Sree Krishna the Lord of Love
- SREE KRISHNA THE LORD OF LOVE PART I.
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTORY.
- SECTION I. THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD.
- SECTION II. THE SCIENCE OF CREATION.
- SECTION III. THE STEPS OF CREATION.
- SECTION IV. THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES.
- SECTION V. THE GOLDEN AGE.
- SECTION VI. THE SILVER AGE.
- SECTION VII. THE CASTE SYSTEM.
- SECTION VIII. THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE.
- SECTION IX. THE COPPER AGE.
- SECTION X. THE IRON AGE.
- SECTION XI. MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE.
- SECTION XII. THE KALPA CYCLE.
- SECTION XIII. NATURAL DISSOLUTION.
- SECTION XIV. MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY.
- SECTION XV. SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS.
- SECTION XVI. PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL BODIES.
- SECTION XVII. KARMA.
- SECTION XVIII. REINCARNATION.
- SECTION XIX. HOW TO DESTROY KARMA.
- SECTION XX. THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY.
- SECTION XXI. YOGA.
- SECTION XXII. BHAKTI YOGA.
- SECTION XXIII. VAISHNAV, CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS.
- SECTION XXIV. KRISHNA LEELA.
- SREE KRISHNA THE LORD OF LOVE PART II.
- PROEM.
- CHAPTER I.
- CHAPTER II.
- CHAPTER III.
- CHAPTER IV.
- CHAPTER V.
- CHAPTER VI.
- CHAPTER VII.
- CHAPTER VIII.
- CHAPTER IX.
- CHAPTER X.
- CHAPTER XI.
- CHAPTER XII.
- CHAPTER XIII.
- CHAPTER XIV.
- CHAPTER XV.
- CHAPTER XVI.
- CHAPTER XVII.
- CHAPTER XVIII.
- CHAPTER XIX.
- CHAPTER XX.
- CHAPTER XXI.
- CHAPTER XXII.
- CHAPTER XXIII.
- CHAPTER XXIV.
- CHAPTER XXV.
- CHAPTER XXVI.
- CHAPTER XXVII.
- CHAPTER XXVIII.
- CHAPTER XXIX.
- CHAPTER XXX.
- CHAPTER XXXI.
- CHAPTER XXXII.
- CHAPTER XXXIII.
- Messages and Revelations from Sree Krishna
- MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS FROM SREE KRISHNA
- A HOLY MAN'S PRAYER.
- A SOUL AND ITS BELOVED.
- THE FAIR ONE AND HER SOUL.
Transcriber's Note
This book was transcribed from scans of the original found at the
Internet Archive. The page scans were done by Google. The original book
used accents (á) but I have replaced these with macrons (ā) as this
would be considered a more correct way to spell the names in question.
Variant spellings in the text have been left alone.
SREE KRISHNA THE LORD OF LOVE PART I.
SREE KRISHNA
THE LORD OF LOVE
BY
Bābā Premānand Bhārati
PUBLISHED BY
The Krishna Samāj
NEW YORK
Copyright 1904
BY
BĀBĀ PREMĀNAND BHĀRATI
[Total number of pages 650]
S. L. PARSONS & CO., PRINTERS, NEW YORK
To
BRAHMĀNAND BHĀRATI
MY GOOROO
To Whom
My Soul Mind and Body
ARE
IRREVOCABLY SOLD
In Payment of
THE GRACE OF HIS ILLUMINATION
WHICH LIGHTED MY PATH
TO
THE LOTUS FEET
OF
KRISHNA MY BELOVED
PREFACE
I beg to present this my humble work to the English reader. It is the
history of the Universe from its birth to its dissolution. I have
explained the science of creation, its making and its mechanism. In
doing so I have drawn my information from the recorded facts in the
Sacred Books of the Root-Race of mankind. Some facts and explanations
are herein furnished for the first time in any modern language. This
book embodies true Hinduism.
If read with an open mind, it will serve the reader with illumination
and solve many a riddle of life, untie many a tangle of thought. I have
spoken throughout from out of the depths of the ages. I have thought
absolutely in Sanscrit and expressed myself in English, an imperfect
medium for expressing Sanscrit, ideas. My object has been to impress my
readers with the substance of Hindoo thought in all its purity. This has
not been done before even by Hindoo writers on Hindoo religion and
philosophy. They have cared to humor the Western readers, by putting in
a mixture of Western thought and dressing it up in Western ways of
expression. I have not done so, because I know that in reading an
Eastern book the Western mind wants purely Eastern thought in pure
Eastern dress.
This will afford all soul-hungry readers with enough healthy food and
drink. The first part of the book contains the food, the Kernel of the
Soul-cocoanut; the second part, its Sweet Milk. The third part is from
Krishna Himself. It is the purest Nectar of Spiritual Love. Let the
reader open his heart to it, and I am sure it will fill it with ecstasy.
The soulful reader will thrill with the joyous vibrations of every
sentence of the "Messages and Revelations."
The belief that our life begins with the birth of this physical body and
ends with its death is the worst superstition, because it is the worst
obstacle in the way of our soul's unfoldment. This life has sprung from
Eternity; it draws its breath in Eternity, and is finally absorbed by
Eternity which is Absolute Love. To know that we, human beings, were
never blessed with greater powers than we possess in this age is the
saddest of mistakes. To believe that we were once as great and powerful
as divine beings and that we can recover that greatness and those
powers, is to believe in the actual potentialities of the human mind.
This life can be made one long ecstatic song; this life can, if we take
the trouble to make it, be made the source of joy to ourselves as well
as to all around us forever and ever; it can even attain to the Essence
of Godhood, from which it has sprung, by developing uninterrupted
God-Consciousness.
We all are idolators. Some of us worship idols of Divinity, others
worship idols of Matter. Some of us worship the Spirit through
suggestive signs and symbols, others worship Flesh, mere forms of
animated flesh. Since our mind wants idols for worship, just as our body
wants food for sustenance, let us all worship idols of Spirit in Form.
Through its concrete Form-Centre we can enter into the Abstract Spirit
of Love—Love which is our one object and goal in life. This Love is
Krishna and the universe and we, its parts, are the materialized
manifestation of that Love.
PREMĀNAND BHĀRATI.
The Alpine, 55 West 33d Street,
New York, July 7, 1904.
INTRODUCTORY.
LIFE'S SOURCE AND SEARCH.
Beloved! I wish to call you "my beloved," whoever you are who have taken
up this my love-message to read, for you are the beloved of my
Beloved—Krishna. I may not know you, nor you me, and yet we have been
together times without number: yet we have loved each other with the
truest, the purest, the sweetest love again and again, when we lived in
Love, when we had our being in the Ocean of Love, when we were awake in
the consciousness of the One Essence which ever pervades us all—Love.
Beloved! That state, that realm, in which we lived and knew and loved
each other, we have forgotten, and this forgetfulness is the cause of
our separateness, our non-recognition, our want of sympathy, our
troubles and quarrels. Going into the depth of Silence—Silence within
and without us—I have discovered its Secret which is also the Secret of
our forgotten Love-Existence. And this my message to you is the
revelation of that mystery which our strayed soul is trying to solve
through every effort of the life we are living now.
Beloved! I humbly lay before you this message to read—to help you to
recognize your true self, to help you to find your true goal in this
life's race. This message is a magic mirror in which, maybe, you will
catch the reflection of your soul's All-Beautiful Image.
You are now engaged, my beloved, in reading this message with the same
object for which every one of us is just now engaged in doing various
things. It is life's one common object for us all—Pleasure. That is the
one all-absorbing quest of humanity, nay, of all living creatures, of
all creation. We are ever striving, all of us, every minute, to find
that one blessing which ever eludes our grasp, ever misses our ken, ever
deludes us like the will-o'-the-wisp—the one object of our desire, of
predominant, spontaneous, practical, natural interest—Unmixed, Unbroken
Happiness.
Not only is this quest for happiness ever present within mankind, but
also in lower animals, and even in every phase of Nature, more or less
pronounced or discernible. Every manifestation of Nature, man or beast,
bird or tree or plant, is ever endeavoring to adjust a state of internal
disorder and disturbance—I mean ever endeavoring to bring about a sense
or instinct of that harmonious equilibrium, which we call Full
Satisfaction, Complete Contentment, Absolute Happiness.
Now the question may be asked: Why is this universal quest for
happiness? How is it that every man or woman or child is every minute
seeking some sort of happiness or other? The Hindoo sages have answered
this question to the satisfaction of all intelligent human beings. Why
is this eternal search for happiness?
That answer is: Because the whole universe, of which we are parts, has
come out of that Eternal Abode of Happiness, called Bliss, where it had
dwelt before creation, like a tree in a seed, and the memory of which
dwells still in the inner consciousness of all created beings, though it
has dropped out of their outer consciousness.
That abode of happiness is called the Abode of Absolute Love; the Hindoo
calls it Krishna. The word Krishna, in Sanscrit, comes from the root
"karsha"—to draw. Krishna means that which draws us to Itself; and what
in the world draws us all more powerfully than Love? It is the
"gravitation" of the modern scientist. It is the one source and
substance of all magnetism, of all attraction; and when that love is
absolutely pure, its power to draw is absolute, too.
In seeking even material Pleasure or happiness through life we are ever
seeking this Absolute Bliss, only most of us do not know it. The man who
devotes his heart and soul to acquiring wealth is, in fact, but striving
to attain this blissful state. For what does the would-be millionaire
work to make the million but to secure pleasure, the pleasure of good
eating, good drinking, good living, good enjoyment—to be happy? He makes
the million; but the happiness which he secures, by securing the means
of pleasure and by enjoying the pleasures themselves, is not complete.
He still feels some void in that happiness, something still wanting in
those pleasures to make him fully happy. He therefore piles up more
millions, he plunges into newer pleasures, he leaves no stone unturned
to find the material objects which will add to his pleasure; and when he
has secured all these objects and enjoyed them, he finds himself exactly
at the same place where he was before—there is something still wanting
to make him completely happy. Finding no newer objects which are likely
to add to his happiness, he occupies himself by enjoying what he has
already enjoyed over and over again; that is to say, he goes over again
the same round of pleasures to delude himself into the belief that that
is the best happiness allowed to mortal man.
But the delusion is temporary and far from complete. The longing, the
search for something still wanting, is present all through that
delusion—something unknown, but which he thinks he might know and
recognize, if he once found it. But, alas, he does not!
Poor Man! He does not know the secret of true happiness, the happiness
which is complete in itself, which never ends, which, once secured,
never falls short or vanishes, which flows from within the heart through
all the channels of the body, out through the pores of it in a continual
stream of ecstasy. He does not know that this thing, this unending
happiness, is not to be found in material objects; that it cannot be
secured by the means or by the instincts of the physical senses, which
cognize only material objects.
And why? Why is it that material objects fail to give us that true and
absolute happiness, fail to satisfy the hunger of the yearning human
heart for that unknown something which it feels somehow must exist, but
which ever eludes its ken and quest, and which, alas! it does not
realize that it once knew, that it once owned by right of heritage?
The answer is simple, and ought to be convincing to every thoughtful
mind. The answer is: Because material objects are changeful in their
nature and principle; because, being nothing but forms of changefulness,
they do not possess this permanent, this unchangeable happiness, to give
it to those who seek to derive it from them. An object whose very
principle is changefulness can afford nothing which is not changeful in
its nature. All the pleasures, therefore, that we derive from material
objects must necessarily be changeful, which means short-lived,
pleasures of short duration, broken pleasure, distinguished by the
Hindoos from unbroken pleasure, which, because of its unbrokenness and
ecstatic taste, ceases to be called pleasure and assumes the name of
Bliss.
The question now arises, where is this true happiness to be found, if it
cannot be found in material objects? Some modern scientists call this
unbroken happiness a delusion and a snare of credulous humanity. Modern
science has done much, has done wonders in this Western world. None but
a fool will deny the glory of its brilliant achievements. But even among
those who admire the wonderful progress of modern science, if there be
one who fails to find anything in these products of science which is in
any way likely to contribute towards the attainment of contentment by
the human mind, that person need not necessarily be a fool. Modern
science has excited our wonder, but has failed to make us either
contented or happy—contentment and happiness, which are our eternal
quest, the one object of our life, the one goal to which all creation is
running in a blindfolded race. It should rather be claimed for modern
science that it has made its followers outward-looking. It has produced
conveniences and comforts of life, which have made all people hanker for
them; and many, failing to secure them, make themselves discontented and
unhappy. Modern science, in a word, has served only to put obstacles in
the way of our attempt to realize that one object of our
existence—contentment, which affords true happiness.
This leads me to repeat what I have just said, that no true or
all-satisfying permanent happiness can be found in material objects, and
hence the failure of material scientists to make humanity either
contented or happy.
Where is, then, this happiness to be found?
The answer is: Within ourselves. It cannot be found in anything outside
of ourselves. This continual stream of happiness is flowing at all times
from our heart of hearts all through our body, but we cannot perceive
it, or feel it, because our mind has been covered by the clouds formed
out of our hankerings for material objects. Our desire for material
pleasures is the only veil that shrouds this fountain of true happiness
from our mental vision.
But if our desires for material enjoyments be carefully and
intelligently analyzed, we can arrive at only one conclusion, and that
is that in hankering for material pleasures we are in fact practically
hunting for that happiness which, once attained, is ever full, ever
satisfying; which, once enjoyed, lays all hankerings for material
enjoyments forever at rest. The fact of our material possessions and
enjoyments ever leaving within us a wish, more or less pronounced, for
something still more enjoyable, still more pleasurable, is the most
indirectly direct proof that we are in quest of something which material
objects cannot supply; and the fact of this quest being present in all
human souls, in all their thoughts and actions at all times forces us to
the irresistible conclusion that we once knew or had a taste of the
thing we all are eternally searching for; and that, having lost it, we
are ever endeavoring to regain it, its absence having rendered us as
unhappy and restless as a fish out of its element.
This lost object, this once enjoyed state of the human soul, now absent
but ever longed for, is—Krishna.
It is Krishna—Perfect State of Love or Bliss—that is ever drawing us to
Itself. This Krishna was once our home, when this creation, of which we
form but atoms, slept for aeons unnumbered in the bosom of Krishna,
forming but a part of His will. When those unnumbered aeons were
numbered, after these atoms of creation had slept for enough time to
rest themselves in that bosom of Absolute Bliss, they were thrust out of
that realm into space, to form a universe.
They first manifested themselves as Universal Consciousness, which,
wanting to be conscious of something, developed into Ego, and Ego
developed into the Mind, as no Ego is possible without the faculty of
thought, which is the Mind's function. And as thoughts are not possible
without objects to think upon, the five fine objects, namely: Sound,
Touch, Form, Taste and Smell, came into existence, along with their
gross counterparts and compounds, I mean the five elements, namely,
Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth; while the Mind's channels of
communication with these fine and gross forms of matter were developed
simultaneously, namely, the five Cognizing Senses: Power of Seeing,
(eye), Power of Hearing (ear), Power of Smelling (nose), Power of
Tasting (tongue), Power of Feeling (skin), with the five Working Senses,
namely, Power of Speaking (vocal organs), Power of Holding (hands),
Power of Moving (feet). Power of Excreting and Power of Generating.
Thus from Krishna to earth, Krishna's Will took twenty-four steps to
assume the form of the universe, and myriad steps more to divide the
universe into earth, heaven, stars, planets, sun and moon, man and beast
and bird; trees and shrubs and grass; mountains and rivers, which go to
make it up.
But every particle of this cosmos is conscious, directly or indirectly,
in every point, of the home that it has left, the absolute state of
Bliss it once has soaked in, the incomparable nectar which it has once
tasted. Yes, that memory endures; the memory of that Love Absolute is
the cause of all discontent, of all dissatisfaction, of all strife and
effort, of all ambition and achievement. It is the cause as well of
every philosophy and transcendental thought, of moral and spiritual
uplifting, and of developing the human into the Divine.
From Krishna have we all come and Krishnaward are we all tending. And
all our actions, good, bad or indifferent, are but the feeble steps with
which we are all endeavoring to cover the journey back to Krishna—our
Home, Sweet Home!—our ever-loved Home, from which we have come away as
sorry truants and to which the needle of our soul ever trembles,
pointing to us the forgotten path, by which we fled from and by which we
are again to return to that Home—Sree Krishna!
GOD IS FORMLESS AND HAS A FORM.
Thus Krishna is the object we are all seeking through every wish and
every act; every moment of our existence we are seeking Krishna. He is
the interest which makes life interesting, the one interest which makes
life worth living. He is the element of sweetness in the grossest
pleasure. He is the highest beatitude which the purest souls attain to.
The lover of good eating cannot keep on eating forever to sustain the
pleasure that good eating produces; if he did, he would die. The
sensation of eating endures as long as the food is on the palate; but
the mind alone is the enjoyer of that sensation. The mind alone,
likewise, enjoys the pleasure of intoxication, which the dryest and
highest priced champagne can afford. A little while and the pleasure of
the daintiest of food and the most delicious of drinks is over, giving
place to the pain of its loss and the restlessness in the search again
for such pleasure!
The man who has solved the mystery of true pleasure that needs no
re-eating and re-drinking to keep itself up, does not seek to find it in
any food, or in any drink, or in any form or means of material
enjoyments, knowing that it is the mind alone, affected by material
objects, that cognizes pleasure or pain. The pleasure or pain which the
mind feels on being brought into contact with the thought or influence
of material objects is derived from those objects themselves; and so
long as the mind is habituated to draw pleasure from such objects it
cannot but come in for some sorrow, too, for objective pleasure is
short-lived, and its cessation is sorrow in the least pronounced sense.
But we all want only pleasure or happiness; we hate pain or sorrow in
any shape. If that is true, and nobody can say it is not, then what we
practically want is eternal, unending pleasure; but we seek to find it
in objects whose very constituents partake of changeful materials born
more of pain than of pleasure.
If we can make the mind dwell upon some object which is eternally lovely
and lovable, nay, even if we can imagine such an object, mentally create
such an ideal object, and concentrate our mind exclusively upon it, then
we can have a taste of that unending happiness which we all are seeking
in vain to find in material objects. Then, dwelling on this Changeless
Idea, the restless mind becomes fixed and calm; and calmness of mind
being happiness, the mind is thus made happy by itself. Then it has
known that happiness lies within itself, and within means independent of
any concern with outside objects; then it finds that the coarsest meal
gives as much pleasure as the daintiest of dinners, and that Adam's Ale
is a more delicious drink than the highest-priced champagne. It has then
learned to drink the champagne of the soul, the least taste of which
makes one think the taste of the most delicious wine and food to be all
tasteless.
But from such transcendental nonsense, as the materialist would call it,
let us come down for awhile to analyze matter, the God of the
materialist. Let us for awhile examine the making and the mechanism of
the universe, and try to trace in the grossest matter the existence of
this Perfect Love or Happiness.
I have already told you of the making of the universe, that it is made
up of twenty-four principles; namely, Love, Universal Consciousness,
Ego, Mind, the Ten Senses, the Five Objects and the Five Elements. I
have also told you very briefly the process of creation from Love to
earth. I need now tell you that every succeeding principle, as it is
developed, contains the preceding principle or principles. A grain or
earth therefore is as good as the whole universe in regard to its
composition. There is but this difference between the universe and an
atom of it, that in the universe all the passages of its twenty-four
principles are fully opened, while in the atom all these passages are
closed. But motion is the principal law of creation, of all creation, as
every particle of it is ever moving in the form of change. The atom of
earth, which is the smallest form of moving manifestation of Love
through finer and grosser matter, moves backward now through grosser and
then through finer forms of love-manifestations into the Ocean of Love
again, from which it had originally started.
The process of this backward motion of material atom is the opening of
the passages of its composing principles through repeated
reincarnations. To develop from a grain of earth into a blade of grass
is the first step, in which only one passage, that of Feeling, is
opened. The blade of grass draws by the opening of this passage juice
from the earth for its sustenance. Upward through myriad forms of
life—shrubs, plants, vegetables, trees, lower animals, etc.—that atom
travels, to develop into the first savage man, in whom the principle
called Mind is for the first time opened, and along with it are opened
the passages of Ego and Intelligence (called Intellect in individual
souls); for all these three principles are close co-workers.
The most important stage of evolution is man himself, for in man alone
are the passages of all these twenty-four principles more or less open.
And hence it is that man is called the miniature universe. From savage
man to civilized man, from civilized man to religious man, from
religious man to spiritual man, from spiritual man to perfect, all
loveful man, the process involves again innumerable incarnations. It is
the perfect, all-loveful man, that reaches the original starting point
and merges in the Ocean of Love called Krishna.
I am now about to put before you a proposition which at first sight may
perhaps shock you; but I assure you that, if you can manage to get over
the first shock, by the aid of an open mind and calm consideration, you
may find that proposition to contain the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. My proposition is this: If this "formful"
universe—if that word may be allowed—formful in every detail, has come
out of God, or Krishna, or Love, can it be possible that that Source of
the universe is perfectly formless? If formless, whence have these
form-manifestations of that formless Deity come? How can forms come out
of anything void of all forms? That is a hard nut to crack for Western
theologians; while material scientists do not care to call that a nut at
all, for they have learned to see nothing beyond matter.
I want you to think over this question with a view to draw the right
deduction. Meanwhile, I beg to submit a few suggestions which may be of
help in drawing these deductions. Forms coming out of anything formless
is as absurd to common sense as it is to higher, otherwise called
divine, or spiritual science. Therefore the producing cause of the
universe, the first principle, is not formless, but has a Form. It has
even a form like the form of a man, a form most perfect in every
feature, a form of which the most exquisitely beautiful and divine human
form is but a coarse, crude counterpart. Man has been made after the
image of his Maker, says the Bible. The idea has been borrowed from the
Hindoo scriptures, which in their principles are nothing if not
scientific in propounding principles.
The Veda says that the Supreme Deity is both formless and with form at
the same time. Just as the sun in its orb is the concrete centre of its
abstract, infinite self in its manifestation of light and heat, so is
the Supreme Deity, of which the sun is but a physical reflection, the
Concrete Centre of His Abstract Infinite Self of His Effulgence, called
Love, which pervades the whole universe and all space, as the basic
principle of all Existence.
As the sun (the orb) taken together with its light and heat should be
called the sun, and not the mere orb should be called the sun; so
Krishna, the Supreme Deity, should be taken together with His Central
Form and His All-Pervading Effulgence— Love—to be called Krishna. It
will be as wrong to regard the orb only as the sun, that is, the orb
minus its effulgence and heat, to be the sun, as to regard this Form of
Krishna (the Centre of Himself) minus the effulgence—all-pervading
Love—to be Krishna. Thus Krishna, like His physical light-reflection,
the sun, is Infinite, even though He has a finite-looking Form-Centre.
The fear entertained by most people in the West, that the form carries
with it an idea of finiteness, is not true in regard to Krishna's Form.
Not only is Krishna Infinite in His effulgence, but the Image of his
Central Form dwells in every particle of that effulgence, called Love.
Besides, nothing in this universe is finite.
I shall, in succeeding pages, try to prove to you the fact that the
Supreme Being has a concrete-looking Form-Centre, for two reasons. One
is to support the proposition that no form can come out of anything
formless, and the other is that all forms in creation, from a blade of
grass to a divine man, are more or less imperfect manifestations of the
Central Form from which they have sprung. From the blade of grass
upward, the process of evolution discovers more and more outward
resemblance and inward affinity to the Form and attributes of the Author
of the universe. Hence it is true that man is made in the Image of his
Maker.
In the upward evolution of the man-form, the refinement of mental,
moral, intellectual and spiritual attributes contributes more and more
towards the man-form being made a more and more perfect image of his
Maker, both externally and internally.
Krishna in Form and in Love-Effulgence is present as much in a grain of
earth, in a blade of grass, in a beast, as in man. Only that Form is
more or less covered in the lower life-forms, on account of many of the
composing principles of their bodies being unopened; while in the man,
all the principles being opened, the man-form looks more like the form
of God. Some people refuse to believe that the Supreme Deity has a form
like that of man, because God, with a human form would be lowered in
their estimation. These devout people forget that the human form is but
an imperfect picture of God's form, instead of God's form being a copy
of the human form. So God need not take the trouble of assuming an
imperfect reflection of His own Perfect Form.
Dear Reader! Some of you may say that it is foolishness and temerity on
my part to try to prove that God has a Form before people who are in the
vanguard of civilization, and many of whom think that the very idea of
God is but a diseased fancy of weak humanity. Yet, for all that, I do
preach a Form-God along with a Formless God with all the boldness my
ancient, truly scientific conviction commands, because that boldness is
backed by truth, the only Truth.
You here in this country are all of you great lovers and admirers of
science; you want everything to be scientific in order to be acceptable.
The food you eat, the air you breathe, the medicine you use, must be
scientifically supplied and applied. But if you want science in
everything, why do you not demand science in religion? Why is your
religion so unscientific? Forms coming out of a formless God is the most
unscientific assertion imaginable.
The root of this belief in forms coming out of the formless is buried in
the conceit which the new civilization has developed in its average
votary. People here do not care to bow in reverence to anything that has
a form, hence is a formless Deity so readily believed in. If God had a
form, they say, He would be human, and therefore not worth worshiping.
Nor do they believe in making an image of God or bowing to it. They will
bow to man; they will idolize man, but not God. Every man here idolizes
his lady-love, and every lady idolizes her lover, with more or less
abject worship. They will worship the picture of a lover or a lady-love
day and night, but they will not worship the image of God, even in a
picture. They will pay homage to a moving form of Wealth or Physical
Beauty or Sensuality, but hate to think of, much less worship, an Image
of God. They are worse idolaters than the Hindoos whom they affect to
hate as "heathens." They worship idols of money and human flesh; the
Hindoos worship idols of God. They worship material forms of mere
matter; the Hindoos worship Sanctified Forms of the Divine Spirit or Its
Attributes. Let them raise their standards of idol-worship first in
order to be worthy to talk of the purely transcendental idolatry of the
Hindoos.
The Hindoos rarely paint a picture or carve an image of a human being; a
human being is not worthy of it, except a Saint or a Gooroo (spiritual
guide); but they paint their God and make His Image, and worship it with
all internal and external homage.
We are all denounced as idolaters; but we are idolaters to-day, in spite
of all the influence of civilization and Christian bigotry brought to
bear upon us, as good idolaters today as we were ten thousand years ago.
The idols and idolatry of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt have been swept
away; but the idols of the Hindoo-God still flourish and will flourish
to the end of time, as they flourished time out of mind.
What is the reason? Whence is this extraordinary vitality of Hindoo
idolatry? Because it is not idolatry in the sense it is understood by
"civilized" Westerners. We worship the images of the
attribute-manifestations of the ONE God, of the ONE Deity, of the ONE
Supreme Being, who pervades the universe, who originally is with Form
and Formless at the same time. We worship Krishna, above all, in His
Image as He manifested Himself and walked on earth among men 5,000 years
ago; Krishna, whose miraculous deeds of love, power and valor no
incarnation, either in the West or in the East, ever could enact or even
imitate, before His time or even after His ascension to Heaven, up to
to-day. We love this Krishna, the Seed and Soul of the Universe, the
Basic Principle of creation; we believe in Him and in the potency of His
Name.
Love Him, dear Reader, because He loves you more than anyone you meet
here on earth.
My Krishna bless you all!
SECTION I. THE CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT GOD.
See you that sun, Beloved Reader, shining radiant in the blue space
above? Ancients worshipped it as a god, and the Hindoos, the most
ancient of all peoples, worship the sun as a god still. With joined
hands filled with flowers and water and trembling with homage, the
Hindoos daily pray to this "Outer Eye of the Deity," this parent of all
light and Nature. "O Thou Parent of the Three Worlds! I meditate upon
thy power divine which directs my intelligence!" prays the Brāhman
morning, noon and evening, as he bows in all reverence.
This sun is the physical expression of the Spiritual Sun, Krishna. As
the sun (the orb) is the concrete centre of its abstract self, in its
diffused manifestation of light and heat which pervades the universe, so
this, the Spiritual Sun, Krishna, the Source of the sun, is the concrete
centre of the diffused effulgence of His Body which pervades even the
sunlight and its heat. Krishna has a Form, a Form of which the most
exquisite human form is but a crude counterpart. The effulgence of
Krishna's Body is the substance of all space and creation. This
Effulgence-Krishna, with Form-Krishna for its centre, from which it
radiates—is Love.
As the physical sun's effulgence embodies or is co-existent with heat,
so the Spiritual Sun's effulgence embodies and is co-existent with
Intelligence. This co-existent Absolute Love and Absolute Intelligence
forms the Being of this Creation. Krishna is, therefore, called the
embodiment of Being, Intelligence and Bliss, or Life, Truth and Love.
Every particle of this radiance of Krishna's Form-Body is not only
instinct with these three attributes in one, but has within it the germ
of Krishna's Form and Power.
The belief that the First Cause of the universe has no form, is based
partly on error of its conception and upon ignorance of the laws of
Nature. It is a delusion to think that all forms are human, material,
and finite, and that to acknowledge that this Supreme Being has a form
is to take away from Him His absolute divinity, spirituality and
infinity.
That which is not in the seed cannot appear in the tree which comes out
of it, says an aphorism of the Vedānta philosophy. This being an
undeniable truth, even from a common sense standpoint, it may be asked:
If God is formless, and if that formless, abstract God be the source
from which the universe has come, then how can that creation contain any
form? If man's creator is formless, to put the question in another way,
wherefrom has He His form? If God has no form, then He can have no idea
of form, and having no idea of form, how can He then create form, for
creation is but expansion of Idea.
Creation has sprung from God's will, says the Holy Bible, as also the
Veda. These tell us—and both the Christians and the Hindoos are agreed
on this point—that God has a Will. What is will? It is but the function
or attribute of the mind. Just as where there is no fire there can be no
smoke, so where there is no mind there can be no will. Once we admit
that God has a will, we cannot escape admitting that He has a mind, the
function of which—will—He exercised in order to create the universe.
Now then, it being established that God has a mind, the question may be
asked: Is that mind encased in a body? If so, what sort of a body is it?
Is it physical; that is to say, is it formed of the same material of
which the human body is made? Or is it a body made of abstract spirit?
This is not possible, for mind is defined by the Vedas to be that
principle within us which has the power of willing and non-willing.
Scientists and modern philosophers define mind with practically the same
purport. This vibration of the mind, willing and non-willing, is brought
about or induced by the reflections cast upon if by external or internal
objects, through its channels of communication, the five cognizing
senses, the physical counterparts of which are the Eye, the Ear, the
Nose, the Palate and the Skin, which cognize respectively Form, Sound,
Smell, Taste and Touch, under which five heads the Vedas have classified
all forms of matter or objects. A mind without these five channels
cannot exist, for, having no channels, it receives no impressions of
objects, and has therefore no chance of either willing or non-willing,
which is its attribute and its only substance and composition.
Once we acknowledge that God has a mind, we cannot help acknowledging
these channels of that mind, the five senses. God has therefore not only
a mind, but the Power of Seeing (eye), the Power of Hearing (ear), the
Power of Smelling (nose), the Power of Tasting (palate), and the Power
of Feeling (skin). The mind has also five other powers called its
working senses; viz., the Power of Speaking, the Power of Holding, the
Power of Moving, the Power of Excreting and the Power of Generating,
otherwise called the vocal organs, the hands, the feet, the excretory
organ and the generating organ. Thus God, possessing a mind, is bound to
possess the ten senses, without which the mind cannot act, and inaction
of the mind is its destruction or non-existence. God, having a mind, has
to have an Ego, too, for mind is but a product or channel of the Ego,
which means I-ness or Self-Consciousness. So that God has all the
principles of which man is formed, once it is admitted that God has a
mind. And there is no sane man who can deny to God the possession of a
mind of which the universe is the design and creation of which man is
but a tiny part.
The Christian Bible says that God has made man in His own image, which
means that man is the reflection, more or less imperfect, of God. Is it
then possible that what is not in the original is present in the
reflection? If the human soul, according to this scriptural saying, is a
reflection (image) of the Deity, has not that Deity a mind and body, as
Its reflection, the human soul, has?
The answer is: It has, only the Divine Mind, being consummately pure in
its state and perfect in its working, is absolutely powerful to create,
preserve and destroy; and the Body in which the Divine Mind is encased
is composed of a substance not of any material make.
But what does this Body of God look like? Is it like a human body? The
answer is: Yes, but of a perfection of shape, symmetry and beauty, with
which no human body can be compared; it is the Original Body, of which
the human body is a poor imitation.
The question will be asked: Has God then as good a finite body as any of
us? The answer is; NO, in capital letters. God's Body is no more finite
than the human body is. There is nothing in Nature which is finite, not
even a blade of grass, or the tiniest speck of earth.
All is infinite—all that you see around you, or perceive within you.
There is no such word as finite in the dictionary of Nature, in the
lexicon of Creation. All, all that looks ever so small and circumscribed
to the fleshly eye of ignorance, is vast and endless to the eye of
spiritual wisdom. All that to the physical sight is limited in shape and
life is before the vision of the soulful student of Creation's
mysterious laws limitless beyond grasp.
Take a grain of earth, and try to trace its origin by the light of the
discoveries made by sages who probed into the inmost depths of Nature
with the needle of pure spiritual concentration, and you will find that
that grain of earth has sprung from Water, Water from Fire, Fire from
Air, Air from Ether, and Ether from Sound, Sound from Mind in its effort
to cognize outside of it objects projecting from within itself, Mind
from Ego, Ego from Consciousness, and Consciousness from the Infinite
Love-ocean, the basic principle of Creation.
Can you call this grain of earth finite by any means or chance,
especially when you come to know the mysterious laws by which that grain
of earth develops into a blade of grass, and then, through myriads of
reincarnations of different life-forms, goes back and merges into the
Ocean of Love, from which it had originally sprung?
From Love to earth and from earth to Love, thus is made up the circle of
creation, and every point in its circumference is but a moving phase of
the Infinite in manifestation, Man being but a stage in the upward
evolution of the atom or a particle of earth, and his soul being a part
of the Universal Soul—a wavelet of the Love-Ocean—he is as immense in
every way as the universe itself, as infinite as the Essense of
Infinity. His form is but the centre of his abstract Self, called Soul.
This form is concrete-looking, but it is so only to the circumscribed
vision of the fleshly eye of ignorance.
The body of the Supreme Deity, Krishna's Body, is concrete-looking like
man's, but infinite in the expansion of its Radiance or Real Self, just
as, to repeat the simile, the orb of the sun is the concrete-looking
centre of its abstract Self in the manifestation of its light and heat.
The orb, its radiance and its heat must altogether be called the sun,
and not the orb alone. Krishna, the spiritual Soul of the sun as well as
of the Universe, has likewise a Form-centre, from which radiates to
limitless Infinity His effulgence called Absolute Love, which pervades
all creation and space.
This body of Krishna, the Parent Cause of the universe, is made up of
concentrated Absolute Love, and is the Home of the Very Finest Ideas
(potencies) of the sense-principles and the Ego, Mind and Intellect,
which form the main factors of Creation.
The Beauty of the Body of Krishna changes, like the shifting colors in a
kaleidoscope, into more and more soul-entrancing loveliness at every
second, for it reflects the concentrated Beauty and Sweetness of the
whole universe, charms warring with charms for supremacy—bubbling foam
and froth of the Sweetness of the Nectar of Love.
SECTION II. THE SCIENCE OF CREATION.
It is an intelligent conclusion to draw that the imperfect
form-creations of the Creator reach a perfect stage, or centre, towards
which all imperfections converge in order to reach perfection. That
centre does exist, that stage is the stage by the standard of which all
imperfections of things and phases in Nature are known and judged. That
centre is the Supreme God Himself—Krishna.
Krishna, both Concrete and Abstract, has three main spiritual
attributes: Love, Intelligence and Life. Love is the first attribute and
the cause of the two others. As the sun (the orb) and its effulgence, to
once more repeat the analogy, are one and the same thing, as the flame
and its light are one and the same thing, as without the sun there can
be no sunshine, as without the flame there can be no light; in other
words, as light is inseparable from both the sun and the flame, so
Krishna, though He has a form as finite-looking as a human form, is not
only infinite in His All-pervading Radiance, but that Radiance is
inseparable from his finite-looking Form-Centre. As sunshine, again, is
inseparable from heat, so the effulgence of Krishna's Central Self is
inseparable from Intelligence. This Universal All-pervading
Intelligence, again, is inseparable from Existence or Being, otherwise
called Life. These three Absolute Spiritual Attributes form Krishna's
body, both Concrete and Abstract.
Thus both the Concrete and the Abstract Krishna are the embodiment of
Bliss, Intelligence and Being, which are co-existent and
inter-penetrating. Before Creation, then, there was nothing but this
Krishna—the three Absolute Spiritual Attributes in one substance, so to
speak; for Krishna or Para-Brahm cannot be called substance, and yet
there is no word to indicate it. As mosses formed out of water float on
the surface of that water, soaking in it, so does Creation, springing
out of this Bliss, Intelligence and Being (the All-pervading Abstract
Self of Krishna), float, soaking in it.
Let us try to understand the mystery of the birth of this
ever-changeful, material Creation from its eternally Unchangeable
Parent, the Concrete and Infinite Krishna. I have already said how every
atom of this Creation is composed of all the twenty-four principles, and
how in its backward motion to return to the First or Primal
Principle—that atom opens one by one the passages of these principles;
and how, when it develops into man-stage after passing through
innumerable life-forms in the course of its evolution, it opens the
passages of all the principles more or less. It is the opening of these
passages of all of its composing principles, in the man-stage of the
atom, that makes it fit to be called a miniature universe; for through
these openings it communicates more or less freely with the
all-pervading principles of the universe. The more developed this
man-stage becomes (that is to say, the clearer the openings of these
passages), the more correct an index it is of the inner laws and
workings of the great universe.
Because man has the whole universe within himself just as an acorn has
the whole oak tree in potency dwelling within it, therefore he can, by
diving deep within himself, find out the mysteries of the producing
Source, Being and Processes of working of the universe.
If we think on the process of the development of a tree from a seed, we
will find that process as marvelous as the most marvelous phenomena of
nature. Indeed, this process of the birth of a tree out of a seed is the
process, in miniature, of the birth of the universe out of Krishna-Love.
This process of Creation is being repeated every moment throughout
Creation itself. The laws of production and destruction, formation and
disintegration are the same in scientific exactitude as those which
produce and form, and destroy and disintegrate the universe. The
operation of these laws is going on as much in the inner as in this
outer world of ours—as constantly on the mental plane as on the
physical. The law which brings forth a tree out of a seed is exactly the
same as that which, in a finer manifestation, operates through the birth
of a thought in our mind. The rooting, the shooting, the growing, the
flowering and the fruiting of a tree is but a gross reproduction of the
process by which a thought awakes, develops and takes shape and action
within us. The stages of a thought's birth can be clearly perceived when
the mind is calm; at first there is an Unknown Feeling, then an
Indefinite Vibration, which develops into Abstract Idea. Idea develops
into Thought, and Thought becomes action.
Out of Krishna (Love) Creation springs into existence like a thought.
Thought exists in our mind like a seed, in the shape of previous
impressions of objects and ideas; so the seed of creation lies in the
bosom of Krishna, in the shape of impressions of ideas of previous
Creations. This seed or germ is made up of three attributes, called
Sattwa (Illumination), Rāja (Activity or Motion), and Tama (Obscuration
or Darkness). So long as these three attributes, forming the essence of
the germ, are in equilibrium, that is to say, are of equal degree or
force or intensity, Creation remains in the germ-state in the bosom of
its First Cause (Krishna). But the moment there is the least tendency of
any of these attributes of this germ-essence to fall out of equilibrium
with the other two, that is to say, when one becomes more powerful than
the others, then they start out of the Central Self—Krishna, encased in
another form, almost like unto the Krishna-Form, a state which is
analogous to the Unknown-Feeling state in the development of human
thought.
This state is called Vāsudeva, which again has a form-centre of its
abstract self-radiance, pervading all space. It is the least pronounced
state or stage of differentiation induced by the tendency of loss of
equilibrium in the even forces of the three Cardinal Attributes (Gunas),
illumination, motion and obscuration. The second stage, called
Sankarsana, analogous to the Indefinite-Vibration stage of the
development of thought, has again a form-centre of its all-pervading
abstract self-radiance. This Sankarsana is the Unconscious Cause of
Creation. The third stage, called Pradyumna, analogous to the
Abstract-Idea stage of thought, has likewise a form-centre of its
all-pervading abstract Self-radiance. This is the Semi-Conscious Cause
of Creation; and from this develops the fourth stage, called Aniruddha,
which is analogous to the full-developed Thought-stage and is the Full
Conscious Cause of Creation. This Aniruddha is called Vishnoo or
Nārāyan, from nār (water), and ayan (bed), because he floats on his back
on the water of Love-life, while out of his navel springs a gigantic
lotus—a figurative expression, meaning the Universe in bud—in which is
encased the sleeping Brahmā, the operating Creator, with the germ of
Creation dwelling within his mind and about to shoot forth.
In Aniruddha the real stage of inequilibrium of the Attributes (Gunas)
develops, and in Brahmā it assumes full development. With the opening of
the petals of the Mystic Love-lotus, Brahmā awakes from his sleep (deep
trance state), and, unable for a moment to understand the meaning of the
Lotus-bed or the Water of Life around (just as a man suddenly roused out
of sleep is dazed and forgets to think and therefore feels stupid for
the moment), he goes down through the hollow of the Lotus-stalk in order
to find out the bottom of the Lotus. He goes down, down, down, and at
last finds its depths unending, bottomless. He therefore comes up to the
surface again and sits down mystified, when he suddenly hears a voice
from the water, as it were, saying: "Tapa, tapa, tapa!" which means,
"Meditate, meditate, meditate!" With the sound of that word the meaning
becomes apparent to Brahmā. It means: "Why art thou looking outward?
Look inward and thou shalt know." Whereupon his eyes involuntarily
close, and his mind becomes concentrated inward. Then he sees before his
mental vision Aniruddha (Vishnoo) appear and say: "O Awakened One! know
and remember that thou art Brahmā, the Creator." At the very suggestion
he finds out his own self and exclaims: "Oh, yes! I am Brahmā." Then
Vishnoo again says: "Thou hast now to create the universe."
"Oh, yes!" he exclaims, as the memory of his function springs within
him, "I am to create the universe; but how?"
"By meditating upon the former creation. As the memory of past creation,
which dwells within thee, shall awake, creation will begin."
With hearing begins action; and as Brahmā concentrates his mind upon his
former creation, its memory in time flashes through him, and with the
flashing of that memory creation manifests itself, in the shape of
earth, and sky, and trees, and grass, and ocean, and rivers, and in time
beast, and bird, and man, all complete. Just as a master painter first
designs a picture in his mind and reproduces that design upon the
canvas, even so is the picture of creation produced upon the canvas of
Love-life. Only the painter Brahmā paints with the brush of his
all-powerful mind-force, which, the moment the design forms in his mind,
is materialized into living substance.
SECTION III. THE STEPS OF CREATION.
The Veda says that the universe is like a tree; that is to say, it is a
tree, the roots of which are embedded in the unmanifested First
Cause—Krishna. Aniruddha is the seed, and Brahmā is the first sprout.
This analogy between the seed and the sprout, between Aniruddha (also
called Vishnoo and Nārāyan) and Brahmā seems so perfect that it
justifies the conclusion that the process of the birth of a plant is
only an imitation of the process through which the universe springs into
being.
As in the germination of a seed two lobes, called cotyledons, which form
part of the seed, come out prior to the appearance of the stem which
shoots forth between them, so out of the navel of Nārāyan (Aniruddha)
first appear two cotyledons, called "Lotus" in the figurative language
of the Veda, and between the cotyledons, sprouts forth the stem in the
shape of Brahmā, who is the miniature embodiment of the universe.
Before Brahmā was born, Nārāyan created Universal Consciousness, which
was but the manifestation of his own Consciousness (called Mahat, which
means Immeasureable). Out of Consciousness sprang Ego (Ahankāra). Out of
Ego sprang Mind. Out of Mind sprang Ether (Akasha). From Ether sprang
Water. Out of the friction of Ether and Water sprang Air. This Air,
rising up from the ocean of Water with great noise, created, by its
friction with Water, flames of Fire, illumining all space. This Fire
became mixed up, by the cohesive attribute of Air, with Water and Ether,
and all four elements became one thickened, molten mass; and as it rose
upward the liquid substance which issued from it became solidified and
cooled in process of time and formed into Earth.
Then the Lotus (cotyledons) sprang forth from the navel (Sanscrit,
Nāvee, middle) of Nārāyan, and within them Brahmā (the stem) shot forth.
His body was made of the Five Elements and Consciousness, Mind and Ego.
He is also said to be the central form-embodiment of Ego (Ahankāra).
Brahmā is but the creative form-potency of Nārāyan. When Nārāyan bade
him to meditate upon his former creation, and told him also that the
moment that memory of former creation would awake within him creation
would begin, Brahmā meditated as he was told, and creation began as that
memory of the past creation flashed within him.
Thus it will be seen that Nārāyan (Aniruddha) is the real Creator. He
creates at first the eight main, abstract and concrete principles; viz.,
Consciousness, Ego, Mind, and the five elements—Ether, Air, Fire, Water
and Earth, After the creation of these was created the first concrete
form, Brahmā, who was to create the details of Creation. But even these
creations were not the product of the arbitrary will of Nārāyan, though
their expressions were subject to his will or mediumship. The seed-bud
of creation dwelt in the most mysteriously abstract state within Krishna
(Absolute Love), a state so similar to that First Principle that it
would enter and merge itself in it If we cut a seed in halves, we find
in it not even a suggestion of the tree of which it is the seed; but if
we plant it in the soil, the rudimentary form of the tree's organism,
called the germ, asserts itself and creates its state of differentiation
from its original state of homogeneity. So from the tendency of the
least inequilibrium of the forces of the three Cardinal Attributes,
Sattwa, Rāja, Tama (which, having formerly attained equality of force,
have lost their different individualities and have become merged and
transformed into Pure Sattwa—Illumination) springs the germ-state of
Creation, and, passing through its three stages; viz., Vāsudeva,
Sankarsana and Pradyumna, reaches its fourth stage, called Aniruddha,
where, having attained further development, it sprouts forth into
Brahmā, the first visible miniature embodiment of the universe.
As out of the tiny but potent shoot of the plant from the seed, the
details of the tree, viz., trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit,
spring forth to attain its full-grown state, so out of its minute but
potent shoot, the details of the universe, viz., earth, heaven, sun,
moon, stars, day, night, mountains, rivers, vegetation, spiritual
beings, animals, men, etc., spring forth to attain its complete form.
The manifestation of Universal Consciousness (Mahat) is called the First
Step of Creation. The birth of Ego (Ahankāra) out of Consciousness is
called the Second Step of Creation; that of Mind from Ego is the Third
Step; that of the Five Elements—Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth from
Mind is the Fourth Step; that of the Five Attributes of the
Elements—Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and Smell—from the Elements is the
Fifth Step; that of the Five Cognizing Senses—Seeing, Hearing, Smelling,
Tasting, Feeling—out of these Five Attributes (also called Objects) is
the Sixth Step; that of the Five Working Senses—Speaking, Holding,
Moving, Excreting, Generating—from the Five Elements is the Seventh
Step; that of gods and aerial, invisible beings is the Eighth Step; that
of trees and plants and shrubs and grass and all other vegetation, as
also that of the wild animals and birds, is the Ninth Step; that of
domestic animals and men and women is the Tenth Step.
These steps or series of Creation have developed between long intervals.
These are called purely Natural Creations through the instrumentality of
the mind-force of Aniruddha (Nārāyan) and Brahmā.
SECTION IV. THE CYCLIC MOTION OF CHANGES.
The Veda says that when the three Cardinal Attributes, by losing this
equipoise of force, sprang into being, and leaving the bosom of Krishna
(Absolute Love) passed through the three stages of their development,
viz., Vāsudeva, Sankarsana and Pradyumna, they brought with them a
vibration from Krishna which found expression in Aniruddha, who
exclaimed as he awoke from trance-sleep, as it were: "I am One, I wish
to be the Many." This Divine Will manifested itself into the Universe in
the manner described in the previous section.
From the One—Love—the motion of manifestation of Creation has therefore
been towards manifoldness. From One—Love—the Principles sprang one by
one, and where there was only One, there were twenty-four. The details
of Creation sustained this process of manifoldness, and motion gradually
increased in speed, manifesting varieties, until now that increased
motion manifests that Will in millions of phases within every second of
time.
This motion of manifestations or changes is like the surface of a
troubled ocean, where heaving billows innumerable, crested with foam,
cover countless living beings. The current of creative changes is mixed
with and fed by, and dashes against, the opposite current of
involutionary changes. The moment the last Principle of the
Universe—Earth—was created, it had the tendency to go back to the First
Source of Creation. But, unable to force its way back through the
channel by which it sprang, owing to the rush of creative current, it
found a circuitous channel by which its composing molecules started on
their way back. As has already been said, and will be fully explained in
detail in a separate section, the molecules have a tendency to open the
passage of their composing principles, and thus to journey back by
myriads of reincarnations through different and higher and higher
life-forms to the First Parent Principle: The current of Creation which
began with the manifestation of Universal Consciousness is still moving
on, and will move on in the shape of changes until universal
disintegration and dissolution take place. This current of creative
changes is mixed up and swelled by the opposite current of involution,
also in the shape of changes. These warring waves of action and reaction
make up the Cosmos-Ocean.
Nārāyan (Aniruddha) is the Seed-Manifestation (Will) of Krishna (the
Supreme Deity); the Universe is the Physical Manifestation (Materialized
Will-Force) of Krishna; Time is the Motion Manifestation (Process of
Working of the Will-Force) of Krishna; and the Veda is the
Sound-Manifestation (Sound-Expression of the Laws of the Will-Force) of
Krishna.
It has been shown how Nārāyan is the Seed-Manifestation and how the
Universe is the materialized Will-Force of Nārāyan and Brahmā. I will
now deal with this Motion-Manifestation—Time.
"I am One, and I wish to be the Many." The Lord was One, and the moment
He wished to appear to be the Many, then this wonderful creation of
vastness and variety sprang into existence. From the moment of the rise
of that Will in the Divine Mind down to this moment, that Will is
undergoing the process of its execution. It is a rush from the One
towards manifoldness. This process of that manifoldness is called
Creation, and the rhythm of its motion is called Time. The whole
Creation is nothing but motion of Changes. Time is nothing but the
cognition by our mind of events and ideas which are phases of changes in
internal and external Nature. If we had no notion of events and never
had an idea within ourselves, we would be in Eternity. So long as we are
conscious of the kaleidoscopic changes in us and Nature or are conscious
of their impressions on our mind, we live in Time. And the moment all
impressions of the mind are obliterated and we become, through any
process, unconscious of human and natural events, we lose all
consciousness of existence; that is to say, we go behind the veil which
enshrouds these physical phenomena, and we enter the realm which is an
undisturbed calm of Absolute Life, Light and Bliss, the Trinity which is
Eternity.
These changes in Nature and human society, starting from the beginning
of Creation, move in cycles; that is to say, they have a cyclical
process of motion. In other words, some events, natural and human, that
occur within a certain period of time, are reproduced in their principal
features in the next period of time of the same length. Creation
proceeds towards ever manifold variety at this cyclic pace.
The smallest appreciable Cycle of Nature's change-process is the Day.
Twenty-four hours, called one day, are divided into two parts, called
day and night.
One Day is a Cycle embodying natural and human events which are
reproduced in the following day, and so on. So that every day and night,
in their principal features, are but a reproduction of the previous day
and night. One day, therefore, is the smallest cycle of time or events,
for events are but the phases of natural changes, and time is but the
cognition or consciousness thereof.
The next cycle of time or events is the Month, in which two events which
occur within twenty-eight lunar days are reproduced in the next
twenty-eight lunar days. These two events are the fourteen days of
waxing and waning moon, and the bright fortnight is the day and the dark
fortnight is the night of the month.
The next larger cycle is the Year, in which the four seasons mark the
principal divisions of events and are reproduced in all years in the
self-same order, their uniform changes of weather and Nature bringing
forth fruit and crops.
In the same way these events, called Time, develop larger cycles in
which some event or other, or a series of events, are reproduced in the
-next equal length of time. There are cycles, for instance, of from 500
to 100,000 years, the phenomena of which are reproduced in the next
period of their respective proportions. But the most pronounced cycle is
called the Divine Cycle. The Sanscrit word "Diva" is the root of the
word "Divine," and "Yuga" is the original of which the word "Age" is a
corrupted form.
This Divine Age (Daiva-Yuga) is divided into four Human Ages, called
Satya, Tretā, Dwāpar and Kali. The span of this Divine Cycle is composed
of 12,000 Divine Years, and each Divine Year is equal to 360 human
years, so that 12,000 years multiplied by 360 gives us 4,320,000 human
years, which is the length of a Divine Cycle. The next bigger cycle is
called the Manwantara, which is made up of 71 Divine Cycles and is wound
up with a Deluge, in which the whole world, including the highest peaks
of the Himalayas, becomes immersed in water and remains so for the
period of 71 Divine Ages. The next larger cycle is the Kalpa, which is
made up of 14 Manwantaras, or 1,000 Divine Ages. The next cycle and the
largest is called Mahā-Pralaya, in which the whole universe is destroyed
totally, Krishna alone remaining with His Radiance, filling all space,
and 36,000 Kalpas bring about this Universal Dissolution.
Since the beginning of this Kalpa creation, six Manwantaras (Deluges)
have passed away. Since the last Deluge 27 Divine Cycles have rolled
away. This is the twenty-eighth Divine Cycle of which the first three
sections, viz., the Golden Age, the Silver Age and the Copper Age have
passed away. We are just now in the early part of the fourth section,
the Kali or Iron (Dark) Age.
SECTION V. THE GOLDEN AGE.
Creation begins with the dawn of the Satya Yuga, which is also called
the Golden Age. It is the first part and the longest section of the
Divine Age. The span of this age is 4,800 Divine years, which being
multiplied by 360 gives us 1,728,000 human years. It is the most
spiritual age, because, of the three Cardinal Attributes—Sattwa, Rāja
and Tama—which govern, and are the parents of, the composing principles
of the Universe, the Sattwa is predominant in its influence. The Sattwa
is that attribute which uncovers the true state of things without and
within us and in Nature, hence it may be called the attribute of
Illumination. Rāja is the attribute of Activity (motion of change), and
Tama is the very reverse attribute of Sattwa. It is that attribute
within us and Nature which covers the true State of things, hence it may
be called the Obscuring, darkening attribute, the Attribute of Darkness.
The Satya Yuga is called the Golden Age, because gold is very abundant
in this age of utmost spirituality, and gold is the purest and most
spiritual of all metals. The Illumination of predominant Sattwa pervades
all Nature in this age. Nature, inside and out, is full of light, almost
transparent with light—spiritual through and through. So is man, her
best product. Men and women in this age attain a spiritual depth and
height which no other age can develop. This spiritual height manifests
itself In their physical body, while the depth of their inward
spirituality shows itself in their outer life and actions. The Gulden
Age men are twenty-one cubits, or thirty-one and a half feet, in height.
This may strike us, diminutive mortals of this Kali Yuga or Iron Age, as
absurd or improbable, but it need not do so if we remember how long ago
the last Golden Age was—nearly three million years. Moreover, as they
are all of the same height, they do not think they are abnormally tall.
These men and women, owing to their high degree of spirituality, have a
perfectly healthy, harmonious and beautiful body, for spirituality is
health, harmony and beauty. They have their inner vision fully opened
and see more through their ensouled mind's eyes than through their
physical ones. They, therefore, see through Nature as through a glass.
All Nature stands revealed to them to her inmost depth wherein they see
the One Essence which pervades it, the One Spirit of which all things
within and on the surface of Nature are but different phases of its
manifestation. And in it all they find themselves as part of the same
phases, living, moving and having their being sustained by that One
Spirit which is both life and light—the One Omnipresent Spirit, the one
All-Pervading Essence—Love.
The Golden Age men and women have no garments to cover their entirely
bare body, nor do they need any. We clothe our bodies for two reasons:'
First, out of our sense of delicacy and shame because of our dark
thoughts born of improper and unnatural (sinful) actions, and secondly,
to protect our body and health from the attacks of the sun, the rain and
the changes of weather and climate. The Golden Age men have no such
reason for wearing any clothes. Their perfect spirituality admits of no
dark thought to touch their mind, for all is illumination within and
without them, while their actions are all in perfect consonance with the
purest laws of Nature, in rhythmic motion with the music of the Infinite
whose song they hear in their soul. They may be called moving
Vedas—walking wisdom and spirituality. The laws of the Veda form the
mechanism of their mind, and it is these Vedic laws that move their
limbs and prompt their words and actions. Their perfect spiritual health
is proof against the hardships of weather, or rather there is no
hardship of weather at all. The spirit of the Age pervades all Nature,
of which the weather a phase. Even Nature's forces are in perfect
harmony with one another, for harmony is the very keynote of the Age. It
is Spring, sweetest Spring season, all the year round, during night and
during day; warm enough without heat, cool enough without being cold,
breezy enough without being windy—man and beast and bird and tree and
earth and weather all are in harmony. Harmony, harmony, all is harmony
in this Blessed Age.
Man and woman have no need at all for sex life in the Golden Age. The
ecstasy of the soul with which their body and being are filled renders
it impossible for even any thought of gross fleshly pleasures to enter
their mind. The very drawing of breath is to them a pure delight which
any fleshly or objective pleasure of our day cannot dream of
approaching. Life is lived then in its veriest depth—deep down through
the mind, deeper down through the heart, deepest down in the depth of
the soul. And when life is lived in such depth, its surface is not
heeded or cared for. Such a life does not require much material
nutrition—it is nourished by the souls all-nourishing nectar.
These men and women eat very little food—fruits and roots only, and
drink milk and water, and these between long intervals. They feel very
little hunger and that little on far-between occasions. We feel hungry
because of our mind contemplating matter. All matter is changeful—matter
is nothing but collected forms of change. Its seeming substance embodies
but motion of change, so that its inmost attribute is changefulness. Our
mind concentrating on material objects absorbs its
attribute—changefulness—and is affected by it forthwith; it becomes
changeful in its turn, that is, it is rendered restless, flitting
quickly from one object to another. This changefulness of the mind is in
turn absorbed by our body, which suffers from its effects in the shape
of loss of tissue. And this loss of tissue we have to supply by food and
drink and rest and sleep. The Golden Age people do not suffer from this
loss of tissue, because their minds are always concentrated on the One
Changeless Substance, the very reflection of which through the changeful
forms of matter makes them seem steady and substantial. The little wear
and tear they suffer from, owing to looking now and then on the surface
of things, causes some little need of nutrition, which their occasional
fruit and milk meals supply.
If they need little food they also need little rest. And when they need
it, they just lie down on the cool carpet of the fragrant grass, for
they have no other bed than this, because in the Golden Age there are no
houses whatever on the face of the earth. We build houses for the same
reasons that we wear clothes, and these reasons are absent in the lives
of the Golden Age people. Their bodies need no protection from the
weather, nor do they need external comforts, for they think more of
their soul than of their body.
Their home is wherever they live and rest, its roof is the high vault of
Heaven with its azure canopy, Mother Earth the floor, the trees its
walls; Nature's bowers are their boudoirs. All created beings are their
family, the whole earth their country. And the whole earth is one large,
beautiful garden, the richest and most beautiful garden of flowers and
fruits and songbirds. But more beautiful than the garden are the divine
men and women who sanctify its soil by their walking, at whose approach
near them the trees worship them with showers of flowers and offers of
their fruits as love-gifts.
This is the long-forgotten, and now misunderstood, misinterpreted
Earth-Garden of the Golden Age called in the Old Testament the Garden of
Eden. They are all now trying to locate it, some people in Syria, others
in Egypt, others elsewhere, ignorant of the fact that the Garden of Eden
was located upon the whole earth. The word "Eden" even is the corruption
of the Sanscrit word "ādhān" (Home). The whole earth becomes this
"Adhān"—the Home of all humanity, of mortal souls, the Pleasure-Garden
for angels on earth to roam about and sport in. This Garden is the
physical manifestation of a higher plane, created as the abiding place
of mortal man in temporary state of spiritual perfection. They live a
perfectly natural life, feeling themselves as parts of Nature, breathing
in unison with the breath of sky and air and tree and grass and beast
and bird, their souls in tune with the souls of gods and angels and
Infinity Itself.
Among themselves they feel a Oneness which only the most sublimated
souls, who have realized their at oneness with the all-pervading Spirit,
can feel. All humanity feels as one man, and the only distinction they
find in this Oneness is in the little difference in the formation of the
male and female bodies, although this outward perception of this
external difference in some details of the physical structure does not
influence the feeling of unity within. Still the difference creates this
much distinction that the women and men sec and feel that they are the
complements of each other and the difference in bodily structure
expresses this fact. All men feel all women are as one and all women
feel all men are as one, so that, such is the feeling of unity which
pervades the Golden Age people of the earth that all men and women of
that age can be called as One Man and One Woman. This is the state of
the human society indicated by the story of Adam and Eve. Adam is the
typical man and Eve the typical woman of the Golden Age. Even the names
bear testimony to this fact. The word Adam is a corruption of the
Sanscrit word "Adim" which means primeval, so that Adam means primeval
man. The word Eve likewise is a corruption of the Sanskrit word "Hevā"
or primeval woman. "Hevā" means life and love—mother of creation. From
Mother Nature all things evolve, through the mother all things come to
life, therefore is mother "life." The life of all things is
motherhood—Life and Love combined is Mother. Mother! It is the music of
the spheres—Life and Love—the grandest sound, the music of the Creator,
one grand chord in the Music of the Universe. Love and Life—O Blessed
sound, the Lord's Own Music—sweet, profound!
The spiritual beauty of these primeval people—the Adams and Eves—shows
itself in their physical forms. Their physical forms, symmetry and
expressions are ideally beautiful; these fashion and shine forth the
spirit of harmony which dwells within them. It may be in truth said of
them that they are made in the Image of God, and the truth of this
statement grows upon us when we remember that they live and feel that
they live in the Essence of Love—live and breathe and have their being
moved spontaneously by the Spirit which is the inmost life and force of
all Existence.
This is living on the Tree of Life and eating the fruit thereof
mentioned metaphorically in the Old Testament. Love, Universal Love,
unmixed, Absolute Love is the only Life. When we lose sight of this
Ideal, this substance of life, we fall. So long as our minds are filled
from within with this Love, this Radiance of God, and we think, move and
act by its influence and promptings, so long do we really live the Life
which is our real heritage from God. The Golden Age people live this
life moved by the Spirit within them, the Spirit-Life that makes life an
ecstasy unto itself. This Life of Joy Absolute is illumined by its own
Light by the aid of which they sec all Nature as through a transparent
glass, they see everything with the ensouled mind's eye— not by the
physical eye—for they live within that ensouled mind and rarely come out
to the surface called the physical plane. When they do, they feel as if
the experiences of that physical plane are, as it were, the experiences
of a dream, while the experiences of the ensouled mind they feel as the
Reality, the only Reality.
I have already said that the three Cardinal Attributes, (Sattwa, Rāja
and Tama) Illumination, Activity and Darkness, are the joint parents of
the Principles which compose all creation. When the forces of these
Attributes fall into equilibrium, the dissolution of the universe takes
place and the equalized Attributes merge into one another and become
transformed into a substance quite different from their own. That
substance is called Shuddha Sattwa—Pure Illumination. In Sattwa there is
a mixture of some Rāja and Tama; in Rāja there is a mixture of some
Sattwa and Tama: similarly, in Tama, there is some mixture of Sattwa and
Rāja. In Shuddha Sattwa, the Sattwa is free from the other two
attributes. Krishna (Absolute Love) is Purest Sattwa. The equalizing of
the forces of the Attributes transforms them into Pure Illumination no
doubt, but the transformation is temporary. Krishna (Absolute Love) is
Permanent Purest Illumination. But even the temporary attainment, by the
Attributes, of the Shuddha Sattwa state makes them for the time being
the same substance as this First Principle and brings about their
absorption into it as long as they keep in that state. This is almost
exactly as the germ of a tree remains merged in and becomes part and
parcel of the kernel of its seed. And as when the seed is put into the
soil, the action of germination separates from that kernel the germ
which then grows into a tree, so when in time the forces of the merged
Attributes fall out of equilibrium by Rāja (Activity) asserting itself,
they get separated and manifest themselves into the Universe. At first
the activity of Rāja is feeble and Sattwa predominates. Out of
predominant Sattwa springs the Mind, Rāja brings forth the Ten Senses
and Tama the Five Essences and the Five Gross Forms of matter. And all
objects and animals and men and gods and earth and heaven are but
different degrees of blendings of the Three Attributes.
The Satya Yuga (Golden Age) at the beginning of creation is so full of
Sattwa (Illumination) that all Nature is made of materials almost
transparent as ether. The matter of this first Golden Age is so fine
that it would be invisible to the eye of our gross flesh of this distant
Kali (Iron Age). Even in the last Golden Age, Nature was made up of such
fine matter that it would look, to our gross vision of this day, as
pictures of light.
Why is Nature in the Golden Age so ethereal? Because the Attribute of
Illumination is predominant in that cycle. All is Illumination, within
and without. Through this illumination the Golden Age people see the
Steady, Changeless substance which is the Life and Light of which the
outer universe is but the shadow. And with the spirit of this Changeless
Love and Life and Light in One before their mind's vision, they cannot
but feel that its distorted, changeful manifestations called objects are
made of fabrics of which dreams are made of. Even they themselves are
etheric and irridescent, not visible to the physical eye of the Dark
Age, but always visible to the inner eye of men of any age—to the eye of
the highly evolved man whose sight is more spiritual than physical.
Ether is cognized through etheric vibrations—light alone recognizes
light.
For the First Quarter of the Satya Yuga or Golden Age (One Thousand
Divine Years) this perfect state of Universal Holiness prevails on earth
and among mankind. This is the original of the recorded vision said to
have been seen by St. John the Divine as embodied in Chapters 20, 21 and
22 of his Revelations. This is the Millennium spoken of in the Holy
Bible when Satan (Sin—Tama—Darkness), it is said, will be bound and cast
into a bottomless pit, shut up and set a seal upon, and holiness will
become triumphant throughout the world. This means the predominance of
Sattwa (Illumination) in man and Nature and Tama (darkness) will be
drowned under it. The people will live on the fruits of the Tree of
Life—in the Essence of Love. They will live face to face with God, that
is, in perfect realization of His Spirit—Love. This Millennium will
begin with the First Quarter of the coming Satya Yuga (Golden Age), the
New Divine cycle which will be ushered in after the expiration of the
Kali Yuga (also called Iron or Dark Age) we are now living in. That time
is far away yet, how far I shall in a succeeding Section attempt to
indicate.
As already suggested, the Golden Age conditions of Nature are the
physical manifestation of a higher sphere. According to the Hindoo
Scriptures there are Seven Spheres (Lokas) or Heavens. People in the
West speak of the Seventh Heaven. Few know where the expression has come
from, fewer that it has come from the Hindoos who believe in the Seven
Heavens. The first is the Earth. (Bhur) which is counted as a heaven
because heavenly joys can be tasted on the earth plane. Above the Earth
is the Bhuba Sphere, the Second Heaven. Above Bhuba is Swar the Third;
above Swar is Mahar the Fourth; above Mahar is Jana the Fifth; above
Jana is Tapa the Sixth, and above Tapa is the Satya Loka (Seventh). The
Golden Age state of the earth is but a reflection of this Satya Sphere
on it's Sattwa (Transparently Illuminated) surface. The men and women
are angels on earth meet and have communications with gods and angels;
and at times even Brahmā, the Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnoo the
preserver, come down on earth and hold converse with these perfectly
pure human beings. Earth then is "Heaven Below," and it is hard to tell,
when men mingle with the gods and angels when the latter come down to
meet them, which are the gods and angels and which are the men.
Saint John's Revelation 21 in the Holy Bible attempts to give some
glimpse of this picture of the Golden Age:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
"2. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God.
"4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall
be no more death, sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain; for the former things are passed away."
What St. John describes as "a new heaven and a new earth" is the
illuminated heaven and earth—illuminated by Sattwa, which destroys the
darkness (Tama) of the preceding Kali (Iron) Age which pervades Nature
during its sway. The "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven," is the reflection of the Satya Loka (the Heaven of Truth),
which comes down as it were and mirrors itself on earth. The Golden Age
earth is really a bride adorned for her husband, God, for, in the Hindoo
Scriptures, Earth has been called the Bride of Vishnoo (God). The
meaning of the third verse can be more easily understood as it speaks of
the spiritual condition of the Golden Age I have described already.
The fourth verse supports the fact of the unbroken peace and happiness
which dwells on earth during the Golden Age. Men know no sorrow, nor
crying, nor pain. They are happy and are ever filled with joy. "And
there shall be no more death"—this is very important testimony to the
one statement in the Hindoo Scriptures about the Golden Age men and
women which is more apt to be discredited than any other. In them it is
said that in the Golden Age men and women can live for one hundred
thousand years and die at will, which is corroborated by St. John, who
says, "and there shall be no more death." Life in the Golden Age, say
the Hindoo Books, is sustained by the marrow of the bones; man lives as
long as there is marrow in his bones. Death and disease are caused by
accumulation of sin, which is the result of improper, unnatural living,
living, that is, in violation of Nature's spiritual laws. The Golden Age
men live in absolute harmony with these laws, and are therefore liable
neither to death nor to disease. Men are filled, in this age, "in full
measure of virtue" and sin has no place in it, not a trace of it
anywhere.
This is the state of Nature and human society which is reproduced in the
beginning and first quarter of every Golden Age, which forms the first
largest section of every Divine Cycle. This is real Universal
Brotherhood, the union of soul to soul being brought about by the
general recognition of the One Spirit which is the root, sustenance and
life of all manifestations in Nature. Spirit only makes man brotherly,
and the feeling of the One and the Same spirit is the source of true
brotherhood, and until One Love is for all, souls shall be separated and
countries will war with countries. Every one in the Golden Age looks
upon every one else as himself, as it were. It is more than Ideal
Brotherhood in this state of society; it is real, practical, spontaneous
brotherhood, brought about by the Attribute of Illumination having full
play within all created matter, objects and beings. They are united from
within, not through outside forces, and so close and natural is the
union that they do not realize that it is anything unusual at all, even
in the deep demonstrations of spontaneous love which they feel for one
another.
If such is the high state of perfection which men attain in the Golden
Age, the animal and the vegetable kingdoms also share the benefit of the
predominance of illumination in Nature, of which men and animals and
vegetation are but different phases of manifestations. We have read in
the so-called fables and fairy-books of a time in which animals were
wont to speak, and as in our day they do not speak at all, we regard
such statements and stories as myths. But they are not myths, however
absurd they may strike us, viewed from our practical experiences of
animals in our Kali Age life. If the animals of this Kali (Dark) Age
cannot speak, that is no reason why animals of an enlightened age should
not be able to speak. But this is what forms the chief difficulty in the
way of our believing in such stories. We have been hypnotized by our
conceit into believing that ours is the most enlightened age and that we
are far ahead in enlightenment and advancement of intellect of our
remote ancestors of, what we complacently term, the "primitive" ages,
meaning thereby ages in which men were either savages or half-savages.
If this were true, the animals of those ages could be imagined as worse
in habits, powers and instincts than those of our "advanced" age. Alas,
however, it is not true! Our remotest ancestors, whom we, in our dense
ignorance of facts of that remote past, love to call savages, were such
giants in intellect, spirituality and moral force that our average best
spiritual, intellectual and moral men cannot be compared with them. We
are indeed fast losing our moral depth which was the sheet-anchor of
their character. Why? Because our minds are getting more and more dense
than those of even the near past, not to speak of those of the remote
ages. Why? Because Nature herself is getting denser and denser every day
with the growing influence of Tama (Darkness) which is the ruling
attribute of this Iron Age. We are the products of Nature—we all, men
and beasts and trees and grass. Our density is to be traced to our
parent—Dame Nature. This growing density which pervades our minds is
daily making us less spiritual and intellectual than our forefathers. No
wonder it has affected the body and senses of animals as well.
Illuminated Nature illuminates animals as well in the Satya Yuga.
Animals then have more intelligence, better perception and keener
instincts than now, and share the love-spirit of which all earth is
full. They talk like man, although not in the same clear and sweet voice
as man. They roam about with men and love one another as men do. There
are no domestic animals in this part of the Golden Age, for man has no
home or house. There are no wild animals, for all animals are tame,
tamed by the spirit of harmony within and without them. The cow roams
about free, giving milk to whoever will drink it out of her udder.
The trees in the Satya Yuga are large and tall in proportion to the
height of men, which is 21 cubits. They are overladen with sweetest and
juiciest fruits. All kinds of corn grow wild and abundantly without any
tending or cultivation. The whole earth is a natural garden, orchard and
granary for all created beings to enjoy and draw sustenance from when
needed. Here I quote a poem written under inspiration after seeing a
trance-vision of the Golden Age, by one of my students, Miss Rose R.
Anthon:
Palpitating with love,
Like a mother's breast,
As she views her babe
As it sinks to rest.
Like a million bees
Throbbing with life,
Each cell a world
In the citied hive.
This was the land
I slept to see,
The land my dream
Unfolded to me.
Here Love did reign,
Love life did greet,
Life crowned with love
The heart did meet.
Here wondrous song
The birds did sing,
And oh the echoes
The skies did ring!
And oh the peace
The heart did know!
And oh the lack
Of haunting woe!
Here man commune
With God did hold,
The doe run abreast
With the lion bold.
The hawk and the dove
Shared one nest;
The lamb and leopard
Suckled one breast.
The tender nurslings,
The soft young things,
Eager their minds,
Like outspread wings.
The flowers nodded
Their faces fair;
Sunbeams embraced
The perfumed air.
Little children
With Nature grew;
Skies overhead,
'Neath feet the dew.
The happy youth
The maid did woo.
Free as the stars
The moon did view.
With joy I beheld,
In this sweet land
Unspoilt was love
By sin's hot hand.
With knots of guile
The heart did bind.
No souring doubts
Disturbed the mind.
Here livid hate
No place did hold;
Jackal and calf
Entered one fold.
Nor envy's sneer
Belined the face.
Nor fiery lust
Filched beauty's grace.
But rayed with peace
Was every eye,
And all unknown
Was panting sigh.
In every heart
Was Love enthroned,
And every voice
Had Hope entoned.
Such was the land
I slept to see.
The land my dream
Unfolded to me.
SECTION VI. THE SILVER AGE.
Thus, during the first quarter of the Golden Age, covering 1,000 divine
years, which are equal to 360,000 lunar years, its predominant
spirituality sustains itself in its full vigor. The next quarter is
almost equally powerful in spirituality. But after the middle is passed,
a little decline is perceptible, not so much in spirituality as in the
outward habits of the people. During this period the Vedic truths reveal
themselves through the mediums of the entranced minds of some of the
highly illuminated men. Now, what is a Vedic truth? It is an expression
in sound-form of one of the inmost laws of Nature. Before this period
the Golden Age people breathe, move and have their being in these
laws—as sensitive embodiments of these laws. They are, as it were,
moving Vedas—human flesh-vehicles moved and manipulated from within by
the basic laws of all Existence. The predominant Sattwa in its extreme
purity, which is the essence of physical Nature in the Golden Age,
blends with these laws so harmoniously that they form the self-acting
mechanism of all motion of its materialized counterpart. So long as
these people are in perfect unison with these inner laws, vibrating
spontaneously with their vibrations, they are quite unconscious of the
operations of these laws, or even of the laws themselves within them: so
long they live as unconscious moving manifestations of the laws. But the
moment they become conscious of them, then that consciousness expresses
itself in the form of thoughts, and these thoughts find expression in
words through the medium of some entranced minds. These are called the
Eternal Truths of the Veda, truths which are the foundations and sources
of all truths promulgated by the illumined sages of all climes and times
ever afterwards.
Just as, so long as we are perfectly healthy, we remain unconscious of
our health and enjoy the blessing of health most; but when some disorder
creeps into our system, we become conscious of it and feel indisposed
and try to adjust its lost equilibrium. Towards the end of the third
quarter of the Golden Age, a slight disorder is felt in the spiritual
health of the people. Then a readjustment of the slight loss of the
equilibrium is made with the aid of contemplation of the meaning of
these Vedic truths which are revealed through the still perfectly
spiritual souls. Before this time all of them live the truths
unconsciously; now they live the truths consciously. This indicates
their fall from their absolutely healthy state of spirituality. The
degeneration increases with time at a very slow rate, however, for
Sattwa is still predominant, although Rāja (Activity) has begun to
assert itself more and more until the end of the Golden Age is reached,
when the action of Rāja becomes fully perceptible.
This pronounced assertion of Rāja within all Nature is betrayed by
outward signs and symptoms. Distinct changes are observable in the
thoughts and actions of men, while there is decrease in the wild natural
growth and products of edible fruits, roots and corn. These main
features of change mark the end of Satya Yuga (Golden Age) and the
beginning of the Tretā Yuga (Silver Age).
From natural all-absorbing, inward concentration upon the basic
principle of the Universe—Love—and drawing absolute never-failing
happiness therefrom, most people now begin to look outwards for
happiness, trying to draw it from the enjoyment of material objects. A
small portion, however, still retains the same inward look and enjoys
the primeval ecstatic condition of the mind. These still live in the
Tree of Life. But those who look outwards and try to draw happiness from
without, eat tor the first time of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge,
as indicated by the figurative language of the Christian Bible. So long
as they do not look outwards, they do not know of material pleasure,
pleasure which is mixed with pain, Rājasic pleasure, pleasure which
lasts for only a short while, pleasure which has reaction of pain or
cessation.
This knowledge of material pleasure and hankering for securing them is
the fall of humanity. The cause of this outward-looking is to be traced
to the assertion of the Cardinal Attribute of Activity (Rāja) within
Nature rather than to any fault in her products themselves. Predominant
Sattwa (Illumination) maintains the harmony in the mind induced by calm
concentration upon one object and that object a steady, Changeless one.
Predominant Rāja (Activity) destroys this harmony and calmness by making
the mind active with thoughts of many objects. This state of activity
itself turns the point of the mind's ken outwards and disturbs its
harmony. The mind is active only when it has to deal with the
impressions of more than one object. When the surface of a mirror is
turned towards the sky, it reflects only that one blue sky. When it is
turned towards the earth it reflects many objects. Such is the case with
the mirror of the mind. When it is turned inwards to the soul, it
reflects its one all-pervading, colorless radiance and is therefore
tranquil and happy. When it is turned outwards, it reflects the
many-colored objects and is disturbed by their conflicting attributes.
All through the Golden Age the mirror of the human mind is kept turned
inwards to the soul and reflects nothing but the soul of things. At the
end of that blessed period, the natural assertion of Rāja turns it
outwards to external objects which at once reflect themselves in it.
From this time people begin to take serious cognizance of their
surroundings and privileges, and to think of material enjoyment, to
taste material pleasures. Living the natural Love-Life of the Golden Age
is living on the fruit of the Tree of Life. Love alone is life; it is
the source of all life. The dawning of the knowledge of material
pleasure is eating for the first time of the fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge—material knowledge. The first hankering for it is the
persuasive voice of the Evil One, called in Sanscrit, Māyā. Māyā means
illusion, that which is unsubstantial to the inner sight yet seems and
looks substantial to our outer (material) sight. Good and evil may be
called the equivalents of the two Sanscrit words "Sat" and "Asat." Good
is "Sat" which means that which exists by itself, which has substance.
Evil is "Asat" which means non-existent, which has no existence
(substance) of its own. Good is God (Love). Evil is that which partakes
of, or is related to, the phases of unsubstantial (changeful)
manifestations which form the shroud of the only Reality—Love. To have
our minds vision turned from this Reality to its Unreal Shroud and
mistaking it as the Real, constitutes our fall—the Fall of Mankind
spoken of in the Bible. As long as we know nothing but the Truth and
live absolutely in that Truth, we have no idea of the False (evil), the
deceptive real-looking Unreal. But the moment we are attracted by the
Unreal and live in it, we begin to have knowledge of both Good (the
Real) and Evil (the Unreal). We become so attached to the Unreal that we
cannot leave it, although we know it to be Unreal (evil). Here is born
what is called "conscience," which is the Warner of sin—this living in
the Unreal though we know it is so and that we should not live in it.
This is the state of mind of the major portion of the Silver Age people.
With this outward-looking of their mind begins the hunting for Absolute
Happiness on the surface of life, instead of in its deepest depth where
it dwells. This search for it through material pleasures ends in this
real object of that search being lost from their view and the pleasures
themselves taking its place. This last stage of mental degradation is
not true, however, of all the people of the age. A small portion still
retain much of the high spirituality of the Golden Age. Some are swayed
by predominant Rāja, others are ruled by Rāja and Tama, while others are
covered almost entirely by Tama. This leads to the division of the
people into castes. Those who are uninfluenced by the assertive Rāja are
called Brāhmans; those swayed by Rāja are called Kshatriyas; those by
Rāja and Tama are called Vaishyas; those mostly ruled by Tama are called
Sudras. I have treated the caste system at some length in the next
section.
Tastes for material comforts involve housekeeping, and housekeeping is
impracticable without a house. The people therefore build houses to live
in for the first time in the Degeneration period of the Satya Yuga. The
Tretā is called the Silver Age because gold, the spiritual metal,
becomes less abundant with the decrease in spirituality in Nature, and
silver is found in abundance. People in the Satya Yuga use gold for
household utensils, hence the Satya Yuga is called the Golden Age. The
period in which gold plates come into use does not belong to the Golden
Age proper. It is used in what is called the Degeneration (Sandhyāngsa)
period of the Golden Age. Every Age has a Junction period and a
Degeneration period, called in the Hindoo Scriptures, the Twilight
Periods. These periods are of equal length. The morning Twilight period
of the Satya Yuga is 400 divine years, equal to 144,000 lunar years. Of
the same length is its evening Twilight period. The morning Twilight
period represents the Junction period, the junction between the previous
Kali and the Satya Yugas. The evening Twilight period may be called the
degeneration of the Satya Yuga. It is in this degeneration period
covering 144,000 years, that Rāja asserts itself and people begin to
turn to material pleasures, build houses, wear clothes, take to
housekeeping, eat cooked food and generally use gold plates, gold being
abundant and on account of its possessing pure (spiritual) magnetism,
purer than that of other metals.
The average human height in the Silver Age is 14 cubit or 21 feet,
average longevity of human life is 10,000 years; human vitality is
centered in the strength of the bones; man lives as long as his bones
sustain their strength. In the Golden Age men enjoy full measure of
spirituality. Virtue resides in them, in the language of the Shāstras,
in full four quarters. In the Tretā, owing to the decrease of
spirituality, virtue loses one-quarter and retains three. In the Golden
Age, they are natural embodiments of Vedic wisdom. In the Tretā, they
have to study that wisdom, as it expresses itself through entranced
Sages, to keep up spirituality. And as the Silver Age advances, the
increased influence of more and more assertive Rāja within them makes it
more and more imperative on all religious teachers and kings to direct
people's attention to the necessity of wider and deeper study and
practice of Vedic truths.
As I have said, in the Golden Age there are no carnal relations between
man and woman, so is there none in the Silver Age, although man and
woman as husband and wife live together in houses, have housekeeping and
enjoy material comforts. Yet, strange as it will strike most of us here
at this distance of time, the Golden Age and Silver Age women bear and
give birth to children. The child is born in the womb of its mother at
the wish and command of the husband. The wife asks her husband for a
child, and the husband of the Golden Age, who is a miniature creator in
the potency of his mind-force, says, "So be it," and the wife at once
conceives. But she has no pain of child-bearing or child-birth to suffer
from. The child is born soon after, and, at times, almost immediately.
In the Tretā Yuga, the conception takes place in some cases in the same
manner, and, in most cases, through the eating by the wife of "charoo,"
a mixture of boiled rice, milk, sugar and butter—magnetized by mystic
words or the will-force of a psychic husband or a saint or a Brāhman—a
magnetism which draws into the preparation a disembodied spirit who
passes into the body of the wife through the food.
The difficulty in believing this process of child conception lies in the
ignorance which now prevails in the minds of most people of the modern
world, especially in those of Westerners, as to the origin of
conception, as to how conception takes place. The prevailing idea,
formed from the teachings of imperfect modern science, is that it is the
male seed itself planted in the female soil that begets and develops
into the child. No greater fallacy can exist than this idea. Modern
science is progressive, and in the process of time that progress will
surely open its eyes to the true fact in regard to this matter. It will
then find that it is the invisible germ hidden inside the seed, the
subtle form of organism encased in the thickened juice of the tree which
the seed is, that develops into the shoot and the tree and not merely
the juice itself. This subtle organism enters into the forming bud from
outside. Without this incoming subtle organism no seed can germinate,
neither does a seed germinate, as is well known, of which the germ has
been destroyed. Similarly, no conception can take place without a
disembodied soul—a human germ—entering the human seed when planted in
the human soil. The juice of the seed and the juice of the soil form but
the physical body of the child. The astral body, which is encased in
this physical body, comes from without to dwell in that seed and leaves
the developed physical body at death, which is nothing but the total
disorganization of the physical body. The astral body never dies unless
it is destroyed by bringing about absolute equilibrium of the three
Cardinal Attributes, which form the Ego of man, through spiritual
development. I have treated this subject more fully under the heading of
"Reincarnation."
The length of the Silver Age proper is 3,000 divine years, equal to
1,080,000 human (lunar) years with the two Twilight (the Junction and
the Degeneration) Periods, of 108.000 years each, in addition.
SECTION VII. THE CASTE SYSTEM.
I have said that at the end of the Golden Age and during its
degeneration period, people's minds lose their tranquil equilibrium and
look outwards for happiness. At this stage of the disturbance within
Nature and humanity occasioned by the assertion of the Rāja attribute,
the caste system comes into existence. The object of the caste system is
to preserve as much order and harmony in human society as possible and
prevent its disruption into individual units. In the Golden Age all the
people are as one family, in the Silver Age they are divided into four
families, divided according to their inclinations, habits and actions,
and harmonious relations being established with one another through laws
and interdependence. Those who still retain their perfected spirituality
by subduing the influence of Rāja are called Brāhmans which means those
who know or still dwell in Brahm—the Spirit of God. They are considered
the head of the other castes because they are the embodiments of
spiritual wisdom which is the chiefest requisite in the building of
character and the higher development of the human soul. Some of them
still retain their Golden Age habits of life, others clothe themselves
with the barks of trees and live on fruits and nuts and roots in the
forests, in huts made of tree-trunks and leaves. They pass their days
and nights in contemplation of the Deity, the Divine Spirit and its Laws
operating within Nature and inculcate these truths into the minds of the
other classes of people.
Those who, being unable to subdue the influence of Rāja, are swayed by
passions and become bold, spirited and filled with material desires are
called Kshatriyas. They become rulers of the other two castes. These are
the first Kings and Rulers of men. But they rule according to the
injunctions of inspired Codes of laws, laws which are propounded with
the object of the highest good of humanity in view, as well as the
propagation of peace and goodwill among all classes of people.
According to these laws the King's first duty is to look to the material
welfare of his subjects; the second is to protect them from injustice
and aggression; the third is to help their moral and spiritual
development; in short, the King's duty is to treat his subjects as his
children. If any King fail to perform these duties to the satisfaction
of his subjects or become aggressive towards them, he is immediately
removed from his throne by the Brāhmans (Rishis), the all-powerful
Brāhmans, who always have the welfare of God's creatures at heart, and
whose spiritual powers are mightier than kingly weapons and might. The
Brāhmans are called the "gods of earth" (Bhudevas) on account of their
disinterested love of humanity and self-sacrificing devotion for its
welfare and their irresistible spiritual and psychical powers to carry
their objects for the good of humanity into action.
Those among the Golden Age people in whom excessive action of Rāja
develops some Tama as well, and partly covers the Sattwa Attribute, form
yet another distinct caste. They are called Vaishyas. While the
Kshatriyas occupy themselves in taking over the control and government
of countries and peoples, the Vaishyas take to the occupation of
agriculture, commerce and raising of cattle, as much in their own
individual material interests as in the interests of all humanity. In
the Golden Age, owing to the fulness of spirituality within Nature, all
kinds of grains grow wild and abundant. With the decrease of that
spirituality towards its end, these natural products of the earth
diminish in quality and quantity, while the growing material instincts
in people bring about their larger consumption, thereby creating greater
demand for them. This increased demand is supplied by cultivation by the
Vaishyas.
Those, again, among the Golden Age people who, owing to the predominance
of the Tama Attribute in them, are filled with envy and greed, and
become untruthful and devoid of clean habits of life and take to all
sorts of low means and ways for their living are classed as Sudras. The
Kshatriya rulers compel these Sudras for their own good as well as the
good of all other classes of people to take service under the three
upper castes as domestic servants, so that by contact and association
with their masters and by the examples of their purer ideas and habits
of life they may be elevated in morals and conduct.
The science and wisdom which are the foundation of the caste system of
the Silver Age people and which still form the backbone of the
degenerate remnants of these primeval people, now known as Hindoos, are
worthy of study of all civilized mankind of the present day. It is the
scientific law of the caste system which has preserved the
indestructible individuality of the Hindoos as a race; it is the chief
source of strength which has supplied their inexhaustible vitality as a
nation; the never failing force which has insured the permanency of
their existence on the face of the globe. It is a system, the absence of
which in the organization of all other human societies, modern and
ancient, has been the cause of their decay and death. The Hindoo caste
system is based upon laws of the inmost science of life, the laws which
modern scientists are trying so hard and yet so hopelessly to discover
and understand through wrong processes of investigation. Modern
scientists are boastful of their achievements in the field of discovery
of Nature's laws and imagine they have learned almost all of Nature's
secrets, while in truth they know but a few of her surface-laws the
mainsprings of which are to be found deep down in the mental and
spiritual strata of which they even dream not of—a realm which must ever
remain closed to purely objective investigation.
It is as wrong to try to study Nature from the operations of her
physical laws as to govern and guide human beings by the aid of the
deceptive light of those laws. The physical is the manifestation of the
mental plane, as the mental is the manifestation of the spiritual plane,
as I have shown in previous Sections. The phenomena of the physical
plane of Nature are deceptive to the purely physical vision because they
are the product of Tama—darkened Rāja. Deceptive also are the phenomena
of the mental plane—though not as deceptive as those of the physical—to
a mental vision the light of which is not derived from the spiritual
plane—the mysterious machine room which alone supplies the
life-substance and springy of action to the mental and physical planes.
The student of physical and mental Nature who is not provided with the
microscope of spiritual insight is apt almost invariably to read her in
both these aspects incorrectly. He should not, therefore, be considered
a safe guide for the healthy and harmonious development of human
character, which is but a part and phase of one whole Nature called the
Universe.
The laws operating in the deepest depth of Nature can only be seen and
studied by the illumination of the soul, the Radiance of Krishna's Body.
These the Brāhmans, the portion of the Golden Age people who still
retain their high state of spirituality, study and learn and utilize in
codifying principles and rules for regulating the daily life of the rest
of the people. The conception of the caste system betrays their intimate
knowledge of these inner natural laws upon which it is based and the
profound wisdom with which its organization to the minutest details is
arranged. The organization of the caste system is, in fact, devised
after the organization of the human body—after the inner and the outer
human body. The entire caste system is like a huge living human
body—living with its organs and senses in harmonious working order and
its mind contributing to and enjoying the effect of that harmony and
feeling the higher planes to which the effect of that harmony elevates.
What is the most needed essential for the healthy, harmonious and useful
conduct of human life? Love, Intelligence and Wisdom. I had almost said
Love or Wisdom, for Intelligence and Wisdom are but manifestations of
Love. Intelligence is the light of Love, and wisdom is but its
reflection on its own enlightened shadow—the mind. Wisdom likewise
embodies both Love and its light. Without wisdom a human being is like a
wayward, mischievous animal. Our wisdom (intelligence and thought)
inspire and guide our actions. Good thoughts lead us to good actions,
bad thoughts lead us to bad actions. We are nothing but our mind and our
mind is nothing but our thoughts—commingled effects of the reflections
upon the mind of external objects and internal impressions of previous
reflections of objects, called Ideas. Thoughts that lead us to bad
actions, that is to say, actions which hurt others and us too, which
bring inharmony to others and finally to our own mind, are neither
beneficial nor useful to our life; they are injurious to its best
interests. Wisdom (harmonious, useful thoughts) is therefore the most
essential requisite of human life. Without it power and wealthy are apt
always to be misused and misdirected, resulting in loss of harmony. And
harmony is happiness, happiness which is the goal of all our quests and
efforts in life.
Thus the Brāhmans, who devote themselves absolutely to acquiring wisdom
by communing with the Soul of Nature and its finest and purest
attributes, and to supplying them to those who do not any more enjoy
that advantage and privilege, naturally form the head —the seat of
wisdom and intelligence—of the social organization, called the
four-castes. The lower three castes are indebted to the Brāhmans for
wisdom which they receive from them in the form of lessons and codified
laws of life which guide their daily existence, just as every one of us
is indebted to our intelligence and wisdom for performing the functions
of life to our own and our neighbors' benefit. Hence the Brāhmans, who
supply the most important essential of life, are protected, provided for
and paid utmost homage to, by all the other castes.
Next to wisdom comes strength, physical and mental, another greatly
needed requisite of human life. A man needs mind-force to rule his own
mind and body as well as those of others to whom he is related, in order
to maintain harmony within and without. He needs also physical strength
to defend himself and others against attacks and aggressions and prevent
encroachments by others upon his property and interests. The Kshatriyas
(Kings) form and supply this requisite to the four-caste organism. They
form the arms of the Caste-Body, arms being symbolical of strength and
ruling power. Without a powerful, noble ruler, all communities of men
are liable to find themselves in disorder and inharmony and to suffer
from lawlessness and injustice, just as a man who has no strength to
defend himself from aggression is liable to be robbed of his possessions
and be miserable.
More important than the duty of protecting the life and property of his
subjects is the King's duty to help their moral and spiritual
well-being. And this the king does by enforcing the performance of the
religious duties appertaining to each of the three castes as enjoined in
the Vedic laws, discovered and enunciated by the holy ones. Those who do
not perform these duties and practices are punished by temporary
excommunication and, if still persistent in disobeying the injunctions,
by absolute banishment from all societies. These early sages have always
held that prevention is better and easier than cure of diseases,
physical, mental or spiritual. Regular spiritual practices, performed
daily, form habits, and spiritual habits cleanse the impurities of the
mind which then becomes fit to reflect the highest spiritual truths by
the light of which man witnesses the unity of all Nature, feels the
ecstasy of the One Essence which pervades it and stands face to face
with his Maker.
The next essential of harmonious human life is food. Most people of our
day will say that food is rather the first essential of life. We, in
this degenerate age, have indeed come to think so. But the Silver Age
people, as well as all really thoughtful people amongst us, do not think
so. Food does sustain life, no doubt, but that life, if void of wisdom
and force of mind, is not worth living. It is the life of an animal or a
vegetable. Food is essential to life; so are wisdom and mental force. Is
our life sustained by food alone? I should think not, unless it be the
life of a man who is but a little removed from a beast. Happy thoughts
furnish the chief support of our life. Our life depends more upon happy
and harmonious thoughts than food. If our thoughts are sad and gloomy,
we do not enjoy life at all or feel that we are living, although we may
eat the daintiest food, be surrounded by luxuries and have plenty of the
world's goods. Many of us destroy this food-sustained life suffering
from the pangs of miserable thoughts, many die of broken heart and other
diseases brought on by the continued pressure of sad thoughts, although
well fed and well clothed and well supplied with money and other
material comforts of life.
The Vaishyas represent the vital vigor of the Four-Caste organism, and
as, according to the Shāstras, the seat of the vital vigor is the loins,
the Vaishyas form the loins of that body. The Silver Age Vaishyas take
to cultivation of the soil, raising of cattle and trade more for the
weal of all mankind than for their own personal aggrandizement.
The Sudras are the feet of the Four-Caste organism, very important
members of the body too. They represent devotion through service.
Indeed, devotion is the training which each caste passes through while
fulfilling the duties of its profession. The Brāhmans are to practise
meditation on God and study the Veda; the object is devotion to the
Supreme Being. The Kshatriyas are to rule the other two castes with the
aid of the Brāhmans, with love, justice and fatherly care according to
inspired laws; the object is to acquire devotion to the Supreme Being.
The Vaishyas are to till the land and raise cattle only to serve God's
creatures; the object is to cultivate devotion to the Supreme Being
thereby. The Sudras must serve the three pure and spiritual upper castes
for the purpose of absorbing their spiritual magnetism through
association and examples; the object is the same, cultivating devotion
to the Supreme Being by loving service rendered to His devotees.
Thus the Caste system, though worked by human agency, is founded upon
natural laws. As originally created in the Silver Age, its object is to
form people into groups according to the similarity of their natural
casts of mind, according to their natural instincts and dispositions,
with the view of uniting them by the bonds of their common as well as
mutual interests, with the view of helping them to material, moral and
spiritual elevation by compelling them to discharge their respective
duties according to the injunctions of inspired codes of laws furnished
by illumined Sages whose very pure, unselfish, spiritual and
self-sacrificing life is the best guarantee of the wisdom, efficacy and
usefulness of their advices and teachings. The relation of
interdependence which these caste laws consolidate is in itself one of
the grandest achievements of the caste system for the good of the human
family. It is the most practical means of preserving unity and a natural
preventive of the disintegration of the whole mass of humanity into
individual units than which no greater calamity can happen to the
general as well as individual weal of human beings. Yet, alas, among
non-caste races this is happening, especially in the Western countries
of the world, at the present time!
Look at the state of the human society at this moment, particularly that
portion of it which is governed by the ideas of what is boastfully
called "civilization"! Look at the external results of the internal
influence of this civilization! Material comfort and pleasure has become
the very ideal of life for its average votary. All, almost all are ever
rushing on the path of securing the means for that one end. And in that
mad rush they are jostling, hustling, hating, abusing, cheating,
killing, and destroying one another physically and morally. In that mad
rush for that one goal, in that selfish fight and quarrel, out of the
exhaustion brought on by the efforts of that bustling and hustling, they
have no time or opportunity or inclination to think of anything which
has no immediate concern with that utterly material aim of life. They
have no time to think of their mind, much less of their soul, which most
of them have abolished as a delusion and an obstacle in the way of
material success. They have even no time to look up into the blue
heavens during night or during day, to look at the beauties of the stars
and the moon, much less to think of what they are and if they have any
relation with them. Material interests are fast taking the place of
natural love and affection. Husbands and wives are fighting with each
other; sons and daughters are ignoring and disobeying their parents;
masters and servants have no other regard for each other than that
inspired by personal gain; they are always trying to cheat instead of
helping each other. Members of communities are divided against each
other and only seemingly united for the sake of selfish ends. Society
exists only in name. Envy, malice, greed, selfishness, conceit having
gained predominance in all, have split society into units.
This chaotic state of modern human "society" in most parts of the world,
the truth of which will be generally acknowledged, ought to convince all
thoughtful people as to the wisdom and vital necessity of the caste
system. Even now where the four-caste system still exists, it does serve
to keep the communities within its rule as one compact body to a great
extent, through the influence of its laws of interdependence and mutual
harmonious relations. Thanks to Caste, even the degenerating Hindoos of
to-day have not yet been split into units. This remnant race, a race
which has still retained some of the instincts of the original human
family of the Silver Age, is being more and more divided and subdivided,
no doubt, at the present day. But these divisions and subdivisions are
large coherent parts, linked together into one great whole. The entire
race is divided into four castes; the castes are divided into
sub-castes, the sub-castes again into communities, the communities into
rural societies, the rural societies into large patriarchal
joint-families. The members of families are ruled by the patriarchs, the
patriarchs by the headmen of caste communities, the caste communities by
the spiritual (Brāhman) guides, through the enforcement of the salutary
Scriptural injunctions, the infringement of which is punished, in minor
cases, by expiations involving physical hardships and spiritual
austerities and purifying ceremonies, and, in serious cases, by
expulsion from caste, which, in India, is a greater disaster than
natural or material calamities. And all these rulers and ruled are
related to one another by more or less natural love and affection or
respect and sense of duty born in their blood through thousands of
generations of hereditary habits of thought and life; all are inspired
to command and obey by the spirit of the Veda which their mind absorbs
through the performance of their respective spiritual, social, physical
duties as enjoined by the later Scriptures—the Shāstras, which are
modified embodiments of the revealed laws of the Basic Spirit of All
Life, the all-cementing Spirit of Nature—Love.
SECTION VIII. THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE.
Simultaneously with the introduction of the Caste System in the Silver
Age are instituted the Four Stages of Life, the object of which is to
help the lower state of human consciousness to gradually attain to the
highest spiritual realization. They are graduated processes of mental
and physical application and discipline by the practice of which
individuals are to recover the absolute illumination, being and bliss
enjoyed by all human souls in the Golden Ago. They impart a scientific
training to the human mind in order to enable it to subdue its Rājasic
(active) and Tāmasic (darkening) attributes by developing the Sāttwic
(illuminating) attribute through concentration upon the Basic Principles
of Life—the Centre and Essence of Absolute Purity and Illumination.
The first stage is called Brahmacharjya or spiritual Pupilage. The
second stage is called Grihastha or Householdership. The third stage is
called Vānaprastha or Asceticism, The fourth stage is called the Bhikshu
or Wandering Friarship. The first, third and fourth stages are enjoined
for the three twice-born castes and the third and fourth are open even
to a Sudra if he is found worthy of adopting them. The Brāhman,
Kshatriya and Vaishya are called twice-born; the first birth is the
physical birth, the second is the spiritual birth through the
investiture of the holy thread from which begins the performance of
daily spiritual duties and practices.
The first stage of life begins, soon after this spiritual initiation, at
the age of twelve, when the boy goes to reside with the Gooroo
(spiritual guide) for studying the Veda and for undergoing spiritual,
mental and physical discipline. The Gooroo is an illuminated Brāhman
sage whose love and affection for the pupils in his charge and anxious
care and efforts for the unfoldment of their souls are not equalled by
those of even their parents. He feeds, clothes and lodges them in his
own abode free of any charge or consideration whatever. His one thought
and concern is to help them to realize the Truth, to be freed from the
bondage of matter and thus enter the Absolute Realm of Eternal Love and
Happiness.
While every student has to perform the same regular spiritual rites and
practices and to say the prayers daily after physical purification, the
method of training adopted by the Gooroo for developing their soul is
not the same in each case. To some he explains the truths of the Veda
and asks them to meditate on their meanings. Others, who show natural
instincts of devotion, he trains into practical realization of the same
truths without teaching them a single word of the Veda.
The chief method of a Gooroo's teaching is to draw the student's mind
away from worldly attractions and turn the direction of the mind's
vision inwards into the soul. Devotion is the principal aim, for
devotion means concentration and when that concentration is fixed upon
the contemplation of the Essence of things which pervades them all and
yet is unmixed with the outer substance and attributes of their
manifested forms, the mind absorbs the perfect purity of that Essence
and is filled with the serenity and the inexpressible joy born of
absolute freedom from the influence of matter.
If the student obtains this practical realization of the Essence of
Existence, he remains for the rest of his life in this stage of
spiritual pupilage. But he is no more a pupil; he becomes a teacher of
pupils—a Gooroo. It is this practical realization that invests a student
of wisdom with the magnetic power of awakening that realization in
others.
A spiritual student's training is essentially based upon a life of
purest mental and physical chastity; the student is not allowed by the
teacher to mix or talk with worldly men or to discuss temporal subjects
among themselves. When the practical realization of the Truth is
attained, life's one object is attained. If, however, after staying and
studying with the Gooroo for twelve years, the student fails to have
this practical grasp of the soul of wisdom, he leaves the Gooroo and
with his permission returns to his family, takes unto himself a
good-tempered, virtuous and spiritually-inclined wife and enters into
the life of a householder. But the principal object of this second stage
of life is the same as in the first-realization of the Truth. The
practice for physical and mental purity is continued, the Veda is
studied daily, diligently and devotedly, and the meanings of its truths
and principles contemplated with calmness and concentration, comparing
their lessons in the light of the experiences of worldly life. The
obligations of household life are greater than those of pupilage. Life
must be sustained on simple and sparing meals; the means of living must
be honestly earned, the hungry or needy beggar must be satisfied
according to means and ability; the pleasures and comforts of household
existence must be enjoyed moderately and with discrimination; parents,
wife, members of the family, poor relatives and dependents and devoted
servants must be supported, loved and made happy. All legitimate wishes
and wants of the wife must be satisfied, she must be cherished with
affection and respect and regarded as the presiding deity of household
harmony. If during this household life the truth is realized, the
householder remains at home during the rest of his earthly days; he has
no need to go into the third stage of life, for, as I have said,
realization of the Truth is the end and aim of life in all its stages.
If, however, this main object is not obtained, the householder, after
twenty-four years of family life, must enter the third stage, that of
the ascetic. He must leave his home with his wife and retire from
worldly life and interests and live in some secluded forest place near
his home and practise austerities, physical and mental, in order to
purge the mind of all its material inclinations for a period of twelve
years. If during that time the realization is obtained, he remains in
that stage for the rest of his life, imparting the realized knowledge
and wisdom to all who may come to him.
If, however, he fails in his search for it, even in this ascetic stage,
he returns to his home with his wife, and if he has a son to protect and
support her, he leaves his home and family, with the permission of his
parents and his wife, and enters into the fourth stage, that of the holy
wanderer, to tread the path to Freedom and Truth all alone, sundering
all ties of worldly life and surrendering himself—body, mind and soul—to
that search. He must not occupy his mind with any other but that one
thought; he must live on one simple, spare meal a day, enough to
sufficiently satisfy his hunger; he must dress himself in scant
saffron-colored clothes, the color of Love and Wisdom. He must ever be
wandering, never entering a human home, and rest under trees; but must
not sleep under one tree or on the same spot or place for three
successive nights, Never talk with people on any other subject than that
of his search, and discuss it with humble spirit of inquiry with
illuminated sages he comes across on his journeyings.
This all-absorbing meditation does help to awaken in him at last the
light of the Truth, and blessed with that light he is filled with joy
and feels himself the happiest mortal, in touch and tune with the purest
spirit of the Universe, the Infinity which is the parent of the Finite.
With the first flush of this realization he changes the color of his
clothes from saffron to while, the color of Illumination (Sattwa), and
as he wanders still, in the ecstasy of the bliss of Truth within his
soul, gradually the objective phenomena around him seem unsubstantial
and finally grow dim and shadowy, while the realized spirit in which his
mind lives immersed, he perceives to be the only substance of those
shadows. Then, as he roams along, laughing and sporting like a little
boy in the fulness of the glee within, he becomes in time almost
unconscious of anything outside of his soul. His very sight is a
blessing to all beholders, a blessing which fills them temporarily with
the delight of his intoxication. He has no count of time or notion of
the phases of time—whether it is morning, noon or night. He lives
henceforth in Infinity and views all Nature as dwelling within him and
anon views himself as a wavelet in the infinite ocean of its Essence. He
does not feel any hunger, for with the satisfaction of his spiritual
hunger all hunger has been satisfied forever. He is the embodiment of
ecstasy, uncovered ecstasy, and even his physical cover, the white
cloth, has fallen from his body. He stands naked as naked Nature's most
natural man. He is clothed with the illumination of his soul, like the
Golden Age man.
SECTION IX. THE COPPER AGE.
The Divine Cycle of time can be likened to a fruit. Like the ripening
and rottening of a fruit, the Divine Cycle develops and degenerates into
rottenness. The Golden Age is its ripening stage. At the end of that
age, it is fully ripe. The Silver Age is its overripe stage. The Copper
Age marks the stage of its rottenness and the Iron Age is its fully
rotten stage. At the end of the Iron Age, it is reduced to its seed out
of which springs the sprout of the Golden Age. And during the junction
period of the Golden Age, covering 144,000 human years, the sprout grows
into a flowering tree which bears fruit with the commencement of the
Golden Age proper.
The length of the Copper Age is 2,000 divine years, equal to 720,000
human years, while its Twilight periods are 72,000 years each. Men in
this age are seven cubits or ten and a half feet high. Virtue lives in
it in two quarters, the other two being filled by vice. Vitality is
rooted in the blood; men live as long as there is blood in their body.
Gold and silver leaving become dearer the metal generally used in making
household utensils is copper which is found abundantly, whence the age
derives its name. The intensity of accelerated Rāja within Nature helps
the assertion of Tama in all her manifest phases, although Sattwa still
has some influence. The trees become less in height, less fruitful and
the fruits less sweet; crops less abundant despite the best efforts of
cultivation. Cows give less milk than in the Silver Age, while wild
animals become more ferocious. Most animals can speak in the Silver Age,
but now only some of them, the higher ones, are blessed with that power
during the major portion of it.
People in the Copper Age become more and more outward-looking generally,
especially the Sudras, some of whom having become filled with dense
Tama, revolt against all laws and discipline and turn into thieves and
robbers. These latter are expelled from their caste and banished out of
civilized centres of population the world over by the kings. They are
called by the common name of robbers and specific names of Yavans and
Mlechhas which means men who are wild, barbarous and unclean by nature
and habits. These Yavans and Allechhas come into existence towards the
end of the Silver Age and rapidly increase in number during the Dwāpar
(Copper Age), towards the end of which they form the majority of the
world's population and are known by different names according to the
localities of their habitation, different shades of their dark
attributes, and the callings they pursue: Yavan, Kirāt (hunters),
Gāndhār, Cheen (Chinese), Shabar, Barbar (barbarian), Shak, Tungār,
Kanka, Palhab, Ramat and Kambhoj. The kings in the Copper Age have a
hard time to protect their subjects and their territories from the
depredations of these wild characters and robbers. The king's first duty
is to preserve peace in his kingdom so that his subjects may not be
disturbed in the performance of their religious duties, may apply
themselves to the study of the Veda and the contemplation of the Supreme
Deity and tread the path of virtue without annoyance.
The king's chief duty being to insure the material welfare of his
subjects with the sole view of helping their spiritual welfare, the
punishment for the infringement of caste and religious rules is made
severe and swiftly administered. At the same time the spirit of the
times is taken into consideration and many rigid rules are relaxed and
minor faults are pardoned. The four castes are subdivided into
sub-castes according to the different callings that the Vaishyas and
Sudras show preference in their inclinations to follow. Those who take
to agriculture are classed as cultivators, those who rear cattle and
sell milk and butter are called milkmen, while those who take to trade
and commerce are called traders and merchants and so on. All these form
into different sub-castes under the general caste of Vaishya. Similarly
the Sudras are subdivided according to their respective callings; viz.,
blacksmiths, potters, carpenters, masons, etc., all under the general
caste of Sudra. The chief object of these sub-castes is to save human
society from disintegration as much as possible, to preserve the masses
of men in as large coherent sections as practicable linked to one
another through spiritual, moral and material relations.
Another, and almost equally important, object of the caste and sub-caste
systems in the Copper Age is to conserve the heredity of their different
intellectualities, talents, healthy characteristics, and instincts. This
becomes all the more necessary owing to the fact that it is in the
Dwāpar Yuga that husbands and wives begin to have carnal relations.
During the Golden Age and the greater portion of the Silver Age all men
and women are, what Christians call, virgin-born. The fuss that is made
about this immaculate conception succeeds only to excite a smile of pity
in the Shastra-enlightened Hindoo—a smile of pity for the ignorance of
the facts in the past history of the human race of which they seem to
know so little and care less to know more. This fact about the Golden
and Silver Ages, this generally prevailing immaculate child-conception,
ought to open their eyes. If they require any authority for this
statement, I refer them to the study of the Shānti Parva of the
Mahābhārata.
The Yoga-power of the Golden Age men draw disembodied souls from the
Bhuba sphere and spiritual souls from higher spheres to enter into a
woman's womb and be born on the earth plane. The will-force of these men
supplies these incoming souls with the material of a physical body. In
the Silver Age the higher illuminated Brāhmans and Saints can bring
about conception in the same way, while others bring it about by making
the women eat magnetized "charoo," which not only draws these spirits to
the womb, but supplies the material for the physical body. In the Copper
Age, however, the decrease of spirituality takes away the power, and so
the material of the physical body has to be supplied by the physical
vigor of the father and the blood of the mother to enable a disembodied
spirit to enter the womb and grow into a child.
This degenerated process of procreation coming into vogue in the Copper
Age renders it necessary to fuse higher magnetism into the lower castes,
as well as to preserve the magnetism of each caste from deterioration.
The means adapted for securing these ends is to allow the two higher
castes men to marry girls of the lower castes, and towards the latter
end of the Copper Age even Vaishyas are permitted to marry Sudra girls.
The lower caste men, however, are never allowed to marry higher caste
women, as it degenerates the breed, the seed being a far more potent
factor in producing excellence of growth than the soil. The offsprings
of these intermarriages form into castes distinct from those of their
fathers and mothers, lower than their father's and higher than their
mother's.
In order to preserve the magnetism and the hereditary talent and
instincts from deteriorating, the castes are divided into sub-castes
according to their general proclivities and professions of livelihood.
Each sub-caste must marry within its own circle, and must eat food
cooked by the hands of its own members. Heredity is now being believed
in by the materealistic people of the modern world, and when that belief
in heredity will have grown stronger in their minds, they will then take
practical measures to preserve the good qualities of heredity from being
spoilt by coming in contact with the bad magnetism of its lower traits.
This human magnetism is a subject which is worthy of the study of modern
scientists. If they can find out what it is, ascertain its properties,
power for good and evil, and how good magnetism can be conserved and
transmitted and how bad magnetism can be purified, they will do humanity
greater good than they have done by the discovery of steam and
electricity, which, judged from the standpoint of the highest good,
ought to be considered as very doubtful boons. Magnetism is not useful
magnetism if it is purely physical. It is not worth preserving, it is
injurious, and its contact ought to be avoided.
It is spiritual magnetism which is worth preserving. It is spirituality
which is the medium which transmits good heredity from parent to
progeny. The mind is the storehouse and battery of all human magnetism.
The vibrations of the mind pervade every atom of the body and the mind's
vibrations are generated by its principal and most powerful thoughts and
sentiments. These vibrations are the essence of these thoughts and
sentiments, and magnetism is that subtle essence impregnated with the
potencies of the mind mixed with the subtle forces of the physical body.
Marrying, cooking and eating within the caste helps to conserve in the
individual members thereof the spiritual and mental magnetism, generated
by the performances of the religious duties and ceremonies and spiritual
incantations which form the daily routine of household life enjoined by
the Scriptures.
Thus wisdom, talent, traits, instincts are all ingrained in and
transmitted through the blood from generation to generation of each
caste. The caste is like a university, each home a school, and the
instincts and talents, brought into being with the birth of each member,
are the implanted principles of the knowledge of each profession of
which it is the caste. A carpenter's caste is a guild for carpentry, a
carpenter's home is a technical school for carpentry where the natural
talent and love for the art are partly imbibed by the instincts of
heredity and partly by observation which is the best system of training.
With these tendencies of material arts are born in the blood of the
child the germs of the moral and spiritual culture of the parents. These
germs shoot forth into healthy growth under the fostering care of the
child's guardians, aided by the religious, social and domestic duties
the growing child has to perform daily. The carpenter is as much a
useful member of the four-caste society as the Brāhman. The householder
Brāhman can no more do without a carpenter than a carpenter can do
without a Brāhman. But the value of the Brāhman's help to the carpenter
being more important to the development of his soul, which is the true
aim and goal of earthly life, the obligations of the other castes to the
Brāhman are greater and deeper than those of the Brāhman to the Sudra.
The question may now be asked, has that carpenter no chance of becoming
the equal of the Brāhman through spiritual culture? Yes and no. Yes,
because Brāhmanhood is nobody's monopoly. Brāhmanhood is but a state of
the human mind—the ensouled state of the human mind, and anybody who
develops this state of mind, even though he be encased within a Pariah's
flesh, lays legitimate claim to Brahmanhood. Only he must make that
ensouled mental state perfect, only he must enter the fold of
Brāhmanhood through the door of Nature, through the ingress of Rebirth.
The maturity of a material or mental condition is best known to Nature.
A mass of animal flesh, lying on the surface of Mother Earth, undergoes
all the processes of disintegration and putrefaction, and when that
disintegration is complete, Earth assimilates and absorbs it again; it
becomes a part of her body, it becomes earth itself. What is true of
material plane of Nature is true as well of her mental and spiritual
planes. When a carpenter has developed full Brāhman consciousness,
Nature opens to him wide the portals of the spiritual caste which had
looked down upon him in his carpenter birth. Even in his carpenter
birth, he does not go unrewarded. The case of the carpenter Rishi,
called Suta, is a luminous instance in point. His spiritual culture was
so great that the highest illuminated sages (Rishis) learned from him
the lessons of the Purānas which he preached to them, sitting on a
raised platform with their reverential permission. He was considered a
knower of Brahm and so enjoyed the respect paid to the highest spiritual
beings. A Sudra may not become a Brāhman, but may become through
practical spiritual culture a higher being than a Brāhman even in his
Sudra birth, and be born into a highly spiritual Brāhman family, by
sheer dint of merit, the merit of developing spiritual consciousness—in
the next birth. Similarly a Brāhman, born in the highest family of his
clan, will, by developing Pariah qualities, be outclassed in his Brāhman
birth and enter through the door of Nature into a Pariah family in a
subsequent birth.
The above facts and truths are known to a child even of every caste.
Even a child knows, either in the Copper Age or to-day among the
four-caste people, that a caste-birth is dependent upon Karma (actions).
A Sudra, therefore, takes the very fact of his birth as sufficient
reason for his being placed in the lowest caste. He is reconciled to his
fate, a fate with the potentialities of his actions in previous
existences. And the little gloom of sadness that his lowly station of
life casts upon his mind is illumined now and again by the silver lining
of the consolation that it is in his power, if he so wills it, to be a
high Brāhman in the next incarnation, if he succeeds in developing his
higher soul-consciousness.
The Veda in the Copper Age has for the first time to be studied and its
truths practised in two parts—the philosophical and the ceremonial
parts. Men generally are degenerated so much in this age that they can
no longer grasp the truths of the Upanishads without first purifying
their body and through the purified body the mind. The Vedas are divided
into Upanishads (Eternal Spiritual Truths) and the Mantras
(incantations, hymns and ceremonies, the practice of which cleanses the
impurities of the mind and body). In the Dwāpar Yuga, therefore, the
performance of the ceremonials of the Veda is much in vogue. When the
body and mind are purified, they are made fit for grasping the meanings
of the higher philosophy of life and become receptive to the influences
of the subtlest spiritual vibrations.
SECTION X. THE IRON AGE.
But even these attempts and safeguards for keeping up the higher
individuality of the human race fail to retard the course of the
degeneration which Nature herself undergoes in the process of time. The
fruit of Divine Cycle, spoken of in the beginning of the last Section,
reaches an advanced stage of rottenness which marks the commencement of
the Twilight Period of the Kali, called also Tamas or the Dark Age. The
characteristics of Kali are symptoms of Nature filled with denser gloom
than heretofore.
The usual Kali, the last section of every Divine Cycle, is much more
dense with Tama (darkness) than the one in which we are living now. The
reason is that at the junction of the last Dwāpar and the present Kali,
the fullest incarnation of the Supreme Deity, Sri Krishna himself, came
on earth to dwell among men for a period of a hundred years. This Avatār
and source of all Avatārs, this central Form-Point of All-Pervading
Brahm, this Embodiment of Para-Brahm, is gracious enough to come and
dwell among men on earth only once in 71 Divine cycles. We, the
degenerated mortals of this Dark Age, are more fortunate than even
humanity of many a Golden or Silver Age. The Supreme Lord sanctifies the
soil of the earth-plane of every universe with the all-purifying touch
of His Lotus-Feet by turns. The countless universes that spring out of
Him and return in germ-form again into Him have the grace of His
personal touch and supervision at appointed times. When Krishna comes to
live in any of the universes, Nature therein is turned inside out, so
that the inmost essence of it may flow over its surface and wash off all
the causes of pollution. It has been recorded by the contemporary sages
of Krishna-Leelā, the all-knowing sages who came down to earth from
higher planes to act as scribes of the Lord's deeds, that by the coming
of Krishna not only the 36,000 years, forming the junction period of
Kali, was destroyed, but also almost half of the age of Kali proper,
while the Lord's Rash-Dance with the Gopis absorbed a whole Kalpa
covering 36,000 Divine cycles out of the age of Brahmā.
The age of Brahmā is the age of the universe, that is to say, the age of
Brahmā is equal to the duration of creation. Brahmā lives for 100
Brāhmic years and one Brāhmic year is made up of 360 Brāhmic days. One
day of Brahmā is equal to one Kalpa, so is his night. A Kalpa is equal
to 12,000,000 divine years. One night of Brahmā covers the same period
of time so that one day and one night of Brahmā covers 24,000,000 divine
years. Multiplying these figures by 360 we get 8,640,000,000 divine
years, which is the span of one year of Brahmā. Multiplying these
figures by 100 we get the span of Brahmā's age, 864,000,000,000 divine
years, which being multiplied by 360 we get 311,040,000,000,000 human
(lunar) years, the age of Brahmā, the duration of creation.
Thus the night of the Rash-Dance not only absorbed one Kalpa equal to
4,320,000,000 lunar years out of the duration of creation, but also
36,000 years which form the junction of Dwāpar and Kali, as also about
half the span of the Kali proper. About this last there is no
authoritative statement in the Shāstras, but it has been stated therein
that when Krishna left the earth and went up to His Abode, the forces of
"advanced Kali" overtook humanity. Now, according to the Hindoo
almanacs, about 5,000 years only have passed since Krishna's departure,
which would mean that it is now but the beginning of Kali proper, the
span of which is 360,000 years. But the signs and symptoms of the times
already visible are unmistakably of the middle Kali, detailed
descriptive features of which are to be found in the Mahābhārata as also
in all the Purānas. This being so, it is not a wrong supposition that we
are already in the middle Kali and that Krishna-Leelā has also taken
away half the age of Kali proper.
Nor is it necessary that the Kali has to pass through the conventional
figures of its duration given in the Shāstras. What is true of
individual humanity is true also of the whole mass of humanity which
represents Kali. Kali is nothing else but the forms of Nature's changes
of the latter end of a Divine cycle. We, men and beasts and trees and
grass, productions of Nature, represent the phases and features of Kali.
Dense Tama working within Nature brings out the characteristics of this
dark age to the surface of the earth. Man being the most highly
organized product and the most powerful medium of her attributes, the
thoughts and actions of men are most affected by it. The dark thoughts
and actions, called sin in common parlance of humanity, form the sins of
Kali which represents the spirit of human conduct and characteristics in
the Dark Age. We see that people, who are naturally healthy and robust,
shorten their longevity by over-indulging in vice. Thus a life of vice
or sin, that is, life lived in violation of Nature's laws, begets
diseases of the body which bring about early destruction. A man for
instance, who, according to his natural state of health, ought to live
for one hundred years, is often found to die at the age of thirty, a
victim of dissipated life. This rule applies to Kali. All our
accumulated sins form Kali's sins. And these accumulated sins are
begetting diseases in the body and mind of humanity from which Kali must
die an early death.
This Kali, therefore, with its rapidly increasing accumulation of sin,
may come to an end in less than 10,000 years, its conventional period of
existence, 360,000 years, being condensed into that short space of time.
Judging from the signs of an advanced state of rottenness, already
developed, it would seem as if the worst features which hasten its end
may manifest themselves in less than a few hundred years. But, like
wheels within wheels, the Satya, Tretā and Dwāpar cycles have their sway
through its duration by turns. By this I mean that during the course of
Kali (Iron Age) features and characteristics of the Golden, Silver and
Copper Ages manifest themselves by turns all through it. Indeed, the
spirit and attributes of these four cycles weigh the moral and physical
atmosphere of each day and night. Supposing the average day begin at 6
A.M., the influence and the attributes of the Golden Age prevail from 6
A.M. to 3:36 P.M.; those of the Silver Age prevail from 3:36 P.M. to
10:48 P.M.; those of the Copper Age from 10:48 P.M. to 3:36 A.M., and
those of the Iron Age from 3:36 A.M. to 6 A.M. Illumination and
comparative calmness dwell within and without us from morning tip to
high noon owing to the predominance of Sattwa, the predominant attribute
of the Golden Age. From noon activity (Rāja) asserts itself, and by
about 3 o'clock in the afternoon it gains full force when light (inside
and out of us) is on the decline and calmness is disturbed, introducing
the influence of the Silver Age, which lasts until about 11 at night,
when Tama (Darkness) begins its reign and, combined with Rāja, holds the
rule of the Copper Age. The signs of Tama are laziness, inaction, sleep,
etc. We begin to experience these from it o'clock at night and until
three in the morning slumber and gloom envelop us and Nature. But sleep
and darkness are deepest from three to five in the morning, these hours
are ruled by Kali, the Dark Age.
Thus cycles revolve within cycles as they revolve even within the
smallest cycle, called Throughout the Iron Age, the conditions of the
first three cycles prevail one after the other, and when this influence
of the Copper Age conditions in the Kali Age spends itself, conditions
of darker Kali prevail for a time: Then again signs are visible of
Golden Age influence and after a time degenerate into Silver Age phases,
then into Copper Age mixed light, then again into the deep gloom of Kali
within Kali, and so on. As Kali advances more and more the successive,
rotatory influences of the other three cycles become feebler and
feebler, and at last under the deepest gloom of Kali gaining fullest
power, their influences are kept down absolutely. Here begins the end of
the Kali period. Soon after the signs of the coming Golden Age are
visible. These ever recurring conditions of the Golden and Silver Ages,
though feeble in their influence, counteract the destructive influences
of vice and sin and thus help to save the life of Kali from coming to an
end all too soon.
The Kali Yuga is called the Iron Age, because gold, silver and copper
becoming scarcer, people use all sorts of mixed metals, but chiefly
iron, in making household utensils, iron being found in great abundance.
The average stature of mankind is three and a half cubits or 5 feet 9
inches. Virtue is reduced to one-quarter, the other three-quarters being
made up by vice. With the decrease of spirituality ill every succeeding
age, the root of vitality has been transferred from marrow to bone, from
bone to blood. Now, in the Kali that root of life is destroyed. Life in
this age is generally sustained by food alone. The effect of constant
concentration upon changeful, external objects rebounds upon the body,
causing loss of tissue greater than that in the former ages, which men
still have their minds turned inwards, between whiles, to have a dip in
the source of All-Life—the soul.
The Vedas in the Iron Age are no more understandable to the people in
their original sound-embodiments except to a small portion of spiritual
Brāhmans. They are therefore presented to the people in general in the
form of Shāstras and Purānas. These embody the Vedic truths, principles
and ideas in easy constructions and simple language, illustrated by
examples and stories drawn from facts in life of the past ages. The
Shāstras are, therefore, nothing but the Vedas, simplified, explained
and illustrated, with the object of enabling the deteriorated intellect
of the Iron Age man to grasp the light and the spirit of the Storehouse
of Revealed Wisdom. The ceremonial parts of the Vedas are likewise
modified and rendered easier for practice in the form of Smritis (forms
of spiritual duties and sacrifices) the daily performance of which is
enjoined upon the four-caste people.
Yet for all that, despite all these strenuous efforts of the small
spiritual portion of the people to save the souls of their brethren from
succumbing to the dark forces of the age and the allurements of a
material life of undisciplined liberty and license, human society falls
into a mental and material state of chaos, typical of the stage of
complete rottenness of a fruit. As many grains of wheat when ground in a
mill look like one substance, called flour, which means so many separate
grains of wheat have been divided into such minute parts that they
appear as one substance; so, in this most advanced stage of
decomposition of human society, its various and separate composing parts
and phases—religious, racial and material—will be divided into one
whole-looking mass of separate minute units. People's minds, at this
latter end of the age, will be so far removed from the idea and notion
of God and the soul that the Vedas, the Bible and all other religious
books and philosophies that are now extant will disappear, and even the
fact that they had at any time existed will be completely forgotten.
Churches and temples, mosques and synagogues will no more be seen on the
face of the earth, humanity will live for life itself—the grossest
material life. Each individual will differ from the other on all
imaginable points of view on all subjects. Every man and woman will be
his or her own God or ideal. There will be no sympathy between them,
each one asserting his or her independence over all of his or her fellow
creatures. They will think, act, move, eat, sleep as their own wild,
wilful dispositions will prompt causing quarrels and fighting between
another. Selfishness and aggression will the keynote of their character,
the number of Mlechhas and Yavans and outcasted people increases out of
all proportion to the number of the four-caste people who may now be
called the Root Race of the earth. In the process of time this Root Race
of people will cling round the centre of the earth to save their
spiritual instincts, pure ways of living, customs and habits from being
contaminated by association with the strayed portion of humanity who now
form the greatest majority. As, when in the throes of death, through
disease, the only visible action of life is centered in the heart, while
all other parts are numb and comparatively lifeless, so with the advance
of Kali, the spiritual life becomes centered in the heart of the earth.
This heart of the earth is called in the ancient Scriptures the Sea-Girt
Isle or peninsula, the Belt of the Earth's Body—now called India. In
this heart only of the earth live the original four-caste people, while
the rest, broken away and divorced from the parent stock and religion,
are scattered all over the rest of her body.
The signs of advanced Kali are already visible all over the earth at the
present moment, nay, even of its most degenerated stage, especially in
the West—signs and symptoms which are manifesting themselves here and
there even in men of the Root Race. What a horrid state of affairs the
closing period of Kali will bring about may be judged from the
prophesies made five thousand years ago by the illuminated sages of this
Root Race, prophesies which are correct in startling exactitude and some
of which are on all fours with the signs and characteristics of our
present period, as will be seen from a few extracts from them given
below.
The conditions of the different stages of Kali have been described in
all the eighteen Purānas, and the Mahābhārata which embody the history
of the human race from creation to destruction—the past, present and
future phases of human society of all times and of all climes. The
following few details translated from a minute description of the early,
middle and final stages of the Kali, given by the Mārkandeya, in reply
to questions put in to Kali by King Yudhisthira in an assemblage of
saints, kings and nobles, inspired by incarnated Krishna, who was
present in person, will be of interest to most of my readers:
Raja Yudhisthira, Emperorer of Bhārat-varsha, the central of the seven
continents of the ancient world (now known as all the world), during his
sojourn among the Rishis (saints) of Kāmyak Forest, with a view to
ascertain the future state of the world, asked the immortal saint
(Brahmarshi) Mārkandeya, "Holy one! After having beard your wonderful
accounts of the creation and the destruction of the universe, we have
become anxious to hear about Kali Yuga, and we beg you to describe this
age in detail to us. What results will be produced by the destruction of
the Root Religion? What will the valor, strength, food, behavior,
costume and longevity of the human race he like? And how long after will
commence the Satya Yuga (Golden Age) again?"
Saint Mārkandeya answered: "O King! In the Satya Yuga, virtue being void
of the least touch of greed, deception and other evil qualities of the
mind, was like a full four-footed bull. In the Tretā, it lost one and in
the Dwāpar two feet. In the Dark Age it will be only one-footed, the
other three feet being destroyed by vice.
"The longevity, heroism, intelligence, strength and mind-force of
mankind are gradually decreasing age by age; they will decrease still
more in the Kali. The Kings, Brāhmans, Vaishyas and Sudras will practice
false piety, and this false piety will be turned into a means for
cheating others. Love of truth will decline in men; decline in love of
truth will cause shortness of life; shortness of life will prevent the
proper cultivation of wisdom, Little wisdom will beget ignorance,
ignorance will beget greed, greed anger, anger delusion. And swayed by
greed, anger, delusion and sensuality, they will be envious of and
antagonistic to each other.
"The twice-born castes will become void of truth and holy meditation.
The mean Chandals (pariahs) will behave like Kshatriyas and Kshatriyas
will imitate the ways of the Chandals. Husbands will become extremely
henpecked; feed upon fish, flesh and milk of goat and sheep. Man will
aggress upon and develop an irreligious, atheistic and thievish nature.
"People will not discriminate about the eatableness or uneatableness of
any food. Brāhmans will cease performing spiritual practices, will
denounce the Vedas, and being deluded by false discussion give up holy
ceremonials and engage themselves in mean actions. Father and son will
feel no compunction in killing each other, but will rather feel
delighted at the deed and call it an act of God.
"The whole world will become Mlechha (unclean and barbarous) void of
religious performances and ceremonials, gladness and festivities. Almost
all people will be miserly, defame their friends and defraud and steal
the money of poor unprotected widows. They will possess little strength
and no energy, yet be greedy and filled with material, sensual
attachments; will gladly listen to the advices of well-known bad persons
and accept charity by false pretences.
"Conceited yet illiterate kings will challenge one another to fight,
will try to kill one another, and will be like thorns in the sides of
their subjects. Setting at naught their duties of protecting the people,
they will, swayed by greed and pride, be ever anxious to rob and punish
them, and, prompted by their cruel heart, they will snatch away the
property and wives of honest and pious men.
"None will ask a father for his daughter to marry, and no father will
offer his daughter in marriage. The daughters will choose and marry
their own choice without consulting anybody or going through any
ceremonials.
"Brother will cheat brother. Even learned persons will lose love of
truth and be addicted to telling lies; the old will act like boys, boys
like old people. Cowards will brag of their bravery and brave men will
act like cowards. All will eat the same kinds of food and be tilled with
selfishness and delusion. No one will trust another.
"Brāhmans, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas will cease to restrain and rule the
Sudras or even each other. All castes will be levelled and become
one—unclean and barbarous. Fathers will not pardon sons, nor sons pardon
their fathers. Wives will cease from attending upon their husbands; men
and women will all be self-willed and envious of each other. People will
not perform any good works or ceremonies to satisfy the gods. They will
not listen to each other; there will be no gooroo (teacher) or chelā
(pupil), all will be filled with the darkness of ignorance. At Kali-end.
their longevity will be sixteen years; most will die immediately after
that age is reached. Women will give birth to children at the age of
seven or eight, and, in some cases, even at five or six; men will beget
children at the age of ten or twelve; in some cases, even at the age of
seven or eight. No husband will be satisfied with his wife, no wife
satisfied with her husband. They will have very little wealth, and even
those who will have no wealth whatever will wear the false marks of
wealth. Envy will be predominant in every mind, hunger ever burning in
every stomach. Cross-road and streets will be thronged by wantons and
libertines. Women, forsaking shame, will bear spite and grudge for their
husbands. Men will be all of unclean habits, manners and customs, cat
anything and everything and will be terrible in every way and action.
They will cheat all in buying and selling of goods, out of sheer greed.
"None will care to acquire spiritual wisdom, yet all will be busied in
performing spiritual ceremonies for form's sake and be naturally
addicted to crooked acts. They will show the faults of each other.
People will live in constant fear of losing their lives as victims of
their own greed and envy. The Sudras will kill Brāhmans and rob them of
their property, and the Brāhmans being thus oppressed will cry out in
agony and out of fear will roam unprotected on the surface of the earth.
Some of them will take refuge in lonely spots on river banks, in
mountains and in dangerous places to save their lives; others being
oppressed by the grinding taxes of unjust kings, will lose all patience,
and taking to the services of Sudras, will perform forbidden acts.
"The generality of people will become fierce and of murderous
propensities. The Sudras will become spiritual preceptors and Brāhmans
will listen to them, believing their wrong precepts to be demonstrated
facts. The low will be high and the high low: all conditions will be
reversed. All, all people will forsake God and worship Mammon. The
Sudras will cease from serving Brāhmans. The Earth will no longer be
adorned by the temples of God. All mankind will be impious and develop
frightful characters. Meat will be their food, liquor their drink. The
one object of life will be to increase flesh and blood. The rain-clouds
towards the close of Kali will pour down rains out of season so that,
overwhelmed by incessant and untimely rain, people will subsist on fruit
and roots. Pupils will not care for the lessons of their teachers,
temporal or other, and will act against their wishes. The
poverty-stricken Gooroos (spiritual teachers) will curse their
disciples. There will not be the least trace of respect left in the
world. The relations of friends and kiths and kins will depend upon
obligations of money.
"At the close of the cycle flowers will grow upon flowers, fruits upon
fruits, and, owing to the rains not falling in season, there will grow
but scanty crops, so that famine-stricken populations of the earth will
cry out in hunger and roam upon her surface. Fragrant things will lose
their odor, sweet juices will lose their sweetness, seeds will not
germinate properly.
"Women will transfer their love from husbands to servants. All women,
including wives of heroes, will prefer somebody else to their husbands
for lovers. Pious men will be in mean stations, short-lived and poor;
vicious men will occupy high positions, have long life and prosperity.
There will be constant breaking out of fires all over the land. Tired
and hungry wayfarers will ask for food and refuge from householders in
vain, and out of despair rest and sleep upon the road. Crows and other
birds, snakes and beasts will make unearthly noises."
When Nature and human society will be thus revolutionized, reaction will
naturally set ill. When the fruit of Divine Cycle will thus reach its
extreme stage of rottenness, out of its seed will spring forth a shoot
which will grow into a fresh tree. That tree, in turn, will bear fresh
fruit—a fresh Divine Cycle. In this state of the darkest gloom, faint
streaks of russet light will be visible which will grow bright anon and
give birth to the dawn of the Golden Age again.
Reaction is the law of Nature, reaction is the result of every phase of
action. When vice has its full run on the face of the globe, when it has
reached its lowest depth and wildest reign, it spends its force, becomes
weakened, allowing virtue to lift its head once more and build its
palace of light upon its ruins. Vice is born of Tama, and virtue of
Sattwa and the active force of both is Rāja. Time is the
self-manifesting kaleidoscopic revolution of color-pictures on the
transparent canvas of ether. After the deepest shades of dark colors are
exhausted, there is a reaction of lighter colors. When Tama has
exhausted its force, Sattwa asserts itself by natural law.
This healthy reaction growing stronger will gradually evolve some order
out of the chaos of the closing Kali. A portion of the people will get
disgusted with the reign of utmost licence and inharmony, and, endowed
with strong mental force to resist the influence of the age, will pierce
the veil of darkness enveloping everything and see the light that dwells
within. These will stimulate this reaction, and spread the discovered
light among others groping in the darkness for that light.
The four castes will be gradually established once more in some fashion.
At this stage will be born in the village of Sambhalpur in India a
Brāhman of great spiritual force, named Vishnujashā, and in time will
become the father of the coming Incarnation of Vishnoo, one of the most
powerful incarnations—Kalki. The Lord Kalki will rapidly grow into youth
and spiritual power. At his mere mental call will come to him countless
vehicles, armours, all kinds of weapons of war and soldiers. He will
then lead them to battle against all the Mlechhas, robbers and tyrants,
all over the world, who will fall shouting in agony before his mammoth
sword. After extirpating them all, the hold will establish once again
perfect order and harmony on the surface of the earth. After ruling the
world as Emperor and infusing into humanity the spirit of highest
spirituality, Kalki will make over the charge of the earth to the
Brāhmans and disappear after entering a most beautiful forest.
Here will commence the Junction period of coming Golden Age. During this
period, covering 144,000 lunar years, all germs of vice, crime and sin
will be destroyed and men will become engaged in spiritual practices and
ceremonials. The earth will be adorned with beautiful forests and
gardens, buildings, lakes, reservoirs, and temples of God and many are
the sacred ceremonies that will be constantly performed on her surface.
Everywhere will be visible holy Brāhmans, saints and anchorites. The
four stages of life which before were filled with rogues will now be
filled by pious, honest and truthful men. The deep-rooted bad instincts
and associations will then be driven out of the minds of all people. All
the crops will grow plentifully in their proper seasons. All people will
be employed in charitable acts, religious sacrifices, and in performing
spiritual duties. The Brāhmans will again be absorbed in holy
meditations, satisfied and serene; the Kshatriyas will exhibit their
valor; the kings rule the world with justice and mercy; the Vaishyas
carry on trade and agriculture; the Sudras serve the three upper castes
with loving service.
This purifying process of humanity will be carried on all through the
144,000 years bringing about the highest spiritual, mental and physical
development. From the shortest stature to which the human body will be
decreased, it will gradually, through this long process of time and
culture, be increased once again to the height of 21 cubits or 31 1/2
feet. With the height of the body will be reached the height of
spiritual perfection. All, all men and women will once again enjoy the
blessings of predominant Sattwa within Nature and roam upon the earth in
the Garden of Eden with their vision turned inwards into the soul of
things, their body clad with the sky, their hearts filled with ecstasy,
their thoughts centered upon God. We all who are now walking the earth,
had walked in the last Golden Ago and formed members of that godly
fraternity of Adams and Eves and shall do so in the coming Golden Age,
unless we develop higher soul-consciousness and, before the end of the
present Kali, transfer ourselves to any the upper four spheres or to the
highest beyond the universe—Golaka—the abode of Absolute Love, to dwell
with our only Lover and Beloved—Krishna.
SECTION XI. MANWANTARA OR THE DELUGE.
The next larger cycle of time is called the Manwantara or the Deluge.
When the Divine Cycle has revolved 71 times it brings about a cataclysm.
The oceans surge up and cover the entire earth with its waters, even the
highest peaks of the Himalayas being submerged, and remain so for the
period of 71 Divine Cycles. This world-wide natural catastrophy occurs
periodically, owing to more and more increased accumulation of the sins
of humanity, who, along with all living beings and vegetation are thus
destroyed by submersion. The only man saved is the most virtuous and
spiritual man of the time, who becomes the Manoo elect, that is, the
spiritual governor of the next Cycle which extends between the time of
the reappearance of land after the Deluge to the next Deluge. This
period is called Manwantara, the period between two Manoos. The account
of the Deluge as given in the Old Testament of the Bible has been taken
from minute accounts recorded in the Alatsya (Fish) Purana and the
condensed facts about them given in all the Purānas as well as the
Mahābhārata. Only, the Bible version is distorted in some particulars.
Since the beginning of the present Kalpa creation, six Manwantaras, each
ending with the Deluge, have passed away. We are just now living in the
seventh of which twenty-seven Divine Cycles have rolled away and we are
now living in the Iron Age of the twenty-eighth. Many millions of years
therefore have gone by since the last Flood. Towards the end of the Kali
Yuga of the last Manwantara, mankind became filled with the utmost
corruption. But there was, according to the Mahābhārata and the Bhāgavat
Purana, one man, by the name of King Satyavrata, whom this spirit of
corruption failed to touch. He was almost as pure and spiritually
powerful as Brahmā, the Creator, while he was possessed of uncommon
physical beauty. He was engaged in spiritual austerities and meditation
in a holy forest on the top of the Himalayan mountains for many hundred
years. One day, while he was sitting in contemplation on the bank of the
river Cheerinee, a little fish leapt out of the water into his hands. He
threw it back into the river but the fish, to his surprise, spoke and
begged the king to protect him from a large fish coming to devour him.
Satyavrata out of compassion took the fish into his hands again, went
home and placed it in a water-pot. He tended him as his own offspring.
The fish gradually grew so big that he had to be taken to a large pond,
but after a few years the pond could no more hold the fish, so large had
it become. The King wondering at this unprecedented growth suspected the
fish to be Vishnoo Himself. The fish begged Satyavrata to put him into
the holy Ganges which he did by his Yoga power. In time, however, the
fish growing still larger, he had to be taken to the ocean. The King
exhibited his yoga-power again by carrying that huge fish to the ocean.
As soon as he was thrown into the sea, the phenomenal Fish smiled and
thus addressed the King, "O thou kind one! Thou hast saved and protected
me in every way, but I will leave nothing undone to return this
kindness. Now, listen! The time has come for one of the great events of
the world. The destruction of the earth is at hand. On the seventh day
from this, the earth shall be swallowed up by the waters, from which
thou canst not be saved except through me. A large ark shall come to
thee into which thou must get with the seven Rishis (Illumined Beings)
of the Great Bear who shall help and bear you company. Take thou also
all kinds of seeds of all trees, plants, shrubs and creepers, as also
pairs of all animals and creeping things on this boat and wait for me. I
will soon appear there, bedecked with horns. Do not doubt my words, but
do as I tell thee."
The strange Fish then disappeared as Satyavrata said, "So shall it be."
He then did just as the Fish had told him. When the ark came, he went
aboard with the Seven Rishis of the Great Bear and seeds and animals and
waited in anxious contemplation of the Divine Fish which soon appeared
as he had promised, bedecked with horns and high as a hillock. He made
salutation to him and tied the ark to his horns with a strong heavy
rope, whereupon the Fish pulled the ark with great speed and began to
play upon the bosom of the ocean.
Then the ocean heaved with huge waves and the waters roared. It all
looked as if the ocean was performing a wild dance. The ark was then
tossed and whirled about with great force, and soon not a trace of land
or sign of any direction was visible. Earth and sky seemed one vast
expanse of water under which all men and beasts and birds and vegetation
were drowned and destroyed. The Fish and the ark and Satyavrata with the
Seven Rishis and the seeds and animals alone existed. The Divine Fish
drew and preserved the ark for many years on the surface of the deep.
Long, long time after, when the waters subsided and the highest peak of
the Himalayas made itself visible, the Fish drew the ark to it and said
in a pleasant voice, addressing the Rishis, "O ye illumined ones! Bind
the boat for a while to this mountain-peak," which the Rishis did. In
commemoration of this event, this peak of the Himalayas is still called
the "Boat-Binding Peak."
When the ark was safely tied, the Fish said again to the Rishis: "I am
Brahmā of Brahmā, the Creator. I have taken the form of the Fish to save
you all from the Flood. Now this Satyavrata will be known as Vaivaswata
Manoo. He will, by my grace and power of his Yoga, create all mobile and
immobile beings of the earth, gods and asuras and men." So saying the
Fish vanished.
Vaivashwata Manoo, who is also called Shraddhadeva, then sat in
meditation and in time, by his Yoga-power, created all the beings and
creatures of the earth and celestial planes as he was bidden to do.
This is the shortest sketch of a very long account of the Deluge in the
Hindoo Books. The word Manoo has been distorted into the word "Noah" in
the Old Testament.
In the distorted version of the Deluge in the Holy Bible, this principal
factor of the preservation of Noah and his Ark, the Divine Fish, has not
been mentioned out of ignorance of the detailed facts of the cataclysm.
This ignorance is excusable, judging from the fact of the remoteness of
the time when the last Flood occurred. What the Bible estimates as 6,000
years the Hindoo Books put down at more than 4,000,000, when Manoo
(Noah) was afloat on the waters of the universal inundation. The Divine
Fish is an incarnation of Vishnoo who is worshipped and prayed to in
that form even now in India. When God Himself in Fish-form was the guide
and protector of Manoo there was no need of birds being sent out to
reconnoitre as to the reappearance of land. It was the Fish that first
espied the highest peak of the Himalayas visible above the waters and
drew the ark to it and asked Noah and the Seven Rishis to bind that boat
to that peak. That peak is still called the Boat-Binding Peak, the
Sanscrit word being "Nour-Bandhan" peak. The Bible calls it the Ararat
and they are now trying to locate it in Syria and many other places.
Even a common sense view of the matter ought to decide in favor of the
Himalayas which are ever known as the highest mountains. That the first
subsidence of the waters should first uncover a Himalayan peak is only
natural to suppose.
With the appointment of a new Manoo are also appointed some highly
spiritual souls as gods, as well as the Seven Rishis (illuminated
beings) who govern the seven stars of the Great Bear, in the places of
the gods and Rishis of the past Alanwantara, whose terms of office
extend through the duration of one Manwantara, the cyclic period between
two deluges. As every civilized country on the face of the earth is
governed by a king and ministers and officers, according to systematic
laws and regulations, the three spheres Bhur, Bhuba, Swar are likewise
ruled by a king, ministers and officers. The government of the British
Dominions may be taken as some sort of example to illustrate the Divine
Administration. If we take England as the Swar sphere, Ireland as the
Bhuba sphere, India and Canada may stand for the Bhur or Earth sphere.
Manoo, governor of the three spheres, can be likened to the King of
England, though, unlike the English King, he is invested with Supreme
Power; Indra is his Prince Minister. The Seven Rishis of the Great Bear
may be called his independent Cabinet Ministers and Advisers but
superior to him in wisdom and intelligence. The gods may be compared to
Members of Parliament, Secretaries of India and the Colonies and
departmental administrators. The Sons of Manoo act like
Governor-Generals of India and Canada, etc.
At the beginning of a Kalpa cycle, which is measured by one thousand
Divine cycles or a little over 14 Manwantaras, the Manoos, Rishis and
gods of all the 14 Manwantaras are selected beforehand. We are now
lining in the Seventh Manwantara. Shrāddhadeva, called also Vaivaswata,
is our Manoo. The Saints Kāsyapa, Atri, Vasistha, Viswāmitra, Gautama,
Jamadagni and Bharadwāja are the seven Rishis; Purandar is the present
Indra. The Manoos, the Rishis, the Indras are all named for the coming
seven Manwantaras of the present Kalpa in the Shāstras.
The prevalent belief among Western Orientalists is that Manoo was a man
who was born a few hundred years ago and died a natural death after
writing his law institutes for The Hindoos. A more erroneous idea could
not exist from the Hindoo point of view. Manoo, being the spiritual
administrator of the three worlds, has to live all through his term of
office, which extends through 71 Divine cycles of which we are living in
the 28th. Every Manoo incarnates himself as a Rishi towards the end of
every Golden Age and compiles his law, and institutes for the benefit of
humanity, while the seven Rishis incarnate among men at the end of each
Kali Yuga to reveal the truths of the Vedas which are forgotten and lost
before that time.
SECTION XII. THE KALPA CYCLE.
When the Golden. Silver, Copper and Iron Ages, forming the Divine Cycle,
have revolved for 1,000 times they complete a still larger cycle than
the Manwantara, called the Kalpa. As each Manwantara is wound up with a
Deluge, each Kalpa brings about a still greater disastrous event, that
of the destruction of the lower three spheres of the universe, the Bhur,
Bhuba and Swar. The description given of this great cyclic event in the
Purānas as well as in the Mahābhārata, especialy by the Immortal
Mārkandeya who has seen it many times, are simply appalling to the
imagination of puny man.
As I have already said it is only the excessive accumulation of human
sins (Tama-life) that causes these natural catastrophies. The sum of
sins which causes the Kalpa dissolution is many times greater than that
which is the cause of the Flood. Human sins, however, are the immediate
cause. The real or latent cause is to be found in the operations of the
Cardinal Attributes of Nature. Sattwa and Rāja are absolutely subdued by
Tama, which then growing more and more intense bursts into a flame out
of the friction of its own forces. This conflagration first manifests
itself through etheric matter in the shape of seven suns suddenly
appearing in the heavens and with their combined heat burning down the
three spheres into ashes. This is followed by the appearance of strange
clouds which then burst and deluge the ash-turned earth. The ash, in
process of time, is absorbed by the water; then the air, turned into
violent winds, absorbs the water; and then, when the air has been
absorbed by ether (Akāsh), the destruction of the three spheres is
completed.
The Immortal Mārkandeya described this Pralaya (Dissolution) five
thousand years ago to King Yudhisthira in the presence of Krishna and
the assembled sages in the Kāmyak Forest. The following is a summary of
his statement:
"O King! At the end the Kali Yuga (previous to this Pralaya), when the
earthly days of all beings have come to an end, no rains will fall on
earth for many successive years in consequence of which all beings on
earth will die, owing to unbearable heat and hunger caused by drought
and famine. Then will appear simultaneously in the heavens seven suns
which will draw all the waters from all seas and rivers. Whether dry or
wet, whatever grass or wood there is on earth, will be reduced to
tinder. Then will spring up the Fire, called Samvartak, which, aided by
the wind, will attack the sun-absorbed earth and, piercing its surface,
will burn all there is in its bowels. Indeed, by this wind-helped
Samvartak Fire all created beings from the gods to creeping things and
all that now exists in the three worlds will be destroyed and
transformed into one huge heap of ashes.
"Then will appear in the firmament wonderful-looking,
lightening-bedecked clouds, arrayed as garlanded rows of elephants.
These clouds are, some of them, of the color of the blue lotus, some of
the color of the Koomood flower, some of the color of the golden heart
of the lotus, some yellow, some green, some speckled gray, like the
color of the crow's egg, some colored like lotus leaves, some are light
brown, others look like large cities, others like hordes of elephants,
others like the color of eye-cosmetics, others shaped like crocodiles.
These mysterious-looking, deep-sounding rain-clouds, sent by God,
spreading themselves over the sky, will send down rains in a continuous
stream, like watery pillars descending from above, inundating all the
ash-heaped mountains and valleys, and extinguish the fearful Samvartak
Fire.
"O King of the Pandus! Thus, after these rains have fallen continuously
for twelve years, the waters of the seas will rise in a flood and cover
the earth, at which, the still solid cohesiveness of her mountains
giving way, the earth will sink to the bottom of the sea. Then the
clouds, driven by the powerful winds in all directions, will suddenly
disappear. Then he of the Lotus-Abode and Lotus-born, the primeval god,
Brahmā, drinking in the winds and the air, will fall into sleep at the
close of his day."
The lower three spheres—Bhur, Bhuba and Swar—are thus dissolved and
there is nothing in their place but one vast expanse of water. The upper
four spheres, Mahar, Jana, Tapa and Satya or Brahmā, remain intact. The
dwellers of the Mahar Loka, however, unable to bear the heat of the
Samvartak Fire during the earth s destruction, leave it and go up to the
Jana to live there during the duration of the Pralaya.
Now, the question may be asked, why these four upper heavens are not
destroyed, and how can there be an ocean of water When the Water Element
is destroyed along with the other Elements?
The answer is very interesting and instructive. There are two kinds or
states of these Five Elements—Ether, Air, Fire, Water, Earth. One may be
called Pure and the other Mixed. The Pure state of an Element means
wholly unmixed by even the least touch or tinge of the other four
elements. A mixed Element is made up of half part of one Element mixed
with one-eighth part of each of the other four Elements. The Bhur, Bhuba
and Swar are made of these five Mixed Elements which being destroyed by
this Kalpa Pralaya, the three spheres are necessarily destroyed too. The
Upper four spheres are made of the Unmixed Elements and hence they
survive the Kalpa dissolution of the Mixed Elements. It is needless to
say that dwellers of these upper realms are possessed of a physical body
made of these Five Pure Elements, and in the highest realms the dwellers
have no physical bodies at all and therefore no elements in their
make-up. The bodies of some of them are formed of the Five Finest
essences of the Elements—Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and Smell; and of
others, the highest beings in the Brahmā Loka, of nothing but
Consciousness and Ego and Ensouled Mind.
The water of the Watery Expanse, into which the lower three spheres are
reduced by the Kalpa Pralaya, is this Unmixed Pure Water, which is
invisible to our ordinary physical eye. The world is indebted to the
Immortal Mārkandeya for a description of what remains after this Kalpa
dissolution. Blessed, then, with the finest and purest Element-body, he
alone hovers over this vast Watery Expanse. His experiences are recorded
in that History of the Universe, the Mahābhārata, of which here are a
few details:
Said Mārkandeya: "O King! In this, time of the Kalpa Pralaya, when all
gods, asuras, elements, demons, men, animals, trees and the firmament,
etc., all, all the mobile and immobile beings and objects, will be
dissolved into one vast ocean, I alone will hover over that endless
expanse of water and become sad-hearted on viewing this general
destruction. After floating on it for a very long period of time I will
feel extremely exhausted. Then, shortly after, a huge tree in the midst
of that one-ocean will attract my eye. O King! Resting on the spreading
boughs of that tree I will see seated on a couch of glory a lotus-eyed
Boy with a face radiant like the light of the full moon. Instantly on
seeing him I shall be extremely astonished and will say within myself
'How wonderful! Everything has been destroyed, how then is this boy
resting here?' O Great King! Although I am blessed with the knowledge of
the past, present and future, I shall fail to know who that child may
be.
"Then that lotus-eyed Boy will thus speak to me in the sweetest voice:
'O Mārkandeya! I know thee. Thou art become very weary and wishing for
rest. Therefore do thou enter my body and live there as long as thou
mayest desire. I have been very pleased with thee.' O King! on hearing
these words of the Boy I will be filled with the spirit of indifference
to my manhood and long life, at which suddenly that Boy will open his
mouth, and I will then enter into that mouth through some divine means.
"O Great King! Through his mouth I shall enter his belly and to my
astonishment, shall see within him this whole earth of many kingdoms and
cities, rivers, mountains, seas, the blue heavens bedecked with the sun
and the moon, and the many forests. There I shall find Brāhmans engaged
in various religious ceremonies, the Kshatriyas in ruling to the
satisfaction of all other castes, the Vaishyas in their usual vocation
of agriculture, and the Sudras in rendering loving sacrifices to the
Brāhmans; lions and tigers, and all the gods, angels and serial beings
are living peacefully in their respective spheres. In fact, all that
existed before I shall find existing within the belly of that Great
Soul.
"O King! Thus, having seen the whole world within that Boy, I will
travel for many thousand years, like one in a dream, within that world
and in trying to find out its limit will rush in all directions but will
not succeed in doing so. Then disappointment will turn my thoughts to
that beautiful Boy again, and, with all the concentrated force in my
body, mind and speech, I will then ask for his protection and grace. At
this I will be carried, by a violent wind as it were, through his mouth
out of his body and I will find him still sitting under that tree.
"The Boy will then ask me with delighted heart and smiling face, 'O my
good Rishi Mārkandeya! Thou didst become very tired floating on these
waters for such a long time. Have you now been well refreshed by living
within my body?'
"Then I will behold my soul freed from all bondage by the illumination
which will enter me with the Boy's words. And placing his crimson Feet
on my head I will address him thus with folded hands and humility, 'How
lucky I am! To-day I have beheld the Lotus-eyed God of Gods, the Soul of
All Things! O God! I have become very curious to know Thee and this Thy
wonderful Māyā (Illusion). Entering Thy belly through Thy mouth, I have
seen the whole world existing there. O Lord! it was through Thy grace
that I did not lose my memory, and it is through Thy will that I have
now come out of Thy body. O Lotus-eyed! I have become very desirous to
know Thee. Why art Thou resting here in the form of a Boy after having
devoured the whole world? How is it that this whole world is now
dwelling in Thy body? How much longer will Thou rest here? O Lord of
Gods! These subjects are great and unthinkable, and so I beg to hear
from Thee their detailed explanations.'
"The God of the Gods, after consoling me, on the last occasion, began to
answer my questions. He said:
"'O Brāhman! Even the gods have failed to know the mysteries of my
creation. I will tell thee of it only to please thee. O Rishi! Thy
wonderful devotion to thy father and to Me and to spiritual celibacy
have won thee this grace; I have appeared before thy vision. In time
past I called water by the term "Nār" This Nār is ever my seat, hence I
am called Nārāyan. I am the First Cause. I am Eternal, Inexhaustible,
the Creator and Destroyer of all that exists. I am all Wealth, I am
Death, I am Shiva. Fire is in my mouth, the earth is my feet, the sun is
my two eyes, the Celestial Regions are my head, the sky and the cardinal
points are my two ears. Space and Eternity are my body, the winds my
mind.
"'All sacred ceremonies are performed to please Me. All the Vedas come
out of and enter into Me. The peace-loving, mind-disciplined, enquiring,
soul's-mystery-knowing Brāhmans contemplate and worship Me alone. I am
the Fire called Samvartak, I am the Samvartak Winds, and it is I who am
the Seven Suns that rise and shine in Pralaya. The stars that thou seest
now in the firmament are the pores of my body, the sky is my raiment,
the seas my seat and abode. It is I who have divided them as they are.
"'Men are born, are overwhelmed by My Māyā and become enterprising
through my Law, never through their own desire. Those Brāhmans who
thoroughly study the Vedas, perform many spiritual sacrifices, bring
peace to their souls and vanquish anger; it is they who attain to Me.
Those persons who are addicted to bad actions, are swayed by greed, are
misers, crooked-minded and void of soul-culture can never reach Me. The
paths of Yoga are as easy for pure souls to tread as they are uncertain
to the wicked and the foolish.
"'Whenever religion suffers from revolution and vice triumphs over
virtue, I create myself and walk the earth and set things right.
Whenever are born on the earth the selfish and envious Asuras and Demons
so powerful that even the gods cannot destroy them, I in the form of man
take birth in the family of pious men and bring peace to the world again
by subduing them. I am white-complexioned in the Satya Yuga, yellow in
the Tretā, red in the Dwāpar and dark in the Kali. At the end of each
great cycle it is I who destroy every thing. I am the Three Paths, the
Soul of the Universe, Giver of all Happiness, Superior to All,
All-Pervading, the Endless and the All-Powerful.
"'At the last Kali Yuga of each Kalpa I spread my illusion upon all
beings and enter into my trance-state. When old, old Brahmā, transformed
into a child, goes to sleep and keeps sleeping, I rest here on the
waters until he is awakened. Now, go thou about on the waters in restful
spirit until that time, when I alone will create again earth and sky and
light, air and water, and all bodies.'
"So saying, O King, that wonderful Being vanished from my view. Then by
and by this world was created again. Thus in the last Kalpa Pralaya did
I witness this wonderful event. The Lotus-Eyed Diety I then saw, you
brothers have now established blood relations with Him, this Krishna. It
is through His grace that I have obtained uninterrupted memory, become
so long-lived and endowed with the boon of dying at my will. This
Krishna who is now sitting before us all, this Krishna present here, who
is born in the line of the Vrishnis, is just now merely playing on His
earth. But it is He, this Krishna, who is the Ancient Person, the Lord,
the Unthinkable Soul, the Creator, the Destroyer, the Eternal and the
Master of All! I have been able to remember all these facts only through
the inspiration of His presence here. He is the Mother and Father of all
beings: do you all take His Refuge."
Krishna has been called Nārāyan here by Mārkandeya, because Nārāyan, the
Fourth Form-manifestation of Krishna in the unfoldment of creation, is
generally known as the Supreme Diety—Krishna. Nārāyan, as I have said
before this, is Aniruddha out of whose navel springs the seed-bud Lotus
with Brahmā, the operating Creator of the details Creation.
SECTION XIII. NATURAL DISSOLUTION.
What is popularly known as Universal Destruction, is termed in the
Hindoo Scriptures "Prākritic Pratisanchar" or Natural Retrogression,
which means Natural Disssolution. This marks the close of the Greatest
Cycle of Time. It is the End of Time, the End of Creation. It is the
Maha Pralaya. It involves the annihilation of the Universe, in one
sense, because after its occurrence none of the Principles, except the
Ultimate, exists. "In one sense" I say advisedly, for although the
Manifest universe becomes non-existent, its latent spiritual
impressions, forming its germ, are carried by the Three Cardinal
Attributes into the Ultimate Principle, Love—Krishna—and preserved
unconsciously, even during their rest in Krishna, in a state of
equilibrium, It is out of this Mystic Ideation that, in the event of the
inequilibrium of the Attributes, a fresh creation springs into
existence. There is no such thing as destruction in the law of Nature.
Nothing is destroyed totally; all forms of destruction are but phases of
transmutation, from gross manifestation into fine, from fine into finer,
from finer into finest, from finest into mystic ideation which belongs
to the realm of absolute spirituality.
The Hindoo doctrine in regard to the process of creation is the
unfoldment of the Twenty-three Principles from the reflection of the
One, the manifestation into Many and the Diverse of the Mystic Energy of
the One Unchangeable Absolute. This Mystic Energy unrolls its many and
diverse phases and forces in creation and incessantly throughout its
duration. "Prākritic" means "Natural" from "Prakriti," Nature.
"Pratisanchar" is "Prati" and "sanchar"; "Prati" means backward, and
"sanchar" means the act of moving, motion. The whole word therefore
means "moving backward." Prākritic Pratisanchar, therefore, is the
moving backward of the Unfolded Principles of Existence (Nature) into
its One Source, out of which they originally spring. This backward
motion of Variety into Unity is caused by the extreme action of intense
Tama from which the following natural reaction puts the forces of the
Three Cardinal Attributes into equilibrium. This equilibrium is the
Unmanifest (Avyakta—unexpressed) state of Nature, and the inequilibrium
brings about the Manifest state, the gross form of which is the
universe. This action of Natural Dissolution has also its reaction. It
reacts into a fresh Creation.
The symptoms which manifest themselves previous to the occurrence of
this universal destruction are almost the same as those before the Kalpa
Pralaya. Only, the degeneration of human society develops worse phases
which are followed by intense heat, owing to the suspension of rains for
years and years together, resulting in the death of all moving and
breathing beings. Then appear in the heavens twelve suns, instead of
seven as in the Kalpa Pralaya, which give birth to the Samvartak Fire.
The fire is followed by the appearance of the Samvartak Clouds, which
deluge the earth with continuous rains for years; the deluge is followed
by the winds, etc.
But the main difference lies in the absolutely destructive power of
these Elemental agents. When the suns and the fire have done their work,
the black surface of the earth looks like the back of a tortoise. Then
the water in which it is submerged absorbs the very attribute of
Earth—Smell—along with its substance which then becomes absolutely
nonexistent and transformed into water. The water is then absorbed by
Fire (heat) with its attribute—Taste—so that water becomes absolutely
non-existent and is turned into Fire. The volume of Fire is then so
increased that it burns the suns themselves, so that all the heavens,
filled with all-pervading flames, burn on until everything in them is
destroyed. Then the air devours the Fire with its attribute—Form—so that
there remains nothing visible to the eye. The winds then move about with
all their force in the Akās. Then Akās (Ether) absorbs the Air with its
attribute—Touch—so that nothing remains which can be felt. Then Akās
itself becomes unmanifest, the Universal Mind having absorbed its
attribute—Sound—which originally sprang from it to create Akās (Ether).
This is called the dissolution of the gross form of the Universe.
The dissolution of the fine (subtle) form begins with the Moon, the
presiding deity of the Mind, absorbing the Mind with its attribute —the
power of Willing and Non-Willing, which power with all its associations
is then centered in the Moon. After a long time the Mind, centralized in
the Moon, brings about the poise in its vibratory volition (the cause of
material desires). This will-control results in the Moon-centered Mind
being absorbed by its original Belief in the Oneness of Nature and Brahm
(Divine Essence). The Belief in this Unity (Ego) is then absorbed by
Universal Consciousness, and Universal Consciousness with its attribute
of the Power of Decision is absorbed by Absolute Being (one of the Three
Attributes of Para-Brahm). Then Wisdom (another of the Three Attributes,
also called Intelligence or Truth) absorbs this Absolute Being. Then
that all-impregnated Wisdom enters the Unmanifest Soul—Absolute
Love—KRISHNA.
SECTION XIV. MODERN SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY.
A recent discovery of modern science has not only thrown the clearest
light upon this Hindoo doctrine of the unity and composition of the
universe, but has fully proved its correctness. This is the first
indirect investigation of Western material science into the realm of the
subjective side of creation. The author of this discovery, by strange
irony of Fate, is a Hindoo, though educated and trained in scientific
knowledge in England, under English teachers of Science. He is now a
scientific celebrity among Western scientific celebrities of the day;
and if the work of his tested discovery be rightly estimated, he ought
to be classed with the highest of them all. His name is Professor
Jagadis Chunder Bose, D. Sc., Professor of Science in the Calcutta
University.
Prof. Bose's discovery, now embodied in book-form and entitled "Response
in the Living and the Non-Living," marks a new epoch in the advancement
of modern science. It has been accepted by all scientific authorities,
after the Professor had demonstrated it by experiments before a large
number of scientific people in London, and notably by Lord Kelvin.
Armed with the demonstrated facts of this discovery. Professor Bose
maintains that the true test of the existence of life in any form of
matter is its sensitiveness to external stimulus. According to this test
he proves conclusively that no essential difference exists between
animals and metals or vegetables. He has shown by scientific experiments
that a bar of iron is not only as irritable and sensitive as a human
body, but that it can be killed or poisoned in the same way as a human
body can be killed or poisoned. According to his discovery, life
pervades every object and part of Nature; and only some of these parts
or objects can be said to be in a dead state, which means they can be
deprived of their sensitiveness to external stimulus.
If any part of our body is pinched, the nerve which connects that part
with the brain, running all along, sends an electric current to the
brain, vibrating under the pinch. The brain alone feels the pain
inflicted upon any part of our body, says modern science; and it is
proved by the fact that no pain is felt by us if our brain is deadened
by chloroform.
The galvanometer is a well-known and very delicate scientific instrument
for detecting the presence of electric currents; it has a needle on a
pivot, and the faintest electric current will cause a deflection of this
needle. If at any intervening part of the electric current-bearing nerve
in the human body the galvanometer be attached, and the end of the nerve
pinched or otherwise irritated, then immediately the needle of the
galvanometer will deflect, thus showing that the irritation of the nerve
causes a current like that of electricity to be sent along it. This fact
is now very well known to scientists, and Prof. Bose's investigations
are based upon this well-known scientific fact.
With a view to ascertaining whether or not matter which has hitherto
been known as non-living could be proved so under the test of the
galvanometer, the Professor attached the instrument to bars of different
metals, with startling contrary results. The Professor found that all
metals show visible signs of sensitiveness when twisted or tapped. The
greater the irritation the greater the visible signs of sensitiveness;
even every single peculiarity in the irritability of animal matter is
exactly reproduced in the case of metal. As, for instance, when the
sensitiveness of a muscle or a nerve of an animal wears off after a
time, under repeated irritation, it begins to show signs of fatigue, the
deflection of the needle of the galvanometer becoming more and more
feeble; the Professor found that metals would betray exactly the same
signs of fatigue under repeated irritation. Again, after a short rest,
the signs of fatigue were found to disappear in animal muscle and in
metal alike, their sensitiveness being fully restored. This last fact is
known to many of us who constantly use a razor and find it losing its
keen edge and growing duller and duller, despite vigorous stropping, and
spontaneously recovering its original keenness by being laid aside for a
few days.
Professor Bose's process of registering the deflections of the needle of
the galvanometer is this: By a mechanical device the point of the needle
is photographed on paper, which is moved along at a constant rate, the
needle's point tracing out a series of zig-zag lines on the paper, when
the needle is oscillated by an electric current. The width of the
zig-zags corresponds to the amount of the deflection of the needle,
therefore the strength of the electric current. If there be no current,
and consequently no deflection of the needle, its point will remain
stationary and merely trace a straight line on the moving paper.
This book of Prof. Bose's, "Response in the Living and the Non-Living,"
is full of still more wonderful revelations. He has found and shown, to
the satisfaction of European scientists through experiments, that metals
do not only go to sleep, but can be poisoned and killed like human
beings and animals. Like an unused animal muscle showing signs of
sluggishness and appearing to be in a kind of torpor, then gradually
seeming to waken up under irritation, and finally returning to full
activity, Professor Bose proves that metals behave in exactly the same
way and process of gradation. He also proves that the effects of extreme
cold and extreme heat produce exactly similar conditions in both animals
and metals.
But men or animals can be drugged and made drunk. Can metals likewise be
drugged and made drunk? Yes, says Prof. Bose, and he proves it
absolutely. He proves that metals show the same increase of irritability
under the influence of stimulants and narcotics as the human body.
Moreover, even as different animals are affected differently by the same
dose of a stimulant, so also are different metals. Under the influence
of carbonate of sodium, irritability of platinum is increased threefold,
while the irritability of tin is less.
Still more significant is the action of anaesthetics and narcotics.
Under their action the sensitiveness of metals can be reduced to any
desired degree, exactly as is the case of human beings. A more striking
parallel between animal matter and metals is established by Prof. Bose.
The action of some narcotics on the human frame is known to be
paradoxical under certain conditions. While a large dose of opium, for
instance, decreases the sensitiveness of the human body, a very minute
dose has exactly the opposite effect, that is to say, acts as a
stimulant. This anomaly has been found by Prof. Bose to have a parallel
in metals, tin being found to show that its sensitiveness is increased
half as much again by being treated with a minute dose of potash (3
parts in 100), but the sensitiveness begins to decrease when the dose is
increased.
Now the question suggests itself that if metals are as much alive as
animals, then they must also be as liable to die as animals. Prof. Bose
has found this to be a fact, too. Metals not only die; but they can be
poisoned and revived, and poisoned and killed.
In order to find out these facts, Prof. Bose took a piece of metal which
showed full vigor of sensitiveness and so was considered healthy, and
treated it with a moderate dose of oxalic acid, which is a powerful
poison. The needle of the galvanometer instantly indicated a spasmodic
flutter; the sensitiveness of the metal more and more feeble, till it
seemed almost to die away. At this stage, a powerful antidote being
applied, slowly and gradually the sensitiveness began to revive, and in
time became as active as when the metal was not poisoned. The treatment
of another piece of healthy metal with a strong dose of the same poison
resulted in violent spasms, with rapid enfeeblement of sensitiveness,
which soon vanished altogether. After a proper interval the antidote was
tried in vain; the piece of metal was killed forever. The results of
experiments with different metals and different poisons were the same;
but all poisons not being alike in their action upon animal matter, the
same is true of their action on metal, absolutely and undoubtedly. In
some cases, however, after all traces of poison had been removed by the
counteracting influence of stimulating acids, the poisoned metal was
eventually reanimated; which meant that the metal was not really killed,
but was merely in a state of suspended animation. The most striking
feature of the discovery in this connection is, that the very poison
which kills both animal and metal is itself endowed with life, which
shows itself by indications of irritability and sensitiveness, and which
can itself be killed.
Here is another significant point in regard to the operation of poison
on both an animal and a metal. In the case of an animal the operation is
twofold; first, the actual death process, lasting from a few minutes to
several hours; secondly, the purely nervous effect which manifests
itself in the form of spasms, paralysis or other symptoms, and which is
developed much sooner, sometimes instantaneously. Prof. Bose has
discovered the same phenomenon in metal. Under the effect of some
powerful poisons there was instantaneous spasm shooting through the
metal long before the corrosive action of the acid could penetrate
beyond the surface.
Professor Bose has proved in his book that all these phenomena with
every single variation exist as much in the vegetable kingdom as in the
animal and mineral. Indeed, the three kingdoms of matter, the animal,
the vegetable and the mineral, are, says the Professor, but one in
essence and the physiological distinction between so-called organic and
inorganic matter, of which man and metal are but types, is based upon a
false and unscientific assumption. Prof. Bose dedicates his book to his
countrymen, the Hindoos, because, he says, his discovery is a discovery
made millions of years ago by the Hindoo sages, who proclaimed the unity
of the universe in essence and construction, as well as in the laws that
govern it.
SECTION XV. SCIENCE UPHOLDS SHASTRAS.
Now let us consider the main points of this great epoch-making
scientific discovery by the light of the truths of Nature and the laws
of matter discovered countless ages ago by the illuminated sages of
India, and handed down through the corridors of time. Every discovery of
modern science has tended to establish the principles of Hindoo religion
and philosophy, by furnishing practical testimony to what were so long
considered as their mystic teachings. But this discovery of Prof. Bose's
is an unexpected stumble of a purely objective method of investigation
upon the truths and laws of the subjective realm. The evidence which
Prof. Bose's experiments afford is of course indirect; but this indirect
evidence is startlingly direct in its pointed and unmistakable
suggestions. It is therefore most opportune at the present moment, when
the human mind the world over is striving, impelled by a natural hunger,
to get at the facts back of the physical shroud of the universe.
The Hindoo sages say that the universe is one whole, huge being, of
which the high heavens are the head, the sun and the moon the eyes,
space the body, and the earth the feet. Every inch, nay, every point, of
this universe-body is alive as a healthy human body. The composing
principles of this body are twenty-four, as I have already explained.
These twenty-four principles are therefore present in every atom of it,
in every speck of earth, the last principle in creation. This speck or
molecule of earth has, however, no opening for any of its composing
principles; whereas vegetable and animal life-forms have many of these
passages of their composing principles more or less open. As a tortoise
puts forth its body out of its shell and again draws that body into it,
so out of Love the twenty-three principles are projected, and drawn, in
the fullness of time, back into its bosom again. This reaction or
journey of the universe back to its source is called universal
destruction, or dissolution, or disintegration. This universal
dissolution takes place when the Three Cardinal Attributes of creation,
out of which all the composing principles have sprung, fall into
equilibrium; in other words, become equal in power or tension. This loss
of tensity or equipoise in the power of the Cardinal Attributes, viz.,
Sattwa (Illumination), Rāja (Activity or Motion), and Tama
(Obscuration), results in the loss of their individuality, and their
transformation into Pure Illumination. By pure illumination is meant
unmixed illumination; that is to say, absolute illumination, having no
tendency or trace in it of being disturbed into obscuration. In short,
Sattwa, Rāja and Tama are each of them mixed with the other two, its own
quality being predominant in it. Their inequality of power brings them
forth into and sustains their being. The moment this power becomes equal
and they lose their existence, the Absolute Illumination, co-existent
with Absolute Love and Absolute Being out of which they sprung, alone
remains.
This equipoise of the cardinal cosmic attributes takes place at
intervals of time, the dimension of which staggers the human mind to
imagine. But while the return-journey of the universe as a whole takes
place once in an indefinitely long period of time, the molecules of
earth, as soon as they are created, have a tendency to go back to their
original source. But the molecule's journey backward to Love is made by
a very circuitous path. That path leads through the process of opening
one by one the passages of its composing principles. By passages is
meant channels of communication and sympathy with the main laws and
vibrations of the working of the universe.
The first step the molecule takes, in this return-journey, is by opening
the passage of one principle, the sense of feeling, and becoming a blade
of grass. A blade of grass has only one sense opened, the sense of
touch, by which it draws juice from the earth for its sustenance. After
being reborn thousands of times as a blade of grass, it draws the
magnetism from the different life-forms in Nature, which helps it to
develop into a shrub. And then, after thousands of shrub-lives, it
develops into a plant, and then into tree-life, in which it puts forth
flowers and fruits. And, finally, drawing in more and more magnetism and
vibrations from the animal world, it develops into an animal itself. At
first it is but an animalcule, and then a worm. As a worm it has opened
more passages, the passage of tasting (the palate), the passage of
gripping (with the mouth), the passage of moving (the feet), the
passages of excreting and generating, the passage of seeing (the eye),
the passage of smelling, the passage of hearing, etc. Through thousands
of rebirths in each animal form it is promoted into higher and higher
animal forms, in which more and more passages of its composing
principles are opened. The last forms of lower animals it takes are
those of monkeys and apes, the forms just before developing into human
form. In these ape forms of life it opens all principles except four;
viz., Mind, Ego, Intellect and Love. However intelligent a monkey or a
dog or any other animal may be or seem to be, the Mind principle is not
yet open in it. All its actions are prompted by instinct, which is the
natural impulse of the indirect influence of the mind on the verge of
being opened, as well as of automatic memory of past experiences in this
and previous existences, the impressions of which are in their very
blood. With the opening of the Mind principle begins the human form. It
may be the most savage man, but it is human. He can think, is
self-conscious, and acts with reasoned decision, however crude or
erroneous; because with the opening of the Mind there are simultaneously
opened the Ego and the Intellect, they being almost on principle in
three.
After these explanations of the composition, construction, and
transformation of matter, let us go back to unopened matter, in order to
explain the mysteries of Professor Bose's discoveries by the aid of the
galvanometer. The Professor has discovered that the application of this
delicate instrument reveals the fact that matter which has hitherto been
considered non-living is very much alive indeed, as fully alive as
living animals are, because they respond to external stimulus as fully
as any living being. According to Hindoo definition and idea of
construction and composition of matter, it is only natural that this
should be so. To the Hindoo sage this is not at all a wonder. Love,
Consciousness, Ego, Mind, the ten senses, the five fine essences and the
five gross forms of matter, called elements, are as much present in
minerals, which are but formations of earth, as in animals. A lump of
earth, or a piece of metal, or a vegetable, cannot give visible, direct
response to external stimulus, because they have no openings (open
physical organs) through which to manifest it. If you can by any means
feel the vibrations caused by such stimulus within them, then only can
you find the proof of the uniform composition and construction of all
forms of matter in this one whole living universe. The galvanometer
serves this purpose, and hence the Hindoo idea stands to-day as a
demonstrated fact.
Let us analyze the tests and proofs of the galvanometer a little more
closely, and understand them according to the Hindoo doctrine of the
construction and organization of what is called organic or inorganic
matter. The Hindoo doctrine does not recognize the nerve or the brain as
any of the principles which compose what is called the living body. The
nerve is but a mere physical vehicle of the sensation of the mind (which
includes the Ego and the Intellect, the part of universal consciousness
in individual souls), and the brain is the physical centre of these
physical channels of the mind's sensation and experiences. The mind
feels the sensation of the external stimulus through its channels, the
five cognizing senses, and the mind's sensations are carried through the
nerves to the brain. This is in regard to animal life, which has brains
and nerves formed fully or partially. The vegetables and minerals have
neither brains nor nerves. How, then, do they show the same irritation
as animals do to external stimulus, as shown by the galvanometer?
The answer is simple. Because they have the psychic vehicles, the five
cognizing senses, by which to convey the sensation of the external
stimulus to the mind, and therefore they need no physical brain or
nerve. Only, having no physical openings, they cannot manifest the
effect of those sensations outside themselves, as animals do; and only
an instrument, like the galvanometer, is able to detect the sensations
and indicate them by the deflection of its needle. Mineral and vegetable
matter having all the twenty-four principles in them, have the mind and
the senses, too. Only, they are in a shut-up, undeveloped state, and
perform their undeveloped, crude functions like an unconscious
mechanism.
It is through the senses that sensations are perceived; and had not the
senses been present within a piece of metal or a vegetable, there would
be no sensation in it, and therefore the galvanometer would have been
useless in its application and results, because, there being no
sensation, there would be no deflection of the needle. Professor Bose's
experiments conclusively prove not only the unity, but the uniform
composition and construction of the whole universe; that all its
composing principles are present everywhere; that in some phases they
are in a latent and in others in manifest state. The tests of the
galvanometer also prove that what is true of the whole universe is true
of a particle of earth; that the whole universe is one whole living
mass, like a single living being, and that every molecule of its
composition is a universe in embryo; because every molecule is instinct
with all the forces and properties of the twenty-four principles, which
are the materials as well as the attributes of the cosmos.
SECTION XVI. PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL BODIES.
It is the ignorance of the knowledge of the constitution of the
universal and human bodies that forms one of the chief obstacles of a
correct study of the laws operating behind external Nature, It is the
general belief of modern humanity that the human body is made up of
flesh and blood alone. This is true so far as the physical body is
concerned. But there is another body within us finer than the physical
which is the real body and of which the physical body is the outer
encasement. This real body is called the Astral Body. The whole human
body is like a clock of which the physical covering is its case and the
astral body its works. As the mechanical part of a clock is the real
clock and its case with its dial and hands forms its covering by which
it indicates its working, so the astral body is the mechanical part of
the human body and the physical is its case through which it indicates
its operations. Though far from perfect, the analogy is very suggestive.
For instance, the mechanical part of the clock cannot serve its purpose
without the aid of the case, dial and hands. The astral body likewise
cannot be of any use without the co-operation of the physical body.
The mechanism of the astral body is composed of eighteen Principles,
viz., Consciousness (Intellect), Ego, Mind, the Ten Senses: the Powers
of Seeing, Hearing, Smelling. Tasting, Feeling, Speaking, Holding,
Moving, Excreting and Generating; and the five attributes of the
Elements: Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and Smell. These Principles work
through their counterpart-organs of the physical body which is composed
of the five remaining Principles, viz., the Five Elements—Ether, Air,
Fire, Water and Earth.
Now let us see how the physical body is composed of the five Elements.
The vigor of our father and the blood of our mother, of which our
physical body is made, are formations of assimilated food. Every kind of
foodstuff, vegetable or animal, is but condensed form of earth's juice;
earth-juice is earth. Now Earth is composed only of its five attributes:
Sound, Touch, Form, Taste and Smell, the first four of which compose
Water, the first three compose Fire, the first two Air, and the first,
Sound, is the Attribute of Ether (Akās). Therefore the other four
Elements are present in earth on account of their respective attributes
being contained in it. Our physical body, therefore, being made of
formations of Earth, is composed of the Five Elements.
The material of the physical body is supplied by our parents and the
astral body we supply ourselves. The astral body is our permanent body.
It puts on new flesh-garments from time to time. When it slips into a
new flesh-garment it is called birth; when it slips out of it, it is
called death. But really the astral body lives on forever and ever and
never ceases to exist unless we find the means and take measures to
destroy it. The extinction the astral body is brought about by the
mind's absolute dissociation from the bondage and influence of matter
and material ideas, and absorption into the Divine Essence, Mukti.
The earth and the visible sky form the physical body of the Universe and
the upper six spheres form its astral body which includes still subtler
bodies. This means that both the universal and the human bodies are
constructed on the same principle. Both are formed of seven bodies,
encased like a sheath within a sheath. These are called the Food-made
(physical) body, the Vital body, the Mental (or Astral) body, the
Psychic body, the Wisdom (or Causal) body, the Blissful body and the
Soul body.
SECTION XVII. KARMA.
The Universe is one whole manifestation of Cause and Effect. All Nature
is manifested and materialized forces of Action and Reaction. The
Doctrine of Karma is based upon the natural law by which action produces
reaction, the law of cause and effect. It holds that every action is the
cause of every reaction as well as the effect of the action which is its
producing cause. The doctrine of Reincarnation specifies the different
physical forms in which groups of accumulated causes of reaction
manifest themselves in Nature. The laws of Karma are the regulated
blendings of the subtle forces of the finer principles of Nature which,
operating from within, shape these outer physical forms.
Karma begins with the creation of the Universe, and Creation begins with
the loss of equilibrium of the three Cardinal Attributes while dwelling
in a quiescent state in Absolute Love—Krishna. This inequilibrium
develops the germ of the Past Universe, which the Attributes hold within
them, and manifests itself as a New Universe—a new Creation. The word
Karma is derived from the Sanscrit root Kri, to act. Karma means action.
Action means the motion of the operating forces of Nature. The Karma of
the past Creations, stored up as ideation within the even forces of the
Attributes, works itself out in the form and phases of a new Creation.
Every succeeding Creation therefore is the reactive result of all
previous creations. This reaction of the accumulated action-potencies of
the past creations produces the uniform dimensions and the principal
features of the cycles, so that the history of every cycle, from the
smallest to the largest, repeats itself in its chief points in naturally
regulated succession.
As in the great universe, so in its epitome, man. The microcosm is ruled
by the same laws as the macrocosm, the laws of cause and effect, of
action and reaction. Man is the conscious embodiment of the blended
forces of his past actions, actions of previous conscious embodiments
born of the forces of still more previous embodiments.
Action proceeds from thought. Thought is the source and spring of
action. No action is possible without its producing cause, thought,
which is a phase of the mind's volition. All our thoughts are impressed
on the mind, the moment they form themselves, in condensed pictures. The
more powerful a thought, the deeper the impression on the mind. Weak,
undeveloped thoughts make superficial impressions and are liable to wear
off. The impression of a powerful thought is likewise rubbed off by the
force of a strong counter-thought. An angry thought, for instance,
prompts us to do a bad action, but before it is reduced to action, our
reason sometimes intervenes, argues against it, convinces us of its
error which induces repentance. The stronger the counter-thought of
repentance, the more quickly and effectively it rubs off the impression.
But if the thought is reduced to action, its impression is deep and
enduring, and requires the aid of absolutely sincere, burning repentance
to destroy that impression.
These thought-impressions on the mind are called seeds of Karma. They
are exactly like seeds of trees in their potencies and operations. As a
seed of a tree, when planted in the soil, germinates, grows, flowers and
bears fruit, so does a Karma-impression germinate, grow, flower and bear
fruit. As the germ of a seed, in process of development, produces the
events called sprouting, putting forth leaves and branches, flowering
and fruiting, lo, a man's mental thought-impressions of previous lives,
in almost the self-same way, sprout, put forth leaves and branches,
flower and fruit in the shape of events, inside and outside of him. The
thought-impressions are reflected upon the aura. "Aurā" is a Sanscrit
word, its transliterated form being "Arā," from "Ar" which means the
spoke of a wheel. "Arā" means full of spoke-like shoots of radiance from
any centre. This centre of our aura is our mind. Aura, therefore, is the
radiance of, the mind which permeates and envelopes our body in an oval
shape and generally extends one cubit outside of our body. The aura and
reflections of these thought-impressions on the aura are visible only to
the spiritual and psychical sight. The illuminated saints and yogis who
have developed this sight, not only see this aura, but also the
reflections of the thought-impressions which they can read and interpret
as we read and interpret words. These reflections are called the
characters of the mind—the Hidden Pictures (Chitra-Gupta) of Human
Conduct—which reveal the past, present and future history of a human
soul to those who can decipher them.
From the aura these characters are reflected again upon the Ether which
receives the impression and keeps the record of each external and
internal event in Nature. The Ether is the storehouse of the records of
all human and natural happenings and vibrations. And it is from this
storehouse of all mental records that true clairvoyance draws its
inspired messages and revelations, A fully developed Yogi can learn the
details of an event which occurred ten thousand years ago or of any
time, and can tell of any present or future occurrence in any part of
the world by concentrating upon the Ether, the all-knowing Ether.
Thus the records of the causes of human actions are kept in triplicate,
so that there is no escape from the potencies of their merits and
demerits, unless the main records (those on the mind) are melted away by
the fire of absolute, all-absorbing spiritual consciousness.
Actions (Karma) are of two kinds, white and black. White Karma springs
from the Sāttwic state of mind, and Black Karma from its Tāmasic state.
The color of Sattwa (Illumination) is white, the color of Tama
(Darkness) is black, hence Karma is white or black. Rāja is the
attribute of Activity, the working principle, the motive power of
action. Without the aid of Rāja no action is possible. When Rāja works
with dominant Sattwa the result is white Karma, when it works with
dominant Tama, the result is black Karma. The white and black actions
are commonly called good and bad. What is a good action? It is an action
whose ultimate reaction produces harmony and happiness and illumines the
mind. What is a bad action? It is an action which, however enjoyable or
otherwise while it lasts, produces a reaction of inharmony, pain and
misery, causing darkness of the mind.
In respect to the law according to which they come to be worked out in
their turn, the Karma-seeds, white and black, are of three
classes—Sanchit, Prārabdha and Kriyamān or Agāmi. Sanchit means
stored-up. Prārabdha means Karma the reaction of which has begun or that
which is working now. Kriyaman means Karma-seeds originating out of the
Prārabdha Karma now being worked out, but which will form the seeds of
future (Agami) actions. Sanchit Karma includes the seeds of all the
actions of past existences stored up as impressions on the mind. Out of
this storehouse of Karma-seeds that, white or black, which is the most
powerful asserts itself to be worked out first, drawing to itself, by
the law of affinity. Karma-seeds of minor power, but of a nature similar
to its own. This most powerful Karma-seed, lumped up with small
Karma-seeds of similar character, forms the Prārabdha Karma, Karma which
is in the process of being worked out. And in its process of working the
fresh thought-impressions which the mind is registering are called
Kriyamān (Karma being born), also called Agāmi (future) Karma, Karma
seeds which, after being deposited in the storehouse, will come to be
worked out in their turn in future, either as main or minor Prārabdha,
according to their potency.
This is the law of working of human Karma, the inexorable law which
shapes our life and destiny, which fills existence with joy or sorrow.
Karma is unending unless we learn the mysterious law which works it and
grasp the still more mysterious Law behind that Karmic law and by its
practice destroy its roots and prevent its present and future actions
within us. I will speak of this Law and of its ways of practice later
on.
We often see a man, who has lived a good, pure and harmonious life,
suddenly, through circumstances or bad associations, changed into a bad
man. He becomes worse in habits and conduct and dies in that degraded
mental state. Similarly we find some one very bad up to a certain period
of life; he suddenly turns good and, before death, develops into an
angelic character. This law of Karma is behind this change of character.
Good Prārabdha influences one into good life and actions while it is
working. But if some black Karma-seed is the most powerful of all
Karma-seeds in the mind's storehouse, after the good Prārabdha has been
worked out, it asserts itself to be worked out next and, lumped up with
the minor seeds, forms his Prārabdha which changes the whole complexion
of his character and conduct. The case of a bad man becoming good is
subject to the same law; a white Prārabdha, owing to its predominant
power, succeeds a bad one. The liability of alternate succession of bad
and good Karma producing the actions of human beings is expressed in the
metaphoric saying that the action of Karma in man is like a revolving
wheel.
As a seed of a tree takes time to bear fruit, grow old and die, so a
Karma-seed takes time to develop and die. As the periodical putting
forth of leaves, flowers and fruits are the events in the life of a
tree, so the experiences of a man's life represent the development of
his Prārabdha Karma-seed. The time a Karma-seed takes to work itself out
is measured by the duration of the sustaining power of its
potentialities. One Prārabdha Karma may embrace two or three or more
births if it is very powerful, or may end in the middle of one birth, if
it be not so powerful. An extraordinarily powerful Karma may extend for
a long, long time, covering many, many births, suicide for instance. The
thought which leads to suicide makes the deepest impression on the mind,
far deeper, in fact, than even the thought which commits murder. Why?
Because we love our own life more than anybody else's or than anything
else on earth. It, therefore, requires an extraordinarily powerful
thought to overpower that innate, intense love of our life and incite us
to destroy it. The thought back of this self-murder, therefore, makes
the deepest impression on, our mind and thus becomes the most powerful
Karma-seed of all Karma-seeds. This being so, it asserts itself to form
the Prārabdha, every time it is worked out, to the exclusion of all
other Karma-seeds, for a long series of births, in every one of which
that soul commits suicide, sometimes, as it is often found, without any
apparent reason. It is divine mercy alone that saves a suicide from
committing suicide in every birth ever afterwards. Hence suicide is the
greatest sin, greater than even murder.
To the average Western mind this Karma philosophy strikes as intolerably
pessimistic on account of the inexorableness of its laws. There is,
however, no help for it. These laws rule us all whether we believe in it
or not. They are no man-created laws, they are laws which operate
throughout Nature, as much within a white man as within a brown, yellow
or black man, of all stations of life, of all grades of consciousness.
Yet it need not strike anybody, who has found the easy and rosy path out
of the woods of Karma, as pessimistic at all. But he or she must ever
keep to that path and never stray out of it from sheer wilfulness, or
else there certainly is no escape out of the labyrinth of Karma.
SECTION XVIII. REINCARNATION.
Reincarnation, as I have said, is the physical form in which groups of
accumulated causes (Karma) of reaction manifest themselves in Nature.
Reincarnation means rebirth. Rebirth means, to be born again in flesh
after death. In order, therefore, to know what is rebirth, we must know
what is death. To know what is death, we must know what is life.
Let us see what life really is. Human life is conscious mentality
encased in flesh. To be briefer, human life may be summed up in one
word—consciousness. Life of lower animals is negative consciousness,
while human life is positive consciousness.
Human consciousness is subject to three states. The Waking state, the
Dream state and the Dreamless Sleep state. In the waking state all our
inner and outer senses work. The inner senses are; The Intellect, the
Ego and the Mind. The outer senses are the five cognizing and the five
working senses. These senses are fully active during our waking state.
So long as the mind thinks, the intellect decides, the Ego is
self-conscious, the eye sees, the ear hears, etc., they are acting. And
activity (Rāja) brings about the reaction of weariness (Tama). In other
words, the senses become tired out, owing to incessant work and need
rest. It is the state of weariness of the senses that makes us feel
exhausted and seek rest. But the senses cannot have full rest as long as
we are in a waking state, for their activity never ceases while we are
awake. Here Nature's law steps in and draws a veil between the senses
and their objects, the veil of Tama, born out of the excessive work of
Rāja. We fall asleep.
But in the first stage of sleep our senses still sustain their activity,
though in a lesser degree than in the waking state, owing to their still
cognizing reflections of the objects, and scenes impressed on our mind
while we are awake. This is called the dream state of consciousness,
Dreams are of three kinds. The ordinary dream is made up of the blended
reflections of impressions of scenes and thoughts ill natural or
fantastic shapes. The second kind of dream is a clear unmixed reflection
of the mind's impressions of some of our experiences in a previous
birth. The third kind of dream is a reflection cast upon our pure
consciousness of coming events from their Karmic impressions on the
Ether or on our own aura. The ordinary dreams belong to the dream state.
The other two classes of dreams are experiences during the dreamless
state of sleep, generally in the morning just before awaking.
The dreams in the first stage of our sleep keep our senses still
employed and the mind active on that account, for the activity of the
mind is generated by the operations of the senses with their objects.
Hence neither the tired mind nor the tired senses derive the complete
rest they need, until gradually the veil of Tama grows dense and shuts
out even the mental reflections of objects from their view. This stops
the operations of the senses which then are absorbed by the mind whose
offsprings and agents they are, for the senses cannot exist when they
are deprived of their function of cognition. The same thing occurs with
the mind, for its activity, caused and sustained by the activity of the
senses, is the only reason for its separate existence. With the loss of
its function, therefore, the mind loses this separate existence and is
absorbed by the Ego. The Ego is in the same way absorbed by
Consciousness, for the Ego is dependent on the Mind which sustains its
existence of self-consciousness. And then Absolute Consciousness, with
the passive germs of the Ego, Mind and Senses merged in it, is absorbed
in its turn by the Soul and dwells in its realm until the senses have
rested sufficiently.
In the depth of this dreamless sleep state of our consciousness, Tama
gives place to the reaction of Sattwa which is very pure during this
state. This dreamless sleep may be called a negative trance state. When
we awake, through development of the Rāja Attribute, we feel not only
thoroughly refreshed but also in a state of mental harmony, a happy mood
of mind. We also feel that we were, during that dead sleep, in a state
of utter oblivion of everything. We feel we forgot then even our own
existence, feel that we were not conscious even of our own self, that we
were in an absolutely happy state, happy with happiness itself. We know
of this condition, when we awake from it, by inference from the happy
state of our mental mood, induced by the abstract impression of it upon
our consciousness which was present then in its pure state. The cause of
the refreshment and new strength of our body and senses is this dip in
the Essence of the Soul, the source of all energy. The physicians try to
put their patients into this deep sleep in serious cases of illness,
knowing by experience that deep sleep is a quicker and more powerful
restorer of health than any medicine, but they do not know where lies
the balm of sound sleep.
The activity of Rāja brings about the awakening from this state by
causing the unfoldment of the infolded Ego, mind and senses which resume
their operations with external and internal objects as before. The
difference between death and sleep lies here. After sleep we resume the
functions of our senses, but death is caused by the confusion of our
mind, on account of the senses not being able to resume their functions,
owing to the disorder of the physical counterparts of the sense-organs
through disease. Disease belongs to the physical body, and the senses
with the mind and Ego belong to the astral body which we are. The pains
we feel are caused by our identifying ourselves with our physical
encasement. If we keep the fact constantly alive in our mind that our
physical body is the earthly home of our soul, which is the centre of
our astral self, we will not only not feel physical pain but prevent or
do away with such pain even in the physical body. To know ourselves as
nothing but our physical body is the densest, narrowest and the most
mischievous ignorance. We often find proofs of this separateness of the
physical and mental bodies from acts which present themselves in our
daily life; we fail to cognize the experiences of our body or even of
our senses when our mind absent from them and absorbed in some other
direction. It is the mind that feels pain pleasure, not the body,
neither the senses.
The physician, through the action of drugs, causes the attribute of Tama
to assert itself and cover the mind's perception with its dark veil, so
that the patient may not feel the pain of a serious operation on the
body, while we feel no pleasure in eating or drinking if our mind is
away from them.
The Yogi who has, by practice, developed unbroken consciousness of the
separatness of the mental and physical body not only enjoys, when the
consciousness is absolute, immunity from physical diseases and mishaps,
but also does not feel the throes of death when he leaves his worn-out
or diseased physical tenement. But the generality of mortals who cannot
think of themselves as anything else but their physical bodies, owing to
ignorance, suffer from all physical diseases. When these physical
diseases put the physical counterparts of sense-organs into disorder, it
confuses the mind when it finds that its channels of outward
communication, the senses, can no longer work through them. In that
confusion it loses its balance and is strongly swayed by the desire to
again see and hear and feel and taste, etc.
But finding it impossible to do so in the present body any more, it
tries to find some vehicle through which it can resume its functions.
The pain of the worst stage of the physical disease distracts it more
and more so that it thinks it would be more comfortable in any other
body than its present one. In confusion, this central force of the
astral body enters with that body into the volume of air which fills the
physical body, thinking it will gain relief from the unbearable pain.
And no sooner the astral body, which is very subtle and finer than the
air, enters into it, than it passes out, thus air-encased, through the
mouth, causing the death of the physical body. This is the common
process of death. Some astral bodies enter the air-body unconsciously if
the mind has been benumbed by pain or covered by the influence of
excessive Tama. But this is certain of every ordinary soul that it goes
out of the body encased in air.
The thought predominant in this supreme moment of human life decides the
destination of the human soul encased in the astral body when it leaves
its physical home. If we think of nothing but of Krishna at this moment
we go to Krishna and live in His Abode, Goloka, the Abode of Absolute
Love. If we think of Christ we go to Christ in His Father's Kingdom of
Heaven. If we are filled with the conception of Nirvāna—extinction of
all individuality—we go to Nirvāna. If we desire for higher life above
the earth we go to the higher spheres. But if our earthly attachment
having their influence on our thoughts at that moment, fill us with
regret for being taken away from them or make us desire for earthly
life, we return to earth-life again, but not necessarily to a joyful or
comfortable life. A life of worldly joy and comfort is due to good Karma
and self-denial in some previous existence. A life of sorrow and
hardship is due to bad Karma.
The earth-bound soul, on leaving the physical body, feels overcome by
the shock of its final trouble with and severance from that physical
body and remains in an inert state for a time. When it recovers from
that shock, it finds that it has been transferred to a worse state.
Although the air-body in which it encased is not diseased, it has,
however, no openings for its senses to perform their respective
functions. It finds it cannot see or hear or smell or touch or taste
anything and yet the desires for these objects of the senses are as
strong as when it was in the physical body. This makes it weep for the
loss of its dear physical body and it hovers about in space sad and
restless. It has no stomach, yet is filled with mental hunger and thirst
which grow intense because it has no means of satisfying them. Indeed,
finding this astral life to be of greater torment, the unhappy
earth-bound soul longs to have a flesh covering again, to be reborn, and
flies hither and thither blindly, because of the want of physical
organs, and some day gains this object. It enters, through the vigor
(Sanscrit Virga, 'virjya,' force, power) of a man into a woman's womb.
This causes conception. No conception can take place without a
disembodied spirit entering the womb. Vigor mixed with the mother's
blood supplies the physical body which is mere dead matter without the
vivifying astral soul. It is only when an astral soul enters it that the
womb closes and conception takes place. The incoming soul then feels
itself confined within its scope and cannot go out of it by its own
effort or will.
The selection of the vigor and the womb for the astral soul is made
principally according to the subtle law of individual Karma and,
secondarily, according to the law of affinity. The mental
characteristics of the parents must be similar to those of the soul to
draw it to them. As for its physical body, it may favor in appearance
its mother or its father more or less according as their individuality
and image are stamped on the vigor and the blood through the state of
extreme mental concentration induced at the time. If the incoming soul
possesses far stronger individuality than those of the father and the
mother, it asserts this upon its body and the child looks like neither
the father nor the mother. He looks like himself—a form and appearance
born of the imagination of its own strong individuality.
This direct rebirth from hovering in the astral body in the astral plane
for some time is not true in the case of every disembodied soul. There
are souls which, after death, may go at once to Heaven ('Swarga,'
Celestial regions) or to Purgatory, the nether regions. According to the
Hindoo Scriptures, Heaven (Swarga) is not the Abode of God, but the
abode of the gods, the Swar-sphere where the gods, the governors of the
Elements and Attributes of Nature, dwell. It is the Prārabdha Karma of
the soul that determines its translation after death to Heaven or
Purgatory. The joys of Heaven are reserved as a reward for good Karma.
And yet these heavenly joys are but finest forms of material happiness,
enjoyed by merit of good actions performed in earth-life for the sake of
just such recompense. These heaven-dwellers mentally enjoy all these
exquisite pleasures of the senses at their will, as well as the company
of celestial beings, as long as the term of their merit lasts. At the
expiration of the term they come down to earth to be reborn again. These
heavenly blessings are, therefore, but transitory.
Intensely wicked actions, in the same manner, are punished by a term of
suffering tortures in Purgatory, at the expiration of which the purged
souls may go straight to heaven, if good Prārabdha Karma succeeds their
expiatory sufferings, or be reborn again on earth. The tendency of the
pleasure-seeking, materialistic, modern mind is to disbelieve the
existence of any such place of torture as Purgatory. They think that
Heaven and Purgatory exist only on earth within man's mind. This is true
and yet it is not. If anybody develops high spirituality he or she can
taste higher, finer and more lasting joys than even celestial pleasures.
For such there is neither Heaven nor Purgatory, for intense spirituality
burns down all seeds of Karma. As to enduring the tortures of Purgatory
here on earth through repentance, that is true too. But if the spirit of
repentance is not absolute, it fails to fully purge away the sin, so
that such sinful souls have to go to the nether regions for complete
cleansing. The Hindoo Books do not believe in such a thing as Eternal
Hell or Punishment, because it is absurd, unjust and unscientific
according to the laws of Nature. The governor of "Naraka" (Purgatory)
one of the gods, the presiding deity of (Dharmarāj) and the regions of
his rule are situated within the bowels of the earth. Human houses of
correction (prisons) tend more to corrupt than to correct, because those
in charge of them are not imbued with a perfect spirit of sympathy,
justice and mercy. In the Divine houses of correction (Purgatory)
perfect justice blends with mercy and sympathy, and the governor thereof
is the embodiment of these three attributes. He has to deal with his
prisoners according to their own records of their misdeeds, reflected on
the aura, a true copy of which is kept in the books of Ether, from which
his Recording Angel transcribes items credited to each individual soul.
For the pious, spiritually developed soul, however, there is no
Purgatory, as I have said. It lives and breathes in a plane which is
outside of the three lower planes of selfish actions and their
reactions, outside of the jurisdiction even of the gods. To his ensouled
mind the word purgatory or heaven has no meaning whatever. He loves
spirituality for its own dear sake and feels itself safe from all evil
in the embrace of its protecting arms.
Into the vigor or the blood of such a spiritual soul, no wicked astral
spirit can enter. Its pure aura repels such spirits and admits only
kindred spirits seeking rebirth, drawn to it by Karma and affinity.
Much suffering is the lot of the ordinary soul while growing in the
womb, on account of its cramped consciousness and the narrow space in
which it is confined. After the sixth month, it has a wonderful
experience. The veil shrouding its past existence is suddenly lifted and
the memories of all of its past births rush across its mind. It even
witnesses the scenes of thousands of its previous existences and
realizes the reason of the pain and sorrow suffered during all these
existences—the reason of its having been attached to material objects
and having disregarded the development of its spiritual self, its having
been unmindful of its duty, to its Maker and its fellow man. This
realization crushes its mind with contrition and it weeps and prays to
God to forgive it and promises to live a life of devotion to Him in the
future. This goes on for three months together until it is born, when,
at the touch of the earthly atmosphere all those memories vanish and it
is once more drowned in oblivion. It is more from the pain of this shock
that it cries out at the time of birth.
SECTION XIX. HOW TO DESTROY KARMA.
Now comes to be considered the question of questions—How to do away with
and avoid bad Karma. If Karma is the cause of all our sufferings in
life, how to remove that cause. We have before this had births and till
actions in those innumerable births have produced countless Karma-seeds.
All these seeds are stored up in the repository of the mind. How is it
possible, it may be asked, to destroy them all, and prevent fresh
accumulation of new Karma-seeds in the present birth?
To those who ask this question seriously, that is, with a serious
intention of acting upon any suggestion that may seem feasible to them,
the answer is pregnant with all the essentials of a true solution. To
such the answer is simple and the mode of solution simpler. To the
really serious soul, hungering for freedom from the bondage of Karma,
even the practice of the principle of the advice may strike as Still
more simple. But the practice involves the full realization of the
source of Karma, the perfect understanding of its laws, their operations
and their relations to his own individual self.
Here I will try to put the philosophy of this solution as briefly as
possible. If our actions of this life are the products of actions in
previous lives, the actions of those previous lives are the effects of
actions in still more previous lives and so on. Thus trying to trace the
causes of all our actions in all our past lives, we are bound to arrive
at the time of the Creation of the universe, when it sprang from the
Will of Krishna. We, as parts of the universe, sprang from that Will
too. Krishna's Will before Creation was; "I am One and I wish to be the
Many," and His Creation is the manifestation of His Will's motion
towards manifoldness and Karma is the law of the rhythmic steps of that
motion. The Will of Krishna, therefore, is the cause of all Karma the
entire Creation as well as of ours, because we are but parts of that
Creation. This makes it clear that, since Krishna is the cause all Karma
of the Universe, He is the Actor of all actions. This being so, the
cause of our sufferings from bondage to Karma lies in our mistaken
conception that we ourselves are the doer of our actions. This cannot
be, because all our actions proceed from our past Karma, the roots of
which are embedded in the Will of Krishna. It is Krishna that is the
whole Universe, as well as its laws and actions. It is Krishna that
suffers and enjoys in so many shapes and forms which make up His moving
Will, called Nature. All our troubles are born of our usurping His
place, the place of the Real Actor. Hence Karma clings, by natural law,
to whoever claims it. We claim the doership of actions which manifest
themselves through us, but the real Doer is the spring of primeval
action—Krishna Himself.
This belief, that we ourselves are the doers of our actions, subjects
our Ego to their reactions. If by tracing the source of Karma to
Krishna, we dispel this illusion from our mind and keep it ever out of
it, so that it may not disturb our conviction of the fact that Krishna
is the only Doer, all our past and present Karma, the stored-up and the
working—Sanchit and Prārabdha—will leave us of themselves and go to
Krishna to be absorbed by Him, while, for the same reason, the
Karma-seeds springing from our present actions will be rendered germless
like roasted seeds which never grow. But this belief needs constant
practice of this thought in order to be sustained without interruption
and involves thinking of Krishna, Absolute Love and Life, every
minute—thoughts by which the thinker absorbs the essence of the purest
spirituality whose illumination ever guides him along the paths of Truth
and Wisdom and prompts him to actions whose results bring harmony and
happiness to himself, as well as to all with whom he comes in contact.
This exposition of the truth of our utter irresponsibility of our
actions will appear strange and mischievous only to unthinking minds.
The fear that such a belief of irresponsibility may lead some people to
bad actions is entirely groundless. Such a thing can never happen for,
with such a belief firm our mind, we have to think of God always in our
daily actions, and this constant thinking induces concentration upon the
Deity whose spirit is sure to prevent and counteract all our evil
thoughts, not to speak of evil actions. A man who will do evil actions,
taking advantage of this principle, will only deceive himself. Such
evil-doing can only show that he has no belief in the principle at all,
but thinks of it only with a view to justify actions which lie, in his
heart, believes to be his own, but attributes to God to get rid of their
responsibilities, if possible. But if anyone believes firmly that God is
the Doer of all actions and yet, for want of proper culture of this
belief, he is betrayed into evil actions, be sure his belief growing
stronger will soon control his actions and lead him along the paths of
the good and the pure. God-Consciousness destroys all evils of the mind
to their very roots.
Thus Karma and its effects, which for the ignorant, unthinking, and
reckless human soul are ever interminable, can by exercise of wisdom and
mental power and discipline be absolutely done away with. Karma belongs
to Krishna and it is to Krishna that it and its fruits should be
unreservedly dedicated good. The moment this mystery of Karma is solved
and the soul that solves it acts upon its lesson, than Krishna takes it
into His arms, and the soul and its Maker, now face to face, laugh
together at this riddle of life, and in that laugh of ecstasy all sorrow
and pain of the past are forgotten by that saved soul.
SECTION XX. THE ATOM'S RETURN JOURNEY.
It is absolute Krishna-consciousness—or God-consciousness, if you will,
if that God is Absolute Love—that carries the atom from its man-stage of
development to its Real Home, Krishna, the Abode of Eternal Love and
Bliss. Like all roads leading to Rome, all religious paths lead to that
Home. The primeval, the most natural and the most scientific religion,
called now the Hindoo religion, has constructed five main roads for
making the return journey easy, and the travelers can choose any of
these roads, according to their inclinations and the state of spiritual
progress. One is the Path of Light and Psychic Force, called the path of
the Sun, because the Sun is the presiding deity of the path. The second
is the Path of Success whose presiding deity is Ganapati, Bestower of
Success. The third is the Path of Destruction of Tama whose presiding
deity is Shiva, the Destroyer, one of the Hindoo Trinity and the
presiding deity of Tama, Shiva who has subdued Tama and become its lord.
The fourth is the Path of Divine Energy whose presiding deity is Durgā,
the Motherhood of God and the Universe—"Prakriti," Divine Nature. The
fifth is the Path of Spiritual Devotion whose presiding deity is Vishnoo
(Aniruddha), the presiding deity of Sattwa, out of whose navel the
universe has sprung and who is the dispenser of Moksha to the walkers of
all the other paths. In this path is included another path, a path far
superior to all the five paths, the Path of Absolute Causeless Love
which leads direct to Krishna, whose presiding Deity is Krishna, the
Deity of all the deities. These different path-walkers are called by the
names of their respective deities of worship—Saura, Ganapatya, Shaiva,
Shakta (worshippers of 'Shakti,' Energy) and Vaishnavs, among whom are
included Krishna-worshippers.
The Sun is the medium of the physical manifestation of the Divine Light,
the Light of Absolute Intelligence, the Co-existent Attribute of
Absolute Love. It is called the Parent of the gross universe, the Outer
Eye of the Deity, the passage of the First Sense of the Divine Mind
which produced Forms. The devotee of the Sun worships it as such, as the
medium of the Absolute Deity, Krishna. Some of them concentrate their
eyes upon the Sun, immersed in water up to the neck from sunrise to
sunset, others pray to it morning, noon and evening and contemplate its
power. The sun is not blazing hot as some modern people think. It is
peopled by spiritual souls who, by the merit of soul-development, go
from earth after death to dwell there for further development. These
spiritual souls are spiritually governed by one who is most developed
among them. He is called the Sun-God, the representative of the sun.
Sun-worship leads finally to Krishna-worship in some fully developed
reincarnation.
Ganapati, first-born of Shiva (Shiva means Weal, Destroyer of Ill or
Evil), is the presiding deity and bestower of Success—material, moral
and spiritual—which is the chief factor of human weal. Satisfied
material success, virtuously earned, inspires the desire for moral
development in well-ordered minds, and moral development, in turn, leads
to spiritual imfoldment. By concentration on this Central Idea of
Success itself, the mind of the devotee of Ganapati, absorbs its
essence, the force of which guides his efforts to prosperity. Earthly
prosperity, enjoyed with discrimination, impresses us with its
hollowness, its failure to satisfy the inner craving of the mind and
points to the path of solid, all-satisfying, permanent happiness.
Shiva is the Presiding Deity of the Weal of Creation, hence his
name—Shiva. He is the Conqueror and Destroyer of Darkness (Tama). He
helps his devotees to dispel the darkness of ignorance generated in
their mind by its Tama Attribute, and thus uncover its attribute of
Sattwa by the illumination of which their souls reach the state of
Moksha—Freedom from the Bondage of Matter—and finally merge in the
Divine Essence whence it originally sprang.
Durgā is Divine Energy, the Motherhood of Creation. She is the Sāttwic
force by which Shiva subdued Tama. Hence she is the consort of Shiva,
the Helpmeet of Spiritual Weal. Without Durgā, his Shakti (Energy),
Shiva is inert; with his Shakti, he is alive and rules the universe.
Shiva and his Shakti are inseparable, as man and his mental energy,
which alone he is, is inseparable. Man is moved by his mental energy, so
Shiva is moved by his spiritual energy. Durgā is the highest spiritual
phase of Kālee, Conqueress of Time and Door of Eternity. She is the
Spiritual Force of Nature (Prakriti), she is the Mother of the Universe.
Her devotees called Shaktas (Shakti-worshippers) meditate on her as the
Great Mother and pray to her for her grace, as a child talks to its
mother and looks up to her for help, protection and sustenance. When the
most spiritual of her devotees develop the same natural love for and
unshaken faith in her as those of an innocent child to its mother, they
are blessed with her last grace. They are helped to Moksha or led into
the path of Krishna, this last the greatest of all her gifts. She, as
Yoga-Māyā (energy of the highest spiritual concentration), holds the key
of the Gate of Goloka, Krishna's Abode of Love-Bliss.
Vishnoo is the sum total of all the deities which are the manifestations
of his powers and attributes. He is the Parent of both the Motherhood
and Fatherhood of the Universe—the Spring of Creation itself. He is the
Presiding Deity of Sattwa out of which are born Rāja and Tama. He is the
Preserver, the Sustaining Power of the Universe. He is the Way to
Moksha, His Essence is the Abode of all Salvation. He is the Outer Form
of Krishna, the Form through which Krishna manifests His Will and
becomes the Many from the One. His Abode, called Vaikuntha, the Centre
of his All-Pervading Essence, is over this universe, over
Brahmā-Loka—Brahmā's Abode. He is the last but one Goal of all spiritual
aspirations. He is the Gate of Krishna, the Last Goal.
The upward evolution of the atom from the man-stage has to pass through
many higher spiritual stages in higher and higher spheres. Interested
spiritual culture, by which I mean spiritual culture with a view to
enjoy the finest essence of sensuous happiness in spheres higher than
the earth, never lifts a human soul beyond the Bhuba and the Swar, the
abode of the gods. The Bhuba sphere is just over the earth. It is the
astral sphere. It is peopled by semi-celestial spirits and beings whose
bodies are made mostly of ether, air and fire and the finest essence of
water and earth; hence they are invisible to our gross physical eye.
They are so light that the air to them is like firm land to us; they
walk over it as we walk over earth. There are houses and roads in this
sphere as on earth, as also in the Swar sphere. Many psychical persons
have now and then a glimpse of the Bhuba sphere and the dwellers
therein. One of my students in New York, the truth of whose visions is
known to many, has often seen these airy houses, roads and beings. The
Swar is composed of finer material than the Bhuba, and its atmosphere is
more sacred. Selfish spiritual culture is rewarded by a term of
residence in the Swar. When the term is over the soul has to come down
to earth again to be reborn as man.
The soul which loves and cultivates unselfish spirituality, spirituality
for spirituality's sake, succeeds when it has no desire or sympathy any
more for anything earthly, in skipping over the Bhuba and Swar, after
death, and enters and becomes a dweller in the Mahar sphere. Such a soul
seldom comes back to earth, but through higher development attains to
the Brahmā Loka and there waits, to be absorbed or immersed in Vishnoo's
Essence, till the time of the Universal (Natural) Dissolution through
which it reaches its goal.
The worshippers of Vishnoo pray for one of the five states of Moksha
(Salvation), according to the preference of their inclinations. These
five states of Salvation are Sālokya, Sāmipya, Sārupya, Sājujya and
Sārshti. Sālokya is, to dwell in the plane of Vishnoo. Sāmipya is, to
live near Vishnoo as a servant. Sārupya is, to live with Vishnoo as his
companion and having Vishnoo's form and appearance. Sājujya is, to
remain immersed in Vishnoo's Essence. Sārshti is, to possess even the
powers of Vishnoo. Those who attain to the first three states of
Salvation serve as messengers of Vishnoo, and at times act as mediums of
communication between Vishnoo and the dwellers of the Universe, while
some of those who attain to the last two states come down to earth only
from time to time as Avatārs, partial Incarnations of Vishnoo (God).
These have developed complete God-consciousness and after being immersed
in the Essence of Vishnoo for eons together, they have been thoroughly
Vishnooized. True, they were human beings before, but now they are Parts
of God Himself. They have no more recollection of their former
existences. Therefore, to call them any other than Vishnoo is blasphemy.
When the affairs of the earth are in chaos and humanity in general needs
spiritual uplifting, some of these immersed souls are detached, and they
come down to our sphere, take birth and walk among us, helping us, by
examples and teachings, to right actions which lead to Salvation.
SECTION XXI. YOGA.
There are five processes of mental discipline by the aid of which the
human soul can reach the goal quicker. These are called the five paths
of Yoga, viz., Hatha, Karma, Rāja, Gnāna and Bhakti. Yoga means Union.
The word Yoga is the original of its corrupted English form "Yoke."
Yoga, therefore, means yoking the Mind to the Spirit of God by
concentration. Hatha Yoga consists in cleaning and disciplining the
outer and inner physical body by the practice of certain postures of
sitting, processes of moving the muscles and fixing the eye upon some
external object or the tip of the nose. These, in time, induce mental
poise. Karma Yoga is performing good actions, and practising spiritual
formulas which contribute to the purification of the mind and, finally
lead to the unfoldment of the soul. Rāja Yoga is stopping the functions
of the mind's volitions. By volitions of the mind are meant
thought-currents. By the practice of Rāja Yoga, the outflow of these
thought-currents can be entirely stopped and turned inwards in one
concentrated stream into the soul. The main process of shutting in the
mind-currents is by controlling the breath. The action of our breathing
upon our mind is like that of the pendulum of a clock upon the movements
of its hands. As, for instance, the quicker the pendulum swings the
faster the movement of the hands, so, the quicker our breathing, the
more rapid the action of our thought-currents. By controlling the breath
by certain exercises, prescribed by Rāja Yoga, one can make his
breathing slow and thereby diminish the speed of the thought-currents.
During these breathing exercises, the mind is concentrated upon God or
the Divine Idea, or some mystic words expressive of the Deity. This
lessens the activity of the mind which then gradually experiences a
calmness unfelt before, a calmness which in itself is a happiness which
no form of enjoyment of material pleasure can afford. Calmness of mind
develops into harmony, the result of the expression of the Sattwa
attribute.
There are five kinds of mental states: Murha, Khipta, Bikhipta, Ekāgra,
and Samādhi. The Murha, ruled by predominant Tama, is generally
attracted to evil objects owing to lack of discrimination. Khipta flits
from one object to another in search of pleasure. It is ruled by
predominant Rāja, so is ever active and never satisfied. The Bikhipta
mental state, ruled by the equal combination of the three attributes, is
generally like Khipta, but at times fixes its attention inwards though
for a short time only. When the Bikhipta is helped by the practice of
concentration into the Ekāgra (one-pointed) state, then it is that
harmony is brought about. When, by constant practice, the one-pointed
mind becomes unwaveringly fixed on the Deity or the Idea of the Deity
gained through the increasing illumination of the Sattwa, it enters into
the Samādhi (Trance) state, the state of Absolute absorption into the
Deity.
The practice of the Rāja Yoga has been forbidden in the Shāstras in the
Kali Yuga (Iron Age) because, in this age, excepting in rare cases, the
human body is too weak and delicate to stand the hardships, psychic
exertions and physical privations of its practices, and because an adept
Yogi-Gooroo, without whose constant help in every detail of it no
student can attain the highest result, is very hard to be found. Many
who now practice it under inexperienced Gooroos in India meet early
death or develop incurable diseases or even turn insane. A moderate
amount of simple breathing exercises may not be so injurious or fatal,
but too much of it or the practice of the advanced rules ought never to
be attempted, especially in the West, where a proper Gooroo can never be
found and where most people's nerves are generally shaky.
Gnāna Yoga is an entirely mental process of Yoga, a process of
discriminating between the Unsubstantial and the Substantial in Nature
and concentrating upon the only Substantial Essence of things and
gradually getting absolutely absorbed by it. The keeping up of this
process of thought in an unbroken stream requires living a life of
simplicity, solitude and renunciation. The life in which this
thought-current becomes unbroken is the last life, last incarnation of
that soul. It escapes rebirth for good for which it has worked for many
incarnations. Its separate Ego is merged in the universal Ego and
finally is lost in and becomes one with the One-without-a-Second.
Gnāna Yoga belongs to the school of the Vedānta philosophy. Vedānta is
"Veda" and "Anta" which means "End," so that Vedānta means End of the
Veda—the Aim or Goal of the Veda; and the word Veda is the original of
the English word "Wisdom" (Swedish, Visdom) from Sanscrit, "Vida," to
know. Veda means knowledge of the Reality, the Truth. The Vedānta
Aphorisms of Vedavyasa are but Indices to the Principles of the
Upanishads—the Wisdom part of the Veda. There are two Schools of
Vedānta, the Old and the New. The Old possesses the true interpretation
of the Aphorisms, the New is deluded by their false interpretations, is
only about two thousand years old and has a comparatively small number
of adherents. The Old school is founded on Parināmbād, the new is
founded on Vivartabād, The Old school holds that the universe is
composed of the ever changeful manifestations of the Will (Energy) of
the One Changeless Deity (Parināmbād), the New calls the whole universe,
in fact, all that is visible and perceptible, Māyā (Illusion), in the
sense that it never existed, does not exist now and will never exist.
All that exists is Brahm, the Divine Essence, and we are That. All else
is illusion wrought in our mind through ignorance, just as the mistaking
a piece of rope lying in some dark place for a snake is due to the
illusion of the darkness. This theory with its plausible analogy is all
wrong. The universe is not all illusion though it is the changeful
force-materialization of the Unchangeful One Substance. The force or
energy or light or reflection of a substance is inseparable from it and
is pervaded by it and partakes of its spirit. This materialized
force-reflection of Brahm not only possesses its substance at bottom but
must be called a part of it as the light of a flame or reflection of a
light is undeniably its part. The analogy of the snake and rope is,
therefore, not true of God and the Universe: The snake is merely the
conjuration of the darkness and not born of the rope; but the universe
is born of Brahm (the rope). The theory that it is born of the illusion
of our ignorance, is absurd in that it involves accepting that
"ignorance" to be something self-existent, that it has an independent
existence, separate from the All-in-All, the One-without-a-Second. If
not, whence is this "ignorance" which has such power of illusion over
our mind and senses? What is it? Whence does it come? The Neo-Vedāntist
answers, it is something inexplicable, His Māyā is inexplicable—the
argument of one in darkness himself. This New Vedāntic thought has done
and is doing more harm to the world than any other religious theory. It
is a worse delusion than the delusion of Māyā.
SECTION XXII. BHAKTI YOGA.
Bhakti Yoga is concentration on the Deity through Devotion, the best and
highest form of Yoga, higher than all the other forms, as Krishna
Himself has said in the Bhagavat Gita Devotion is the full fruition of
spiritual concentration. A true devotee is the highest Yogi, for he is
filled with humility, and sincere, abject humility is the expression of
the sublimest spiritual nature; it is "the softened shadow" as the Lord
says, "that is cast by My Love." Sincere humility springs from the clear
realization of the Presence of God in everything, that the whole
universe is formed of the many forms of the One Form and its Radiance.
And with that never fading vision before the mind's eye, the devote
forgets himself and stoops low at the feet of every one and at
everything he sees, for he sees in them all his Deity.
Bhakti is of two kinds, Gnān-Bhakti and Prem-Bhakti. Gnān-Bhakti is
devotion aided by culture of wisdom, its Deity is some incarnation of
Vishnoo and its goal is the Abode of Vishnoo or the Essence of Vishnoo.
Prem Bhakti is devotion through Love—Causeless, Disinterested Love, love
for love's sake, and its Deity and Goal is Krishna—Absolute Love. The
Path of Prem Bhakti lies within the Path of Gnān Bhakti, but this Path
within the Path is hedged in high to shut out the view and sound of the
main path. The devotee of Prem Bhakti dedicates all his knowledge,
wisdom and actions to Krishna, the spring of all Wisdom and Actions, and
prays Krishna for His love, the luxury of loving Him for His dear sake.
The Prem Bhakta wants nothing from his Lord, no boon, no blessing,
material or celestial, not even Salvation or Mukti, nothing, nothing,
save—the blessing of being filled with love for Him. He prays to his
Lord: "O my Krishna! It matters not what betides my body, my life or my
earthly circumstances, or in what form of life I am reborn, even if it
be that of a worm, let my faith and love be fixed in Thee, my Beloved.
Whatever is there in all existence compared with the luxury of loving
Thee? Thou art the sum-total of the realization of all desires, of all
happiness, Thou, the Secret and Object of all our longings!"
Such, in truth, is Krishna's attraction and more. He is the embodiment
of the concentrated Beauty and Sweetness of all the Universes, His Eyes
and Face the focus of the Love that fills all that is. Hence this Prem
Bhakti Path, which means the Path of Love's Devotion, is called the Path
of Beauty and Sweetness. Beauty and Sweetness are Coexistent, are one
and the same thing. Beauty is the expression of Sweetness, Sweetness is
the Essence of Beauty, and Love is the Parent of both. Krishna's Form
and Symmetry are all Ideals' unapproachable, inconceivable, unimaginable
Ideal. The newest rain-cloud[1] color of His complexion is the color of
the condensed Ether of Ether—Love. His crown and crest of
peacock-feathers, His raiment of molten gold—the color of attraction—His
long garland and ornaments of wild flowers, His jewel Kaustubha on His
Breast and His bamboo flute were all proud contributions of Nature to
Her Supreme Lord. If we can imagine the essence of the purest of pure
love condensed into a substance as thick as flesh and moulded into form,
we can then have some idea of the material of Krishna's Body, whether in
Glory or on earth. It is a Form which, the moment you produce some
likeness of it in imagination thrills you with ecstasy, for it is
Ecstasy condensed.
Krishna is best worshipped with the heart. Prayers and incantations and
offerings, without sincere feeling, do not reach Him. He responds to the
call of love alone. Call Him from the innermost depth of your heart with
pure love—love unmixed with motive—with sincere, artless love of a fond
baby for its mother, and He will appear to you and do whatever you want
Him to do. Krishna is your veriest own, nearer to you than your nearest
relative, your only true friend in life and Eternity. He is dearer, more
precious than your body or your life or your heart for He is your soul
and soul is dearer and more precious than body, life or heart. It is Him
you have been searching in all your searchings in life, in lives you
have lived before, and Him will you search in lives that are to come
after this life. He is ever with you. He is within you, but you are
searching for Him outside of you—whence you miss Him, hence you run
after all the will-o'-the-wisps of life, thinking these will give you
the joy which your Only Beloved and Lover alone can give. No wonder you
are deceived, depressed, unsatisfied—the reward of chasing the shadow of
the substance that lies within you, the reward of chasing the rainbow
which is but the reflection of the Sun of your soul's sky.
The devotee of Krishna meditates on Krishna regarding Him in one of the
four human relationships, whichever suits his natural inclination best,
viz., Dāsya or the relationship of a Servant to his Master, Sakhya or
the relationship of the Friend to his Friend, Bātsalya or the
relationship of a Son to his Parents or Parents to a Son, and Madhur or
the relationship of a Wife to her Husband or of a loving Woman to her
Lover. These four kinds of devotional feelings are natural in man. By
"natural" I mean born from Nature of which man is the best earthly
product. But wherefrom has Nature derived them? From her parent-source,
Krishna, of course. So these feelings are present, in their absolute
perfection, in Krishna, the source of all Life. Flowing from Krishna
into His Creation, they constitute the cords of attachment between man
and man, the natural bonds of union between soul and soul, the natural
channels of communication between man and his Maker. They are the
invisible wires of telegraphy between the Central Soul and its branch
souls—between the Parent Soul and its offsprings. If the instruments of
the branch offices are rusty and out of order they cannot transmit their
messages to the main office or receive messages therefrom. The moment
they are cleaned, repaired and put into working order, they are open to
perfect communication once more.
The devotee of Krishna cleans the rusty and disordered instrument of his
heart by cultivating one of these feelings of devotion for Krishna. And
the moment this feeling attains its natural state, the moment it becomes
absolutely sincere, than he absorbs and is filled with absolute Love
from its Primeval Spring. Krishna is absolutely divine and absolutely
human, for it is perfect humanity that is perfect divinity. Krishna is
Love itself, the Love that destroys all distance. Love that draws the
Lover and the Loved closest to each other. It knows no ceremony, knows
no formal respect. It knows no motive. Love is its own cause, motive and
satisfaction. Divinity demands our reverence and inspires us with awe.
Despite its strong attraction we can but adore it from a distance, we
cannot approach it too near. But Love draws us to its bosom and holds us
close: Love is a Master and Love is a Slave. It knows no barrier, sees
no faults, nay, sees virtues in faults. It responds to its own clear
call or vibrates to the voice of its own inspiration and blesses its own
creation with greater gifts of its own wealth.
Whichever of the four devotional feelings towards Krishna the Bhakta
(devotee) cultivates, it must reach the stage of unalloyed sincerity to
be rewarded by its blissful realization. The loving Servant of Krishna
must love His service above all he loves and holds dear. The devotee who
wants to be the Friend and Companion of Krishna must have his
all-forgetting Love of Krishna pervaded by an uninterrupted sense of
equality with Him. He may serve Him as a slave, but it is the service of
a friend who is more than a slave to his friend. The devotee who wants
to love Krishna as a Father or Mother must have unwavering sincerity of
such paternal love and affection. He or she must always consider himself
or herself superior to Krishna whom they must regard as a helpless child
in their charge. This true parental feeling is pervaded by the
unconscious spirit of spontaneous service and friendship, for no
friendship and service can be compared with those of parents. The same
rules apply to the cultivation of the filial feeling of devotion to
Krishna. The fourth, the feeling of a loving wife to her lord sums up
the essence of all the foregoing three feelings, It is the highest and
tenderest feeling of devotion. The true wife is the servant, friend,
mother and lover of her husband. She is his slave, equal and superior by
virtue of her all-surrendering love. Every form of pure love is
self-surrender. The love that knows no surrender or sacrifice is a
mockery. It mocks itself more than its object, for sacrifice is its
chief test and best expression. Love that only loves, if loved, is pure
selfishness, it is self-deception. But the love that loves for its own
sake and is the fullest satisfaction in itself, the love that loves
whoever or whatever its object loves is the Love Absolute that Krishna
is. The human soul that develops it, binds Krishna thereby and holds Him
its prisoner for good. When that Love develops the tenderness of a
loving wife, it captivates the Heart of hearts, and entrances the Soul
of souls, Krishna.
These Vaishnav forms of devotion reached their highest degree of
development and received their greatest impetus on the appearance of
Sree Chaitanya, the Fullest Incarnation of Krishna, who was born in
Nuddea, on the Ganges, Bengal, a little over four hundred years ago and
flourished for nearly half a century. He was Krishna Himself incarnated
in the form of His Greatest Devotee. Krishna is the Mystery and
Chaitanya is its Explanation. Whenever Krishna comes to earth as the
Mystery of Love in the Junction Period of Dwāpar and Kali, He comes
again in the form, of Chaitanya as the Explanation of that Mystery, five
thousand years after, to show to mankind the Way to Himself for
examples.
Chaitanya's love, devotion and spirituality will ever remain
unparalleled. He preached Krishna, the Seed and Soul of Love Absolute,
and while preaching he would burst forth into song in praise of Krishna.
Thus singing he would be filled with ecstasy and, in its fullness, he
would be moved into the most graceful dance the world has ever seen, now
shouting the Name of his Lord and anon weeping for his Lord's grace, his
arms and whole body waving and quivering with the heaving billows of his
heart's love-ocean, streams of which, like water from many fountains,
would flow from his eyes in the shape of tears. And in those tears,
streaming straight from his eyes to the ground, all those, who catching
his spirit caught also his ecstatic motion, would be literally bathed.
And all India was "flooded," as the authoritative records of his
apostles tell us, with Chaitanya's Divine Love, and millions of sinners
that felt it, were borne away by its tide.
Sree Chaitanya preached and proved the potency of Krishna's Name—that
His Name is the Lord Himself. If anybody says "Krishna, Krishna"
mentally or loudly and concentrates his mind on it, he is bound to
absorb its Love-Nectar, be drunk with its ecstasy, see Krishna in Form
and in everything, and finally go to Goloka after passing out of this
life. Hari is the popular Name of Krishna. It means, He Who steals our
sins. Chaitanya would shout "Hari, Hari!" or "Haribole!" (say, Hari) and
vibrations of that Name would thrill through all hearers and change them
into pious devotees. Millions upon millions were thus saved by him,
millions of sinners turned into saints. The world has never seen such an
Avatār, the Incarnation of All-Love Krishna. He lived the most blameless
life from childhood to his disappearance at the age of forty-eight.
Like master, like servants. His Apostles were of such spiritual purity
and sublimity that it would be hard to find one like them even in India
of the past. Any of them was competent to save a whole world. They have
left thousands of Books on Krishna and Chaitanya's Life and Teachings
which are of the utmost value to the students and adherents of all
religions of all climes, ages and denominations. Love is the theme of
every book, and it is difficult to resist its essence pouring into you
as you read them.
If my life is spared by the Lord, and if my Krishna wills it, I may
present the Life-Story and Teachings of Sree Chaitanya and his apostles
to the Western reader in a short time. In that book a detailed
exposition of the Vaishnav religion will be given, an exposition which
may interest Christians. The present book is but the preliminary part of
the Chaitanya book I intend to write, for Chaitanya cannot be understood
without first understanding Krishna and His Leelā on earth. Chaitanya
may be called the Indian Christ, but a Christ the like of whom has never
appeared on earth. Chaitanya did not even leave his Body behind when he
left this earth. He entered one morning into the Temple of Juggernath
and disappeared—nobody knows how or where.
SECTION XXIII. VAISHNAV, CHRISTIAN OF CHRISTIANS.
The Krishna-Worshipper is either a householder or a hermit. He is either
a devotee who cultivates the love for Krishna amid the duties and
distractions of the world or a devotee who leaves the temptations and
turmoil of the world and sojourns in some sylvan retreat in the holy
forest of Brindāban, the earthly abode of Krishna, or in the outskirts
of a town or village within a humble monastery composed of a couple of
huts with a little flower garden fenced around. But the most advanced
Krishna hermit tarries nowhere longer than a few days, but ever roams
about in the land sanctified by the touch of the Lotus Feet of his Lord.
The formula of worship and religious rules of life practised by both the
hermit and householder are practically the same. It consists of mental
and physical practices, more mental than physical. The moment the
householder awakes from his sleep in the morning he utters the name of
Krishna thus:
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!
O Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, nourish me!
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, protect me!
I salute Thee, O Krishna, give Thou me Thy Love!
Then before he leaves his bed and puts his foot upon the earth, he prays
and salutes Mother Earth thus:
"O thou ocean-girdled, mountain-breasted goddess! I salute thee, O thou
Consort of Vishnoo! Forgive me, thy suckling. O Mother, this my touching
thee with my feet!"
Then, after answering the calls of Nature, and after rubbing his hands
and feet with pure earth and washing them for many times, he takes a
full bath either in the Ganges or in any river if it is near by. If not,
he bathes in a pond or at a well or at home with two or three large
jarfuls of water. While bathing, he utters many a hymn and prayer to
Krishna. After the bath, he wears a piece of dry cotton cloth which has
been washed in clean water, or a piece of pure silk cloth. He then goes
to a flower garden and culls some scented white flowers for Krishna,
whom he then sits to worship in his sacred room. He mentally repeats for
one hundred and eight times the Mantram he has received from his Gooroo,
counting it on his fingers. Then he takes a few tiny leaves of the
sacred Tulsi plant, smears them in sandal-wood paste and, closing his
eyes, mentally offers them with the sacred white flowers to the Lotus
Feet of his Deity upon whom his mind is concentrated. This concentration
is helped from outside by the spiritual vibrations of his sacred room
and the inspiring effect of the perfume of the incense, the sandal-paste
and the flowers. He then chants long prayers and hymns in Sanscrit to
Krishna and His Love-Energy, Rādhā, and to all the saints and great
devotees of Krishna of the past, begging, them for their blessings of
Krishna's Grace. He then sings songs of the Lord's Love, and tears of
ecstasy roll down his cheeks as he sings in the abandon of his devotion
to the accompaniment of a pair of small cymbals he keeps striking to
keep time.
The Mantram is composed of three, four or five Sanscrit words beginning
with what is called the Seed Word with the Name of Krishna and a
dedicatory word attached to it. The Seed Word is the Seed of
Krishna-Love. It awakens in the heart spiritual passion. This Seed Word,
if mentally repeated with intense concentration, bursts open the shell
of the Sound-Form of Krishna—His Name—which contains the Nectar of
Absolute Love. The word "Sanscrit" means pure, refined. The Sanscrit
language is the language of the pure, undefiled voice of Nature. Hence
it is called the "language of the gods" who are representatives of
Nature's attributes. These attributes are blendings of forces. Each
force has a name (sound), a form and a quality. A man in intense pain
expresses it in such sounds as "Oh-h!" "Ah-h!" This "Oh-h" or "Ah-h" may
be called the sound (voice) of pain, the contortions of the face the
expression of its form and the feeling it produces is its quality. The
quality is the substance of the force called pain and its sound and sign
(form) are its expressions. If there were a microscope powerful enough
to reveal to our view the figures which sound-vibrations create on
ether, we would then find that the above-mentioned sound-expressions of
pain create forms in ether much like the combined letters "Oh-h" and
"Ah-h." This means that it is from the impressions of sound vibrations
on Ether that characters of all languages have been formed; the pictures
reflecting themselves on the inventor's mind through the medium of its
subtle force called inspiration.
The characters (Sanscrit, "charitra") of the Sanscrit language, the
parent language of all languages, are born with creation. They are
entities in Nature, form-expressions of her forces. They are eternal and
indestructible "akshara," as characters are called. The vowels are
masculine forces, the consonants are feminine forces. The masculine
characters (vowels) are independent, the feminine characters
(consonants) are dependent. The vowels can be pronounced by themselves,
the consonants can only be pronounced when united with the vowels. The
vowels are the expressions of the Essence of the Deity (Krishna), the
consonants are the expressions of the Will-Force of the Deity
("Prakriti," that which procreates). Nature. Nature is born of Sound,
the attribute of Ether, (Akas) which was the first manifestation of
creation. That first sound was "AUM"—mispelled and mispronounced in
English as The vowel A, (pronounced "Au" in Sanscrit), the initial
letter of "AUM" is the parent of all letters and languages. This "AUM"
in sound represents the distant vibrations of Krishna's Flute, the Music
of Love, while its character-form in Sanscrit resembles the Form of
Krishna playing on His Flute as the reader will see from the little
outline picture of Krishna with its back-ground of "AUM" in Sanscrit
character printed on the title-page of this book. This is the mystery of
what Krishna Himself says in the Gita, "I am the Word AUM."
The different combinations of the other Sanscrit characters (forms of
natural forces), called words, represent, similarly, pictures of
sound-forms of different attributes and objects. Sanscrit words, in
fact, are sound-shells which hold within them essences of the attributes
they represent and the objects they signify. The letters K, R, I, SH, N,
A joined together form the word Krishna, which is the sound-shell of the
Essence of Love, Nature's Absolute Attribute, produced by the fusion of
the forces of which the composing characters are sound-forms. When
frequently repeated together with the Love-Passion Seed word, its
vibrations, after purifying the atmosphere of the mind, illumine in time
its inner chamber, the heart, which is the door of the soul, and fills
it with the ecstasy of Bliss.
The Tulsi plant is the most spiritual plant in the world, hence its leaf
is the best medium for conveying prayers, especially when it is smeared
with sandal-wood paste, the perfume of which is much like the aroma of
the Lord's Body.
But this morning worship is not all that the householder Vaishnav
performs to attain to the love of Krishna. He eats or drinks nothing
without first offering it through some mystic formula to Krishna, and
his food is pure vegetables, his drink is pure water. In the evening, he
joins other Vaishnavs to talk of Krishna, hear of the sacred earthly
acts of Krishna, sing of Krishna, and, when the spirit of song moves
him, he dances with others in ecstasy. Besides these practices he
repeats many thousand times the name of Krishna over his Tulsi rosary.
In fact, he never misses any means or opportunity to keep alive an
unbroken Krishna-consciousness, the result of which is that he enjoys
the joy of Goloka here on earth in this earthly body. He is rewarded
with the foretaste of what he seeks to enjoy after he lays down his
physical body.
This is enjoyed by the hermit Vaishnav, who generally lives in
Brindāban, in a higher degree. He is unhampered by all the disturbances
and difficulties of the householder, and so he devotes every moment he
breathes to the service of his Krishna. He has renounced the world and
with it all its thoughts. From the earliest morning up to very late at
night he prays, chants, talks, hears, reads, sings and dances by turns.
He eats but once and that very little, a few wee bits of unleavened
bread begged from pious homes. His only world's goods are the scanty
clothes on his body, his earthen water bowl and his volume of
scriptures. He has made peace with the whole world by his humility. He
has nothing but blessings for all, sincere blessings even in return for
curses, and prostrates at full length prone to the ground before
everyone. He follows the saying of the Lord Chaitanya that a Vaishnav
should be lowlier than a blade of grass; more forbearing and charitable
than a tree, which spreads its shade and offers its fruits even to one
who cuts down its branches; should never seek respect for himself but
pay respect even to those who are respected by none; that a Vaishnav
should at all times sing of Krishna. Thousands upon thousands of such
Vaishnavs, both male and female, can be found to-day in the Holy Land of
Brindāban and the Holy City of Nuddea, the birthplace of Chaitanya,
whose Christ-spirit and ecstatic life are unparalleled in the religious
history of any other country, ancient or modern. They represent
demonstrated living proofs of the power of the Lord's Name upon the
human mind.
SECTION XXIV. KRISHNA LEELA.
This Krishna, the Lord of Absolute Love, the Seed and Soul of the
Universe, comes down to this earth to serve and inspire men with His
Love once in every Manwantara, once in every 71 Divine Cycles, that is,
once in every 300,000,000 of our lunar years or more. Every Universe, of
His countless Universes, likewise has its turn of being blessed by His
visit as an Incarnation, once in a long period. This Universe of ours is
the smallest of these Universes and its turn of Krishna's Incarnation
comes off during the Junction Period of the Copper and Iron Ages of the
28th Divine Cycle of every Manwantara. This being the Iron Age of the
28th Divine Cycle of this Manwantara the Lord blessed this earth with
His Personal Presence 5,000 years ago, His birth taking place within the
appointed Junction Period.
Avatārs that come to earth to save mankind and protect the good from the
bad, the Srimād Bhāgavat says, are innumerable; they are either partial
manifestations or aspects of Vishnoo, "but Krishna is Lord God
(Bhagavan) Himself," the Supreme Deity of whom Vishnoo Himself is the
Fourth Manifestation. Nobody knows exactly when Krishna will come, for
even Brahmā, the operating creator, knows it not. Brahmā only sees him
for a second once in a long while, flashing through his meditation like
a lightning flash. When Krishna came this last time on earth with His
Second Manifestation, Sankarsana (who was born as His Elder Brother,
Balarām), the time was ripe for an incarnation of Vishnoo. But as the
moon and stars are covered by the effulgence of the Sun, the Avatār of
Vishnoo could not appear separately, so he was merged in Krishna—the
part was swallowed by the whole.
The story of the earthly career of Krishna, given in the Second Part of
this book, is the story of the All-Love Krishna of Braja. This All-Love
Krishna was the Krishna of Brindāban, also called Braja, the land where
He played and roamed, where He went through His earthly career up to the
age of eleven when He left Brindāban for Mathura. The Krishna of
Brindāban is the Fullest Manifestation of Krishna, the Fullest
Expression of His All-Love-Self. Hence the Krishna of Brindāban is
called the Fullest Incarnation, which means All Krishna, the Krishna of
All-Love. The Krishna of Mathura is called Fuller Krishna, which means
three-quarters Krishna and one-quarter Vishnoo. And the Krishna of
Dwārakā, half Krishna and half Vishnoo, is called Full Incarnation of
Krishna.
Krishna being All Love, He knows nothing but Love, gives and accepts
nothing but Love, acts nothing but Love, breathes nothing but Love,
speaks nothing but Love.
The Asuras that He killed were not killed by Him, but by the Incarnation
of Vishnoo which was within Him, and His part in those actions was to
send the souls of those Asuras to His Absolute Love Realm, a reward
reserved for His highest lovers and devotees, a kindness for enemies
which Krishna alone can feel and show. Krishna has no power even to hurt
a fly, for He is nothing but Love Itself, and does not know anything
else but Love. This much can be said about Krishna's participation in
these what seemed to be acts of killing, that the powers of Vishnoo
within Him that committed them, found His Body the most perfect medium
for their operations.
One word of explanation is necessary here as to who the Asuras were and
how they could assume such shapes. These mentions of Asuras and demons
in the Hindoo book prejudice the unknowing and unthinking Western minds
against the veracity of Hindoo historians and incline them to think that
ancient Hindoo history are mixed with myths and fables. A little calm
and intelligent thinking ought to correct the mistakes of such hasty
judgment. Modern science, too, is daily paving the way to belief in
things which even a quarter of a century ago were thought absurd and
impossible. Science is proving the fact of the unlimited potentialities
of the human mind. Mind-force is at present the subject of all the most
advanced Western scientists and philosophers. When these will succeed in
discovering the laws and truths of the mental plane, as they are now
doing of the material plane, no facts of Hindoo history or of the
histories of ancient times will strike modern man as mythical or absurd.
The Asuras were the psychics of the ancient times. They cultivated their
mind-force in order to use it for personal aggrandizement. They were
Yogis, but their Yoga was divorced from pure spirituality, because their
object was not spiritual. All they wanted was power by which to
overpower others and keep them under subjection for their own earthly
benefit. Some of them were exceptions to the rule; they cultivated their
Sāttwic powers to some extent along with the development of Rājasic
powers. These became great heroes in battles and some of them made very
good kings. Others developed merely Rājasic and Tāmasic powers of the
mind and became tyrants and oppressors of all good people. Wherever and
whenever the earth groaned under the burden of their sins, partial
incarnations of Vishnoo came down to earth to destroy them and bring
peace and goodwill among mankind once more. But those Asuras who had
only their Tāmasic (dark) mind-force developed, were the lowest of them
all. Their minds were all dark and their deeds were all black. Their
natural inclination was to do mischief to people for the sake of the
mischief itself. These were called demons. These demons can be found
reborn among us all, in the most advanced centres of civilization, but
they are now shorn of their former psychic force. The mind's natural
inclination, however, is still in them. They take to external means to
satisfy this inclination of killing or hurting or doing mischief for the
sake of the act itself. Formerly their dark mental powers were their
most potent weapons. Through those psychic powers they could transform
themselves into any shape they concentrated upon, and if they failed to
assume the form of a saint or a god, it was because they could not grasp
the idea of the personality of such pure souls with their impure minds.
To assume the form of a beast was the easiest thing for them, because
they were nothing but human beasts in their nature. They could also
assume elemental forms too, such as a whirlwind, etc., as in Krishna
Leelā. The modern Asuras cannot do any such thing because their
mind-forces are scattered and distracted. The chief cause why people
generally cannot be a high yogi or a black-psychic demon is the density
of Rāja and Tama that at present pervades Nature, of which all beings
are parts and products, which disturbs concentration.
The holding of the hill on the point of the little finger of the left
hand, as Krishna did, was not a very great deed for Krishna to perform.
This act can be performed by some of the Lords of Yoga. The Yogi, when
he becomes an adept, inherits the partial attainment of the eight great
powers (siddhis), which are in their fully normal states in Vishnoo and
in lesser degree in those who remain merged in the Essence of Vishnoo
and are sent therefrom to earth to serve mankind as Avatārs. These
powers are (1) Animā, the power of becoming as small as an atom; (2)
Mahimā, the power of becoming increased in size; (3) Laghimā, the power
of becoming as light as desired; (4) Prāpti, to possess the power of the
gods who are the presiding deities of the senses; (5) Prakāmya, the
power of enjoying and sensing all objects seen or unseen; (6) Ishitā, or
power over the forces of the Divine Will and over the lower forces of
other beings; (7) Vasitā, non-attachment to objects and (8)
Kāmavasāyitā, the power of attaining all desires.
Besides these the high Yogi may attain to ten other powers of the
Cardinal Attributes: (1) Cessation of hunger and thirst; (2) Hearing
from a distance; (3) Seeing from a distance; (4) Moving the body with
the speed of the mind; (5) Assuming any form at will; (6) Entering into
any other body; (7) Dying at will; (8) Playing with celestial damsels;
(9) Attaining wished-for objects; (10) Power of irresistible command.
Five other minor powers are (1) Knowledge of the present, the past and
the future; (2) Control over the Opposites, such as heat and cold, joy
and sorrow, etc.; (3) Knowledge of another's mind; (4) Suspending the
action of fire, sun, water, poison, etc.; (5) Invincibility.
These powers serve the Lord in His Leelās as humble slaves, whether he
is conscious of them or not. Leelā means action of God Incarnate. The
Rash Dance with the Gopis is the greatest Leelā of Krishna. It was the
manifestation of the greatest might of His Love, the might possessed by
the Supreme Being alone, by the Lord of the Lords of Yoga, by the
Supreme Source of Yoga itself. Gopi means a milkmaid. But the milkmaids
of Braja were extraordinarily spiritual beings born as milkmaids to
serve the Lord in His Earthy Leelā. The chief of the Gopis is Rādhā, the
Consort of Krishna in Glory and on earth. "Rādhā" means Adoration or
Love-Devotion. Rādhā is the embodied manifestation of Krishna's
Love-Principle, the Energy of His Soul, the Principle in Krishna which
sets His Love into motion. Rādhā is inside of Krishna as this Principle
of Love-Energy and she is outside of Krishna as the embodiment of that
Principle. Rādhā is the First Active Principle of Nature, the Active
Love-Principle which unconsciously gives birth to creation and pervades
it as the purest spiritual energy. Like Krishna she is above and out of
the reach of the creative Cardinal Attributes. Krishna is the Soul.
Rādhā is the Heart-Soul and her eight chief companions are the Eight
chief Devotional Aspects, and the other Gopis the inclinations and minor
attributes of Her Ensouled Mind. Rādhā and her chief companions are
Krishna's constant companions in Goloka. They came with Him from Glory
and were born as Gopis in Brindāban. Other Gopis who were in the Rash
Dance were incarnations of Vedic Hymns and Truths which, as I have ere
now explained in the cases of Nature's attributes and forces, are
entities in Nature, the form-centres of Nature's purest sentiments and
conceptions. Other Gopis were incarnations of goddesses, the presiding
deities of Nature's spiritual forces and attributes, while others were
incarnations of some of the highest illuminated male Saints (Rishis) who
had prayed for ages and ages in every birth to serve the Lord personally
with the tender devotion of a loving woman. The love of these Gopis for
Krishna was absolutely selfless. They loved Him for the sake of the
spontaneous, causeless love they felt for Him and which His Personality
inspired in them, for Krishna was that Causeless Love Itself. The Rash
Dance represented the vibrations of the Soul-absorbed Mind, vibrations
which filled the universe with the nectar of Bliss and destroyed its
Karma of a whole Kalpa, the Karma which formed its Prarabdha for the
time.
Krishna danced separately with each Gopi. Each Gopi had her own Krishna
beside her. One Krishna became as many as there were Gopis and yet it
was the Self-Same Krishna. The One Soul played like So Many Souls with
so many hearts and yet the hearts saw but that One Soul. Each Gopi saw
only her own Krishna and was unconscious of any other, as she danced,
absorbed in that Krishna, round and round, arms round necks, eyes into
eyes, all-forgetting, the world forgot, round and round in the whirl of
ecstasy, afloat on the waves of Love that is Bliss—round and round with
that One Krishna, the All-in-All of the heart and existence—round and
round, the lover and the loved, the little soul twining round the Great
Soul, the Great Soul pouring Its Nectar into the little soul.
Ignorant writers and prudish religionists of the West have dared to call
this Gopi-Leelā of Krishna shocking to all religious sense, in the face
of the fact that two hundred and odd millions of Hindoos of the present
day and myriads of millions of Hindoos of the past—Hindoos whose giant
intellect and all-towering height of spirituality the world of to-day
are beginning to wonder at—call this Leelā the most transcendental of
all Divine deeds that have ever been performed on the face of the globe.
According to these little critics of the greatest Avatār of the Supreme
Deity, that Supreme Deity cannot possess any other sentiments of love
than those of a Father and a Saviour, that God ought not to feel or show
the love of a husband for his wife or of a lover for his lady-love. If
this be a fact, will they answer the question as to whence has man got
these sentiments, if not from his Maker of whom he is but an imperfect
image? Whence has he got them if not from the Source of Creation itself,
of which he is such a tiny part and product? This denial to God of the
possession of a lover's sentiment implies an impertinence which God
alone, out of His infinite affection for His creatures, can pardon. It
only betrays the dense ignorance of these critics in regard to the
origin and laws of creation and of the relations of creation with its
Creator.
Nature (Creation) is the materialized Will-Force of God. The Will-Force
of God is a reflection of God Himself—the objectified phases of the
semblance of manifoldness of the Absolute One. God is the husband, and
the Energy of His Will, Nature, is His wife. God is the Lover and Nature
is His loving Lady-love. By His All-pervading Essence, the only Support
and Sustenance of Nature, He clasps His Lady-love to His bosom and
dances with her to the intricate steps of the music of her Laws. This is
His Rash Dance in the aggregate, the Rash Dance that is being performed
every moment within Nature though hidden from our outlooking physical
vision. What is true of the great Universe is true also of its
miniature, man. Within our heart of hearts is the forest of Brindāban in
which the microscopic blue river of love, Jumnā, flows, lapping with
thrills of joy the bank of the bowery lawn where Krishna—our Soul—with
His Gopis—our ensouled mental aspirations—is performing His
ever-favorite, never-ending Rash Dance. And we are unconscious of it
all, because our mind's outer ken is employed outside of us with outer
objects. If we can withdraw the mind's vision from outwards and direct
it into the depth of our heart then will belief come in the Rash Dance
of Krishna with its practical realization. We are then of Braja and each
of us, of the enlightened inner eye, a dancing Gopi—male or female
whatever we may be externally it matters not. We are all Gopis, human
male or human female, we are all spiritually feminine, for Krishna alone
is the One Male and we all, particles of. Nature, are all female. We are
all the lady-loves, the brides and wives of our One Husband, Lover and
Beloved—Krishna. In the working out of the ever-beneficial laws of Inner
Nature—the laws that throb for the weal of mankind—this innermost
performance of Nature's constant Rash Dance with her Lord is reflected
for a time upon her outer surface to fill outer Nature and mankind with
the ecstasy of its supremest spirituality, the blessings of Absolute
Love.
The twelve chief boy-companions of Krishna in Brindāban came with Him
from Glory where they are His constant companions, while the other
cow-boys were the incarnations of the gods and highly spiritual saints.
The Kadamba-tree, under which Krishna usually played His flute, is a
representation in physical form of the Tree of Life and the flute's dear
strains the music of the soul. As Krishna and His Companions are
constant, so are His Leelās (acts) constant. They can be seen now by any
devotee possessed of the requisite vision.
With these words I humbly introduce the reader to the Nectar-Career of
Krishna on earth embodied in the following pages. Let every reader read
it with an open mind and the Nectar is sure to flow into his soul
through that mind.
SREE KRISHNA THE LORD OF LOVE PART II.
SREE KRISHNA
THE LORD OF LOVE
BY
Bābā Premānand Bharati
Published by
The Krishna Samāj
NEW YORK
Copyright 1904
BY
Bābā Premānand Bharati
To
The Lotus Feet
OF
KRISHNA MY BELOVED
THIS GARLAND
Woven With Flowers
OF
HIS OWN GIFT
Is Offered
For The Appreciation Of
THE SOULFUL
Of His Creation
PROEM.
I bow to the Glorious One—the unerring Mariner who has guided my frail
life's bark across the billowy world-ocean wrapt in "Goo"—the darkness
of ignorance—with the ever-illuminating "Roo"—the search-light of
wisdom—to the Land of the Lotus Feet of Krishna. I bow to Sree
Brahmananda Bharati—my Gooroo.
And now, hush I list! I sing of Krishna. I will sing of Krishna, the
Lord of Love, the Seed and Soul of the Universe, the Ultimate Principle
in the composition of Creation, of, all souls' real Home—Sweet, Sweet
Home!
I will sing of your only Lover, and your only Beloved.
I wish to sing a song whose sweetness will thrill through your body,
which will make your soul float in ecstasy. I will sing a song whose
burden will enter your heart as a dewdrop enters the bosom of a flower,
but will soon, if you are attentive, spread itself into a boundless
ocean on which your heart will be tossed over its gentle waves, like a
boat bound for and sure of the land of Eternal Bliss. I as earnestly ask
your blessing that I may be filled with such power to sing such a song,
as I ask the blessing of my Krishna to sing of Him to you.
I will sing a song of love such as you have never heard, such as poets
dream not of, which lovers know not of, which the human soul is ever in
quest of, which, in your best moments, vibrates undefined through your
soul, but ever eludes your understanding. I will sing of that Love which
ever plays before your heart's vision as the will-o'-the-wisp through
countless incarnations—a Love which alone will make you happy for
evermore.
I will sing a song to you of a Love which you are striving every moment
of your life to realize through success and failure in this life's
games, the Love whose worthless counterfeits dazzle and deceive you at
every step—at every step removing you farther and farther from the
original they so poorly resemble. I will sing to you of the Love
Absolute, the Love that is unbroken, the Love that is fed and grows by
use, the Love that blesses the lover with greater abundance for giving
it away to others.
I will sing to you of a Love which is your birthright, which is the very
foundation of your existence, which alone is the substance of all
existences, and, wonder of wonders, a Love which is your real food and
Home.
Aye, it is of your Home that I will sing— the unknown pole to which the
magnet of your soul eternally trembles. Home is ever sweet —Home, Sweet
Home! But this your sweet earthly home is only the home of your earthly
self, the brick-and-mortar closet of your fleshly coats, of which you
have possessed a countless number. But all those coats have been mere
coverings of your inner Self, which is a truant from its own Home, but
of which d has lost all memory, having lived so long in others' homes. I
will sing to you of a song whose burden will remind you of this lost and
forgotten Home, the Home that you are seeking in vain, consciously or
unconsciously, the Home whose never-failing happiness you are trying to
substitute in your borrowed home by ever-failing pleasures, pleasures
which only pain you by their hollowness. How can you live upon a hollow
happiness, you who have known and tasted solid, eternal happiness in
your real Home?—the Home where light fades not, life grieves not, and
happiness ever is! I will sing to you of the Home where your Master,
Friend, Father, and Lover is ever anxious to get you back and take you
to His bosom.
I will sing to you of Krishna—your Home—the Seed and Soul of your soul,
as well as of the universe of which you are a miniature.
And now, my beloved friend, prepare yourself to listen to this song
which comes to you from across the oceans—from a land where the altar of
the Lord of Love is ever burning, fed by the libations of devotion and
the incense of ecstasy, since the dawn of creation,—from that cradle of
religion and civilization, from that spiritual metropolis of the
spiritual world-empire, where the fountain of Divine Love, Life and
Wisdom is still playing, to water the earth with the blessings of the
soul—the Land of Bhārat, which you moderns call India. Listen and be
blessed!
This is a song not set to any tune you know, to any music you have
heard, and yet it is a song which is set in the true tune of your heart,
to the natural music of your soul. It is the Song Ecstatic of your
Heart-Soul which will make the core of your being throb in beatitude and
melt the crusts of materiality in you into the Love Unspeakable! Listen
and be blessed!
CHAPTER I.
Weary and overburdened with its load of sorrow and weakness, the great
heart of Mother Earth lifted her voice unto the heights of the skies,
complaining.
Her patience and faithfulness were qualities of wondrous worth to
Brahmā, the Creator,[2] and so, drawing aside the curtain from his
abode. He looked into her soft and wearied eyes, saying:
"O Mother Earth! Long hath the pain of ingratitude and faithlessness
pierced thy tender heart, and with courage and loving mercy hast thou
borne its stings. But now a balm is to come unto thee and soothe thy
wounded love and readjust those things of which thou dost complain.
"Yet a little while, O thou Goddess of Plenty, and One shall play upon
thy breast, which will make the veins of thy body to thrill with warm
love, so that thy heart will be beautiful beyond what it yet has been.
"Thy mountains shall laugh in great happiness on seeing the beauty of
Him who shall cast His lotus eyes upon their rugged sides.
"Thy rivers shall flow in rhapsodies when His Sweet Body shall sanctify
their waves by its contact.
"Thy harvests shall come forth in great plentifulness.
"Thy cows shall give forth milk that shall be nourishing and healing
unto all whom it will feed.
"Thy trees shall cast forth shadows that all who come under their
cooling shade, sick unto death, shall bound forth with the gladness of
life and love in their bodies, and, O patient Earth, all who tread upon
thee shall call thee blessed because the One All Beautiful shall have
made thee blessed by His Holy Feet treading upon thee."
Thus spake Brahmā unto Mother Earth, who lowly laid again her dark head,
and entering the Abode of Vishnoo, he said unto Him:
Thou Mighty One! Well dost Thou know the grievance of her, the Patient
One, who is dear unto us. Do Thou in Thy glory and majesty succor her, O
Lord!
"Let the Only One, the Lord of Love, the Sovereign of all the Universe,
the Author of all that lives, again be born upon her surface, and so
bring to her wilted breast the nectar of Love, that all who draw from
her may again partake freshly of the love that is the life of all
animate and inanimate.
"This Thou do, O Wondrous and Most Beautiful One, and quicken again with
love her heart and the hearts that beat against her breast, so that the
eyes of those who have eyes, yet see not, may see.
"Do Thou incarnate with Thyself those who have ever walked with Thee,
and who may, even before the eyes of all, perform and live miracles of
love. For, O Most High, full of stolid unbelief and fettered with the
world have Thy children become, so that even she who erstwhile ever
patient was has complainingly called unto me for help."
He, the Maker of all that is, forthwith spake:
"So shall it be. Unto her who has held upon her lap all those who are
mine and who hath come out of Me and who is also of Me, I shall be born.
"And great shall be the rejoicing of her and my children who walk upon
her surface.
"From the heart of man the weight of stone shall be lifted and his eye
shall be quickened with love, and I with my followers shall bring to
them the ways and means that love doth know, and the whole known world
shall again learn that I am Life and Love, that I the Creator of all
things am, even unto the ant and the huge elephant who by one blow of
his mighty trunk uprooteth the tree.
"They shall also know Me as Child, Son, Warrior, King, and Priest, and
in their midst I shall walk even with those who with Me shall be born
again, and seeing Me and knowing Me, I shall draw all unto Me, and close
with Me they shall again taste the sweetness of my love.
"With Me shall come those who have ever known Me through many
incarnations, those who cover themselves with the qualities most like
unto Me and whom my Earth-children have learned to look upon as gods,
praying to them because of these attributes which they themselves wished
to be blessed withal.
"Tell those who know the fulness of my Bliss, those who have bathed in
the nectar of those who have dwelt in the ecstasy of my loveliness, and
those who in their devotion have known nothing outside of Me, those who
have ever seen Me in all things, and have feasted their minds only upon
My Beauty—tell them that I with them shall be born of woman and shall
dwell for the span of man's life among men."
And when the Gods, those whom He had designated, heard the Will of Him,
great was the rejoicing in that Abode, for no Will knew they, save the
Sweet Will of the Most Lovely One, whose Lotus Feet they worshipped in
ecstasy.