Chapter XII. The Gross and the Subtle
Devotee: You said the gross form (sthula-rupa) and the subtle form (sukshma-rupa), didn’t You? These two, are they the characteristics only of the mind (manas)? Or are they related to everything?
Swami: They are characteristic of everything; in fact, all the names and forms found in the gross exist also in the subtle stage! Why, the gross is there only to make you understand the subtle!
Devotee: Well then, Swami, we see the gross firmament (sthula-akasa); is there also a subtle firmament?
Swami: My dear boy, all this exists in that subtle firmament (akasa). The subtle one is as imperceptible and as all-pervading as the gross one.
Devotee: What is its name, Swami?
Swami: It is known as the subtle firmament of the heart (sukshma-hridayakasa).
Devotee: How can that be all-pervading?
Swami: Nothing else possesses the extent, the area, the breadth that this firmament of the heart has. See how many scenes, how many feelings, how many conjectures are immersed and embedded in it!
Devotee: Then do we also have a Sun in that subtle sky?
Swami: Of course! Who said no? Without that, how could there be all this splendour, all this light and wisdom and brightness?
Devotee: What is its name, Swami?
Swami: When the heart is the firmament (
akasa), naturally,
buddhi) is the Sun that illuminates that sky. The effulgence of the intellect is as bright as the rays of the Sun, so the intellect is the subtle Sun.
Devotee: Then it is possible that the moon is also in the firmament of the heart in subtle form.
Swami: Why do you ask about all these, one by one? Didn’t I tell you at the very beginning? Every gross name
and form has its corresponding subtle name and form. The moon in its subtle form is love (prema), with its cool
rays pleasing to the heart. Love is the subtle form of the moon.
Devotee: Excuse me, Swami. The Pandavas and the Kauravas waged a war, didn’t they? How are they supposed
to have waged the “subtle” war, these “subtle” Pandavas and their opposite number, the “subtle” Kauravas?
Swami: Why do you say “supposed to have waged”? They are waging it even today in the subtle form! In this
war, the evil
qualities are the Kauravas and the good qualities — truth, righteousness, peace, love and nonviolence
(sathya, dharma, santhi, prema, and ahimsa)— are the five Pandava brothers. The evil qualities are many, so the
Kauravas are also a horde. Each one, under their own firmament of the heart (hridayakasa), on their own earthly
consciousness, is waging this struggle, every moment.
Devotee: Swami, they say the Pandavas are children of King Pandu, and the Kauravas are the offspring of King
Dhritharashtra. In the “subtle” form, how are we to recognise them?
