“Macro-propensitive equipoise” is only used in reference to the Macrocosm and not the microcosm. Propensities are the pabulum of the human mind, they are its expressed sentiments. The resultant of these vrttis, or expressed sentiments, is the saḿskára of the mind concerned. Saḿskáras have a momentum whose inherent force causes the unit body to propel to the force of momentum activating therein. This reactive momentum is the causal factor for all the later consequences which the unit body will have to undergo. One must always be careful to form pious momenta. But one must also be careful, while reaping the consequences of past reactions, that in this duration no further reactive momenta be created.

The Three Aspects of Propensity

Resultant propensity consists of three aspects – physical [desire], psychic urge and spiritual [longing]. The last one causes neither a good nor a bad reaction; here is a balanced state. The propensity created by psychic urge can be either elevating or degenerating. If the tendency herein will be directed towards subtler states, the propensity will be elevating, and if directed towards cruder states, it is degenerating.

The propensitive equipoise is a characteristic only of the Macrocosmic Entity, since in It lies everything, nothing is beyond or external to It. Hence it remains unassailed. But microcosms have an external world and get assailed therefrom due to incoming vibrations, to have an unbalanced state.

Propensities are the pabulum of the unit mind, it cannot exist in the absence of these propensities. The microcosmic psychic body gets reflections from external physicality and thus from propensities as its pabulum. Thus an internal projection of the physical world is the mental pabulum. Nothing is external to the Macrocosm, everything is within it, and so the Macrocosm needs no pabulum. This is the fundamental difference between microcosm and Macrocosm. In addition, whatever the Macrocosm creates, it is new, while [the creations] of the microcosm are mere reflections of the external physicality. Truly speaking, therefore, propensities of the Macrocosm cannot be termed as propensities, but as saḿkalpa. The entire Cosmos is His saḿkalpa.

There is a perpetual equilibrium in the Macro-propensitive equipoise, though activation is a continuous event, comprising within all the three phases. The vibrations of the Macrocosmic psychic body cause creation, the acoustic root of which is a. Due to creation or variegations in creations, there is clash and cohesion, which results in dissociation and association of words, and vyaiṋjanas⁽¹⁾ are formed. The consonants of Latin are different from these vyaiṋjanas.

The first letter created in the Macrocosmic body during the formation of vyaiṋjanas is ka; this ka is the acoustic root. This universe has thus been created with acoustic root ka. To serve the ka-deva means to serve the entire manifestation of the Cosmos. That is why they who serve and look after that which has manifested in the Cosmos are known as kápálika.

Creation and Emergence of Oṋḿkára

The vibrations of the Macrocosmic psychic entity create this Cosmos, and this is accomplished with the help of the Creative Principle.

During the operation of the Creative Principle, the bodhicitta is formed in the first phase. The metamorphosis of svara [vowel] into vyaiṋjana is due to the operation of the Creative Principle. When the Creative Principle reflects in the Supreme Self, there is a light which is termed as effulgence. This effulgence is an event both in the microcosm and the Macrocosm. In the microcosm this is personal effulgence, and in the Cosmos it is Cosmic effulgence, or Brahmajyoti, which is omnipresent. When the spiritual aspirant is able to visualize this effulgence, he or she visualizes the universe as Cosmic effulgence.

When the Creative Principle creates a stir in the Transcendental Entity, sound is also created, and this sound is oṋḿkára. In Buddhist Tantra this has been termed as prabhá svara shúnyatá. It is said to be shúnya, or vacuum, because herein exists no physicality, and ipso facto, psychic expression cannot operate, and the only entity is spirituality. That is why Shankaracharya said that the Shúnya of Buddha is the same as Brahma [Supreme Consciousness].

Non-Propensitive Desideratum the Goal

When the microcosm moves towards the external world with the help of the Creative Principle, it is said to be pravrtti, and when the trend is from physical to psychic and from psychic to spiritual it is said to be nivrtti; and when there is a balance it is saḿvrtti-bodhicitta, which cannot be the goal of the microcosm. The Supreme Desideratum is the goal of the microcosm.

Microcosmic tendency is propelled either by pravrtti or nivrtti, it cannot be saḿvrtti, since dynamism is inherent in the microcosmic entity. The Vedas, therefore, ask human beings to move on and on, because dynamism is life. To one who is engrossed in spiritual darkness, it is Kali Yuga; to one who has awakened and desires to get up, it is Dvápara Yuga; to one who has gotten up it is Tretá; and to one who has marched on the spiritual path it is Satya Yuga. Dynamism being inherent in human nature, saḿvrtti is not possible. One will have to adopt the path of pravrtti or nivrtti.

The path of nivrtti is non-propensitive, and its last point is the Non-Propensitive Desideratum, which is the supreme goal of humanity. To achieve this, one has to withdraw the mind to one point,⁽²⁾ and then the pointed “I” shall be merged into the Cosmic ocean which is the desideratum. When the merger has been accomplished, there is no need of any help from the Creative Principle. The effulgence expressing in the bodhicitta does not exist either. This is the state of Niśkala Brahma. Everything has been merged into It, which is the Supreme Desideratum. He is a Supreme Progenitor and we are His progeny. He is the Supreme Desideratum.

Footnotes

(1) Vyaiṋjana is normally translated “consonant”, but here the author makes a distinction. –Eds.

(2) A few words which may have been poorly transcribed or translated in the original newspaper publication of this discourse omitted here. –Eds.