Mysticism and Yoga

Mysticism:

• is when the subtle aesthetic science reaches a certain standard.
• becomes spirituality when it reaches the pinnacle of human glory.
• is the never-ending endeavour to find out the link between the finite and the infinite, the self and the Super-Self, khud and Khudá.

Human beings are never satisfied with something finite and limited.

In Sanskrit it is said

Nalpe sukhamasti bhunaeva sukhamasti 

[“Human thirst cannot be satisfied with something limited, human hunger cannot be satisfied by something finite”].

In the quest for the Infinite, human beings first come in contact with aesthetic science.

Aesthetic science does not always mean to get something pleasant; it may mean to get something troublesome, something embarrassing – it may or may not be something pleasant.

Aesthetic science is that which one can express in a subtler way, from subtle to subtle until it reaches the subtlest point, that point is the pinnacle of human glory.

The duty of artists is to express their work in a nice, lucid way, and place it before the world.

Not everyone can do this.

But enjoying something with aesthetic taste or aesthetic charm is within the capacity of each and every human being.

When human beings started their movement towards the Supreme Being, in quest of Supreme Bliss, they first came in contact with spirituality.

Spirituality is coming in contact with the Infinite, as the finite coming in contact with the Infinite.

Yoga is the unit moving in quest of the Infinite, the finite moving towards the Infinite in a mystic style.

In Sanskrit, yoga means “addition”.

For instance, 2 + 2 = 4.

But for a mystic, for an aspirant of the mystic goal or the mystic desideratum, yoga means “unification”.

This unification is like sugar and water.

2 apples + 2 apples makes 4 apples. But each apple maintains its individuality or identity.

But in the case of unification, sugar loses its identity because it becomes one with the water.

In the realm of mysticism, yoga means this type of unification.

That is, it is unification like sugar and water, and not simply addition like two plus two.

The starting point is aesthetic taste or aesthetic science.

The culminating point, that is, from the culminating point, starts the movement of Supreme charm.

In that movement with the goal of Supreme charm, human beings become unified with the Supreme Entity, whose seat is above the pinnacle of existence.

This movement for yoga, for the unification of the unit with the Supreme, the finite with the Infinite, is a must for each and every human being.

The human physical and psychic structure is most suitable for this purpose.

Animals and plants act according to their inborn instincts.

They are mentally undeveloped.

Because of this, their brain is also undeveloped.

The cranium is very small and the conscious portion of the mind is sufficient for them.

There is no necessity or little necessity for the sub-conscious or unconscious strata of the mind.

A plant gets pleasure or pain when its inborn instincts are either encouraged or discouraged.

When the inborn instincts of a plant or an animal are:

• encouraged, it gets pleasure.
• discouraged, suppressed or depressed, it gets pain.

This is how the brain or the mind of plants and animals functions.

But in the case of human psychology, human psycho-spiritual movement cannot be suppressed, cannot be checked.

There lies the speciality of human existence.

Yoga is the most developed and most valuable expression of human wonts.

So it is in the first phase of yoga that one expresses oneself through so many arts and sciences.

The final point of all artistic movement and the final point of all branches of sciences is the supreme source, the perennial source of all energies, the supreme seat of all energies.

14 September 1979, Istanbul