“Catching” The Darshan
The advanced yoga adept can go inside himself through the practice of mahāyoga and awaken the flame at the top of his head and experience the five vibrations inside himself, deep within the psychic centers of the head, which is the inner temple. For the beginning meditator who has not done sādhana, this is difficult, and the outer temple and its darshan is a great aid. There are many catalysts on the path that aid in making you strong, so that you can lean on your own spine and bring through your own bliss. We must remember that the satguru is a helper on the path. His renunciate sannyāsins are also sometimes helpers, too. The meditator should not lean on his guru or the other disciples who may be stronger and more advanced in their sādhana. He must rely only on himself, lean on his own spine and unfold spiritually.
In the ākāśa, all form exists in all phases of its manifestation. A mystic sculptor can take clay or stone and bring forth an image of the satguru. As soon as he feels the darshan coming through the form, he knows he is nearly finished. Everything is in one place. It’s only the physical two eyes doing such wonderful things as to make us think things are in different places in the conscious mind of time and distance. But everything in the ākāśic plane of consciousness is in one place. So, all the mystic sculptor has to do to get the satguru darshan is to make the form of the guru in the exact same way it already exists in the ākāśa when the darshan was the strongest at the highest point in his life on Earth.
In a similar way, one can receive darshan through a picture of the satguru. The darshan does not really come from the picture, but from the ākāśa where the inner guru exists. The picture only acts as a point of concentration, but enough of a focal point to tune the devotee into the ākāśa at the exact moment, which is “now,” when that picture was taken or painted and the exact feeling of the darshan at that particular time and its accumulated effect up to the present moment. Then the totality of the satguru’s darshan is felt.
In intellectually knowing how the system of darshan works in many of its various phases, it is easy then to participate in it, and by meditating on some of these principles that I have outlined, you can catch the knack of it.