<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; ">
<title>The Human Touch Divine</title>

</head>

<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>

<table border="0" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%">
	<tr>
		<td>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>The Human Touch Divine<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In what does the human touch
consist? What is the thing that is specially and particularly human and is not
found elsewhere, what makes man human – not merely animal and not solely godly?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Well,
it is the mortal element in immortality, mortality immortalised. An animal is
mere mortality, a god solely immortality, man a bridge between the two,
partaking of both. What makes mortality exquisite and poignant – as sacred
indeed as immortality – is that which touched the great poet Virgil who found
for it a mantra, almost a mantra, fairly well-known: &quot;<span class=SpellE>lacrimae</span>
rerum&quot; – <i>tears of things. </i>There is in mortality a spring that
brings forth tear-drops. There is <span class=GramE>a pathos</span> in the very
constitution of mortal things which tends to make the eye liquid as it were. A
god is not given to shedding tears, a god is after all the still silent spirit,
aloof and away, &quot;beyond the little voice that prays&quot;.¹ One</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.15pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>¹I may quote here the lines
of two poets who point to this Immortality that is aloof, beyond and
indifferent, cold and callous:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>&quot;Like
winds or waters were <i>herº </i>ways:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>They
heed not immemorial cries;<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>They
move to their high destinies <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:
1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>Beyond the little voice that prays.&quot;</span></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
7.9pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>– A.E.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>(º <span class=GramE>The</span> One
Will in the Cosmos)<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>&quot;Nos <span class=SpellE>destins</span>
<span class=SpellE>ténébreux</span> <span class=SpellE>vont</span> <span
class=SpellE>sous</span> les <span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>lois</span>
immenses<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Que <span class=SpellE>rien</span> <span
class=SpellE>ne</span> <span class=SpellE>déconcerte</span> <span class=GramE>et</span>
que <span class=SpellE>rien</span> <span class=SpellE>n'attendrit</span>,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Vous <span class=SpellE>ne</span> <span
class=SpellE>pouvez</span> <span class=SpellE>avoir</span> de <span
class=SpellE>subites</span> clemencies<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>Qui <span
class=SpellE>dérangent</span> le monde, Ô <span class=SpellE>Dleu</span>, <span
class=SpellE>tranquille</span> esprit!&quot;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:1.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
5'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>–
Victor Hugo<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 253<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:14.15pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>may</span>
recall here the famous Mahabharata story: it is the <i>swayamvara </i>of
princess Damayanti. Damayanti is to choose (that is to say, find out) her hero
Nala from among the assembled gods who all aspired for the hand of the
beautiful Damayanti. In order to confuse and baffle Damayanti all the gods put
on the appearance of Nala. How to find out? How to distinguish? Damayanti was
given clue by the winking eye: human eyes wink, a god's never wink. The still
unwinking eye is a god's: the human eye blinks or twinkles. That is how
Damayanti recognised her human partner.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And
it is precisely winking, we may say, that brings out the tear-drop – this is
the hallmark of human nature. Winking or blinking means time-bound, time-made,
i.e., mortality, therefore inevitably, tearfulness; on the other hand unwinking
means the unbroken even stretch of eternity, i.e., immortality. It is this
weakness in a thing ephemeral that opens up a secret spring in the human soul.
It is a feeling, an elemental feeling that comes naturally perhaps to a humanly
divine being, a saint such for example as Buddha. In this case it was named
compassion, <i>karuna – </i>one <span class=GramE>whose</span> being
melted in deep sympathy (karuna – <i>karunardra). </i>In the Christian
tradition it was called &quot;pieta&quot; (although it is not pity exactly), it
is the foundation of the Christian virtue, charity, which was originally named
&quot;caritas&quot;, it is an exquisite feeling which is crudely called fellow-feeling,
it is a deeper sympathy now and then termed empathy, the feeling of intimate
togetherness in the root sense. It is not love either which belongs to another
category of human feeling. It is in a way the very core of love, love
transmuted and <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>subtilised</span>
into its very essence: that is per haps the utmost limit of <span lang=EN-GB
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>divinisation</span> that is possible for the human
element. Beyond it is the Brahman - <i>advaitam, aksaram, anantam, </i>– <i>sunyam
</i>– the de-humanised divinity. An exquisite instance of this almost <span
lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>divinised</span> human element –
this residuum of humanity raised and taken into<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 254<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<hr>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>divinity is given by
Sophocles in his Antigone.¹ The very first words that Antigone utters
addressing her sister express wonderfully this feeling I am trying to express
here – this feeling of union and compassion in an exquisite beauty of expression:
it has a tone of human frailty – the frailty with which Shakespeare condemns
womanhood but a frailty which a divine being does not disdain to own or accept.
It is the wonderful integrator of two, rather twin beats – not the subsumption,
fusion or annihilation of either in a super-unity, but a close intermingling of
two vibrations weaving a magic harmony.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>How
far can the human be <span lang=EN-GB style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>divinised</span>?
The Divine as Avatara does become human, almost totally – in appearance at
least. One may recall not only the impulses and passions, all the foibles and lapses,
even misdeeds liberally recorded of Sri Krishna. But this does not mean that
the human has been divinised in him, the Divine has only assumed the human
character and qualities, it is after all a disguise, <span class=GramE>it</span>
is an assumption, the <i>adhyaropa </i>of Maya upon Brahman. The Divine is
beyond the Maya. The question remains then how far <span class=GramE>can human</span>
remain human and yet be truly divinised. The feeling, the experience in the
heart of the saintly human being which we have variously described as
commiseration, 'caritas', 'karuna', seems to set the limit of <span lang=EN-GB
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>divinisation</span>. There is love of course,
but it is a dangerous and ambiguous term. The central truth and reality of love
is Ananda – ananda in the category of Sat-chit-ananda. But there I am afraid
the human element gets dissolved.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
tear-drop in the eye of the Divine seems to be the supreme status of the human
in the Divine. Can one go farther?</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
have seen in our Mother the tear-drop, the mark of her Grace, transmuted into
her smile – the smile that is supremely divine and supremely human, the utmost
elevation of both becoming one.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:10.3pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>¹ O lovely head of Ismene, common to both,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>born</span> of the same self.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page –
255<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
10.3pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

</div>

<p align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<a href="-01-contents"><img src="_Gif%20Image/Home.gif" width="51" height="32" border="0"></a></p>
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>
</body>

</html>
