Being and Becoming

An Allegorical Vision, by Hari Prasad Shastri

Being is caught in the ocean of becoming. Becoming is an emanation of being, through which the being wants to express what is latent in it; but under the force of the cosmic limitation, it ceases to express what it ought to and becomes attached to the becoming through the sheer habit of the love of objectivity.

In this ocean of becoming there are apparent individuals comparable to whirlpools which are in constant circular motion. The centre of each such whirlpool is an almost infinite abyss, and when the being is caught in it, it may go on revolving, conscious only of objective environments, for ages.

Beyond these ‘whirlpools’ stands the higher part of being, the transcendent aspect unaffected by becoming, and it makes gestures to the submerged being to come to the surface and swim through the whirlpool. The lower being is lacking in strength to overcome the billows and breakers. The higher being reminds it of the perfection lying latent in it, and emphasises the necessity of faith in its own perfections. If the being listens carefully, then the very idea of its innate perfection dissipates the closing whirlpool and the being finds itself freed from its tyranny. Each step taken towards the higher beckoning aspect is a step towards freedom.

There are many stages of the journey, but with perseverance, faith, renunciation of its empirical ego and detachment from environments, the being finally overcomes the whirlpool, and when it proceeds towards the guiding star, it finds that the guide was no other than a projection of its own latent being.

In fact the whole process is subjective.