THE ROOT OF HIS SUFFERING

 
In the Avatar exists the consciousness of God, and simultaneously the consciousness of everyone and everything. Because everything that is real and that is illusory is in the Avatar, the forces of both the real and the illusion pull at each other in his being. Because of all these forces pulling within him, he feels as if he is being pulled apart, and this feeling of being pulled apart is the root of his suffering.

When the Avatar pulls together the forces of Reality and the forces of illusion within himself, he can work, because his work consists of pulling together into a harmony all the opposing forces of God and Maya.

In Reality exists eternal bliss without a break, and in illusion continual suffering in the consciousness of everyone and everything that exists. In Reality exists infinite freedom, and in illusion the continual bondage of limitations. So there is always suffering in bondage, because bondage itself is suffering, for every state of consciousness in illusion is limited, and cannot find an escape from the barriers of its limitation.

The Avatar as God is free and enjoys the bliss of his freedom, but so long as he is conscious of the cosmic illusion, he is forever bound by his one duty and responsibility toward all creation. This one duty pulls him down into cosmic illusion, age after age. In the existence of his own eternal, impersonal, formless state of infinitude, the Avatar enjoys fully his infinite bliss, but when he is pulled into the cosmic illusion to work for the universe, he has to suffer as does every other individual being. His suffering is unlike any other being, because he suffers simultaneously what every being is suffering, and thus his body is crushed as every being's suffering aches in his body.

Though the physical body of the Avatar is being crushed, his divinity remains standing in the abode of Reality; his divinity remains standing at the crossroads of all the forces of Reality and illusion. There, standing helpless because of his duty, he is pulled by the very power of Reality, because he is the Reality. There he stands at the threshold of all time and space, at the edge of infinity and eternity, pulled apart forever, but pulled together, as each individual, drop by drop, realizes the Reality.

Because of these two opposite pulls, the Avatar has to suffer and because these two pulls are always in him, when he is in the body, his body suffers like no other human being's.

This threshold between illusion and Reality is bridged only by the universal mind. In the Avatar's universal mind are harmonized the individual minds of all beings. Each limited individual mind is made of bindings, and it is these bindings that create the veil of ignorance which separates one from God. To cross this threshold between Reality and illusion the Avatar must lift away the veil, and this veil is not completely removed until one is prepared to abandon illusion forever.

Bindings serve the purpose of creating this veil between God and man, and this purpose is served as a preparation to see God, for once one sees God he sees nothing else ever again. He becomes blind to illusion. These bindings are as bandages around the eyes — they prepare one for the sight of God. But the bandages must be removed before divine sight can be given. It is the Avatar's work to remove these bandages, but the work is difficult because the bandages are so old and encrusted, and the consciousness is so used to being blind.

The Avatar works by cutting the bandages, one by one, pulling them apart, and as light pours in through the thinner layers the Avatar suffers, because the pull of these bandages, for every cut produces pain, because when the forces of light and darkness meet there is always more struggle, and thus increased suffering.

Because of this struggle between light and darkness, most must remain blindfolded during the whole process of the Avatar's work.

The Avatar works in inexplicable ways to remove the veil, and it is when one sees the suffering he goes through in removing the bandages that one tears at his own veil. Through awareness of the Avatar's suffering one's veil is torn.

Oh, the suffering of longing that one goes through, for the veil has been torn.