The Holy Science
The Holy Science is a book written by Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri in 1894 under the title Kaivalya Darsanam. Sri Yukteswar states that he wrote The Holy Science at the request of Mahavatar Babaji.[1] The book compares parallel passages from the Bible and Upanishads in order to show the unity of all religions.[2][3]
Purpose of book
In the introduction, Sri Yukteswar writes:
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- The purpose of this book is to show as clearly as possible that there is an essential unity in all religions; that there is no difference in the truths inculcated by the various faiths; that there is but one method by which the world, both external and internal, has evolved; and that there is but one Goal admitted by all scriptures.[1]
The book compares Sanskrit slokas to passages from the New Testament, especially the Book of Revelation.
He states in the introduction: “The book is divided into four sections according to the four stages in the development of knowledge.” The four sections are:
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- The Gospel: “…seeks to establish the fundamental truth of creation, and to describe the evolution and the involution of the world.”
- The Goal: “All creatures, from the highest to the lowest in the link of creation, are found eager to realize three things – Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss.”
- The Procedure: “…deals with the method of realizing the three purposes of life.”
- The Revelation: “…discusses the revelations which come to those who have traveled far to realize the three ideals of life and are very near their destination.”[1]
Yuga Theory
Sri Yukteswar’s introduction to The Holy Science includes his explanation of the Yuga Cycle – revolutionary because of his premise that the earth is now in the age of Dwapara Yuga, not the Kali Yuga that most Indian pundits believe to be the current age.[4] His theory is based on the idea that the sun “takes some star for its dual and revolves round it in about 24,000 years of our earth – a celestial phenomenon which causes the backward movement of the equinoctial points around the zodiac.”[1] The common explanation for this celestial phenomenon is precession, the ‘wobbling’ rotating movement of the earth axis. Research into Sri Yukteswar’s explanation is being conducted by the Binary Research Institute.
He further states that:
The sun also has another motion by which it revolves round a grand center called Bishnunavi which is the seat of the creative power Brahma, the universal magnetism. Brahma regulates Dharma the mental virtues of the internal world. When the sun in its revolution round its dual come to the place nearest to this grand center the seat of Brahma (an event which takes place when the autumnal equinox comes to the first point of Aries) Dharma the mental virtue becomes so much developed that man can easily comprehend all, even the mysteries of Spirit.[1]
In The Holy Science, Sri Yukteswar concludes that we are currently in the beginning stages of Dwapara Yuga, which began around 1699 A.D. This now puts us in the year 311 Dwapara according to Sri Yukteswar. Thus, we are moving closer to the grand center, and will pass into Treta Yuga around the year 4099 A.D.[1]
If we represent the Yugas in a clock, the lowest spiritual time would be at 6 o'clock, aprox. year 1,000 A.D., which is the center of Kali Yuga (more or less the Middle Ages), and the highest point is 12 o'clock, in the center of Satya Yuga (literally Age of Truth, as sat=truth), or Golden Age. It takes aprox. 12,500 years from the lowest to the highest point, and about 25,000 in a complete turn. Now we would be at aprox. 7 c'clock, ascending in Dwapara Yuga or Bronze Age which started in 1699.
[Note: The graphic to the right incorrectly displays the sign for Aries as the sign for Capricorn and vice-versa. Also, the "Age of Aquarius", the Water Bearer, is in the wrong location and needs to be shifted 180 degrees to coincide with the mid-Dwapara yuga.]
Passages from The Holy Science[1]
- “The position of the world in the Dwapara Sandhi era at present (A. D. 1894) is not correctly shown in the Hindu Almanacs. The astronomers and astrologers who calculate the almanacs have been guided by wrong annotations of certain Sanskrit scholars (such as Kulluka Bhatta) of the dark age of Kali Yuga, and now maintain that the length of Kali Yuga is 432,000 years, of which 4994 have (in A D. 1894) passed away, leaving 427,006 years still remaining. A dark prospect! And fortunately one not true.”
- “The Eternal Father God Swami Parambrahma is the only Real Substance, Sat, and is all in all in the universe.”
- “Man possesses eternal faith and believes intuitively in the existence of a substance, of which the objects of sense – sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell, the component parts of this visible world – are but properties….The Eternal Father God, the only substance in the universe is, therefore, not comprehensible by man of this material world, unless he becomes divine by lifting his self above this creation of Darkness Maya.”
- “In this way when man understands by his Parokshajnyan the nothingness of the external world, he appreciates the position of John, the Divine personage who witnessed Light and bore testimony of Christ after his heart’s love, the heavenly gift of Nature, had become developed. Any advanced sincere seeker may be fortunate in having the Godlike company of some one of such personages who may kindly stand to him as his Spiritual Preceptor, Sat Guru, the Saviour. Following affectionately the holy precepts of these divine personages, man becomes able to direct all his organs inward to their common center – Sensorium Trikuti or Sushumnadwar, the door of the interior – where he comprehends the voice, like a peculiar knocking sound the Word Amen, Aum, and the God-sent luminous body of Radha, called John in the Bible.”
- “When all the developments of Ignorance are withdrawn, the Heart being perfectly clear and purified no longer merely reflects the Spiritual Light but receives or manifests the same, and thus being consecrated and anointed becomes the Sannyasi or Christ the Saviour.”
- “Through this Saviour, the Son of man becomes again baptized or absorbed in the stream of Spiritual Light and coming above the creation of Darkness Maya, enters into the spiritual world and becomes unified with Abhas Chaitanya or Purush, the Son of God, as was the case with Jesus of Nazareth. This is the state when man is saved for ever and ever from the bondage of Darkness Maya.”
- “Man naturally feels great necessity for Sat Existence, Chit Consciousness, and Ananda Bliss. These three are the real necessities of the human heart and have nothing to do with anything outside his self. They are essential properties of his own nature, as explained in the previous chapter.”
- “It has been shown in the forgoing [sic] passages how love may be cultivated, how by its culture it attains development, and when developed how, through this means only, man may find his spiritual preceptor, through whose favour he again becomes baptized in the holy stream, and sacrifice his self before the altar of God, becoming unified with the Eternal Father forever and ever.”
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Sri Yukteswar, Swami (1949). The Holy Science. Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.
- ^ Richardson, Cheryl (2005). The Unmistakable Touch of Grace. Simon and Schuster. p. 195. ISBN 9780743226523.
- ^ Bhatt, Chetan (1997). Liberation And Purity: Race, New Religious Movements and the Ethics of Postmodernity. Routledge. p. 182. ISBN 9781857284249.
- ^ Cruttenden, Walter (2005). Lost Star of Myth and Time. St. Lynn's Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-0976763116.
External links