<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 Bride of Brahman</title>

</head>

<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue style='tab-interval:.5in;text-justify-trim:
punctuation'>

<table border="0" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%">
	<tr>
		<td>

<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">The Bride of Brahman</font><o:p></o:p></b></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'><i><span style='font-size:
15.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></i></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'>(Rig-Veda:
X.109)</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'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></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'>I AM going to tell you a story
today, a story both for the old and the young, a very old and ancient story.
Indeed it is from the Veda.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Once
upon a time – of course I am speaking of a time when there was no time nor
space, before the existence of time and space, when there existed only One
Being, the nameless Being – named Brahman! To us, human beings, it is the
Supreme Existence, the Lord, God or whatever one chooses to call him. He is
also the Lord Surya, the luminous Truth, the sale Light of Lights. So then it
once happened: this luminous Brahman looked at himself and found surprisingly
that his luminosity, his brightness was getting dimmed, he was becoming darker
and darker. He was at a loss, and confused. What was it due to? Then he thought
of the Gods, his companions. They came along immediately, and the foremost
among them was Varuna: Varuna means also one who has the vast consciousness and
vision. He can see far, far into the longest distance, into the unseen future.
Then he found it out, what the matter was, and said: &quot;Lord, your Shakti
has gone away.&quot; Brahman and his Shakti, Brahmajaya, were one: they were
both together, fused into one united single being always. Varuna said:
&quot;the Bride of Brahman has left Brahman.&quot; Now it was the task of all
to find out where she had gone leaving Brahman in this state of darkness. Then
it was always Varuna who through his sight, long sight, his penetrating vision
found<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 21 </span>
<span style='font-family:Arial'>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</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'>that Brahmashakti, the
Divine Power has gone away far, very far, deep into the bosom of the Earth, and
has disintegrated herself into material substances. She has become Matter,
unconscious and dark like matter. The Gods found she was there one with
ordinary creatures and things and objects. Then they conferred among themselves
and decided: &quot;We must awaken her, make her conscious of herself, take her
back to her Lord, the Brahman – so can he also reclaim and regain his own
identity.&quot; So the first of the Gods who approached her was the God Soma.
Soma means the Moon or Delight, that is Ananda. The Gods said: It was Ananda,
Delight, that joined them together, the Lord and the Shakti; so, for their
union, their reunion, it is natural and in the fitness of things that Soma
should lead the way and approach her. So all the Gods went together to her and
explained to her the situation, and at last persuaded her to follow them in
their path, the long journey, the return journey homeward. We may recollect
here also the image of Parvati sojourning in her earthly mother's home and
returning to Kailash, to her heavenly Lord.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:22.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
is also another, similar or parallel story in the Veda about the God Agni,
about the disappearance of this very important God, Fire. He is, as you know,
the God who presides over and even carries out the sacrifice, the Vedic ritual
of <i>yajña. </i>Sacrifice cannot be done without fire, he is the Purohita, one
installed in front of this great ceremony the ceremony, – I may immediately
disclose to you, of the advancement of consciousness. It starts with the
kindling of fire – which means the symbol of the awakening of the aspiring
will. Now the story runs: the sacrifice was to begin and all things were ready
when all of a sudden it was found that the leader of the sacrifice, the Deity
was not there. They all searched for him, he was found nowhere. He had fled.
Then, as usual, once again all the Gods assembled and rummaged everywhere to
catch the defaulter. Now the problem: where could he go after all? It was his
duty to</p>
	<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 22 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</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'>be present and begin the
work, but at the critical moment he is not there! All went about in all
directions, and at last found the Fire hiding – hiding where? <b>–</b> under
water. Then the Gods approached him and asked: &quot;O Fire, why are you
hiding? Come out, your task is there.&quot; Fire answered: &quot;No, I won't
go, whatever you say, I remain here.&quot; – &quot;But why?&quot; – &quot;It is
a very difficult task. Many others before me had tried to do this job,
undertaken to shoulder this responsibility. But none succeeded, at least
completely. So I don't want to take the trouble of repeating a failure. It is a
useless attempt.&quot; The Gods persisted, prayed, entreated: &quot;No, Agni,
it is your job. You will reap the full benefit of it, we assure you.&quot; The
Gods in the end succeeded in pacifying and persuading the truant God.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Sacrifice
means – as I have told you just now – the ascension of the consciousness. When
we rise up from the ordinary material level, when we have moved towards the
higher Light from out of the obscurity of the senses, that is ascension, and
that is called sacrifice: for you move up .by rejecting the lower strand, the
lower levels of nature, and acquire the higher realities. The Fire is the fire
that is the force of your heart, of your aspiration that you want to be
something more than the ordinary mortal that you are. So it is indeed a <i>tapasya,
</i>a strenuous effort to rise up – against the pull of gravity; indeed, it is
a great trouble. Agni did not want to take the trouble because man, the normal
man also refuses it. But as I said, there was a happy ending, for at last Agni
agreed. Here we find Agni hiding under water. What does water signify? Water is
the symbol of vitality, vital-power, the life-force. This also is a form of the
same Consciousness-Force that is Agni, but robed, clothed in a material sheath,
a hidden home as it were. It is to be released from there and move up.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Now
we go back to our story. The Gods accompanied Brahmajaya, the Bride of Brahman
in her journey back home. But the story has a beginning, an earlier episode -<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;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;'>Page – 23 <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;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'>a prologue as it were. Why
did the Divine Bride leave at all her Lord? What was it that made her run away?
– leaving him alone with whom she was once one in perfect union? The story is
as the Upanishad reports, the Lord Brahman was long – in fact for eternity –
single, alone, the One Existence, the One Truth, undivided, indivisible; but at
one time of his existence he became conscious that he<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>was alone. So long he had not thought of it
at all. No thought of being alone or of other people being around was there. He
was simply Existence, existing. But now he felt, he saw that he was alone, and
once you begin to think you cannot stop. Then he said: Alone how can one be
happy? You must be two to become happy – <i>ekaki na ramate. </i>When you are
alone you don't enjoy. So you must be two. Thus Brahman, the Supreme, divided
himself into two, One divided two-fold: one part man, the other part woman; one
part consciousness, the other part force, power; one part Brahman, the other
part Brahmashakti. So long both the parts were there, but they were united,
soldered as it were, fused into one being and person; Shakti and her Lord, Fire
and its Flame – they were one and indivisible. But, as I said, when the thought
came they must be two, in fact also they separated, Brahman separated himself
from his Shakti and took Shakti out, and Shakti herself went out, and the two
separated actually, stood face to face as it were. You may remember – I mean
the elder generation – the drama that was staged here in the Theatre, directed
by the Mother – &quot;He and She&quot; – and the play, the Lila of
&quot;He&quot; and &quot;She&quot; was displayed, how they were one, how they
separated, and the play of union and reunion. Now when they separated, in
order to look closely and carefully they separated more and more, the distance
grew slowly, so much so that they were completely separated, and the Shakti was
so far away from her Lord that she went to the other extreme. Brahman was the
supreme consciousness above, and She became the absolute dark Matter below. And
Brahman too</p>
	<div style='margin-left:-9.8pt'>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:9.8pt;text-align:center;
text-indent:-9.8pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 24 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

</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'>separated utterly the
other way from his Shakti and went off in the contrary direction, towards
Nothingness, Shunya as reported by the Buddhists.</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'>Now
the return journey. The Shakti cannot be for long away from her Lord, that
cannot be the final stance. She is to come back to her Lord. This is the story
of the redemption of material nature and her gradual transmutation into the
higher Nature, regaining her status by the side of her Lord. The process or
the series of steps described by the Veda remains always the same, for human
beings also for their liberation from inferior nature and regaining the
spiritual nature. The Veda says the Gods came one by one and led the Shakti up
the way. First Soma came, that is to .say, Delight touched the inner core of
the fallen Nature and impelled her to awake and rise. As Ananda was the source
of their first union, so for the reunion Ananda is the inspirer and the leader.
Next Agni was directed to take the Shakti along with him on the way. Agni
means, as I have said, the light and fire of aspiration to rise up. Agni first
initiated the ignorant Shakti with a <i>mantra, </i>it is like a normal human
initiation when you enter the spiritual life. You have to go to a Guru and the
Guru gives you the <i>mantra </i>that awakens your consciousness. Now Agni gave
as <i>mantra </i>the Divine word &quot;Brahma&quot; as the image of the Divine.
She was to concentrate upon it till she became in consciousness identified with
Him. She did so and after a time when she felt she recognised her Lord and accepted
Him, the God Agni said: &quot;Now proceed. You have to go to the second stage.
Enlarge your being, enlarge your consciousness; what you have got now is the
realisation that you are the Brahman, you are one with Him. Now you have to
unite yourself with all beings, with all Gods, with all creatures, universalise
yourself.&quot; So the .Bride of Brahman from her individual realisation went
forward into the universal where she met her Lord, dwelling in all beings and
all creatures everywhere, – she entered into the mansion of all the Gods.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 25 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Now,
you know there are three steps, three steps of consciousness, three steps of
your being in its ascension towards the Supreme: first, your ordinary individual
being with your particular name and form, that is the personal individual;
then, coming out of that shell you learn to be one with all beings, all
humanity, all things even. You become as large as creation itself; however,
that is not the end. You have to go beyond, beyond, into what is known as the
Transcendent, there you find the Supreme, the total, the Supreme Truth of your
being. So the Bride of Brahman from her universal realisation went into <i>the </i>Transcendent,
into her Lord, her own total Self. From her ignorant material formulation in
her upward march she was shedding her scales as it were, of her inferior
formations, putting on purer and higher and more glorious embodiments.
Ultimately she found herself to be as she used to be originally and always and
ever before the separation. When thus united the Gods were also included in
their embrace and all found themselves happy at last.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:23.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is said that this separation and this reunion meant a greater fulfilment upon
earth. Without the separation the fulfilment also would not have happened upon
earth. Earth would have remained as it is but because of the separation, that
is to say, the Bride of Brahman separating herself from her Lord and coming
down into Matter and becoming one with Matter, there arose the possibility, the
inevitability of fusing her reality and the reality of Brahman into Matter.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
Divine Bride dropped down on earth and dived into Matter and became one with
it. She became Matter, material Nature, dense, dark, heavy with all its
weight. She became as the Veda names her, &quot;Bhimajaya&quot; – the mighty,
the terrible spouse – in fact our Mahakali. She was originally the fair spouse
– Saumyajaya. But there is to be a progress, a gain. So when she rises and is
on her upward march she has now acquired the capacity to carry and lift</p>
	<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 26 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</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'>with her the heaviest load
of the Inconscient and gradually transmute it. In the final realisation all the
Gods are to come to the forefront and all mankind are to come out as it were
into the open and bask in the Solar Light and share in the delight of the union
of the. Divine Bride and her Bridegroom.</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'>This
is the drama that is happening, a real drama, it is not a fictitious story. It
is an action that is happening in some other world in a subtler realm. It is
repeated in those &quot;heavens&quot; as the Vedas say, and repeated so that it
becomes more and more concrete, more and more real upon earth and finally is
embodied and materialised upon earth.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
this cosmic drama one remarkable feature is to be observed. If there has been a
descent there must inevitably follow an ascent. The Shakti has come down alone
apparently, but she cannot be alone essentially. She comes down with her Lord
behind in the background. In the utmost gloom of hard Matter, Brahman is also
there, imbedded in its very core as an infinitesimal spark, a tiny particle of
light as it were. And that means an upward urge or élan, aspiration as we say
is always there. That is what happens in fact when the Shakti reaches the
bedrock of total unconsciousness, there is a rebounding movement, the movement
of a boomerang as it were. That is the awakening of the inanimate Nature, her
evolution, her initiation into the upward journey. In her growth, it is to be
noted, the Lord also grows side by side with her unfoldment; that is to say,
the Lord too manifests Himself more and more: this is a biune manifestation.
The two can never be separated, they were always together, the apparent
separation or obscuration is only a play, a Lila, for a greater reunion.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
do not know but perhaps we of this age are very much near, may be to the very
door of the final realisation of which they, the ancients, spoke, when really
Matter, concrete, dull, obscure Matter, our material Mother – Bhimajaya of the
Veda – will be transformed and our humanity even</p>
	<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:9.8pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 27 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</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'>will have a share in the
transformation. As it is now, these things, I have said, are repeated in other
worlds, in the subtler realms, in subtler forms and subtler forces. The
absolutely material form is not, but perhaps preparing just behind the rising
dawn. All of you, all of us, will surely take part in the consummation in some
form or other, earlier or later.</p>
	<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 0in 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 28 </span></p>

</div>

</div>

<p align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<a href="-00_Content"><img src="_Gif%20Image/Home.gif" width="60" height="25" border="0"></a></p>
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>

</body>

</html>
