The Yogis

There are three steps in the progression of philosophic enquiry (or Vedantic thought) in India. They are the Adwaithic, the Visishta-Adwaithic and the Dwaithic. It is not possible to advance beyond these three steps by any human endeavour. Adwaithic thought is beyond reach of the common man; it is not so easily comprehensible. To conceive it with the intellect is itself hard. To experience it, a powerful faculty of penetration is needed. Therefore, it is best to start with the Dualist or Dwaithic step, and experience it as the reality behind things; then, the second stage of Visishtadwaitha is rendered easier to reach.

The individual must progress as fast or as steadily as the community. We pass through boyhood, childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age and old age; it is an imperceptible but inevitable progress. We experience each only when we are passing through it. So, too, with these three stages of philosophic discovery. Each of these views is latent in the rest and each proceeds out of the experience of the previous stage. It is not possible to be aware of all three at the same time. Based on our Sadhana and the experiences gained therefrom, each of these viewpoints comes into the consciousness and forms the spring of action and thought.

Those who assert that the Universe is real, but, declare at the same time that the existence of God is but a dream, are only proving themselves foolish. For, when the effect, namely, the Cosmos is real, it must have a Cause, for, how can there be an effect with no cause? God can be denied only when the Universe is denied. God can disappear, only when the Cosmos disappears. What now appears as the Cosmos is really God; this is the Vision that the true Sadhaka will get when he succeeds in his endeavour. As a matter of fact, the Universe we experience is the dream. When we awake from the dream, the Truth of its being God will shine in the consciousness. From the beginning of time, the God whom we posit outside ourselves has been the reality inside us also. This Truth too will become steady in the faith of man.