DISCOURSES Volume II - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

THE TYPES OF MEDITATION: IV 139with the Sharira or gross body, Prana or the subtle body (which isthe vehicle of desires and vital forces), and Manas or the mentalbody (which is the seat of the mind). The soul in its transcendentalstate is One—Formless, Eternal and Infinite—and yet identifiesitself with the phenomenal world of forms, which are many andfinite and destructible. This is Maya or the cosmic illusion.The phenomenal world of finite objects is utterly illusoryand false. It has three states: (1) the gross, (2) the subtle and (3) themental. Although all these three states of the world are false, theyStates of thephenomenal worldrepresent different degrees of falseness. Thusthe gross world is farthest from Truth (God),the subtle world is nearer Truth, and themental world is nearest to Truth. All three states of the world owetheir existence to cosmic illusion which the soul has to transcendbefore it realises the Truth.The sole purpose of creation is that the soul should be ableto enjoy the infinite state of the Oversoul consciously. Althoughthe soul eternally exists in and with the Oversoul in an invio-Purpose of creationlable unity, it cannot be conscious of thisunity independently of the creation, which iswithin the limitations of time. It must therefore evolveconsciousness before it can realise its true status and nature asbeing identical with the Infinite Oversoul, which is One without asecond. The evolution of consciousness required the duality ofsubject and object—the centre of consciousness and theenvironment (i. e., the world of forms).How does the soul get caught up in the illusion? How didthe Formless, Infinite and Eternal Soul come to experience itselfas having form, and as being finite and destructible? How didPurusha or the Supreme