Physical Immortality: The Ultimate Phase of Initiation.
Physical Immortality is attained in Hinduism only when a perfect balance of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva is attained. Brahma is the principle of active creation, Vishnu acts to preserve the physical body from the forces of entropy and decay, Shiva acts to destroy illusion and thus to reveal Truth. Avatars who work at incarnating only one of these three tend to die eventually. Shiva specialists tend to abuse the divine gift of the Body Temple by casting it off at will. True Vishne Avatars are always more respectful to the Bodily structure of Life. Only those who incarnate All three by constantly recreating themselves anew, preserving Life and Truth, and by destroying illusion, are able to attain absolute Physical Immortality.
I would like to share with you one of the great statements on Physical Immortality by the Vedantic Hindu scholar, Haridas Chaudhuri. There are those who think themselves trapped in the Flesh and who think that they can become out-of-body Masters superior in attainment to those who dwell in the Flesh on the earth. This statement from Chaudhari's book, Being, Evolution, and Immortality, is a great and classic response to such erroneous thinking. I have given this excerpt my own title - Physical Immortality: The Ultimate Phase of Initiation.
Meditate upon this:
"Finally, the concept of immortality implies a harmonization of the entire personality and a transformation of the physical organism as an effective channel of expression of higher values. This may be called material immortality (rupantar mukti).
There are some mystics and spiritual seekers who strengthen and purify their bodies just enough to be able to experience the thrilling touch of the Divine. They use the body as a ladder, by climbing which the pure spiritual level - the domain of immortality - is to be reached. On attaining that level, the body is felt as a burden, as a prison house, as a string of chains that holds one in bondage. Dissociation from this last burden of the body is considered a sine qua non for total liberation. Continued association with the body is believed to be the result of the residual trace of ignorance ( avidya lesa). When the residual trace of ignorance is gone, the spirit is set free from the shackles of the body.
The above view is based upon a subtle misconception about the purpose of life and the significance of the body. The body is not only a ladder that leads to the realm of immortality, but also an excellent instrument for expressing the glory of immortality in life and society. It is capable of being thoroughly penetrated by the light of the spirit. It is capable of being transformed into what has been called the "Diamond Body." As a result of such transformation, the body does not appear any more to be a burden upon the liberated self. It shines as the Spirit made Flesh. It functions as a very effective instrument for creative action and realization of higher values in the world. It is purged of all inner tension and conflict. It is liberated from the anxiety of repressed wishes. It is also liberated from the dangerous grip of the death impulse born of self-repression. Mystics who look upon the body as a burden suffer from the anxiety of self-repression and the allurement of the death wish.
Material immortality means decisive victory over both of these demons. It conquers the latent death instinct in man, and fortifies the Will to live as long as necessary, as a channel of expression of the Divine. It also liquidates all forms of self-suppression and self-torture and self-mutilation. As a result the total being of an individual becomes strong and steady, whole and healthy. There is a free flow of psychic energy. It is increasingly channelled into ways of meaningful self-expression. Under the guidance of the indwelling light of the Eternal, it produces increasing manifestation of the Spirit IN Matter." Copyright © Haridas Chaudhuri
This clear and succinct statement is perfect. Every sentence could be expanded into a powerful chapter of Immortalist Philosophy. The living experience of every person tuned to the Immortal Flow of the Two confirms, at every instant, Chaudhuri's message.
Copyright © Robert Coon 1998-2021All rights reserved.
