THE ONLY WAY TO SALVATION official source: Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 5 cross-references: also published in Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life in a Nutshell Part 6 this version: is the printed Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life in a Nutshell Part 6, 1st edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Sa'dhana' is an effort to remove one's internal distortions - an endeavour to extract the gold from the alloy, so to speak - in order to become established in one's original stance which, for a jiiva (unit being) is ` Purus'a' or A'tman ( Cognitive Principle or Consciousness). The only duty, the only mission of a sa'dhaka ( spiritual aspirant) is to a fight against the impurities and distortions that arise due to the influence of Prakrti. To liberate the Purus'abha'va from the bondage of the witness-ship of these distortions, they should not be cast aside but should be smelted in the fire of sa'dhana' and restored to their pure and original form. And once purified they will almost be indistin guishable from the witnessing Purus'ottama, When the witnessing Purus'a is relieved of the bondage of witness-ship of those distortions He, too, will merge in the Supreme Cognition. In the unit or collective body, Consciousness is first metamorphosed into Mahattattva and thereafter is subject to a series of gradual transformations. If we call this process anuloma vya'vastha' ( descending order of metamorphosis) the process of sa'dhana' should be described as pratilom vya'vastha' ( ascending order of evolution. Through the process of sa'dhana' a sa'dhaka proceeds from crude to subtle, from psychic to spiritual, from the mental sphere to the metempirical sphere of Consciousness. Here a question arises: When unit beings reach increasingly subtle realms, will the quinquelemental world become non-existent? I would say in reply that this quinquelemental world is not the creation of the unit mind, but is the creation of Macropsychic conation and thus much more powerful than the unit mind. So as long as the unit mind exists the quinquelemental world will certainly exist. It will still exist when the unit mind becomes pinnacled or apexed and merges in the Cosmic Mind, not as a relative truth but as various imaginative flows. But when the unit mind reaches the ultimate stage and dissolves in Cosmic Consciousness, it ceases to exist for the Macrocosmic mind itself loses its identity. So the unit mind should be withdrawn from the world of fundamental factors and focused on the Non-attributional Entity. When the mind is completely withdrawn from the relative world a sa'dhaka is said to have attained the original stance. The emergence of the five fundamental factors occurred due to the movement of the Macrocosmic mind from subtle to crude. In the process of crudification the cosmic mind-stuff ( citta) was metamorphosed into the ethereal factor, which comes within the scope of microcosmic perception. The ethereal factor further condensed and crudified and was metamorphosed into the aerial factor, coming within the more direct perception of the unit mind. The aerial factor, becoming even more condensed and crudified, was transformed into the luminous factor, the medium of perception of the visual organ. The luminous factor, in the process of further crudification, was converted into the liquid factor, becoming a drinkable substance for living beings. And the liquid factor, in the process of even further crudification, was metamorphosed into the solid factor. In this descending order of movement, the crude manifestations of the Cosmic Mind can be perceived by a greater number of sense organs ( indriyas ) than the subtle ones. So in the process of withdrawal (pratya'ha'ra) one should first withdraw one's mind from those crude physical objects which are perceptible to a greater number of sense organs, and then direct it towards subtler objects, thus completing the process of bhuta-shuddhi ( an important part of spiritual cult). The initial struggle that a sa'dhaka has to wage, standing firmly on the ground of yama and niyama, is the struggle against the static pressure of the five fundamental factors. It is the struggle to perfect pratya'ha'ra sa'dhana'. Yathaeva bimbam' mrdayopaliptam' Tejomayam' bhra'jate tat sudha'ntam Tadva'tmatattva'm preasmiiks'ya dehii Ekah krtha'rtho bhavate viitashokah Do you know what unit beings are? They are like impure gold. Put this impure gold - and its impurities are not unnatural - in the hands of an experienced goldsmith, and it will become pure and glittering after the impurities are removed through the application of heat and other processes. The impurities are bound to be removed. In a similar manner, human beings will have to remove their mental impurities with the help of the heat of sa'dhana', after first washing the human mind with the holy water of yama and niyama ( the first two limbs of the eight - limbed asta'unga yoga). An intelligent person never misutilises or under-utilises any object. The impurities are not an integral part of your original stance, but are distortions created by Prakrti. To realise that original stance they must be removed. However, they are embedded in the mind, they are inseparably associated with it, they are the propensities causing pleasure (positive mental propensity) and pain (negative mental propensity). If these propensities lie dormant or are unexpressed, the mind is unable to maintain its existence centring around its Mahattattva or existential I-feeling, and when they are over-active they lead microcosms far away from the original stance. Those people can be called krta'tma ( successful in their mission) who have freed themselves from these distortions, like pain and pleasure, and have thus become as pure as gold. Yada'tmatattvena tu brahmatattvam' Diipopameneha yuktah parpashyet Ajam' dhruvam' sarvatattvaervishuddham' Jina'tva' devam' mucyate sarvapa'shaeh It is only possible to understand the nature of Brahma with the help of one's individual self (A'tman). You cannot understand the Supreme Entity with the help of your psychic factor because He is beyond the scope of the mind. And with the sensory organs , which are even cruder than the mind, it is even more impossible to understand Him. He is beyond the grasp of everything. The gross indriyas are the cruder manifestation of the distorted mind. This distorted mind ( even though it is inherently subtle) often fails to understand or realise that Entity because the unit citta, created as it is by the static principle, is only able to perceive finite entities. But by ideating on unlimited Brahma one can become established in the cosmotheistic bearing, causing the static bondages of citta to snap and the citta to lose its existence. The moment this happens, the existence of the unit ahamtattva and mahatattva, the controlling faculties of citta, also become unsubstantiated, resulting in the entire microcosmic bearing becoming free from the bondages of limitations. With the dissolution of the unit mind there remains only the pure self. To attain or not to attain this pure self at this stage is equal for a sa'dhaka because after the dissolution of the unit mind, the Consciousness reflected on the unit mental plate does not get any base in the temporal factor and returns to the original Macrocosmic bearing, becoming one with Purus'ottama. That is to say, whenever sa'dhakas realise the unit soul, they discover that the unit soul and Brahma are the same. Once the impurities are removed from the mind, the separate existence of these two entities is lost. As long as the feeling of individuality exists, unit beings see the diversities in the multi-dimensional imaginative flow of the Supreme Entity. Their vision thus impaired by non-integral knowledge, they run in pursuit of these diversities and make themselves their slaves. Wherever there is a unit mind there will be spatial, temporal and personal factors. The One who is beyond the periphery of these three factors is eternal. He is the Absolute Entity, others are only relative truths. This endeavour to liberate the unit consciousness from the unit mind, the base of all relativities, is what is termed sa'dhana'. And in this endeavour one must free the self from the domination of the eight fetters (bondage of lineage, vanity of culture, false sense of prestige, hatred, doubt, shame fear and backbiting) and the six enemies (anger, greed, lust, pride, envy, enchantment). The degree of bondage on the human mind is determined according to the intensity of the propensities, which are of various types: some pertaining to physicality, some to reactive momenta, some to education, etc. The unit mind can only guide and control its propensities when its actions are original. In all other cases the mind is guided by the propensities themselves (which may be good or bad). The propensity through which one expresses one's psychic power depends in most cases (except in the case of original actions) on the influence of physical constitution, education and the environment. Hence, to maintain purity of the psychic propensities, the purity of the body, the reactive momenta and the environment is crucial. It is not altogether impossible for someone to be transformed into a virtuous person if his or her neighbours are good people. We can describe the collective endeavour of ideal neighbours as the purification of the body, education and environment with the help of the collective mind. We are perfectly aware of the fact that if education , the environment, etc., are uncongenial it becomes impossible for even honest people to be virtuous. In our practical life we call those people great who, knowingly or unknowingly, keep their unit minds engaged in cosmic ideation. But those people who attach excessive importance to the microcosmic ego, and thus begin to discriminate between objects and individuals, become a burden to society. You may have seen priests who after preaching eloquent and verbose religious sermons get themselves entangled in useless arguments with the laity over their sacerdotal fees. Such people shed copious tears whenever they preach the all-pervasiveness of God, yet strive to maintain their "purity" by keeping the so-called untouchables at a safe distance. Such people only eat food after first offering it to the Lord, yet are very concerned about the caste of the cook. This discrimination is the distortion of an analytic human mind and is the characteristic of those who want to keep their Lord at a distance out of contempt. As a result they will never attain Him. To attain Him, the unit mind, the base of all such discriminatory feelings, has got to be immersed in the cosmic flow. There is no other way. If someone argues that an arum dish rather than a potato dish should be offered in the temple of Jagannath because potato is non-indigenous it is the height of absurdity. Does Jagannath make any discrimination between different countries? Is there any difference for Him between the river Ganges and the Jordan? All lands are His own land; everything is within His mind, created with His own atoms and molecules, and resonated with His sacred ideation. Those whose preachings encourage such discriminatory feelings are the worst enemies of humanity. These are the people who in every age in the name of religion have caused blood to flow, and have injected the fear of heaven and hell, of ghosts and demons into the human mind. These are the people who made human beings lifeless puppets. And even today these vested interests are still trying to perpetrate discrimination in a thousand and one ways. It is said, " One who knows Brahma becomes a bra'hmin'." But this definition of a bra'hmin' is inconvenient for them so they have declared that the son of a bra'hmin' is a bra'hmin' and the son of a vipra is a vipra, whether they merit the title or not. In this way they have cheated the simple, mute and gullible masses for centuries together. They do not have the key to salvation; no, they hold only one thing in their hands: the binding rope. They don't possess the spirit or the valour to sing the songs of human emancipation. Their eyes do not shine with the radiance of universalism, but squint with the greed and cruelty of vultures. Buddha was the first person to revolt against their cruelty and devouring greed. He declared unequivocally, Na jacca' pasalo hoti na jacca' hoti Bra'hman'a Kammana' basalo hoti Kammana hoti Bra'hman'a. Nobody is born low, nobody is born a bra'hmin'. Human beings are considered low only because of their bad actions. But when they see Brahma in each and every finite entity, and act accordingly, they attain the rank of bra'hmin', they become established in integral knowledge. A bra'hmin' is not a caste, it is not a rank; it is the vast Cosmic Entity established in universalism. Mahaprabhu Caetanya also sang the song in chorus with Buddha. He said, Can'd'al can'd'al nay yadi Krs'n'a bale, Dvija dvija nay yadi asatpathe cale. " An untouchable is not an untouchable if he takes the name of Krs'n'a. A bra'hmin' is not a bra'hmin' if he follows the dishonest path." Those who ideate on Brahma can remove the bondages of limitations and establish themselves in an infinite, emancipated life. Such people do not bear the identity of either a Bra'hmin' or a so-called untouchable, although common people call their physical bodies those of bra'hmin's. To attain this supreme height of spirituality one needs a combination of devotion, knowledge, and action. Knowledge and action, however, play a secondary role and are important only as aides to devotion. When they are not used for the cultivation of devotion, they become an obstacle. Whatever actions you perform and however hard you try to know Brahma by cultivating knowledge, if you are bereft of ardent love for Brahma, you will ultimately discover that you have no balance left in your bank account. The attempt to surrender oneself through devotion forms the essential part of your sa'dhana'. That Supreme Birthless Entity who is beyond the three realms of time is the most sacred Entity ( as He is beyond the periphery of time He is not bound by the limitations of creation, preservation,and destruction). He is the Ageless One, the Permanent One. One who can establish oneself in ideation on that Entity, one who can realize Him, will not be affected by bondages. To know Him and to attain Him is the essence of liberation. Es'a ha devah pradisho' nusarva'h purvo ha ja'tah sau garbhe antah Sa eva ja'tah sa janis'yama'n'ah pratyaun jana'm'stis't'hati sarvatomukhah. In crude analysis, the mundane entities of the world are all material. So, being nothing but crude matter, should you ignore their existence? What we see as crude matter, due to ignorance, is essentially a psychic manifestation created by the static influence on Cosmic Consciousness. When human beings look upon an object with a non-integral outlook, they either develop an attraction or a contempt for it; they treat such entities as mere relativities. But if they probe deeper they will discover that these so-called relative entities are the spatial, temporal and individual manifestations of the Supreme Entity. It would be wrong to treat the development projects of Saharasa district as something non-integral, for example. Saharasa district is a manifestation of Brahma, hence the service to Saharasa is Brahma sa'dhana'. Brahma exists in all directions ( pradisha-east, west, north, south, above and below) and all corners ( northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest), and so to a Brahma sa'dhaka all countries are equally holy, all directions equally charming. He or she knows that whatever has been created in the universe, and whatever lies in the mother's womb, are all the manifestation of Brahma, and thus are equally venerable. Whatever has been created, or whatever is being created is all that Supreme Entity. As Sarvatomukha ( having faces in all directions) and Sarvatosa'ksii (the witness of all phenomena) He is always manifesting Himself in and through each idea. Puffed up with microcosmic vanity, never think for a while that you can do anything secretly. He maintains closest vigil over every action of yours, small or big. All your internal thought waves, auspicious or inauspicious, are being created, maintained and dissolved centring around your microcosmic existence in one part of His vast Macrocosmic mind. Hence not even the least portion of your thought process can remain secret for Him. If you disown Him under the spell of your ego He will laugh. And if you run to Him with ardent devotion, discarding your vanity, He will place you on His lap. With His all-pervasive bearing He is inseparably connected with each and every microcosm. Every secret thought lying within the most obscure corners of your mind is as clear as daylight To Him. If you steal something He will see it immediately. If the police arrest You He will Know it immediately. You know that you have stolen something, so He also knows. You know that the police have arrested you on a charge of theft, so He also knows. If you tell lies to the police to avoid punishment, He also knows that you are telling lies. If the dishonest police accept your bribe and release you, you know they have accepted a bribe, so He also knows. When the same dishonest policeman, while in uniform, tries to show off his dutifulness, you knew that he is an infidel creature in human form, so He also knows. It is true that He is omnipresent and truer still is that in His perishable stance ( Ks'ara) He is everything, and in His imperishable stance ( Aks'ara) He is the knower of everything. Yo devah agnau yah apsu yo vishvam' bhuvanama'vivesha, Ya os'adhiis'u yo vanapatis'u tasmae deva'ya namonamah. What is that entity which looks like fire? It is His luminous expression in its perishable form. You see Him in the manifested world according to your mental outlook, benevolent or malevolent: with fire you can cook food or burn your neighbour's house. If you use it to do the latter His manifestation in the form of fire should not be blamed but your intellect and your action. What is that entity which we see as liquid? It is His liquid expression in its perishable stance. He lies pervasively throughout the entire universe. The annual flowering plants are the manifestations of His benevolence; the towering trees proclaim His vastness. We offer our salutations to the Supreme Brahma, the Lord of all Gods. Ya eko ja'lava'niishata iishaniibhih sarva'nloka'niishata iishaniibhih' Ya evaeka udbhave sambhave ca ya etadviduramrta'ste bhavanti. That Supreme Entity is the unique magician. You may have seen a magician's performance. At first he increases the range of his psychic power with the help of a magic spell, causing the minds of the spectators within a certain radius to be vibrated with his thought waves. To use one's psychic power to influence restless human minds is a difficult task, so the magician uses a black curtain, an incandescent light or a glossy colored mirror, and sometimes plays flute or tells his audience to clap their hands to make their minds temporarily concentrated. At that time, when the mind-stuff of the spectators is temporarily concentrated, he casts his magic spell. The spectators then begin to see things according to the magician's thought projections. In spellbound amazement they watch pigeons vanish, boulders appear from nowhere and so on while the magician stands still in one place imagining mentally and spreading his supremacy on their minds with the help of his magic power. The spectators, charmed with the magic show, laugh, cry and sing, but the magician, although he is a witness to their smiles, tears and songs, is not moved by the show, because it is the deceptive play of his magic. Likewise, Sagun'a Brahma is creating and destroying the worldly phenomena with His expansive imaginative flow while the Cognitive Faculty, Purus'ottama, remains unassailed as the nucleus of this creation. In His diversified creation some people are laughing, some are dancing, and some are singing; some are broken by pains and agonies, sorrows and afflictions; while some are inflated with pride. He is the witness of all this, but remains unaffected, unassailed by the clashes and conflicts of His divine play using His infinite psychic power. He exercises His dominance on all. Everything and everyone emanates from Him and is maintained within Him. He knows that no entity has an absolute existence. The one who knows Him, who has understood His original stance, remains undifferentiated from Him and gets ensconced in that Purus'ottama, the ocean of divine nectar. One who knows the secrets of magic will easily see through the magical techniques and dexterity of the magician, if he accepts him as one of His intimate team. Eko hi rudro na dvitiiya'ya tasthur Ya ima'nnllokha'niishata iishaniibhii Pratyaunjana'm'stis't'ate saincukopantaka'le Sam'srjya vishva'bhuvana'ni gopa'h. There is a singular Supreme Entity who, with His divine occult power is controlling every entity of the seven realms of existence. He is the One Singular Entity. The countless entities of this observable world are ever increasing, but on analysing them with the proper application of intellect and a spirit of synthesis, it will become apparent that these multiplicities are the expression of that Supreme Multiple. That Singular Entity, with the help of His power of contraction, can merge the multiplicities of His imagination into His original stance. By stopping His imaginative flow the multiplicities and diversities will merge in the Supreme Singularity, thus ending the scope of His analytical bearing. That infinite Entity is the Creator of this universe and much more: He permeates every pore, every atom and molecule of this vast universe. Vishvatashcaks'uruta vishvatomukho vishvato b'ahuruta Vishvataspa't Sa ba'huya'm' dhamati sampatatraedya'va'bhu'mi janayan deva ekah. Can you say where He does not exist? He exists everywhere. He witnesses everything. When He witnesses the infinite number of objects simultaneously He is called Anatacaks'u (having an infinite number of eyes). He surrounds each entity with His innumerable eyes, and thus it is impossible for anyone to do anything secretly .He is also Anantamukha (having an infinite number of mouths) and thus conveys His ideas in countless ways. He is withdrawing the creative flow within Him in countless ways. " Oh foolish creature where will you escape? He is everywhere, He is everything." A'cha anala anile cira nabhoniile Bhu'dhare sa'gare gahane. A'cho vit'apii lata'y Jalader ga'y Graha taraka'y tapane. You exist in the fire and in the air; You remain in the vast blue void, The lofty mountain and the silent depths of the ocean. You are in the creepers and climbers, You are in the clouds, stars, moon and sun. Those who think that to attain the Supreme Entity they have to sever contact with their near and dear ones and retire to the seclusion of the forest are entirely mistaken. By rejecting their family environment they do great injustice; they are mentally unbalanced. He is Vishvatova'hu because He calls you with His countless outstretched hands. Will you not look towards Him? Will you not come within His loving embrace? With His powerful hands He is playing with each and every entity in this vast universe. Oh misguided human beings, what are you so proud of? Before whom do you express your vanity? He is the one with countless feet. The sweet touch of the dust particles from those feet eternally vibrates the flow of this universe. He is the creator of everything of the physical and metaphysical universe. Your physical body is created within His mind; your mental sky is created and maintained in the vast space of His cognition. You cannot think of anything secretly. Whatever you have thought or are still thinking you may forget, but He will never forget. Tatah param' brahmaparam' brhantam' Yatha'nika'yam sarvabhu'tes'u gu'd'ham Vishvasyaekam' parives't'ita'ram Iisham' tam' jina'tva'mrta' bhavanti. Parama Brahma is the greatest of all the entities. He is beyond comparison. To compare two separate entities they must possess certain common merits or demerits. For example, if we compare the Himalayas with the Vindhya mountains we can say the former are taller and covered with huge areas of snow whereas the latter are smaller, etc. Likewise, one can also draw a comparison between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean or between a well and an ocean, saying that an ocean is vast, the well tiny. But nothing can be compared with Parama Brahma, the beginningless and the endless Entity, because He is beyond the scope of the mind. He is vast, immeasurably vast. To demonstrate His smallness, you should compare Him with another entity of His size, but this is impossible for although He is so minute He is also beginningless and endless - no other tiny object can ever be without a beginning and an end. Hence idol-worship or of image-making in the name of Brahma are totally unwarranted. This vast entity lies covert in all the fundamental factors; He is right inside you lying hidden in your existential I-feeling. Through synthetic analysis you will realise Him as the knower of your existence, as the knower of your existential I-feeling. This Supreme Entity exists everywhere surrounding the entire universe. Where the universe is unmanifest He exists, and where it is manifest He also exists; where the universe is manifest He reigns supreme, where the universe is unmanifest He also reigns supreme. He is the witness of the undeveloped celestial bodies of the nebulae and milky way, and He is the witness of your developed intellect. Be it a nebulae or the human intellect, all are moving entities, none remains permanently. Only He is eternal. Only His divine sweetness pervades the past, present, and future. If one can know Him, if one can establish oneself in Him alone, one attains immortality. Veda'hametam' purus'am maha'ntam A'dityavarn'am' tamasah parasta't Tameva viditva'timrtyumeti na'nyah partha' vidyate'yana'ya. The rs'i says, "I have known that Supreme Entity. He is immensely great because He is beyond comparison. Dominated by the sentient principle His brilliant white effulgence dispels all darkness. He was, He is, and will remain. By knowing Him alone one overcomes death. Only by constantly ideating on Him can one escape the judgement of the Arbiter of Death. Yasma't param' na'parasmati kiincid Yasma'nna'n'iiyo na jya yo'sti kiincit Brks'a iva stavdho divi tis't'hatyeka Stenedam' Pu'rn'am purus'en'a sarvam. Beyond Him there is no second entity. None but He alone can claim superiority. Others' vanity crumbles to dust before His vastness. He is constantly engaged in the divine play of creation, converting His vast mind into minute fractions, smaller than atoms. So tiny are His unit manifestations that none but He can claim minuteness. So vast is He as the Supreme Arbitrator of the sport of creation that none but He can claim His vastness. As Purus'ottama He lies covert as the witness of the subtle realms of all subtle entities, as calm and tranquil as the towering forest trees. He lies hidden in all entities in His individual and pervasive association and fills everything with His cognition. While measuring His minuteness you may think that the molecule is the smallest particle but on further analysis you will discover that you are wrong, for atoms are even smaller. And when you probe even deeper you will discover smaller particles such as protons, electrons, neutrons, etc. In the process of further analysis your mind will lose its capacity to function; for you can never discover the smallest particle, you can never measure His minuteness. The same thing applies to His vastness. If you proceed along the path of synthesis your mind will also cease to function, you will never fathom His vastness. This universe is the collection of His innumerable finite expressions; yet is also established as a continuous , vast, unbroken entity. Yato yaduttarat'aram' tadru'pamana' mayam Ya etadviduramrta'ste bhavantyathetare duhkhameva'piyati. If you move along analysing the theory of causation you will arrive at the cause by seeing the effect. Thereafter you will see that the cause is the effect of a previous cause. The cause of a rasogolla' is milk, and the milk is the effect of the cow. Thus you will discover the unbroken thread of causation. While following this thread your mind will get fatigued and will be compelled to stop thinking further, because at the end of the thread there lies the Supreme Cause, the Cause of all causes, the Supreme Brahma. He is the Universal Father, but Himself is self created (Svayambhu). As He has no previous cause His symbolisation is impossible: to give Him a special form or a special base is out of the question. One who realises Brahma in this way attains immortality. But the one who tries to attain Him in a limited way, by making images of Him, by eulogizing Him, or by ascribing limitations of caste, colour, community to Him, and by worshipping those limited forms, meet with utter disappointment. Those foolish people who worship their deities with ulterior motives are sure to suffer devastating consequences. Only when one has embraced the Supreme Cognitive Force with utmost reverence, single minded devotion and extreme sincerity, can one hope to be established in immortality, the permanent cessation of the triple afflictions. That which removes human afflictions is called artha. As the pangs of hunger are removed by food the means of procuring food is called artha. The pain of disease is alleviated by medicine, hence the means of procuring medicine is called artha. Artha, however, cannot bring permanent relief to pain and miseries. Hunger removed today will return tomorrow; a disease cured today may strike again tomorrow. Artha cannot guarantee permanent security or lasting happiness. But in Brahma, the Entity who liberates one from all mundane ailments and the cycle of rebirth, lies the total cessation of all afflictions,the freedom from all ailments. He is the only dependable panacea for microcosmic distortions and imperfections; there is none other than Him - Na'nyah pantha' vidyate ayana'ya. Ka'rttiik Pu'rn'ima 1956, Supaul Subha's'ita Sam'graha Part 5