I’ve just had a very pleasant discussion with a reader doing graduate work in biology. I don’t feel I have permission to use her name. But discussing matters with her suggests that it may be time to have another discussion I haven’t had in any detail for years.
That other discussion is to connect a few dots cross-culturally, to provide a possible syntax of terrestrial spirituality and enlightenment studies.
For many, this discussion will not resonate and I ask you just to ignore it and pass on to the next post. But for some it may provide another piece of the spiritual jigsaw puzzle.
As far as I’m aware, Hindus call the sine wave “Aum,” the Divine Energy, personified as Shakti by Hindus and as the Holy Spirit by Christians. That sine wave is the primordial creative vibration, the light that called everything into being, the breath (spiritus) that moved upon the waters, Wisdom who created her temple with seven pillars (the body with seven chakras).
Hindus say that the sine wave that Om is has three phases – creation, preservation, and transformation – which they call the three Gunas – rajas, sattwa, and thamas – and which, in my view, are personified as Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma presides over creation; Vishnu over preservation; and Shiva over transformation.=
This means that the Trimurthy of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva is itself a subset of Shakti, the Divine Energy, Aum/Amen, Procreator/Prakrithi. Sri Ramakrishna says that it is Shakti who has become the gunas. (1)
Shakti or the Holy Spirit is itself part of the Trinity of Brahman, Atman and Shakti to Hindus and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to Christians.
The difference between Shakti and Brahman is the difference, as Jesus said, (2) between a movement and a rest, or between the formless Void and form-birthing Energy. The Father or Brahman is still; the Holy Spirit or Shakti is movement.
There is no gender at that level of phenomena. The ancients used gender to differentiate between stillness (masculine) and motion (feminine). Notice that the spiritual assignment of gender is the opposite of the psychological, where motion or penetration is called masculine and stillness or receptivity is called feminine. All owe much more to convention than to reality.
The third member of the Trinity is the individuated Formless or Atman, the Son of God, the Christ. The individuated Formless resides in the heart of the being as the Prince of Peace, the treasure buried in a field, the pearl of great price, the mustard seed that grows into a great tree, the meal that leavens the whole loaf.
Three other ways to think of the Trinity that may be suggestive are:
God the Father can be thought of as the Transcendental; God the Holy Spirit as the Phenomenal; and God the Son as the Transcendental in the Phenomenal.
The three can also be conceived of as the Father, Mother, and Child.
And, speaking in terms of a divine syntax, they can be thought of as the Universal Subject (God is “US”), the Holy Verb, and the Divine Object.
The purpose of life is to allow the Formless an opportunity to experience itself. The Formless being One and All There Is is without a second and thus cannot experience itself. But creating illusory forms which, when they lose their ignorance in Self-Realization, know that they are God allows the Formless a chance to meet itself. God meets God in enlightenment.
To create this drama or lila in which illusory forms are created and journey out into a physical world to travel from God to God, the Motionless stirred, the Void became light, energy, love, sound. And a world of objects was born.
Shakti created the body and the Formless inhabited the heart as the Son of God, the Child of God, the Christ or Atman.
All created objects, from the lowliest atoms to the mightiest angels, are stirred by the three gunas and move from the lowest or thamas to the middle or rajas and finally to the highest or sattwa, until they are freed from all three and merge again in the Formless Void.
Enlightenment, the purpose of life, has many levels. Sri Ramakrishna used to discuss these by talking about the rising of the kundalini. When the kundalini reached the Fourth or Heart Chakra, one experiences spiritual awakening. I would call that the vision of the Son of God, Atman, or Christ. It’s seen as a discrete point of light, which we know we are and know as well that we are immortal.
When the kundalini reaches the Sixth or Brow Chakra or Third Eye, we see the light in all creation. I would call that the vision of the Holy Spirit, Divine Mother, Shakti. I would also call it cosmic consciousness or savikalpa samadhi. We now know that we are one with the world.
When the kundalini reaches the Seventh or Crown Chakra, we see the light transcending creation. I would call this the vision of Brahman or the Holy Father. I would also call it God-Realization, Self-Realization, Brahmajnana, or kevalya nirvikalpa samadhi. We now know that we are one with God.
Now I am guessing because no one sage makes all the following points so I’m not sure I’m correct in equating all that I do here. When the kundalini moves beyond the Crown Chakra and reaches the Heart (not the Heart Chakra, but the hridayam or spiritual heart), we pass beyond the chakra system. I would call this the vision of Parabrahman, vijnana, or sahaja samadhi. We now know, not just that I am God, but that God is everything and everything is God.
Having walked to the roof (the Crown Chakra), we have come down from the roof again (to the hridayam). When we reached the roof, we knew “I am God.” When we came down from the roof and looked at the stairs and the lime on the wall, we saw that “It is God who has become everything.” (3) These are levels of unitive consciousness.
Enlightenment at the Seventh Chakra is not permanent; the heart opens and shuts again. Enlightenment at the Spiritual Heart is permanent; the heart opens and stays open.
This level of enlightenment is what I believe Adyashanti has attained. It is what Ramana Maharshi pointed to. It is what Sri Ramakrishna called the highest enlightenment attainable by humans.
There are many, many levels above it, attained by beings who have passed out of the human level and into levels beyond, such as Angels, Elohim, etc.
Thus even so-called “unitive” consciousness has levels to it. We may experience unity with the world, with God, with everything. And we will experience levels of unity beyond that which defy imagination.
Footnotes
(1) “Mother [i.e., Shakti] is all – She has become the three gunas.” (Sri Ramakrishna in Visions of Sri Ramakrishna, 22.)
Note as well: “When the Godhead [Parabrahman] is thought of as creating, preserving, and destroying, It is known as the Personal God, Saguna Brahman, or the Primal Energy, Adyasakti. Again, when It is thought of as beyond the three gunas, then it is called the Attributeless Reality, Nirguna Brahman, beyond speech and thought; this is the Supreme Brahman, Paramatman.” (PR in GSR, 218.)
(2) Gospel According to Thomas, 29.
(3) “The vijnani … realizes that the steps [leading to the roof, by which he ascended to God] are made of the same materials as the roof: bricks, lime, and brick-dust. That which is realized intuitively as Brahman, through the eliminating process of ‘Not this, not this,’ is then found to have become the universe and all its living beings. The vijnani sees that the Reality which is nirguna, without attributes, is also saguna, with attributes.” (Paramahansa Ramakrishna in Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 103-4.)
References
“Christianity and Hinduism are One,” at https://goldenageofgaia.com/spiritual-essays/christianity-and-hinduism-are-one/ .
“On the Nature of the Divine Mother,” at https://goldenageofgaia.com/spiritual-essays/on-the-nature-of-the-divine-mother-or-holy-spirit-2/ .
From Darkness Unto Light: A Cross-Cultural Dictionary of Enlightenment, at https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/fdl/index100.html .
The Purpose of Life is Enlightenment, “Chapter 3” begins at https://goldenageofgaia.com/the-purpose-of-life-is-enlightenment/ch-3-the-purpose-of-life-is-enlightenment/
Selections from the Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, at https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/diction/ramak1.html
Sri Ramana Maharshi on Self-Enquiry, at https://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/diction/ramana.html