PATH TO THE SUMMIT
There is one Unchanging Conscious Essence/Substance/Principle that pervades and enlivens all and everything. This Essence is what lends Existence to everything, makes a thing what it is. It is the ‘Self’ of everything—the wetness of water, heat of fire, the whisper of the wind, the smell of the earth, the light of Sun. Without it, fire will not burn, wind will not move, water will not be wet and the Sun will not illumine.
Sages call this Substance variously: Brahman, Ātman, Self, Being, Essence, Spirit, Truth, Tao, Beloved, the Ground, the Substratum, Noumenon, Universal Energy, Reality, Consciousness, Pure Awareness, the Witness, Existence or, simply, Oneness.
This Unchanging Conscious Principle undergirds all changing phenomena of names and forms—the kaleidoscopic world of myriad appearances.
This Conscious Principle—at once transcendent and immanent—is not a mere theoretical construct.
Sages declare that it is a living fact—eminently realizable in one’s own heart!
That is, it is possible to make a direct contact with this Conscious Principle, to realize its truth in one’s own direct experience.
Since this Essence is highly subtle, the mind longing to realize it needs to be equally subtle.
There is no way to take this Unitive Principle by storm or to experience it by way of subject-object dichotomy.
One has to approach it intuitively with the humility and innocence of a child.
One needs the simplicity of heart, purity of mind, and an intense longing of the spirit.
To the pure in mind and poor is spirit, this Essence reveals Itself by Itself, spontaneously, in a sahaja manner.
May we all be so fortunate to intuit this Benediction, here and now, in the Kingdom within!
We conclude with a beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti titled Who Has Seen the Wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Source: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947)
Recent Comments