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Those who want to become one with Parama Puruśa must be free from spatial, temporal and personal bondages. But in the physical sphere the spatial factor shall exist; in the psychic sphere also there will remain some bondage; but in the spiritual sphere it is quite possible to remove all bondages.
This expressed world is relative. One aspiring to be established in the Absolute must go beyond the scope of relativity. But the question is – how to do that?
While doing sádhaná, the mind frequently runs after external things. It is very difficult to concentrate the mind, which is by nature restless, on a certain object or idea. Why is the mind fixed on a particular point in sádhaná? Because that point is the veritable link between the relative world and the Absolute; the point exists where the relative world ends and the Absolute begins. This point is representative of the Cosmic Entity. Once this point is controlled, the attainment of the highest state of spirituality becomes easy. To control this point means to be one with Paramátmá.
Therefore to come out from the scope of the relative world, one must concentrate on this point. One will surely continue to suffer in the sorrows and miseries of the relative world till one’s mind becomes one-pointed.
Abhedajiṋána(1)
What are the criteria of relativity? Wherever there are svajátiiya, vijátiiya and svagata bheda (intra-specific, inter-specific and intra-structural differences), we shall call that entity relative. The moment these differences are removed, the relative entity merges into the Absolute.
Vijátiiya: Suppose in an orchard there are various kinds of tree, such as mango trees, jám trees, jackfruit trees, etc. Though all are trees, the different trees are vijátiiya.
Svajátiiya: Suppose someone has gone to a garden of mango trees. He will see there are many varieties of mango hanging from the branches of various trees. (There are varieties of mango, such as leḿŕá, fazli, Bombái, begunphuli, etc.) Though all are mangoes, difference in variety is svajátiiya.
Svagata: When one looks at a mango tree, one will see that in the mango tree itself there are branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. The tree is one, but even the one tree contains many parts, which are svagata.
Whenever there are the above-mentioned differences, there is the relative world, and when the differences are no more, there is sámarasya (equipoise). Sámarasya may be established in the psychic and spiritual spheres but never in the physical sphere.
Daeshika Vyavadhána Vilopa(2)
Sámarasya may be established in the psychic sphere if one constantly takes the ideation of one dhyeya [object of ideation]. In that case one’s mind comes in close proximity to the Cosmic Mind, and gradually with the covering of the inner gaps the two minds will become one. The spatial gap between the two minds has been removed, and at once the unit mind will go to the absolute world from the relative world.
This removal of the spatial gap in the psychic sphere depends solely upon the degree of keenness of one’s desire to realize Paramátmá. To realize that Parama Puruśa, one need not look for the help of external objects – name and fame, wealth and power, etc. None of these can establish anybody in the spiritual stance. The only thing essential is one’s unshaken faith in one’s goal, and persistent efforts. That will please Parama Puruśa so much that He will most graciously lift the veil of Máyá from the jiiva [unit being] and make him or her free. Bhakti, or devotion, is the thing that counts in the spiritual sphere.
Demonstration
[Bábá(3) touched the various cakras of a sádhaka (spiritual practitioner) and asked him whom he was seeing in each of his cakras. The sádhaka replied that in every cakra he was seeing only Bábá. When the kuńd́alinii shakti (latent divine force) reached the anáhata cakra (fourth psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus, located at the mid-point of the chest), the sádhaka lost his outward consciousness. He could not sit erect any longer. Even then Bábá went on saying, “Let the eyes not see anything external; let the ears not hear anything; let the nose not smell anything; let the tongue taste only parama rasa (divine taste); let the skin feel only the divine touch.” By now the sádhaka had lost all his external activity; even his sensory organs had lost their powers. This physical world of ours lost its meaning and existence altogether to the sádhaka. He was then a man of a different world.]
The ordinary human mind, bound by the shackles of ripus (enemies) and páshas (fetters) is drawn easily to the external world; a person’s sensory and motor organs tempt the person to enjoy crude physicality, but they cannot help in spiritual realization. The real destination of human beings – the world of supreme beatitude – remains unknown to them. To reach there, the mind must be free from the influence of the indriyas;(4) it must proceed towards the world of átmá [soul]. These very sense organs are the obstructions between the mind and the átmá.
That is why when sádhakas land in the world of spirituality beyond the scope of the sense organs, of course by the grace of guru or Brahma, they enjoy great bliss. Here there is no spatial gap between sádhaka and Paramátmá, between bhakta and Bhagaván – they belong to the same world. There of course will be temporal and personal gaps. When these also are removed, one attains nirvikalpa samádhi. One need not depend upon external things to attain that stance; one is only required to develop kevalá bháva [the feeling that only the Supreme Entity exists], and those who have it are really fortunate. They may be so-called untouchables and low-bred, but still, they are the fittest recipients for God’s grace. Those who have not this love for God are wretched fellows, worse than animals, though they may be high-caste.
Cańd́alo’pi dvijahshreśt́hah haribhaktiparáyanah;
Haribhaktivihiinashca vipro’pi shvapacádhamah.
[Even a cańd́ala (lowest caste), if blessed with love for the Lord, is far better than a high-born Brahman. A high-born Vipra, a Brahman, if devoid of love for the Lord, is worse than a low-born person.]
Footnotes
(1) Integral knowledge, “the knowledge that comes from transcending bhedas, or differences”. –Eds.
(2) “The obliteration of the spatial gap” (between the unit mind and the Cosmic Mind). –Eds.
(3) An affectionate name for the author, used by the author’s disciples. –Eds.
(4) An indriya is a sensory or motor organ, together with its respective nerves, nerve fluid and site in the brain. –Eds.