The Evolution of Consciousness
DAAJI shares with us some of the outcomes of an expanded consciousness, including the ability to understand the universe.
The purpose of life is to facilitate expansion of available consciousness to its fullest potential. This expansion eventually takes us to a state of lightness and joy, where the subtle body is pure, simple and refined, where there is no longer any separation between the heart and the mind – they are one, with the heart as the field of action for the mind and vice versa. This integrated, holistic state of being is known as Yoga. All the practices of Yoga are designed to bring about this state of oneness, or unity with the Source of all existence.
In mystical or religious terms, this Source of all existence is given the name God or divinity. In science, it is called the absolute, ultimate reality or original state of existence. It is the Base on which everything exists, the substratum of the existence of the universe. Yoga unites the two fields of human thought, as Yoga deals with pure knowledge. Yogis of high caliber are able to do this based on their direct experience, and have described God in a scientific way. This direct perception is possible because of the expansion of consciousness that comes from yogic practice.
For example, in physics, scientists speak of the space-time continuum, and yogis describe the same thing – the interplay of akasha and avakasha, the Sanskrit words meaning space and time.
Here is a brief description by the great yogi of the 20th century, Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur:
Before creation there was only ‘space’ all over. Thus the being of God (Isha) was a later development, and it took some time for its appearance. We see space as endless and eternal, so we conclude God as well to be eternal. Time followed after God had come into being. Thus space served as the mother of creation of God, and time was the negative state of it. Everything must have its end in Endlessness. Motion was also there in everything, however fine or invisible it might be. One might also ask, who created space, then? The only possible answer can be that the need for creation of God and of the universe led to be the cause of the existence of space. It is and shall ever be, and is therefore eternal. …
If one develops within him the state of akasha, he has then reached the highest point ... Akasha, or space, is the Absolute. It is not composed of particles, nor is there any action in it. It is perfectly pure and unalloyed. …
Akasha is space, while avakasha is time – both widely different from each other. Time – the creation of space – may be taken as the grosser state of akasha. As a matter of fact the universe is the manifestation of time or avakasha, while God is that of akasha or space. …
At the time when there was only the Absolute, and no creation, the question of time did not arise at all. ...
Read the complete article in the Collectors' Edition 2017
SUBSCRIBE & DOWNLOAD
Article by KAMLESH D. PATEL
