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Cosmic Consciousness by Ali Nomad

II MAN'S RELATION TO GOD AND TO HIS FELLOW-MEN

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It is admitted that those who have experienced liberation, illumination, _mukti_, have reported their sensations with such relative vagueness and with such apparent variance of conclusion as regards the _meaning_ of the experience that the reader is left to his own interpretation of the character of that state of being, other than a general uniformity of description.

Referring to the pleasure which the lower nature feels under certain conditions, the late Swami Vivekananda says:

"The whole idea of this nature is to make the soul know that it is entirely separate from nature and when the soul knows this, nature has no more attraction for it. But the whole of nature vanishes only for that man who has become free. There will always remain an infinite number of others for whom nature will go on working."

But did Vivekananda employ the phrase "nature has no more attraction for him," to describe the sensation of unappreciativeness of the wonders of the natural world? We think not. Rather the gentle-hearted sage meant to report the fact that the soul is no longer _held in bondage_ to the external world, when it has once attained supra-consciousness.

If this expression referred to the pleasure the true lover of nature feels in the out-of-doors, he might well say "I trust that I shall never attain to that state of consciousness. Or if attainment be compulsory, then shall I prolong the time of accomplishment as long as possible."

And who would blame him? Why should we strive for the attainment of a state of being described so unattractively as to give us the impression of entire _loss_ of so enjoyable and unselfish a sensation as love of nature?

The Vedantic idea, according to interpreted translations is that out of The Absolute, the All (Om), we _come_, and therefore back to it we go, being now in our present state of consciousness, en route, as it were to return.

But returning to _what_? That is the unanswerable problem of all religions; all philosophies; all science. If we _return_ to a void, such as some interpreters of the Vedas declare, then surely this urge within mankind toward this annihilatory state would hardly be expected. It would be inconsistent with that instinct of self-preservation which we are told is the first law of nature.

Compared to this Vedantic concept of the Absolute, the Christian's simple, and very empirical ideal of eternal happiness is preferable.

To walk streets paved with gold and play a harp incessantly while chanting doleful praises to a Deity who ought to become wearied of the never-ceasing adulation, would still be a more desirable goal of our strife, than that so inaccurately and unattractively described by many students of Oriental religions and philosophies as the state _nirvana_, or _samadhi_.

Again quoting from Vivekananda's Raja Yoga:

"There are not wanting persons who think that this manifest state (our present existence) is the highest state of man. Thinkers of great caliber are of the opinion that we are manifested specimens of undifferentiated Being, and this differentiated state is _higher than the Absolute_."

Although as Vivekananda says there are thinkers who make this claim, the idea does not find ready acceptance among theologians, either Eastern, or Western. Neither do philosophers, as a general thing incline to adopt this view. The reason for this general disinclination is not difficult of discovery. It is due to the present state of man on this planet.

If man, as we see and know mankind, is the highest state of Being (not merely of manifestation, but of Being) "then," they say, "we have nothing to hope for."

But have we not? May we not hope that man will _manifest_, on this planet a fuller realization, of that which he _is_ in _Being_, and that, far from dissolving what consciousness he has, he will but _plus_ this consciousness by a larger--an all-embracing consciousness that shall make earth a fit habitation for god-like men?