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Dear co travellers in the path,
1.
We are gathered here to celebrate the auspicious
137th birthday of our Grand Master Lalaji
Maharaj. He has opened up the spiritual realms beyond
the Sahasrara to humanity and has enabled us to not only
know about those conditions, but also to imperience the
conditions. Any amount of words and any number of
prayers will not be in a position to express our
gratitude. To His holy memory an institution was started
by our Master and to His holy memory shall we dedicate
our lives forever.
2.
In my own humble way I was a student of
philosophy and the concept of Absolute which is purely
occidental in my opinion was unnecessarily and
unjustifiably confused with the concept of Brahman of
the Vedas. When I tried to understand the concept of
Brahman as explained by our Revered Grand Master the
problem was understood from the angle of experience. It
shall be my endeavour to share thoughts on these
concepts based on my own humble imperiences.
3.
When we say ‘Absolute’ the immediate idea that
strikes us is the ‘Being’ or the essence with no
qualities and a condition conceived to be present before
qualities came into being. This is a concept essentially
of the philosophies of idealism. Systems of philosophy
have been built on this concept and much ink and paper
has gone into the vast literature that is produced.
Scriptures and authorities are quoted. But that the
state is capable of being experienced or imperienced is
something that does not occur nor is it usually
discussed in any literature other than that of
Rev.Babuji and Rev. Lalaji on Raja yoga. I make bold to
assert that such a state of awareness that was beyond
even the greatest saints is now made available through
the process of Pranahuti for those who practice the
system in letter and spirit.
4.
I am aware of the wisdom words of Tirukkural “No
fool is more foolish than one who eagerly expounds his
learning to others while failing to follow it himself. (Tirukkural
84:833-834) I seek your indulgence to state the
condition of Absolute is a matter of imperience and make
a fervent plea that other aspirants also try to reach
that condition promised to us by the Master. My
statement may sound abrasive and audacious but I am sure
many in the path have had such an imperience of the same
and would vouch for it. Most of us who get into this
state of ‘Absolute’ feel no experience and only observe
cessation per se. It is pure and simple awareness. It is
obvious that pure awareness also needs something to
manifest in order to be aware. But the pure awareness or
‘Absolute’ has the characteristic of being a witness;
our reasoning informs, still it is obvious that the
witness cannot witness itself because there is nothing
to witness then. This is a very interesting aspect of
our sadhana. Absolute is neither Brahman nor Kshob, as
many philosophers state. Brahman we know is a
development over the condition of Atman and Kshob is the
Original Stir. The state imperienced does not permit
predication, though for expression sake we call it
‘Absolute’ implying that it is the final state. But the
condition is true. The state is true in the sense it is
imperienced. It is true in the sense it is something
that moulds our way of living after exposure to its
influence.
5.
Reason and intellect fail here totally and all
our attempts to understand the condition then end up in
frustration. Here I may share with you a secret; at this
stage we have to stop intellection and only imperience
the state of Absolute to go further deep in our
meditation. The Absolute is the realm of complete
mystery, but it is only here the heart feels it has
arrived home, at long last. There is wonder, there is
beauty, there is harmony, there is majesty, but it is
all mystery upon mystery that these feelings are
possible in an end state of Nothingness. The peace is
stupendous, the certainty is absolute. It is the
ultimate intimate of the heart, the Spirit of spirits.
It is the absolute Presence on absolute annihilation of
self. Obviously such words make no sense to the
intellect, but when consciousness finally reaches this
final abode, the heart starts feeling its divine
fragrance.
6.
At the beginning it seems that this condition is
something very distinct from everything else, but when
our imperience matures due to repeated exposure to such
a condition during meditations, we realize that there is
nothing new and it is the state of balance which covers
every aspect of everything that comes to our awareness.
Those who meditate in the early hours of dawn regularly
have experienced this balance reminding the condition
which may be termed as ‘Absolute’. It is then we find
the activities of the early dawn which prompts in us the
feeling of manifestation of the ‘Absolute’ and in the
language of our beloved Master, ‘Reality’ is directly
comprehended. That is the Reality at Dawn which we
imperience. It is in such a manifestation we find
everything is the ‘Absolute’, or ‘Reality’ but with
form. So wherever we look we see the Reality. Though we
imperience TAM, during such meditations where we feel
cessation of all feelings and everything disappears,
very soon everything reappears the moment thought is
diverted towards the Master, as a manifestation of the
‘Reality’ and we comprehend the luminous awareness of
the ‘Reality’. The luminosity which was till then absent
arrives on to the scene and all is luminous. Master
seeing such a condition in a very advanced person wrote
‘glittering also is gone and that is what I want.’ That
states that the Real is still far off. One may wonder
what can there be that is beyond ‘Absolute’. I invite
your kind attention to the words of the Master after one
has crossed the rings of splendour “Afterwards we feel
the vision of the Absolute. In the end starts Layavastha
in Brahm, at this state the problem of life is
thoroughly solved. And this is the last run of all our
spiritual activities, - but the thing never ends. We
begin to start swimming in the infinite.” The swimming
is an effortless one and the period of swimming seems to
be never ending as Master puts it “Under our system of
sadhana, there comes a stage at which the feeling of
wonder gets created in the abhyasi. I had remained in
that condition for a number of years. With the
introduction of this stage spirituality takes an
entirely new turn.” (SS-136)
7.
It must be stated as a matter of imperience that
the vision ‘Absolute’ though is awesome, trying to
locate the same as a point or as a bubble eye of a
spring deep in the vastness and yet very close to the
heart is futile, as there are no coordinates of space or
time in which such a localizing is possible. The vision
is not a matter of few seconds but is something that
endures through all the duration of life. The more we
seem to be progressing towards it, the broader becomes
our vision and no contradictions exist. It is all a
uniform oneness and Oneness gets perceived.
8.
In the stunning Silence we feel during the
moments of meditation absorbed in the thought of Master
we realize the ‘Absolute’ as our true identity. The
thought immediately following such an Imperience is the
emphasis on the transcendence of the world, including
the body and mind. This is common imperience of all
advanced persons in the path. Imperience similar to this
is had by many aspirants on the path who are steady in
their progress beyond Brahmand mandal. One becomes as
though he is the immense solidity of the absolute,
totally still and inactive, while dispassionately
witnessing the play of all phenomena. When this
condition matures and one gleans into the Para Brahmand
he starts witnessing all phenomena as the dynamic
transformation of a cosmic and boundless consciousness,
that arises in his immense ‘Silence’.
9.
The dimension of the ‘Absolute’ imperienced is
not simply just non-being but is a field, an expanse.
Though we do not have any dimension of the ‘Absolute’,
when actually going through its imperience we become
aware of its dark vastness. The imperience of ‘Absolute’
leaves behind a stunning effect on the consciousness
which every person who is exposed to Pranahuti feels at
some point of time or the other. Strictly speaking, the
‘Absolute’ is the ultimate nature of Reality, and it is
beyond dimensions; for dimensions are the experience of
manifestation. Yet, we do experience the Absolute as a
dimension, boundless and infinite. We can say that the
‘Absolute’ is the unmanifest imperienced (not the
metaphysical postulate of the Unmanifest before all
creation), the ultimate truth and mystery of our being.
But when our identity begins to manifest it appears as
if it is encased in an expanse, an infinite and
boundless expanse that looks like black space. So long
as we are in the realm of reason we would argue that
manifestation appears always in the context of time and
space. Therefore, when our true identity witnesses its
own field of consciousness it appears to be a vaster,
dark expanse. In short we imperience the ‘Absolute’ as a
vast infinite black space. The absolute appears in this
perception as a boundless dimension.
10.
We experience ourselves as a speck in the dark
vastness, and also feel many specks around us and none
of them having any glow. Such are the identities that
swim in the darkness with little or no glow. While there
is no interaction per se with any of them, we feel the
blessings coming to us from such of those souls with
whom we have had some kind of spiritual contact or the
other. Few of the rsis to whom we are connected
genetically and belong to the sapta rsis are imperienced
as blessing us. Usually there is no intercommunion with
any of them though there is the feeling of warmth
issuing from all, in all directions.
11.
Most importantly there still remains a relatively
active speck which has aura that is not related to any
of the brightness that we are aware of in the physical
realm. The feeling of reverence swells in the heart and
devotion and piety springs forth from our being. This
speck commands the respect and veneration from all the
other specks and that is the Master. Very close to it
there is another from which there are several vibrations
issuing forth. This cell is in very close proximity with
the Master cell. We receive all our instructions from
this cell only and to this only are we connected
permanently and through it to the Master cell in the
Dr.K.C.V. Order of the Natural Path. I do not
have any inclination to delve beyond this as Master is
my goal and in His service I shall ever remain. This
limit is self imposed. The realm is immense expanse so
deep it is absolutely dark. As already stated though
dark and still, inscrutable and silent the moment our
thought drifts or sways a bit towards our dear Master
the very darkness becomes the source of all luminosity
and light directed towards Him. Here we have an
immeasurable immensity; we feel a dynamic presence the
divine Rta, flowing out into a field of non-radiance
full of intelligence and truth, reality and
significance. This is not a plane in which poetry
or music has a place; everything is imperienced as the
sweetness of heart. Long back in 1968, I was
asked to speak on Grace by the Master in the Basanth
Celebrations, at Shahjahanpur. I asked him what is grace
and he replied ‘sweetness of heart’. Grace has its
origin in this sphere as I understand now. Here we do
not feel that we are doing anything. But the doing is
present, without being related to doer. The interesting
thing is that there is functioning and witnessing
without a sense of self.
12.
I have tried to explain to the extent of my
understanding the Reality that is imperienced due to the
grace of the Grand Master and our most beloved Master
Sriramchandraji Maharaj of Shahjahanpur. I have only a
feeling of humility and lowliness which I share with all
of you with reverence and regard due to you all. There
is only one Truth for all of us and that is the ever
flowing grace and blessings of the Master. To seek
anything other than that is greed. Our Master has
instructed that we should ‘Love Him who loves all.’ Let
us pray and practice accordingly his Natural Path.
Pranam.
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