The Physics and Metaphysics of Bridal Mysticism in Ancient History

Toward the Synthesis of Science & Religion, Hari & Shakti / Eli & Shekinah as Atman & Jiva

The Physics and Metaphysics of Bridal Mysticism in Ancient History

A paper prepared and written by Bhakti Ananda Goswami for the Bhaktivedanta Institute Conference held in New Delhi, India as a Holy Advent Offering for the 1996 Centennial Birth Anniversary of his Beloved Spiritual Master and Gurudeva A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

INTRODUCTION “Aham Atma”/ Autos Ego / “I am the Self” In ‘Western Civilization’ we are accustomed to a world view in which the stuff of gross reality is dead matter that must be animated by either an impersonal energy or the religious concept of a self or soul that is radically different and other than matter. In fact, the influence of a form of gnostic dualism on western thought has been so profound that spirit has come to be defined in terms quite the opposite of matter. Since matter has form, spirit must be impersonal. The material world consists of the dynamic opposites of positive and negative, or masculine and feminine; therefore the spiritual realm must be a still place of no exchange, flow or action. In this way matter itself has been defined as the opposite of ‘spirit’ and has become the enemy of spirituality in many related religious traditions of West and East (for instance in Gnosticism, Jainism, Advaita Vedantic impersonalism, and some forms of Buddhism). However, such a view of immediate and ultimate reality has not always predominated in Western Civilization.

Before Greek and other ‘Atomists’ corrupted the ancient religious doctrine of Atomos/Aten/Atma/Autos, the SELF was God or the soul. The basis of all reality was the individual/undividable Soul and soul, not an indivisible impersonal thing. Matter was the Murti, or the incarnation form of the wholly spiritual, undividable Deity. Matter was a face or energy of Spirit. This temporary world was understood as a shadow or reflection of the permanent spiritual realm of the Ideal. In Platonic Idealism for example, beauty exists here because it exists in the Ideal. Persons, variety, activity and masculine and feminine all exist here because these things all exist in the Ideal or spiritual realm of Godhead. Giving and Receiving in the Divine Milieu of Eli and Shekinah manifests in the material world as masculine and feminine. Because Godhead was the original and ultimate GIVER, and all other beings RECEIVERS, ATMAN/God in His Many Names and Forms was always considered ‘masculine’.

This is the basis of the ‘BRIDAL MYSTICISM’ at the core of all the Eli-Yahu/Hari-Vasu related traditions of divine love. Naturally there is no place for real spiritual love in a mere mechanistic world of dead or impersonally electrified matter. The thought-world left to us by the atheistic impersonal ‘Atomists’ is thus a loveless one in which the final irreducible fact is just a lifeless indivisible THING, not a living loving PERSON. Of course, recently the term ‘atom’ has been affixed to the thing composed of protons, neutrons, electrons etc… So the modern ‘atom’-thing turned out not to be indivisible at all! To the ancient Greek worshippers of Heli-Os, and the related Jewish devotees of Eli-Yahu and Egyptian devotees of HR-OS, Atom-Os was the ATM Name and Form (Name Rupa) of Yahu, the so-called ATEN form of OSIRIS. Egyptian OS, like the cognate Hebrew YAHU, Greek OS, Latin ESSE, English IS and Sanskrit VASU means TO BE, TO EXIST and like the related OSIRIS names of AHURA and ASURA (name of Vishnu) revealed the Supreme Being as the Infinite Soul of the Universe (PR-ATMN = Paramatma), Divine Source of all finite being and life.

This de-personalizing of ATMAN controversy, and the relationship between the Supreme Spirit ATMN and the finite jiv-atma beings became the focus of the philosophical and theological debates that raged throughout the ancient world giving rise to the pathological world-views that still afflict us today. The great systematized theologies of our surviving lineages of Eli-Yahu/Hari-Vasu worship also derive their historical inspiration from the formative period of these controversies in both the East and the West.

While the doctrines of PR ATMN (Para Atman were developed into the systematic theology of the Heliopolis (Harya-purusha) school in the capital of Northern Egypt, the doctrines of PR AHMN (Brahman) developed in a parallel fashion at the Southern Egyptian capital at Thebes called Dio polis magnus (Deva-purusha-maha). The later Greek ascetics (circa 500 b.c.) accepted that since prehistory, the Deity HR-OS in Egypt was their own Heli-Os. These same ascetics and their followers, like the Pythagoreans, Orphics, Platonists and especially the people of Sparta, had century after century belonged to Asyla Federations of temple communities devoted to HR-OS (HARI-VASUdeva) in His limitless Name and Form. The Hebrews, Israelites and Jews also belonged to these religious federations. AS late as the Machabean period, the Jews still continued the alliance with their Eli-Yahu/Heli-Os worshipping “brothers” in Sparta, Egypt, Rome and elsewhere. These alliances form the historical background for the ATMAN and JIVA physics and metaphysics I am about to describe. It is possible to trace doctrines to specific alliances.

Since these alliances are not the main topic here, I direct the reader’s attention to the Catholic Bible for one important Scriptural and historical record of their existence. (Protestant Bibles have left out the books of Machabees). In the Catholic Old Testament, the First and Second Books of Machabees contain detailed information on the Jewish Machabean alliances with Sparta etc. If the reader will grant me a brief aside I would like to mention that profoundly, the Second Book of Machabees, Chapter Three also relates the story of Eli-Yahu’s appearance in the Great Temple of Jerusalem (Hiero-solym/Haryashallam) to chastise a Seleucid Ambassador named Heliodorus! Scholars of ancient Vaishnava history should recognize this name and office as belonging to a devotee of Hari whose famous votive column is used by scholars to establish the pre Christian worship of Krishna in India. In Second Machabees Chapter Three, Godhead appears first as a richly decorated Rider [Kalki] who strikes Heliodorus down with His horse. Then He appears as Two Beautiful Youths [Krishna and Balarama] who beat Heliodorus senseless. When Eli-Yahu’s High Priest prays to Godhead to spare the life of Heliodorus, Eli-Yahu appears again as the Beautiful Youths, and restores Heliodorus to life, whereupon Heliodorus repents. This is an example of the continuity of Eli and Yahu-Bal mysticism from ancient West Semitic Tradition through to the Christian Intertestamental Period. In Messianic Judaism, The Deity visited the Earth in Theophanies and was expected to Incarnate as the Messiah. Bal was associated with the promised Messiah. Yahu-Bal (Balarama) should not be confused with the diabolized ba-el or baal of the later Hebrew Patriarchal Period. To the ancient Western Semites, the original Bal (Yahu) was considered the alter-form of Eli, usually as His Son or Brother. The compound Deity Names of Eli-Yahu (there are scores of them) often reflect this Plurality of Persons in the Eli-Bal or Eli-Yahu Godhead. The Third Person was Their all pervasive form in the heart of all beings.

Yahu’s Name Bal was etymologically related to the latin root of VAL from which are derived such words as valor, chivalry, value, volorum, and to which the English word ‘well’ is related. Often considered like the cognate Sanskrit BALA to mean strong or might, the more exact meaning is revealed in the Second Personality of Godhead, BALARAMA, Who is considered to be God’s VALiant Heroic Salvific Grace Personified. Thus Acaryas of the Brahma lineage in East and West identify the Chivalrous Second Person of the Godhead as the descending Saviour of all worlds and interceding Spiritual Master Who Mediates between God and souls. On the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean, Yahu-Bal was worshiped along with Heli-Os Kouros (Krishna) and Rhoda (Radha) as Anointing Original Master and Initiator (Deva-nyasa/Dio-nysos or Messias) into the Sacred Mysteries of Rhoda-Kouros’ sacred Isle of Rhodes was Jewish and famous for its mystical theology. The cultus of Heli-Os Kouros-Rhoda, on Rhodes, was the epicenter of all Eli-Yahu Atman-and-jiva Bridal Mysticism in the ancient Western ‘Old World’ – Vrindavan-Mathura India was the East’s counterpart of Radha-Krsnas’ giant pink flower dvipa or island. Whenever natural or man-made forces did not prohibit it, there was lively spiritual commerce between these Western and Eastern capitals of Krishna Vaishnavism.

ATMAN AND JIVA, LOVER AND BELOVED

Now we are coming to the immediate context of our discussion concerning ATMAN and JIVA. All the ancient Eli-Yahu/Hari-Vasu traditions were PERSONAL, TRINITARIAN and EMANATIONIST. The Supreme Personality of Godhead was worshiped as 1.transcendent, 2.expanding and incarnating, 3.immanent or all-pervasive, residing in the hearts of all the living. Godhead was never divided regardless of His infinite ‘expansions/emanations’ or creations. Thus the Vaishnavas called Him Eka-natha, the Jews called Him Echad and the Egyptians called Him ‘Akhenaten’ (Ekan-atma). Which Name EKA (ONE), affirmed His inconceivable ONEness (like Sri Caitanya’s simultaneous inconceivable oneness and variegatedness of Godhead). Christians will recognize this One Deity in Three Persons (PURUSHAS) as the Holy Trinity of the 1.Father/First Person, 2.Son/Second Person and 3.Holy Spirit/Third Person. In Brahma lineage Vaishnavism this is 1.Bhagavan Krishna or Hari as the ADI PURUSHA, 2.Balarama Sankarshana and 3.ParamATMA. In original Buddhism (related to the Egyptian HR cultus of PTAH) this is the TRI KAYA of 1.Dharma Kaya ADI PURUSHA, 2.Sambhogya Kaya, and 3.Rupa Kaya (HRIH, the Immanent form of Lokeshvara in the heart). In the original Hari-Vasu revelation, although the finite soul is identified with Hari in the Heart, it is AS A BELOVED to God the LOVER. Thus the love birds, or pair of doves represent the Lord and His beloved seated on either the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Life. In the Love birds vision of the Upanishad, God [Atman] sits beside the finite jiva-soul, as the enthralled jiva tastes of the fruits of separate/selfish enjoyment. The feminine Hebrew word HVE/Eve (LIVE) is related to Greek zao, bio, Lat.-Eng. vivo, Egypt. BA and Sanskrit jiva. We can understand the original theology of Atman and jiva/life tradition, by referring to related stories of Eli and His Shekinah, Hari and His Shakti. When Jesus Christ says “Take MY YOKE upon you” (BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT) the Greek cognate root ZYG (yoke) is related to the Sanskrit Vaishnava term YOGA.

In Later Latin and English use, the related word CONJUGAL retains the Bridal Mysticism meaning. Viewing this use of the word YOGA consistently in the context of TWO, i.e. LOVER and BELOVED, it is clear that all so-called ‘yoga’ which nullifies the difference between the jiva-soul and God-Atman is a deviation from the authentic tradition of Eli-Shekinah/Hari-Shakti. In Jewish and later Catholic Christian Bridal Mysticism, the Proto Adam is identified with the masculine Deity or Christ, and the feminine Eve is identified variously with the 1. Shekinah (Shakti, Egyptian SKMT) Queen Sabbath or Mary, 2. Collective Israel or the Church, or 3. the individual spirit-spark or soul… ALL AS THE FEMININE BELOVED OR BRIDE (hence ‘Bridal Mysticism’) of Eli or Yahu. The ‘fall’ of Eve, (the jiva-soul) from the Ideal eternal Paradise (Sanskrit Paradesha, Hebrew Pardes) to the Earthly garden occurs the INSTANT that the jiva desires to enjoy independently of Eli/Hari. Eve then tastes of the Forbidden Fruit of separate experience/knowledge while God as Proto Adam looks on. The First Person ever remains in His Unfallen Paradise, but, as His Second Person His own Mercy and Love Eternally Manifest, He ‘descends’ as the Proto Adam and does not abandon His Beloved to birth and death in the Earthly Garden where ignorance has entered in! Instead, as Purusha, His Second Male Person, He sacrificially descends as Adam/Aten/Atman into the realm of birth and death to ‘taste’ of the bitter fruits of the tree with His Beloved. The Upanishads do not tell this part of the divine drama, but other scriptures and traditions tell of Eli’s, Vishnu’s/Lokesvara’s descent in many forms.

Heli-Os Kouros descends to hell to rescue Kore-minthe. Orpheus attempts to rescue His beloved from death. In the Mysteries of Demeter (Mother Earth), Heli-Os descends to save Earth’s Daughter (Sita’s Rescue by Rama). In Jewish Mysticism the entire comic passion play is about the reuniting of Eli (Hari) with His ‘feminine’ Shekinah/spiritual sparks. Thus Christ/Yahu comes as the SECOND ADAM, and in consuming the bitter fruit of the whole world’s sin (desire to enjoy alone/independently), He follows His beloved even into death. Then, like Heli-Os Aesclepius (Balaram as Charaka, Egypt. Serapis, Heb. Elihaba/Chabayahu) He plunders Hell of all its prisoners, and rising again, takes His beloved Back to Heaven or Paradise for eternity with Him! God the Proto ATMAN is also the Intermediate ADAM and Last ATMAN. Thus is the DEITY ATMAN paid with the ‘feminine’ finite spirit-spark-soul as Lover and Beloved throughout the ancient world’s religious traditions. Atomos and zao, bio or vivo… ATMN and BA (Egypt)… Adam and Eve… wherever Eli and Shekinah, HR and SKMT (Egypt), Hari and Shakti were worshiped, the Lover and Beloved mysticism of Atman and jiva persisted against the impersonalist doctrines of the atheists. Vestiges of this primal faith are found worldwide. For instance, the Chinese concept of the immanent force CHI, like the Hebrew and Sanskrit words chayah, chai, ayus, and the related zao, bios, jiva and Eve denotes the pervasive living force or living being.

Metaphysics used to be about ATMAN, now physics deals with ATOMS, and the soul-less science of life is BIOlogy, or ZOOlogy. When we study something in life, we study it in VIVO. But Jews still lift the Sacred Blessing Cup, raising it to CHAI, to life! Christ’s New Testament NAme as the Source of the life of all beings is cognate with jiva and the Buddhist AYUS (Amit-AYUS, Limitless Life). When Christ says ‘Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have not LIFE [ZOE] within you’, He speaks as the Cosmic Purusha, Who by self-sacrifice becomes the Mystical and Incarnate Food of all beings. In Purusha Sukta, Atman sacrifices Himself for the sake of all the jivas in the universe. When Christ says ‘I Am the LIFE’, and ‘Bread of Life’ again He identifies Himself with the SOURCE of all jiva. Thus is Balarama as Sankarshan sometimes called JIVA because He is the infinite Source of all jiva [finite]. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami describes this in SRI CAITANYA CARITAMRTA (single volume edition) Adi-Lila, Chapter 5, Text 41, purport page 165…

“Sankarshan, the second expansion, is Vasudeva’s personal expansion for pastimes, and since he is the reservoir of all living entities, He is sometimes called Jiva”

Again on page 174 this Great Brahma-Gaudiya Master says

“Sankarshana is therefore sometimes called the total Jiva”

Since jiva can be used in the masculine, feminine and neuter, this kind of reference to the Second Person of Godhead as JIVA, gives us an important clue as to how the feminine finite soul has become confounded with the masculine infinite Deity. Even today there is a parallel tradition in Christianity which identifies the Holy Spirit (Lord in the Heart) with the feminine Shekinah and individual soul. Feminist theologicans are making a lot out of this, which is essentially an historical confounding of the masculine Deity JIVA and the feminine soul jiva. Such confounding of the infinite ATMAN or JIVA with the finite jiv-atma is responsible for an endlessly convoluted number of pathologies of thought. If we want to clear the picture of the primal monotheism of all these later rasa distortions, all we have to do is to look at ancient languages and metaphysics. Emanating from Eli and Shekinah, are infinite manifestations, all in masculine and feminine pairs. Hari and Shakti, the Buddhist Lokeshvara-Shakti, the Yang and Yin of Taoism, Heaven and Earth of Confucianism, Jewish Kabbalistic Four Letter Divine Name as Father-Mother God… all manifest and create infinite worlds of paired beings, givers and receivers like Themselves. Many ancient languages have masculine and feminine forms for nearly everything, because everything is the embodiment of the divine play of GOD WHO IS GIVING AND RECEIVING LOVE. All is related to masculine Purusha and His feminine Prakriti, and Rhoda and Kouros in their BUCOLIC (GOKULA) Paradise are the original Mother and Father of all. Radha and Krishna are the original Hari and Shakti, HR and SEKMET (Egypt), Eli and Shekinah (Judaism). Rhoda-Kouros in the West and Radha-Krishna in the East are the primal sources of Atman and jiva metaphysical systems. Tracing emanations always terminates in Them.

Emmaus by Carl Bloch
“On the day of His Resurrection Jesus joined two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, but they did not recognize Him. Stopping with them for a meal at Emmaus He took bread, blessed it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” Luke 24:31
Jesus is Purusha “This is my body”
Earth’s prayer to Vishnu at beginning of Vishnu Sutra says Soma is ‘Blood’ of Purusha.
‘Puri’ or Egyptian Perxeru bread chiron is the offering of Purusha’s sacred meal “Mass Rite” = Moksha Ritya 

The renowned Classicist Jane Harrison wrote about the importance of the HYMN TO KOUROS. This hymn to ‘Helios’ as Kouros (beautiful Youthful Form, Lover of Rhoda etc.) clearly identifies Him as the “Origin of all the Gods” (to use Her words). Ms. Harrison also correctly identified ‘Helios’ with the Deity Heracles [Krishna] as Basilea [Sacred King Form of Vasudeva]. However she failed to make the connection to Eastern Radha-Krishna Vaishnavism, or other Western manifestations of the Rhoda-Kouros and Dionysos cultus. Heracles as Lover of HEBE is again Atman Lover of EVE. Jupiter (Ya Pati) Zeus (Diespiter/Devaspati) Ahman (PR AHMN/Brahman) in His Youthful Form as JUVENALIS with his feminine Juno JUVENTAS was Krishna-Radha/Kouros-Rhoda by the names of YUVANA and YUVANI. (Youth and juvenile are both cognate with YUVANA). ETOS (HR-OS, KOUROS, KYRIOS etc.) and PSYCHE (self, soul) were again God the Lover and the jive. The Jewish and Christian SONG OF SONGS (O.T.) celebrated the love affair of God or Christ with His Beloved. Thus ‘Psyche’/soul is beloved by Christ in the New Testament. Paired names of Hari and His Shakti abound in the West. Jupiter Marimus and Juno Marina (MARIAM) are NARAYANA and NARAYANI. Hebrew masculine ISH and feminine ISHISH (ISIS) are ISHVARA and ISHVARI. Theo/Deo and Thea/Dea are DEVA and DEVI. Fem. Coronis/Hvarena is HARINI. Basileo and Basilea are VASUDEVA and VASUDEVI. Of course ATMAN and JIVA are Adam and Eve, Atomos and bio, ATMN and Ba etc… Vishnu’s feminine Shakti forms are well represented in the West where many of their cognate names can be identified, along with the theological attributes, symbols, rituals and stories etc. of their respective Eastern counterparts. Mart, as Mother Most TOLErant is TULAsi, the only refuge of Brahmin/Christ/Priest slayers! Lady Luck (Fors Fortuna) is Laxmi. Hera-Laxmi’s ‘jealousy’ of Zeus-Kouros’ love affair with Rhoda and Her milkmaids is celebrated in the HERA PANCHAMI (Opa) festival of Jagga Nath (JJ NT) in Puri. Historically and theologically Purusha and Prakriti Forms flow into Radha-Krsna.

All the Manifestations and Incarnations of the Second Person of Godhead as SAVIOR and SPIRITUAL MASTER-HIEROPHANT (Priest of Rhoda-Kouros) terminate in BALARAM-DIONYSOS/MESSIAS-CHRIST. Since Krishna’s PRASADAM is Balaram, all the Sacred Communal Mystery Feasts of the Asyla Federation sects were PURUSHA SUKTA-based PRASADAM meals. Thus the Blessed Sacrament of Catholicism today is the MAHA PRASADA of Lord Jesus Christ as PURUSHA. When Catholics approach their Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, they are supposed to approach Him as a Bride to receive the Divine Lover of their souls. Thus is preserved the mystical doctrine of all finite jiva-souls as ‘feminine’ receivers in relationship to the One and Only Source and Original Giver, God. So-called feminists who try to feminize Christ or God are without this basic spiritual realization. As Vaishnavas, Sattvic Shaivites, Pure Land Buddhists, Taoists, Jews and other devotees of Hari-Shakti/Eli-Shekinah know… it is offensive to want to worship Either with the Other. It is considered demonic to want Radha without Krishna, or to think one can approach Krishna without Radha. Everyone and everything that exists, and will exist, exists by-through-with-and-in the Divine Love of The Original Giver and The Original Receiver. Our problems in physics and theology derive from the loss of this primal and universal revelatory truth. As Atman/Atomos and Bio/Eve/Jiva are impersonalized and thing-ified, so is the world and everyone in it. As Atman and jiva are confounded, human relationships to self, other beings and God become disordered and severed. Souls imagine themselves or the finite world to BE GOD, or that there is NO GOD and/or NO SELF. Consequently predatory exploitation or neglect rules in human affairs and Giving and Receiving are perverted into raping and seduction, because souls are trying to enjoy independently and thus depersonalize and deny each others’ actual being and sacredness.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this issue of the relationship of Atman to jiva is the central question of physics, biology and religion. Science and religion parted when Atman and jiva, Spirit and Matter, God our Father and our Mother were separated and set at odds against each other. Our world was beset with lovelessness and lawlessness, as the ancient Dharma of Divine Love was cast away for the foolish speculations of unloving degraded unrealized souls. The healing of our loveless and lawless world will only come as a result of returning to the Personal Love and Redemptive Faith and metaphysics of our saintly traditions. This is the synthesis of religion and science that we need,… the return of the impersonalized atomos to the Personal Deity ATMAN, the return to pure worship of the Divine Ideal Eli-Shekinah/Hari-Shakti Who are the Archetypal Holy and Beautiful Source of all Love, and to the science of God and the soul as the most important topic of human investigation.

“For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” (The Bible, New Testament)

To Synthesize Science and Religion, to reconcile Physics with Life, means to reunite ATMAN and jiva, Atomos and bios in the Divine Milieu of Loving, which is Their dynamic relationship of Giving and Receiving. Love is the Unifying Field on which They meet. From the Micro Cosmos of ‘atomic’ physics, through the realms of molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organisms, familial groups, civilizations, ecosystems, the biosphere, Solar System and on up to the astrophysics of the Macro Cosmos, All is the Play of Lover and Beloved, ever striving against the depersonalizing force of selfish sin that seeks to estrange Them. In ORGANISMIC SET Theory, we could say that the organizer of a set, its KNOWER is somehow transcendent to the set. In the East, every body/set/LOKA/world is a universe, and has a presiding soul (in the post of Brahma). Protecting Devas preside over every organ, limb, direction, element, city, world, etc., while God-Who-Is-Love (Hari) dwells/abides at the Heart/Kardia/HRIDAYA. In the Judeo-Catholic West, every body-universe is made of soul-sparks and has a LOCAL presiding soul-spark in it. The Holy Spirit resides in the heart and guardian angels protect everything. Angels protect the directions, elements, limbs, organs, cities, nations and worlds. All these sets like Chinese balls nestle within each other. Each inclusive set up the scale has it’s souls/members, presiding soul, Lord of the Heart and guardian angel/deva. Personal BEING, which is the FIRST of all gifts, and Love flows from the GIVER. As all gifts flow from the Original GIVER, receivers become secondary givers ‘little Christs’. To become Christ-like givers, we must first practice the ‘PERFECT YES’, the perfect kenosis/receptivity of MARY/RADHA. To be guru we must first be disciple. We are to be like Mary who is called the Hollow Reed of God. Only if we are empty can his inspiration flow through us! We can only give what we first receive. No reed’s flute-song flows through us as long as we are full of ourselves or attempt to hold/possess the vital creative breath of God. Receivers participate in passing on the gifts of divine love. This giving is always through Balarama/Christ. As His force BALA flows through the manifest and created worlds, divine joy or pleasure RAMA returns to God, completing the loop of relationship. BALARAMA expresses the Love of God to souls, and expresses the love of souls back to God giving gifts and the response of joy to both. He is the Media and the Message of the divine GIVER Whose Heroic Self-giving power flows out into all realms, and Whose Bliss returns to Him after the full circuit of creative love has been complete! Shakti/Shakinah, the uncreated spiritual feminine energy, is the Receptivity, the Personal Emptiness/Kenosis of God. Giver does not exist without the Receiver, thus She is called the Pleasure Potentia/Potency within God. She is the Primary Receiver. As Aradhanam/Adoration, Rhoda/Radha is Mary the Mystical ROSE/RHODA. She personifies the highest, most intimate and perfect love of God. All Shaktis and receiving are in Her.

As gross and subtle forms/bodies are COMPOUNDED of jivas within HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS in the material world, everywhere on every level we see both giving and receiving going on. We cannot trace out the origin of giving, the ORIGINAL GIVER in this world. We can only understand Him by His Self Revelation! We can only tremble in awe at the mystery of His all-pervasive undivided ONENESS, which appears to us to be divided due to our own separated perspective. Just as the Godhead is never divided, in the same, ‘all things are united in… live, move and have their being in Christ’. All flow consists of exchanges between Primary GIVER and RECEIVER (GOD and GODDESS) and the secondary receivers and givers, the jivatmas. Every body/field/set/loka/locus has its inner and its outer KNOWER. But when we come to the end, the ALL Inclusive Macro SET OF ALL SETS in the hierarchical universal system of connectivity, the SET that we call the entire UNIVERSE or CREATION… WHO is Ultimately the Transcendent and Inner Organizer, Protector, Presider and KNOWER of THAT SET? Who is Lord (ISHVARA) of all LOKAS or worlds?

Hari-Vasu/Eli-Yahu Krishna/Kouros says He is!

As VEDAYAHA (Sanskrit) or Yedayahu (Hebrew) Hari/Eli is the Knower IN and OF all bodies/lokas. As LOKESHVARA or VARDA-VARANA (Ward of Wardens/Lord of Lords) He is simultaneously both the Immanent and Transcendent Knower of ALL FIELDS or sets. As Param-ATMAN/The Holy Spirit, He is smaller than the smallest, residing at the core or heart of all life-forms. The Heart or HRID is HARI-DAYA the place or seat/dais of Hari, the LOVER of the soul. As the Macro Cosmic Purusha, He is Larger than the Largest, and is the Knower of the entire Universe. He is inside and outside everything and everyone (Greek HYP and SUB, Egyptian HP and HB, Jewish ELI-haba and Chabaiahu) He is hidden in and hiding/covering everything!

BEYOND THE MACRO COSMOS

The most amazing thing to contemplate is that the revelation of Hari does NOT END WITH THE ENTIRE COSMIC OR UNIVERSAL MANIFESTATION. Rather, the Universal Form of Purusha is JUST ONE UNIVERSAL FORM AMONG TRULY INFINITE ‘MATERIAL’ UNIVERSES. This is where the SUPRA COSMOLOGY of the ORIGINAL REVEALED MONOTHEISM radically differs from the speculative productions of merely mortal minds. All the Incarnatory Murti/Material Universes of Purusha exist within a non-material realm, a Spiritual Sky or Heaven where nothing is compounded. Where there are no impersonal things, all is individual, FORM IS BEING and there is no duality of spirit-self and body. This is the realm of the swarupa/spiritual or glorified body of the Eli-Yahu/Hari-Vasu revelatory traditions. Moreover, this Deathless Realm of Godhead also interpenetrates the material universes as an extra-dimensional reality, the Realm of The Beautiful, The Transcendent and Eternal Ideal, the REALLY REAL. So, whether one seeks THE REAL within their own heart, the hearts of others, or the heart of all things, The Same Lord of Love will be found there. If one seeks THE REAL outside of all finite beings and things, the same Transcendent Lord will greet them there. Devotees can serve their Lord of Love within any material universe or none at all, for the BEYOND of the limitless Ideal Realm, the Heavenly Vaikunthas, or PURE LAND always awaits them! But Where is PARADISE?

BEYOND BEYOND (Gate Gate) / THE GREAT BEYOND (Param Gate)

‘Beyond’ Vaikuntha (for words truly fail here) in the ‘Heavenly of the Heavenlies’ or the ‘Highest Heaven’ of HARI-VASU/ELI-YAHU is the ORIGINAL PARADISE OF GODHEAD. This is the Original Supreme Abode of Krishna/Kouros where He eternally pours out His Loving Being, existing as the plurality of Persons/Purusha known as the Trinity or the Godhead. This is also where all subsequent masculine Purusha manifestations and feminine Prakriti Manifestations have their origin in Krishna’s Eternal Uncreated Expansions of Giving as BALARAMA and Receiving as RADHARANI. This is the End of the quests of science and religion and the BEGINNING of Eternal Bliss. This is the destination of all who seek the Supreme Truth. This is the end of knowledge, wisdom and understanding and the beginning of EPIGNOSIS , the REALIZATION OF DIVINE LOVE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING. Here, the gnosis of analysis is an offence to love.

This is the Sanctum Sanctorum where only EXPERIENCE is allowed… Where Godhead veils all His beloved in Yoga Maya, so that free of the botherations of awe and reverence, they might love Him unconditionally as He loves them! In this Paradise we become innocent again, and enter unknowing like little children in wonderment, expecting, believing all things, hoping all things, as we dance into the playing ground of God… the land of kalpa vriksha trees, flowing with milk and honey. Here the Savior and Servitor Lord JESUS CHRIST/BALARAMA (Who is the MONO/sole/alone/only GENERATED SECOND PERSON), and ELI-HARI KRISHNA sport with Their beloved, and lead the revelry where transcendental fraternities and sororities of boys and girls (led by RADHA) eternally celebrate the creative love affair of Krishna and Radha’s giving and receiving. This is the Padme, the Transcendental Lotus Dwipa/Isle/Heart of the realm of Love within and without ‘all things’… where Krishna/ Amitabha, the Wish fulfilling Jewel/Mani satisfies the selfless desires of every devoted soul, (OM MANI PADME HUM [BRAHMA SAMHITA]) and where no one ever desires to enjoy independently again! In this Pardes/Paradesha/Paradise of divine Love, the science and religion of mortal worlds are evermore forgotten in the holiest and happiest of BEING. Nothing other than the LOVER remains to be known. No One other than Godhead remains to be desires, and He is within reach!

“Oh! Don’t you want to go to the Gospel Feast,

In that Promised Land where all is Peace?

Ah, deep river, my Home is over Jordan,

Deep river, Lord! I want to cross-

Over in Your Camp ground!”

AMEN/AUM.Holy Advent offering, 1996

In the centennial year of our Beloved Srila Prabhupada’s Birth