July 19, 2022
The folding of palms in greeting might well have numerous meanings: the coming together of the opposites, the ideal love-relationship between 'you' and 'me' in a free (not locked-fingers) association (not held apart), and "I greet the divine in you". What is that 'divine-in-you'?
This is answered by the great jnana mudra or chin mudra: bring together the tips of the thumb and index finger with the other three fingers straight and together. God is not the three. Hence they are excluded and the so-called ego (the index finger) bends (surrenders) to meet the Lord (symbolized by the thumb).
What are the three? The physical body which is but the product of food and shares the perishable fate of food, the mind which is the supermarket called knowledge, the confluence of very many influences or conditioning factors, and thirdly, ignorance in its literal sense of non-knowing. It is on account of ignorance that the so-called ego (the index finger) comes between all these and the omnipresent divine. The ego-sense has no separate existence. Its realization of this truth is surrender, and the instant completion of the circle (when the tips of the index finger and thumb are united) which is the realization of the infinite.
The 'three' are excluded only from the point of view of the assumed individuality. When this bluff is called, there is no longer 'my' body and 'my' mind. Then all matter, including the body, is seen to be God's own cosmic body; all mind is understood to be the cosmic intelligence which is non-different from the infinite consciousness. Hence, we worship and adore even the physical body of the enlightened sage, our own guru.
They say that it is only the human being who is endowed with an intelligence that distinguishes it from other living creatures. But does it? How much of that intelligence is awake? How much of our own daily life is utilized in other than what we superciliously call animal activities - eating, drinking and so on?
In what way are we better than those living beings who are considered inferior, or is it merely presumption? If we have intelligence, is it awakened? Are we leading exactly the same life as other animals, with an added burden called an intellect? Are we even aware of where we are going or what we are doing?