The true contribution, the essence of what India has to offer to the world citizenry is its spiritual wealth. Its expertise in the evolution of consciousness as a science is unparalleled by any other nation. The mindset and conscious abilities of the Indian people to sustain peace and courage during waves upon waves of foreign invasion is unique amongst the peoples of the earth. India is a land where people spend a lifetime making it their business to seek God, to seek the Divine Indweller and nothing else. The very term “Bharat” means the land whose people are wedded to the light of God!’ “Bha” means light of God; “rat” means those who strive to be one with this light.
From time immemorial, the science of yoga – the science of the Evolution of Human Consciousness is the most comprehensive enterprise ever undertaken by humanity, besides which the greatest of human achievements pale into insignificance. The end of the physical evolution is the perfection of the mammalian form. The end of the mental evolution is the perfection of the human mind. And the end of the spiritual evolution is the full expression of ones consciousness of Natural Enlightenment. From the prehistoric manimal man with his mind enmeshed in the senses, we have gradually evolved to the human man with his mind centred in the intellect. And now we must follow the evolutionary process of yoga whereby we may become Divine Beings expressing our Consciousness of Natural Enlightenment, Sahaj Samadhi.
This is where we are going, in spite of ourselves. Because the whole warp and weft of the cosmic flow, the galactic swirl, the universal swirl is towards Divinity. And because the whole swirl and sway and swing and rhythm and music of the universe is towards Divinity we cannot help but flow in that course of direction. Of course, Karma decides the evolutionary process, of individual and of civilizations. Everything is connected to everything else. In the placid, crystal lake of Mansarovar if a stone is thrown the ripples will affect the whole lake. We have to hold ourselves responsible for whatever happens, good or bad, and make the essential effort. It is on the basis of karma that one is reborn and comes into the samsar. To get out of the cycle of samsar, you have to work out or dissolve karma. Sanatan philosophy is based on three things—karma, which leads you to punar janma (rebirth), which leads you to be born into samsar to fulfil your desires. After you have fulfilled your desires, propelled by the desire to go back to your parent source, you break the cycle of birth and death by yoga and tapasya.
But often deluded by circumstances we think otherwise, “Lo, how strange this world of Maya is, how gripping and how strong. In this cosmic motion picture, the right appears all wrong. This world our sages did perceive as mindstuff materialised, in relative sequence it has been deceiving mortal eyes. This world is but a thoughtfulness, of Mayic atoms intertwined, whose electrons are energy of light essence sublime.” Maya or illusion, the cosmic drama played out on the screen of the universal mind is not something totally false as people are often made to believe. Maya is a phrase that means that which appears to be what it is not. So it is a mirage that is created in the world scenario for the soul to pass through and learn its lessons of life. The whole foundation of Maya is built on relativity and the whole of Maya is a fast flowing universal mind substance which is composed of sub atomic particles called raja, sattva and tama guna that is the electron, proton and neutron. Once we transcend the state of relativity which is composed of this creation we go beyond Maya. But while we live in maya, for that moment of time it is real for us.
It is necessary for human life to first gain experience in maya and then evolve its way up to its own spiritual self. First comes the involution of consciousness into matter and then evolution of matter into consciousness. The human soul, in order to complete its cycle of evolution gets engrossed in the various sheaths of the body, the mental sheath, the emotional sheath, the etheric sheath and finally in the womb the material sheath of flesh and bones. It gets more and more restricted as in relative sequence by various permutations and combinations of molecules it becomes denser. In this descending arc of involution called the Pravritti Marg, the soul, descends more and more into the material world, garnering the experiences of joy and sorrow, right and wrong, bad and good in the world of relativity.
After having satisfied all its desires in the material world, being buffeted by raag (attraction) and dvesh(repulsion) and its lust for life, and having learnt its lessons, the inner spirit of the soul then pushes it forth gradually towards the Nivritti Marg, which is the evolutionary path of renunciation and detachment to all worldly pleasures of samsar. Then it completes its cycle of evolution as it ascends, and as it becomes more and more transparent by yogic and spiritual practices, the flame of its soul expresses more and more of its innate spiritual radiance. The yogi then makes an ash heap of both vice and virtue knowing it is in the realm of relativity and seeks the singular truth, the merging of the finitized consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness.
Within each one of us is this mystic, inconceivable, indescribable silence and love, and the urge to return to this natural state, the Sahaj Samadhi.The yogi then stands triumphant in his knowledge, for there is nothing on the earthly or heavenly sphere of which he is ignorant. Having drunk of the fountain of wisdom, he is The Enlightened One and has fulfilled the purpose of his Being!
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