The following article is part of the 'Revealing Characteristics of Cosnciousness Itself' series of articles that were originally published in 'Sri-Sanai' (Saccidananda Society, Kolkata's quarterly journal), and feature the spiritual teachings of Sri Sri Babathakur. Reality of duality, which is manifested eternal part of the reality of non-duality, is the source of universal creation of world appearance of diversified names and forms. All kinds of duality, plurality and relativity have made the entire creation enriched, enjoyable to the individual lives of all categories from the gross to the subtlemost. Reality of duality extends from the grossmost creation to the subtlemost one. That is to say, all the visible forms of all kinds with their innumerable varieties have specific characteristics of their own. Such characteristics have their charming qualities like truth, reality, beauty, goodness, attraction which have their origin in the reality of non-duality. Origin of everything always remains obscured in the background. Hence characteristics of manifesting varieties of consciousness of both aspects, the reality of duality and non-duality, are not always intelligible and accessible, though those are however experienced in the inner nature and subtler in the central nature. Each form has a name of its own by which it is used. Name is sound/prana which originates in vak (speech). Bhava (idea) of all kinds is subtler which originates in consciousness. Form pertains to outer nature, name to inner nature and idea to central nature. Everything of the outer nature is sensual, of the inner nature is mental and of the central nature is intellectual. The threefold nature of life—outer, inner and central—is the object of experience pertaining to reality of duality.
Further
clarification of the subject is needed.
Hence it is stated that the threefold nature of life is verily threefold
aspect, of which the first two that is the outer and inner ones are both
universal and individual; while the third one, the central one, is always universal.
Individual is always material and the universal is always spiritual and divine.
Therefore form, name and idea—the first three aspects—from a different
viewpoint are prakriti, swabhava and Swabodha respectively. Of the three aspects the first two are both
universal and individual and the third one is always universal.
The
individual is inseparable part of the universal one. Individual owes all its
beings and becomings to the universal one. Differently expressed, the universal
one willingly manifests into the individual life in order to transform the
individual one to universal one in and through the integral process of
evolution. Both the individual nature and universal nature have one and the
same origin—with the reality of non-duality. The only difference that appears
in their nature is quantitative and not qualitative. That means the power and
knowledge of the individual are finite, conditioned and limited; while those of
the universal are infinite by nature i.e., unlimited and immeasurable. Individual
life has its power and knowledge greatly attached to the gross nature of life
with the thought and idea of objective pursuits and their enjoyment as well. It
cannot think of anything else apart from the same. Its all aims and purposes of
life are worldly prosperity and sensual enjoyment which are entirely
materialistic. Its spiritual approach cannot easily develop until and unless it’s
matter-fed worldly life or material life gets bored and digustful. Then and
then only it aspires to get rid of that and intensely needs help from others of
right experience. The more it feels for that, the more it grows dispassionate
and indifferent to the worldly ways of life which is the characteristic of
power-nature of life called avidya maya.
To
rise above the material concept of life and be well established in the
spiritual divine ways of life it gets the right help with spiritual light from
spiritually experienced guide or master. He unfolds the spiritual science, vidya, to the aspirant seeker according
to his/her intensity of urge. The
individual seeker thereby gets devoted to the teachings of the master and
cultivates the spiritual science, vidya,
as is instructed or inculcated by the master.
The
characteristics of avidya are always
diversified and contradictory to one another which verily are experienced to be
the reality of duality. Nature of reality of duality is always experienced by
the individual owing to the constitutional nature of avidya. Avidya-nature of
the individual seeker (life) gets thoroughly transformed into vidya-nature in and through the process
of evolution of the integral nature of the individual. All kinds of approach of
the individual nature towards the individual one get successful and fulfilled
not by avidya but by the evolutionary
process of vidya-nature. The
characteristics of vidya-nature are
totally opposite to those of avidya-nature.
For example—differences, inequality, diversity, plurality, duality etc. pertain
to avidya; while non-difference,
equality, evenness, unity, non-duality, identity etc. pertain to vidya.
As the avidya nature causes
the life of the individual to be more objective, materialistic and sensualist;
so the vidya nature causes the life
of the individual to be more subjective, spiritual, discriminative and
renunciative.
Vidya-nature makes life spiritually divine.
It constitutes the upper nature of swabhava
with the traits of predominating sattva wherein rajas and tamas
of lower nature remain subordinate or subservient. Rajas and tamas are predominant
in avidya-nature. That is why self-generated
lower nature is avidya and self-generated
upper nature is vidya. As the lower nature avidya is the cause of bondage and sufferings of life, so the upper
nature vidya is conducive to
liberation and balance of life. Vidya
par-excellence is Paravidya which is
the predominating nature of central aspect of life. The central aspect is the
abode of Kutastha Chaitanya, immutable or permanent Consciousness called
Self-Divine, Ishvara, Atman. It is also called Swabodhatma of shuddha sattva
(pure sattva) i.e., homogeneous by nature. Divine Self is always homogeneous by nature.
That is why the traits of rajas and tamas of trigunaprakriti or
lower nature have nothing to do in the shuddha sattvic (ever pure)
homogeneous nature of Swabodhatma
called Paka Ami. This Swabodhatma is ever non-dual Reality
permanently unified and identified with the transcendental nature which is
beyond all gunas and bhavas i.e., pairs of opposites, sense of
differences of duality. Hence it is
beyond the sense of in and out, subject-object, creator-creation, this or that
and not this and not that etc. Thus it
is said that it is the eternally non-dual One without a second, ever ‘at-one-ment’—‘All
Divine for All Time, as It Is’, symptomatizing as Paka Ami—I-Absolute.
Life
has got two parts. One is attributeful and the other one is attributeless. The former is spiritual and the latter is
supremely divine and beyond. The spiritual one is the combined form of subject
and object and the divine one is super–subject and beyond i.e., ever-Witness of
the former subjective and the objective ones. Life consists of fourfold nature
i.e., outer, inner, central and transcendental.
Outer nature constitutes the physical body with material elements
pertaining to outer prakriti which
characterizes avidya itself, inner
nature constitutes the spiritual body with the light of cidabhas pertaining to inner prakriti
which characterizes vidya itself and
the central nature constitutes the spiritual divine body with the light of Pure
Knowledge/Consciousness pertaining to central prakriti which characterizes Paravidya
itself. Transcendental nature is the eternal background of all of them which is
Self-Divine, ever-Witness of all the rest.
This is Paka Ami, the
I-Absolute.
Sri Sri Babathakur
to
be continued............
No comments:
Post a Comment