A Vision
Once upon a time, before history began, there was neither night nor day, being or non-being. Yet everything that was, is and ever shall be was present in primal form, like the essence in the seed.
Sages and philosophers have tried over the millennia to explain the origins of life and existence, trying to put into words that which cannot really be expressed. That which is beyond words, that which is unknown. Unknown because of the limitations of our minds.
From time immemorial this energy Shakti that was present, powerful and more powerful than our limited minds can possibly imagine, has been and forever will be.
Yet, at the ‘Beginning’ when movement began towards life, as we know it, there was an awakening! Some say in the Beginning was the word and that word was an expression of the Divine/God; was Divine, was God.
What was ’That’ power? What was this Energy? Was it benign? Did it have consciousness? We could say that IT had within IT a Divine Law, which pre-determined how it would manifest itself under the many different conditions that could occur.
This energy could be described as atomic; many particles suspended in Space (like dust) each with its neutrons/electrons/protons etc circled around. This Space supporting and enlivening all that is, has within it, its own cosmic vibratory force. What might appear empty is actually full.
This pure Divine Energycould beseen as THAT which “lay sleeping”.
The act of waking and then making ‘Its’ first sound; breathing ‘It’s’ first breath; making ‘Its’ first movement; was akin to nuclear fission, like the explosion of an atomic bomb. In fact, there would not have been not one but many simultaneous explosions, which together formed ‘the Big Bang’. After this would have come a series of reverberations as the whole cosmos became affected or infected with movement. These reverberations are still occurring ‘out there’ in the vast beyond!
“This is the Truth: as from a fire a flame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the creator an infinity of beings have life and to Him return again. But the spirit of life above form, never born but within all, outside all is in radiance above life and mind and beyond this creation’sCreator. From Him comes all life and mind and the senses of all life. From Him comes space and light, air and fire and water and this earth that holds us all”.
Mundaka Upanishad.
Once the atoms split, they began to react on one another in various ways because of the different elements and levels of vibration that were drawn into close proximity. Great masses of helium gases were formed and reactions began within them, some eventually expanding and bursting forth, sending debris way out into space. Others withdrew into themselves forming ‘black holes’. Some of the ‘debris’ was hot molten ‘metal’ forming hard crusts around as they cooled.
Stars and planets were ‘born’. The Cosmos is full of vibrations that attract or repulse.
Every particle, every element, everything which is ever-present has its own consciousness and its own awakening. Yet it is part of that ONE Divine Consciousness. Everything in the vastness of this cosmos is organic, is living. All is waiting for the right time and environment to burst forth into further movement and life, just as a seed bursts into life when the moment is right.
This creation exists in pure infinite consciousness, which is the reality of all thoughts and concepts, which together form the subtle body of the infinite consciousness. Nothing exists but THAT – the Cosmic Spirit.
The pure experience of awareness that arises in that body of consciousness is known as this creation.
Some say there are TWO, consciousness and the power of THAT consciousness but what is the power if it has no consciousness?
We have a Causeless Cause of creation, One Divine energy that lives and expresses itself in many forms, many ways.
When the conditions were right, life, as we know it evolved. We knew not from whence we came or how we came to be, and we have spent much time trying to fathom this out.
How is it? Why is it we have this power of consciousness within us? How is it and why is it that we can think and act the way we do? It is because we are part of That One Divine consciousness. Deep inside we all have knowledge
Of Divine Laws. We need to uncover this area of knowledge through meditation. For innate in our nature to know the eternal truth just as we have
the ability to know what is right and what is wrong. It is ignorance of our true nature that leads us astray.
Is it not a great wonder just how creatures developed to be able to live in certain climates and conditions and to cleverly adapt!
Creation is awe-inspiring and that is why wo/man has always worshipped THAT power which is behind and within creation, the ground of all that is..
Look at us. We are told that we are the microcosm within the macrocosm. What an awakening as we burst forth into the world from our Mother’s womb. What an awakening – from beyond that dreamless sleep. On this simple level we wake, we become conscious and with the power of that consciousness we move. If we wake from a sleep that was beyond the dreamless state, we wake alive with the knowledge of who we are and why we are.
We are an essential part of this Divine Organic Whole. We have a need to work hand in hand with all that is, for the process of life to continue within us and within the world around us. Every action has its reaction; action in thought, word and deed.
The power of the Divine dwells upon this earth as the Godhead and within man and woman as the in-dwelling Spirit. At some point in our lives we awake to the fact that we are more than this body, this mind. There is a driving force beyond, which watches and waits till we realize that, the spirit of the Cosmos is the Spirit within us. They are one and the same. Atman and Brahman are one.
‘God formed man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul’.
Genesis ch.1 v.7
As we awoke, became, began to see and to live, we lost sight from whence we came! Veils of ignorance seem to surround us until through effort and understanding we begin to see that there is more to life than this material world. We begin to ask again those questions that have been forever asked by wo/man.
We are not far removed from our source; realization dawns and we know we are closer than the breath we breathe. We might say that uncovering this knowledge is like nuclear fusion!
Let us consider the idea that upon waking the ONE (Brahman) becomes the TWO Shiva and Shakti, or Purusha and Prakriti! We have consciousness and the power of that consciousness (or the manifestation of that consciousness).
We then have within us this consciousness and power. The power reverberates through our bodies and the Cosmos as sound waves. If we could listen to the sound of the Cosmos, we would hear a ‘resplendent humming’, like ‘angels singing’, the Pranava OM. If we could hear our bodies, they would be like an orchestra playing. Waves of energy, which are the result of that ONE first sound, are the creation and power of life. All life is sound in vibration, which moves out from the Central hub, which is the Divine.
It is this energy, this power, these vibrations that hold all that is, manifest and unmanifest in its place in the order of things.
Let us think of ourselves. We are living, breathing, moving. We do these things in Space, the space we have spoken about as being full of Divine consciousness and power. IT is ever-present.
The physical body is composed of gross elements (ether, air, fire, water, earth), which are formed by a five-fold compound of their subtle elements (sound, touch, form, flavor, odour) and cosmic vibrations (lam, vam, ram, yam, ham). It is also influenced by the senses (hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting, smelling). Beyond these and working with them are Manas (the recording faculty which receives impressions, gathered by the senses from the external world. Thought waves are raised in the mind but the mind is not the seer, only the instrument of knowledge). Buddhi is the discriminating, intuitive and reasoning faculty, which classifies the impressions and reacts to them. Finally Ahamkara is self-consciousness, which when we identify with the body; stores impressions and claims them as personal, individual knowledge. It is essentially the cause of all our miseries, because of its constant (I)dentification with the thought waves. Most of the time it is a false identification). Some say that these three, (Mind, Buddhi and Ahamkara), form the soul.
“Soul and Spirit are clearly different from each other, but the difference isn’t one that is familiar to the modern mind. In ancient thought, spirit is a Divine level and is often specifically referred to as the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote, “God is Spirit.” Soul is rather more complex. The Soul is what is more distinctly ourselves. Everyone has a Soul and it comes from a higher level than the body, but in its present fallen state, it no longer looks inward and upward, but looks outward towards earthly things.”
These three colour our behavior and what we become in this life. They seem to dictate our reactions and attitudes. Introduction to the Gospel of Phillip.
We can change this pattern through the power of meditation. Then we will come to realise that we are pure Spirit and part of the Divine. Thereafter we can draw upon the Power of the Divine, the sound of OM and the power of discrimination that is inherent in all of us.
When the power of the Spirit moves within us like a fire that is burning bright, we begin to look and See, listen and Hear, touch and Feel. We begin to have some understanding, because the Light is now shining, shining brightly within and illuminating our consciousness.
This Light, Kalaa, the emanating ray that shot forth in the beginning, together with Nada, the sound of the One Divine Essence, they brought both life and form. This Light dispels the darkness of ignorance, showing us that we are immortal beings living in a physical body. The body born through the Karma of its previous lives is the vehicle of experience for the Atman (spirit).
When the objective universe is being perceived this/it is known as the waking state of consciousness. In this waking state wo/man finds the fullest activity in the body. This body through which we experience the external world is like a house in which we live. The inherent tendencies of the body are: birth, decay and death.
In the Vedas it says …
“At first was neither being nor non-being, there was not air nor sky beyond.
What was its wrapping? in whose protection? was water there, un-fathomable and deep. There was no death then, nor yet deathlessness, of night or day there was not any sign. The One breathed without breath, by its own impulse. Other than that was nothing else at all.
Darkness was there; all wrapped around by darkness and all was water indiscriminate. Then that which was hidden by the Void, that One, emerging, stirring, through power of ardour, came to be.
In the beginning Love arose, which was the primal germ cell of the mind. The seers searching in their hearts with wisdom discovered the connection of Being in Non-Being. A cross-wise line cut Being from Non-Being. What was described above it, what below? Bearers of seed there were and mighty forces thrust from below and forward move above. Who really knows? Who can presume to tell it? Whence was it born? Whence issued this creation? Even the Gods came after its emergence. Then who can tell from whence it came to be? That out of which creation has arisen, whether it held it firm or it did not. He who surveys it in the highest heaven, he surely knows or maybe he does not!”
Song of Creation…. Vedas.
The story continues for after involution (being born) comes evolution (our journey towards the Source)!
We have the question “Art thou That?” the questioning “That thou art?” and the realisation “Thou art That!”
Tat Twam Asi
Swami Satchidananda Ma
