Guru-budhyaatmano
Naanyat Satyam Satyam Varaanane!
Tallaabhaarttham Prayatnastu
Karthavyascha Maneeshibhih
Shiva said to Parvati:
(Nothing exists separate
from the Soul. This verily is the truth, O beautiful One! Intelligent men
should strive for its attainment as it is their duty. Guru wisdom lies in this).
The world outside and our soul are not separate from
each other. They are one like the two sides of a coin. Let us see how. Everything is experienced
through our subjective consciousness, the soul in us. If there is no soul or
consciousness, there would be only a blank; we cannot even know that we exist.
Only in the screen of consciousness we can perceive and experience life and the
universe around us.
Sri Sankaracharya went a step further in his Vedantic
discourse and said: ‘The world exists only within our consciousness just like a
city seen reflected in a mirror’. Spirituality
is all about the discovery of this truth experientially.
Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru explained it differently:
‘What is called as God? It is a karma (actualization)
that evolves out of the interplay of panchakosas (five sheaths) and
panchendriyas (five senses) in synchronization with Jeevatma (individual soul)
and Paramatma (Supreme Soul)”.
So even the concept of God is evolved through our
cognitive capacities. The Rishis explain that our body is like a multi-dimensional
sphere in the inner cavity of which resides the soul. Soul is enveloped or conditioned by five sheaths,
viz. Anandamaya Kosa (blissful sheath), vijnanamaya
kosa (Intelligence sheath), Manomaya kosa (the mind sheath) pranamaya kosa
(energy sheath) and the annamayakosa (physical body or food sheath).
The soul is constantly struggling to expand by
transcending the conditionings of five sheaths to experience the blissful state,
the spark of the Divine in us. When the indefinable and unknowable Light of the
universe becomes kinetic it becomes Paramatma, the Cosmic Soul, the First Born
of the formless Truth. He is the Aadi
Guru – the Primal source of all power, ideation, knowledge, love and bliss.
As He is the embodiment of the Supreme Light, everything
is pervaded by Him. We can never define or know the Supreme Light God, but we
can definitely know his manifestation, the Adi Guru, the Cosmic Soul in the
form of the Primordial Preceptor who designs the universe. For this reason, the
Indian Rishis called Him Manu, the primordial human Ancestor. From the Manu emerged both the blue print and
the building blocks of the universe. Many such archetypal Manus and Preceptors in
His lineage appear in the endless and timeless episodes of creation repeating
the drama of life.
From the ideation
(sankalpam) of Manu, the solar system was formed. He formed Prakriti potentiated by three gunas
(satva, rajas and tamas). The scientists
call them by the terms of electron, pluton and neutron. From these gunas were born the subtle elements
of sound, space, air, fire and water and from them the related senses and sense
organs of sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. Subsequently, the work of the
creation of life in a physical universe began.
With the
intent of creating the human universe, this Cosmic Person split himself into
two, in the form of a man and woman - into Purusha and Prakriti. He created out of himself the sun and the
moon, twenty-seven stars, nine planets and the twelve zodiacs. The sun represents the Purusha, the masculine
principle, while the moon is the woman, the feminine principle. So the souls
after death depart either by the path of the sun or the moon. Those who go by
the path of the sun never returns while those in the path of the moon are
reborn for further evolution, so mention the sages.
Life was born
first in the waters of the earth from the interplay of cosmic radiances and energies
from the sun and the moon. The warmth of the sun and the cool rays of the moon
nurtured life. The life of man is thus inseparably related to the sun and the
moon, the constellations, stars and planets. The ancient Rishis taught us to
respect the universe around us for this reason. Those who pollute God’s
creation will suffer.
The soul
requires space to breath and to expand, hence the creation of the planetary
system, revolving under which it evolves through many births, through many life
forms, learning and self-evolving and finally attains beatitude in the Absolute
Truth. Navajyoti Sri Karunakara Guru taught us that the guru-disciple bond is
the elucidation of this cosmic truth. In his discourse to Parvati, Lord Siva
informs that all intelligent people should tune life with this divine truth as
it is the very meaning and purpose of life.
