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Secret Supreme
Chapter 4 - Pratibimbavada
In the ordinary worldly course, sound is reflected outwardly in
ether and inwardly in the ear. Touch is reflected outwardly in air
and inwardly in the skin. Form is reflected outwardly in fire and
in a mirror, and inwardly in the eye. Taste is reflected outwardly
in water and inwardly in the tongue. Smell is reflected outwardly
in earth and inwardly in the nose. These reflections, however, are
just like the reflections in a mirror. They only take place individually.
All five reflections are not available at once; only one thing is
reflected in each. In a mirror form is reflected. Touch cannot be
reflected in a mirror nor can taste, smell, or sound. A mirror will
only reflect form. It is only in Supreme God Consciousness that
you find all five reflected at once. In fact, although these reflections
are experienced individually in all of the sense organs—sight
in the eye, sound in the ear, etc.—these reflections could
not even be observed if consciousness were not there. Awareness
is needed and this is found in consciousness, not in the organs.
The universe, therefore, is reflected in the mirror of consciousness,
not in the organs, nor in the five gross elements. These are merely
tattvas and cannot reflect anything. The real reflector is consciousness.
In consciousness, however, you see only the reflected thing and
not anything that is reflected. That which is reflected (bimba)
is, in fact, svatantrya (absolute independent freedom of Lord Shiva).
"This whole universe is the reflection
of svatantrya in God Consciousness."
There is no additional class of similar objects existing outside
of this world that He reflects in His nature. The outside element,
that which is reflected, is only svatantrya. The infinite variety,
which is created, is only the expansion of svatantrya.
You can understand this by taking the example of cause and effect.
When a potter makes a pot, he takes clay and gives form to that
clay with his potter’s instruments, such as a stick, a string,
and the potter’s wheel. Within the potter’s creative activity,
two kinds of causes can be distinguished. There is the material
cause, which in Sanskrit is called upadana karana. This is that
cause which travels with the effect. It cannot and does not become
separated from the effect. Second, there is the formal cause, which
in Sanskrit is called nimitta karana. The formal cause does not
travel with the effect. The material cause is the potter’s
clay and the formal cause is the potter himself with his stick,
string, and wheel. In the ordinary worldly course, the reflected
object (bimba) seems to be the cause of the reflection (pratibimba),
because the reflected object cannot exist without that which is
reflected. We have seen, however, that all reflection is really
a reflection in God Consciousness.
If the reflected object is really the cause of the reflection,
then what kind of cause is it? Is it the material cause, which travels
with the effect, or is it the formal cause, which does not travel
with the effect?
It cannot be the material cause because that would mean that there
is something outside of God Consciousness, which travels to become
part of the effect, which is the reflection. It is our theory in
Shaivism that nothing can exist outside of God Consciousness. There
cannot, therefore, be any agency which is separate from God Consciousness
which travels with the cause, because if it is separate from God
Consciousness, and therefore from the effect, it would not exist.
If the reflection of some object is existing in the mirror of God
Consciousness, then of what is that object a reflection?
We have seen that if the object which is reflected were to remain
outside of God Consciousness, then it would not exist. There can
be nothing, therefore, which is outside to be reflected in the mirror
of God Consciousness. There is only the mirror. There is no external
cause, which has gone into the reflection, which is the effect.
There is only the mirror of God Consciousness.
But what then is the cause of this reflection?
Svatantrya is the mirror. Svatantrya, the absolutely independent
will of God, is the cause of this reflection. Unlike ordinary reflection
which we experience in the world, wherein an object can be distinguished
as the cause of that reflection, in God Consciousness only the reflection
exists and not anything that is separate and reflected. In this
causality, svatantrya is the formal cause, not the material cause
of the reflection. It does not travel from the cause into the effect
because, as I have explained, there is no cause which could be separate
from God Consciousness. It is His free will, that He wills, and
what He wills appears in the mirror of His Consciousness. It is
simply His will (svatantrya). In reality, only the reflection exists
and not anything that is reflected.
This universe, therefore, is found in the reflector of God Consciousness,
not through the agency of anything of which it is a reflection (bimba),
but through His svatantrya, where the universe is contained in seed
form.
"Svatantrya is the seed of everything.
Everything exists in the mirror of God Consciousness with svatantrya
as its cause."
The theory of reflection (pratibimbavada) is meant for advanced
yogins. This theory teaches them how to be aware in their daily
activities, while talking, while walking, while tasting, while touching,
while hearing, while smelling. While they are performing all of
these various actions they see that all of these actions move in
their Supreme Consciousness. Their vision, their perception, heretofore
limited, becomes unlimited. The mode of their actions becomes absolutely
unique. They see each and every action in their God Consciousness.
They exist in the state of Sadashiva. Each and every action of their
life becomes glorious. This is the awareness that comes from the
practice of pratibimba.
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Secret Supreme
contents
chapter 04
chapter 05
chapter 10
chapter 14
chapter 16
chapter 17
chapter 19
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