laya has two meanings in English:
1. dissolution
2. rhythm
Consider rhythm as synchronisation of many instruments, physically. The instruments themselves do not merge, but sounds from the instruments mesh together seamlessly. In turn, this occurs when instrument players sync together mentally, understanding the underlying rāga or theme, and manifesting it physically, in sound.
In internal sādhana, two entities - sādhak and sādhya (God/Guru), are the equivalent of physical instruments.
Thus, there is internal synchrony, rhythm, laya, of the sādhak and the Guru through their waves or energies.
And when there is perfect synchrony, not just indirectly or externally (as when sounds of various musical instruments are in sync), but internally, what happens?
Then there is perfect mergence, laya, no difference between the waves of the sādhak and the sādhya.
Synchrony becomes merger and merger becomes dissolution.
It is easy to understand that waves from two different sources may have trouble merging with each other. E.g., the turbulence when a river meets its ocean.
Usually, God being acala or immovable or unchangeable, the sādhak has to change or transform internally into subtler and subtler states or waves to reach laya with God, and then brahma-laya.
This internal transformation is made possible and accelerated immensely by the Guru, whose internal waves sync with the sādhak's own.
First, the Guru's waves manifest at the current level of grossness of the sādhak's waves, merges with them, and then by negativating or transforming and returning to successive causal levels, guides the sādhak's waves to subtler levels.
But such guiding only occurs with wholehearted cooperation. Any internal reluctance or misgiving of the sādhak causes immediate lack of synchrony, dissonance, and snapping out of laya, if not its lack of occurrence at all.
Egoic activity is that inner activity which
a) resticts a sādhak's inner waves to a limited internal space or region for stability, and
b) then continually repeats that self-reinforcing activity.
In other words, egoic activity flows as waves.
Any attempt at wholehearted cooperation, at merger, at laya, can be disrupted by egoic waves. Unless the sādhak lets go of egoic activity and allows the egoic waves of the Guru or God to change the limits, perhaps infinitely and so become limitless!
Success in sādhana must result in laya (in both senses) first,
followed by successive negativating or subtilizing.
The theory of going from gross to subtle progressively is simple, but the practice is not.
Egoic activities not only include positive limiting (I-me-my) but also negative delimiting (not I-not me-not my). Hence, one has to let go of both sort of waves.
A true Guru no longer has self-limiting activities and waves internally.
Synchronising with such a Guru has been expressed simply by Babuji -
Love Him Who Loves All.
Unfortunately, such synchronising alone is insufficient for laya with the Guru at all levels. There is still the much larger and negative not I-me-my egoic activity and waves to sync!
Hence, Chariji's expanded statement -
Love All Whom He Loves.
In Heartfulness/Sahaj Marg, synchronising egoic waves is preceded by relinquishing waves of even grosser manifestation.
Thus, the sādhak first undergoes cleaning or unwinding of saṁskāras, which turn streams of turbulent flows (due to little whirlpools or eddies of emotions) into subtler simpler egoic flows.
It is only after the egoic activity is clearly delineated that a sādhak can co-operate wilfully. Till then, saṁskārik waves prevent synchronisation no matter how hard the sādhak tries.
Therefore, Babuji describes the Sahaj Marg yātra as first stabilising or going beyond the Heart Region and then going through the Mind Region, where the Guru/God can only work for -and on- the sādhak when the sādhak lets go. (C.f. Kabir's prem gali doha.)
In sum, laya as both rhythm and dissolution gives a fresh and easily understandable picture of the spiritual yātra (from an unregenerate human to a true brahma-cāri) to music-loving sādhaks.
