Absolute

Talk delivered on the occasion of Basant Panchami Celebrations 31st Jan 2009

Dear co travellers in the path,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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.

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.