Atheism is when one does not believe either in values or in the abstract. When an atheist comes to the Guru, what happens? You start experiencing your own form and discover that you are indeed formless, hollow and empty. And this abstract non-form in you becomes more and more concrete!!! The guru makes the abstract more real and what you thought as solid appears to be more unreal. Sensitivity and subtlety dawns. Perception of love, not as an emotion, but as the substratum of existence becomes evident. The formless spirit shines through every form in creation and mystery of life deepens, shattering the atheism. Then the journey begins and it has four stages.
The first stage is Saarupya (to see the formless in the form) Ö Seeing God in all the forms. Often, one feels more comfortable to see God as formless rather than with a form, because with a form, one feels a distance, a duality, a fear of rejection and other limitations. In life all of our interactions are with the form, other than in deep sleep and in Samadhi. And, if you do not see God in the form, then the waking part of life remains devoid of the Divine. All those who accept God to be formless use symbols, and perhaps love the symbols more than God himself! If God comes and tells a Christian to leave the cross or a Muslim to drop the crescent, perhaps he may not do it! To begin with loving the formless is possible only through forms.
The second stage is Saamipya (closeness) Ö feeling absolutely close to the form you have chosen and reaching out to the formless. This leads to a sense of intimacy with the whole creation. In this stage, one overcomes the fear of rejection and other fears. But this is time and space bound.
The third stage is Saanidhya - feeling the presence of the Divine by which you transcend the limitations of time and space. Then the final stage Ö Saayujya Ö is when you are firmly entrenched with the Divine. It is then you realize you are one with the Divine. There is a total merging with the Beloved and all duality disappears.
THIS IS THAT AND THAT IS THIS.
Vinod Mathur: Does a believer also go through these four stages?
Gurudev: Certainly, whether an atheist or believer, he goes through the four stages.
The power of knowledge is obvious when impossible becomes possible. All arrangements for a mega event in Bangalore were made in just 4 days time, where Guruji and His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressed 150,000 people. The satsang was a historic moment - as Buddhist monks and Vedic pundits chanted, thousands, from the stillness of meditation, started singing, dancing and celebrating with lit candles held in their hands.