turns the consciousness toward the Highest, the Divine,
and it is in the spirit that the consciousness
can begin to understand the Divine.
-Mirra Alfassa, "The Mother"
The Divine, within and without, can be worshipped at three levels:
the intellectual or wisdom based (absolute non-duality).
the emotional or devotional (qualified non-duality),
and the physical or external (duality).
First, one may communicate with the Divine
externally, in the form of an image, statue, murti.
The worshipper is one entity, and the worshipped is another,
completely separate.
Second, one may meditate on the Divine, internally, within one's heart,
as the inner ruler (antaryamin).
The worshipper and the worshipped are not exactly identical
but not exactly different either.
Finally, one may contemplate the Divine as oneself,
as omnipresent, all-pervasive.
Or to put it in other words, first one is in the Light.
The Light is one thing, there, and you are another, here,
and you are in the Light's presence.
Then, one can turn within and find that the Divine can be wherever one is.
The Light is within oneself.
Finally, one is the Light.
-John A. Grimes
