Student Notebook
Article Index
Page 8 of 10
Manifestation and nonmanifestation
You are not born and do not die. You are only projecting a body and dissolving a body. When you give these two tendencies up it is called realizing the Truth.
Everything we see, taste, smell, etc., is manifested Prakriti (primordial nature). And everything in Prakriti/Nature is either manifest or unmanifest. If we understand this, then we know this world is not the only reality and we give up our preliminary belief in birth and death. These become words that pertain to the body only, and the rest of your being doesn't suffer them.
Manifest Prakriti is just the tip of the iceberg. It tells us that we don't have to be bitterly disappointed when things we love go out of manifestation. In the unmanifest state is where everything is held in potential. That is why they say that all of your departed friends and family are still present to you, just unseen for now....
From dense or gross vibrations, to worldly mental vibrations, to no vibrations -- this is the way to proceed. Don't move outwards only -- that is where the five elements are. Attempt the inward journey for a change. To do this you reduce the vibrations of the mind and refine them. There is great bliss in this accomplishment.
We've forgotten how to go inward. It's like forgetting the city of Delhi we are presently in and only knowing this one room we are occupying this minute. That is, we only recognize the waking state and have lost our ability to navigate between dream and deep sleep, what to speak of Turiya (samadhi).
If we say God is everything, we should not fall into the error of concluding that the "thing" is God. God is not in things. Things are just vibrations. Only Consciousness is real. God, i.e. Nirguna Brahman, is the vibrationless ground of Existence that the Seers denote as pure Consciousness. Only That is Real, because It is irreducible.
The problem of evil
"Resist not evil," for evil is not real. In Vedanta, evil is not an incarnate devil; it is only something to be seen through and thereby transcended.
If you're given the choice of good and evil, say "I'm not interested" and go to the Lord.