Our Spiritual Order

It is an universally acknowledged fact that true Spirituality, spreads through certain Orders. It has a particular path chartered out through a lineage of advanced souls in the path. These Orders function under the guidance and control of the founder of the Order who has an inseparable relationship with the Base/God. The concept of Order should not be confused with a strict and tyrannical hierarchy. We had on earlier occasions clarified this concept and it is available in our web site and I do not wish to repeat the same.

All the aspirants getting guidance in this Order should be clear as to the path trodden by the founder of the Order and adhere to the same. In this connection the guiding philosophy of the founder should be understood clearly and an attempt is made here to mention the same.

God or the Ultimate has been viewed and loved from different angles and accordingly the means were chosen. The Natural Path is characterized fundamentally by the principles of cooperation (Pranahuti), integration and negation. The approach in sadhana of Dr. K.C.Varadachari is that integration is a positive way of looking at Negation.

We find that Dr.K.C.Varadachari is unique in reaching the goal of Negation by extinguishing himself utterly by living as an intimate of his Master. To live for God, in God and by God was his path and through that he reached his destined presence in God. God or Ultimate good lies in integral living. Adversities in life appear to be so because of our imperfect and partial vision. When we reach the Centre our central point of view includes all and excludes none. The same thing was stated by our beloved Master who has advocated the philosophy of tolerance. That is why Rev Babuji Maharaj says, 'Moulding circumstances is not in the system but we have to mould ourselves to the circumstances'. The path of tolerance which finally culminates in conditions of Gairat that finds full bloom in Prapanna, Prabhu and Prapanna Prabhu stages of our spiritual progress is one of the main strains of discipline in this Spiritual Order. This finally perfects itself in the condition of humility and piety.

Before we arrive at the point of view of Centre we have to go through several stages of perception and knowledge. These have been broadly stated in the book Path of Grace. Analysis and dissection while being the starting angle or point of view leads us to the point of viewing things in perspective and understanding other ways of perception. Inclusiveness as contrasted to exclusiveness happens to be nature of movement in the path. This inclusiveness of understanding which is better expressed by the words Harmony is one of the main canons of this Spiritual Order.

Understanding fully the problem of the modern man Dr. K.C.Varadachari states “Old dichotomic and dialectical theories have been forced to meet with the transcending factors which refuse to oblige their interpretations. Thus those who have been both in the age and the age of transcendent change- such as our present, have been forced to examine presuppositions and question our postulates and never under any cover accept their axioms or proofs.” He further states that “these forces have had their main say and man is seeking a philosophy for man rather than a truth about reality.”

He contends that the basic discovery is the discovery of the nature of the individual who is the knower and for whom knowledge is necessary. Toeing line with the traditional Indian philosophers, he examines the knowledge arising out of sensory inputs, the inferences we make out of such inputs and the contents of dreams consisting of non sensory inputs and not dependant on our inferences and where our logic is suspended. He adds further the nature of deep sleep which is beyond understanding as a source of getting knowledge. After having listed these modes of knowledge, he says there is need to integrate the four states of consciousness and the knowledge that is generated from them. He contends that the fourth state of deep sleep or turiya as it is called in Upanishads is the base of all. ‘The sensory itself would undergo changes even as the dream would open up extra-sensory or manasic possibilities and the subject would reveal the base ground of human integrative oneness- the calm that abides. He states further that ‘the path towards this integration is not limited to the cognitions of the mind, but rather the attainment of the integration at the level of super consciousness. This has been said to be the process of becoming unified in oneself and getting the processes of getting divided. This is yoga. He asserts that Yoga is strictly scientific methodology to arrive at real awareness; thus we find Yoga as a means of knowledge. The knowledge thus arrived at he called Imperience.

Dr. K.C.Varadachari broadly adhering to the tradition to which he belongs defines the term harmony as a rhythm of relationships in a way similar to how the diverse parts of the human body work together. The theme is larger than the term. So, when he speaks of the theme of harmony we refer to a series of connections, expressions, goals and components of the theme, such as beauty, unity, and concord. As an echo we find this theme reverberating in his works, always elucidating the rationale for living together: to be of one mind and heart on the way to God. The Order embraces the Commandments of the Master as the foundational text with the ultimate aim to be lovers of spiritual beauty, an objective often forgotten.

Elsewhere explaining the Leela of God and the theory of beauty he deals with the doctrine of the beauty of creation, for it is here Dr.K.C.Varadachari identifies the foundational design of harmony and the praxis of rightly ordered love between the creature and Creator. People live in peace, in concord, and in sharing their goods. Disharmony results with excessive self-centeredness and a deliberate turning away from the divine Order as the source of life. Human living is in harmony with the self and others when God is the source and center of one’s love and existence. This is where he fuses with the philosophy of the Master ‘Love Him who loves all.’

We should note that the spirituality of the Order is never a private matter, but a movement oscillating between the inner self and others. The prayer given in the system which can be offered either in singular or plural marks out the path to that center of human life with the linking of prayer and of communion. The prayer of the system as explained by Dr.K.C.Varadachari is offered from the heart and reveals how one’s deepest desires find expression in the words of prayer. Contact with God in the heart enables one to recognize the diversity of divine presence in others from which a communion emerges. As a gift of God, this communion is symphonic and is created through the convergence of interiority, where two inner horizons meet. The craving of the soul is met midway by the yawning Centre. That is the Reality at Dawn.

Obviously this implies the prayer at 9 P.M. In this prayer the collective identity of the “I” in the “we” and the “we” in the “I” - the ‘anima una’ in its global dimension -- emerges and needs to be fully felt in the Satsanghs. Then we understand the beloved Master, is the ultimate horizon of Oneness that is both transcendent and immanent.

We may remember that the Natural Path itself is a gift to meet the challenge of materialism which is invariably accompanied by violence and terror and replace the same with confidence in the Divine and consequential Spiritual values. The important question is how do we live this spirituality of harmony in a situation of violence and terror that is present in every part of the globe? The basic attitude we need to have may be this: where discord breaks the bonds of relatedness, harmony reinforces them. The principle of harmony and the courage to stand up to all the forces that cause fragmentation and alienation has to be pressed into service.

Integration and harmony demands fusion of various parts of the whole by conscious decision. That is what is called in spiritual life as yielding which when fully developed attains the state of self surrender. Surrender to the Master means the surrender to the Centre which is the integrative and harmonising principle. The parts understand their role even as in a drama and the Leela of God gets appreciated. The beauty of such a dance may be seen as a dance of beloved ones or the dance of creation or even destruction. In all these imperiences the beauty and harmony find full expression.

It is then that the self is in total integration with the Master and begets the intimacy with the Master. Such an intimate was Dr. K.C.Varadachari. He always gives a wake-up call through his lectures and philosophy to be lovers of spiritual beauty and harmony. Harmony and acrimony cannot co exist. When everything is utterly surrendered and we start living in the Master as his intimate discord disappears. Concord and Harmony in human life is not far off and I pray along with you that the Spiritual Order of harmony and beauty spreads through the globe.