A simple model of spiritual practice - sāṁkhya

A simple model from traditional sāṁkhya.

An infinity exists - unmanifest. Within are three categories:

1. sattva - illuminating/discriminating/"aware"-ing,

2. rajas - impelling - and,

3. tamas - impeding.

All three are initially unmanifest as well.

sattva is subtlest, rajas gross, tamas grossest, with respect to understanding.

sattva, rajas, and tamas can have individually different levels of vibration or subtlety.

sattva is also related to willpower; subtlest sattva => subtlest intention or will.

The effects of rajas and tamas on mental and physical "stuff" are the same - causing/changing movement or stopping movement. (Movement is eternal, across different levels, so tamas is also temporary vis-a-vis eternity. Thus, even static rocks erode and disappear over millennia.)

When manifestation starts, sattva is maximum, rajas and tamas are minimum or nil.

Manifestation evolves to grosser levels and devolves to subtler levels. (Why manifestation at all is unclear, though there are speculative answers.)

At our current individual state and that of the universe, sattva is minimum, rajas and tamas maximum. Put differently, free-will in the present is minimum; habitual unthinking reaction - fighting/fleeing or freezing - is maximum.

Individual meditation and other spiritual practices increase the ratio of sattva - in this infinity - compared to rajas and tamas. 

One view: increasing activity - rajas - reduces the quantity of tamas, and rajas is reduced in turn by increasing sattva.

Another view: sattva is transmuted into rajas and tamas and reversal happens during spiritual/inward practice.

(krodha may be equivalent to rajas and kāma to tamas. Hence Babuji saying they are natural and practically ineradicable.)

rajas and tamas are "mechanical" or "non-conscious". sattva is also non-conscious, but is closest in appearance or function to consciousness. Thus, spiritual practice aims first at increasing sattva to attain or become pure consciousness.

Once the "devolution" reaches pure or maximum sattva, it can only go further through unmanifestation. At this point, even separation or "this and that" awareness are lost.

Individual devolution probably results in only a part of the infinity becoming unmanifest. A universal devolution alone - mahāpraḷaya - can cause total unmanifestation. What if every individual did not devolve? Can universal devolution occur?

Please note all of the above are only regarding prakṛti or pradhāna. Consciousness-energies - puruṣas - are another set of infinities, each one eternally separate from the prakṛti infinity, and untouched by its series of evolution-devolution sequences.

Evolution and Samkhya-Yoga philosophy

There is a hyper-realisitic philosophy called sāṁkhya (literally, from categories or from numberings), which posits an evolution (or descent, depending on your point of view) from two sets of infinities.

One infinity is a unitary set called prakṛti (Nature/Manifestor) or pradhāna (Base/Foundation) [1]. From this infinity manifests everything non-conscious, including mind [8], body, and material universe.

The second is a set of infinities called puruṣa's. Like the sun radiates light, each puruṣa radiates consciousness. Every living thing is a unidirectional combination of one puruṣa and a part of prakṛti.  Consciousness illuminates, but is untouchable by, the non-conscious. Vaguely similar to sun rays illuminating the earth. [3]

Now to evolution of the universe or multiverse. Think of a puruṣa as a consciousness source which purifies one part - a jīva (you or any living creature) - of an ocean of prakṛti. bhog, samādhi, and whatever else makes this purification happen for you as a jīva is by your surrender to this activity with minimal conditioning [4]. You, as an ocean current or whirlpool, are able to tune into the incessant inspiration from your puruṣa better with more and more purification. Your actions become more and more natural and less and less conditioned by subconscious and unconscious tendencies (vāsana's) and emotional residues (saṁskāra's).

Spiritual evolution of humans is purification of a significant part of the non-conscious ocean - a particular threshold of jīva's (humans, e.g.) attaining self-realisation, with its ripple effects.

Self-realisation, IMHO, is getting off the seesaw of habitual likes and dislikes (Babuji's Heart Region) and letting the seesaw of I and the Divine (Babuji's Mind Region) rest permanently on the side of the Divine. Kabir has a nice couplet for the latter:

     Love's lane is exceedingly narrow; it can't hold two.
     When 'I' was, the Divine [5] wasn't; now the Divine is, 'I' am not. [6]

I like sāṁkhya because it explains very elegantly a confusing Vedantic idea - I don't have to do anything as I am never bound - by splitting the I into conscious and non-conscious I's. The puruṣa 'I' is eternally free and unblemished. The prakṛti 'I', my bit of ocean, is what changes, maybe from iceberg to water to vapour to space! 

prakṛti as a whole goes through cycles of simplicity and complexity, purity and impurity, lightness and grossness, across cycles of manifestation and unmanifestation, which cause evolution at a multiverse level.

sāṁkhya is atheistic as there is no need for a whimsical God to plan or direct anything. It is close to science in the idea of natural evolution occurring due to individual actions. ṛta (root of rhythm?), or collective karma at the level of the infinite prakṛti, instead of random chance as in science [7], also drives evolution. But ṛta is not arbitrary, and applies even to higher beings.

yoga/rāja yoga philosophy adds the concept of a special puruṣa, an eternal Guru or Guide, not subject to grosser mental effects even when it does associate with (a part of) prakṛti and incarnates in a physical body.

yoga is traditionally considered the practical aspect of sāṁkhya theory. Its practices or techniques take one's mind gradually from a mostly outward focus to an inward focus and then to one that can go both ways equally easily.  Inward focus is of many levels or stages, and one key principle of sāṁkhya - an effect manifests from a cause - is used in the technique of resolving (Babuji's laya) a grosser effect thought layer into a subtler cause layer.

In Sahaj Marg, dissolution/resolution is done through cleaning. And in meditation, by letting the (almost?) infinitely subtle transmission of the Source of Divine Light guide your attention towards Itself, or your mental vibrations towards Its own level.

NOTES

[1] Babuji's bhūma [2] seems to be both pradhāna and puruṣa's, in a latent state

[2] From the chāndogya upaniṣad (7.24.1)

[3] Sun rays do enter into physical reactions as energy, even while illuminating. Consciousness rays, qualitatively different, cause understanding or wisdom in a layer of prakṛti, but it's a unidirectional relationship.

[4] Some conditioning is needed while living in a physical body, in a specific society, at a particular level of technology, kind of social stage (child, parent, elder, sage), etc.

[5] Kabir says 'Hari' for 'the Divine'.

[6] "'I' isn't" is technically better than "'I' am not", as 'I' is considered to be a set of "I, me, or mine" thoughts.

[7] Perhaps statistical random chance is indeed ṛta for gases!

[8] Mind, intellect, and ego (manas, buddhi, and ahaṁkāra) are considered non-conscious or jaḍa.