Being and Becoming

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Om Namah Sivaya Out of the microcosm ever comes the macrocosm. Out of ParaSiva--which Is timeless, causeless and formless--ever comes all form. This is the Great mystery without a reason why. Out of pure consciousness ever comes the light which binds all form together in specific bondage, Individualizing

forms, souls, one from another. This is ever happening, as simultaneously struggling souls remove their bondage through the grace of God Siva to come into Satchidananda, later to be absorbed into ParaSiva. This, too, is a great mystery without a reason why. The existence called ParaSiva pervades the infinite Satchidananda, sustaining it just as the Divine Light of God Siva's mind pervades and sustains the

gross forms of this world. ParaSiva does not create Satchidananda, yet Satchidananda is sustained because of the existence of nonexistence. Now, you might ask, "Why?" The answer is that this is the will of our great God Siva. Therefore, first we seek to gain an intellectual clarity as to the path we are on. This purified intellect gives a philosophical clarity and should not in any way be mistaken for attainment. In the technological age there are thousands who are intellectually clear as to the task at hand, how to obtain the objective, and they have the necessary skills to begin. They do not delude themselves that they have already begun or attained anything until failure has been many times encountered, that failure conquered and success achieved in its place. Thus, we draw a distinction between the seasoned yogi whose knowledge has its source in Superconsciousness and the armchair Vedantist who often thinks his intellectual comprehension is some kind of advanced attainment. It is not. Peoples of the West have come too far in technology, too far in the understanding and use of the mind, too far in personal study of

Vedanta to be impressed by this anymore. The two perfections explain well the deep questions man asks himself, questions which bring forth far too few answers. Through meditation upon the two perfections inherent in the soul, we can penetrate the mystery of the oneness of man and God. Man and God are one, yet God Siva has yet a third perfection, Maheshvara, the Primal Soul, already perfect and complete, whereas man's soul body is still

maturing, still evolving. One day, the soul body of man will merge with God Siva in this third perfection. So, we see that man is both being and becoming. He is already perfect, for the essence of his soul, ParaSiva and Satchidananda, exists eternally within him as him, having never been created. Yet, man is evolving, becoming, for his individual soul body, created by God Siva, is not yet perfect, is still evolving through time, eventually to mature into the image and likeness of the Primal Soul and Creator, Maheshvara. I might surprise you when I say that man's soul is created and not created. True, the soul body of light was created by God Siva Himself. Within this body of light and consciousness exist, without beginning or end, the two perfections of ParaSiva and Satchidananda. We find the paradoxes of oneness and twoness, of being and becoming, of created and uncreated existence subtly delineated through an Understanding of the three perfections of our great God Siva. -----Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Sivaya Namah

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