Sharanagati

We are trying to search for ourselves. Let’s have a vision of the universal construction. The world is built just like the Sofia Mall. It is a huge building, many levels up and many levels down. You enter somewhere this maze, you lose all of your energies – run out of your money – and then finally you want to find the way out.

The zero level is where you enter. I do not know how many levels it has for the parking? Two, three – it does not matter. The material world has also many levels down. Let’s examine this topic a little bit.

Here is the material world that we perceive right now around us. This is the world of karma – action and reaction. You know, just like in the fairy tales – if you do something good, you will be benefited. What is reality? You do something good and…? Sometimes we are frustrated, but never mind, let’s live in fairy tales! Whatever we give it shall return to us. If you give something bad to others – like suffering, torture or anything – it will return to you; if you give something good, good will return to you.

Material life, material universe is just like a maze and this maze is symbolized by the conch shell. You can enter the conch shell from this side and we understand that the direction is inauspicious. We enter the maze, we come on the ground zero and this is kind of neutral, eternal plane. Zero equals nirvana. But we go down, do not forget, so the first down level is ether. Now we shall discuss the different basic elements of the material universe. Ether is a very fine element, pervading everything. Although this is material, it is very subtle. And the characteristic feature of ether is sound. Just imagine, we are at the beginning of creation. Only the first condensification has started and immediately that very subtle element is pervaded by divine sound: om. This is the creative, divine mantra, which will bring the order in chaos.

One more level down we go – it is more condensed – this is the air. Through the air we can perceive things, we can touch things. One more level down – this is the fire – the cosmic element, which brings energy. Then there is the water, which will bring life. And finally you will reach the most solid element, which is the earth – like matter.

This is the degradation of the chances – from the subtle you go to ruder. Earth is everything that is solid. But it is very difficult to move. And what will be the effect if you go down in this universal mall? There will be some reaction – material ignorance will be the reaction. We can identify material ignorance when humans think that they are God. From a neutral potential position we started this process of degradation and we hit the bottom when we think that we are God.

This is a dark region. Let’s take a walk on the upper platforms. The yoga tradition says that this material world is a reflection. There is an original world of what we see now and what we have gone through. So, let’s try to find the way out from this dark region. If we use our brain then from the maze we can come back to the level of eternity. This is the path of knowledge. With knowledge you can achieve salvation, liberation. But there is another path also, which will not simply bring you to eternity – this passive, neutral level – and this is the elevator of the universal mall – the path of dedication. My suggestion is: let’s take the elevator.

(to be continued next Monday)