Salutations to Guru Amrutananda Saraswati
the day fission and fusion revealed themselves as the Mother.
Salutations to my Gurudev Amrutananda Saraswati.
Of course it would be disrespectful to define my Guru only in form. My Guru is everywhere, blooming like a thousand-petalled lotus every moment. But out of love, he did appear as a form, so that this silly one could understand.
I never met him. By the time I came to know of him, he was no longer present in body. Yet the life he led resonates exactly with what I feel resonates within.
A Scientist Who Investigated
He was a nuclear scientist at TIFR in Mumbai in his early years. Later he moved near to Annakapalli, where he dedicated his life to building a temple to Lalita in the form of Sri Meru, so that others could share in the experience he had.
He was a person who held information in contempt of court before accepting it as a way. But that day, when the experience came, he could not hold it in contempt any longer. He surrendered to the whole. And because he believed in sharing love, he spent the rest of his days teaching others the ways of Sri Vidya.
The Same Investigation, Twice
Many might think he left his profession and moved toward spirituality. For me, these are two words for the same thing, if one really investigates.
He was a scientist. A person who investigates. And he was a nuclear scientist, which means he had already investigated fission and fusion. Nuclear fusion is the fundamental engine of outer space, the driving force behind the life cycle of the universe. So he was already working on the fabric of the universe, which is itself one form of the Mother. He was already meeting Her. Only in a different language.
Later he moved to Sri Vidya. Another form of understanding the universe and the Mother. So this leads to a simple recognition: he was always there. Straight from the beginning. Only the names and forms changed.
Purnamadah Purnamidam
When the experience came, he heard this phrase:
Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate. Purnasya purnamadaya purnamevavashisyate.
From the Whole arises the Whole. From the Complete arises the Complete. Take the Whole from the whole, and the Whole alone remains.
While contemplating this, it struck me that this is the experience of THAT. Tat Tvam Asi. The Self. There is only the Self. Ignorance causes the appearance of different forms, and once that ignorance is seen to be illusory, all forms are known as the Self.
Whatever arises, arises as the Self, and therefore as the Whole. Even if one tries to break it into two, there is nothing but the Self remaining, which is whole. The I, the mind, the body, and the universe are all appearances. Once this is seen, one is aware that they are nothing but the same Self in different aggregates.
Only That which is, is.
Fission and Fusion, Again
And there is one more thing. In nuclear fission, an atom hits another. Each atom is whole in itself. The two whole atoms strike more whole atoms, and all of them together are whole, and each one, still, is whole. The fundamentals of non-dualism, in the language of physics.
This was the experience he had. This is what led him to the path of Sri Vidya.
Shree Matrey Namah. Shree Gurubhyo Namah.