as temptations within and as

imperfection and strife in Nature. One should never think it possible to best

Satan at his own game. Just when one feels sure of invulnerability, the devil

tricks his opponent with some ruse and the challenger loses. It is better not to

enter into sport with his temptations. There are plenty of entertaining good

games in God's playing fields in which to test one's mettle and prove oneself a

worthy winner. One should rally the patterns of the Christ

Consciousness-inspired goodness in one's conscience and reason, and in the

presence of God as the harmony and beauty in all Nature. When the consciousness

of goodness is strengthened, its light dispels the perilous darkness of Satan's

evil influence.

 

The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within

You) Volume 1, Discourse 7, pg. 152-154

Paramahansa Yogananda

Printed in the United States of America 1434-J881

ISBN-13:978-0-87612-557-1

ISBN-10:0-87612-557-7

 

Note:

 

[1] Commented on in Discourse 1.