Page 201 - Wisdom Unfurled

The subject of this Chapter is a thumbnail sketch as it were of His more detailed work, ‘Towards Infinity’, commented upon by Revered. K.C.Narayana in ‘Path of Grace’ already referred to. It is quite illuminating to go through some key ideas expressed by Revered. Dr. K.C.Varadachari in his Foreword on the original work of the Divine Master for comprehending the real significance of the Master’s work. He states therein that the Master gives in the book an inward account of the progress of the experiences as the soul passes from one state to another. These bhumikas or stages of the Ultimate have indeed been formed for each individual ray or soul through a process of creative descent and has formed the several knots or granthis or planes each developing a particular law of its own which has made for the bondage and sorrow. It is inevitable that a soul that has formed its descent should attempt to return. The awareness of the steps of the descent having been forgotten it remains for it to seek one who not only knows the steps but has gone beyond to the Ultimate and can lead one up through yogic transmission from stage to stage. It is understandable that one should seek the assistance from such a Master who would have crossed all the stages as a lesser person however advanced he might be compared to the ordinary human condition might have been caught up in some higher knot of being that is but rotating him in that higher circle or wheel.
The originality of these descriptions and the method of transcendence of these knots or circle of being and the experiences of the different kinds of Ananda that has made for the descent, and now makes for the ascent, reveals a new technique unknown to earlier yoga literature. We do have descriptions of the bhumikas (sapta bhumikas) and granthis in some of the Upanishads- for instance in the Mundaka Upanishad which states ‘bidyate hrdaya granthih... tasmin drishte paravare’ (II.2.8)- but we never come across the psychological proof of their nature and being and status of jnana. The Master gives us an account of the thirteen knots and throws wonderful light on them. They are not to be cut but loosened and transcended. Going further than any He shows higher levels of being which transcend the Jnana bhumikas and arise at the supreme transcendent states open to the human being. A keen sadhaka under the guidance of the capable Master can, through his abhyas, discern the stages at which some of the greatest sages of the past had arrived at during their lives and verily in himself the blessedness that is waiting to be explored. The authentic voice of the great Master, whose love for man transcends anything that one knows of, filters through the fascinating account of the soul’s sojourn towards Infinity. That all could achieve emancipation at the same time (sarva mukti) and should is a fervent hope that has hardly divine possibility. But one should realize that individual emancipation is the first step towards universal emancipation and it is possible even in one life for every one provided he