Ritual

Being residing in heaven. The real nature of the One is that it is
attributeless, undefinable yet omnipresent, and at best it admits
only of approximate explanations. It can be summarized as an
eternal continuum of extremely ultra-subtle cosmic reality which
gives rise to the grosser elements in nature. In tantra, it is termed as
Para-Prakriti. The quasi-monistic form of Prakriti, or Sakti,
appears in rich ritualistic imagery, but its real nature is more than
empiric existence: though it embraces everything, it transcends all.
Into this primordial reality which bridges the cleavages of dualism,
all things return.
As this century approaches its end, contemporary physical
researches tend more and more to demonstrate that what we term
gross matter in the world at large is simply an appearance of a more
refined substance. In its quest for unity, science is drifting towards a
monistic explanation of the universe. Classical physics regarded
mass and energy as two independent realities. The theory of
relativity resolved the dualism and demonstrated that mass and
energy are proportional and interchangeable. The diversity of
phenomena is attributed to the mere rearrangement of a single
common 'essence' which scientists have called energy. Although
modern science has dematerialized the atom and shown that it is
divisible, still the smallest conceivable ultimate entity, the neutron
with zero mass and no electric charge or magnetic field, cannot be
divided further. Heisenberg's comments allude to the paradoxical
notions of the illusoriness of the basic particle (atom) when he states
that any attempt to explain it in visual terms is to 'misinterpret' it:
'All qualities of the atom of modern physics are derived; it has no
immediate and direct physical properties at all, i.e., every type of
visual conception we might wish to design is eo ipso faulty.' 30 Thus
we find that on the cosmic and sub-atomic level, the property
called 'mass' turns out to be an illusion. Matter is reduced to
energy, energy to swarms of wavicles and vibrations in multidimensional
space. Indeed, atoms, stars, comets, meteors, the
moving galaxies, the vast universe of waves are shifting
configurations of the same underlying reality. Yet one question
remains: what is the essence of this mass-energy substance which
vibrates? The scientist's answer is no less puzzling that the
metaphysician's, for the fundamental substance is the 'unknown'.
The unknown has been described by the scientists as the 'psi-field',
an abstract non-material field which defies definition. While not
calling it Para-Prakriti, scientists have found that only one
substance, or a single unified principle whose nature is equally
elusive, is the causa sui of the world.
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