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The subject of today’s discourse is “The Grandeur of the Supreme Entity.” Here the Supreme Entity means the Supreme Cognitive Principle. Really speaking, this Cognitive Principle is the Supreme Entity and not the Operative Principle, because this Cognitive Principle is a transcendental entity, and the Operative Principle, or the Creative Principle is His [principle] functioning within His jurisdiction.
Everything functions within Him, nothing can function without Him. This universe is the creation of the Operative Principle within the jurisdiction, within the campus, of the Transcendental Entity, the Cognitive Principle. And when this Operative Principle creates something concrete, that is, where under Her influence Consciousness is transmuted into abstract or abstract is metamorphosed into the quinquelemental world, then that Operative Principle or that stage of the Operative Principle is called the Creative Principle. In Sanskrit, this Creative Principle is called Máyá, and the collection of the functional attributes of this Creative Principle is nature.
[So] the Creative Principle and nature function within the scope of Consciousness. Prakrti functions, Shakti functions, on the chest of Shiva.(1) Here Shakti is an innate principle. She can dance, She can function, only when She is permitted to do so by that Consciousness, Paramashiva. So the Supreme [Entity] means Paramashiva, that Supreme Cognition.
The Cognitive Principle in His role as the witnessing entity is witnessing the entire universe, both Macrocosm and microcosm. The Macrocosm is the psychic counterpart of the Supreme Cognition, and the microcosm is the direct psychic counterpart of unit cognition and indirect psychic counterpart of the Supreme Cognition. This quinquelemental universe is, as I just said, a metamorphosed form, a transmuted form, of the Macrocosm. I said it is the result of Macropsychic conation. And the microcosm, the unit mind, the jiiva mind – the mind of Ram, Shyam, Jadu, Madhu – is not the direct creation of the Macrocosm, that is, it has not been created directly by the Cosmic Mind; it is the creation of the quinquelemental universe, it is the creation of matter. That is, matter is the creation of the Supreme Mind, matter is the creation of the Cosmic Mind, but the unit mind is the creation of matter.
When, as a result of internal clash and cohesion, the external force starts functioning within the scope of matter and gets its centre of activity within the scope of that material structure, we say that the external force has been converted into vitality, into vital force. We get life in that matter. And when, due to further internal clash and cohesion, matter gets powdered down, that powdered-down matter is called mind. It is the basic form of mind, the undeveloped, underdeveloped, mind of protozoa. When, as a result of further clash and cohesion, we get metazoic structures, we get further-complicated minds. And so finally in this world of ours we get the human structure, and because of its physical complexities and complications, the mind also becomes complex and complicated. We have got, for the proper expression of the complex mind, several types of hormones in the physical bodies of human beings, produced from different glands and sub-glands; and those glands and sub-glands, those hormones, control each and every propensity of the human mind. And that is why in the realm of intuitional practice, when an intuitional aspirant wants to control his or her mind or any of his or her propensities, he or she should control the concerned gland or sub-gland. And this is what our sádhaná, our intuitional practice, is. It is a science.
Now, the entire quinquelemental world is governed by the functional faculty of the Operative Principle which is known as nature. Hence it cannot remain outside, cannot go beyond the campus of, the Transcendental Entity. And when the unit mind, the microcosm, ideates on the Supreme Mind, it is transformed into the Supreme Mind. And when that aspirant develops implicit faith in and love for the Supreme Father, what happens? His or her mind gets suspended. One surrenders oneself at the altar of the grandeur of the Supreme, and becomes one with the Supreme Cognition. The aspirant’s feeling of oneness with the Supreme Cognition is called nirvikalpa samádhi in Sanskrit. And the aspirant’s oneness with the Macrocosm is called savikalpa samádhi in Sanskrit.
A person may be intellectually developed, but even then one’s microcosm functions within the physical structure with a certain point in the brain as its nucleus. And for the proper functioning of the microcosm, one is to operate different nerve cells and also, indirectly, different nerve fibres. So one has to function under certain limitations. And that is why one is called a “microcosm”.
These microcosms create their own worlds. In your mind you can create many things, but those things are purely psychic for you and have got no value for others. In your mind you have created an elephant. That elephant may be witnessed only by you, and nobody else will witness it, so it is purely yours. Nobody else has got anything to do with it. But because everything remains within the scope of the Macrocosm, whatever He thinks becomes something physical for all. The physical elephant that you see externally is an internal creation of the Macrocosm. He is thinking of the elephant in His mind, and for you it is a reality. And when you create an elephant within your mind, and you create a man within your mind, for that man of your mind, that elephant of your mind is a reality.
Now, the Macrocosm can create anything according to His desire or according to His [psychic] conation, but the microcosm has to work functioning under certain limitations. By nature, this microcosm is multi-purposive in motive but unilateral in action. And the Macrocosm is uni-purposive in motive but multilateral in function, in action.
The microcosm is multi-purposive in motive. You want to become rich; you want to become a learned man; you want to become a good doctor; you want to render social service. You want to do so many things, you have so many longings. You cherish so many longings in your heart, but while functioning you can do only one thing at a time, only one work at a time. But the Macrocosm is uni-purposive in motive. His only motive is to help His progeny in their all-round development, in their all-round progress. That is the only purpose. So He is uni-purposive in motive, but multi[lateral] in activity.
He is doing so many things for you, for all, for the entire universe, for each and every entity. You are witnessing only your own mental faculty, your own mental [thoughts], but He witnesses everything: His Macrocosmic existence as well as the microcosmic existence of so many jiivas. In the collective Macrocosmic Entity His witnessing faculty is called prota yoga, and His relationship with each and every unit is called ota yoga.
Ota and prota. He has got a direct relationship with each and every entity and He has got a collective relationship with this collective world. That is why it has been said that He is multilateral in action. And that’s why in the “Puruśasúktam” of the Rgveda it has been said:
Sahasrashiirśá Puruśah sahasrákśah sahasrapát;
Sa bhúmiḿ vishvato vrtvá’tyatiśt́haddasháuṋgulam.
Puruśa evedaḿ sarvaḿ yadbhútaḿ yacca bhavyam;
Utámrtatvasyesháno yadannenátirohati.(2)
[Sahasrashiirśá.] The microcosm functions with the help of only one brain. And the capacity of the brain is not more than the capacity of the [cranium]. But “He functions with the help of innumerable brains,” because all the brains are His creations, and the potentiality of so many brains lies covert within this vast Macrocosm. That’s why one cannot challenge the authority of the Macrocosm.
Sahasrákśa. Whatever you see, you see with the help of your two eyes with limited sight. Your witnessing of the world depends on several factors: your eyesight, your ocular stamina, your optical strength, and so many things. But He, being omnipresent, being the Transcendental Entity, witnesses everything without the help of any physical organ. So it has been said He is sahasrákśa – “He has got so many eyes.”
Sahasrapát. Whenever you have to go to some place, you go with the help of your two feet. But “He has got innumerable legs,” because He is omnipresent. One foot is here, another is in Bangalore and another in Delhi and another in New York. For Him there is no spatial factor. That’s why He is sahasrapát.
Sa bhúmiḿ vishvato vrtvá’tyatiśt́haddasháḿgulam – “He is the all-pervading Entity,” not only within the scope of this quinquelemental world, not only within the scope of the abstract, but above that. Above that He is His original seity.
Atyatiśt́haddasháḿgulam. I have already said in Dharma Mahácakra that in the human body the controlling point of the microcosm is the pituitary gland, which is controlled by this trikut́i [and in turn controls] directly the conscious, indirectly the subconscious, and second-indirectly the unconscious. But He is witnessing not only your physical or abstract expressions; above that, your controlling hub is also being witnessed by Him. So not only is He all-pervasive in the realm of physicality and mentality, but your unit cognition is also being controlled and witnessed by Him. Atyatiśt́haddasháḿgulam – “He is ten fingers above” the realm of the pituitary gland, that is, the pineal gland. Four… four… two.(3) Yes, this is the controlling point of the pineal gland – atyatiśt́haddasháḿgulam – above the realm of abstract and physicality, “He is ten fingers above” the controlling point of the mind.
Puruśa evedaḿ sarvaḿ yad bhútaḿ yacca bhavyam. This Supreme Entity, this Supreme Puruśa – Puruśa means Pure shete yah sah puruśah – “He who resides within this dehapura, within this physical structure, is Puruśa.” Because of the fact that the three fundamental relative factors – the spatial factor, the temporal factor and the personal factor – are all created within His campus, whatever was done by these three factors, whatever is being done by these three factors, and whatever will be done by these three factors, is known to Him. Here in this shloka [couplet], in this rk [verse], it has been said, Puruśa evedaḿ sarvaḿ yad bhútaḿ yacca bhavyam – “Puruśa knows whatever was done in the past and Puruśa [knows] whatever will be done in the future.”
But you may say, “Then Puruśa does not know the present? He knows the past and He knows the future, but nothing has been said regarding the present – the present tense.” But you know, philosophically and psychologically, there is no such thing as the present tense. There is past and there is future. Whatever I say, when I am saying it, it is future for you. And when you hear it, that is, when the air carries this sound, when you are actually hearing it, it is past for me. My saying it and your hearing it are not done simultaneously, there is a gap. Do you follow? So that is why the shloka says, “whatever was done, and whatever will be done.”
Now for us, for microcosms, that portion of the past and that portion of the future which can be easily correlated by the microcosm is called “the present”. So philosophically and psychologically, there is nothing present. There is past, there is future. And that’s why in this shloka it has been said that Parama Puruśa knows the past, He knows the future. Yad bhútaḿ yacca bhavyam – “what has happened, what will happen.”
Utámrtatvasyesháno yadannenátirohati – “He is the Lord of the nadir point of creation, He is the Lord of the zenith point of creation.” A person may think that he or she is a debased person, a depraved person, that he or she is an animal in human structure. One may think like this. But one must remember that animals are also the progeny of the Supreme Father, the children of the Supreme Father. The Father cannot hate His animal son. So He is the Lord, He is the Father, of the zenith point as well as of the nadir point.
You know, in Tantra, when a person starts sádhaná, in that phase he or she is no better than an animal. The structure is that of a human, but internally one is just like an animal. So when that “animal” starts sádhaná, he or she requests the Lord, “O Lord, I may be an animal, I may be a brute, I may be a pashu [animal], but Thou art my Lord. I am pashu, Thou art Pashupati [the Lord of Animals].”
[Now in this march of life – and particularly in human life – there are three kinds of expression. Those three expressions or factors are jiṋána (knowledge), karma (action) and bhakti (devotion). Bhakti is the supreme one. And how to acquire bhakti, how to get bhakti? The simple formula is, karma minus jiṋána is equal to bhakti. Suppose there is a Mr. X. Mr. X has no jiṋána, he is illiterate; but he has rendered five hundred degrees of service, selfless service, to society. So in his stock of karma there is five hundred; and jiṋána is zero, nil; five hundred degrees minus zero is equal to five hundred – he acquires](4) five hundred degrees of devotion. And that is why we find that in the case of less-educated people, bhakti, devotion, is developed very quickly. The so-called intellectuals suffer from the ailment of their intellectuality. They suffer from a sort of mental ailment, mental disease. They think, “I know this, I know that. I know this, I know that;” but they know nothing. Once I said that if a man thinks he is a master of geography, and if I ask him, “O gentleman, can you say how many bricks there are in the town of Bangalore?” he will not be able to give a satisfactory reply; but this question comes within the scope of geography.
Suppose a man is an MA in twenty subjects, and his stock of jiṋánam is four hundred degrees, but he has rendered five hundred degrees of selfless social service to society. In that case, his balance of bhakti will be: five hundred minus four hundred is equal to one hundred. So in this case, jiṋánam is nothing but a liability. And if he wants to acquire five hundred degrees of bhakti just like that illiterate fellow, what will he have to do? He will have to render nine hundred degrees of social service: nine hundred minus four hundred is equal to five hundred. So for the jiṋániis I will not discourage jiṋánam – although I am not a jiṋánii, I will not discourage jiṋánam – but I will ask the jiṋániis to render more selfless service to the society.
Now, bhakti means withdrawing the mind from crude objectivities. The psychological principle for attaining salvation is also that – that is, withdrawing the mind and guiding it unto the Supreme Self. So fundamentally there is no difference.
Now you know, in the case of bhakti, there are so many types, so many varieties. There are so-called bhaktis and there are actual bhaktis. Within so-called bhakti there are three varieties: static bhakti, mutative bhakti and sentient bhakti (sentient devotion).
What is static devotion? One says, “O Lord, O Náráyańa, Mr. X is my enemy, please kill him.” Is this bhakti? I say it will not be possible for a person to get Náráyańa through this type of bhakti. Why? One’s longing was for the killing of Mr. X and not for Náráyańa. So Náráyańa may or may not grant one’s request, may or may not kill Mr. X, but because one’s desire was not to get Náráyańa, it is sure that one will not get Náráyańa.
The second type of bhakti is mutative devotion. The devotee with mutative devotion does not say, “O God, O Náráyańa, kill him,” but says, “O Náráyańa, I am your devotee. I would like to come out successful in this MA examination,” or “My daughter has attained marriageable age, please arrange a groom for her.” This type of bhakti, this type of devotion, is called mutative devotion. But here also the longing was not for Náráyańa, not for God, but to get something physical. So something physical may or may not be granted by Náráyańa, but it is sure that as one did not want to get Náráyańa, one will not get Him.
And the third type is sentient bhakti. What do people with sentient bhakti say? “O God, now I have become old. I cannot digest poláo kálya [a rice delicacy]. What is the necessity of this type of life? Please either cure my disease or take me.” This type of bhakti develops in old age after retirement. And sometimes people say, “O God, give me mukti [liberation], give me mokśa [non-qualified liberation, salvation]. Give me mukti, give me mokśa.” That is, the desire is for mukti and mokśa and not for Náráyańa. In that case also, one may or may not get mukti or mokśa – that is to be decided by Náráyańa – but it is sure that one will not get Náráyańa. These are all so-called bhakti, these are not at all bhakti, not at all devotion. This is selfish prayer, nothing but selfish prayer.
Now as you know, [actual] bhakti is of two kinds. One is, “O Náráyańa, I love You. I don’t want anything from You. I want You. I love You because by loving You I get pleasure. That’s why I love You. I don’t want anything from You.” This bhakti is called rágánugá bhakti, non-qualified bhakti.
When a spiritual aspirant develops rágánugá bhakti, in the first stage he or she feels that his or her Supreme Father, the Supreme Entity, is always with him or her. One feels His existence everywhere, within and without, within the mind and also in the physical world. One feels that whatever one does, whatever one is thinking, is being witnessed by the Supreme Self; that one is being witnessed by the Supreme Father. He or she cannot do anything secretly. When this type of feeling develops in the mind of a spiritual aspirant, we say he or she has attained sálokya samádhi. One feels that one’s every action is being witnessed by the Supreme Entity. Sálokya.
After that, by dint of one’s sádhaná, one feels that gradually one is moving nearer the Supreme Nave, the Supreme Hub, of the entire Cosmological world. One is moving nearer; the proximity is increasing. This type of dynamic experience is called sámiipya samádhi.
Again, as a result of further sádhaná, what happens? One feels that one is in close touch with Him. In pleasure, in predicament, one always feels that one is in close touch with Him. You see, when you are being punished by Him, do you not feel His existence? Do you not feel His touch? You feel His touch. So this is called sáyujya samádhi. In both pleasure and predicament you feel you are in touch with Him.
And the next stage of this rágánugá samádhi (here rágánugá samádhi, rágánugá bhakti, means, “O God, O Náráyańa, I don’t want anything from You; I love You because by loving You I get pleasure”) is sárúpya. In sárúpya one feels, “There is hardly any difference between myself and my Lord.” The poet Vidyapati of Mithila said: Mádhava Mádhava anukhana sumari Sundarii Mádhava bhelii [“Rádhá while constantly remembering Mádhava became Mádhava Himself”]. Here, Sundarii means Rádhá. She always ideates on Mádhava. What is the meaning of Mádhava? Má means “the Operative Principle”, and dhava means “husband, controller”. The Operative Principle is Paramá Prakrti, and Her dhava, husband, is Parama Puruśa. So “Mádhava” means the husband of Prakrti, that is, Parama Puruśa. So Rádhá always ideates on Mádhava, and what is the result? Finally Rádhá feels that she has become Mádhava. This is what is called sárúpya samádhi. And this is the last stage of rágánugá bhakti.
And what happens after rágánugá bhakti? The final stage of bhakti develops in a spiritual aspirant. And what is that bhakti? What is that devotion? It is rágátmiká bhakti. “O God, O Náráyańa, O Krśńa, I love You. Why do I love You? Not for my own pleasure. I love You because I want to give You pleasure. I want my love to give You pleasure. That’s why I love You.” This is rágátmiká bhakti.
What is the result of this rágátmiká bhakti, this supreme bhakti? The first stage is sárśt́hi and the last stage kaevalya. When the sádhaka starts this type of bhakti, he or she enjoys sárśt́hi samádhi. The sádhaka and his or her Lord are the same, but there is a little touch of duality. And in the final stage, kaevalya, there is only one entity: you may call it Krśńa or you may call it sádhaka. It is the stage of supreme pleasure. Whenever a person gets a little touch, a little wee bit, of pleasure, he or she becomes unbalanced. One finds it very difficult to maintain one’s mental equipoise. And when a sádhaka enjoys that supreme pleasure from that supreme ocean of divine nectar, he or she forgets himself or herself. This stage of supreme forgetfulness, this stage of forgetting all the pleasures and predicaments of the little microcosm, is the stage of kaevalya. It is the result of the supreme bhakti. So whenever bhakti is developed in the mind of a sádhaka, that sádhaka, that devotee, may or may not have any longing for salvation, but it is sure that he or she is to enjoy that salvation, that supreme beatitude.
You are all sádhakas. You should remember that you are to develop bhakti. And how to develop bhakti? Karma minus jiṋána is equal to bhakti. And after developing bhakti, you may or may not have any desire to get salvation, but it is sure that you are to enjoy that supreme bliss, you are to enjoy that salvation.
Kalyáńamastu [May you be blessed].
Footnotes
(1) This alludes to imagery in which a personified Shakti dances on the chest of a supine Shiva. –Eds.
(2) Rgveda Puruśasúktam. –Eds.
(3) The author is measuring out the distance (ten finger-widths) between the trikut́i, located at the mid-point between the eyebrows, which is the controlling point of the ájiṋá cakra (and hence of the pituitary gland and the mind), and the sahasrára cakra, located at the crown of the head, which is the controlling point of the pineal gland. –Eds.
(4) There was a gap in the taped discourse at this point. The gap has been filled by slightly adapting a passage which the author used in a similar context in “Rádhiká Shakti”, Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 23, 1994. –Eds.