Truth, Experience & Understanding

The highest principle to be attained in the ascent of human consciousness is the Truth divine. Truth is indivisible, indestructible and the support of everything that exists in this world and beyond. It cannot be defined because the lower cannot qualify the higher or to put it simply a part cannot define the whole.

The aspiration of the part to merge with the whole is inherent in every action. The individual self is always gravitating towards the Absolute. Irrespective of whether its engaged in a material or spiritual pursuit the individual self is always desiring the truth. In the former its approaching the truth in ignorance and in the latter its approaching with wisdom.

In the process of aspiring for the Truth, the individual self embarks on a journey of meditation where a conscious attempt is made to withdraw from the external and focus ones energy on the inner self. If the self has reached a reasonable level of maturity where it can silence the mind, the self may experience glimpses of the truth divine by its grace.

This experience becomes possible only when the individual self opens itself up threadbare to the light of the divine truth. This experience does not belong to the self but is the nature of the truth itself. Truth when perceived from the individual self devoid of the individual differentiated consciousness (ego) becomes an experience.

The experience due to its power emanating from the divine carries tremendous force and causes a stirring of consciousness that descends in the lower expressions of the truth - in the intellect, mind and the physical consciousness. The intellect gets illumined with intuitions and realizations that enable it to function coherently with the divine will and thus enable the self to ascend higher towards the Truth divine. The mind becomes calm and eventually silent and the the physical body feels rested and in harmony with the physical nature.

It would be foolish on the part of the individual self to define the nature of the experience itself as the experience belongs to the Truth and is brought about by the stripping the individual differentiated consciousness, that does not persist after the experience is over. But the experience does leave its trace in the form of a realization or understanding that can be expressed and consumed for walking the path towards realizing the truth. This understanding is unblemished and pure and guides the self towards the divine. The expression of this understanding becomes possible but its consumption is not guaranteed and depends on the ability of the listener to be receptive to this knowledge from the beyond.

Aspiration and Surrender are Complementary

It is believed in conventional yoga, that surrender and aspiration are contradictory to each other. For e.g. often a question is asked to an aspirant that if he is truly surrendered, what is he really aspiring for? Or rather how can he even aspire or seek when there is surrender. Due to this predominant thought in conventional yoga, aspiration and surrender get divorced and are considered a deterrent force to each other.

For e.g. in conventional Vedanta, santosha (satisfaction) is considered to be a negative attribute for spiritual progress. In Bhakti Yoga, surrender is given utmost importance and any seeking or aspiration is considered a violation of the surrender principle. This hiatus between surrender and aspiration often confuses a sadhak and he/she is unable to set their strong hold on either of these two principles.

In the integral Yoga it is important for aspiration, rejection and surrender to co-exist and compliment each other beautifully and effortlessly without any struggle of any sorts. In this article, I have made an attempt to elucidate how these three principles can operate simultaneously and coherently and thus aiding the sadhak towards spiritual evolution and progress.

One needs to understand carefully the difference between the aspiration of the mind and the aspiration of the soul. It is true that if one is adhering to the principle of surrender, the mind cannot aspire because the mind has offered itself up into the fire of divine knowledge and truth and entered into silence. When the mind has truly effaced itself into the Divine, the Divine provides direct guidance to the soul to move into the direction destined or chosen for itself. And in this process of the soul moving into the desired direction, there will be a subtle knowledge of aspiration emanating from the soul and observed by the silent mind.

The mind does not react to this aspiration and simply allows it to function as guided under the vigilance of the Divine. A silent mind is a surrendered mind as it does not choose but becomes merely an instrument of the soul. And the soul aspires to a wider comprehension and perception of the truth divine. This is when the aspiration of the soul and the surrender of the mind become complementary and function in harmony with each other.

One needs to be careful not to cloud the soul with predestined conditioning, ideas or thoughts that would hinder its forthcoming. A simple conclusion reached by the mind about its own beatitude can provide a false perception of peace and the real peace can never be experienced as all the experiences get filtered by the mind principle alone. The mind has tremendous power to assume, operate and concoct a state of mental peace which is grossly mistaken to be coming from within. This mental peace is merely a product of mental and intellectual understanding of what peace is and how it functions. For experiencing true peace, you need a silent and a surrendered mind and not a mind that functions of conclusions. Only when the mind is silent, receptive and open to the divine force, surrender happens in the mind and the potential for the aspiration of the soul becomes possible.