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Towards a Cosmic Society: a Tantric Perspective

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Towards a Cosmic Society: a Tantric Perspective ESSAY .61 Towards a Cosmic Society: A Tantric Perspective Dada Shambhushivananda Gurukul University Sweden We live in interesting times. The developed Brahma are the variant states of That One Universal human intellect aspires to put us face-to-face with reali- Consciousness. Consciousness is the combined name of ty, in time, space and person, hoping to break the Cognition (Purus'a or Shiva') and its concomitant boundaries of relativity that have hitherto separated immutable Energy (Prakriti or Shakti). Shiva and Shakti humanity and shrouded the secrets of our existence. In are like two sides of a paper or like fire and its thermal cosmic and mythical terms, however, we are still no property. The entire creation is an eternal play (liila) of closer to understanding the mysterious realm of the inseparable Purus'a and Prakriti. Cognitive Faculty Supreme Consciousness (Cosmic Soul or Cosmic Spirit), (Purus'a) is the fundamental stuff out of which all cre- the Cosmic or Global Mind, and the secrets of the vast ation is apparently formed and Operative Principle or cosmological order that contains the countless galaxies Faculty (Parama-Prakriti) of that Consciousness is the of the visible worlds. I take this opportunity to remind energy which serves as the agency for the transmuta- us of the myths of the old Vedic Rs'is (intuitional scien- tion of One into Many or Many into One. This eternal tists) and current elucidations of those ancient vedic and dance of macrocosm is an unending cycle of evolution tantric thoughts by my mentor Shrii Prabhat Rainjan and dissolution (Brahma-cakra), like waves in the Sarkar in the hope of gaining some illumination as we Infinite Ocean of Consciousness. The attempts of explore the "futures" in the context of "Global Soul", philosophers and scientists have been to search for a "Global Mind" and the movement towards a "Cosmic Grand Unified Theory or to discover the seeds of con- Society". The term "global" is generally used geographi- sciousness (such as microvita) as part of a ceaseless cally to represent the planet earth and also metaphori- endeavor to link the known with the unknown nucleus cally to represent greater or higher dimensions that consciousness. This is the eternal journey of intellect underlie visible creation. and intuition until it merges into the fathomless cause The basic tenet of ancient Vedic Rs'is (intuitional like a doll of salt which goes to measure the depth of scientists) was that the proof of existence lies in its sub- the ocean and loses itself. stantiation (witness-ship) and that something cannot Here, I begin with a short panorama of the ancient come out of nothing (Mahars'i Kanad). The entity that Rs'is' world view about our origins and our desidera- substantiates may be called the Subject and existence tum. may be called an Object. Every object has a witnessing This universe of ours is the creation of the dexter- entity that may be called its subject. The Supreme ous hands of Parama Prakriti, the Supreme Operative Subjectivity is the Supreme Consciousness which is non- Principle. This Parama Prakriti is non-causal and its cos- causal and therefore the ultimate transcendental entity mic manifestation is called "causal matrix". All that hap- called Brahma or loosely speaking "God"- Generator, pens within this cosmos comes within the ambit of rela- Operator, and Destroyer. Nirguna, Ta'raka and Saguna tivity and science is the way to reveal the hidden cause- Journal of Futures Studies, May 2006, 10(4): 61 - 70 Journal of Futures Studies effect relationships. This causal matrix is the one who knows everything. There is nothing apparent cause of the eternal dance of macro- that any microcosm can do that is beyond cosm and it is also called the liila of the the knowledge of that Transcendental Supreme Consciousness (also known as Shiva Consciousness. The advantage is that we are or Citti-Shakti). Our cosmological order is only never alone and the disadvantage is that we are a small fraction of the Macrocosmic being watched every moment by our Cosmic Consciousness (Shiva) begotten out of the influ- Father and cannot do anything secretly. With ence of the binding faculties of Parama Prakriti. our small cranium and tiny brain, we cannot The binding principle of Parama Prakriti that even begin to comprehend that Infinite Entity. creates the unceasing spell of metamorphosis is The waves emanating from Adi-Shiva have been called Mahamaya; when it operates within described in the yoga-shastras as "sarva-dyot- microcosm, it is called anumaya; when it natmaka-akhanda-cidaka-rasah" i.e. the all enables the unison of the microcosm with vibrating, pauseless, breathless, flow of Cosmic macrocosm, it is called yogamaya; and when it Cognition. That is why the existential stance of spans over the whole cosmos, it is called vis'nu- each and every entity of this universe is main- maya. This universe including all its manifesta- tained due to the existence of the Cosmic tions like land, money, property etc. is also Nucleus Consciousness, i.e. Adi-Shiva. Adi-Shiva called ks'ara because it undergoes constant is the adi-guru (original-educator), our dearest change under the influence of the binding facul- father. He is the most effulgent and charming ties of the Supreme Consciousness, Shiva or one (krs'na). Our existence has no locus-standi Citti Shakti. Nothing of this world that we own without the existence of the original Entity. is permanent. Either that thing goes away from Intuitional science is the practice of reuniting us in time or we go away from it. That is the with the cosmic hub, the final destination of all nature of ks'ara. That is why; sages have dis- beings. This ultimate union is termed Yoga, suaded us from making the things of this world Ananda or Samadhi. Mahabha'va is nothing but as our sole object of ideation. the different aspects of the joy of that cosmic- The seed of the Primordial Creative Faculty fusion. Bhakti Marga, the path of devotion, is (ka'ma-biija) of Shiva is called Shambhu-liunga. the name given to that arena which enables the It is the starting point of creation. Within Shiva closest proximity to the irresistible joys of stay- lie all the potentialities of creation, preservation ing in tune with the Cosmic Hub. and destruction or sublimation. When the Shiva A society where all are attempting to move or Transcendental Consciousness does not get towards the attainment of that Cosmic Bliss the scope to create anything concrete with the (Maha'bha'va) may be called a Cosmic Society. help of its binding faculty, it is termed as Para- Seen in this indo-tantric perspective, Shiva or Non-Attributional Consciousness. This Global Soul would be the witnessing counter- Para-Shiva is free from all attributions or karmas part of the Global Mind. Global Mind would and remains as the eternal witness of all trans- consist of different faculties of cosmic intelli- mutations. The waves emanating from Para- gences. The unit-cognitive faculties are mere Shiva are in a straight line. The nucleus of Para- thought projections of the Cosmic Cognitive Shiva may be called Adi-Shiva, the Supreme Faculty.1 In the words of Shrii Shrii Anandamur- Noumenal Subjectivity. This is the origin and tiji, "Just as every unit-consciousness is a multi- terminus of all consciousness. Everything moves plicity of Cosmic Consciousness, so too is every around this Cosmic Hub in a circumrotarian unit mind a part of the Cosmic Mind." The pro- fashion. (see Table I) This nucleus is also termed gressive fulfillment of the aspirations of each as Taraka Brahma, Mahakaula, Mahasambhuti individual would contribute to the fulfillment of in Tantra. It keeps both individual and collective the aspirations of humanity as a whole which relation with all its progeny as Ota-Yoga and lies embodied in the Cosmic Cognition. Human Prota Yoga. One of the names given to this Society then is the conglomeration of all individ- 62 Nucleus Consciousness is Jinana-Swarupa i.e., uals and all their potentialities. In a broader Towards a Cosmic Society sense, it is not just the collection of all humans consciousness could be called a movement but everything that provides the context within towards the Cosmic Society. which they live, strive and function. Naturally, in The evolution of human society from its the physical environment, animate things like primitive ape-like days to modern man has flora and fauna and the subtler entities that may been studied and researched by streams of be beyond the reach of mortal minds but yet scholars. What can be easily deduced from this influence the way we think, act or move for- research is that psychic metamorphosis under- ward, are all part and parcel of human society. lies physical transformations. The brain research The more we understand the world we live in, of living beings shows that brains have become the richer will be our understanding of our continuously more and more complex with the place in this Cosmos. So far, we do realize that evolution of each species. Hence, it would not humans are one of the most evolved species on be surprising to find that future humans will this planet (though not necessarily in the entire have larger brains with a greater capability of creation). Yet, so far, human beings have not manipulating their environment. We may then been able to establish one human society free lose those organs which we use less and from wars, starvation, hatred etc. We still have a increase the size of organs that we use more or long way to go to establish one universal socie- even add new physical structures into the ty based on cardinal human values or virtues.
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