"I establish the whole universe with a single portion of myself, and remain separate." — Bhagavad Gita, Chap. X.
All systems of philosophy postulate the basic homogeneity of the cosmos; and, perhaps, all agree that everything in manifestation proceeds from the unknown Root; and that all forms are but differentiations of that one Reality, from which separation is impossible. If this be so the right action of the differentiations would be a "mass chord," so to speak, running through the whole. What constitutes harmony with that mass chord is the question which all systems of ethics try to answer.
It is said that man is a microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm of which he is a part. In man there is a correlating consciousness which marshals in harmonious order, and directs to a common purpose all the smaller lives which compose his organism. Keeping in mind the fact that all things are differentiations of the one, that correlating consciousness in man must be part of the cosmic consciousness which binds together all things in the universe into one organism. There is but one consciousness running through all. Its purpose is its own progression, which is self-knowledge or wisdom. The action of the consciousness to attain that object is the one law which directs all movement, and harmony with that law is right action. When the cells of the body refuse to act in accordance with the purpose of the correlating consciousness there is discord or disease. The same thing takes place when the individual refuses to recognize the purpose of the universal consciousness. He is then engaged in wrong action, and produces cosmic disease.
As the consciousness of the individual is one with the universal consciousness its purpose can be understood by concentrating upon the highest aspirations of one's own soul; by listening to the ''Voice of the Silence" and obeying its behests. At bottom they are the behests of the Oversoul or The Self.
Hitherto we have too often looked outward to gain wisdom, and the result is that we possess no exact knowledge except that of exteriors. Mathematics is the only approximately exact science that we have, and, as at present understood, it deals only with the outward aspects of things. Its three branches, Geometry, Arithmetic and Mechanics, relate to the forms, numbers and motions of bodies. Mathematics may be fittingly called the science or ethics of externals. The mathematician has no desire whatever to violate mathematical law. He knows that nothing but disaster can result from doing so. He has realized that mathematical law is synonymous with the law of his own being, and to that extent his will has become identified with the will of the Universe.
But all things have interior as well as exterior aspects; such as the vital, the emotional, the mental and the spiritual. If these interior aspects or principles could be cognized with the same degree of accuracy that can be reached in observing the forms, numbers and movements of things, we would have exact sciences or ethics of Biology, Psychology, Spirituality, etc. And those who understood them would have no more desire to violate their laws than has a mathematician to violate mathematical law, for they would know that they were the laws of their own being as well as the laws of the Universe. Their will on all these planes would be identical with the universal will.
When the will of the individual becomes identified with the will of the Universe he has perfect free will, there being no other will to oppose. He has passed through the cycle of necessity and attained freedom by practicing perfect obedience to the laws of his own being, which is the same thing as perfect conformity to the universal will. Such a being is a god.
The normal man stands half way between the animal and the God. This is why the question of his free will is raised.
The animal being without the mental quality — the producer of selfish action, by directing the individual will towards the gratification of selfish desire — may, from one standpoint, be regarded entirely as the creature of circumstances; because it lacks self-consciousness to enable it to select one course of action in preference to another. On the other hand, it may be said to be a free being, for the will of the animal is identical with the will of the Universe, but it is unconscious of its being the agent through which the cosmic consciousness is manifesting.
Man, standing midway, has sufficient mentality or self-consciousness to enable him to initiate action, but, through persistent ignorance, he lacks discrimination to discern his union with the All; and mistaking his personality to be a thing separate and apart from all others, he uses his intellectual powers to devise means to gratify the passions and desires of that personality which he imagines himself to be. He thus produces discord between himself and the universal consciousness, and brings upon himself pain and sorrow; and imagines that he is the victim of adverse circumstances over which he has no control.
"Thou hast to learn to part thy body from thy mind, to dissipate the shadow and to live in the Eternal. For this, thou hast to live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest breathes in thee; to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in SELF." — (Voice of the Silence.)
We forget that all forms are but the outward expression of the consciousness within. We look at the form and hope to gain a knowledge of the soul. This is like looking at the outside of a house with the expectation of becoming acquainted with the tenant. We must first become acquainted with the consciousness which is our own being, before we can hope to learn anything about the consciousness of another entity. If I know nothing about the tenant that dwells in this house of mine, how can I hope to know anything about the tenant of another house.
There are seven definite stages through which the individual passes before he arrives at a knowledge of the Self within: — (1) He is interested only in the personality and spends his whole time contriving methods to satisfy its appetites; (2) He begins to have a presentiment that there is something higher and nobler than mere animal want, something that would make life grand and beautiful; (3) He takes definite steps to find that something which he is sure exists; and the quest of the Holy Grail is commenced; (4) Like King Arthur's Knights, he sets out on horseback to search for it in the external phenomenal world, but his time is divided between the quest and the personality; (5) His whole energy is devoted towards the quest, but he begins to suspect that the Holy Grail is not to be found without and feels that it is within; (6) The interior quest is begun and success is assured, for he obtains glimpses of the Holy Grail, and he then begins truly to live; (7) Union with the SELF is attained and the spiritual eye is opened.
He then realizes the tie that binds together all that lives; that systems, suns, planets, and men are cells in the universal organism, and that the Oversoul or the SELF is the correlating consciousness. He sees that there are in the Universe senses and organs corresponding to those of the individual organism, such as a heart, a nervous system, etc. He feels the joys and sorrows of all that lives just as a cell in the body would feel and know all that takes place within the organism were its consciousness raised to the plane of the individual consciousness. He knows that every discordant jar caused by any individual in the Universe is felt by that Self which is the root of all, just as the individual consciousness feels every discord which disturbs the harmonious working of the cells, and that it is the individual who causes the discord who is the one who suffers the most, as in the physical organism it is the inharmonious cell that feels most the effects of its wrong action, and is rejected if it does not cease to disturb the organism.
Among the various gradations of intelligence manifested by the consciousness which ensouls the forms which we see around us, there is a continuous ascending scale of degrees of development among the organs and senses from incipiency to perfection. For example, the efforts of the sponge to produce circulation by expansion and contraction seem to result from a conscious desire to produce a heart and lungs, for we see all stages of circulation and respiration from that of the sponge to the perfected heart and lungs of the highest animals.
Again, if we trace the evolution of sight it appears to be highly developed feeling. The tips of the antennae of certain insects seem to become eyes. If we examine the points of the horns of a snail with a microscope we will see rudimentary eyes there; and if we watch carefully its movements we will observe that it does not have to touch an obstruction in order to become aware of its presence. Between the incipient vision of the snail and perfect sight we find all gradations of seeing. The same is true of all the senses and organs.
At first sight the facts seem to indicate that the consciousness of the entity, as it ascends through the different kingdoms, produces these senses and organs by continuous conscious efforts until they become perfect and automatic. But on the other hand, do not the various entities variously express the powers and qualities of that universal consciousness which exists in all things, and that the evolution of the lower is in cooperation with the higher; man raising all below him, he himself seeking to become one with the Self.
Consciousness is the one thing that should be studied, and first of all our own consciousness; consciousness is the producer of all forms and all motions; all experiences, whether pleasant or painful, are states of consciousness.
In the Universe of consciousness there are all degrees, from infinite ignorance to infinite wisdom. There are no separate and distinct entities, but all are bound together by the law of compassion or harmony, which "is no attribute."
"It is the Law of LAWS — eternal Harmony, Alaya's SELF; a shoreless universal essence, the light of everlasting right, and fitness of all things, the Law of Love Eternal." — (Voice of the Silence.)
It is only when this law is disregarded that the feeling of separation is produced. Right action, then, is to keep ourselves in unison with this law; first, by attuning the consciousness within to the divine compassion, and outwardly working with the great Helpers of Humanity. Let us support them in their endeavors to clear away the impediments that obstruct the course of the Divine Law.
"The more thou dost become at one with it, thy being melted in its Being, the more thy Soul unites with that which Is, the more thou wilt become COMPASSION ABSOLUTE.