The Master begins the chapter with a profound observation that the great deal of controversy over the existence of God is not so much over proving or disproving His existence as it is about defining the Eternal Absolute in a satisfactory way. Religious scholars have advanced the various ‘logical proofs’ from different angles such as the Ontological- God has to exist because by definition He is perfect and the perfection has to necessarily include existence, the Cosmological-the infinitely vast cosmos with its myriad worlds displaying regularity and obeying laws such as the law of universal gravitation, law of conservation of energy and mass and so on cannot but have an originator and law giver that is God, the argument by design- the incredible complexity in creation pervaded at the same time by a wonderfully consistent order and purposeful functioning requires a knowledgeable and wise Designer Creator, the principle of sufficient reason which says there must be a reason why anything occurs and so on. But there are the scientific atheists who protest saying that there is no need to have a first cause and further the laws governing the Universe are inherent in Nature itself. It is not necessary to include God as part of the explanation of any phenomenon of Nature by way of the principle of parsimony and thus God becomes superfluous! The order observed could be in the very nature of things. However, the scientific atheist has no answer to the question how all these things have come about, how life originated from non-life, why the universe is the way it is and not any other way. Even the most modern and reasonably satisfactory theory of the Big Bang origin of the Universe which explains many astronomical observations, has more questions to answer than it can find answers for, such as why it occurred at the time it did, why the initial soup of elementary particles had the composition it had, the dominance of matter over antimatter said to have arisen due to a peculiar asymmetry and most glaringly what preceded the Big Bang in which time and space collapse as it were and all known physical laws get invalidated. If it is to be said that there was simply nothing then it will be self-contradictory because obviously something cannot come from nothing.

Again all these theories of physics do not give any account for the origin, existence and functioning of consciousness which faculty is obviously present in all these theorizing scientists and is the very foundation of their formulation of the theories! Despite its signal failure in answering the fundamental questions which philosophy attempts to address, science has rather tried to displace religion from the consciousness of man by proclaiming virtually that it has the key to the truth of all phenomena ranging from the terrestrial to the cosmic and man need not search for anything beyond science for conducting his sojourn on this earth successfully. However convincing the position of the atheist, man has always had a need to worship and the multitude of religions is the result. Religion in its most fundamental aspect consists in, the belief in and reverence for a supreme power regarded as creator, sustainer and destroyer of the universe and a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. Looking from its essential point of view, it is a cause, principle or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

Thus even the atheist has to worship in the sense of holding in reverence and awe the most celebrated atheist who inspires all atheists and the very principle of atheism to which the sincere atheist must dedicate himself to be a consistent and steadfast atheist! Science which took upon itself the mantle of ridding the human mind of the deleterious effects of religious superstition and dogma, has itself become somewhat of a dogmatic religion whose adherents, enjoying a position of power and influence in shaping public opinion as never before in human society, display a fanatic zeal in propagating skepticism especially with regard to the existence and possibility of experiencing suprasensual Reality.

The Master says, ‘The quest of mankind, ever since its birth has been to worship God, to unravel the mysteries behind the outward appearances and to grasp the fundamental truth. This is the genesis of religion.’ (DR p1). The word religion derives from a Latin root meaning to be ‘bound to God’, by the bond of piety. Every religion has arisen based upon the personal practical experiences of its founder with its own notions of God, His creation and prescribed forms and rituals. The religions of the world differ markedly in such notions of God, forms and rituals. But after the passage of thousands of years, the same old forms and principles are being adhered to despite profound changes in the entire surroundings and in the way of life. The vehicle of religion has become hackneyed as the Master says, and it is only a relic of the past, a mere shell with the real spirit having ebbed away, as it stands today. Outward forms and rituals are followed with extreme orthodoxy and tenacity in almost every religion without even the touch of Reality, which has been twisted into forms and rituals alone. Blind adherence to the outward forms with total disregard of the inner Reality, begets prejudice and bigotry characterizing present day religion. Ignoring Reality which is the common core of all religions and sticking to the gross outer forms only, entails the development of a feeling of hatred within the followers of one religion towards the adherents of others leading to inter-religious jealousies and quarrels.

The aim of all religions is to provide a link between God and man and lead him to realization of the Ultimate Reality. But today it is laden with superstitions, absurdities and bias and its practice has degraded to such an extent that ‘the man of reason and thought gets disgusted at the very mention of the word ‘God’’.

However, the common notion of God in religion is that He is the Creator, Sustainer and destroyer of the world and is endowed with infinite auspicious attributes-Infinite compassion, beauty, power, grace ad infinitum. Whatever excellent quality we may be aware, He is thought to have the same in infinite abundance. He is perfect extension or space, He is eternal, He is not in time but beyond it, the past, the present and the future all being included in Him. He is, as the Upanishad says, ‘from whom everything originates, by whom everything is sustained and in whom everything is absorbed’. This is the Saguna concept of God, God with qualities. This is the Ishwara, Saguna Brahman (determinate absolute), the God of religion, the object of worship and the final approach of almost all the religions. Some passages of the Upanishads describe God in terms of negation of the qualities or gunas of nature namely, sattva, rajas and tamas (tranquility and poise, activity and passion and inertia and indolence). Sankhya interprets ‘gunas’ as strands of the rope of prakriti or nature which binds the purusha or soul while it is in a state of ignorance.

Master refers to the philosophic view which includes the idea of Nirguna Brahman (indeterminate absolute) which is above all multiplicity and distinction and is beyond quality, activity and consciousness. The Saguna and Nirguna conceptions of the Ultimate Reality have generated a great deal of debate in religious circles and it has been generally held that the Nirguna conception is superior to the Saguna one. The Master is categorical in stating that we err when we hold that one or the other conception alone is right; actually both of them are misleading in that they mask the true nature of Reality. We get confined to one view or the other as long as we are within the fold of religion. The highest attainments in the field of spirituality are possible only we transcend the narrow confines of religion. The Master puts it beautifully when He says, ‘The end of religion is the beginning of spirituality; the end of spirituality is the beginning of Reality and the end of Reality is the real Bliss. When that too is gone, we have reached the destination (DR pg6)’. This is indeed an inspiring revelation which makes a true of transcendence of all limitations imposed by the conventional wisdom of religion (aesthetic approach) and philosophy (logical intellectual approach). It is a grand and magnificent sweep of the original pure thought which lands us at the feet of the Ultimate Reality. The Master goes on to say that God cannot be found within the folds of one particular religion or sect, nor He is to be traced within the scriptures but is to be sought within the core of one’s heart. He is not in solid forms but subtler than the subtlest and can be attained only through means of equally subtle order. The Goal is one, that is, the realization of the Eternal Absolute; It is neither Saguna nor Nirguna but beyond both, to state the truth, ‘He is what He is’. It is we who make Him either Saguna or Nirguna. It is to our ultimate advantage if we fix our view on the Original Element or Adi Tattva and love It, whatever It may be.

Elsewhere the Master gives the idea of ‘God or Brahma as the root cause of the entire universe from the finest to the grossest, the innermost centre, base or zero.’ (DR p 101). The Master reveals another dimension of the Ultimate Reality that It is so simple that Its very simplicity has become a veil to It and realization becomes difficult to those who proceed on loaded with their confused conceptions of Reality. He says again, ‘Thought when purely Divine, can reach the Source without fail. If corrupted with attributes and qualities, Realization also becomes corrupted and degraded’. (SDG p 52). It thus becomes abundantly clear to the seeker that he should give up all preconceived notions and ideas howsoever acquired about God or the Supreme Reality for scaling the summit of Realization successfully.

The Master brings in the mathematical concept of zero to elucidate the nature of Ultimate Reality. The atheist says that there is no God. In other words no positive or negative value can be ascribed to it and in mathematics this is ‘zero’. Again the atheist cannot deny his own existence or his own denying ‘self’ and this can be taken as ‘one’. The magical property of zero is, when we keep adding zeros to the right of ‘one’, the value of the number keeps on increasing towards infinity alluding to the Upanishadic concept of ‘mahato maheeyan’ or bigger than the biggest. Similarly when we add the zeros to the left of ‘one’ after affixing the decimal point, which the Master takes to be the negativating will negating the ‘one’ representing ‘selfhood’, the value of the number keeps on becoming smaller and smaller tending towards ‘zero’ or nothingness. This can be taken to correspond to the concept ‘anoraneeyan’, smaller than the smallest. There is no limit to the shrinking of the self, which ultimately tends to zero. Zero is complete negation and the most objective way of knowing Reality is when you reduce yourself to nothingness according to Revered. K.C.Varadachari. As long as the ‘self’ looms large there is no possibility of attaining realization. Ego is the insurmountable barrier and all great saints have stressed the importance of the need to efface oneself through total surrender to God. The grace of a Guru of caliber is absolutely essential for this to happen.

The Master reiterates that the controversy over God is a fake one and is the result of a multitude of misconceptions loaded on the subject over a long period of time. The impulsive emotional approach is to be avoided as it blurs the vision and bars the progress towards the goal. The subtlest conception of God is to regard Him as Zero or the Centre or Base. No prakriti or universe can exist without the backing of this substratum or base. This backing is the Brahman or God, it is the Bhuma, a substanceless-substance, a forceless force. We can see the use of paradoxical terms to describe the Ultimate Principle which is essentially indescribable and indefinable. The reason is not far to seek as the supreme truth is beyond speech and beyond the flights of enquiring thought-yato vacho nivertante aprapya manasa saha- as the Upanishad puts it. The Vedas indicate It by the negating description, neti, neti, not this, not this. There is no other means to describe that which is beyond the grasp of the senses, transcendent to reason and which can be felt only in the core of one’s heart. It has been said that God reveals Himself only to him who is chosen; study, strenuous austerity, sacrifice or devotional practices any of these or all put together at best make one deserving of His grace and attract His attention towards the aspirant.

The Master makes His most profound revelation when He talks about Tam as the highest approach of the yogi. There is nothing beyond it. People in general treat Sat to be Reality and use it as a yardstick to measure the extent of knowledge of God. That is far away from the real state; the Ultimate can be entered into only when one abides in a state of total negation. That is the state of zero or nothingness where the devotee’s individuality has become extinct and He alone is. As it has been said the lane of love is very narrow and there is no place for two not to talk of three, i.e., the devotee, Guru and God. The state of Tam is the last resting place of the yogi and while in this state he is in the state of complete ignorance. Yet he will be carrying out all his actions in a natural way. When the condition is reigning in full swing in him he will be like an infant, having no awareness of his own condition. It is a state of non-awareness of the self, Master or God. When there is no awareness of existence or more correctly, separate existence it is equivalent to non-existence. Sages have labored hard even over several lives to attain this state but failed. It is the central point and the real state of being. If a slight touch of Sat or existence is applied to it he will become cognizant of his state of Tam. The introduction of the existence principle-Sat precipitates as if it were the awareness of his condition. The coming together of two things brings about a third condition i.e., the result of the meeting of the Tam and Sat serves as the basis of creation.

Normally we associate light with Sat and darkness with Asat. According to the Master, dazzling light is really Maya and it is a pity that it is being mistaken to be Reality. He says that Reality is neither light nor darkness but beyond both. This is illustrated in the emblem of ISRC, we find the words OM TAT SAT inscribed in a dark background at the top. Generally many people think that Sat is God and is the highest state. In any field of experience there is always the observer and the observed. The observer’s consciousness is the ‘I’ consciousness, which cannot be eliminated totally. But then it will not be perfect knowledge as the Reality is contaminated by the presence of the ‘I’ and to this extent it is not the experience of the Absolute. Sat is existence and when the observer is totally merged in the Real he is non-existent. Then Reality alone remains but this condition cannot be described. Revered K.C.Varadachari puts it, ‘That is why we say in SRRY ‘OM TAT SAT’. The idea is when you pass beyond the three levels of consciousness, waking, dreaming and sleeping, you come across a condition where ‘I’ is negated. That is what other people call Sat. We do not say Sat Tat but say Tat Sat--- for us Tat is nothing, zero. But without it we cannot exist—if you can achieve that Tat, zero then you will be able to see the real nature of things of Sat or what Being is.’ Continuing he further says that the religious persons do not understand OM and the philosophers SAT. The Ultimate is not ‘nothing’ but is pregnant with infinite potentialities and immobile till the ‘I’ is introduced. This condition of thought is Bhooma according to the Master. The Bhooma or Bhoomi is the Zero or the support on which everything stands and is the Reality we have to know. The Master says that even Tam is the reflection of the Ultimate Reality and further that hardly anyone would come forward to taste this condition which is tasteless.

We mean by identity something which serves to distinguish the thing whose identity we are talking about, from other things at all times and spatial locations. This implies an invariable constancy or persistence about the distinguishing features and not only that the observing entities also must continue to possess the capacities to perceive and record such features through time and space, which is a tall order! It can be supposed that whether such observers exist or not, such identities exist in principle in an intuitive fashion irrespective whether it is observable or observed in practice. Identity is a principle of exclusion implying that no two things in nature are completely identical or indiscernible. We presume that distinctions are brought about the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual states at least as far as human beings are concerned.

The Master distinguishes between individuality and identity. He defines identity as a fine idea, which develops into thought. He says that it can be taken to mean as that which brings into cognizance the consciousness of the origin or Reality garbed in a somewhat grosser covering. The grosser form strikes at the heart the idea that there must be something beyond, which should be its cause and so on with no real limit to this chain of cause and effect. Suffice to say that at its finest level it is denoted as identity and every embodied soul will have a separate identity. This remains intact till Mahapralaya (Final dissolution) when all identities fuse together into one common identity which later serves for the cause of the next creation. Thus it is the individuality or feeling of separation which is lost rather than the identity. This is attributed to the dormant action of the Root force due to which a nominal difference is maintained between ‘being’ and ‘non-being’. In a way we may think of this as the expression of the law of conservation of energy, each identity being a manifestation of the divine energy casting itself into a separate mould or monad as if it were. God ceases to be God if He would not express Himself in manifestation continually. Revered K.C.Varadachari says that it is a philosophical necessity that a person goes on existing through Mahapralaya. But it is not clear nor it can be settled beyond doubt whether the very persons who underwent the dissolution would return as themselves again, or to put it more graphically as Revered.KCV does Markandeya come back after every Mahapralaya as creation follows dissolution endlessly?

The two words Cosmogony and Cosmology are closely related, the first one referring to the ‘theory of the origin of the universe’ while the second one refers to the ‘theory or science of the universe and its contents’. We find the Master giving His rather brief account of both these aspects under the above topic.

The universe in its infinity, variety and grandeur has always challenged the imagination of man, triggering a sense of awe and wonder in him. Every religion has its own mythic account about the origin of the universe, its sustenance and its destiny and religious philosophy has tried to systematize the mythological descriptions providing a rational order to them. The religions of Hinduism and Buddhism give a cyclic account of creation following dissolution, whereas the Judeo-Christian account seems to be a linear one starting from the time origin of creation and stretching into an infinite future. The time scales are quite large typically 4.32 billion years given for the Creator Brahma’s day in Hinduism the time taken for creation and dissolution occupying an identical time span.

It is indeed noteworthy that the time spans are of the same order as the time (about 15 billion years, 1 billion=One thousand million) for which the observable universe has existed from its explosive origin according to the Big-Bang theory, the current most successful cosmological theory of the physical universe. Science especially physics has evolved its theories of the origin, evolution and destiny of the universe based upon terrestrial and astronomical observations since the enunciation of the theory of general relativity of Albert Einstein dealing with gravitation and its fairly successful deployment in studying the evolution of stars, galaxy formation and working out various cosmological models of the universe.

However it is to be noted at the very outset that physics with its scope restricted to the study of matter and motion does not have anything to say regarding the nature, origin, evolution and purpose of consciousness in this universe and likewise Revered. Master does not concern Himself with the details of evolution of matter, its basic constituents and the emergence of the various complex forms of matter or even life. He gives principally an account of how the innumerable coverings or layers or grossness developed and encased the Reality like the cocoon enveloping the silkworm and describes the origin and nature of the human mind. As the subject is the philosophy of Rajayoga which concerns mind, its nature and regulation, the Master restricts His attention to the subject as noted above. As observed earlier the Master does not concern Himself with material cosmology. He says that the world is in existence from the time immemorial and the correct date is not to be traced out although certain persons have attempted to fix the Srishti era.

According to the vision of the Master, perfect calmness prevailed before creation came into effect. Even power or force lay frozen at the origin. The only thing before creation was Divinity in its pure and original state devoid of all solidity and grossness and every object was merged in it in essence form. There was only the latent motion near the centre before the creation and the idea of creation was present in it. This may be called First Thought or initial knowledge or motion or kshoba or vibration or anything for that matter for the sake of understanding. It was the ultimate cause of creation and all that was necessary for it. When the time for creation came, the idea which lay in sleeping form in the latent motion matures and churned up the whole motion and created the force or power which rushed out. The subtlest particle got heated up and the coverings started forming from the first day and grossness began to develop due to the increase in intensity and vibrations. By the effect of continuous heating the particles began to come into motion and veil after veil started forming over the Reality which got wrapped up in the coverings like a silkworm in a cocoon.

The stir or kshoba is a sacred thing next only to God (Centre) and Prakriti came into existence under its influence i.e., due to the revolving motion around the Centre. This stir, the cause of the cosmic phenomena was brought about by the will of God. At the time of creation, power flowed out from the Centre in the form of currents creating knots, which could be thought of as congealed or solidified power. When we see any liquid in the form of surging currents, we notice there arise twists and turns with the higher becoming the lower. As the distance from the Centre increases, the currents slow down as if it were and gather at one place, the accumulation forming the knots. With the gathering momentum initiated by the stir, actions and reactions continued till objects began to assume individual shapes.

As the creation process came into full swing, animate and inanimate objects began to come into existence and the universe got formed. The same root force or stir entered into every being as the chief active force. In man it became the mind at the root of which there is the same dormant will, just as it is in the case of the stir. Thus the human mind is closely identical with the root force or stir of which it is a part and the functions of the two are quite similar.

The Master gives the justification for the creation process when He states that God is the Centre from which the energy starts. Energy becomes frozen if its utility is not there. So in order to maintain His existence, God sent out power resulting in creation. Master also gives an estimate of the duration of the creation process as revealed to Him in a state of super-consciousness and this period lasted for about one lakh and twenty thousand years. The word srishti comes from srj to project and dissolution is not annihilation per se but a withdrawal of the projection back into the Centre or source from which it got projected. The Vedas portray Srishti poetically calling it as the ‘breathing out’ and dissolution, the ‘breathing in’ of the Cosmic Person. Purusha Suktha describes creation as the result of the Purusha Medha, the sacrifice or Self-offering of the Divine Purusha Himself for expressing His happiness in His expression namely creation in which the human being occupies the highest position. God effaced Himself so that the world can come into being of course as His own expression. That is the ultimate sacrifice for the happiness of all that is expressed. This is the real meaning behind the mantra in the Isavasya Upanishad, ‘tena tyakthena bhunjitah’- each one is exhorted to sacrifice for other’s happiness and be happy thereof.

The Principle of Cause and effect is also finding expression here, the stir being the cause and creation or manifestation or what we call prakriti, nature is the effect -Master says prakriti came into existence under the influence of kshoba the sacred thing next only to God- of course brought about by a stroke of the will of God when the time for creation came. The creation is maintained by the will of God and when its velocity vanishes it shall be the time of dissolution. Thus the supremacy of thought and will gets established in Master’s account of creation and dissolution.

The Master has referred to the revolving motions near the Centre as being responsible for creation. In fact wherever we look we find this revolutionary motion occurring in the universe. The galaxies revolve around the galactic centre in which our sun also takes part in addition to its spinning around its axis; the stars most of them move around each other, the planets move around their suns and so on right into the atom where the electrons go around the nucleus in the atom. Further all fundamental particles of matter spin around their own axis.

The Master also reveals that heat is the mechanism, which produces grossness and the original state of extreme subtlety is characterized by absolute coolness. Physical science says that there is absolute stillness and no activity at the absolute Zero temperature of -273 deg. C. The kinetic energy is directly proportional to the temperature. When there is heat there is agitation in matter as well as mind which may be regarded as a subtle form of matter. The Master says that thoughts too have ‘weight’ depending upon their association i.e, heavy when linked to matter and light when linked to the spirit or God the subtlest principle.

The Master concludes by saying that creation was the result of the churning motion, which got activated when the time for change came about, the motion being caused by something which can be called an active force. This force in turn must have a base for itself which can be termed the Ultimate or the Base.

Master says it was only space all over before creation and being of God (Isha) was a later development and it took some ‘time’ for its appearance. Time followed after God had come into being. This does pose a question regarding the appearance of God, which was a ‘later development’; if time itself originated after God came into being, we have no way of reckoning how much ‘time’ it must have taken for God to appear for the purpose of creation. Master observes, ‘At the ‘time’ when there was only the Absolute and no creation, the question of time did not arise at all’. The use of the word ‘time’ and the past tense referring to the situation before ‘time’ itself came into being, the ‘clock’ starting with and reckoning the onset of creation process, indicates merely the difficulty of conventional language which attempts to capture the scene. The creation process was set in motion when the thought of creation got enlivened in the base.

The God being referred is not the Absolute or Base but the creator God or Ishwar, the functionary performing the work of creation and all manifestation of the creation are both in the heart region far below the sphere of the Absolute. The agency of creation took some time to manifest, the time taken for the currents descending from the Centre forming the various regions one below the other so to speak starting from the Rings of Splendour, then the Mind region and the Heart region respectively.

The Master says that we see space as eternal and endless and hence God also should be likewise. Space is the mother of creation of God and time is the negative state of it. He poses the question, who created space and says that the only answer can be that the need for creation of God and of the universe led to be the cause of existence of space. It is and shall ever be therefore eternal. Then why not worship space? Master refers to a hint about it in the Rigveda, but it is an unsolved mystery for want of precise clarification. If one develops the state of space or ‘akasha’ within himself, he has then reached the highest point, which corresponds to the final state of negation which every one shall aspire to.

If we ponder somewhat over the nature of space, we see clearly that we can not perceive space in the same way as we perceive other objects. If we send any stimulus such as shine a torch into space so that we can catch the reflected light for our perception as it happens in the case of our perception of other objects, we shall be disappointed as absolutely free space as we are considering will just transmit that light into its endless bosom. We cannot touch or smell or hear or taste or see ‘space’, thus akasha is truly ateendriya, beyond sensory perception. Space again is stainless and incorruptible in its essence, has unbounded tolerance allowing all manner of things, persons and entities to coexist within it treating all of them equally. It does not react with anything it harbors and is not reacted upon either. It supports all and all of their activities. It is limitless, all pervading, inside and outside of all things in creation animate and inanimate, sentient and insentient.

We also see that nothing can leave a permanent ‘impression’ on it; even taking for granted that massive material objects or radiation energy density change its ‘shape’ it restores itself to its former state the moment the disturbing influence is removed. As things move on there are other things which can take the place ‘vacated’ by the former smoothly and seamlessly. It thus allows the drama being staged on it to go on without participating in it and being scarred or tainted in any way by it. It is just a support or a mere stage for the unfolding and display of God’s creation. That is also the concept of the backing or Base given by the Master as I understood.

The womb of deep space unalloyed inspires us with the idea of ‘void’ or ‘nothingness’ and here space itself as ordinarily conceived is also transcended. No wonder the ‘state of space’ is called by the Master as the highest condition, the final state of negation. It is truly indescribable but peculiarly it can be intuitively experienced or imperienced like the ‘space within the heart’.

The above description of akasha matches with the ideas we associate with the Absolute and in fact the Master declares that to be the Absolute. It is not composed of particles, is perfectly pure and unalloyed.

The Master says that Time is avakasha or duration; it is the creation of space and is widely different from it. The universe is the manifestation of Time whereas God is the manifestation of space. When there was no creation and only the Absolute was present, there was no Time. When the idea of creation got enlivened in the Base, it was perfectly free from everything and due to the action of motion got transformed into power with its tendency directed towards action. But it was in need for a base or field for the action. This was in the form of the intervening pause between the Original Thought and subsequent Being. This brief ‘pause’ between cause and effect is called ‘Duration’ or ‘Time’ which served as the field for action. Time got merged in the power and became itself the power for actions towards creation. It is observed in general that when the thought becomes deep it creates a pause as if it were pregnant with a great force.

In the case of the Centre, there is no question of depth as there is perfect uniformity there and there is no velocity of force directed towards action, as there is no mind possessed by the Centre. We too have a share of this power of the pause but according to our limited capacity. To utilize this power it is necessary to merge it in the greater power of the Centre. Yogis of caliber use their strong will power to bring it down to the earth for utilizing in nature’s works. Even a Megaton bomb is nothing in comparison with the power of Time or Kaal and modern science does not know how to utilize this power. The yogi at the height of his ascent is always with it consciously or unconsciously. The Master says in conclusion that the science of physics is incomplete without the knowledge of this great power which is at the root of all powers.

We may note in this connection that the Special Personality is allotted the ‘wheel of the Supreme’ or Maha kal chakra infused with the ‘power of Time’ for bringing about the thorough overhaul of the universe and this power is vastly superior to the Sudarshan chakra at the command of Lord Krishna and which had been used by Him for bringing about change as He desired during His advent.

Jiva is literally the living being and usually refers to the individual soul during its sojourn on this earth assuming different types of bodies for bhoga according the karmas accumulated by it and the portion of which it has chosen to enjoy during a particular birth. Jiva has in its highest expression knowledge, will and activity as displayed when it functions as a human being, the highest birth it can have on the earth plane which is considered by all saints and sages as the greatest boon conferred by the Divine on the soul as the human birth provides the greatest opportunity for it to secure liberation or cessation of the cycle of birth and death and not only that, the possibility of attaining to the highest of spiritual approaches namely the state of Tam, the dwelling place of the true yogi as expressed by our Revered. Master. Brahman, as the term is used by the Master, is the Cosmic Soul or Greater Self in contrast with the Jiva which is the individual self, though the term has been used by the Vedantins in general to denote the Absolute or Supreme Reality. The Grand Master gives an entirely novel interpretation to these two terms in consonance with actual imperience, namely, the atman in the Jiva is ‘at’+ ‘man’, moving and thinking, ‘at’ meaning ‘to move’ and ‘man’ ‘to think’; Brahman is ‘br(uh)’+ ‘man’, ‘br(uh)’ meaning ‘to grow. Thus thinking is common to both whereas the Jiva has motion as its chief characteristic and Brahman has growth for its chief characteristic. The ‘growth’ we may note is in the dimension of consciousness namely from the particularized or Pind consciousness to the Universal Consciousness or Brahmand (Cosmic) and beyond. Thus the difference is more in extent rather than in essence. The Master says that the two were akin to each other in the beginning.

Jiva became cognizant of its being when it assumed individuality and this individuality became the basis of its existence. When the Central force became active for creation it started moving outwards bringing about various levels of organization in space with a progressive increase in grossness as the distance increased from the Centre. Thus from the finest levels of thought the grossest forms of matter evolved. We can say that matter has ensouled thought in its superfinest form or the first mind of God, which could be called the central Divine force. Matter cannot exist without this Divine core or nucleus. This prompts us to recall the Isa Upanishad verse, ‘Isavasyam idam sarvam’-where the word vasyam can be taken to mean both covering and covered by. That is Brahman can be said to cover the entire creation including the individual soul eneveloping it and protecting it or it could be equally said that Brahman is covered by or ensouled by the entire creation. Thus Jiva is covering and is in turn covered by Brahman. The first covering of the Jiva is a superfine form of ego of the nature of individuality which really effected the difference between Jiva and Brahman.

Now, Jiva as a soul bound up within ego or individuality, came into existence. The sphere the ego was it began to cast its effect upon it and progressively the other various hues and colours started to settle on it, thus making it thicker and denser. Feelings and emotions and desires began contributing their own share to its grossness making it opaque so that one cannot even peep into, the individual soul. Eventually the Jiva became like a golden bird encased in an iron cage of the body. The implication is that though thus encased, the prison like environment of the body ensouling it cannot affect the pristine purity of the Jiva, this referring to the Pure Consciousness part of the soul. When by a stroke of good fortune it comes into dynamic contact with one who reminds it of its origin it starts shedding its coverings one by one and is set on the path of liberation.

Jiva becomes cognizant of Brahman because it possesses motion and thinking. The two faculties are functioning in parallel in it. Both Jiva and Brahman possess thinking and motion (growth is also motion in a way) and hence are dynamic instead of being static entities as conceived by the Vedantic scholars who are not speaking with the insight of practical experience of the conditions involved. It is the Master’s unique discovery that both Jiva and Brahman are the evolutes from the Centre ‘which is beyond the regions of our conventional philosophies and spirituality’ as remarked by Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari.

We find an interesting line of thinking in the commentary of Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari (CW1 p187) when he states, ‘When thought converts itself into motion or motion is capable of being converted into thought, there is what is called a state of ‘pause’. When one shifts into the other, there is just a twist and that is in different directions. Now these twists can be considered to be knots and there is no conversion of one kind of thought into another or one kind of motion into another or one kind of energy into another. There is a formation of several knots so far as individuals are concerned and it is the business of each individual to loosen the knots so that a passage from one kind to the other is possible, in other words transformation is possible.’ Such a transformation is effected in PAM through the transmission of the subtlest super fine consciousness. The Master brings the idea of parallelism elsewhere. The human is the individual and the Divine is the transcosmic and it is possible to get to that condition and get the divine already working fine within us into action provided one is directly connected to the original condition.

The great Master who is established in the base or the ultimate ground and competent guides who are in tune with His consciousness have demonstrated this possibility in a large number of cases lifting the individual consciousness to the heights of cosmic and paracosmic consciousness and to regions lying even farther than these. The Master Himself is the finest example of a transformed and realized soul who was brought to that state in one lifetime by the grace of our Adiguru, Samartha Guru Lalaji Maharaj, who has graciously opened the doors to Pranahuti, the sole means for transformation of human consciousness into the Divine.

The state of the Centre is beyond thinking and motion. During the spiritual ascent the Jiva or moving consciousness is enabled to move by the loosening of the various knots. As it moves into the various realms of consciousness it goes through four stages, viz., nearing the condition, into the condition, embodiment of the condition and oneness with the condition prevailing at any particular knot.

Unless the knowledge is gained by identicality or oneness with the condition it is not empowered to move further. It is somewhat paradoxical to note that in the new school of Rajayoga knowledge is secured through forgetfulness and a feeling of ‘lost and gone’. According to the Master this happens at every stage of progress till the grace of the Guru of caliber transports one into the Central Region or the sphere of the Absolute. When the individual soul enters the Central region the individuality has practically vanished assuming the form of superfine identity and this continues as the soul commences swimming in the infinite ocean after crossing the rings of splendour all made possible by the work and grace of the Master who has crossed the entire distance and has established Himself at the highest state of spiritual approach. Such is the dynamics of the involution of the Jiva. It looks as if it were that the Jiva leaves the Brahman quite behind and reaches into the very bosom of the Absolute.

This can be understood when we realize that Brahman is only an intermediary state of the evolving and spreading Kshoba, or the superfine force responsible for the unfolding of the manifestation from the subtlest to the grossest levels. That state is already quite gross compared to the superfine state of the Centre. Brahman has its own activities covering the sphere of entire creation and is in a realm far superior to that of the bound Jiva. But still it is bound to its own sphere and is in a way subject to the laws of Nature pertaining to that plane. It is the enlightened Jiva which has freedom of movement, the opportunity to be in laya with the higher or lower state of consciousness and in particular when blessed by the grace of a samartha guru can transcend the state of Brahman or even the Parabrahman consciousness and still move on further as has been indicated above. As Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari puts it (CW1 p189), ‘We have to go beyond the Jiva and beyond the Brahman to a condition which is neither thought or motion—thought and motion almost came together, they are like time and space the two coordinates of existence.’

Speaking more practically, the practicants of PAM are aware of this growth in consciousness from the Pind level to the Brahmand level especially when they offer the universal prayer at 9 pm wherein it is prayed for that all the people in the world are our brothers and sisters and they are developing true love, faith and devotion to the Master. It is not a prayer for the individual alone but it is for all. It is not a feeling that comes naturally in the beginning as our consciousness is mostly confined to this body and so Pinda and hence the atman- consciousness.

Brahman is the one which grows out of this, a thought which grows out of this body consciousness and becomes universal in scope. Tradition held that atman or the soul is an indivisible entity having no parts whereas our Great Masters have shown that atman is a conglomerate of buddhi, manas, ahankar and chit i.e., intellect, feeling, ego and consciousness. The individuality is a composite of the ego, manas and buddhi with all their hues (saatvic, rajasic and tamasic) and this is what is reborn based on its own choice to undergo certain portion of the karmas accumulated by it in the past life experiences it had.

The Pure Consciousness element never undergoes modifications though it remains as the substratum of the transforming individuality which identifies itself with the experiences as doer, knower and enjoyer and goes through various embodiments till it releases itself from bondage by adopting a proper method such as PAM under the guidance and assistance of a guide of caliber capable of offering Pranahuti. When all the aforesaid faculties of the atman are applied to one’s own limited self it is Atman and when the same are applied to the universe it is Brahman. By virtue of the help provided by the competent guide through Pranahuti we grow from atman level to the Brahman level. This is what the Vedic seers meant when they said the atman becomes Brahman indicating that the atman is capable of becoming Brahman, thus capable of growing from the animal level in which most of us live to the human level and from there on to the Divine level.

The principle of parallelism is one of the key principles of the philosophy of the Natural Path and the Master declares that it is the secret of Nature which He is revealing to humanity in order to bring people to a full understanding of the real meaning of Divinization of man, which is the sacred Mission of the Revered. Master Himself in accordance with the dictates of the Divine.

The Master states that in the beginning i.e., only the divinity existed in its original condition with everything merged in it in essence form. The process of manifestation started with Kshoba which stirred up a churning movement in the sphere of latent motion. This line of action though in perfect consonance with the Divine appeared somewhat different in its outer aspects as it had taken a somewhat different course towards manifestation. This may be called the line of humanity as it got closely associated with the formation of man. Both the lines are now in action running side by side parallel to each other. But since creation was the primary object at its root, the line of humanity began to acquire predominance in every thing and even man began to assume tangible form though it was very subtle in the beginning. The line of humanity became the basis of the entire structure including all creation in it. However all the while the line of humanity was and is subject to the control of the line of divinity. The proper working of the line of humanity is not possible without the support of the Divine, which is at its root. As Revered Dr K.C.Varadachari puts it, ‘God and man are parallel in creation, God is the inner unchanging, continuous line and Man or the line of humanity is the parallel to it but with a kind of changes, actions and reactions, rings or chakras and also grossening of the entire original force and these grossenings have been moulded in a particular formula. Though this is so, the line of divinity is a support for the evolution of humanity or manifestation’. Further he says ‘God is with us, with each one of us, as a straight parallel, of which we are a curved parallel or a modified parallel, and that is a grossening of the line of humanity. But the line of divinity remains untainted’. (CW1 p190-1)

The Master describes the process of grossening of the line of humanity as follows. Activities went on multiplying and man along with everything else began to assume grosser and grosser forms. In course of time the jerks caused by actions and reactions brought about variations and contradictions. Heat and cold had their own role to play in promoting emergence of diverse forms and man became the conglomeration of all things in nature as all these things entered into his composition. Today it has been discovered that all created things and especially living organisms from a single cell to the human being have the same basic structural and genetic organization, the difference being only in degree of complexity and purposive or goal-oriented self-organization. Man is a magnificent super-organism built as an agglomeration of trillions of variegated cells all found in Nature as constituting simpler organisms but all these myriad cells interact with each other in an astounding display of mutuality and cooperation with a singular orientation of serving the cause of Man, his evolution from the physical biological level to the highest level of expressing the Divine in totality as witnessed in the case of our Master. The whole organism is much more than a simple assembly of the parts. The complex biochemical reactions taking place in the cell are the same whether it is the case of the amoeba or it is in the case of man. There is an amazing integration of inorganic matter with the so called living or organic matter in all organisms in furthering the purpose of life. The complex organic molecules such as the proteins, the building blocks produced in the cells through the instructions contained in the hereditary unit namely the DNA are fundamental constituents of all living things. The difficulty faced by the present day science is in its being unable to explain the link between insentient matter of which the human body is made of and consciousness, self-awareness and other uniquely human faculties. At this juncture we may note Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari’s reference to some Jewish philosophers who consider that mind and matter are parallel. But they do not provide any explanation except for the proverbial distinction between mind and matter. Matter is material and mind immaterial and how the two can ever interact? The Master however says that it is not a conflict between mind and matter, they are of the same order. The real parallelism is between the line of humanity and that of divinity.

Looking at parallelism from another angle we see Revered. K.C.Narayana stating (BP V1 p 352-4) that creation can be considered as the expression of a latent potentiality and it has come out as an idea. That it is idea or consciousness which came first may be disputed by the scientist who would like to believe that matter came first and consciousness is a subsequent evolution or a emergent property of evolving self-organizing complexity. The spiritualist or the mystic is convinced that consciousness gave rise to all things in manifestation as a result of its own progressive grossening. The idea which expressed itself as the universe also expressed itself as the human mind and thus these two are parallel. Because of the parallelity between these two alone it is possible to have communion between the two. We never become one with the Divine, the divine impulse is different from the human impulse which is only a mental plane impulse. They never become one but can resonate. The human mind can resonate to the vibrations of the divine and that is what is being done in sadhana. Thought is the kingly thing in man according to the principle of Rajayoga and this thought force is of the same nature as the original stir which caused creation. This is again the exhibition of principle of parallelism. Parallelism is the only guarantee that we are going to realize God.

As a result of the progressive grossening and the innumerable coverings forming over the soul, the functioning of man got deviated or started curving away from the line of divinity. This is equivalent to saying that the actions of the line of humanity no longer reflected the will of the Divine.

Once it curves away from the line of divinity the line of humanity gets to that extent deprived of the divine nourishment and support leading to the increased darkening and grossening of the coverings over the soul. At its worst this even makes the human to remain oblivious of the divine even questioning its very existence as is happening today. The opaqueness due to the covering makes it impossible for it to peep into the divine in the heart. Naturally all thoughts and actions performed under this condition are fuelled by egoism, pride, prejudice, greed, fear, and insecurity poisoning the very environment in which humanity finds itself. The spoilt environment further compounds the problem. When the degradation reaches a threshold, it compels an intervention from the divine through the medium of an advent or an avatar having its base in the line of divinity extending right up to the Centre. This is the import of the Lord’s statement in the Gita, ‘Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavathi…’ Thus it seems to be an automatic corrective action on the part of Nature which sends out a personality appropriately equipped with the necessary powers for rectifying the situation caused by the straying of the line of humanity away from that of divinity. All that needs to be done at this stage is to bring the constituents of the human system to their original state or in other words to restore them to a state of poise and tranquility to keep up its link with divinity. In the system of SRRY this is done by introducing proper moderation into the faculties and sensibilities of man thus bringing them to their original state. There is a very illuminating clarification given by Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari for the word ‘moderation’ which may be noted here.

It is not what we usually mean when we say, ‘eat moderately, sleep moderately’ and so on but points towards the ‘immoderate’ emphasis on materiality or the human condition we have become accustomed to place rather than on the Divinity which is the source and support for all that is and will be. Therefore the introduction of moderation means restoring the balance in this respect by injecting the divine consciousness into one’s heart and making him realize the oneness with the divine eventually leading to his divinization. Another interesting observation made by Revered Dr. K.C.Varadachari in this context is that Master is the third entity or force, which is needed for doing this work of diverting the divine consciousness from the line of divinity to the line of humanity.

Hitherto there have been all kinds of fanciful notions regarding the realms of God and what constitutes the experience of the fortunate souls who are blessed with the company of God after they depart from this world. Each religion has its own version of the divine habitats, the Vaikuntha of the Vaishnavite, the Kailasa of the Saivite, the paradise of the Christian and so on. All we are given to understand from the descriptions is a static picture of uninterrupted bliss, a kind of drugged immobility.

It is the Master, who has for the first time in the history of spirituality declared that man has a unique position in Nature and is destined to play a very important role in the maintenance and the upkeep of nature’s machinery. The fully evolved human being gives power to the devas, functionaries of nature when their power is depleted. The highest possibility for the human species consists in developing complete oneness with the Divine and implementing the will of the Divine by means of his highly developed will or special will.

One attains this state after renouncing all selfishness and effacing one’s own individuality to nothingness. Such a person with no personality is ever oriented to Him is in the state of communion with the Divine always ready to do His bidding whatever it may be. It is to be noted that this state does not fall to the lot of one and all. He alone succeeds whom He attracts and such a personality as exemplified by our Great Master emerges only when Nature is in dire need of the same. This culmination can be considered as the crowning effect of the injection of the original divine consciousness into the line of humanity from the line of divinity by a Master of caliber. The continuous influx of the divine consciousness helps the loosening of the knots formed by the individual and makes for a smooth and harmonious flow of the divine energy in him. The individuality is gradually given up and the individual develops greater and greater sense of identity with the divine. A stage is reached when the humanity is reduced to the barest minimum as would be needed to maintain a nominal difference between God and man. As the Master puts it even in the state of final realization idea of God and man is maintained and the realized one still remains in the sphere of devotion. He is an effective instrument in the hands of God with no idea of what he is. His actions are all automatic in full consonance with the Divine and he resides in the state of Complete Ignorance. Such is the practical significance of the Principle of Parallelism in Nature.

The concept of Avatars is not new to the Hindu tradition. The Avatar or descent is normally for restoring dharma, the punishing of the wicked and protecting the good and noble hearted as has been declared by the Gitaacharya. The principle of parallelism in nature revealed by the Master and discussed above provides a very convincing basis for explaining the phenomenon of the Avatar.

The Master says that it is we who have set up our tiny creation by providing material for the same. The action of God in this is but very nominal, limited to the primary stroke of will, which stirred up action or Kshoba. The stroke of will is possessed of very high velocity having two extremities corresponding to the beginning and end of creation. The middle space comprising the real force was the main instrument in bringing about the entire structure of the universe. It possesses immense power and gives out shocks like those of the electric current. The middle portion serves as the centre with the chief activating force situated at a point little below that serving as a cause for it. There is also another point where some thing like an animating force exists in proper moderation, is located seemingly a few millimeters from it only because it is viewed from so far away. Actually when viewed after getting out of bodily limitations this point is seen to be infinitely far off. This is the unique point from which what we call as Special Personality descends when Nature requires a thorough overhaul and a fresh impetus is needed all along the line of divinity.

The Master further reveals that the higher we go above the central point the force becomes dimmer and dimmer and this dim force falls to the lot of man indicating his close proximity to the Real. The stronger force at the central point falls to the lot of the Avatars who are fully charged with the conditions of that point. Lord Krishna came from the sphere of the central point fully charged with the divine powers, which He exhibited right from His childhood, whereas Lord Rama came from the distant end. That is why He resembled the human being more as compared to Lord Krishna. Lord Rama, regarded as the personification of dharma or righteousness, presents an ideal life which ought to be emulated by all human beings. Thus the Centre though far beyond manifestation periodically injects itself into the line of humanity as if it was, through a particular kind of individuality or personality or force in order to rectify the curvature suffered by the line of humanity. Humanity can be constructively influenced only through a fellow human being who has been thoroughly divinized.

The Master does not agree with the view that the Avatars do not have identity. They can not accomplish the purpose for which they have come down without the identity and they are also in need of a physical body, which admits of growth and development. If they did not have identity, it is not possible for their devotees to pray to them and also have their vision. It is true that the identity of the Avatar is absorbed in the source once the purpose for which it descended has been fulfilled. Thus Lord Rama is absorbed into the source whereas Lord Krishna’s reign will continue till the next one which is believed to be that of Kalki as held by the Hindus.

The Master gives the difference between the ordinary human being and an Avatar. Both have the same origin but ordinary man is possessed of number of coverings as compared to the Avatar who has only a few. The Avatar always has the Divine in its perception whereas the ordinary man is deprived of it. The Avatar has for its samskaras the divine task, which it has come down to fulfill and the power withdraws the Avatar at the end of its mission. It receives instructions from the Divine direct for the execution of its task in the form of Divine commands also known as Deva- vani and everything it stands in need of comes from the eternal source. As they possess activity, the possession of mind is necessary for them as well but this mind is far more pure compared to the ordinary human mind and functions according to Divine will. The Avatars also go through sufferings and misery during their sojourn on the earth but they are able to maintain equanimity and balance and their hearts and minds are free from the impressions that may be cast by such experiences.

The Master clarifies the position of the Present Personality at work through His reading of Nature by the kind grace of God as He puts it. He comes down from the Central Point and hence is in possession of highly potential powers, though to outer view they may appear dim or subdued. None of the Avatars came down so far have ever been blessed with the power of the Root. We find in the ‘Path of Grace’, a commentary on the Master’s work ‘Towards Infinity’, that the great Avatar Lord Krishna has control over the great revolving power also named Sudarshana Chakra located in the seventh knot. The Master reveals that the Present Personality has command over the far more potent power, the Mahakaal Chakra or the Wheel of Time, for performing the gigantic task before Him that of thorough overhaul of nature and spiritual rejuvenation of mankind. The Master says elsewhere that the phenomenon will not be repeated and another descent of this significance and dimension will not occur for another millennium at least. It is indeed a great boon to humanity that the Special Personality is willing out of His loving compassion to assist all persons with sincere aspiration to transform themselves through the line of trainers permitted by Him and confer the highest approach on the deserving in spite of His preoccupation with nature’s work entrusted to Him.