Devatma Shakti – Kundalini – Divine Power – Swami Vishnu Thirtha – Swami Vishnu Tirtha Maharaj

page 22

In the preceding pages it has been
shown that the universal life-principle in the
Bhootabadva or in the dynamic form involutes and gets
transmuted into the different strata of creation, and is
also left over as a residual charge after the whole creation
is complete. This is the downward creative half of the
cycle. When the residual charge takes the upward turn, it
begins evolving out the life-principle completing the other
evolutionary half of the cycle and reverts to its source.
According to the western doctrine of evolution as ordinarily
understood, higher forms of life gradually arise out of the
lower. In the lowermost plane life manifests in the
vegetative form and then from it the higher animal life is
evolved till the intelligent human being is formed.
According to this doctrine human life is not the end of
evolution but is also an intermediate step to a still higher
form of perfect human life in ages to come to be evolved.
This is the western idea. The orientalist gives a different
interpretation. According to him individualized souls
transmigrate from one body to another after death in their
passage of evolution from vegetative kingdom to animal
kingdom and finally to the human plane, human kind being the
perfect body. Vegetable, animal and human bodies serve the
souls as vehicles in their upward journey. The total number
of these different kinds of carriages is supposed to be 84
lacs.*

* The different species of
animate life are the direct result of the rays of the Sun on
the Earth. The number 84 lacs is arrived at by multiplying
the number of Zodiacs or months of a year by the number of
days of a week, viz. 12 X 7. And the life-giving rays of the
Sun said to be totaling one lac (100 X 1000) are being
radiated all round the year, who is described in the Vedas
as Sahastarashmi (with thousand rays) each ray playing its
role in one hundred ways.

 

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But, human being the highest evolved
form, is the best instrument for God realization. A soul
defined as that part of man which thinks, feels and desires
is a combined, effect of life-principle and mind and as such
is governed by the laws of what is called ” Psycho genesis
“, i.e,, development of souls. Pure life-principle never
undergoes any change, modification or development and
deterioration. It is the mind and everything pertaining to
mind that changes and is capable of development. Everything
that changes is dissoluble and not eternal, life is both
eternal and unchanging. Mind is therefore classified by the
Indian thinkers as a product and one of the created
principles.

Note.-The terms Evolution and
Involution are used by us in respect of the life-principle.
During the course of involution the life principle gets
involved within the folds of physical creation and during
the other it begins to be evolved out at different phases of
evolution both psychic end spiritual.

In the process of unfolding a
seed, it becoming a tree, life descends through the causal
and subtle stages to the gross forms of crude nature, it Is
Involution. In the process of its unfolding the life ascends
from the crude material and livings forms through
subconscious, conscious and self-conscious stages to the
Original pure state, this is Evolution. These are the senses
in which these two terms have been used in this book.

 

All bodies vegetative, animal and
human are made up of two parts-physical and metaphysical,
both connected together by prana, which shines in them and
makes them look animate. The first is called the physical
body, an organism of physical elements, and the second is
known as sukshma or astral body formed of finer
principles. Graded development of different species of
physical bodies is a physiological growth. Psychological
development is an acquisition of experiences gained through
transmigration. Even vegetables possess some sense of touch.
Touch-me-not is a well-known plant. Some trees are known to
be carnivorous, they catch up worms, birds and even animals
and suck up their blood to death. There is a genus of plants
called Lupinas, a Latin word for wolf. Certain trees are
known to be influenced by music. Dr. Bose has scientifically
proved, and demonstrated that all trees exhibit a feeling of
pleasure and pain. Vegetable life possesses only one or two
of the five powers of senses, and the power of taking in of
nourishment, but no mind, and they too are not in a marked
state of development. Lower forms of animal life manifest
them more markedly. Mosquitoes, flies, bugs, ants and
similar other insects manifest fear and some degree of
intelligence as well. They run for life at the slightest
indication of danger to them. Bigger animals and birds
possess all the sense organs, and no speech; but it is
thought that the sound they utter also conveys certain
meanings; they express fear, joy, a call or a signal to
their fellow beings; Most animals take signals of fear from
the sounds of those other than their own species. It has
been noticed that at the approach of a tiger or a snake,
deer and cattle receive signals from birds. All animals
possess intelligence to some extent and emotion of love,
hatred, malice, anger, and sense of gratitude; they can
discriminate between good and harmful, they understand
affectionate or angry mood of others, they possess memory
and all entertain fear of death. But their rational and
thinking power is not perfect, whereas man is a perfect
being in all respects and has an infinite capacity for
further development. Individual souls take up after death of
one body a fresh one best fitted physiologically for further
psychic development. In other words at different planes of
evolution different bodies afford graded manifestation of
psychic evolution. Life-principle having identified itself
with them assumes an individualized entity and looks
evolving out higher and higher, degree of intelligence.
Fresh experiences and knowledge add on to the past
acquisitions and the continuity survives dissolution of
physical frames of outer bodies. Memory Of the past
impressions grows dim and looks forgotten, but is never
obliterated to extinction. It merges into subconsciousness
and wears the cloak of instinct. Such accumulation and
enhancement of knowledge serves as assets for future
progress during the present or future births. This is not an
evolution of life, but is a course of psychological growth.
Every stage of psychological development from lower to
higher form of life is that phase of evolution in which the
Prana Shakti is regarded by the Eastern Philosophers
as sleeping.

In works of certain western writers
on the subject the idea usually met with is that the present
is running the evolutionary period, the involutionary half
of the cycle is already over and after a pause the cycle has
reverted to the upward evolutionary march, in which now,
life is evolving out to higher planes of manifestation. But
according to the original Hindu thought this is not the
correct view. They believe that after the involutionary
course is complete the body cosmic lives for a period called
Kaipa – the Creator’s one day – and at its end comes to
dissolution resembling death of the cosmic body, and the
Creator’s night of equal length follows. Then the Cosmos
reverts to Avyakta the unmanifested Visarga-
bhava, wherein souls in bondage go to sleep called
mahd-supti the long sleep. Evolution of life to God
realisation is the work of every one’s individual effort and
is in fact the real Evolution. Every child when bom and even
animal offspring’s cry ‘Ma’. The sound commences with M and
ends with A. The sound Ma means mother. In Sanskrit
the letter M means Shiva or the Adhyatma-bhava, the
alphabet letter ‘A’ means Brahma, the Creator. The
sound therefore denotes creation. The same sound reversed
sounds Om, a syllable repetition of which leads to
realisation of God, or awakens evolution.

Hindus further believe that there
exist simultaneously in all ages spheres or lokas inhabited
by beings from the lowest to the highest planes of
evolution. Higher than ours are the spheres of gods,
prajdpati, and Brahma known as swarloka, maharloka,
janaloka, tapoloka, and satyaloka. Such individual souls
as rise in spirituality go after death to higher spheres
befitting their progress. It is claimed that through human
body only moksha or emancipation from the wheels of
involutionary Maya is possible, and not through the bodies
of even gods residing in higher spheres. They too have to
come down and take up the bodies of men, which only hold key
to the door of evolution to God realisation.

Realisation of spiritual uplift does
not come by great learning and through, acquisition of
intellectuality only. The present age is witnessing great
progress in the field of scientific researches and human
brain appears to have reached a very high mark of
intelligence, and hence the western mind has been led to
believe that this is the evolutionary period and according
to them when the evolutionary cycle will reach its zenith,
the age will witness human beings with the maximum of
intelligence and with the highest of command over the forces
of nature and its resources. But the Hindu idea of evolution
is different. They believe in the voluntary reversion of
individual souls to the Supreme through personal unfoldment
of die codings of Maya. If Nature were to. work out
evolution automatically, there should come a time when all
life from vegetable to animal kingdom en masse should share
in the evolutionary march and should cease, to exist as
vegetable and animal, giving place to the; last type of
evolved humanity. Life of such people with a barren country
with no green vegetation, no trees or groves resounding with
charming songs of beautiful birds and no useful animal
kingdom at their service is unthinkable and horrible. Hindus
do not believe in such a mass evolution, but individual
persons are supposed to have been given the choice of making
a start in, that direction whenever they choose, and
complete the cycle of evolution by reverting to their source
in the universal Life essence of God. It is the human body,
wherein the dynamic life-principle after the involutionary
process has been worked out, rests asleep as residual power
known to the yogins as Kundalini and possesses full
potentiality of evolving or uncoiling the folds of
involution step by step and finally merging into the
Absolute. When this evolutionary turn is taken, the coiled
serpent power is said to have awakened and uncoiling of the
folds of involution commences. Then before long even within
the span of this very life complete emancipation is
possible. This is the upward course of spiritual evolution,
which entrains super powers usually known as occult powers,
higher visions, intuitions and divine enlightenment. Soon
tamoguna gives way and peace disturbing rajasic influences
of lust, anger, avarice, etc., are overcome, and sattwik
tranquillity, unbroken peace and beatitude of divine bliss
dawn. Ultimately complete unfolding of maya is effected and
Self shines forth in His own illumination and self
effulgence.

Psychogenesis and spiritual
evolution

Before concluding some elucidation
of practical difference between the psychic and the
spiritual domains of evolution is what seems most opportune.
Soul is usually defined as life with relation to mind and
intellect, and Spirit as the life-principle in the sense of
unrelated life essence, or the illuminating life-principle,
that animates both mind and body. Psychogenesis and
psychogony both the terms are therefore used in the domain
of purely psychical evolution signifying development of
mental faculties. Commonly a person with undeveloped mind
possesses no control over it. Such a mind strays at random
aimlessly dissipating its energies to serve no useful
purpose. Activities of such persons are more of animal
nature than human, selfish, seeking personal satiation and
gratification of carnal propensities, and of sensuality,
lust, anger, and personal aggrandizement at the cost of
one’s own brother and next-door neighbour. Sensualism is the
end of life to such persons. But good education and learning
open avenues of literary taste, pleasure of high thinking,
music and fine arts, and research work in the fields of art,
science and mathematics. Then mind through assiduous
discipline becomes trained to flow in desired channels,
possessed of right understanding and good reasoning power it
can arrive at correct judgments and can be concentrated to
deep thinking. It is an established fact that one finds
higher sense of pleasure in intellectual pursuits than can
be had in sensualism. Spiritual evolution opens a still
higher domain. Mind-stuff may be compared with a highly
compressible fluid finer and more subtle than even ether.
When concentrated and focussed at one point it intrinsically
becomes charged with an intensity of power, the strain of
which on being relaxed mind springs up saturated with
knowledge and psychic force. These of the readers who
possess mental control and have acquired habit of deep
thinking must be aware of the fact that mind works in two
ways. In the first case it grapples with a problem, sticks
to it and follows the details by steps in logical sequence,
and finds the conclusion, but in the second case it gathers
all possible data necessary for the enquiry and instead of
considering them logically step by step as in the previous
ease, relaxes itself to abstractedness. The steady
abstractedness of mind for a time brings from within a flash
of intuitive light supplying the required knowledge. The
second method is more paying and of higher worth, it is
easier and full of potentialities, but a steady cultivation
of mind to the requisite degree of abstraction is the
condition precedent. In other words a person must first
learn how to throw the mind into vacantness and keep it
steady there in a continued vacant mood for sufficient
length of time. In both these cases the attent of
mind is objective. In both the cases mind taps the door of
sub-consciousness. Intuitive knowledge is supplied by the
sub-conscious mind, which it receives from the inner self.
When the active consciousness is for some time silenced,
activity of the sub-conscious mind increases and it works
automatically in a mysterious, way. When mind is compressed
to concentration, on relaxation it tends to abstractedness,
but the initial attent governs its motive power and
the resultant line of motion. It has been said in the first
chapter that mind is a product of prana, the first
manifestation of life, therefore when mind is concentrated
on the subjective side of one’s own self, i.e., the
spiritual side, by fixing it on one’s own abstract
consciousness freed from all thoughts, memories of the past,
ideas and emotions, or on God as an all-knowing, omniscient,
omnipotent, and omnipresent Super Conscious Soul of the
universe, it acquires an intrinsic impulse, which on
relaxation gives it an impetus to revert to its cause. As a
coiled up spring on relaxation shoots up with a force in the
opposite direction, so a mind when relaxed after
concentration springs up with a force in the direction of
its initial attention. Therefore when mind is directed
inward subjectively, it shoots up with the impetus gained
through concentration to revert to its cause. Such a mind
first becomes abstracted and then gradually begins to go
back into prana and m turn tends to merge and become lost
into the Adhyatmdbhva or the Static Real producing a
trance of Samadhi, sub-conscious mind then does not
act as a drag, because the initial attent of the active
consciousness was directed in the reversed direction free
from all objectivity. Such mind on resinning active
consciousness comes out charged with Spiritual illumination.
Kathopanishad enjoins that the wise should carry
speech into mind and mind unto abstract consciousness
(jnana-atma) and that unto mahan dtma (the
universal consciousness) and the last unto the peaceful
Atma, the original Adhyatmabhava, Mahanatma
has already been pointed above as Cosmic Prana and
Jnana-atma as the individualised Prana. Speech
is the vocular expression of thoughts and thoughts are ideas
garbed in words, and intuitive ideas spring up from
sub-consciousness, therefore in carrying speech back to
mind, all ideation and thought formation must cease, when
mind has gone to that length of abstractedness, but is still
meditative on its own abstract consciousness, it evolves out
super consciousness, becomes identical with it and finally
merges into its divineness. Such evolution of mind completes
the cycle of evolution referred to above and is the goal of
all human existence present and future irrespective of
caste, creed, race or nationality and has been the ambition
of ancient India, and is so today from times immemorial. It
is to this plane of evolution India owes her civilization
and everything of Indian culture owes its very existence.
India, inspite of so many onslaughts of foreign domination,
still survives only perhaps to lead the world towards this
goal and show the torch of spiritual illumination to those
groping in darkness of materialism and Mammon worship
through exploitation of others. All boastful talk of any
ignorant blinded with material wealth and power for his so
called present day civilization is simply a vain
claim.

Doctrine of evolution may be
summarized thus psychogenesis or the doctrine of the
development of souls from the lower plane of life to higher
ones is only a psychically progressive manifestation of life
and as such is not the evolution proper in its correct
sense. Evolution proper is that course in which the
involution of prana is reversed. Such spiritual evolution is
possible only on the human plane and is an isolated personal
concern of every man and woman. En masse evolution,
psychical or spiritual is not the subject of our
speculation, which appears most improbable.

The Hindu scriptures abound in
references to cycles of fourfold ages of Satyayuga,
Treta, Dwapar, and Kali yugas. These four ages
run successively and recur over again covering periods of
time in the ratio of 4:3: 2:1. Kali the smallest of the four
covers a period of 4,32,000 years of our globe. Collective
Spiritual Illumination rises to its maximum in the Satya
yuga and ebbs to its minimum in the Kali yuga. Thus
time rolls on for 43,20,000,000 years of the Earth covering
full one thousand waves forming the creator’s one day, at
the end of which the cosmic body dissolves and the creator’s
night of equal length follows. Of the 1000 waves forming His
one day each comprising a period of the aforesaid four ages,
the 501st wave is running and is nearing completion with the
end of the present Kali yuga. Of the Kali yuga 5049th
year has commenced from the 22nd April, 1948. Each wave
begins with Satya yuga and ends with Kali
yuga. According to the Hindu chrohologists first half of
the Creator’s day is over. 

Chapter
4 – Table of Contents