T.S. Eliot said,
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
Glossary:
samadhi: Samadhi is a state of profound and utterly absorptive contemplation of the Absolute that is undisturbed by desire, anger, or any other ego-generated thought or emotion. It is a state of joyful calm, or even of rapture and beatitude, in which one maintains one’s full mental alertness and acuity.
atmaroop: the form of Atma; that which is seen is only the glamour of Atma; it is atma in and of itself.
satsang the company of God or his devotees, association with people of good character, a gathering of like-minded people; company with the goodly and godly; association with Truth;
tamas, tamoguna Hin., San. m. the quality of darkness, gloom and inertia – sleep, passivity, idleness, dullness, stubbornness, confusion, delusion, lack of discrimination, the inability to distinguish between right and wrong or falsehood and truth, having little interest or ambition; lust, fear, greed. Tamas is born of ignorance, yet darkness is not necessarily ignorance – it may yet be the darkness that exposes the light.
sattva Hin. m. sattva San. n. sattvoguna (sattva+guna) San. m. one of the three constituents (guna) of nature (prakriti) – the quality of light, the illuminating aspect that reveals all manifestation. It is expressed as harmony, equilibrium, purity, goodness, virtue, honesty, nobility, forgiveness, compassion, charity, wisdom, happiness.
rajas, rajoguna San. m. the activating quality (guna) of nature that allows the other two constituents to manifest themselves, and therefore this quality is associated with the creator, Brahma. It covers desire and ambition, attachment, passion, righteous indignation, pride, anger and envy.
vasana: tendencies or desires
sankalpa Hin. sankalpa San. m. a vow; will, a definite intention, resolve, plan.
sankalpa: ideation; modification of chitta or consciousness; idea, resolve, volition (will);
sankalpa – mental conclusions, intentions, material desires Bg 6.24
purusha – the dweller in the citadel of the body’, ‘he who fills the body of man’ – man, the self, the individual person. By implication, purusha is used as a name for God within, the eternal witness – Consciousness, the Self, the atman (V. 14, 406). ‘You are all limbs of that one body, the purusha, who is far more expansive than this universe, which is but a fraction of his physical manifestation.’ The whole of creation is the cosmic body of God, the supreme Person, who is expressed through the medium of each created object, thus having uncountable (‘thousands’) of heads, eyes and limbs. Purusha is also the masculine principle; in one sense, God alone is purusha and all of creation is female (prakriti); ‘manhood comes with the rejection of the dual’.
Question 132: Sir, what is that Brahman in which the trio of the seer-seeing-sight has arisen ?
Answer: Ramji, the power that is underlying the seer, seeing and the sight and is devoid of these states, is Brahman. It is pure consciousness and non-ideative. When you are firmly established in it and achieve samadhi, then only you will visualise the universe as an aspect of Atma (Atmaroop). He who is firm in this state is not disturbed by joy and sorrow, or favourable and unfavourable objects in the world. He is always desireless and free from love and hate and his concentration is always on Atma. Chitta (individual consciousness) is experienced owing to non-contemplation and illusion, and it is dissolved on contemplation. Therefore, contemplate and practise Atma constantly so that you are relieved of all sufferings. Abandon all ideations arising in your consciousness, and practise to abide in the Self.
Ramji, also listen about how to achieve the various states of knowledge. The forces of the world are always directed to sensual pleasures and material gratification. Scriptures and holy company are the only boat to cross the ocean of the universe. It is only when an individual continuously remains in satsang (holy association with the goodly and godly) and reflects upon the holy scriptures that the power of discrimination is developed in him and it enables him to realise what is right to do and what must be renounced. Discrimination leads to detachment; and with the force of detachment comes the renunciation of vicious desires, and then the urge for Atma is promoted. When this longing becomes firm, that marks attainment of the first phase or state of knowledge. Thereafter other states are attained gradually with practice.
Ramji, you have known what is worth knowing. Now it matters little whether the body remains with you or not. You are of the nature of knowledge, established in yourself, self-illumined universally and perennially. You are immortal and beyond change. Anything other than your true self is mortal. These things are created at times and then they disappear. You are immortal even if your body dies. The universe is your shadow; therefore, abandon all desires. All objects are your aspects only. Atma, that is your true form, is free from ignorance, and the universe is experienced because of the three qualities of nature — sattva, rajas and tamas (serene, passionate and slothful). When desire in your consciousness vanishes, the universe with the three qualities (gunas) and the actions (karma) also disappears. Therefore, with the help of contemplation (that is, enquiry into the Atma) strive to obtain relief from vasana (desires). A thing is an aspect of what it has been created from. The universe is a creation of Brahman, hence it is an aspect of Brahman (the Universe is the form of Brahman). When you realise the Absolute (Brahman), your illusion of the universe will vanish.
Ramji, Atma is pure consciousness, without physical bodies; and that is your true self. Greed, attachment, and so forth, do not exist in you. You are the Absolute (the Primal or First Form of Brahman) without any faults and vices. Joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, greed and attachment, etc., are all unreal. Liberate yourself from the web of sankalpa (ideation, will, intentions) with the force of contemplation. You are the indivisible Atma. Atma does not die with the death of the body. Atma, and not the body, is the inherent divinity within you. Joys and sorrows pertain to the body and the senses; they do not exist in Atma. It is an unwise person who has body-ego due to ignorance, and experiences joy and sorrow. The bond between Atma and body is experienced because of the ideation and desires; it is illusory. With no doubts in your mind, understand the universe as illusory, and endeavour for its dissolution so that your mind becomes desireless and pure.
Ramji, in the beginning this mind-like Brahma was created and that has spread the web of the universe. In truth, it is Atma only established in itself, because the mind does not have existence of its own. The mind too is an aspect of Atma. It shows that the universe exists in the consciousness or mind, and is ideational only. As ideation disappears, consciousness, too, is annihilated; and when the individual consciousness is destroyed, where does the world stay? Atma only exists in itself.
This unusual astronaut photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting Sun. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols (particles like dust and pollution) are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. These clouds typically occur at high latitudes of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and high altitudes (76-85 kilometers, near the boundary between the mesosphere and thermosphere atmospheric layers).
Hamsa Gayatri
Om Hamsaaya Vidmahe
Paramahamsaya Dheemahi
Tanno Hamsa Prachodayat
“May we realise Hamsa that is our own Self as the Swan. Let us meditate on that Paramahamsa, the Supreme Self. May Hamsa illumine us.”