‘Unless you know the principle of the universe, you cannot know the Self’

Bangalore ashram, Dec. 8, 2009:
Today’s satsang was a beautiful glimpse into the secrets of the universe which is beginning-less and endless.
It began by celebrating Acharya Ratnanda’s (Guruji’s father) 86th birthday. He spoke a few words filled with love and enthusiasm to the several hundred currently training to become Art of Living teachers.
Pitaji: Today I am very proud and humble: proud to be seated next to a mahatma (an elevated soul) and humble because I am one of his millions of followers. All my life, I have said, “Life is for Living.” Today I know, “Life is for living ONLY.”
L.I.F.E – L is love, I is integrity, F is fellowship – a sense of belongingness with the whole world and E is enlightenment. For me, My Master is the cause, the reason and the result of enlightenment.
To progress in life, be young. Be receptive. Even a child can teach you.
We can be and should be young because we are following a young Master!
As the audience applauded, Pitaji’s birthday cake was cut. Then Gurudev spoke:
H.H Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “There are four levels of speech – para, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikari.
The language we speak is vaikari. It is the most manifest form of speech. Chatvari vak parimita padani – there are four levels of speech and the intelligence knows all forms. Human beings speak only the fourth level. Subtler than vaikari, is madhyama. Even before you say it, the thought form is cognized. When you catch it at that level, it is madhyama. Pashyanti is cognitive. There is no need for spoken words. Para is the untold, un-manifest knowledge that is beyond.
The whole universe is spherical. It was never born nor will it ever die. It is anadi, beginningless, and anantha – endless. Then what is the job of Brahma, the creator? They say there are many, many Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in every yuga (age). In time and space this keeps happening. So what is the source of this creation? Parame vyoman – beyond the akasha (space). Knowledge lies beyond the akasha. Knowledge lies beyond the five elements.
Richo akashare parame vyoman
Vedas which were cognized are not vaikari. This cognition is beyond the space. All the Divine impulses are established in that field which is all permeating.
What is akasha? Akasha is described as vyoma, vyapti – it means all-permeating, all-pervading. What is it that is beyond akasha? It is unimaginable to think of something that is beyond space. Only a scientist can understand this. Everything is contained in akasha, all the four elements are in akasha. The most gross is earth, then water, fire, air and space. Air is finer, subtler than fire. Space is the subtlest. Then it is air-fire-water and earth. What is it that is beyond even akasha? That is the mind, intellect, ego and the Mahatattva. This is tattva gyan – knowing the principle of the universe. Unless you know the principle of the universe, you cannot know the Self. When you go beyond the akasha, it is an experiential field. The whole realm begins beyond the akasha.
The ancient seers have spoken about the Dravya guna sambandha or relationship between the substance and its quality. There is a very interesting debate if we can separate the quality from the substance. The whole philosophy is very interesting and the conclusion was that you cannot separate the quality from the substance. Can the sweetness in sugar be separated from sugar? Will it remain sugar still? Can heat and light be separated from fire? Will it still be fire after that?
What brings the quality into the substance? What comes first – the quality or the substance? There are many questions like this. The subtler you go is the paramevyoman. yasmin devaadhi vishwe nishedu. -All the devis and devtas reside there, in that space. Yattanaveda yati vaanaveda - What is the use of knowing the vedic hymns and mantras without knowing the parame vyoman, without understanding the principles of the universe?
Swarupa is the quality of that space. It cannot be fully translated in English. Swarupa is that consciousness. From the Swarupa happens the Sputa or explosion from which Svarita, creation flows and Sakaara – manifests with name and form. All the millions of beings in the creation were formed from the Swarupa.”
After this most astonishing revelation about the creation of the universe, was a presentation by Archana Sharma a Particle Physicist from CERN, Geneva, Switzerland who shared a few glimpses of their efforts to identify the god particle with the help of the LHC (large Hydron Collidor). Gurudev has often said, “Spirituality begins where Science ends.” In today’s satsang we had the opportunity to hear about that which is beyond space, beyond expression and the attempt of science to know the unknowable.