The Redeeming
Light
by Swami Kriyananda
Divine redemption means withdrawing from identification
with delusion, and becoming inwardly absorbed in the light
of truth.
The inner light has power to effect this transformation
but it requires much preliminary work: a work not outward,
in the form of service or teaching or converting others
as people commonly believe, but inward. It is a process
of inner purification. Outward service is beneficial also
to those who serve God in others, for it purifies their
hearts of selfish desires.
The inner light, when it comes, heralds a higher state
of consciousness. The higher this state, the more complete
the inner change. In time, that light blazes "as of
a million suns," as it is described the Indian scriptures.
The inner light brings clarity of mind
The effects of that light can easily be inferred, however,
from the way it acts through the human brain. Accompanying
it, ever-increasingly as the inner light develops, is a
corresponding clarity of mind.
Take the example of someone who tries late at night to
solve a problem, even a trivial one, like some clue in a
crossword puzzle. If his brain is tired, the problem may
seem to him insoluble. The following morning, however, when
his brain is refreshed, the solution comes effortlessly.
This phenomenon is relatively common. It is often explained
as the result of subconscious activity during sleep. In
fact, however, the solution is almost always produced by
a renewal of energy: an increase of inner light which, when
focused on the problem, simply attracts the right answers.
The denser a person's consciousness, the less able the
spiritual light is to penetrate that mental fog. Thus, if
the person is deeply identified with matter, he finds it
difficult to think clearly or even, sometimes, to think
at all. A clear mind is a sign, outwardly, that the inner
light also is clear. A dull mind, on the other hand, is
a "clear" sign that the inner light is dull and
unfocused.
Matter-consciousness obscures the inner light
The English language contains two meanings for light. The
first is the one we've been using: the opposite of darkness.
The second meaning pertains to lightness of weight. The
more light in a person's consciousness, the more light-weighted
he also feels-not in pounds or kilos, but in awareness.
Influences that increase this sense of lightness increase
also the mind's receptivity to the visible light. Dense,
heavy foods, for example, cloud the mind and make its consciousness
heavy. Too much sleep darkens the mind and results in sluggish
thinking processes. Alcoholic beverages and consciousness-changing
drugs darken the mind.
Too much sensory stimulation and sensual indulgence also
darken the mind. All activity, in fact, that absorbs one
in materiality, and that lessens one's spiritual awareness,
obscures the mind, reducing its clarity. The spiritual reason
for moral living, then, is that it lightens the consciousness,
loosens the shackles of ego- and matter-consciousness, and
attunes one more sensitively to the redeeming inner light.
Mental clarity is affected also by clouds of doubt and
restlessness, and by clouds of emotion such as fear, anger,
and hatred. All these are the foes of calm feeling and intuition.
Anything that prevents one from seeing life with dispassion,
and therefore objectively, obscures the inner light.
Learning to absorb the light
A science-fiction story appeared years ago about a planet
that received its illumination from several suns. Together,
the suns kept it constantly bathed in daylight. Once in
every thousand years, however, these suns became so disposed
that the stars beyond them could be briefly seen by the
inhabitants. Many people, overwhelmed by such a sudden and
extraordinary event, went mad.
Their reaction was not, perhaps, wholly believable, but
spiritually speaking, the point of the story is both clear
and valid. The mental jolt from gross daylight to a glimpse
of infinity was, to the inhabitants, terrifying. How much
greater would the shock have been had they found the daylight
reduced to relative dimness before the intensity of the
inner light, and to feel their egos dissolving in infinite
bliss!
Human consciousness, conditioned as it is by ordinary,
worldly experience, is unable to absorb itself in this light,
or to accept what Yogananda called "the liberating
shock of omnipresence." It is not that this light hurts
the eyes; indeed, they find it soothing. But it would be
too great a shock to someone who was not ready to receive
it. Moreover, it isn't that omnipresence, the state that
follows, is devastating. The ego, however, must be conditioned
by long and deep meditation to surrender into a greater
self-awareness.
Absorption in the light comes not by passivity. Nor can
it be forcefully commandeered. It comes at last, however,
by steadfast, deep devotion. Most important of all is an
attitude of loving receptivity toward the Christ consciousness,
through that one whom God has ordained as your true, or
sat, guru.
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