“You consist of Spirit and Soul and body.”
- The Apostle Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:23
According to Shri Hans Raj Maharajji, “A prayer is quite simply a request from God to God” (The Explanation Of The “Prabhu Aapa Jago” Mantra). To try and understand what he means, we will set out what Man is according to traditional Hindu teachings (Upanishads) and give a few elements which could contribute to making it clearer.
One can consider that sincere prayers are from God to God because Man is not the physical body that we see, He is the Atman — God, God in Man. Narayana (God), through the Atman is reflected in the heart, and with deep, sincere prayer one can draw close to Him.
What is the Atman, Which Makes Us God ?
Here
are some important statements about the essence of man in relation to
Brahman - the highest universal principle, the ultimate
reality in the universe, from the Upanishads.
All human beings have a higher state of consciousness and a lower one. The lower consciousness expresses itself through the lower mind or lower manas — the mind of the personality or the lower self. The more we advance spiritually, the more the heart rules this mind.
The higher consciousness is ruled by the Atman which is the highest plane or level of our being. It is closely associated with the Buddhi, or the Spiritual Soul, Universal Soul, the Universal Consciousness in Man at a lower level, through which it works. Buddhi is Love and Wisdom. Next, at an even lower level there is the Manas or embodied consciousness which is the Higher intelligence, the Higher Mind. This Higher Manas is the consciousness aspect in man, the thinker. The Sanskrit words manas (“mind”) and manu (“Man”) share the same ancient proto-Indo-European root, man-, meaning “Man”, indicating that he is, indeed in essence a mind and a thinker. The Higher manas is the Human Soul, that which reincarnates. These three aspects make up the Higher consciousness of Man, ruled by the Atman, which contains everything, and so transmits the necessary qualities to the other two. They are divine, eternal.
The Atman (also written Atma) is God in man. It is the real MAN. It is pure eternal Spirit — without a beginning, without an end. [The Spirit] was not born; It will never die, nor once having been, can It cease to be. Unborn, Eternal, Ever-enduring, yet Most Ancient, the Spirit dies not when the body is dead. (Bagavad Gita, ch. 2)
This Divine Spark is not separate from God — the Supreme Self, so It has never left God's bosom, and never will. Atman literally means Self, and In Hindu spirituality It is also called Brahman, Who is the Supreme Self. It is the highest part of Man's being, It is the Higher Self, the Divine Self. This Self is not individal — it is God — the One Supreme Universal Self. (Upanishads). However, this divinity in man remains latent as long as he has not realized his Higher Self.
The Purpose of the Atman's Expansion
The purpose of this immature Atman expanding Itself into matter is for It to live through the necessary experiences which will allow It to become a full-blown Spiritual Man expressing the Divinity, and take His rightful place in the universe as a competent Agent of God.
The Atman — pure Spirit — not being able to descend to the lower levels of grosser-matter for these experiences, works through Its vehicle (Buddhi), which organizes things for It, and through which It can radiate the light of wisdom to the lower levels to influence and guide the activity of the lower self there, through Its Ray (or Image).
“Mind, prana (life force, vitality), intellect and ego are created by the soul [Universal Soul, Buddhi],” says Hans Raj Maharajji (in Sacha Baba and Meditation). This is to make it possible for the lower self to exist and live through necessary experiences on behalf of the Atman. All spiritual progress in the lower consciousness (the lower self) is registered in the higher consciousness, in the Higher manas.
It is More and More Difficult for the Atman to Guide Its Shadow
The Atman lives in the world of men through Its Ray which animates the fleeting lives on Earth. However, as this lower self (the Shadow of the Atman, the outer self, the personality) goes through different experiences, life after life, the guiding influence of the Atman is less and less felt because man's body becomes more and more complex with the development of the mental, emotional and physical aspects, and so encase Its Ray in thicker matter. And also because of the increasingly materialistic life led, the Atman-Buddhi influence weakens proportionately. Indeed, the five senses of the outer man, along with the activities of the lower mental and the emotions, create a world of spiritual ignorance (avidya) and illusions (maya), making the lower self, Its Shadow, believe that life on the physical plane is the real world. The Shadow becomes attached to this life:
The effort to find happiness creates involvement and attachment to feelings and actions.
(Hans Raj Maharajji in Sacha Baba and Meditation)
However in the heart is reflected the love and wisdom of Atman-Buddhi which guide man when he accepts to listen to the the little voice of conscience (inner voice) which tells us what is right or wrong. The more we listen to it, the stronger it becomes, and the more the lower self expresses itself through the heart as love and wisdom.
Because of this spiritual activity, the lower self starts to build a bridge between its mind — the mind of the personality — and the Higher mind (Higher Manas). But without appropriate diligent spiritual practice (sadhana) this takes a long time and many lives are necessary to build it. Each good thought, word or deed contributes to building this bridge. The bridge is built when the lower mind becomes one with the Higher mind, and so the lower self disappears, since the lower mind no longer exists.
Maharajji explains that when the individual ego (lower self, personality) no longer identifies with emotions, it is then possible to get into a state of meditation. In that state the seeker's consciousness rises above that of the lower self, and when it remains there :
"...his body consciousness and actions progressively dissolve into their root. Mind, prana, intellect and ego are creations of the soul. They slowly, slowly stop moving and through inactivity, dissolve into their source. The spiritual seeker then enters a state where eternal bliss constantly flows. This is called "meditation". (Sacha Baba and Meditation)
“...thou hast to merge the two into the One and sacrifice the personal to SELF impersonal”, says an ancient manuscript.
That is why Sacha Baba says (in The Principle of Sadhana):
"Sacrifice the Ego !" (lower self, lower mind, the separative self)
"Sacrifice your own interests."
"Life itself is Yoga. Every action must be united with God. "
According to him,
“When a spiritual seeker begins to live in God, slowly, slowly his egoistic knot begins to loosen and then breaks, and the stage comes when there is no difference between God and the devotee. The great power of God becomes one with the seeker, who becomes an instrument of God. Henceforth, all his efforts are directed towards world progress, the enlightenment of this world, and its transformation and unification with God."
This happens when the bridge has been built. The disciple has now become a jivanmukta — one who is liberated from samsara (the almost endless cycle of birth-death-rebirth). Sacha Baba then explains that the disciple must still continue his effort and finish the transformation:
“When the seeker reaches that stage, he must still make an effort to change his entire consciousness, and retain the divine energy in him. When his consciousness has completely changed, he will see the world as the centre of God. ”
In
other words, once
the bridge has been built, the next stage leads to the
union of the mind (Manas) with the Universal Soul (Buddhi) and then
with the Atman (Higher Self) —
three in ONE.
The Silent Watcher Finally Falls Asleep
However, it usually happens that Atman-Buddhi — the Silent Watcher — finally becomes practically inactive because His Ray, clothed in more and more matter and encased in thick layers of illusion can no longer make His guiding influence felt. The Shadow then becomes his own master, and the Watcher can no longer direct him through His Ray. So He falls asleep. God in Man falls asleep, just as Sacha Baba says. As far as His Shadow is concerned, the only thing that exists is himself and the physical world (of shadows). He becomes more and more selfish and sees himself as separate from other people and beings. He centers most of his attention on the attractions of this dream-world.
This is normal in the development of Man. But this stage cannot last forever and the Cycles of time or Ages continue to unfold, now pushing Man's Shadow to break away from the chains of illusion, to wake up from his dream and go on to the next stage where the higher consciousness dominates.
The Purpose of the Prabhu Aapa Jago Mantra
Sacha Baba, as a saint and Avatar, spent his entire life working for the liberation of the whole world. The purpose of his powerful mantra is to to make it easier for everyone to attain a higher state of consciousness and then Self-Realization - i.e. becoming one with the Higher Self, God in Man, not only to alleviate pain and suffering, but especially to make humanity ready for the new era coming in. This mantra, working on the higher planes in the Universal Soul, greatly helps to tear away or disolve the veils of maya blocking the path to the Higher Self and God.
Through a more spiritual attitude [including the adoption of a meditative practice, japa, selfless service and an intense desire to live as one's real Self], the thread between the Higher and lower selves gets stronger more quickly and finally they become ONE, and this new Man is no longer dominated by maya, but is ruled by the Atman. He can then say “My Father and I are One”. Man is then liberated from the pairs of opposites eg. sad/happy, pleased/angry, hopeful/disappointed etc. having achieved Yoga – Union with God. He is now a Spiritual Man and will henceforth help God in his work as a competent Agent. Hans Raj Maharajji puts it this way (in The Explanation of the Prabhu Aapa Jago Mantra):
“When our flow of consciousness becomes ready to change direction we then enter an awakened state, on a plane where we are one with Paramatma. In that state, there is no samsara, nor the confusion of it, nor attachment or repulsion towards it because we now understand its true nature.”
Golden is the path which leads to SACHA.
Indeed, once on the other side of the bridge,
one has attained the TRUTH
and the LIGHT.
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