Theo went on exploring the notion of resonance the Elder had introduced him to during their previous conversations.
Theo. – What benefits are to be drawn from the method of resonance?
The Elder – At its highest level, resonance is divine. The very core of the aspirant’s heart is connected to the core of the trainer’s heart. We could say that it is an essence-to-essence resonance. But if you want to go further, just erase that divine essence and you will enter the Ultimate, the reality of the Centre.
Theo. – You make a distinction between divine and spiritual resonance, don’t you?
The Elder – It makes it easier to understand and prevents the mind from going astray. As for the subtle body, it will be fully oriented towards the depths of the heart, without distraction.
Theo. – The distinction is very subtle!
The Elder – It is the same as the one between realizing God and merging with God. Both are real blessings. Spiritual resonance will operate through the vibratory dimension attained when we make one with God (Saguna), whereas divine resonance comes from the Absolute (Nirguna). In both approaches, the trainer must totally retreat to make way for the Divine and be fully present to the meditator.
Theo. – It sounds difficult. I suppose it is the highest form of samadhi: the sahaj-samadhi.
The Elder – It is not that complicated. During the first part of the meditation, thanks to your active work, a heart-to-heart bond has been solidly established between the meditator and you. When the resonance is there, it is essential not to cut off the bond thus established, so that you may plunge within God, whether He is Nirguna or Saguna. You are not any longer the one who decides on whatever you have to do. ‘He’ or ‘That’ is who is going to work. Your will has to retreat before His will.
Theo. – It is a state of surrender then.
The Elder – And since we do it with our hearts…
Theo. – Love is what prevails
The Elder – … and it prepares the scope of the Lord’s manifestation, in resonance.
Theo. – What happens at that very moment?
The Elder – I don’t know, honestly. It remains a mystery. It is enough for me to see the result, the change in the meditators’ condition, to validate the mysterious benefits of the divine and of the spiritual resonance.
Theo. – I’m still rather surprised that you should not know what that resonance consists in.
The Elder – Well! I don’t know. How could we know what God really is, when He has no name, no attributes? Even Love, that is so dear to me, is absent from it.
Theo. – Yet, you told me that ‘loving is knowing’, didn’t you?
The Elder – Love is what allowed me to approach the unknowable and to get lost on the outskirts of the central region, but the Centre is a motionless journey, an endless journey.
Theo. – Is there a sound corresponding to it?
The Elder – Not as far as I know… It is a ‘non-dimension’, and it is to be approached through a kind of periphery that is unspeakable but lives within the Self.
Theo. – So, as a trainer, we can simply observe the mysterious benefits of that resonance.
The Elder – Whatever may happen between the aspirant and God is none of our business. We facilitate the process, sometimes we help make introductions, but all the rest is deemed intimate and sacred; it is a matter between the lover and his/her Beloved.
Theo. – Yet, many aspirants are not seeking that. Most of the time, they only yearn for a better sense of well-being and balance, or for a means to find some peace and quiet in their full and busy lives.
The Elder – That is without counting on their soul, who does know and subtly seeks to lead them towards the reality of their human existence.
Theo. – Just like God, the soul has no need to hurry.
The Elder – Not exactly, because it looks forward to being back with the Beloved…
Theo. – Now, practically, how do you proceed with the person who is sitting opposite you, in order to obtain that resonance?
The Elder – I know that this famous Centre does exist within the person. I address the resonance within me, I remember and I acknowledge that it exists. It is also present in the other person, within each one of his/her particles. Without the Centre, nothing would exist. In fact, I make a series of withdrawals.
Theo. – Namely?
The Elder – Whenever I think I know something within me, once I have perceived it properly, I erase it as well as what is left of that erasure. I erase it, again and again, and as many times as required, until I get that famous vacuum Babuji called Nothingness.
Theo. –But what about the Presence?
The Elder – It is a reminder of THAT – which is what gives ‘anima’, life, to our soul – and a reminder of His Word (transmission, pranahuti), of His Love, but we know He is not that.
Theo. – So you erase That, too, do you?
The Elder – I’d rather erase Love, because That is, for me, still somewhat too mental. The effacement would then be the ‘non-mental’ part of it.
Theo. (dazzled and rather lost):
– And you’d dare erase that non-mental perception of God!
Realizing how difficult it was to apprehend, the Elder decided to recourse to experience, as he usually does, rather than to a long talk:
– Let us retrace all the way through Love, he suggested calmly to his student.
Start with entering into resonance with the Sublime Love.
Erase it.
Erase even the idea of resonance.
Erase whatever is left, so long as something is there to be erased, however subtle it may be.
Erase the effacement when you reach the essence of the essence of Love, so as to be sure that there is nothing left except Absolute God.
Under the guidance of his friend’s voice, Theo. found himself immersed into an unknown space no word could describe. Even the silence around it seemed to be superfluous…
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Dialogs with Theophile the Elder
Theophile the Younger’s Initiation