"LETTERS FROM A BAUL" written in English by SRI ANIRVAN himself. Copyright.
CHAPTER III
LAWS – POWERS
In India people strive for these powers:
- to reach God
- to make God appear objective
- to have a clear sensation of the “I”;
- to eradicate every difference between “you” and “me”;
- to materialise the divine Laws and worship them as they are represented in the form of gods.
If man of 50,000 years ago were to return, he would see that man has not changed, either spiritually or in his deep reactions. The whole of civiilisation is only the outward appearance (maya) of what is manifested (sat). So why then should the Hindu believer not look for a means to escape from this slavery?
This cosmos to which we belong does not hold us in slavery. It is what it is. For us it represents the continuity of a power, of a descending Law with, here and there, one ascending soul, one in a million, says the Bhagawad Gita.
Such a soul radiates its own light; it touches other hearts because it has “passed through the death of the ego and the birth of the being.” It is nourished by the Void. In the Void absurdities evaporate spontaneously.
He who has lost faith and builds it up again slowly and cautiously by means of the science of Samkhya, the logic and mathematics relating to cosmic Laws, knows by experience why the world holds together; but the instant he tries to formulate the mathematical equation he will fail and fail.
Great Nature in her eternal recurrence represents a form of prakriti that the human heart can comprehend. She expresses the force that has two opposite movements, the one ascending, the other descending. Their role is to bring mankind and organic life on earth into the play of cosmic Laws. She shows the mechanical aspect of the Laws, in which man, according to his sage of evolution and inner attitude, sees miracles, ironies or absurdities, or no matter what else, in order to escape the grip of eternal recurrence. At the same time, he refuses to see the harmonious operation of these cosmic Laws.
This concordance is beyond human logic, such logic being only a form of the unconscious and mechanical functioning of the ego.
The world is a bazaar where everybody is shouting at the top of his voice to attract attention and make his little bargain. Remember that success or failure means nothing in the play of the Laws. All depends only on how the game is played. Thoughts are a thousand times more powerful than words. Be quiet in yourself, be calm and silent in the agitation around you. Let the powers act without allowing the human law, subjective and narrow, to interfere. The great powers act by impregnating the nerve fibres of the earth.
The whole of life is the immensity of the darkness of night (varuna) and the immensity of the light of day (mitra). The multiplicity of the circumstances and conditioning, to which we are subject in time, must not distort our inner vision in relation to darkness and light.
Then, in the intermediate light between day and night, we will clearly distinguish the broken lines which are the Laws as they come down to us, insofar as we are able to understand them. The work, for every one of us, is to learn to recognise them steadfastly and patiently, one after another.
Power, even in its most subtle and essential vibrations, includes two directions: one is positive and the other negative. Words such as truth, life, essence, should only be used with caution, for they contain in themselves an implicit source of opposition.
All the Vedic sages (rsis) repeatedly taught that spiritual life proceeds by jumps, by upward thrusts whose trajectory, being subject to the Law of gravity, falls down again from the apogee of its course to the lowest point. This fall is what starts eternal recurrence. We live and are fed by the visions of “those who see,” and there will always be new rsis and new disciples.
In these times the rsis’ vision serves only to create disciples. Disciples are necessary so that what is brought by the rsi can make its way into life. But the more the disciples are attached to themselves, the more mediocre they become, interested only in defending their rights of seniority, their Ashram, their master’s thought, without engaging themselves in the process of creation.
In summary, the rsi’s vision does not seem to belong to those who gather around him, but is a testimony to “That which is” for a much wider circle and for the sake of a continuity that will establish itself. This vision is a state of impersonal consciousness; it is what keeps the world in an exact relationship to the Laws. To impose a name on it is to limit the vision and lock it in a closed circle.
There are three important points to recognize in the ascending spiral representing the evolution of man: the point of sunrise, the point of the zenith, and of the “High North” (uttaram), which is the summit reached by the trajectory of this ascending spiral. The High North is the point where a new light scale begins to develop.
This direction toward the High North is also directly related to the solstices. The sun travels toward the north from December 21 until June 21 and the days lengthen. From the time when the sun moves toward the south, the days get shorter. That is why Yama, the king of death, is represented as living in the south, and Shiva, the god of life and death beyond the north. Moreover the east is the origin of light, the west is the house of the Void. These indications are scrupulously observed in the building of a temple or of a house. The position north-east always indicates the very action of the Law in our life.
For an action to be in accordance with the Laws and be a part of them, two forces must support it. One of them is The Void which generated the action, the other the energy and freedom of its movement.
Such a mode of action is established in a right relationship between Guru and disciple. The Guru says to his disciple, “Go and fulfill this task and know that even here I shall be the Void of your movement. Feel this deeply in yourself.” These two forces can also co-exist in the same person, which is the state mentioned in the Bhagawad Gita: the action is born from the vibration of the Void.
The best illustration of this is the story of a nun chosen by the king of a state to become his queen. The sannyasini finally accepted on condition that she be given an isolated room in the royal palace to which she alone would have the key. She used to go there every day. The king, jealous of the radiance of the queen, decided one day to follow her there to steal her secret. The room he saw her enter was bare and whitewashed. A sackcloth robe was hanging on a nail. The queen took off her rich attire and jewels and put on this beggar’s dress. Then she meditated for a long time, seated on the ground. At last she turned around and said to the king, “Here I am “myself,” the woman who loved God alone before she became a queen, and who still loves only God in His divine play.”
That queen has no name. She is part of Indian folklore.
An impulse pushes us to follow the way of the spirit, Purusha. We must not stop to ask, “What is this impulse?” It is there so that we may follow the ideal and constantly make it grow. No backward steps! This impulse has to be cultivated because it belongs to the ascending Law.
Opposing this, Prakriti holds us fast in the wheels of her machinery. One can be satisfied there and sleep in peace. Prakriti asks no more of us. She has a very strong power of gravitation, and drags back to herself beings who were ready to escape. She brings them back very skillfully for she needs our lives for her own purposes; she needs humus composed of the constantly renewed heavy and fine matter which our lives bring to her.
As regards any personal discipline, you must follow the right course. What you get through intuition can never fail you. The whole attitude can be summed up in a short sentence: “I know that, I feel that, I am that.” Let the powers work deep within you. The pain that results is that of a new birth. If inclination for inner work lessens, do not worry. Creation starts in darkness. Out of nothing comes the force of sakti. Let yourself be carried by the stream; so do not struggle. Not that you will reach the shore; your destination is to become the ocean itself.
We know that there are seven planes: three above and three below and a seventh which serves as a bridge.
The three lower planes generate the physical, emotional, and mental; the three higher ones generate pure existence (sat), pure radiant energy (chit) and bliss (ananda), which is the joy of creation; the seventh plane (rasa) is that on which things are carried out, that of the mother standing between the father and the child, permeating both.
In the Tantras the lunar days divided into three groups of five. This five-fold pattern symbolises the power of the mother. In each group, the days stand for joy (nanda) harmony and welfare, (bhadra), victory and power (jaya), consecration and sacrifice (rikta), plenitude (purna). Sakti is pictured as a little girl growing into womanhood. The first stage is her childhood; the second her adolescence; the third her youth; the fourth her maturity; and the fifth her completeness. Beyond is the Void. The same applies to the three lower planes: physical, emotional, mental. Analytically speaking, beyond Sakti is the eternal Spirit known as nityasodasi, and still further beyond is complete emptiness, nirvana-kala.
The full moon symbolises the blossoming and fruition of the hidden moon’s creative activity working in darkness. This is why peasants who are in contact with the earth sow seeds for flowers during the bright phase of the moon and for edible plants in its dark phase. The dark ray of creation is spoken of in the Katha Upanishad.
Following is the scheme of the seven planes:
Father Mother (the bridge) Child
1, 2, 3 4 5, 6, 7
There is always a gap, a no-man’s-land, between two planes. Otherwise there could be no creation. The Buddhists were right in saying that “everything” comes from “nothing.”
The intrinsic qualities (gunas) of prakriti are what bring gradual degrees of modification in the transition from matter to spirit and vice versa. These modifications are everywhere and on all planes. Energy (rajas) is the element of fermentation. The Bhagavatam gives an excellent comparison between the entire process and a piece of wood catching fire. At first there is no fire- a state of inertia (tamas); then comes smoke- a state of energy (rajas); and then heat and light- the rarefied state (sattva). So whenever we try to break up inertia on the human plane, we must be ready for confusion, misunderstanding and rashness; these things are bound to happen. The whole world is rajas, storm and stress; otherwise matter could not become “ luminous spirit,” or “harmonious multiplicity” like the petals of the lotus, which is the symbol of the One.
Dissolution is often necessary before real creation starts. You cannot always be looking for something. You must stop somewhere and let things grow within you. There is a rhythm of creation and a rhythm of dissolution, symbolized by the dance of Shiva. At first this dance is violent, full of convulsive movements with steps marking life and death at the same time. The rsis have called this part of the dance tandava. Its duration is related to cycles. Gradually the dance changes into the gentle dance of balanced force, where the rhythm becomes so supple that life and death are near each other and can be felt in the same movement. The rsis have called this rhythmic vibration lasya.
Herein lies the true creative possibility of sakti, of which the violent tandava of Shiva is the cosmic background. The balance and deep significance of life lie in dissolution. This is what makes life a constant renewal. Accept things just as they come and one day the light step of lasya will be yours.
There are two movements in creation. The movement of interiorization always precedes that of exteriorization. It is represented in the following imagery; according to the Puranas, creation was to come from the four united principles, the four sons of Brahma. But when Brahma had created them, instead of going down to earth and manifesting themselves outwardly, they went into their father’s bosom and became the force of withdrawal, from which there then issued the “Seven Sages” or “Seven Laws” that participated in the creation and continue to maintain it. These two movements, interiorization and exteriorization, are to be found everywhere, in creation as in de-creation, or pralaya, that is to say, the creation that undoes itself spontaneously, beginning from the end. Creation is in itself birth and death, whereas de-creation is in itself death and birth.
It is difficult to conceive of the transition from rarefaction to density even though it is the very process of all creation. We realize, or rather we imagine, what the Void may be, but to follow the process of the either becoming the earth, which would be the genuine realization of creation, is far from understanding.
You rise to the heights and are often aware of the process, but then you suddenly bump your head on the earth. Of course, you bring the flavour of the ether down with you but still you cannot re-create it. The attempt has been given up as almost impossible by the author of the Brahmasutra who remarked: “You can become one with Brahma in knowledge and bliss, but you cannot become one with him in his creative power.” The explanation is something like this: you can die consciously, but you cannot be born consciously. If you could do so your birth would be a divine birth, an incarnation.
Through the ages man has pursued his quest beyond death through idolatry. Even nowadays man’s search starts with idolatry and it is very important to see that it ends with it too. If matter becomes spirit, spirit likewise must return to matter. That is why the greatest spiritual Masters of India never denounced or gave up idolatry. Not even Shankaracharya.
Through his Guru’s teaching the Hindu disciple discovers, in the spiritual discipline he follows, how to put into daily practice the Laws of Shiva Mahadeva, the supreme Lord, just as they are described in all the sacred texts. These Laws are illustrated by three aspects of life, creation, preservation and destruction, and by two movements, the one from above moving downward, the other from below going upward.
A disciple will hold to this imagery so long as he expects to receive everything from his guru. He may continue to do so during several successive lives, unless the idea of evolution is born in him. There comes a time when the disciple recognizes the obstacles that must face and go beyond. He discovers that this has to do with the Law of three in his own nature and in his development.
Three Laws govern life: the Law of growth, the Law of expansion, and the Law of intensity. All three are illustrated by the “tree of life”, showing how this tree grows, how it spreads out its foliage, and how it sinks its roots deep into the soil.
One must be firmly rooted. Such is the first Law. Then grow and assert yourself. At that moment open yourself, stretch out your arms to feel your radiation around you, and then bring the universe back to you with head held high, for it touches the sun. Be deep, wide, tall, truly like a tree of life.
Purusha in its manifestation still depends on Purusha. It is by nature opposed to Purusha, so that between the two a life-giving current may be established. As soon as sakti appears, it already contains in itself the three initial Laws which give it its material density.
If Purusha chooses to pay an active role, its sakti will always be passive. Om the other hand, if Purusha chooses to be passive, its sakti will always be active. While the passive element stands back, the active element takes different forms. Each form or each movement gives rise to new Laws, which, if the movement ceases, will be reenfolded within one another and will return to the initial force that gave them birth.
Thus in Shivaism, Shiva, representing the spirit, is always passive, and his saktis, representing various aspects of manifestations in the world, have different functions under different names: Uma, Gauri, Annapurna, Parvati, Kali, Durga, and so forth. In Vaishnavism, on the other hand, Vishnu is the active element. He is the creator who has manifested himself in different forms in different incarnations, displaying a gradual voluntary evolution. The constant activity of Vishnu is to maintain the world, whereas his sakti is secret, inner and completely passive. She is called Shri, meaning beauty and harmony. She is the symbol of the lotus in full bloom. Shri is the secret in the heart of women.
The sound (bija) in the sacred word (mantra) is the vibration, which causes matter to pass to spirit, or conversely, spirit to pass to matter. Hence its great importance in spiritual techniques. Every being has his own vibration which, in either a clear or confused way, is equivalent to a formula of coagulation or of a possible dissolution. On the horizontal plane, in ordinary life, this mantric vibration is expressed by a configuration (yantra) which is the basic individual diagram used by the force emanating from oneself at no matter what degree of materialization.
This force flows out in complete disorder. It is instinctive. It obeys all the outer attractions and associates itself with all the automatic movements of prakriti, whatever they may be. Those who are conscious of the power of this spontaneous force direct their effort towards preventing its uncontrolled emanation and towards canalizing it without producing any mutilation.
Then one must learn to know it, to guide it, to love it as it is, so as to tame it and give it a way of expression. The sacred sound (bija) is that very force which, when necessary, is used against itself. This has nothing to do with the invocations or sacred (mantras) which are repeated to create a state of openness or surrender; but only with the seed- syllable itself.
There are four Tantric Laws that concern Unity:
1. Cosmic unity (brahmanda), which is, the expansion of the self up to touching the sky, a passionate love for the sensory universe in all its forms, until it brings within ourselves the vibration of the Vedic formula: “ The earth is my mother, I am the child of the earth.”
2. The Psychic unity (prakrtyanda) existing between the real inner being and the ego with all its impulses. This unity is the thread of life connecting all experiences lived through up until our discovery of knowledge.
3. Causal unity (mayanda ), which is the progressive discovery of the forces and Laws within the heart of Prakriti.
4. Spiritual unity (saktyanda), which is the harmonious association of our soul, our essence, the “I”, and the force of life, the most subtle Prakriti.
There is a basic rule for approaching any one of these Tantric Laws, which is to understand that the body is the instrument of life. It follows that any stiffening or hardening, that is, any tension in thought or in body, prevents a conscious extension towards the infinite.
Now, as regards the spiritual quest: if you consciously hold within yourself three-quarters of your power and use only one-quarter to respond to any communication coming from others, you can stop the automatic, rapid, and thoughtless movement outward, which leaves you with a feeling of emptiness, of having been absorbed by life. This stopping of the movement outwards is not self-defense, but rather an effort to have the response given come from within, from the deepest part of one’s being. This process reverses the natural movement of prakriti and brings back energy to its seed form. Let this become your way of communicating with others.
Something in yourself is awakened, and by this interiorization you begin a movement in the direction opposite from what is taking place outwardly. Thereby two movements are produced in you. One of them goes outward and the other goes inward. The latter is the movement of the higher Prakriti uniting with the immobile Purusha. This is the moment in which prakriti surrenders, in which there is no struggle.
The Law of life is the same. As the physicalcells build the body, the germ cells are concentrated within and retain their energy for a later creation. We imagine that we create by projecting outwards, whereas real creation takes place through suction and absorption. When this power of absorption becomes natural, you discover that creation, radiation, communication and all similar processes come to you spontaneously.
In Samkhya, this spontaneous creation is called dharmamegha, or the cloud of energy that pours forth multiple powers, for behind this creation there is the Void.
All spiritual search is directed towards a shining point, which can be approached only from the periphery of a big circle and in many different ways. Samkhya is the logical science that makes it possible to see the movements of prakriti and to dissociate oneself from it on the plane of life itself. This is the opposite of the attitude of so many seekers who, in order to escape from the clutches of prakriti and turn away from it, run away from the world to follow a primitive discipline that mutilates their life to such an extent that it no longer has any connection with reality.
Feeling oneself dissociated from prakriti does not mean that one has become her master. To master prakriti requires inner work and attentive observation of sakti’s energy. This energy is a fully awakened power, which is not yet tamed. Only when prakriti is conquered and mastered does Life within life, in the midst of all prakriti’s erratic movements, become the state described as Shiva-sakti in the heart of the cosmic Laws.
The whole theory of the Void is that of the luminous ether (akasa). Sound (sabda) and speech (vak) come from akasa, and therefore also the idea of a creator God who in order to manifest Himself, uses five elements and five sensations.
The five elements belong to God, to the descending Law; the five sensations belong to man, to the ascending Law. To approach a direct experience, we have only the authority of the sacred Scriptures and the experiences of the saints and yogis who have gone before us. The work of transformation in the course of evolution can only be done by oneself on oneself. A master, of course, can activate it, and fellow disciples can help in sustaining the effort, but the seeker will be entirely alone throughout his attempt and many times he will confuse the means with the end to be attained.
Some notions are occasionally given but always in a veiled form which can be interpreted in different ways, such as:
“One must be subtle enough to feel the presence of the mother, for life begins with an odour…
“One must be subtle enough to discover where the father is, for life ends with a sound…”
in studying the Tantras, one discovers progressively thanks to sound and by means of sound, how the idea, by Taking on destiny, gradually becomes the object that is perceived. The two linked words “Shiva-sakti” create the vibration by which the spirit takes on the destiny of matter. Every time this double word is pronounced one must refer also to what it contains in the ascending Law for it is the passage from one level to the next. In every sensation pertaining to the ascending Law, each movement begins with heat, continues with the materiality of food and light, and reaches luminous ether, that is, the Void.
The three Laws of sakti always remain veiled. They are the Laws of pure Existence (sat), of pure Spirit (cit) and pure Bliss (ananda). Another Law, however, the Law of phenomena, is projected on to the screen of consciousness.
The first of the three laws is that of pure Existence, sat; although having the appearance of complete immobility it is in itself a vibration or a movement. This inner vibration is the source of all existing movement. The first movement is a straight line between two points and it is this straight line that represents the immobility of Shiva. Prakriti appears and takes possession of the pattern of straight lines, weaving onto it her pattern in the shape of a spider’s web, with broken lines forming angles, surrounded by concentric circles.
Finally, by the force of sakti these curves detach themselves from the horizontal plane to form a spiral ascending around its own axis.
The second Law is that of pure Bliss. Ananda is the result of the movement having taken place in consciousness, a calm movement like an undulation of the water. This undulation contains life, which is in itself the very essence of sakti. This pattern of flexible undulation is nevertheless made up of short broken lines.
The third Law is that of pure Spirit. Cit has a very definite function between the vibration originating in the immobile source and the wave that is the essence of sakti. It is the awakened consciousness and its role is to unite sat with ananda.
In one-way or another, it can be said of sat that if I look within myself, I see that sakti draws me inwardly. I become conscious of the immobility of the world and of the straight line between two points representing Purusha. Of ananda it can be said that if I am conscious of what is around me, I project myself outward and enter into the very play of sakti. At that moment I feel all the waves passing over the water as being the pulsations of life itself. On the other hand, cit, the pure consciousness of the spirit, observes what is happening between sat and ananda.
The expression Shiva-sakti reveals the ultimate reality beyond the concept Purusha-Prakriti of classical Samkhya. Shiva-sakti is the state of the fully realized being, that is, an inward state of enlightened consciousness. The seeker who has not yet dissociated himself from the prakriti outside himself and from the prakriti within himself, sees the immobile Purusha as a state of pure consciousness and prakriti as being an unconscious and mechanical force.
Prakriti and Shakti thus denote two different states of consciousness, the second being a higher state of consciousness, tending towards the limitless. Prakriti is a kinetic energy, whereas sakti is a latent potential energy returning to itself and containing in itself all the possibilities of development of Prakriti’s movements.
If I speak to you, I am using prakriti’s power of exteriorization. If I collect in myself what I wish to say to you, I have the choice of speaking if I so desire or of saying nothing, thus demonstrating the interiorized power of sakti, which contains in itself the kinetic capacity of prakriti.
The inner fluctuations and commotions in the course of spiritual discipline (sadhana) can be expressed schematically, according to the modifications in the passive and active qualities involved.
The lower aspect or exteriorization pratriti-Purusha
+ -
The higher aspect or interiorisation Shiva-sakti
+ -
from the point of view of samkhya, Prakriti can be an active energy only if it has a passive substratum opposing its movement. This fact is represented mythological by kali(time) dancing on the naked body of Shiva(infinity). From the psychological viewpoint, consciousness is the surface of a mirror across which reflections of movement pass rapidly. Consciousness remains immobile.
In the mystical experience it is known that Prakriti in movement and immobile Purusha are but one. Here the Vaishnavite Tantras bring a clarifying element to samkhya by saying that the visible movement in Prakriti is Purusha’s movement permeating it. The two are no longer dissociated. Spiritualized Prakriti is nothing more than the form of Pyrysha. Mystically, this gives us the following scheme:
Prakriti-Purusha the two movements of existence having become one.
Krishna-Radha the mystical couple par excellence.
Krishna, as Purusha is fully conscious in the midst of his activity. Radha, in her transcendental love for Krishna, is in ecstasy (Samadhi) even in her role of prakriti. Psychologically, according to vaishnavite Tantrism, Radha, through her passivity, becomes the substratum of the activity of Krishna-Purusha. The roles are thus reversed, producing the following diagram:
Shiva-Radha are nirguna the transcendental aspect of existence of power
Kali-krishna are saguna the phenomenal aspect of existence and power.
That is why, in India, so many children are named Kali-Krishna.
The Trantric scriptures reveal the necessary deviations making it possible for creation to escape from the ceaseless mechanical repetitions of prakriti.
If there were no deviations, one could easily imagine creation-taking place without discontinuity between the immobile Purusha and Prakriti manifested in its numerous aspects. But the primordial energy of sakti constantly produces deviations, both in the subtle densities of the spirit and in course densities of matter. Once set in motion, this process cannot stop. Therein lies the whole chance of creation towards a possible evolution, and man’s opportunity to move upwards, provided that the deviation by broken lines turns upwards in a spiral (kundalini). The amplitude of their curve can be very wide without change of direction.
The curve of deviation can also be repeatedly retraced on the horizontal plane, attracted by its point of departure.
In that case, because of the endless repetitions that will take place, the primordial energy will be frittered away and finally lost.
The figure “3” represents the “Law of Three” which contains in itself the whole of life. In the beginning, there was the One, Purusha. From its inner vibration, the One projected its opposite, as light casts a shadow, which is its substratum. In this movement, spirit-matter, bound by the energy, which belongs equally to the one and the other, can become perceptible. This can be demonstrated in the following manner:
One is the “I”- subject manifested by light – sattva
Two is the “I”- object manifested by shadow – tamas
Between the two aspects of I- subject and I- object the perpetual movement of life develops, that is, all forms of manifestation on the lower plane of life. This perpetual movement of energy is rajas.
Thus life, through the energy of rajas, is a development of movements acting between the two poles of sattva-tamas.
From the plane of rajas, which is ours, a certain state of consciousness can exist in which it is possible to perceive what is above (sattva) and what is below (tamas).
What is above can be known by sudden intuition or glimpsed through imagination, but it is impossible to reach it without a shock provoked by the vision itself. A through discipline of the mind is the indispensible preparation for this.
What is below is the weight of ignorance, the inertia of the primitive prakriti. It is also the field of individual work. Before discovering the stages leading towards sattva, one must become familiar with the opposition of heavy matter.
The energy of rajas proceeds from sakti, which holds sway in the space between sattva and tamas. The energy of rajas is the desire that creates life. Without this desire, that space would be the Void without movement or action. Actually, life exists only through a deviation of energy, through propulsion, which sooner or later returns to its starting point.
This movement of exteriorization and of interiorization seems to vary in its possibility of extension according to one’s understanding of it. In fact, one is in front of a point (bindu), which contains everything in itself. When energy creates a movement, this point becomes a straight line. To return to its starting-point, a deviation is a necessity. The straight line will break and, through broken lines formatting angles, will return to its starting-point.
Three angles are necessary for a movement to enclose a space and thereby create a surface, a form. This form is a triangle. Every action can be described as a triangle. If the angles are equal, the action is perfect and balanced. The three lines are the qualities of prakriti (gunas) and the space is that of sakti spread out and in balance. Sakti can also gather itself together at the central point (bindu), which signifies, in a perfect action or in a perfect meditative state- the union of sakti and purusha, a state of perfect awakened consciousness.
While following a spiritual discipline a man tries at a certain time, by interiorization during active meditation, to feel in himself the mobile qualities and tendencies of the inner being. It means coming into contact with the world in world his own Law of three functions. On our level of understanding we can perceive the triangle of our life formed by the three gunas and the numerous irregular triangles formed by our actions.
The subdivision and expansion of the three gunas (tamas-rajas-sattva) in relation to the three fundamental intrinsic qualities of the primiordial prakriti make up different worlds in accordance with the relative distance of these worlds from one another. The greater the subdivision of the gunas, the greater is the subdivision of the Law of Three. A seeker can never have access to any world higher than his own unless he has completely absorbed in himself the gunas of his own world to the point of being one with them. This means that his inner equilibrium is then brought into accord with his prakriti.
In the following the figures indicate the number of gunas in each world. From one world to the next, the number is multiplied by two, whether the worlds are taken as in the cosmic order or as worlds interiorized in man. The number represents the subdivision of the Law of three, which becomes heavier the further it moves from the primordial prakriti. Three gunas are added in each world to
The sum of gunas from the proceding world.
3 3 gunas of primordial prakriti.
6 3+3--- 6+ 3--- 9
12 9+3--- 12+ 9--- 21
24 21+3--- 24+21--- 45
48 45+3--- 48+45--- 93
96 93+3--- 96+93--- 189
192 189+3--- 192……
The triangle shows how three broken lines enclose a surface. This surface has two dimensions, but there is a third dimension to be attained, in conformity with a Vedic Law indicating three successive stages. They follow one another in the manner indicated below:
1. The stage when the potter’s wheel sets up a circular movement.
2. The stage when the clay placed on the wheel becomes malleable; the circular movement can then give a form to the clay, but it still remains on the same level.
3. The stage when a spindle is fixed on the wheel. The clay at once comes up in a spiral. The hub will even reach a point slightly higher than the spindle-axis.
This movement explains why there are moments of progression in life and moments of regression, and time, which elapses between these different movements. In spiritual experience, every man ought to aspire to raise himself around an axis, and every woman to become a perfect triangle in order to create perfect forms.
In the following diagram the seeker stands between two triangles. He who devotes his life to spiritual search, thanks to his inner discipline, absorbs the sakti of the triangle of the infinite ideal that is above him. Below him the downward pointing triangle contains all possible forms of manifestation.
Perfect yoga in the heart of life is represented by the two integrated triangles with a single centre. A master is one who voluntarily enters into the manifested prakriti. His disciples and pupils are so many reflections of himself which he recognizes without being attached to them. He stands in the centre of the two triangles.
As regards the symbol of the triangle, one should know that Tantric esotericism represents sakti as the water chestnut (srngataka), a peculiar pyramid-shaped fruit growing in swamps. There again you have the idea of density.
The radiation of energy, one of them centripetal and the other centrifugal. The interaction of these two movements produces the luminous sphere of all existence, technically known as bindu, the point, which is situated in the centre of the pyramid. Creation may appear and start from any point, going from the centre outward, or from the periphery towards the centre. Sakti never stops creating, whether she spreads herself out or concentrates herself within. In fact these movements are complementary to one another, just as the phenomena of denseness and rarefaction.
What we need is to break the inertia that hinders or slows the passage from one state to another. I use the word tapasya in speaking of this movement, and the instantaneous power of transformation in this passage, whether it be centripetal or centrifugal.
The Vedas tell us that we have a “father in Heaven” and a “ Mother on Earth.” They are linked together by the atmosphere full of clouds, full of quarrels between the gods and quarrels between the demons, full of book knowledge and all the philosophies of life. The sastras and the puranas bind us with chains called spirituality, orthodoxy, politics, castes and economic conditions.
What does man possesses that could eventually free him? As often as not he is aware of it, for prakriti jealously holds him under her sway. And yet most of his instinctive movements are right. His original, very primitive nature can serve him in his thought as in his feelings. And this is his chance, for he will gradually discover in himself a higher spiritual force which will lead him to worship the divine Mother in one or another of her aspects, and an animal force through which he will identify himself with one of the divine Mother’s vehicles: tiger, cat, swan, peacock, etc.
The cosmic Laws act on the level of our understanding, but we are able to perceive only a very few of them. As a result, we can adapt the conditions of our life only to those Laws we have recognized. The cosmic Laws operate in time. And the notion of time, beyond our limitations is unknown to us. What consciousness of time do people in India have? This concept is difficult to understand until you integrate it within yourself.
The Tantras indicate a method to realize the zero value of time. Technically, this value is called Bindu. It is said that the pronunciation of a sacred formula (mantra) takes three moras and a half. The half is the point (bindu) which contains the all and is attained by drawing in the consciousness through seven stages, each stage in a geometric progression with different intervals: ½+(1/4… 1/8… 1/16… 1/32… 1/64… 1/128… 1/256)… of a mora.
In reality, this is the alternating movement of consciousness in an inner concentration lasting as long as the recitation of the japa (sacred formulas) until one comes in contact with the Void. This Bindu, more subtle than the atom, and Brahman, “the Vaster than the vast,” are the same. Both are the Void. Time moves between the two. Between the two, there are the coils of manifestation like the coils of the serpent, which represents the innate force (sakti). This innate force, also called kundalini, is the operative force between the two modes of the void.
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