The Macrocosmic Stance and Human Life

     Human beings not only want expansion but undesputed authority in the process of expansion. Not only do they seek the Supreme shelter, they want to bring that shelter within their reach. Out of this desire to attain the Supreme out of this longing to become as vast as the Supreme they discovered was the science of intuitional practice. But this discovery was not easy. They had to cross numerous hurdles such as ritualistic observances-isms, doctrines and cult, Their discoverey was the reward for their long-cherished desire to attain the Supreme. Without the desire for expansion they would have never tried to realise Brahma even while remaining in the ocean of Brahma. The entity closest to them would have remained far away. The human desire for expansion is an innate desire. It cannot be suppressed, but must be given full scope for expression. Since desire for expansion is harmful for society when limited to the meterial sphere, it should be diverted to unlimited objects. No matter how much people acquire from this unlimited stock, it will not create conflict amongst individuals. While running after the acquisition of finite objects, the dissatisfied human beings of the past realized one day that their minds were looking for something which had hither to eluded them.

Those who want to thwart the introversial phase of the Cosmic Cycle in individual and collective life are dominated by Avidyamaya. In the struggle against Avidya , if the thought of Purusa ( cognitive faculty) is kept awake in one's mind, Avidya's influence will start to wane. In individual life the six enemies ( ripu) and eight fetters (pashas) are collectively known as the force of Avidya. For the preservation of the physical , and to keep social tyrants under control, these pashas and ripus need to be maintained, but the mind must not be allowed to become their slave. Those who wants to destroy them would be better off committing suicide. Sincere spiritual aspirants must keep their pashas and ripu firmly under control, making them subservient to their disciplined mind 

Though the Avi force is expressed in various ways, its expression in the human mind can be divided into five categories:  (i) Avidya, (ii) Asmita, (iii) Raga, (iv) Dvesa, and (v) Abhinivesha.

(i) Avidya : When human beings become blindly infatuated with objects of enjoyment and lose all common sense, when they become totally absorbed in the pursuit of finite objects forgetting the infinite, they make the error of believing that the impermanent is permanent. This useless pursuit exhausts all their vital energy. They forget that no single object of the world enjoys permanence. Some educated people say, " Well I amy not live long enough to enjoy all the pleasure of life, but my grandchildren will" This yearning for the finite is caused by avidya'. Under the influence of avidya , people become so infatuated that they forget the difference between pure and impure.  But the fact is all these limited objects will desert them after sometime. 

To understand avidya properly one must pursue the path of spiritual practice. Without sadhana one cannot escape the devouring jaws of avidya.

(ii) Asmita : Asmita literally means to arrogate the full authorship of an action. The actual authorship of action , no matter what that action may be , does not belong to the sensory and motor organs. In the absensce of Atman ( the knowing entity ) the organs become totally ineffective. If the image an of elephant is reflected on the eyes of a corpse, it will not be able to see it. A corpse has no Atman, no witnessing entity, and thus no capacity to see. People often believe that mind is everything, and thus commit the error of taking the mind to be the author of actions. This error is called asmita.

Asmita causes human beings to confuse drik shakti ( witnessing entity) with darshan shakti ( faculty of sight). Sadhakas must remember that the mind and the indriyas can only perform their allotted duties when Consciousness is reflected on the unit mental plate. 

(iii) Raga : The human mind constantly need a pabulam. A mind devoid of any pabulam attains the non-attributional stance. But sleep senselessness or death cannot be regarded as the non attributional stance. From the viewpoint of psychology , sleep and senselessness are almost similar. They occur when the kamamaya and manomaya kosas of the mind remain suspended due to some reason or other. in both cases the mind still has an object. In the case of death, the psychic power ( reactive momenta) is detached from the nerve cells of the brain and hense the mind cannot perform actions.

  In the wakeful and dream states human beings seek to acquire objects with the help of their entire mind. Under the influence of avidya they think that they will derive pleasure from eating a certain type of food, or become more comfortable by wearing certain clothes, or get some satisfaction by playing a certain role. This tendency to run after certain objects in the pursuit of pleasure is called raga or blind attachment.

People live for joy and happiness, and that is why they run after various objects. They do not understand, or sometimes refuse to understand, that nothing in this universe except infinite Brahma can give them permanent happiness. When people lose the sense of discrimination by foolishly giving indulgence to raga . it should be understand that they have allowed themselves to become pawns in the hands of Avidya.

(iv) Dvesa : The opposite of raga is dvesa. There are some objects or ideas upon which people cannot fix their minds because, according to their samskara, they find it painful to do so. They are reluctant to analyze where those objects or ideas are really painful or tormenting. When an attempt is made to divert the mind for from those objects or ideas to escape the anticipated pain it is called dvesa. Most of the wars and battles of the world are the result of either raga or dvesa. 

(v) Abhinivesha : In the world there are many wise and gifted people who understand the difference between Vidya and Avidya. Theoreticall, they know what is real and what is unreal , what is dharma and what is adharma. They deliver eloquent discourses on dharma and morality in meetings and symposia. yet knowledgly indulge in sinful deeds in their personal lives even thought they are aware of the dreadful concequences of their sinful actions. This suppression of Vidya is also an expression of Avida shakti in one's personal life. 

 From where does abhinivesh derive its impetus ? From the acquired samskaras of human beings. As long as human beings are guided by their own individual flow , they are microcosms and when they are guided by the Cosmic flow they become liberated souls - they become one with Shiva.