Sri Ramakrishna’s Divine Descent, Part 1 #303

The final conclusion of the luminaries and the revealed scriptures is that “All Is Brahman.” But how can this ultimatum be believed when Brahman cannot be an object, an energy, or a thought? As Sri Ramakrishna explained, Brahman, Divine Reality, infuses everything like sweetness permeates sugar cane juice. The same sunlight appears in multiple dew drops that have collected on garden flowers in the early morning. The Light of Consciousness shines in all individuals, and all things — though apparently separated. Similarly, in keeping with the trends of modern science and contemporary human understanding, a way to understand the all-pervasive nature of Consciousness is through examining particles. Western Science has done so on the physical level, but the ancient contemplatives of India saw past the atomic particle and perceived Consciousness vibrating at subtler and subtler levels. This inner vision also revealed to them the presence of inner realms and the secrets of where the eternal Soul goes to and comes from before birth and after death. Whether put in terms of bodies, worlds, deities, or vibration, in-depth teachings on particles clarify our comprehension.

There is immense beauty and poetry abiding in the otherwise presumed sterility, or the presupposed emptiness, of that great principle seers and seekers call Nonduality. A step by step figuring of the process of the dissolving of human ignorance under the powerful press of advaitic reasoning is one of those beauties, and it is pure poetry, philosophically speaking. Striving souls seldom see this transformation happening to them. That marvel is reserved for the teachers, gurus, and acharyas of these adamant seekers. A clear explanation of this is to be seen on this dharmic wisdom chart, that outlines fourteen pillars of ultimate progress in the world’s finest living philosophy. To quote Vivekananda, whose image graces this revealing chart, “On planes physical, ethical, and spiritual, an ever-broadening generalization — leading up to a concept of Unity Eternal — is in the air; and this being so, all the movements of the time may be taken to represent, knowingly or unknowingly, the noblest philosophy of the unity of man ever had — the Advaita Vedanta.”