|
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, reason and also ego, these
constitute manifest or material Nature of Supreme Spirit eightfold
divided. The souls or spirits are integral part of the spiritual nature
of Supreme Being. All things have evolved from the material and
spiritual natures of Brahma. Like clusters of yarn beads formed by knots
on a thread, the entire creation is threaded on Brahma. The Supreme
Being is everything. It is the sapidity in water, the sound in ether,
the light of the sun and other stars, the pure odour in the earth and
the brilliance in fire and life in all beings. It is the intelligence of
the intelligent; the glory of the glorious; the might of the mighty. It
is the manliness in men; the womanhood in women and the eternal seed of
all beings. So the enlightened soul should continue to know and worship
God Supreme. However, there are people whose wisdom has been carried
away by various desires and they being prompted by their own nature
worship the deities. Whatever celestial form a devotee chooses to
worship with reverence, he obtains through him his desired enjoyment by
the grace of God Supreme. The fruit gained by these people of small
understanding, however, is perishable. The worshippers of gods can
enjoy the power of gods only and they cannot get liberation from
rebirth. On the other hand, the devotees of the Supreme Spirit
ultimately mingle with the Supreme Spirit and get liberation from
rebirth. He, who departs from the body, thinking of God Supreme
alone even at the time of death, attains liberation. Thinking of
whatever entity one leaves the body at the time of death, that and that
alone one attains, being ever absorbed in its thought. He who with his
mind disciplined through practice of meditation is constantly engaged in
contemplation of God attains the supremely effulgent divine Brahma.
Great souls, who have attained the highest perfection, assimilate with
the Supreme Spirit and are no more subjected to rebirth, which is the
abode of sorrow and transient by nature. However, all embodied beings
emanate from the Unmanifest at the coming of the cosmic day, at the
cosmic nightfall they merge into the same subtle body of Unmanifest.
This multitude of beings, being born again and again, is dissolved under
compulsion of its nature at the coming of the cosmic night and rises
again at the commencement of the cosmic day. Far beyond this unmanifest
there is yet another manifest Existence, that Supreme Divine Person, who
does not perish even though all beings perish. The same unmanifest which
has been spoken of as the Indestructible is also called the supreme
Goal; that again is the supreme Abode attaining which one returns not to
this mortal world. That eternal unmanifest Supreme in whom all beings
reside and by whom all this is pervaded, is attainable only through
exclusive devotion.
|
|
