Content
The esoteric symbol, part 1, a vision of the Infinite
The esoteric symbol, part 2, attraction of the Centre
The esoteric symbol, part 3, Pure Love and Simplicity
The esoteric symbol, part 1, a vision of the Infinite
– Could you please tell me more about the esoteric symbol?, asked Theophile the Younger.
– Actually, the symbol has never been commented upon. Its interpretation has been left to the discretion of each person, Theophile the Elder answered.
– What about your interpretation?
– I can try, if you want:
The most important feature in this symbol is the point of light in its centre. It represents the only goal, in our Sahaj Marg meditation. The divine energy flows from that Centre. When our spiritual Guide has connected us to it, the divine Source of energy fuels us constantly. The source also paves the way towards Itself and helps us progress through the various regions of our being.
The point of light is what attracts us, like moths round a flame, and once we have reached it, we fall into a divine dimension.
The central point is the One, the Unique. It gives us an objective to be aimed at, but the target is the Zero, where it comes from, and that is what we want to reach.
– Do you mean that we aim at the ONE, and that once we have reached it, we fall into Zero, what you call the divine dimension?
– Now, the Zero may be reached with the help of a spiritual guide, who is the boatman, the one who knows the place of our destination. All mystics aim or have aimed at uniting with God, the One and only God.
Some of them, Babuji for instance, ended plunging into the Zero, the Centre.
– How can we do it?, asked Theophile the Younger, rather perplexed.
– It is practically impossible without the help of a Master who has already gone through it. It is like in Japanese archery, where you shoot to the Centre, i.e. the One.
You close your eyes and go beyond the One.
You shoot to meet Infinity.
The target fades away.
Then you have met the Centre of the target, the Zero.
– I’m not sure I’ve really understood. Can you say it again, please?
– First you start with trying to be one with God. Then you erase the One, where you still existed, and now you are in God.
You still have to erase your idea of God.
Then you can perceive His essence, you are in His essence.
Now you also have to erase His essence and become ‘the essence of His essence’.
That is what I call the Zero.
When you aim at the Centre, you reach the Infinite
– Then why do I need a symbol?
– The symbol is the target, the means. It is just like a viewfinder for the Infinite.
It is at once real and virtual.
You stand firm on the earth.
You go to the centre of the first star, then to the centre of the second star, and that’s it.
For the stars to be aligned, the 6 rays you can see on the symbol, the five points of the heart and the five cosmic points must be balanced and illuminated. Only then will the Centre be visible and within reach.
The esoteric symbol, part 2, attraction of the Centre
Theophile the elder continues:
– The Centre radiates that attracting energy. It is our source, but it is also the source of all lives existing in the Creation. It emits a powerful current and, as the salmons do, we have to swim upstream. The nearer the Centre we get, the more powerful the current becomes. Babuj used to say that it is almost impossible for a soul to proceed in the so-called ‘central’ region.
The esoteric symbol.
– How should we do it? Is there a means?
– The secret is: simplicity and balance.
Babuji said: “God is simple and can be achieved by simple means.” Therefore, we have to become simple.
– How to do it?
– Through cleaning.
The first star corresponds to the initiation of the being within the sphere of manifestation called the heart region. When the five points have been cleaned and purified, the being is absorbed into the star centre, and a quantum leap will plunge it into a cosmic dimension. There the being is no longer submitted to terrestrial gravity. He is now subject to the gravitational pull of the sun.
– Do you mean that it compares with the spaceship which, having got free from the terrestrial gravity through a successful taking off, flies to the sun that is attracting it?
– The metaphor is very nice indeed.
Then the work goes on through the second star and its five points. After these have been purified and illuminated in their turn, the soul is absorbed by the centre of that second star, by the centre of the sun and a quantum leap takes it to the supra cosmic region.
– If I have understood it correctly, the first initiation was terrestrial, via the star of the heart, then it was solar in the second cosmic star, reaching for a second level of depth. And this what you had me experiment when you touched my heart and the crown of my head simultaneously.
The points of the spiritual yatra.
– Exactly.
The tenth point is that of the Union with God, and it was known of the mystics of all ages, of all eras. Many of them believed that their evolution would end there, but in fact it is only the beginning of the path. At this stage and for the first time, the human being comes into contact with God, He who has no form, no name and no attribute. Before, they could only perceive the reflection of the Divine, and not the Divine Itself.
The God to which they are united now is the creator, who stands in the centre of the first star, of the second star, and who is the very centre, materialized by the luminous point. The three levels are all present in the heart of man. That is the reason why we have to plunge deep in our hearts, right to the core. It implies three successive steps. There are moments when we are totally absorbed in meditation and lose consciousness of our own existence, immerged as we are into our profundity. We call it “samadhi”. They stand for some approaches of the Divine in us. Afterwards, we emerge from that state of “Samadhi” and resume the course of our lives. We gradually forget that profundity, until the day when a part of the self stays at a greater depth whereas the other part surfaces. That is what Babuji called the “sahaj-samadhi” or “natural samadhi”: you are both fully present to your daily life and fully present to the Divine, fully absorbed in Him.
– Usually, that is when you announce that there is a more direct, a simpler way than the one you have just been revealing to me.
– Quite right. It is the way of Love. The being can follow it easily. What this human heart and its 6 rays represent is the way of the heart. The stars stand for the two levels of a great love, the central point being the point of Ultimate love, the purest and the most sublime love.
– Does regular practice open the way to love?
– No, it only makes us ready for it. Love is a mystery that reveals itself to man whenever and however it wants. It is a grace that no one can predict. Love depends only on itself. It has its own laws and it is lawless. That is what Christ, Buddha and the Masters have manifested and shown to men on our Earth.
– If you agree, I’m going to have you experiment a state I myself was gratified with a day when I was in the Himalayas with my guide Chariji.
The young man gets ready for it immediately.
– Close your eyes slowly, plunge deep into your heart and tell me what you can feel, the elder man whispers.
Keeping his eyes closed, Theophile the Younger answers him after a long period of silence:
– Love, in one dimension, then in another one, and another one, still another one, etc., and it goes on infinitely, as if it must never stop. I thought there were only three levels, weren’t there?
– It is only a symbol, however true and beautiful it may be. Love has no limit, it is infinite, it is Infinity.
Let’s pursue the experience, will you?
Remember the best moment of love you’ve ever lived and make it yours.
Feel its effects in the whole of your inner space, then, erase the memory of it.
What is left is the essence of that love. Feel it very acutely.
Erase that feeling: now you have the essence of the essence of love.
What words could describe these three stages?
– An intense feeling of joy and enthusiasm during the first stage, then a restful and infinite feeling of peace during the second stage, and finally nothingness, a sort of emptiness during the last stage. But such an unutterable nothingness, I wish I would never be parted from it!
– That is what comes the nearest to the so-called divine simplicity.
The esoteric symbol, part 3, Pure Love and Simplicity
– The other day, you mentioned the six rays, but you didn’t tell me what they really represent. Why?, asks Theophile the Younger.
Theophile the Elder hesitates for a while.
– In fact, I’m not sure I quite understand it myself. H. told me she thought they evoked the 6 days of the creation, God having rested on the seventh day.
– And you, how would you explain it?
– I think we can obviously draw a parallel with the 6 days of the creation represented by the 6 days in the week and the six planets associated to them: the Moon for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, Venus for Friday and Saturn for Saturday. As for Sunday (God’s day), we have the Sun, the central point of light. The Sun is at the centre of the 6 rays, of the 6 planets orbiting the sun. This is the physical sun, the Heavenly body, which is the spiritual sun too, at the centre of the 5 elements of the heart. It is also the divine sun, at the centre of the 5 cosmic elements and, finally, it is the Centre itself, at the centre of Nothingness, which is called the Ultimate, or God.
Restfulness, stillness, would represent that nothingness which is the mark of God, i.e. the Centre.
– At its simplest, how would you express it?
– According to me, this symbol represent the progress of Love in all the planes of the being; human love, then spiritual love, followed by a cosmic or universal love, and finally, a divine, sublime love.
Theophile the Elder goes silent; he closes his eyes and plunges into that unique love.
Used to such long silent pauses, the young man suddenly closes his eyes in his turn and joins him in meditation.
Then they both immerse themselves in the simplicity of pure love.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s initiation