Being and Becoming
Out of the microcosm ever comes the macrocosm. Out of Paraśiva—which is timeless, causeless and formless—ever comes all form. This is the great mystery without a reason why. Out of pure consciousness ever comes the light which binds all form together in specific bondage, individualizing forms, souls, one from another. This is ever happening, as simultaneously struggling souls remove their bondage through the grace of God Śiva to come into Satchidānanda, later to be absorbed into Paraśiva. This, too, is a great mystery without a reason why.
The existence called Paraśiva pervades the infinite Satchidānanda, sustaining it just as the Divine Light of God Śiva’s mind pervades and sustains the gross forms of this world. Paraśiva does not create Satchidānanda, yet Satchidānanda is sustained because of the existence of nonexistence. Now, you might ask, “Why?” The answer is that this is the will of our great God Śiva.
Therefore, first we seek to gain an intellectual clarity as to the path we are on. This purified intellect gives a philosophical clarity but should not in any way be mistaken for attainment. In the technological age there are thousands who are intellectually clear as to the task at hand, how to obtain the objective, and they have the necessary skills to begin. They do not delude themselves that they have already begun or attained anything until failure has been many times encountered, that failure conquered and success achieved in its place. Thus, we draw a distinction between the seasoned yogī whose knowledge has its source in superconsciousness and the armchair Vedantist who often thinks his intellectual comprehension is some kind of advanced attainment. It is not. Peoples of the West have come too far in technology, too far in the understanding and use of the mind, too far in personal study of Vedānta to be impressed by this anymore.
The two perfections explain well the deep questions man asks himself, questions which bring forth far too few answers. Through meditation upon the two perfections inherent in the soul, we can penetrate the mystery of the oneness of man and God. Man and God are one, yet God Śiva has yet a third perfection, Maheśvara, the Primal Soul, already perfect and complete, whereas man’s soul body is still maturing, still evolving. One day, the soul body of man will merge with God Śiva in this third perfection. So, we see that man is both being and becoming. He is already perfect, for the essence of his soul, Paraśiva and Satchidānanda, exists eternally within him as him, having never been created. Yet, man is evolving, becoming, for his individual soul body, created by God Śiva, is not yet perfect, is still evolving through time, eventually to mature into the image and likeness of the Primal Soul and Creator, Maheśvara.
I might surprise you when I say that man’s soul is created and not created. True, the soul body of light was created by God Śiva Himself. Within this body of light and consciousness exist, without beginning or end, the two perfections of Paraśiva and Satchidānanda. We find the paradoxes of oneness and twoness, of being and becoming, of created and uncreated existence subtly delineated through an understanding of the three perfections of our great God Śiva.