The Four Stages of Duality

 

“Shri Shankarro Chhapavale came alone for worship; on this Sri Baba asked, ‘You are alone today? Is your wife angry or what? If so, on whom; you or me? Anger is one of the means of effecting unity.’”

 

What causes a Perfect Master to speak? On many occasions Upasani Maharaj has said that if He were alone, i.e., not conscious of the world—of illusion—, He would not be seen to speak or act in any way. What would He need to say or do while experiencing Perfection in Perfection? The consciousness of others—of the world—of illusion—causes Him to speak—to act—actually, to appear to speak and act, while in Reality, He does nothing, for what is it for Him to do? This appearance of doing is prompted by the needs of others—of the world—of illusion—and is always motivated by Unconscious God’s lahar, i.e., whim, to know Himself.

 

“Husband and wife are two Jivas who are opposed to each other both from within and without. The union of these two means the union of the husbandhood and wifehood, i.e., the male and the female state, and with this union the object for which marriage is effected is achieved.”

 

An objective and impartial look at creation, as the average person sees it, cannot be divorced from duality. Everything seems to have its opposite, every stick has two ends, every state has two sides, etc. The human form consists of both the male and the female forms. Normally they seem to be attracted to each other—to seek completion in each other. What is the motivation? The motivation—the drive—is union with God. When all opposites are joined together, i.e., when duality merges in union, the final merging, i.e., union with God is effected.

 

“When two such opposites are joined together, then the pair of opposites in the form of ourself and God are seen to unite. One who has attained this state, whether a man or a woman, takes the whole world to be his abode, like Parameshvara (God as the Supreme being).”

 

Upasani details four stages of union that are achieved through the process of dissociation from opposites, from duality. The union of the male and the female duality constitutes an important stage. If a pendulum were envisioned swinging back and forth, the male and female forms are on either side. The pendulum swings back and forth over countless lifetimes, sometimes male and sometimes female, until identification with the two opposites ceases and the pendulum comes to rest.

 

But this pendulum is just one of countless pendulums that characterize gross consciousness and its projections in the gross world that is experienced by the vast number of souls in creation. This gross creation, with its universes and worlds, is that which science tries to understand and explain, and it is this gross creation which evolution and reincarnation finds itself mired in.

 

The male-female pendulum is just one of countless pendulums we see outside ourselves—like rich and poor, Christian and Jew, Hindu, and Muslim, healthy and sick, strong, and weak, smart, and dull, etc. Upasani Maharaj is telling us that all these gross dualities must be extinguished in unity—in oneness, and the key is love, the way is love, and the goal is love, but this love is not what we think it is, and the pendulums that comprise gross consciousness and the gross world are just one of the four stages that need to be crossed. Once all the dualities of creation are united, the next stage, the duality of external and internal, of me and you, i.e., the duality of the state of within and without the world needs to be united.

 

After the union of the male state and the female state, representing the union of dualities exhibited by and throughout the whole of gross creation, there still exists the duality of internal and external. In other words, there still is the sense that one exists in creation, but that creation itself is something other than oneself. I believe that when Upasani Maharaj speaks about the union of within and without the world, he is speaking about the shift of consciousness from gross consciousness to subtle consciousness—from the state of evolution and reincarnation to the state called involution wherein lie the subtle and mental worlds with their various planes and heavens. These worlds do not have a physical location outside of oneself. They are all inner states of consciousness.

The mental and the subtle worlds, consisting of six planes of consciousness and their heavens, and the gross world, consisting of all stars and planets, etc., and all forms and beings from stone to man, etc., can be said to encompass the Divine consciousness of the soul, as it were, like three bubbles. But how, since the soul and its consciousness are eternal and infinite, can it be encompassed by anything? So, when it is said that the soul and its consciousness is encompassed by three bubbles, this apparent encompassing must be false and is the result of gross consciousnesses’ attempt to explain and understand that which is beyond itself. [1]

 

Meher Baba explains that the sixth plane is the final plane of consciousness before union with God. In this state, one sees God everywhere and in everything and yet does not experience oneself as God. The experience of oneself as God is the Goal. There is no goal beyond this Goal. This union is the final stage that Upasani Maharaj is speaking about.

 

Upasani Maharaj then goes on to explain, “Thus there are three pairs of opposites; one, a man and a woman; two, man and God; three, within and without the world. Once the union of the first is effected, union of the other two become automatic in the course of time. When within and without the world the world are harmonized—united—then one is able to see the world anywhere, even in ‘(the) beyond the world (state)’ or ‘‘(the) beyond the world everywhere in the world (state).’”[2]

 

In other words, one is able to see everywhere and everything without any distinction between within and without, because if the external ceases to exist, then it follows the internal ceases to exist as well. One can only imagine what this state would be like, or as Kabir once said, “Until you experience it, it is not true.”

 

Upasani Maharaj once recounted the occasion when he woke up in Sai Baba’s body. (Sai Baba was the Perfect Master who precipitated Upasani Maharaj’s God Realization). He said that Sai Baba simultaneously woke up in his body. This was significant because Sai Baba had Muslim followers while Upasani Maharaj had Hindu followers. So, the Muslim followers actually were bowing down to a Hindu Master in their Master’s body while Upasani’s followers were actually bowing down to Sai Baba in his body. He went on to say that all this might seem quite strange because we are so attached and identified with gross forms, but, in fact, if we could see beyond the gross, we would observe how consciousness is constantly migrating among different gross forms in its journey to Realization.

 

“When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find,

Peace of mind is waiting there,

And the time will come when you see we're all one,

And life flows on within you and without you.” – George Harrison (Within You, Without You)

 

“In short, when two opposites are harmonized into one, one first experiences himself to be within and without the world, that he is born of the Infinite, and then, as everything disappears, he experiences himself to be nothing. This means that originally one was not conscious of one’s own existence, and then, having gone through these stages, he becomes conscious of it all. This peculiar cycle of experiences goes on coming into existence and disappearing.”- Upasani Maharaj

 

So, it all comes back to the three states of God, i.e., God in the state of deep sleep, God asleep, but in the dream state, and God in the fully awake state. Just as the average human experiences the cycle of deep sleep, dreams, awake state, dream, and deep sleep, etc., and just as the average human being must pass through the dream state from the deep sleep state to the awake state, and vice-versa, God too, must pass through the dream state on His journey from His deep sleep state to His fully awake I am God state. The dream state of God is what the average human being experiences as the ’awake state’ in creation.

 

This dream state of creation is diametrically opposed to the Unitarian state of God, and hence, is characterized by duality—opposites. When these opposites are harmonized—unified— within an individual consciousness, duality disappears and all of creation ceases to be for that consciousness, and what remains is God, the same original God that was before creation, but with one difference—the most important difference—In the original God state consciousness was only latent, while in the God state after creation, full, perfect consciousness is now manifested, i.e., God is now conscious of being God, “I am God!” Creation consciousness was the mechanism by which this consciousness was manifested and perfected. This was, is, and will be, the only real purpose of creation.

 

But how to emancipate oneself from all dualities—from creation consciousness? As G.I. Gurdjieff once put it, “It is like trying to jump over one’s own knees.” The harder one tries, the more enmeshed one becomes. But God is all merciful and eternally benevolent, He would not leave us without a way.  All religions, all the yogas, and all real spiritual teaching, have been provided to help us, but the most efficient and quickest path of all, is the Path of Love—love for God. But how to love God?

 

God in the Original Infinite God State is called impersonal God, “…without color, without form, and without attributes; unlimited and unfathomable, beyond imagination and conception...” – Meher Baba (Parvardigar Prayer)

 

But for most people, love of this impersonal God is very difficult because it is, well, impersonal, and so God also manifests as personal God in the human form of a Perfect Master or the Avatar, and through that form loves us, speaks with us, jokes with us, and becomes the Perfect recipient worthy of our love for Him.

For love, there must be a relationship, and so to love God in the most natural way, one must put oneself in a relationship with a personification of God, and the best way to do this is by winning the opportunity to be in the presence of and to serve a living Perfect Master or the Avatar. To win this fortune can take many lifetimes, or it could happen in a flash. But, in either case, God in the form of Infinite Intelligence is always working behind the scenes, directing the drama and guiding each and every step of the Way. All religions and teachings, with all their efforts and sacrifices and studies, in fact, all of life itself, are merely steps that lead to His door.

 

It really is quite a drama we are all caught up in. It is sometimes a comedy, sometimes a tragedy, sometimes heaven and sometimes hell, but in the end, Meher Baba has told us, it is always a mighty joke, because it is a drama that never was, is, or will be. It is a drama that took no time at all because time itself was just part of the drama—the illusion. But, until we reach the Goal, it is a drama that is for us, for the most part, totally incomprehensible.

 

Therefore, until then, until the end, we go on living our lives and experiencing the drama and not the Reality and acquiring more and more thirst for that Reality. This is perhaps the meaning of Rumi’s statement, “Cry out less for water, and cry out for thirst more!” For in the beginning, when life turns to God, it is always to make life better, to satisfy its desires, to quench it thirst, but for the one who has turned away from life’s hollow promises, but is not yet free of life’s clenches, the wayfarer—the seeker—the lover of God—realizes that the thirst itself is the reminder and the motivation to love God more and more, and so cries out less for water, and cry out for thirst more.

 

At this stage, the wayfarer—the seeker—the lover of God—still thirsts, but not for water, but for Wine, Divine Wine, and begins to sing a new song.

 

“For this Path of Love, so smooth at first account, but soon we saw how troubles pile, perplexities mount. Cupbearer ho, we pray relieve our soul, give us Wine for pity’s sake, pass round that bowl!” – Hafez

                                                                                                                                 ©Michael Kovitz 2023

 

 

 

 

---

[1] For the full explanation and elucidation of the three worlds, please see the book, God Speaks, by Meher Baba

[2] I added this parenthesis as an attempt to make clear this sentence in the translation. Still, there remain more questions regarding the significance of these state…

Mirrors

 

In my most recent blog, The Esoteric Teachings of Rumi, I quoted from the Masnavi;

 

“An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behavior of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long considered what gift would be most suitable to offer, and at last had fixed upon a mirror, which he accordingly produced from his pocket and presented to Joseph, at the same time begging him to admire his own beauteous face in it.

“He drew forth a mirror from his side;
A mirror is what Beauty busies itself with.

“But since Not-being is the mirror of Being,
If you are wise, choose Not-being—self-effacement—
For Being may be displayed in that Not-being.

“Wealthy men shower their liberality on the poor,
But he who is hungered is the clear mirror of bread—
The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.

“Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings—
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
In which all beings are infused.”  – Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Whinfield

 

 

It is an amazing quotation, so much said with words so few; so deep, so profound!

At the time I wanted to say more about it, but because there was so much more to say, I decided to wait and come back to it at another time…

Mirrors have found their way into the writings of mystics and Masters down through the ages—

 

“The tale of love must be heard from love itself, for like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”— Rumi

 

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” – Corinthians 3:18

 

A mirror seems to have the capacity to reveal truth; but what is the truth it actually reveals? Consider the fact that you’ve never seen your face, only its reflection in a mirror; but this reflection is only a two dimensional reflection of a three dimensional form.  Notice also that standing at arm’s length from the mirror, the size of the reflection of your head, from hair to chin, is no more than five inches in height, yet your head is actually twice that size—measure both and see.

 

Also, your reflection in the mirror is reversed left and right—put your finger on your right cheek and look at your reflection from behind—your finger appears to be on the opposite cheek—on the left one. So, the mirror seems to answer, at least at some level, the question; “Who am I?” but, in fact, the answer is really a distorted illusion. We never really see our own faces, but others do—or do they?

 

Imagine that you have never seen your face reflected in a mirror and therefore you have no idea what it looks like—but you can get an idea  of how you look by standing in front of a different kind of mirror—the mirror of  an-other. You stand in front of an-other and you see her looking at your face. Perhaps she laughs, or recoils, or appears to be impressed. “Oh,” you think, “I am funny looking,” or “I am ugly,” or “I am quite attractive,” your conclusion being based on the reaction of an-other.

 

But can we trust the reflection others see? Do others actually see us and do we actually see them? Is what we see only a reflection of our own impressions—what Meher Baba calls sanskaras? Sanskaras are the impressions that veil the consciousness we have gathered over millions of reincarnations during our journeys through sub-human and human forms. Sanskaras are, so to speak, the dust of the journey that covers the mirror of consciousness. In other words, is what we see when we see an-other more accurately a reflection of ourselves? But maybe not, because these impressions—these sanskaras—are not us either—are not the ultimate truth of what we are—and in fact, are the veil between ourselves and our Self.

 

In Creation, everything sees and everything is seen, but the Masters are always reminding us that all this seeing and being seen is an illusion—a false reflection—until we look into the mirror of Reality—the mirror of Truth.

 

Upasani Maharaj, a Perfect Master, while being worshipped as God in human form by a group of his followers and devotees, said:

 

“Being in the state of ‘only’ if you desire to take me to be God or a Satpurusha, well, it is your affair; how could I say what I am? I cannot say if I am ‘this’ or ‘that’.* As I am just ‘only’, what can you see in me, or rather, how can you see me? When you look at me, it is not that you see me, but you only see what you are—your qualities, good or bad, are reflected in this ‘only’ and you are able to see them; and seeing that, due to your ignorance, you think you are seeing me with such and such qualities, when actually you are only seeing your own self—your qualities and not me, because I am in the state of ‘only’ and so virtually in the state of nothing.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume I, Part A, pages 135-136

*I omitted this sentence here; “I can say and prove that you yourself are God or a Satpurusha,” because though it makes sense in and of itself, and is a very powerful and important assertion, in the context of the talk it seems to be misplaced or misworded. – Ayushya

 

 “So when you call me God, it is your own reflection that you see, and due to your ignorance you charge me with your qualities and call me God. But if you are a wicked man, I look a rascal to you. My form only shows you what you are.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume I, Part A, page 136

Made up of endless mirrors within mirrors, the mirror we call life, like a funhouse mirror, always renders distorted reflections. Taking their reflections to be truth is what Upasani Maharaj is calling ignorance. But when one’s consciousness is divested of all of the impressions—the sanskaras—the dust that has accumulated on the surface of the mirror during the soul’s journey to acquire consciousness, then, and only then, can the mirror be said to be Perfect and in that Perfection can the truth of illusion and the Truth of Reality be seen by those  who are able to look into that mirror.

 

“…you are only seeing your own self—your qualities and not me, because I am in the state of ‘only’ and so virtually in the state of nothing.”

 

The state Upasani Maharaj calls the state of nothing and the state of Not-being alluded to by Rumi are virtually the same. Nothing and Not-being are one type of mirror and what the soul sees in that mirror is the real Truth of being.

 

 “Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings—
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
In which all beings are infused.”  – Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Whinfield

 

Defect, on the other hand, reflects a false truth, which thereby, indirectly, asserts the Real Truth.

 

“Wealthy men shower their liberality on the poor,
But he who is hungered is the clear mirror of bread—
The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.”—Ibid.

 

Between the two states of God—the deep-sleep dreamless state and the fully awake dreamless state—is the intermediate dream state. This state is the Jiv-atma state. Jiv means embodied and atma mean soul. In the Jiv-atma state the soul imagines—dreams—itself to have three bodies. The average person is only conscious of the third body, the gross or physical body, which is the product of the union of the two higher bodies, the subtle and the mental bodies. Consciousness of these two higher bodies is not the goal; consciousness of the soul—of the Self—beyond these three bodies is the Goal. One who achieves this state is called Shiv-atma.

The Shiv-atma state is the state of fully awake God in which the soul consciously experiences Itself as being and always having been Eternal God without doubt. It is the experience of Jiv-atma looking into the mirror of Shiv-atma that this blog is about—that Upasani Maharaj is speaking about.

 

 “My form only shows you what you are. The state of ‘only’ is like a hollow—like the sky. The sky or hollow contains nothing; if you go inside it with whatever you have, you will only see what you have and nothing else. The state of ‘only’ is like a mirror. When you look in the mirror you see yourself and nothing else. The mirror represents the state of ‘only’ in this world.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume I, Part A, page 136

 

 

Who among us sees himself in everyone and everything? Who among us looks at another and realizes that he is looking at none other than himself? And therein lies the difference between compassion and pity. To see others as another and feel for them is pity, but to see others as oneself is to feel compassion.

 

Gurdjieff used to say that to advance in the Way one must become a conscious egotist. The statement disturbed some people because they believed that the Way should be free of egotism, but I think that they weren’t understanding what Gurdjieff was saying; they didn’t understand the difference between ordinary and conscious egotism. Conscious egotism sees oneself everywhere and in everything, and in that seeing is the loss of self, because in that seeing all distinctions between oneself and others disappears. When the sense of oneself is lost, real Self manifests.

 

All of creation consists of mirrors within mirrors. If you see something you don’t like reflected in a mirror, do you attack the reflection? Yet, that is exactly what happens in the state of delusion—in the world as we see it—we attack our own reflections in the mirror. That is why we fight, and argue, and judge, and go to war…

 

“Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings—
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
In which all beings are infused.”  – Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Whinfield

 

And so, if there a way out of this funhouse of mirrors what is the way? A fair enough question, and the answer is to find the right mirror—the mirror that reveals beauty as Perfection instead of Defect. In other words, the mirror that reflects the atma and not the jiv—the holy and not the ghost—and that mirror is the mirror of Not-Being, the state Upasani Maharaj calls ‘only.’

 

“You have a face, but who can see their own face without a mirror? I am exactly like that—a mirror—and due to my state of ‘only’—the state of a mirror—you can only see your own qualities in me.

 “So, when you call me God, it is your own reflection as God that you see in me, and because you do not call the mirror your face, therefore, in  the same way, you cannot call me God—or if you do, you should be aware that you are taking me to be that which you are.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume I, Part A, page 136

 

“If you paint a picture of Vishnu on the mirror, you can no more see your face in it; when now you approach the mirror; you will see the picture of Vishnu. By painting the mirror this way, you have removed the quality of reflection from it. Unless you wipe out the picture from the mirror—unless you bring the mirror into its original state of ‘only’ you cannot see your reflection in it.” – Ibid; Volume I, Part A, page 137

 

I began this post by discussing the qualities of mirrors—how they reflect what is put before them, how they distort the objects they are reflecting, and how the mirror of a Perfect One is different than the countless mirrors that make up the great mirror of creation. In a general way, I believe that the subject is easily understandable, but when one goes a little deeper, things become more subtle and slippery.

 

“But since Not-being is the mirror of Being,
If you are wise, choose Not-being—self-effacement—
For Being may be displayed in that Not-being.

“Wealthy men shower their liberality on the poor,
But he who is hungered is the clear mirror of bread—
The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.

“Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings—
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
In which all beings are infused.”  – Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Whinfield

 

 

I made a connection between the states of Not-being—self-effacement—and the state Upasani Maharaj experienced that he called ‘only.’ Now Upasani introduces a further subtlety when he talks about the face of Vishnu being painted on the mirror.

 

 

“If you paint a picture of Vishnu on the mirror, you can no more see your face in it; when now you approach the mirror, you will see the picture of Vishnu…” – Ibid

 

 

I believe that when Upasani Maharaj used the example of Vishnu’s face being painted on the mirror He specifically choose that one face over all other ones. So, who, or what, is Vishnu? Vishnu, also called Parvardigar, is one of the three aspects of God responsible for the creation, the preservation, and the dissolution of and within creation. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves, and Shiva, also called Mahesh, dissolves. These three aspects of God are not people, or gods, but states of God, yet it is possible for those states or aspects of God to take on a human form for a limited period of time.

 

 

With regard to Vishnu, Meher Baba tells us that this taking on of a human form occurs every 750 to 1400 years and this incarnation of God in human form is variously called the Avatar, the Christ, the Buddha, the Messiah—there are many names, but the state is always the same. God in any and all of His names and forms is always the same.

 

 

There have been many Incarnations—many forms—that of Krishna and Ram and Gautama and Zoroaster and Mohamed and Meher Baba—but in all these forms, in all these Incarnations, is same One God. Understanding this, helps us to understand what Jesus Christ meant when Jesus said,

 

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

 

 

For Jesus Christ could speak as Jesus and He could speak as the Christ and, in this instance, it He was speaking as the Christ, not as Jesus the man, for both the Father state and the Son state (the state of Christ) are Eternal, but forms, even the beloved forms of Ram, Krishna, Gautama, Zoroaster, Jesus, and Meher Baba, are finite, passing, and subject to the same laws that govern all of creation.

 

 

Meher Baba tells us that the Individuality who embodies these passing forms of the Avatar is the First Soul who realized God through the processes of creation called evolution, reincarnation, and involution of consciousness—the One called the Ancient One—and when that One takes on a human form, He is called the God-Man and expresses through His very being the direct descent of God into His creation.

 

 

Along with the God-man is also the state of the Man-God. The Man-God is not called the Avatar; he, or she, is called a Perfect Master, a Satpurusha. A Satpurusha is one who has achieved the state of Perfection through the same processes of evolution, reincarnation, and evolution that the Avatar originally passed through in the beginningless beginning of time. The Avatar was the first God-Realized soul and when He takes a human form as the Avatar He no longer needs to pass through evolution, reincarnation, and involution. His is called the direct-descent of God into a human form.

 

 

The Avatar comes again and again out of love for His creation—out of love for Himself in all of the forms of creation, but the Perfect Masters—and Baba tells us that there always five of them present on the planet of involution—our planet, that when a Perfect Master drops his or her human form, he or she does not take another body, does not reincarnate again, but remains in the Eternal and Infinite State of God beyond creation.

 

 

All of this is the background for trying to understand the distinction that Upasani Maharaj is making between His state of ‘only’ and the state of Vishnu, the distinction between the mirror of ‘only’ and the mirror that is covered by Vishnu’s face—between a Satpurusha and what He calls “an original Satpurusha.”

 

 

“Take a mango tree; right from the beginning it is a mango tree. Does anybody call a mango tree a babhula tree?  It is not that some call it a mango tree and some call it a babhula tree. The fact that I am called virtuous by some and vicious by others should convince you that I am not an ‘original’ Satpurusha; otherwise everybody would have called me the same, as in the case of the mango tree.

 

“Since different qualities are seen in me by different people, it means that I am in the state of a mirror, in the state of ‘only’ in which anybody can see his own reflection.” – Ibid; Volume I, Part A, page 137

 

Whatever one sees in the mirror of ‘only’ is a reflection of oneself. Since that self, that Jivatma, is both illusion and reality, both man and God, the mirror of ‘only’ reflects both. Why the mirror reflects illusion for one person and reality for another is because of the impressions—sanskaras—that covers one’s consciousness like dust on the surface of a mirror.

 

That mirror is the very same consciousness of oneself that gets externalized in the forms of creation, the expression of God in the forms of Perfect Masters, and the glittering succession of forms taken by the Avatar. For in truth, there never was, or is, or will be any Truth to the external at all, because the external of our waking state is merely the projection of the dream state that is experienced between the Deep Sleep State of God and the Fully Awake State of God—the two states of Reality that borders the illusory dream state we call creation.

 

In short, any distinction made between the internal and the external supports the illusion of duality, but ‘only’, by its very nature, excludes duality, excludes the reality of others. It then follows that to experience the Ultimate Reality, both the external and the internal must go, and when they go what remains is the state of ‘only’—the state beyond all mirrors.

 

“Both your face, as well as the mirror, have a form. That mirror, however, serves the purpose of ‘onlyness’, but only if you make use of it for that purpose and not use it as a mirror. This means that you should not make use of the mirror as such, but only for its quality of ‘onlyness’.” – Ibid. Volume I, Part B, page 367

 

Upasani Maharaj then goes on to say is that ‘onlyness’ must stand before the mirror to see its own reflection. What a great theme upon which to meditate and contemplate—what does ‘only’ see when it sees ‘only’ reflected in the mirror? How sublime is that?

 

Upasani Maharaj uses the term Satpurusha to characterize the state of one who is in the state of ‘only’. He goes on to say,

 

“The state of a Satpurusha within you is not your external visible form, but what can be said is that your external form helps you to become conscious of your internal state of a Satpurusha. Of course, that internal Satpurusha state of yours cannot be exhibited in an ordinary mirror that can only show you your external appearance.” – Ibid

 

Upasani Maharaj goes on to talk about the other kind of mirror—the mirror of a Satpurusha—the mirror we look into when we are in the presence of a Perfect Master—the mirror of ‘only’ that can reflect our own internal state of God.

 

“The inner finer form within your external form that contains the qualities of a Satpurusha was reflected by that state of ‘onlyness’ in me. Thus the qualities of a Satpurusha you charge me with are actually yours.” – Ibid

 

He says that though those qualities are actually ours and not his, we do not experience them as ours because we are habituated to experience the external gross form only; he says; “your consciousness is not sharp enough to reach that inner finer state of yours.”

 

The answer, he tells us, is to go on charging our qualities on him. Charging here means to externalize our internal state on to him through the acts of worship, meditation, contemplation, and contemplation—to project that Reality which is ours onto him. It is like loaning something of value we cannot make use now to another to keep for us until we can.

 

And then he reveals something quite surprising, another way to reach the Supreme Reality can be accomplished by charging those qualities of a Satpurusha onto oneself.  

 

“On the other hand, being convinced that what you see in me is nothing else but your own self—your own qualities—you try to remember them—stick to them—with all determination irrespective of all the difficulties that are or may come your way, then eventually you will be able to experience your own real state which is expressed in that one small sentence, Aham Brahmasmi, meaning I am the Brahma.” – Ibid

 

Though he adds; “This process, of course, is a very difficult one. The easier way is to charge somebody else with those qualities of yours to eventually experience your real state. Accomplished in this way, not only you as an individual experience that state, but many others are able to do so along with you—in a way, thus this method is very beneficial.” – Ibid

 

But why is this other method so difficult and what does it actually entail?  It means to deny in every moment—in every breath—continually and without break—the ‘reality’ that illusory consciousness causes us experience while, at the same time, continually and without break affirming the true Reality that we do not experience; To believe, without doubt, that we are eternal and infinite while experiencing ourselves and others as finite and subject to disease and death; To believe without doubt or interruption that we are God and that all else is a dream—the dreams of being woman and man, black and white, rich and poor, sane and insane…

 

The alternative? The simpler method? To stick to a Perfect One with all faith and confidence. To live a normal life—a life normal to the circumstances we find ourselves in; continuing to try to be helpful to others—thinking more and more about the happiness of others rather than our own; to try to remain in the state that Meher Baba describes as, “Don’t worry, be happy!”

 

  “It always brings me such joy to see you my dear—how are you and how is your dear grandfather?”

 

“Thank you! I am happy and well in Beloved Baba’s love as is grandfather. And how are you these days Ayushya?”

 

“Yes, quite well as well—continuing to tread the path of Baba’s ‘Don’t worry—be happy!’ So, my dear, please take some tea and tell me what it is that has brought you to my home this day.”

 

“Of course, I have been following your inspiring posts on the subject of mirrors and, as usual, they have evoked in me questions that resonate in the higher frequencies of my mind and heart.”

 

“Ah yes, questions; Questions are mirrors that can reflect both reality and illusion—both finitude and eternity. Questions bring energy; they are more important than answers; answers kill questions. I see you have brought with you a volume of Upasani Maharaj’s talks?”

 

“Yes Ayushya; while reading your posts on mirrors I began to think of the qualities of mirrors and the qualities of their reflections and this stirred in me a memory of a specific talk by Upasani Maharaj about what he called, ‘the moving temple.’”

 

“I remember that talk well. He says that the moving temple consists of three halls one within the other. He says that these three halls are the gross, the subtle, and the mental bodies. He says that God sits in the third hall and on certain days, with the correct preparation, one can enter that third hall and experience God.”

 

“Yes, and he also said that normally the three halls are arranged in such a way that they are opposite to each other—may I read you a passage?”

 

“I would be delighted!

 

“So, speaking about the ‘moving temple’, he says; ‘This temple is peculiar in that it consists of halls within halls, which are moving in opposite directions, the doors of which are located in opposite directions, and whose domes are also situated opposed to each other. So, if the outer hall’s door is facing east, it is moving in a clockwise manner, and has its dome positioned up in the normal way, then the next hall within it has its door facing west, moves in a clockwise motion, and its dome is positioned upside down. Meanwhile, the third hall is opposite to the second hall in every way and God sits in this innermost hall of the temple.’”

 

“And these three halls represent the gross, subtle, and mental bodies?”

 

“Yes, and on the next page he says; ‘Now the moving temple is this body. The halls arranged in opposite directions are the Sthula, Suhshma, and Karana bodies (the gross, the subtle, and the causal). The Vaikuntha is the Brahmanda situated in the head.’ Earlier on he said that Vaikuntha is the abode of Vishnu meaning the Infinite Bliss.”

 

“Indeed, this is all most most interesting, so tell me what questions and thoughts are evoked in you by these teachings?”

 

“Well first, I wonder if, as he says, the third hall is opposite to the second all in every way and that the second hall is opposite to the first in every way, we can assume that the first and the third halls—the gross and the mental bodies—are in alignment in every way?”

 

“Yes that is quite an interesting question; what do you think?”

 

“Well, it does come down to the expression ‘every way’, because ‘every way’ does not leave any room for any other way, and so if the third and second halls are aligned differently in every way, as are the second and first hall aligned differently in every way, then, I think, that the first and third halls must be aligned the same in every way.”

 

“Somewhat beyond my personal realm of experience.”

 

“And mine as well, although on a few occasions, at the very moment of awakening from a nap, I have experienced for a brief moment that my body was lying in the opposite direction to what it actually was—that my head was where my feet should be and my feet were where my head should be.”

 

“Yes, I have had that very experience myself.”

 

“The other thought I have connected to your posts on mirrors is this; because the reflection seen in a mirror is always opposite to whatever is being reflected in it—what is left becomes right and what is right becomes left—can we assume that the reflection seen in the mirror is somehow a reflection of the gross world in the subtle world?”

 

“Interesting, although we are only talking about left and right, and not up and down—”

 

“Yes, very true, and perhaps this is because the mirror is only reflecting the gross appearance of a three dimensional person or object as a two dimensional representation, while, of course, the cosmos consists of more than three dimensions then the three we see due to the limitation of gross consciousness.”

 

“Unlike a Perfect Master who sees all of the dimensions, all of the planes, and all of the three worlds…”

 

“Yes, sees all of the illusion perfectly and totally in all of its dimensions, planes, and worlds.”

 

“And your thoughts, my dear, gives me a new insight into the distinction Upasani Maharaj’s makes between the mirror being in the state of ‘only’ as opposed to the mirror upon which the face of Vishnu has been painted.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Well, I have always felt that the mental world was more understandable to me than the subtle world. If, as you suggest, the mental world and the gross world are aligned in every way, then it would make sense that it is easier for me to relate to the mental word where God reposes than to the subtle world that is in every way opposite to the gross world.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Ayushya, do you have handy your first post on the subject of mirrors?”

 

“I do, would you like me to read you something from it?”

 

“Yes, I feel that after reading all of your posts on the subject of mirrors and having this delightful conversation with you today I now better understand those quotations with which you began the topic. Would you please read them to me now?”

 

“Of course, my dear, it would be my pleasure.”

 

“An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behavior of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long considered what gift would be most suitable to offer, and at last had fixed upon a mirror, which he accordingly produced from his pocket and presented to Joseph, at the same time begging him to admire his own beauteous face in it.

“He drew forth a mirror from his side;
A mirror is what Beauty busies itself with.

“But since Not-being is the mirror of Being,
If you are wise, choose Not-being—self-effacement—
For Being may be displayed in that Not-being.

“Wealthy men shower their liberality on the poor,
But he who is hungered is the clear mirror of bread—
The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel.

“Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur,
Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings—
Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence,
In which all beings are infused.” – Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Whinfield

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

 

“The tale of love must be heard from love itself, for like the mirror, it is both mute and expressive.”— Rumi

 

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” – Corinthians 3:18

 

                                                                                      © copyright Michael Kovitz 2016

 

 

How Far Can A Dog Run Into The Woods?

When Meher Baba was asked by one of His followers how he should live in the world, Baba replied; “Don’t eat too much and don’t eat too little… don’t dress like a dandy and don’t dress like a slob...”

The follower, exhibiting some wisdom, asked nothing more. Baba hadn’t laid down a dress code or a specific code for conduct; instead, He left it up to the follower to determine for himself what was appropriate based on Baba’s indications.

How far can a dog run into the woods? Halfway, and then he is running out of the woods. But all dogs are different and not all dogs run in the same woods, and, in any case, who determines what is halfway? Every individual has his own unique karma—what is appropriate for the beggar is not appropriate for the king…

“One’s own dharma lived imperfectly is better than living another’s dharma perfectly.” – Mahabharata

To a group of followers, the Perfect Master Upasani Maharaj said:

“All objects, when utilized for enjoyment, i.e. more than what is absolutely necessary, act like poison and eventually destroy the body; hence they should be used very sparingly; that way they actually help us. One should feed and protect the body somehow or other with something or other; such a practice will easily make you live without any food in your ensuing birth.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume III, page 87

Upasani Maharaj was a God-Realized Perfect Master and His words could be understood and interpreted on many levels—on all levels. Was He being literal when He said “…live without food..?” And when he said, “…actually help us,” can we not ask the question; “help us what?”

Many years ago I had the opportunity of meeting a very advanced Nada Brahma yogi. Ostensibly the meeting was arranged for me to ask him questions about sound and the sacred Vedic mantras and chants, but the first thing he said to me when I entered the room was, “Money is like food—let it in and let it out. If it gets stuck, you get sick.”

At the time I was a relatively poor hippy making money by performing with my guitar and teaching a handful of students. I was making no more than five or six thousand dollars a year, so I wondered why he was saying this to me. But when an advanced soul says something to me, I don’t forget it. And so, over the following months and years I observed myself, and indeed, I began to notice a problem. Being frugal with the little money I had was not the problem, but the fear of being without it was. I was afraid and I was holding it in out of fear. I was not letting it in and letting it out—it was like I was holding my breath.

Over time I came to see that the problem was much bigger than money—money was just a symptom, and money was just a metaphor for life itself. I was afraid of life, I was afraid to let it in and let it out. But life cannot be stopped, and you either go with it or it tears you apart and carries the parts away.

Going deeper into the question, I rationalized that life was not to be trusted—that life was not my friend. Both the teachings of the Masters and everything in my own experience showed me that this was true, and so I wondered that if I can’t trust it, then how could I not fear it?

But that was only part of the story—life was not my friend, but neither was life my enemy, though it was very contrary. The more one asks from life, the less it gives; the less one asks from life, the more life gives, but this is not the whole story either, because life has nothing to give; life is like the postman who delivers the check—life is not the One who sends the check.

“If we remain and behave in a pure and right way, then even God begins to serve us; but if we behave in the opposite way, nobody even cares to look at us.” – Ibid, page 81

“Whatever I have said boils down to one thing, and that is that one has to get beyond—one has to deny oneself the enjoyment emanating from all the objects in and of the world.” – The Talks of Sadguru Upasani-Baba Maharaja, Volume III, pages 86-87

Of course the immediate response of the finite mind to this assertion is quite predictable, but if one thinks a little more deeply about it, well, then maybe there is another response…

Gurdjieff used to remind his students that with regard to consciousness, the average person lives, as it were, in the dark dirty basement of a beautiful house with many stories and many rooms with experiences of bliss far beyond anything even imaginable in the basement. Why waste so much time and trouble attempting to eke-out those inferior experiences of pleasure in the basement? I guess that one has to decide for oneself…

“Once you know the secret of opposite aspects presented by any object (of enjoyment), you automatically remain alert about their influence.”—Ibid

In other words, one has to always remember that the price of pain might not be worth the pleasure obtained. Gurdjieff used to remind his students; “Every stick has two ends.”  If you grab the pleasure end, well, the pain end comes with it.

To grab or not to grab is the question, but is it really? I mean, do we really have a choice? I know that this sounds like the old question of free-will or predestination. Meher Baba was once asked about it. He asked the questioner to pick up his right leg. The questioner easily lifted his leg off the ground. Meher Baba then asked him to lift the other leg off the ground as well. Of course the questioner was unable to lift both legs into the air.

I have often mentioned how practical the Masters are. Look again at Upasani’s statement;

“Once you know the secret of opposite aspects presented by any object (of enjoyment), you automatically remain alert about their influence.”

Notice that He is not saying that once one knows the secret they will automatically be able to refrain from taking the experience of objects of enjoyment. Perhaps for a few, this would be the case, but for the rest, well, maybe, the words of the Masters act as a kind of speed bump to the automatic mechanical process of putting desires into action.

In His talk, Upasani offers a second suggestion:

“There is another thing that leads to Infinite Bliss and that is the principle of ‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma,’ meaning, not to kill—not to trouble—not to disturb another—is the highest religion.” —Ibid, page 87

He then goes on to explain that;

“Whatever is separate or different from one’s body is another. No ‘another’ should even be troubled in any way. —Ibid

Anticipating a question, He then goes on to say;

“Somebody may ask; ‘Should we not eat then?’  Of course you should—but only as much as is necessary to maintain the body; that is all, and not more. The things consumed in this way live along with the body… but whatever is eaten beyond the bare necessity to maintain the body does not protect the body, on the contrary, it leads to its deterioration and destruction.”—Ibid

Upasani then adds; “It is wrong to buy a costly Kashmiri shawl where some coarse cloth can give protection from the cold.” —Ibid

Remember Meher Baba’s response to the questioner;

“Don’t eat too much and don’t eat too little,” with regard to dress He said; “Don’t dress like a dandy and don’t dress like a slob.”

The words of a Perfect One must be treated with great care—they are probably misquoted more often than they are quoted! Notice that Upasani Maharaj did not say that it was wrong buy a costly Kashmiri shawl; what He said was, “It is wrong to buy a costly Kashmiri shawl where some coarse cloth can give protection from the cold.”

But what if one needed a shawl for a wedding or some special occasion? In that case, some coarse cloth would not do. Perhaps it could be said; it is wrong to buy some coarse cloth when a costly Kashmiri shawl would be more appropriate.

Perfect Masters and the Avatar are always very practical…

It is generally understood that the terms Jiva and Shiva mean, respectively, the state of identification with creation—imagination—Nothing, and the state of realizing the Self—God—Reality—Everything. On another occasion, Upasani Maharaj defined the term Jiv-Atma as “that pure celestial soul (atma) identified with the projections of the mind (Jiv).”

In the present talk He then explains the relationship that exists among Jiva, Shiva, and the objects of enjoyment:

“There is nothing like the Jiva uniting with the Shiva; they are not two; they are one and the same; but when the atma, the Shiva, gets entangled in the objects of enjoyment, it loses its Shiva state and attains the Jiva state.”

In fact, He states the objects of enjoyment belong to the Shiva state and that to enjoy these objects Shiva takes to the Jiva state. But there is a difference between enjoying these objects and becoming entangled in these objects. It makes me recall the words of Meher Baba when He said; “The Master throws you into the ocean and tells you not to get wet!”

But how is this possible? How is it that we can be in the ocean without getting wet? This is what Upasani Maharaj is telling us.

“It is the entanglement through desires towards the objects that made Shiva become Jiva. Yet, the Shiva is always there—it is Eternal. It is in the nature of things that the Shiva should become Jiva to enjoy all these objects, but as the Jiva begins to get entangled in them, it begins to lose its Shiva state. But if we manage not to get entangled in these objects—if we manage to enjoy them without destroying them, then we attain eternity—the Shiva state. In other words, we have done away with—killed—our Jiva state.”

But did you catch it—the secret He revealed?—“to enjoy them without destroying them!”

Years ago I was staying in the Far Cabin at the Meher Spiritual Center. At the time there was a small desk in front of one of the cabin’s many windows. It was a hot summer’s night, all the windows were open in the cabin, and I was sitting at the desk reading Rumi’s Masnavi when my attention was attracted by a commotion occurring on the window screen in front of me.

A large spider was attacking an even larger moth that had gotten caught in its web. The scene was unfolding right before my eyes. The spider would sting the moth and with each sting the moth would shudder and recoil in distress. After what seemed like an eternity, the moth stopped struggling and the spider stopped stinging. Apparently exhausted from the struggle, the spider surrounded the moth in an eight-legged embrace and became very still.

The next night I returned to the desk at the window. The spider and the moth were still there—the moth did not look very good. After a few days, the spider was nowhere to be seen and the discarded corpse of the moth lay on the window’s sill below. An old Persian saying says, “When it’s time has come, the prey finds the hunter.”

What had I witnessed? Was it an act of love—an act of love that ended in the destruction of the beloved—or the lover? But most important for me was the question; was this the kind of love I wanted to experience—was this the way I wanted to love?

“…to enjoy them without destroying them!” This would indeed be a different kind of love—a much higher form of love—maybe something that could be called real human love?

The messages of the Avatar and the Perfect Masters are always remarkably similar. Forms change in response to the time and place, but as Gurdjieff reminds us, “There is a difference between the wine and the wine glass—do not mistake the one for the other!”

Meher Baba is considered to be the spiritual authority of our time;

“‘Seek and you shall find’ has become such a commonplace slogan that spiritual aspirants have begun to wonder what it means. To them I say: ‘Do not seek and you will find.’
“Do not seek material pleasure and you will find the spiritual treasure. This means, seek only God by not seeking material pleasure and you will find God.

“You can only seek God through self-denial. The spiritual treasure cannot be obtained by merely stretching out your hand for it. Only in the completeness of self-denial can the spiritual treasure become self-evident.

“There are three ways of obtaining the spiritual treasure:

“First, to earn it yourself by self-denial; second, to receive it as a spontaneous gift from God given to His lover whose self has become effaced in the intensity of his longing for his Beloved; and third, to inherit it directly from the Perfect Master who bequeaths it to those who remain completely resigned to his will.

“Therefore if you wish to find the treasure, stop seeking material pleasure. Seek the kingdom of Heaven by not seeking the kingdom of Earth, and you will find it.”— Lord Meher, American ed., Bhau Kalchuri, Vol. 17, p. 5786.

And so it becomes clear that the Avatar and the Perfect Masters are always reminding us that creation consciousness is a way and not an end it itself.

“He returns to the door from which he first came out, although in his journey he went from door to door.” – Maulana Shabistari

The first door is from God; the last door is to God; consciousness is what is gained along the way—the journey.

We began with the question; “How far can a dog run into the woods?” Really, the answer is, depends on the dog.

There was a very wealthy worldly follower of Meher Baba. He was in the oil business and had a home on the French Riviera. He was invited to spend some time with Meher Baba in India. One day he was deep in thought about something and Baba asked him what he was thinking about. He told Baba how much he admired the simple lives of many of Meher Baba’s followers—that he felt he should make his own life simple like theirs.

Meher Baba looked disappointed. He told the follower; “If you only knew how much I have worked to give you the life you have. This is the life I want you to lead…”

The king disdains the beggar and the beggar envies the king. In their next lives, the beggar is born a king and the king a beggar. The pendulum swings back and forth for lifetimes on end until the king eventually realizes that he has been both a king and beggar and takes no more pride in former or disdain for the latter. The beggar, for his part, realizes that he has been both a beggar and a king and takes no regret for the former or envy of for the latter.

The Avatar and the Perfect Masters are always reminding us that both the beggar and the king live in the basement of gross consciousness. Why place so much importance on finding a better place in the basement?  Why not try to manage somehow and use the effort saved to cultivate a longing for that which lies beyond the basement? And when the opportunity arises, when the Beloved appears—the Beloved who is beyond the basement and even all the rooms above the basement—seize the moment, seize the hem of His garment, and try, at least, to not resist His efforts to free you!

"Come, come, come,

Whoever you are -

Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving...

It does not matter, ours is not a caravan of despair.

Though you may have broken your vow 1000 times; come, come yet again, come!"

- Shams/Rumi

                                                                                                                      © copyright Michael Kovitz 09/24/2019