THE COSMIC PLAY

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4.THE COSMIC PLAY

By P.N. JANAKIRAMAN, B.A., Bombay.

 

As Saint Kabirdas most beautifully observes in his famous poem "The

creator brought into being the Game of Joy and from the word OM the

creating sprang. The earth is HIS joy; HIS joy is the Sky. HIS joy

is the GURU is one and life and death, union and separation, are all

HIS plays of joy. In play is the creation spread out, in play it is

established. The whole world, says Kabir, rests in his play, yet the

player still remains unknown" etc,. etc., It is indeed, the Supreme,

Lord Divine that plays and plays endlessly with HIS own manifested

power(shakti) in all threats of the Self-created Cosmic space, in

the Sun, in the Moon, in the Earth; in all the grand stars, planets

and other Cosmic luminaries, manifesting the Supreme Beatitude in

ever increasing matter to the progressive evolution of the Cosmic

Existence from the dull unfoldment of the inherent Divinity, the

Supreme Truth, the Glorious Light through the medium of Matter.

 

In this grand process of Universal Evolution, the pairs of opposites

like heat and clod, life and death, happiness and misery etc., etc

are only the ebb and flow of one life that pervades and permeates

the whole Universe. Such pairs of opposites are quite necessary for

the evolution.

 

The external changes or modifications, however forceful they may be,

cannot in the least effect the Supreme Underlying Reality that is at

the bottom of all Cosmic multiplicities of ONE EXISTENCE inherent in

every being in the Universe, whether it be the inert stone or the

stable plant or the moving animal or the rational man.

 

In the well-planned scheme of the whole universe and in the Divine

order of things, nothing can remain or happen contrary to the Will

Divine. Only for the sake of Play of the Eternal Lord, even the

apparent pairs of opposites exist to glorify the One Existence and

HIS greatness and the Glory of the Truth Delight. The benefit of the

shade is known only when one goes in the scorching Sun. Hence to

enjoy the Supreme calmness and peace, as also the infinite Bliss one

has to undergo the infinite varieties of sorrows and trails as also

pass through carious periods and great disturbances and turmoils in

many lives, before he is given the opportunity to enjoy the supreme

felicity.

 

Even Maya or Divine Illusion is a myth. If one goes deeper and

deeper in self analysis and introspection aided by meditation and

contemplation, he will arrive at the Supreme Truth by himself, that

it is only that Supreme Divine Lord (call it by whatever name you

like),plays, as already stated, under various guises with HIS own

manifested Power (the shakti) for an endless time in the Time

Eternal. In the king as well as in the beggar; in the rich as well

as in the poor; in the healthy as well as in the sickly; in the

elephant as well as air and the worm; in the stars as well as in the

moon or the sun; in the air and the fire; in water and in the earth,

it is indeed HE, the Glorious Lord that delightfully shines in all

HIS Beauty, Light and Truth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He, the Supreme One transcends all forms and names. We can say only

that HE is the embodiment of all LOVE, LIGHT, BLISS and TRUTH. Only

for the sake of Cosmic Play that formless and nameless one who is

the substratum of all existence and knowledge, as also Bliss, takes

forms and names – for what? – For the Cosmic delight and Ananda.

 

Readers of Gita will easily understand that the whole manifested

Universe (with all its gigantic stars, planets, sun, moon, earth and

other great cosmic Inminaries)-is only a drop in the Infinite Being.

Then just for a moment Imagine HIS transcendental Glory and Light

which transcends the faculty of human imagination.

 

 

The Prakriti or Shakti (the manifesting power and the Force of the

Divine) is inherent in HIS Supreme Divine Being. In order to cast a

spell over the reality and the Truth that the Lord is playing with

HIS own Prakriti Ignorance is allowed to have its full sway over all

beings in the Universe whose movements and activities are verily

goaded by HIM and HIM only, so that under multiple guises, He can

continue HIS own Cosmic play unidentified by anybody. Realised one

is he that understands this Supreme Cosmic secret and remains silent

in the stillness of Supreme Silence enjoying the whole Play as the

Play of his own Self.

 

 

Whether he be good or bad, sinner or traitor, everyone will attain

the same goal, and the question is time. All are but the infinite

number of sparks from that ONE LIGHT which forever exists. Rather,

quoting Upanishad, "The invisible is the whole. From the whole the

visible Universe of `infinite extension has come out, but still the

whole remains the same, even through the infinite Universe has come

out of it." In every being in the Universe the Divine is present and

the question is in its degree of manifestation.

 

As already observed, the very purpose of evolution consists in the

unfoldment of the inherent o Divinity in slow degrees in course of

time in the Time Eternal. In short, we can say that in all, sinner

and saint, elephant and worm etc., etc.it is the Glorious Lord that

plays and plays endlessly. Knowledge this grand truth, we remain

spell-bound and absorbed in His ecstatic dance, Cosmic Life and

Existence, always praying and praying, so that He, in us, gives the

necessary strength and knowledge to attain that grand state and

level from which we can witness the whole universal activities as

also the play of HIM.. In us not only in theory but in practice, the

attainment of which consciousness alone will liberate us from the

clutches of Divine Illusion and make us free fro ever to rest in HIS

Glory, Peace and Delight of Divine Existence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With one of the immoral poems of Kabir let me conclude this short

note: -

" Dance, my heat, dance to day with joy.

The strains of Love fill the days and nights with Music and the

World is listening to its melodies.

Mad with joy, life and death dance to the rhythm of this Music. The

hills and Sea and the Earth dance. The world of man dances in

laughter and tears. Why put on the robes of the monks and live aloof

from the world in lonely pride?

 

- Behold! My heart dance in the delight of a hundred arts; and

the creator is well-pleased."

(Adopted from Sai Sudha Jan 1944)