This Chapter deals with the unique position of man in the cosmos and the role he is destined to play in it. The Master starts by advising us to admire the Being who brought the Universe into existence rather than speculate about how all this came about. In parallel to the creation of the Universe, we have set up a tiny creation of our own individual existence having layers upon layers of grossness and opacity. Thus it will be necessary to shatter off those layers one by one so that we can once again assume our Absolute State.

We have seen earlier that the creation came about as a result of the latent motion in the sphere of the Centre. This latent motion or stir may be called the First Mind of the Almighty. We owe our origin to that First mind and in a sense our mind can be considered as a product of that mind. Man is predominantly Man or mind even as revealed by the choice of the word 'Man' to denote him; we all know that the kingly thing in man is thought which is nothing but mind in expression. The science of Rajayoga is built upon this basis. The human mind being a product of the First mind or Stir, an evolute from the God-Centre or state of Tam, we can understand the import of the usual statement that man is made in the image of God.

At the time of creation, the soul our inner -most core, existed in its naked form as a separate identity. The Master says elsewhere that Jiva or individual soul became cognizant of its being when it assumed individuality. The activity of creation is believed to follow the Mahapralaya or the cosmic dissolution after a pause whose length is subject to the Divine will; in the state of Mahapralaya the identities of all beings coalesce in the Identity of the One after losing their individuality. The reemergence of manifestation from the above state of dissolution is a result of the desire arising in the Absolute causing in turn the stir or latent motion. Thus the souls exist in a state of pristine purity devoid of any covering at this juncture. When the idea of creation arises in the Absolute, the first covering of individuality or consciousness of being separate is produced. It is believed in tradition that while some souls decide to stay back enjoying the Divine company, many decide to participate in the drama of manifestation allowing themselves to be swept down by the mighty current of descent. In the beginning there are only very fine coverings with which the soul can stay in the realms of the Divine. Gradually more and more coverings formed with the addition of Manas, Chitta, Buddhi and Ahankar in cruder forms all of these contributing to our grossness. In due course samskars started forming producing their own effects. Virtue and vice made their appearance.

If we ponder a little at this point, we can understand how samskars form. It starts with the predominant idea of 'I'-ness and possessiveness which arises due to feelings of attachment. Idea of doership and ownership while performing actions or enjoying their consequences produce the impressions. The opacity already created due to the initial coverings dimmed the idea of the Divine presence as our inner core and our inseparable relation with Him. This made us desire to have separate faculties and powers so that we can create a parallel kingdom of which we will be the unquestioned masters with complete freedom to enjoy whatever we want to. Having been blessed with the original thought force itself in the beginning we could go about the task creating our own universe of course subject to the limitations imposed by our finiteness. The notion of separateness and the idea that we are masters of our own destiny blunted our sensibilities and blurred our vision to the extent that we permitted the veil of ignorance to envelope us. This led us to support the 'I'-ness in us and engenders the feeling of attachment to the things and beings around us. We forgot the principle, 'Isavasyaam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyam jagat', meaning that whatever is there in this Universe is pervaded by God, He being the indweller of all having become all these and also entering all these. Thus there is nothing that is ours. In fact when this idea is taken to its logical conclusion we too are His creation and are ensouled by Him. It is the situation of covering and being covered by. Lack of this Jnana puts us in the mesh of attachments and bondage. Further our liking for the pleasant and dislike of the unpleasant consequences adds to the complications. The result of seeking only the pleasurable and avoiding what may be productive of pain leads us only to further pain and misery. Thus being surrounded by misery and pain in every direction it is but natural for us to think that freedom from misery and suffering is the only goal. The opacity created by all the grossness obscured totally the vision of the indwelling Lord and only the manifestation with its myriad tempting charms and glamour occupied his attention.

The Master makes the point about virtue and vice making their appearance at a particular stage of the unfolding of the manifestation. The question of right and wrong has engaged the minds of savants and sages for eons. The philosophers of socialistic bent of mind have defined right as something which brings about maximum good to the majority and which does not take away another person's right to life and property. Jesus said that one should treat one's neighbor even as he himself would like to be treated. We normally tend to think that that which pleases us or rather our senses as good and the contrary as bad. Every religion has defined its own moral and ethical principles and laid down punishments here and in the hereafter for the violators so that at least fear, if not conviction in the intrinsic truth of the moral injunctions, would keep the flock on the right path. Those who have decided to travel on the path of spirituality know that it is right to follow all the yamas and niyamas as it is conducive for growth and any omissions in this regard is wrong more so in the sense that it will defeat the purpose. In today's milieu of downright individualism every one is right to do anything whatever as long as it does not cause a public nuisance or offends the sensibilities of a section of the people. Having said so we do find persons who are willing to take up the cause of the offending individual if only to protect his right to free expression and the adherence to a way of his persuasion. These are the times when people do not want to be governed by any ethical and moral code of an absolute character. There is no doubt that situations and circumstances do influence the decision as to what is right. Under such situations of moral dilemma we consult the sages for illumining our decision. There are any number of such situations, which we come across in the apocryphal stories in the Ithihasas, and the Puranas in which even the Avatars have listened to the elders for resolving the problem faced by them.

Howsoever it may be this problem is not so acute for a person who has surrendered his all to the Divine Master. When Arjuna faced the daunting prospect of having to fight his cousins and elders and possibly kill them too and was perplexed by moral implications of such an act, we find the Lord asking him to let go all dharmas and take refuge in Him as the last Resort and assures Arjuna that he will be saved from the consequences of all sin attendant upon such action. A person who has totally surrendered has virtually no feeling of ego and idea of ownership; he lives in a forgetful state and is living and moving in the consciousness of his Master. He does every thing thinking that it is his Master's command and it is his duty to obey it, thus ceasing to form any samskar. At this stage there is no discrimination in his mind as to what is vice or virtue. We find a telling example in the life of the Great Master, when He felt He was instructed to walk through a street where women of easy virtue were living. The Master was in a state of oblivion and felt only that He was merely executing the instructions of His Master and He did not have any right to evaluate the appropriateness of the instruction. There remained nothing of His own, the body idea, the idea of buddhi and the idea of the soul having been already effaced. In such a condition neither virtue nor vice gets attached to the action nor do the consequences of such an act attend him. God is the ultimate moral authority as held by all pious persons and thus when His will alone is being carried out by the servant who has surrendered his all to the Lord, whatever is being done can only be right in the real sense of the term.

The point to note here is that in the process of descent, the soul has added layers upon layers including those created by crude forms of ahankar, desires, emotions and feelings, the five vikaras (kama, krodha, moha, lobha, and ahankar) and the three ishanas (dhana, daara and putra) play there own part enmeshing the soul in darkness and ignorance. The way of deliverance from this quagmire lies in forming the will to regain the original condition, adopt right spiritual discipline and adhere to the path of virtue as laid down by one's Master who has travelled the path. In the path of ascent, the soul with the help of the Master's grace, casts away the coverings of the cruder variety and surrenders itself totally to the Supreme Master arriving at the position where its actions are not governed by notions of virtue or vice as commonly understood. In fact such noble souls who have connected themselves irrevocably to the Divine Master and function solely according to the dictates of His consciousness define what is right moral conduct. Indeed we see a wonderful symmetry between the stages in both the directions of movement, the one downward towards manifestation and the other upward towards dissolution. We encounter the same stage at the same level of grossness or subtlety. The question of virtue and vice is very relevant for the soul, which is committed to the path of ascent, and it can neglect it only at its peril. The yamas and niyamas have to be strictly followed and a moral character of high order is to be upheld to be deserving of the grace of the Master.

In this context, readers are referred to 'Sri Ramchandra's Ten Commandments, Notes Thereon', explanatory notes on 'Commentary on the Ten Commandments', a work of enormous significance to all humanity, authored by the Great Master, Sri Ramchandraji, published by the Sri Ramchandra Publications. 'The Commentary On The Ten Commandments' is the Master's first work coming out of the depths of the super consciousness of the finest kind and is the new sruti revealed as the supreme moral code for the benefit of human beings who are floundering in the morbid sea of materiality. Rev Dr. K.C.Varadachari has addressed the question of right and wrong in his inspiring talk, 'The Eclipse of Consciousness' (Vol.1, Complete Works of Dr. K.C. Varadachari), how it can be resolved through the practice of Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga and the indispensability of the Master's transmitted consciousness in the making of the moral man.