The Great Path

CHAPTER 1

The Darkness Inside
11 September 1974 am in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
[Note: This is a translation from the Hindi series Shiva Sutra, which is in the process of being edited.
It is for research only.]

OM! I BOW DOWN TO LORD SHIVA – THE ONE WHO IS SELF-LUMINOUS, DELIGHTING IN HIS
OWN BEING.
AND NOW, THE BEGINNING OF THE SHIVA SUTRA.
CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE ATMAN, THE SOUL; KNOWLEDGE IS BONDAGE. THE BODY IS THE
UNION OF RAMAN, NATURE AND RAMAN, THE EGO, THE DOER. THE SPIRITUAL ENDEAVOR
IS RAMAN. ONE WHO APPLIES HIS TOTAL ENERGY, FOR HIM THEWORLD EXISTS NO MORE.

Two ways exist of searching for the truth. One way is that of the male – aggression, violence, the
scramble for power. Another is that of the female – surrender, withdrawal. Science is the male path,
aggressive; religion is a female path, bowing down, submissive. Make this distinction very clearly.

All scriptures of the East begin with a salutation to God. This salutation is not just a formality; it is
not merely following a tradition or a convention. The salutation is indicative of the fact that the path
ahead is of surrender. Only the humble will attain. Those who are aggressive and full of ego, those
who wish to attain even truth by grabbing at it, those with the attitude of conquering nature will be
defeated. They can possess the trivial, but that which is so immense, so vast, can never be theirs.
They may succeed in grabbing the worthless, but nothing meaningful can ever become part of them.

Hence, a scientist discovers all that is unessential, but misses the essential. He succeeds in
gathering details about the soil, the stones, matter, but an understanding of the soul and Godescapes him. It is like one attacks a woman passing by. One may become successful in raping
her, one may even have her body in one’s control, but one can never have her soul; one will never
be able to win her love
.
So those who approach God aggressively are the rapists. They may bring the physical body of God
under their control; they may dissect and analyze nature manifesting all around, they may discover
some of its secrets, but the discovery will be as trivial as someone attacking and raping a woman.
The man may succeed in securing the woman’s body, but such an achievement is not worth a straw
because he won’t be able to even touch her soul. And if the soul has remained untouched, the
possibility of love that is hidden within her, the hidden seed of her love can never sprout. Her love
can never shower upon him.

Science is an act of rape. It is an assault on nature – as if nature were some kind of an enemy, as if
it has to be conquered, defeated. That’s why science believes in cutting things into pieces. Analysis,
destruction; it believes in dissection.

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