Preface: The Absolute Truth

The Absolute Truth is the essence of what is.

Who can know the Absolute Truth?

Only one who perfectly understands the true nature of the soul, and God, and has developed Divine Love.

For the Absolute Truth is not a thing, nor is it information, but a state of being and an experience of the pure soul beyond the mind and bodily senses.

Words and ideas cannot contain the Absolute Truth because they are symbols. Symbols are mere abstractions—shadows of the truth—and the Absolute Truth is ultimate reality.

The world of phenomena is not the Absolute Truth, because it is limited, temporary, conditional and changeable. The Absolute Truth is neither temporary nor changeable, but is unlimited, unconditional, eternal and unchanging.

If neither the finite and unbounded phenomenal universe nor the bounded but infinite world of ideas and symbols can contain the Absolute Truth, where is there space enough to hold it?

Within the core of everyone’s heart lives the soul, and in the core of the soul lives the radiant Absolute Truth, eternal, unlimited and just. This Truth is the source of all life and consciousness. If you are alive and aware, the eternal, unlimited dimension of Absolute Truth is within you.

The challenge of spiritual life is to find this Truth within. One who knows this has come to the perfection of all knowledge, for this Truth is the source of all Divine Wisdom.

How to know the Absolute Truth

Because ordinary words or symbols cannot actually contain or describe the Absolute Truth, it is easier to describe what the Truth is not.

The Absolute Truth is not ordinary truth. It is fundamentally different from ordinary truth. Ordinary truth is true only for a limited time, person or set of circumstances. But the Absolute Truth is unconditionally true for all time, all beings and all circumstances.

The Absolute Truth has been true for all eternity since before the creation of this material universe, and it will remain true eternally after this material universe has passed away. This Absolute Truth is a unique class of truth.

The Absolute Truth is not in the self-serving speculations of professional philosophers and theologians. It is not in the screaming news headlines or the lurid fabrications of the tabloids. It is not in the conceited inventions of the academic scholars and scientists, nor in the pompous pronouncements of the priests and politicians.

The Absolute Truth is not accessible to the proud, the learned sophists, the lusty, or those attached to money, power and possessions. It hides from those seeking reputation, fame and prestige. Truth is modest and shy. It flees from passion, pretentiousness, ambition and desire.

For the Absolute Truth cannot be known by the senses, or mind polluted by material desire. Even purified intelligence without any tinge of desire can only begin to approach Truth. But only the pure soul in Divine Love of God can experience the Absolute Truth.

This most esoteric teaching is the core of mysticism and the gateway to spiritual liberation. The experience of the Absolute Truth has no beginning or end, for it is the experience of the eternal ecstatic relationship between the soul and God.

The internal self-revelation of the Godhead within the human heart is the essence of spiritual enlightenment. The spiritual presence of the Lord surpasses the golden nectar of bliss, and His love shines brighter than a thousand suns. Compassion and solace flow from Him like great rivers of liquid light.

This is the experience of Absolute Truth to which all saintly persons aspire, and in which their spiritual quest finds deep fulfillment. In this state all prayers are answered, all sufferings assuaged. The glory of the Lord, shining forth in their hearts, fulfills all desires.

This illumination is the profound state of grace taught by all holy teachers and sacred scriptures. Alas, it is realized and practiced only by a rare few. Yet it is the goal of all religions and the aim of all spiritual paths: the blessing of the Holy Spirit of God.

The Soul

The Absolute Truth is directly experienced by the pure soul. The soul is the fundamental particle of consciousness. He is an individual spiritual being with spiritual qualities similar to the Lord’s: personal, conscious, eternally existing, full of perfect knowledge and spiritual bliss. Full knowledge of the Absolute Truth is natural for the soul. But when the temporary, conditional material mind and body cover the soul, this knowledge is also covered.

To realize the true nature of the individual soul, one must crease to identify oneself with the material body. We do not have a soul; we are a soul. The body and mind are merely temporary external coverings of the pure soul. That is why all genuine spiritual paths teach detachment from the material body, activities and desires.

The soul is eternal. It does not die when the body dies. The blessing of eternal life is already ours. The soul is not affected by any material qualities or activities. Nevertheless, the soul’s identification with the material mind and body in material consciousness makes it appear that what happens to the body happens to oneself.

This is the primary root of all illusion and ignorance, and the real cause of all our troubles. A wise person who wants to know the Absolute Truth strives to overcome this false identification of the soul or self with the temporary material coverings of body and mind.

One who has realized that the self is really the soul is no longer attached to the body and its activities. Thus even while walking, working, sleeping, eating and drinking one can understand these are only the mechanical activities of the material senses in relation to their natural objects.

Such a wise person is no longer affected by the material qualities. To the wise, honor and dishonor, success and failure, pleasure and pain are all the same. Stones and gold are of equal value, and one looks upon all creatures great and small as spiritual brothers and sisters.

This is why the saints and martyrs of times past could so easily accept and tolerate austerity and suffering in pursuit of their spiritual goals. They are not afraid of hardship or death because these are only temporary material conditions. Rather, suffering teaches us patience and encourages us to take complete shelter in the Lord.

Hearing about the spiritual nature of the soul is the beginning of realizing the Absolute Truth. Performing the process of spiritual realization under the personal direction of an advanced soul is the best method for attaining spiritual perfection.

The Spiritual Teacher

The first step in spiritual life is to understand the true nature of the soul. The next step is to realize this truth by studying with a person who has already realized it. Unfortunately, ordinary religious and spiritual teachers cannot impart complete knowledge of the Absolute Truth. They have compromised realization of the Absolute Truth for convenience and status in the material world.

But the Absolute Truth is not of this material world. Similarly, a spiritual Teacher who can expose the student to the Absolute Truth is not a man of the world. Although he may appear to be an ordinary man, he has transcended this world by his realization of the Absolute Truth.

The realized spiritual Teacher lives in the light of the Spirit of God and knows the Absolute Truth by direct personal experience. Divine Love is his nourishment and spiritual ecstasy is his most prized ornament. Such a realized Teacher can impart wisdom because he can see the Truth directly.

No one can find such a perfect Teacher simply by his own efforts. Anyone who tries will surely be deceived. One can obtain a realized Teacher only by the kind mercy of God, because such a Teacher is a perfect representative of God.

Taking shelter of the transcendent, all-powerful Lord alone, one should pray for spiritual guidance. The Lord hears and responds to all sincere prayers. He alone can send His true servant to teach the sincere disciple.

The Teacher must choose the student. If the student attempts to choose a teacher he will err, because he is in ignorance. Otherwise he would not need a Teacher. The successful student prays and waits for the Teacher to find him. When the Teacher appears he recognizes the sincere student and extends an invitation to join his school.

To be successful, the student must dedicate himself completely to the Teacher’s mission. Holding nothing back, he should offer the Teacher everything and serve him with all his heart. He should sincerely inquire from the Teacher regarding all his doubts, and submissively hear and try his best to understand the Teacher’s answers. This is the ancient system of receiving transcendental knowledge.

The Teacher, in return, gives the student the spiritual seed of knowledge of the Absolute Truth in the form of the Holy Name of the Lord. This is the process of initiation. By watering this seed with love, devotion and selfless service to the Teacher and the Lord, the student gradually grows in realization of the Absolute Truth.

At some point the student becomes sufficiently advanced to begin to share his realization with others. At this time the student may, with the Teacher’s blessing, begin to instruct others according to his degree of realization.

After some experience, the sincere and progressive student may also become a fully qualified Teacher of the profound mysteries of the Absolute Truth. Finally, the successful student who avoids the numerous pitfalls on the path achieves the same status and spiritual destination as his own Teacher.

Meditation

In prayer we speak to the Lord; in meditation we listen for His response. Both are necessary, like breathing in and breathing out. What kind of conversation is it when only one person speaks?

Therefore we should not only pray but also meditate. In fact, considering that the Lord is our spiritual Father and Master, we should listen more than talk!

The Lord hears every prayer; this is a fact. And He will also instruct us through scripture, through teachers, by creating challenging situations and in many other ways. Meditation is one of the most valuable of the ways in which the Lord instructs, since the meditative mind can receive and understand many things the mind in the ordinary state cannot.

Meditation also cleanses the mind from contact with the senses and helps us understand our real spiritual nature. There are seven stages of meditation:

1.       Preparation

2.       Sitting posture

3.       Breath control

4.       Withdrawing the mind from the senses

5.       Concentration

6.       Contacting the Lord

7.       Ecstatic trance (Samadhi)

Preparing for meditation is like preparing for death. In fact, it is good practice for preparing for death. We want all our accounts brought up to date and all trespassers forgiven before we close the doors of the senses and enter the Temple of the Heart.

We also want to be in a peaceful, safe place as far as possible from the noise and distraction of the world. The wilderness is the most excellent place for meditation, but any clean, quiet place will do. It is best not to meditate in a place used for sleeping.

Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing and sit in such a way that you can relax completely. The spine should remain erect and straight. Breathe deeply, but slowly and gently, watching the breath from within.

Relaxing with each breath, gradually withdraw your attention from the senses, closing the doors to the outside until your attention is completely focused within. Your aim at this stage should be the conscious contemplation of consciousness itself.

Now concentrate the mind by focusing your attention on a single point. This can be a physical location in the body such as the heart or the ‘third eye’ between the eyebrows. Even better is to focus on a mantra, or prayer containing the Holy Name of God. (Any name of God will do, as long as you have faith in it.) As you focus your attention, the mind will gradually become concentrated.

In the beginning your mind will try to divert your attention from concentration by offering various distractions. Thoughts, feelings, impulses, desires, memories and fantasies, sometimes of the most trivial or bizarre nature, will appear in your mind. It is important not to struggle with these, but allow them to drift through your consciousness like clouds and disappear.

If you do lose your point of concentration, gently, patiently and gradually bring your attention back to your focus. The point is to maintain your focus on your mantra and not to identify with thoughts. If you struggle with controlling thoughts, your mind has won the battle, for you have become identified with it. Allow the thoughts to drift along without fixating on them, and they will gradually go away.

After some practice of concentration you may begin to see shifting shapes and colors of light. This is the state of illumination that precedes real meditation. When the mind is concentrated on one thing, it is automatically full of light. It is only when the mind is fragmented among many thoughts that it becomes dark. Let this light increase until it is brighter than thousands of suns.

When the theatre of the mind is cleansed by withdrawal from the senses and illuminated by concentration on the spiritual energy, real meditation can happen. Meditation is not something you can do – it is a blessing, a gift from God. When you are ready it will come to you. As one of my teachers would admonish when I was trying too hard to meditate: “Don’t just do something, sit there!”

True meditation is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the purified altar of the Temple of the Heart. This is a very important event: it is a personal loving message direct from God. This message may take the form of a word, an image, or a complete visionary experience wherein you are transported to another world. Or it may come softly, gently like a fragrant flower petal.

In any case the material received in deep meditation is of a completely different quality than the petty, distracting thoughts of the mind. A genuine Divine message is completely spiritual; it has nothing to do with the material world or life in the realm of illusion. And rather than distracting us from our state of concentration, real meditation actually increases it.

For the authentic spiritual communication is accompanied by an ineffable and subtle feeling of causeless transcendental bliss. This bliss serves as a natural focus for increased concentration of the mind. It is so wonderful that you literally never want it to end, and emerging from the meditative trance at its conclusion is always a letdown.

As you practice prayer and meditation more and more, you deepen your relationship with God. Gradually the bliss of His transcendent Presence increases until you begin to feel symptoms of spiritual ecstasy.

Ecstasy in spiritual trance is a very deep subject in itself. Briefly, ecstatic trance occurs when the soul is in direct relationship with God. In this state one thinks that there could be no greater gain, and no longer laments or desires to have anything. One who experiences this Divine state even once has tasted the perfection of life, for he has known the Absolute Truth directly.

Success in meditation is never due to our own efforts, but it is a gift of the grace of God. Never become proud of your advancement in meditation or you will lose it. The practice of meditation merely prepares us to receive the beauty, knowledge and grace that is the eternal state of the pure soul.

The Holy Name of the Lord

God is the Lord and Master of all that exists. All good things are available through His Holy Names. He has an unlimited number of Holy Names that express and embody His unlimited spiritual potencies. Since God is transcendental and absolute, His Holy Names are not mere symbols (as in ordinary words or the names of ordinary beings) but are identical with Him.

The absolute nature of the Holy Names of the Lord makes them a powerful source of benediction. This potency inheres in every name that refers to the Supreme Lord alone.

The Lord’s Holy Names reveal His spiritual potencies to His beloved worshipers. He is the First Being and the Father of all other living beings. No other spiritual beings or demigods compare with Him, for He is the greatest, the one Supreme Lord of the universe. No one can fully know or understand Him, but He knows everything about Himself, the creation and all living beings. He alone exists before all things, and He is the Creator, Maintainer and Destroyer of all manifestations. All worlds and beings are under His complete and perfect control and belong only to Him. All advancement in spiritual realization is due to His mercy alone. He always fulfils His desires and attains His aims. His plans and promises are infallible. He is the very ground of being. Everything comes from Him. From Him come all knowledge, memory and forgetfulness. He is most gracious, merciful and beautiful; indeed He is the source of all grace, beauty and mercy. The great saints, sages and prophets glorify Him alone.

He is the highest pleasure, and He is the source of pleasure for all beings. He protects those who fully surrender unto Him, and He lovingly corrects those who belong to Him when they stray from His path. All beings in the creation know of Him, but very, very few know Him as He really is. He is the ultimate benefactor, and the ultimate spiritual destination of all beings. He creates and destroys the material manifestation again and again. He is the only shelter for those who seek mercy, salvation and Truth. Everyone serves His purposes, whether they want to or not. He can use anything in the creation to accomplish His purposes. His mercy, His prowess and His promises are infallible. He sends empowered beings to teach His Truth, and occasionally appears in this world Himself to teach us. All those who worship Him are glorified and purified by His grace.

Everyone who worships Him by glorifying His Holy Names, qualities and activities receives causeless wisdom, bliss and salvation from all miseries. And to those who call upon Him by His Holy Names, He becomes the best and most intimate Friend. All glories, all glories, all glories to the unlimited Holy Names of the Lord!

Doctrine and Heresy

Many, if not most religious denominations and spiritual teachings draw a sharp distinction between right and wrong understanding, good and bad conduct, correct doctrine and heresy. Adherence to such fundamentalist views and dogmatic attitudes is a very significant obstacle to the search for Truth.

Why do there exist in this world so many religions with different, often contradictory spiritual beliefs and practices? Yet all of them trace their lineage back to God Himself in some manner. This raises the question: If God allows one and only one manner of approach to His Truth, why did He create so many religions? Or if we accept the argument that the multitude of religions is created not by God but by human beings, then why does God continue to tolerate their existence?

The concept of heresy is dangerous because it institutionalizes hate and intolerance, allowing bigots to retain the external appearance of piety. In reality, hate in any form is a sin because it is ungodly. God loves even those who hate Him. The greatest saints and devotees have always taught love of one’s enemies as the highest principle of morality. Love of God and Humankind is indeed the best path to enlightenment and Truth.

Theological hairsplitting, sectarian prejudice and doctrinal debate cannot open the secret door to the experience of transcendent Absolute Truth. The mystery of the self-revelation of the Absolute Truth occurs only when the heart is softened by love and service, and the gnawing doubts of the mind stilled by devotion and rapt contemplation of the original transcendental beauty.

In that illumined state, one sees clearly the spiritual power of love—and the utter futility of hate, prejudice and condemnation. Doctrinal attack against those who believe differently from us is an utter waste of time. It serves no one’s spiritual progress, and only darkens our hearts with negativity and clouds our minds with false arguments.

God is everything to everyone, the source of everything and the origin of all good qualities. In His mercy He has made approach to Him easy by creating many religions for many different kinds of people. Who are we to question His ways?

When the Jewish council was plotting against Jesus’ disciples, the wise Gamaliel advised them, “Leave these men alone. If what they teach and do is merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them. Be careful, lest you find yourselves fighting against God.”

If we see someone engaging in what we feel are incorrect ideas and practices, the best approach is to expose them to a higher level of truth by friendly discussion. Then drop the matter and leave the result to the Lord. The sincere who are truly in error will see and correct it themselves. The ignorant and insincere will never change by friendly persuasion anyway. Prayer often accomplishes what argument and force could never do.

Surrender

In the illusion of material consciousness, we see ourselves as free beings surrounded by a bewildering array of choices. Most of these apparent choices have to do with different forms of material enjoyment; all of them embody some exercise of free will.

However, if we carefully analyze our ‘free will,’ we will see that our vaunted freedom of choice has only led us into confusion, suffering and spiritual darkness. If this is not so, why do we find ourselves at the mercy of old age, disease and death?

In reality the only freedom of choice we have is whether to engage our tiny will and intelligence in the service of our limited mind and temporary material desires, or to surrender them to the perfect will of the Lord and serve His eternal spiritual purposes.

The service of our limited, selfish desires is material bondage, and it leads to spiritual defeat and death, for in so choosing we deny the spiritual nature of our true self. The service of the Lord is actual freedom; it leads to eternal spiritual victory. We realize the Absolute Truth ourselves, and help the Lord in His mission of spreading spiritual Truth to all beings suffering in the illusion of material consciousness. And at the end we are eligible to enter the spiritual world to fully experience our natural eternal life of full knowledge and bliss.

Thus paradoxically, our material freedom is actually not freedom at all: it is a form of bondage to the material senses, which are inferior to our real nature. Whereas surrender to the will of the Lord is true self-determination, since it grants liberation into eternal spiritual freedom. Either way, in this life we are servants, and our only free will lies in choosing whether to serve our limited mind and senses or the unlimited Supreme Lord.

Actually, the choice to serve ourselves is merely a form of self-betrayal. The service of the mind and senses is a bewildering network of paths leading only to dissimulation, deception and death. To be the servant of the Lord of Heaven is glorious, heroic, and leads to eternal salvation. The best choice we have is to dedicate ourselves completely to the Lord’s service, willingly letting Him direct our desires and intelligence.

The path of surrender to God begins with prayer. In prayer, we can tell the Lord all our problems and concerns, and turn them all over to Him for resolution. Further, we can sincerely ask Him to take charge of our life and direct our mind and intelligence in ways that are pleasing to Him. Finally, we can offer Him our remaining life, energy and work to be used in His service. He never abandons such a surrendered soul, and promises always to protect and guide him.

When we do this sincerely, we can expect the Lord to take away the parts of ourselves that He doesn’t like. He will mold His servant’s life into a form that is more pleasing and useful to Him. Of course, this will be very good for us. He will take the broken tool we offer to Him, and make it sharp and true again on the anvil of His will. This may cause sweeping changes in our life, but we should never doubt our decision, remembering that surrender to God is the price of actual freedom. Indeed, we should be happy and thankful that God is purifying our life of sin, ignorance and error and making it an offering fit for His pleasure.

Once our surrender is made and we have been spiritually renewed by the Lord’s grace, we can serve God’s purpose by helping Him care for His children. By loving and serving them we serve His spiritual purpose and earn our eternal place in the spiritual world. This dedication to spreading the light of the Absolute Truth is the true fruit of spiritual surrender, and the real symptom of knowledge of the Absolute Truth.