Insight
Healing and knowledge
Abstract
Knowledge aligns our nature to the Truth. The vehicle is consciousness; the searchlight one of observation. Everything is enveloped by the Truth so healing through Works and Love base themselves upon it. The triune approach offers the supreme healing.
Truth is the bedrock of the New Creation and identity with the Truth Consciousness is an aim of the Integral Yoga. Knowledge is a means to Truth and the Yoga of Knowledge links seamlessly with that of Works and Love so much so that ultimately all three branches work as one. However, they have distinct approaches and both Love and Works need grounding in the Truth and the Yoga of Knowledge facilitates this. In the same way our healing, if it is to be integral, has to be based on the Truth. There are no rigid distinctions: all three are inseparable but the overall base is Truth — we must know it as our foundation in order to live it. The Truth is an essential key to integral healing.
Healing implies change and knowledge is a perfect gateway to change. Change is very necessary; it gives life its purpose and without it life would become stagnant. Only when one knows something, can one change it. True change is progress and there can be no true healing without progress. The one who knows can heal. But healing does not always require intermediaries and the one who knows his or herself can heal the self. Everything is at our disposal. It is the Truth shining inside us that is the key to self-healing and it is available to all of us.
The supreme way to healing is through consciousness. Really though, it is more than a means, it is also an end in itself. Consciousness surpasses awareness, indeed it is the “…. faculty of being aware of anything through identification (1).” When we identify with the Divine, the consciousness becomes divine and all-healing. It “…. knows and effects (2)”. It is the supreme Determinant behind the miraculous. This consciousness knows the source of every one of our human states and because it knows, it heals.
The inner world is the cause of our most profound joys and our most stubborn miseries.This human malaise originates within so illness and disease proceed from inside-out. Everything, all our highs and lows, source from there; the surface is but a consequence. Once our entire being knows this reality then it only needs the consciousness to connect with the Truth for healing to begin. We call the Divine Name and get to work. The tool we need for this work is observation: this is the searchlight of all Knowledge. It is also the eye of the Divine Mother. Over time, as we observe, we realise the Oneness that lies inside. This Oneness is latent in all of us but it is obscured by the debris of our human nature. The searchlight scans and enquires and as it radiates, the scattered parts of our nature start working together. It is marvellous! This Knowledge aligns our nature to the Truth. It instils harmony and harmony is what holds our whole being together. As our nature becomes one, the world as we experience it also becomes more one. As we unite, we expand and gradually realise the oneness that lies in all beings and things. In Oneness lies true healing. We are only seeing and experiencing what is already present and true knowledge is realised through this complete identity.
Observation
So what do we observe? Paradoxically, for the deepest healing, it helps to look exclusively at the body. At least this is my experience. We clear the mind of all its clutter and concentrate on the body. Why do we probe our most external consciousness when aiming to heal inside? It seems a contradiction! But experience shows me that the picture gets far more focused and clear through the portal of our body. The body is like a magnifying-glass and it is the perfect barometer of our inner psychology. It has greater goodwill and simplicity than the complications of the rest of our nature. Consequently it has a greater affinity with the Truth. The body is such a wonderful channel.
The fact is, whatever is brewing inside will eventually rise up to the surface. When it does so, it can automatically be resolved. The consciousness unearths it and the consciousness transforms it. There is an element of pre-emption: one enquires into what has yet to fully emerge. One looks beyond symptoms to the true origin and cause. It is the truest form of healing. It is the hidden states of our being that are observed and identified on the physical level and this work can go ultimately all the way down to the subconscious.
As soon as the body consciousness starts converting to the light, healing occurs throughout the whole being. Everything starts glowing inside and out. Whatever its apparent condition, the body imparts a unique light. But we are not identifying with the body itself. We don’t allow ourselves to get dragged down into its play. We are invoking the Truth behind it and we keep our station above. We observe disinterestedly and witness in detail whatever appears. We scan from top to bottom, experiencing the Force going through the head and right down to the feet. We stop wherever there is disturbance or unease. When pain steps forward we continue observing and gently but persistently enquire into the reason for its upsurge. The supreme transformation comes when pain turns to ecstasy. It will happen: the knowledge will do that. Enanda arises from the pinnacle of our consciousness. This is what the seeker most aims for. It may take a long time to manifest but there can be a joy throughout the overall process. It knows the Truth behind the illusion and our identity is always with the Truth. We are identifying with the Truth behind the form. We are exposing the Truth in matter. It is deeply buried but as soon as the Truth starts appearing on the body, we then identify with it. Then there will be no distinctions because everything is one.
Growing in knowledge
As we grow in consciousness, we grow also in knowledge. We are all progressing in various degrees and no parameters can be set for our growth. We are all students of life. First of all, we learn to sustain our consciousness over longer stretches. It is a matter of effort and exercise, but insights will arrive in fits and starts which are entirely spontaneous. There is a Secret Hand which responds to our aspiration. We just need to stay awake. Gradually the grinding effort abates and something new intervenes. Eventually the consciousness will never sleep; it becomes active twenty-four hours a day. That is the aim at least and what a glorious state to be in! This alchemy does not need to arise just through regular sittings, it can happen when in action and even walking down the street. This is where Knowledge merges into Works and the consciousness becomes even more dynamic when it is also engaged in physical activity. If one ‘catches’ a wrong movement the moment it arises in action it has the potential to be transformed.
Also too, as we start identifying with Oneness another inner shift gradually unfolds. We observe and look at fragments but never lose sight of the landscape of Oneness that lies behind. The whole is addressed through an aperture thrown up by the individual anomaly. We gradually start to see everything in totality but down to the minutest detail. It is a constant reminder that the saadhanaa is not really in our own hands. Something much vaster is taking over. As the practice develops, the range and capacity of our observation expands. This is also a process of growth: our work becomes broader and more dynamic as our vision widens into a greater integrality.
When Knowledge melts into Love the healing becomes complete. The wholeness in approach brings a wholeness into our healing. Nothing can compare with this feeling. The well-being is limitless! Healing cannot be integral unless it is wrapped in Love but this Love needs to be grounded in Knowledge. Love comes in many gradations but when we surround ourselves in an atmosphere of Knowledge we start clothing ourselves in this true vibration of Love. Everything is enveloped by the Truth. A triune approach yet one — there is no greater healing than this.
References
1. Pandit MP (compiled by). Dictionary of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. Twin Lakes WI, USA: Lotus Light Publications; 1992, p.35.
2. Ibid.
James Anderson is a member of SAIIIHR and coordinating editor of NAMAH.
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