AT THE FEET OF THE MOTHER
Ask Alok da

Recently I read one of your replies to a Daily question regarding Saguna and Nirguna Brahman (Personal and Impersonal Divine):🌌♾️🌀🌍

https://auromaa.org/daily-offering/what-are-saguna-and-nirguna-and-what-is-beyond-them

Here you say that “Saguna and Nirguna are held in, embedded in the Parabrahman.” These two are equal aspects of the One Supreme Reality. But then I came across another post on the site. Gods, Divine, Supreme :

https://auromaa.org/1-1-god-the-divine-the-supreme

Where TheMother says that that there are the godheads of the Overmind who indeed are very similar — (…..) Beyond these there is the impersonal Godhead, the impersonal Divine; but beyond the impersonal Divine there is the Divine who is the Person himself.

Now I wonder da as to what is the relationship between the Nirguna and the Saguna. If the Supreme Divine is Transcendental (beyond Creation) and beyond both so is it then that Saguna and Nirguna are both non-transcendental universal aspects ? Is it that the Nirguna is the transcendental aspect above the cosmos and Saguna the universal aspect embedded/contained in it ?

I’m utterly confused dada. Could you please guide me regarding the relationship between these. I would be very grateful towards your insights.

The gods are aspects of the One Divine; they are not the Saguna Brahman. The Saguna Brahman is the Divine Source of all the qualities we see in the universe. The gods, in fact each aspect of creation embodies one or more of these Qualities, often limited and even distorted in creation including the gods. So you can take Saguna Brahman as the sky that gives rain and light that nurture and nourish all beings. The gods are the diminished versions of these just as rain and light diminishes and changes as it passes through the different layers of the atmosphere. 

What about Nirguna? Nirguna exists everywhere in creation along side the Saguna. Wherever there is form, there is quality. But with every form, alongside it, as its base and support there is the formless. The formless is the same Truth but in an unmanifest state. Form is the manifestation of what is in the formless. Naturally the form limits the possibility held within the formless. A writer may have many books inside him. But each book is equally a part and parcel of him. The Impersonal being beyond simply means that it is beyond the forms of the gods, beyond creation. But it always carries within it all the qualities and possibilities. Thus the Unmanifest is at once Nirguna and Saguna. The gods, titans and others are all limited additions because form limits. Saguna is not synonymous with forms. It is qualities that are yet in their unmanifest state. Both these aspects, the Nirguna and the Saguna are two sides or aspects of the One Divine, the Purushottama or the Ishwara one with His Shakti. 

Hope it is clear now.

Affectionately,

Alok Da

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