The Ladder of Light

A Study in Cosmology – by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

“Where am I?…How did I get here?” is a query put forth by potential sages throughout the history of conscious mankind. It can be put another way: “What is this universe I keep finding myself in, and how did I get here?”

Why creation?

Naturally, the question arises: “Why is God the Source of all these worlds and their inhabitants? Why have they been brought into manifestation?” A little reflection shows us that the finite human mind can hardly be expected to encompass the vastness of relativity or express in simple formulas that which is infinitely complex and inexplicable to itself. Nevertheless we can try to give a hint of how things are in the cosmos.

All conscious beings have existed eternally within the being of God, one with Him, distinct though not separate from Him. Rooted in the infinity of God, the individual consciousnesses have within them a natural impulse to transcend their finitude and attain the boundlessness of their Origin. This is impossible, since, being rooted in God, in a sense a part of God, all beings are as immutable as God–the only infinite Being. Yet, the urge for transcendence is part of their essential nature.

The solution to this dilemma is actually quite simple: the individual consciousnesses cannot alter their natural state of finitude but they can come to share and participate in the infinite Consciousness of God. That is, they cannot become infinite themselves, but they can experience the infinity of another–their divine Source. Just as a psychically sensitive person can experience the thoughts and feelings of another by tuning in to him, yet in no way becoming that other person, so the individual consciousness can come to experience the Consciousness of God while remaining in its limited native state.

It is necessary, however, for the individual spirit to develop the capacity for such a state of awareness. And this is done by learning to fully experience the state of existence of a being completely different from oneself–to enter into an alien mode of being altogether, while retaining the awareness of one’s true identity. In other words, the individual spirit must learn to put on a “costume” of a consciousness utterly different from its own and become able not just to fully experience that other mode of consciousness, but also to develop the ability to function as that other kind of being.

To enable the spirits to enter into this process, God emanates and manifests all the realms of relative existence, from the most subtle worlds to the most objective worlds of atomic matter. The spirits then enter into relative existence by taking on “bodies” of varying grades and patterns of vibratory energies. They begin by descending into this material world to begin working their way back up the ladder of ever-evolving forms. Beginning with forms whose scope of consciousness is lesser than theirs, they work their way upward, entering into higher and higher levels of awareness until they can surpass their original breadth of consciousness and begin to partake of a life of awareness much beyond their own.

Upward and upward they evolve until their capacity for awareness is developed to such a perfect state that they can actually experience the Being of Divinity Itself fully participating in all-embracing consciousness, thenceforth to live infinitely.

As Shakespeare wrote, “all the world’s a stage,” with the individual spirits wearing their costumes and playing their parts. Just as actors begin with small parts and progress to bigger roles by demonstrating their skill in those smaller parts, so also do the spirits advance to higher and more complex forms of existence and consciousness through taking on and perfecting their identity and functions within the elementary forms of creation, returning at last home to God. As the Sufi poet, Rumi, wrote:

A stone I died and rose again a plant.
A plant I died and rose an animal;
I died an animal and was born a man.
Why should I fear? What have I lost by death?
As man, death sweeps me from this world of men
That I may wear an angel’s wings in heaven;
Yet e’en as angel may I not abide,
For nought abideth save the face of God.
Thus o’er the angels’ world I wing my way
Onwards and upwards, unto boundless lights;
Then let me be as nought, for in my heart
Rings as a harp-song that we must return to Him.

The Law of Rebirth holds sway over all, for it is the obverse, the corollary, of the Law of Evolution.

Because of the incalculable length of time this process of return requires, God breathes forth the creation many times in cycles. Creation, being an activity of the eternal God, is also eternal. It never began, and will never end. Instead, it runs in alternating cycles of manifestation-projection and withdrawal. Nothing is destroyed, simply recycled.

The utmost limit of the Divine out-breathing is the material plane. The first role in the cosmic drama as it unfolds is the single atom of hydrogen. This is the first body, the first “role” in which the newly-projected spirit finds itself. Then in its implanted will, tending back to the divine, it builds more and more complex atomic and molecular structures in the struggle to manifest full self-awareness. This entails an almost infinitely long series of progressively more complex and evolved body vehicles–each of which the spirit must both project around itself and function in to attain and manifest the fullest consciousness possible in those vehicles. As the poet said:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul!
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!

So the scenario for the drama of creation, simply stated, is: God breathes forth this vast universe. Slowly it comes out and evolves according to set patterns. Then after a precise measure of time, He breathes it back in again, involves it, and it vanishes. This He does eternally. Mostly the same actors are in the successive dramas, though they evolve to bigger and hopefully better roles.

At all stages along the way, we find organisms in which the differing levels overlap. In the sea we find entities which are simultaneously plant and animal, and on land we have those that have developed an elementary sense of touch and locomotion, such as the Venus flytrap. Perhaps it can go without saying that in human life we find many that are to some degree still animal.

Also, in the intervals between embodiments, the spirit spends time in the “astral” regions where awakening and growth also take place. (See the forty-third chapter of Autobiography of a Yogi.)

When the individual comes to the point where he has manifested to the fullest extent the levels of consciousness possible within life on the material plane of Bhur Loka, he “graduates” to the next level of creation–Bhuva Loka. Just as the ripe fruit falls naturally from the tree, so the spirit progresses to higher lokas in turn, ever moving upward, until it reaches the highest region of Satya Loka and there becomes totally reunited with the Infinite.

This is the way of spirit-progression in the universe. That is the essence, the overview, so now we can look at the details of the process just described.

Creation

The basis of all relativity is the divine creative power known as Mulaprakriti. This is the essential substance of all that “is.” Though undifferentiated, it is never inert, but potentially dynamic, a divine seed ever ready to expand and develop according to the divine pattern emanating from the Absolute. Originally there is only Brahman and Mulaprakriti: Primal Consciousness and Primal Power. In response to the movement of Divine Will that is embodied in the Divine Word, Om, the Primal Energy begins to respond by expanding upward into the infinite number of required manifestations. First the seven levels or “worlds” are spread forth, and then the forms necessary for the embodiment of the descending/ascending spirits are manifested from the energies of the levels or lokas.1

These are not creations in the strict sense, but actually manifestations of that which exists in seed form within the bosom of Prakriti. These causal patterns are eternal, ever present throughout the sequence of manifestation and dissolution. For creation is occurring in a perpetual cycle of emanation and withdrawal known as the days and nights of Brahma. Each “day” and “night” is 4,320,000,000 years in span. A unit of one day and one night, 8,640,000,000 years, is known as a kalpa.

To supervise the universal manifestation and maintain its order and function, at the beginning of the impulse to manifestation that passes from Brahman to Mulaprakriti, the seven most highly evolved beings in all the worlds are awakened and called forth. These are known as the Seven (Sapta) Rishis.2 They are the seven greatest and most highly evolved beings in existence, so near to Divinity that they might even be called “the seven fingers of God.” Only the slightest tinge of separate consciousness remains in them so they may carry out the divine creative plan. But so nearly total is their oneness with God’s Consciousness that their wills are flawless reflections of the divine will and their actions are truly acts of God. It is they who engage in active creation rather than Brahman. Actually, they do not themselves directly create, but awaken and manifest numberless spirits throughout the expanse of the seven worlds to undertake creation/manifestation. The Seven Rishis supervise and guide the activities of these innumerable creators that are known in the Bible as the Elohim.

All the spirits that have been slumbering within Mulaprakriti thus become awakened, finding themselves inhabiting bodies proper to the level of evolution they had attained at the time the last day of creation began mutating into the night of dissolution/dormancy. Upon awakening fully they once more take up the process of evolution, passing upward into increasingly complex forms with increasing capacities for the expression of consciousness. At the completion of a day of creation, they return to the sleep of creation’s night.

The returning to the state of creational night is called pralaya. Pralaya, too, is differentiated by cycles. There is a series of manifestations and dissolutions that occur only to the three lower worlds–bhur, bhuvah, and swar lokas. It is not clear whether it is these that are called the days and nights of Brahma, or whether they are shorter spans of time within the greater time periods that are the days and nights. Whichever it is, after a certain number of these little pralayas there occurs the Mahapralaya, the final cosmic dissolution encompassing all the seven worlds, after which nothing but the Absolute remains in passive union with Prakriti. (Some believe that Prakriti merges into Brahman, also. Others think that Brahman/Prakriti remain eternally distinct though certainly in union.)

It is said that the purpose of the little pralayas is to stimulate those in the higher worlds to be diligent at their evolution, lest the Mahapralaya find them having made little or no progress, having been caught in the enjoyment and happiness that prevails in those higher regions. For the suffering and stress that impels the spirits in the three lower worlds to seek an upward escape is totally absent in the four higher worlds.

Here it might be mentioned that he who is known as Brahma the Creator is only the creator-projector of the three lower worlds–and that under the aegis of the Seven Rishis.

The levels of creation

As a working model we may consider that there are ten levels of existence:

Brahman–The Absolute
The Seven Rishis
Satya Loka
Tapa Loka
Jnana Loka
Maha Loka
Swar Loka
Bhuva Loka
Bhur Loka
Mula Prakriti

This list gives some idea of how Indian philosophy classifies the levels of existence. Within each level there are vast numbers of subtle gradations–so many that to enumerate them is impossible.

The Seven Lokas are the seven rungs of the evolutionary ladder that is rooted in the Primal Power and extending upward to the Primal Consciousness. These seven worlds correspond to seven levels of consciousness that determine which of the worlds the individual spirit incarnates in. They also correspond to the seven chakras in the human being. Here is a quick outline, starting at the bottom of the ladder.

1) Bhur Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of matter. (Muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, seat of the Earth element and the annamaya kosha.)

2) Bhuva Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of feeling–instinct and lower intuition. (Swadhishthana chakra in the spine a little less than midway between the base of the spine and the area opposite the navel. Seat of the Water element and the pranamaya kosha.)

3) Swar Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of sensory experience. (Manipura chakra in the spine at the point opposite the navel. Seat of the Fire element and the manomaya kosha.)

4) Maha Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of thought and reflective perception. (Anahata chakra in the spine at the point opposite the center of the chest, the sternum bone. Seat of the Air element and the jnanamaya kosha.)

5) Jnana Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of fundamental causation and spiritual intuition. (Vishuddha chakra in the spine opposite the hollow of the throat. Seat of the Ether element and the anandamaya kosha.)

6) Tapa Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of mastery of all the lesser elements and levels. (Ajna chakra at the point between the eyebrows, the “third eye.” Controlling center of all the lower chakras.)

7) Satya Loka. The dominant consciousness is that of spirit-consciousness itself. (Sahasrara chakra, the “thousand-petalled lotus” of the brain, the highest center of consciousness.)

Bhur Loka is purely material; Bhuva and Swar Lokas are astral; Maha Loka is a mixture of astral and causal; Jnana and Tapa Lokas are completely causal; and Satya Loka is a mixture of extremely subtle causal and pure consciousness.

Those who attain to “birth” in Maha Loka never return to the three lower worlds unless they do so as an act of higher will. There is movement upward and downward between Maha and Jnana Lokas. But once they reach Tapa Loka they remain there until they evolve into Satya Loka from which there is never a descent into any world unless one descends into the lower six worlds as an avatar to instruct and inspire the inhabitants of those worlds to increase their evolutionary ascent. Because of the happy and blissful nature of the higher worlds this stimulus is as necessary as it is in the lower worlds of suffering and dis-ease.

In the lesser astral worlds life proceeds very much like that on earth; life can be frittered away in useless astral tourism if one so wills. There, too, stress and suffering exist, just as they do in dreams here on earth. But the higher one evolves, the more dominant do purely internal processes such as thought become. Still, there may be a range of intellectual activities. In Tapa Loka, however, nothing is engaged in but spiritual processes–tapasya. The inhabitants of that world have no other desire, thought, or purpose other than total liberation into Spirit.

To better understand these things, I recommend that you read the forty-third chapter of Paramhansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi.3

(According to the Bhagavad Gita, there were four great beings called Manus who were the manifesters and guides of the human race. It is not clear if they existed at the same time or in a succession. It is not impossible that the different races were under the aegis of different Manus and that accounts for their differences.)

The picture cannot be complete, though, until two more aspects are considered.

Karma

The rungs of the evolutionary ladder have been manifested by divine fiat. But how we ascend or descend–and on which rungs we find ourselves–is determined exclusively by ourselves through the operation of the law of karma.

Karma is a Sanskrit word, derived from the Sanskrit root kri, which means “to act, do, or make.” It has two meanings: 1) any kind of action, including thought and feeling, and 2) the effects of action. Karma is both action and reaction, the metaphysical equivalent of the principle: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It is karma operating through the law of cause and effect that binds the individual spirit to the wheel of birth and death.

But we need an exact understanding of what karma really is, what it is “made” of. The modern Hindu idea of karma as some kind of retributive force that is circling around like a cloud somewhere in the cosmos and making lightning strikes according to some mysterious programming is utterly wrong. And so is the myth of “Lords of Karma.” Nothing is more absurd than the “it is all out of my hands” attitude toward our karma. We created it, it is truly OUR karma. So who else would be involved in its manifestation?

Karma is a totally internal matter. It is, in fact, the shaping of our mind-stuff by our thoughts and actions. For there is not only mental karma, there is nothing but mental karma. The mind is a vibrating field of creative energy which both creates life situations and draws us into already-existing situations, as well as drawing those people into our life-sphere who will exactly reflect our inner programming. This is most important. The manifesting of our mental conditionings (karmas) is a perfect mirroring of what is inside us. Our life is a portrait of our mind. Now this is a very bitter pill for the ego to ingest. It is discomfiting enough to think that what happens to us is a response to past actions, but to realize that it is a revelation of our buried psychic states, is most unpalatable. The myth of the innocent victim can be applied neither to ourself nor to others. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”4 Yet, as I say, it not just a matter of past actions but of present interior conditions. As Sri Ramakrishna often said: The mind is everything. And as the Chinese say: “When mean-spirited people live behind the door, mean-spirited people come to in front of the door.”

The meaning of all this is that by studying our life we can come to know our mind. Even more important, we can come to realize that we do not need to “work out” or “burn up” karma, for karma is our mind, and cannot be worked out or burnt up. But our mind can be genuinely changed–and our karma will change. Moreover, if we purify our mind, cleansing it from all conditionings until it reflects the consciousness of spirit, all karma will be wiped away. This is the only real “forgiveness of sins.”

Yoga

Purification of the lower self is therefore the prime concern of the wise. This is not done by thinking or acting in a positive manner. It is accomplished by yoga alone, for only yoga reaches into the realm of the spirit. Certainly, many religious rites and practices bring higher consciousness into the world, but this is only a temporary thing. The necessary thing is for us to take ourselves into Spirit. No matter how many descents God may make into the world for the assistance of mankind–and He indeed does make such incursions into matter–it ultimately is to no purpose if human beings do not ascend into God. And that is what yoga is all about: evolution of consciousness.

The religion of Yoga

It is commonly said that Yoga is not a religion. But since religion is derived from the Latin word religere, which means “to bind back,” and yoga means “joining,” practically speaking yoga is the only religion. The many systems of dogmas and doctrines are by their very nature not really religions at all, and in most instances are systems of superstition–either by the nature of their ideas or practices or by the attitudes of their adherents toward their beliefs and disciplines.

It is yoga alone which reunites the consciousness of the individual to its infinite Source, restoring the lost unity. I. K. Taimni, in his book, The Science of Yoga, has this to say about yoga:

“The Orthodox religious ideal which requires people to be good and moral so that they may have a happy life here and hereafter is really a concession to human weakness and the desire to prefer the so-called happiness in life to enlightenment.

“In this respect the philosophy of yoga differs fundamentally from most of the orthodox religions of the world which offer nothing better than an uncertain and nebulous happiness in the life after death. They say in effect ‘Lead a good life to ensure happiness after death, put your faith in God and hope for the best.’ According to yogic philosophy death no more solves your spiritual problem than night solves your economic problem. If you are poor you do not expect on going to bed that your economic problem will be automatically solved next day. You will have to get up the next day and begin where you left off the previous night. If you are poor economically you do not expect to get rich overnight and if you are poor spiritually, bound by illusions and limitations of all kinds, you cannot expect to become enlightened [by simply being reborn] or, if you do not believe in reincarnation, in the vague and unending life which is supposed to follow death.”

The prime law of the universe is the law of evolution, the law of the inexorable flight of the spirit back to divinity. Ignorant spirits may delay their homeward flight, but never can it be permanently stopped. For the time finally comes when the wandering spirit becomes awakened to the fact that it can consciously seize on its evolution and greatly accelerate its upward movement. At that moment the opening words of the Yoga Sutras: “Now Yoga,” become meaningful. For yoga is the way we answer for ourselves the prayer:

Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to the Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.

2) In Christian cosmology they are called the Seven Archons or the Seven Spirits of God (Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). They are sometimes equated with the Seven Archangels. [Go back]

3) The text of the first edition of the Autobiography can be found at the web address: ananda.org. Printed versions are also availabe at that site. [Go back]

4) Galatians 6:7 [Go back]