Significance of darkness

Question & Answer – Yoga Vasishtha

Significance of darkness

Question : What is the significance of darkness?

Answer : Eyes closed, we cannot find the world around us. The world merges in us when we close our eyes. That means, the whole world has come from us and has merged back in us. Otherwise it could not have disappeared into us. It is not difficult to come up with a reason that the eyelids acting as a wall have blocked the vision of the world and made them disappear. But is it so simple for a vast light to disappear by just closing the eyes? Can an eye erase the whole world? That doesn’t seem possible? So, the seeming disappearance of the world indicates that the world is born from you. So also, the change that you want to see in the world has to start from you.

Expecting change without changing the self, will not appear as a change in the world. The manifestation of that indication is the disappearance of the world by closing eyes. In deep sleep, the entire world submerges in us. We also need to search for the root cause of the different visions of the same world to different people. As a beginning, we have to understand, imbibe and realize that the world has born from us. The poet doesn’t talk about the onset of darkness. It is described as if the darkness has swallowed the entire world. It didn’t go anywhere.

When the lights are turned off, there is nothing – seen – but, is that true? Has everything gone somewhere? No? Everything was right there where it was seen in light. The light only makes it appear. Similarly, the Lord is also there – has been there always. But, we have not seen. What we consider light is not the light that is sufficient to show the Lord God and His Supreme Consciousness to us. In fact, for the Yogis and the Wise, the darkness considered by normal humans is the actual light. The physical light is not the light. Lord Sri Krishna explains this concept wonderfully in Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The physical vision cannot show the Lord God. The inner vision is important. That shows the God within. That is the clear indication of the saying. Darkness engulfing the whole world is a marvellous thought-provoking idea.

Recently, a scientist has proven that the light doesn’t have to be only white. Hope you had a chance to read that article. It is possible to have a dark light. That needs a lot of research. The mind’s nefarious thoughts are dark, which manifest as darkness in the world around us. The white and black we see is not true. There is no colour for the Paramatma. He is always there, will always be there as the self-glowing effulgence and the divine light. If only we have the capacity to have that vision of His, we will be able to see Him. As if the bird hides its head in its own wings when sleeping, the darkness engulfs the whole world!!!How beautiful is the poet’s thought.

We can see the birds in Shukavana, during night or when raining – taking a shelter of itself in its own feathers. This tells us how much the poet can imagine and see even without visiting. Every particle in the world teaches a lot. Every being can offer a lot to learn. What do humans have? Nothing! But for ego and overconfidence. That has to be unlearnt. Humans bother every other being and use them to fulfil selfish desires. Not all beings are like that. Humans are amphibians by the intelligence graced by the Lord. So the humans think that they can be happy bothering every other being which is not as intellectual. The extinct species like dinosaurs can chew the human species away and consider themselves great. That’s the reason why this entire universe is treated as a mere illusion. No doubt, the human birth is veru valuable and precious. But it is so, only when the birth is used to search the Lord God with a desire to merge in Him. The birth is far inferior to all other beings when the nature is not nurtured. We are all following the spiritual path shown to us by Puyja Appaji so we should be positively different and show the world that we are so. There is no use if we don’t follow Him. We need to show the positive transformation in us, only then it shows the impact of following Sadguru’s teachings in our lives. Our following or presence does not increase the merit of Sadguru. Even if Sadguru is in deep forests, true devotees and disciples will reach Him. We are not bringing any merit to Him by following Him or by having His Darshan. We need to introspect every day and be happy that positive transformation occurred in us by following Sadguru – that is spiritual practice – Sadhana.