The Supreme Wisdom
THE SUPREME ABODE OF IMMORTALITY
Here, we have finally reached the end of the spiritual journey—yet we have not reached the end of spiritual wisdom. The final supreme wisdom concerns the goal of the path more than the path itself.
According to the ancients, this goal represents the very self of the Supreme Being, where all phenomena cease. It was described as neither consciousness nor unconsciousness, yet we would be mistaken to imagine that at the end of the long journey, the soul is reduced to a state of unconscious oblivion.
Although words can scarcely do justice to it, the Vedic seers held that the supreme abode of immortality (paramapada) is filled with non-phenomenal forms of immortal existence transcending all notions of duality. The abiding characteristic of that supreme state is not rational knowledge, but divine love—which knows no reason. In that supreme abode, the one supreme self plays eternally with its own immortal forms, and it does so on the basis of divine love, which represents the ultimate expression of the synthesizing power of consciousness.
On that level of reality, all forms of duality are drowned in unity and in the ocean of divine love. The supreme state represents essentially a state of Oneness, yet contains countless virtual forms of duality. The Vedic philosophers referred to this type of virtual reality as nondual (advaita). Nonduality represents not absolute Oneness, but a state in which all forms of duality are synthesized into Oneness. In the final analysis, we cannot say much about Oneness. The supreme wisdom pertains to the virtual forms of reality inherent within the Oneness.
THE TWELVE AT THE END
The supreme wisdom suggests that the supreme abode of immortality has twelve internal divisions known in the Vedic tradition as the dvadashanta, the twelve at the end. These represent twelve virtual layers inherent within the supreme abode of immortality.
The twelve at the end cannot be viewed as stages on the path. Instead, they represent the internal divisions that characterize the goal of the path, and thereby transcend the forty-two stages of the path.
The essential difference between the two sets of layers is that on the scales of the first forty-two, duality dominates over unity, while on the scales of the final twelve, unity dominates over duality. In this regard, the forty-third layer, which represents the first of the final twelve layers, marks the unique layer where unity and duality attain a state of balance. From the perspective of duality, the forty-third layer represents the end, the nondual reality that characterizes the goal of the path. This is what lies at the basis of the 42 + 1 = 43 immortal wisdom. From the perspective of unity, however, the forty-third layer marks not the end, but the first of twelve unified layers, which happened to be known as the twelve at the end.
Therefore, the supreme wisdom represents a more expanded and unified form than the immortal wisdom and involves a formulation of 42 + 12 = 54 layers, rather than 42 + 1 = 43 layers. Yet just as the forty-third layer stands as representative of the Oneness that lies beyond the first forty-two layers, so an absolute fifty-fifth layer represents the immeasurable reality that lies beyond the first fifty-four layers. The ultimate formulation of the supreme wisdom involved a total of 54 + 1 = 55 layers.
In truth, the fifty-fifth layer is not at all a layer, but instead represents the immeasurable reality of the self, which is simultaneously “bigger than the biggest, and smaller than the smallest” of the other fifty-four layers (above and below).
THE ALPHABETICAL FORMULATION
In the Vedic tradition, the supreme wisdom was formulated by the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet: The first thirty-three layers above the half measure were represented by the thirty-three consonants in the classical alphabet, and the six joining layers were represented by six extraordinary consonants or sets of consonants formed by the process of phonetic conjunction. These 33 + 6 = 39 consonants symbolize the thirty-nine evolutionary layers that abide within the cosmic egg and its shells.
The immortal realms that lie beyond the outermost shell of the cosmic egg were represented by the sixteen vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet. More specifically, the fortieth layer, which marks the shore of the immortal world, was represented by the visarga (the emitter) pronounced as the softly aspirated aha. The immeasurable fifty-fifth layer transcending the other fifty-four was represented by the vowel a pronounced as in father, which was deemed the immeasurable self (atman) of the other 39 + 15 = 54 letters.
In the Agama texts, the sixteen vowels were called the sixteen Nityas, “eternal ones,” because they represent the sixteen eternal states of the immortal soul, which lie above and beyond the finite and mortal universe. To illustrate the various gradations of eternal reality that abide within the immortal realms, the seers compared the sixteen eternal ones to the sixteen phases of the moon. In Sanskrit the term soma means both “moon” and the imperishable, flowing essence of pure consciousness that serves as the amrita rasa, or immortal blood of the Supreme Being. The sixteen phases of the moon correspond, then, to the sixteen gradations of soma inherent within the sixteen immortal layers.
In this analogy, the fortieth layer, represented by the visarga, was likened to the no-moon phase, when the reflected light of the moon is shadowed completely by the earth. The idea is that when the soul first arrives at the shore of the other world after traversing the thirty-nine evolutionary layers, it does not yet possess the eyes to see the transcendental light of the other world. Just as we are blinded temporarily when we emerge from a dark room into the bright sunlight, so the soul is temporarily blinded when it first enters into the immortal realms. It takes some time for the soul to develop the eyes to see the light of the transcendental realms.
This gradual awakening of transcendental vision is represented by the sixteen phases of the moon, each of which is characterized by a different degree of moonlight, which can also be understood as soma light. On the scale of the fortieth layer, the soma light is present, but can scarcely be seen. Similarly, on the no-moon night, the moon is still present and can be seen if we look closely, but it appears almost empty or devoid of light.
As the soul ascends through the immortal layers, the soma light grows gradually in intensity. On the scale of the immeasurable fifty-fifth layer, represented by the letter a, the soma light becomes full. This immeasurable layer was likened, therefore, to the full-moon phase, because the light of soma is fully unshadowed. The other fourteen layers in between were likened to the fourteen phases that lie in between the emptiness of light (no moon) and the fullness of light (full moon).
Here is one version of the supreme wisdom, which pertains to the soma light of the self. Because the sixteen vowels represent the sixteen phases of this light, they were called svaras, “the radiances (ra) of the self (sva).”
THE METRICAL FORMULATION
Another version of the same supreme wisdom is presented by the first verse of the Rig Veda. The Vedic seers held that the first expression of divine wisdom should contain a synopsis of the whole. The first letter in any divine name or the first verse in any sacred text were designed to embody the entire wisdom elaborated by that name or text. The first verse of the Rig Veda, which represents the very first expression of Vedic wisdom, was assigned supreme importance. It was designed to embody the whole wisdom elaborated in the ancient text.
This design involved the use of measured forms of speech to which we can assign nongrammatical meanings. This ancient practice has recently been illuminated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who has suggested that the sequence and number of letters, syllables, words, verses, hymns, and so forth in the Rig Veda, rather than being arbitrary, were designed to encode a hidden science of the Veda that cannot be deciphered using grammatical rules alone.
Maharishi suggests that, in accordance with the ancient tradition, the first verse of the Rig Veda maps out the “unmanifest blueprint of creation” that is inherent in consciousness. Most fundamentally, this blueprint relates to the set of metaphysical layers that constitute the complete spectrum of reality. The most fundamental elements of speech correspond to the letters from which are composed all expressions of speech. The letters in the first verse of the Rig Veda were measured carefully so that the verse contains a precise number. More specifically, the verse was designed to contain fifty-four Sanskrit letters that correspond directly to the fifty-four layers, or grades of divine speech, that abide in the upper sonic half of the spectrum.
Yet the fifty-four letters represent merely the measurable grades of speech inherent within the fifty-four layers. The ultimate immeasurable grade of speech associated with the absolute fifty-fifth layer is implied instead of being represented explicitly. This understanding was made clear in a lecture given by Maharishi in India in 1988: Surrounded by several thousand Vedic pandits, he explained that the first verse of the Rig Veda has at the end an unmanifest letter (avyakta aksha) which is to be understood in principle, but not pronounced or written in practice. The traditional Vedic pandits concurred.
This unmanifest letter represents the immeasurable grade of speech that abides in the immeasurable reality of the self. It can scarcely be called a grade of speech, because it is equivalent to silence. Therefore, it is represented by the silence that arises at the end of the first verse, before the next verse is recited. In this way, the first verse presents an alternate formulation of the 54 + 1 = 55 supreme wisdom. Literally, it encodes the unmanifest blueprint of creation that abides in consciousness.
But there is more. The grammatical meaning of the first verse is expressed in terms of nine Sanskrit words: The first seven, which together contain exactly forty-two letters, describe the process of self-sacrifice by means of which the soul progresses on the path of immortality—that is, by ascending through the forty-two layers. The last two, which together contain a total of twelve letters, describe the fruit of self-sacrifice, the goal of the sacrificial path. The last twelve letters represent the dvadashanta, the twelve at the end. More specifically, the last twelve spell out the two words ratna dhatamam, with the transliterated form of dh to indicate that it represents a single Sanskrit letter. The word ratna means “jewel” or “crystal,” and the word dhatamam means “supreme upholder.”
The grammatical meaning serves as a commentary on the sequence of letters, suggesting that the fruit of all forms of self-sacrifice, or the goal of the path, involves realizing the self as the supreme upholder of the ratna, the crystalline structure of the Veda or Logos. The supreme upholder of the crystalline structure of consciousness is none other than the infinite continuum of consciousness, which represents the supreme self. According to the supreme wisdom, the supreme self has twelve internal divisions, which correspond to the twelve at the end.
Unlike the first forty-two letters, or layers, which represent the external divisions of the self where “another” can be conceived on the basis of duality, the final twelve letters, or layers, represent the internal divisions of the self where all notions of otherness or duality are drowned in unity. When the soul ascends to the forty-third layer, the first of the twelve at the end, the crystalline structure of consciousness becomes indistinguishable from the underlying continuum of pure consciousness, which supports or upholds that structure. As a result, all notions of otherness are transcended.
In this sense, the twelve letters at the end represent the state of Vedanta, which marks the “end of the Veda.” The first forty-two letters, on the other hand, represent the very embodiment of the Veda in the form of the forty-two discrete layers, which constitute the adornments of the self. We recall that in the Hebrew tradition the unique divine name was viewed as consisting of forty-two letters that represent the adornments of the name. Traditionally, these forty-two letters are encoded by the first forty-two letters of the Book of Genesis, the oldest and most authoritative of the ancient Hebrew texts. The commentaries make it clear that these represent the forty-two layers that constitute the path of immortality.
We can find that the same practice was employed in the Vedic tradition: The first forty-two letters of the Rig Veda were designed to encode the forty-two layers that constitute the path of immortality. Yet the first verse of the Rig Veda goes beyond the first forty-two layers or letters and was instead designed to encode the complete spectrum of 42 + 12 + 1 = 55 layers that constitute the supreme wisdom.
The unmanifest letter that abides at the end of the first verse is the unspoken form of the letter a, which is also the first spoken letter of the verse. Here, we can say that what is realized in the beginning is also realized in the end, in accordance with the principle “as in the beginning, so in the end.” In actuality, there is a mysterious Vedic doctrine regarding the letter a: According to the Agama texts, which deal with the science of mantras (sonic formulas) and yantras (geometric diagrams), a represents the self (atman) of all the letters. It is therefore assigned three names: the first (prathama), the all-pervading (vyapaka), and the immeasurable (aprameya). 1 The hidden meaning of these names is revealed when the immeasurable and unpronounceable form of a is added to the end of the first verse of the Rig Veda. This addition completes the symmetry of the verse.
Fig. 13.1. The complete symmetry of the first verse of the Rig Veda
In this diagrammatic representation, the first, middle, and last letters are represented by three forms of the letter a. The first (prathama) form represents the first layer above the half measure, where the human soul becomes enlightened—the first state of enlightenment, when the self is filled with both universal light and sound. The middle or all-pervading (vyapaka) form corresponds to the twenty-eighth letter in the sequence and represents the twenty-eighth layer above the half measure, where the ascending soul arrives at the highest heaven within the visible universe and attains universal consciousness. On this level of realization, the self pervades the entire visible or local universe—that is, it becomes all-pervading. The final or immeasurable (aprameya) form represents the immeasurable reality of the self, which transcends all finite names and forms. This marks the supreme or final state, when the pointlike soul realizes its identity with infinity—that which is bigger than the biggest.
By adding an unmanifest letter to the end of the first verse, the bilateral symmetry of the verse becomes complete and the verse becomes a lettered formulation of the supreme wisdom. In this way, the Vedic seers formulated the supreme wisdom in two complementary ways: using letters of the first verse of the Rig Veda and the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet.
THE DIVINE ROSARY
The ancient seers were fond of expressing the truth in many ways. In addition to alphabetical and metrical models, the Vedic seers also employed a practical model involving a rosary-like necklace of beads to illustrate the supreme wisdom.
Even today, throughout India, rosaries consisting of 108 + 1 = 109 beads are used commonly to count the repetitions of a mantra or name of God during the practice of japa (repeated recitation). Such rosaries are called aksha-malas (bead necklaces)—but, as we have discovered, the word aksha also means “letter.” Therefore, the 108 beads of the rosary represent the 54 + 54 = 108 layers that constitute the measurable forms of the self both above and below. The immeasurable form of the self, which is simultaneously “smaller than the smallest, and bigger than the biggest,” is represented by a single 109th bead hung as a pendant. This is known as the guru bead.
The number 108 is arguably the most important in the Vedic tradition. Virtually every major conception of God was assigned a list of 108 names, because the Supreme Being was viewed as having 108 fundamental aspects. Moreover, there are 108 Upanishads, because the Upanishads are the texts that deal specifically with the reality of the self. Further, mantras are recited typically 108 times.
To enshrine the supreme wisdom in the daily lives of the people, the seers prescribed the use of rosaries consisting of 108 beads. In the practice of japa, the 108 repetitions are counted by grasping each bead in succession between the thumb (representing the universal self) and the forefinger (representing the individual self). A complete round of 108 repetitions represents a complete cycle of ascent or descent through all 108 layers. The 109th bead, hung as a pendant between the first and 108th bead, marks the beginning and end of each round. When the guru bead is reached, the aspirant is supposed to sit in silence and meditate upon the nameless and formless reality of the supreme self. The 109th bead therefore represents the immeasurable reality of the supreme self, which is simultaneously “smaller than the smallest, and bigger than the biggest” of the 108 layers. It is both the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, of each complete cycle through the 108 layers.
Although the alphabetical and metrical models suggest that the supreme wisdom involves a total of 54 + 1 = 55 layers, the fifty-four layers have dual representations in the sense that they exist both above and below the half measure. As such, they can also be counted as 54 + 54 = 108 layers. The immeasurable layer has no such dual representation. It represents the immeasurable Oneness that knows no duality, and corresponds to the fifty-fifth layer as well as the 109th in the two formulations. The divine rosary presents an alternate version of the supreme wisdom, expressed in terms of 108 +1 = 109 layers rather than 54 + 1 = 55 layers.
AS IN THE BEGINNING, SO IN THE END
It turns out that there is a numerical correspondence between the solar wisdom cognized at the beginning of the path and the supreme wisdom cognized at its end. This correspondence can be understood in terms of the ascending and descending paths of the self.
When the self ascends, it starts on the scale of the half measure and then climbs through the twelve solar layers, which correspond to the twelve adityas, or the twelve at the beginning. When the self descends, it starts on the immeasurable scale, and then descends through the twelve supreme layers, which correspond to the twelve at the end. There is, then, a numerical correspondence between the twelve at the beginning and the twelve at the end.
Based upon this correspondence, the seers were fond of comparing the supreme self to the divine sun, whose rays illuminate the universe. These rays are the souls that abide within the forty-two layers of the path. Yet just as the interior of the sun is filled with rays of sunlight, so the interior of the divine sun is filled with its own divine rays, which correspond to the truly immortal souls who have completed the path and taken up residence within the supreme abode. There, in a nondual way, they become identified with the Supreme Being.
The correspondence between the solar wisdom and the supreme wisdom is reflected in many ancient traditions in which the Supreme Being was often conceived as a creator sun god. This is true particularly of the ancient Egyptian tradition.
THE INNER CIRCLE OF THE DUAT
In the Egyptian tradition, the metaphysical Logos was called the Duat, the underworld or underlying hidden world through which the enlightened soul must ascend (or descend) in order to obtain true immortality.
As we have seen, the Egyptians represented the forty-twofold path of immortality with the creation of the forty-two nomes, or ancient divisions of the land, mapped out along the Nile. The goal of the path, on the other hand, was represented by an abstract symbol—the inner circle of the Duat—which was viewed as the supreme abode of all truly immortal souls.
The inner circle of the Duat has twelve inner divisions. Given the correspondence between the solar and supreme wisdoms, these have two complementary interpretations: they can be viewed as the twelve inner divisions of the sun that shines in the lower (physical) sky or the twelve inner divisions of the supreme sun that shines in the upper (metaphysical) sky, the sky of the immortal self.
In spite of its twelvefold inner nature, the symbol used to represent the inner circle of the Duat in inscriptions throughout Egypt was a five-pointed star enclosed within a circle—a potent symbol with several meanings: On one level, it symbolizes the person inside the sun, which is actually a star. This “star person” with its five celestial appendages can be compared to a human with its head, two arms, and two legs. The expanded cosmological meaning, of this symbol pertains to the fivefold celestial body of the Supreme Being, which correspond to the five cosmological spheres:
The Supreme Being dwells ultimately in the inner circle of the Duat. The twelve divisions of the inner circle transcend the fivefold celestial symbol, because they are not celestial. They represent hidden metaphysical divisions, rather than celestial appendages. In this way, the ancient Egyptians, like the Vedic seers, conceived the supreme abode of immortality as having twelve inner divisions, which correspond numerically to the twelve inner divisions of the sun.
THE TWELVE DIVISIONS OF ISRAEL
The Hebrew sages also shared this wisdom. As we have seen, Moses and his inner circle mapped out the path of immortality in terms of the forty-two encampments of the ben Israel on their journey from Egypt (the land of bondage) to Canaan (the land of immortality).
In this spiritual allegory, the land of Canaan or Israel itself represents the supreme abode of immortality reached at the end of the path, and the citizens of that land symbolize the truly immortal souls that live there and the twelve tribes of Israel, who symbolize the twelve classes of immortal souls that dwell in the twelve layers at the end.
Once the twelve tribes arrived in Canaan, they established the kingdom of Israel by dividing the land into twelve pieces, as recorded specifically in the Book of Joshua. By dividing the land into twelve sections, the Hebrew sages established symbolically the supreme abode of immortality on earth, which was called the kingdom of Israel and which was to serve as the abode for all the immortal sons of Israel throughout time.
Therefore, all three traditions—Vedic, Egyptian, and Hebrew—shared the same immortal wisdom regarding the forty-twofold path, as well as the same supreme wisdom regarding the twelvefold goal of the path.
THE IMMORTAL WORLD OF DIVINE LOVE
Wouldn’t it be a disappointment if, at the end of the long spiritual journey, the soul was reduced to an abstract, formless, nameless, and motionless state of pure being? In one sense, this is the case, but in another sense, the abstract state of pure being is filled with nonphenomenal forms of reality, which constitute an immortal world—the eternal world of the self described by the ancient seers as a world of indescribable bliss.
In that world, every soul represents an immortal, nonphenomenal form of the Supreme Being so that all distinctions between the individual being and the Supreme Being are drowned in unity. The glue that binds all of these nonphenomenal parts into a single, nonphenomenal whole is none other than divine love—the unifying aspect of pure knowledge, which knows no reason.
In the tenth chapter of the Bhagavata Purana, in the form of spiritual allegory about a divine dance—the rasa lila (play of nectar)—the Vedic texts record a metaphorical description of that immortal world. The story revolves around an incarnation of the Supreme Being in the form of Krishna, the god of divine love, who is depicted as an adorable youth of sixteen years. Krishna represents the sixteenfold incarnation of the Supreme Being in the form of the 15 + 1 = 16 immortal layers that lie above and beyond the outermost shell of the cosmic egg.
The immortal souls that dwell within these layers were compared to the female consorts of Krishna, who viewed him as their one true love. Yet the story of the rasa lila presents this as an illicit type of love, which transcends the boundaries of social dictum and reason. Each immortal soul may be viewed as married to the unborn Creator, who presides over the cosmic egg from which it hatched. In this sense, the unborn Creator may be compared to the divine “husband” of the female soul. This marriage upholds both the covenant between heaven and earth and the cosmic eggs as imperishable forms of reality within the self. Although the immortal soul remains married to the unborn Creator, who abides within the cosmic egg, it nevertheless cherishes an illicit love for the Supreme Being, who abides in the immortal realms beyond the cosmic egg. The nature of this love is described metaphorically by the story of the rasa lila.
According to the story, the consorts of Krishna remain dutifully within their homes and serve their husbands. During the night, however, their longing turns to Krishna, their one true love. Wandering in the moonlit forest, Krishna calls to his consorts by playing upon his cosmic flute. Made from hollow bamboo, the flute symbolizes the hollow whirlwinds of consciousness that connect the cosmic eggs and by means of which the soul can travel. When Krishna plays upon his flute, the immortal souls are called to leave their (crystallographic) homes, abandon their husbands, and seek him out in the moonlit forest, filled with fluttering leaves. There, they meet their lover in the adorable form of the sixteenfold whole, and there they engage in the rasa lila, the play of nectar.
Technically, the rasa lila involves the circulatory flow of the imperishable substance of pure consciousness, the soma or amrita rasa. This flow is nonphenomenal in nature and therefore knows no reason. Upon finding Krishna, the consorts dance with him in loving embrace—yet due to their intense love, the consorts actually assume the form of Krishna. The rasa lila thus involves the dance of Krishna with himself, or the dance of the immortal soul with its own supreme self. This provides a symbolic description of the non-dual relation between the immortal soul and the Supreme Being that is inherent in the supreme abode of immortality. This relation was presented as a form of illicit love because it transcends all forms of duty and reason. The rasa lila serves no exterior purpose. It plays no role in the creation of the universe and serves only to fulfill the intense desire of the soul for union with the immortal whole. That desire is manifest as divine love for God, the one eternal self.
On that immortal level of reality, “Truth is beauty, and beauty is truth.” In other words, the knowledge of God and the love of God are one and the same. That immortal form of God, which embraces the sixteenfold whole, represents the one supreme thing by which, through knowing and loving it, everything else becomes known and loved.
CONCLUSION
Finally, we have reached the end. Beyond the largest and smallest of the 108 layers lies the immeasurable reality of the Supreme Being, which is truly infinite.
As the enlightened soul ascends and descends through the layers, it becomes filled increasingly with the presence of God, and in the end, when it transcends the smallest layer below and the largest layer above, it becomes one with God. What lies beyond that is unknown and unknowable by human beings on Earth.
Yet according to the seers, the expansion of consciousness is endless and eternal. For that reason the supreme reality was called brahman, the ever-expanding reality. Although the ancient spiritual wisdoms may have been expressed in religious terms, we have seen that these wisdoms were also highly systematic, formulated so that the steps on the path of immortality were spelled out literally in the sacred texts and mapped out by the sacred divisions of the land.
Due to this systematic expression, as we have seen, the spiritual wisdoms can be expressed in terms of pure numbers and mathematical formulas that are linked to particular scales of space and time. As we have discovered, encapsulated by the system of matched pairs, this system is genuinely scientific in the sense that it can be used to predict accurately a hidden vertical symmetry in the overall organization of the universe. In the end, however, the ancient spiritual science transcends the boundaries of the finite created universe, and provides a description of the immortal and supreme realities that lie beyond the scope of reason or scientific analysis. It was not, then, just an empirical science; it was also a spiritual science, a science of immortality.
We have discovered that this ancient science was not the province of one culture or religion, but was shared by some of the most ancient traditions of knowledge on earth, including the Vedic, Egyptian, and Hebrew cultures. Although each tradition may have expressed the science in terms of its own symbolic and religious concepts, using its own language, ultimately these traditions were all talking about the same thing.
There is no doubt that this science was kept secret in ancient times, and was passed down exclusively among the elite royal and priestly classes through a process of hereditary and initiatory oral transmission which persisted for thousands of years. Around the time of Alexander the Great, however, these secrets of the elite classes began to be written down and were made available to the public—for example, in the Great Library at Alexandria. Unfortunately, this library was eventually destroyed by a series of fires, and the treasure of ancient wisdom was lost.
Yet this fate was not shared by the Vedic texts, which were preserved by oral traditions for thousands of years, and then were written down eventually in the form of sacred texts. Although only about thirty to forty thousand Vedic texts have actually been cataloged, translated, and studied by Western scholars, these provide an unparalleled glimpse into the minds of the ancient seers and how they viewed the world and what lies beyond the world. Much of our examination of the ancient science has been based upon the Vedic texts because they represent the largest and most complete body of ancient literature that has ever been found on earth—much larger than all of the other ancient literatures taken together.
To be honest, however, we have scarcely begun to explore the vast treasure of ancient knowledge and wisdom that has been left us. The typical view of Western scholars is that the ancient literatures present a bunch of spiritual mumbo-jumbo, which has no relevance to modern society. On one hand, this is true in the sense that modern society has essentially lost its taste and inclination to explore the deeper spiritual reality of the world. On the other hand, as we have seen here, the teachings encoded in the ancient texts may have direct relevance to the most advanced theories being developed today. Moreover, the ancient teachings may have direct relevance to the ultimate destiny of the human soul and its place in the world—something about which modern science remains mute.
Although this knowledge was kept secret in ancient times, here we can find it spelled out in explicit terms and made available to the public in accordance with the spirit of our modern era—the era of the common man. According to the ancients, the advent of the ancient spiritual science on earth took place some twelve thousand years ago, when humankind was still living in caves or in makeshift dwellings beneath the trees. During the last twelve thousand years, the cycle of time has largely erased this science from human memory. The seers predicted, however, that at the end of the cycle, the ancient science would be remembered and a new age of spiritual truth would dawn. If this volume helps to contribute to that remembrance in any way, then it will have served its purpose. Here, we have listened merely to the story as it has been drawn from the ancient texts. What we make of the story is up to each of us.
The fact is that we all see the world through our own tinted glasses. Our modern view of the universe is based upon an objective paradigm, while the ancient view was based upon a subjective paradigm. Here, we have seen that these two paradigms, though mutually opposed, can lead to similar empirical predictions regarding the overall organization of the universe. Which system is more valid, however, cannot be answered here.
A detailed and well-defined mathematical theory of the unified field will be required to determine which paradigm has greater validity. Perhaps this book will inspire great minds to explore the potential for a new type of unified theory, one rooted in subjective rather than objective principles. Whether or not this comes to pass, only time will tell.