From the form to the formless

In the beginning of sadhana, the attraction to the form is very often necessary in order to be guided into the formless. This is a question of practical sadhana because one cannot jump to, or fix one’s mind on the abstract reality, something in thin air, although ultimately it is the formless that we seek.

On the other hand, if one learns to gather one’s energies into one centre or one form or one ideal, then at some point one may reach a stage when one may drop the form. So a form, especially an attractive form, is necessary for one to be able to fix one’s mind on one point, and then, when one comes to a certain state, one can discard it. It is like making an image out of clay. Clay has no shape as such. You put the clay into a mould and press it till the image sets and then break the mould for the image to emerge. 

In section Four, the Kenopanishad describes, through the words of Uma, “the daughter of the Himalayas”, the experience of Brahman.

It is not a gradual formation, not a gradual experience, but a sudden flash, like that of lightening or like the blink of an eye.

It is not an experience that is collected in the memory and retained. It is a present experience, which, as the Upanishad says, “If you understand it now, there is bliss; if you do not understand it at this moment, it is a disastrous loss." So the Upanishad is speaking of the present, not of some future date when one can attain it.

The fourth shloka also speaks about Brahman. It says, when illumination comes, it comes like a flash of lightening and no one can say when it will come.

One has to prepare oneself for it as it can come anytime.

The issue is, “ Can you catch it when it comes, or will you miss it? Every postponement of trying to find the Supreme Being is a loss, because it flashes and it is gone! One needs to be alert enough to catch it.

From birth to death, thought is a continuous process. The mind chatters and moves endlessly. It appears that there is hardly any gap between one thought and another. Of course, we cannot find that gap normally, but if you could grasp that junction, then you have it, in the blink of an eye. Like the Upanishad says, “Thus we have heard from the ancients”.