The Two Perfections of Our Soul, Part Two
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: The great mysteries of Saiva Siddhanta. Why? This is the will of our great God Śiva. Philosophical clarity and intellectual comprehension should not be mistaken for advanced superconsciousness attainment, the inner experience of Paraśiva and Satchananda. Through meditation upon Satchidānanda and Maheśvara, the two perfections inherent in the soul, we can penetrate the mystery of the oneness of man and God. Creation is merely recognizing what is already there. In the realm of contemplations strive diligently to perfect devotion, bhakti yoga and service, karma yoga. The vigil is 24 hours a day. Begin to live on the very brink of the Absolute. Go straight for kaif, ii'kaif, im'kaif, not getting side-tracked. "Master Course Trilogy", "Merging with Siva" Lessons 325-326.
Transcription:
Good morning everyone. This morning we are continuing with "Merging with Siva" chapter forty-seven entitled: "The Two Perfections of Our Soul" and it's given in 1981 by Gurudeva.
Lesson 325
"Being and Becoming
(That's an interesting one; I sometimes put that in my talk. For a famous Shakespear "To be or not to be; that is the question." So I say: "To be or to become; that is the question." So we'll see what Gurudeva says: To be or to become.)
"Out of the microcosm ever comes the macrocosm. Out of Paraśiva—which is timeless, causeless and formless—ever comes all form. This is the great mystery without a reason why. Out of pure consciousness ever comes the light which binds all form together in specific bondage, individualizing forms, souls, one from another. This is ever happening, as simultaneously struggling souls remove their bondage through the grace of God Śiva to come into Satchidānanda, later to be absorbed into Paraśiva. This, too, is a great mystery without a reason why.
"The existence called Paraśiva pervades the infinite Satchidānanda, sustaining it just as the Divine Light of God Śiva’s mind pervades and sustains the gross forms of this world. Paraśiva does not create Satchidānanda, yet Satchidānanda is sustained because of the existence of nonexistence. Now, you might ask, “Why?” The answer is that this is the will of our great God Śiva.
"Therefore, first we seek to gain an intellectual clarity as to the path we are on. This purified intellect gives a philosophical clarity but should not in any way be mistaken for attainment. In the technological age there are thousands who are intellectually clear as to the task at hand, how to obtain the objective, and they have the necessary skills to begin. They do not delude themselves that they have already begun or attained anything until failure has been many times encountered, that failure conquered and success achieved in its place. Thus, we draw a distinction between the seasoned yogī whose knowledge has its source in superconsciousness and the armchair Vedantist who often thinks his intellectual comprehension is some kind of advanced attainment. It is not. (Thank you Gurudeva!) It is not. Peoples of the West have come too far in technology, too far in the understanding and use of the mind, too far in personal study of Vedānta to be impressed by this anymore."
So commentary, let us see what I have in my commentary:
Gurudeva’s point is not to mistake the intellectual ability to accurately explain Paraśiva and Satchananda with the actual inner experience of them. Elsewhere in the trilogy Gurudeva indicates acquiring a good understanding of our philosophy is important as it keeps us clearly focused on the goals to be eventually realized and helps us avoid getting sidetracked in experiences and issues that are not important which is very easy to do. It's like in, shall we say, now-a-days it's the web. And for some the web AI, you can just get totally immersed in it. You're going and going and out and out and out into all the ramifications but the inner world is even worse. You can find so many fascinating things in the inner world to side-track us. That's why I use that word. Help us avoid getting side-tracked in experiences and issues that are not important. So there's even that in the inner world. So we want to go straight for kaif, ii'kaif, im'kaif and not get side-tracked. That's Gurudeva's teaching.
Back to the text:
"The two perfections explain well the deep questions man asks himself, questions which bring forth far too few answers. Through meditation upon the two perfections inherent in the soul, we can penetrate the mystery of the oneness of man and God. (Nicely said.) ...we can penetrate the mystery of the oneness of man and God. Man and God are one, yet God Śiva has yet a third perfection, Maheśvara, the Primal Soul, already perfect and complete, whereas man’s soul body is still maturing and evolving. One day, the soul body of man will merge with God Śiva in this third perfection. So, we see that man is both being and becoming. He is already perfect, for the essence of his soul, Paraśiva and Satchidānanda, exists eternally within him as him, having never been created. Yet, man is evolving, becoming, for his individual soul body, created by God Śiva, is not yet perfect, is still evolving through time, eventually to mature into the image and likeness of the Primal Soul and Creator, Maheśvara.
"I might surprise you when I say that man’s soul is created and not created. True, the soul body of light was created by God Śiva Himself. Within this body of light and consciousness exist, without beginning or end, the two perfections of Paraśiva and Satchidānanda. We find the paradoxes of oneness and twoness, of being and becoming, of created and uncreated existence subtly delineated through an understanding of the three perfections of our great God Śiva."
Lesson 326
"The Point Of Conception
"The point of conception is the apex of creation. At what point do we conceive, and how do we create? Lets expand our consciousness, really expand our consciousness, and begin to know that creation is merely recognizing what is already there... (A very important statement.)...creation is merely recognizing what is already there, that there is nothing new; everything is within you and it is portrayed on the outside as you become aware that it is already created, finished, within you.
"What makes the point of conception the apex of creation? It is the story of you. Expand your consciousness to take in the sun, the moon, the planets, the Earth, everyone. And when your limited consciousness focuses upon one thing, you say, "There is the sun, and in a few hours I will see the moon." And in a few hours you do see the moon. You are the creator, but you only create to the lower realms of the mind. Everything is within you: the sun, the moon, the planets, all of the people functioning through all their different states of consciousness, all of the various manifestations of form. They are all within you. As you become aware of one thing at a time, you are really creating it into the lower realms of your mind. You are translating it into the lower realms of your mind.
Your recognition of what is is the way you create it to yourself. This is deep. This is in the realm of contemplation. And only in the realm of contemplation will you begin to conceive of it.
"Those of you who have had the power enough to concentrate enough of the mind in order to contemplate should begin to be very godlike in your everyday life. You should work very, very hard to do each thing perfectly that you do in your conscious mind, to finish each job, and to have consideration for others at all times. This will take you into the next stages of contemplation.
"When we become careless in our lower realms of the mind after having reached contemplation, we use that great God-power in a negative way and build great barriers within ourselves that hold us in the lower realms of the mind. But when we strive diligently to perfect devotion, which is bhakti, to perfect service, which is karma yoga, at all times twenty-four hours a day the vigil is then we release barriers, barriers that we are going to meet perhaps next year or the year after. We burn up and clean up karma that will come even in your next life. And you go from one stage of contemplation and become stable in the next stage of contemplation, until you begin to live on the very brink of the Absolute. And its on the brink of the Absolute that you can begin to realize that the point of conception is the very apex of creation. You realize all form, and then you realize formlessness."
Thank you very much. Wonderful profound talk.
[End of transcript.]