The Holy Trinity (The Triadic “Structure” of Reality)

Understanding the Trinity

No one I’ve read or talked to seems to understand the Trinity. Do you?

You can judge for yourself how deeply I understand it. But I do want to say that if I hadn’t studied and practiced Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen, and Daism, I wouldn’t understand the Trinity to the extent that I do. These spiritual traditions, like Christianity, are trinitarian, and they provided me with the mystico-philosophical insights that I needed to grasp the triadic nature of Reality.

I am a big proponent of trinitarian spirituality, which is why I am so attracted to Christian mysticism. But Christian mysticism can be difficult to deeply understand if one doesn’t consider it in the light of other great trinitarian teachings.

Here’s how I view the Christian Trinity. The Father, the Divine Being-Consciousness, is   omnipresent and omnipotent; in other words, all-pervading Presence (or radiant Space) and Power (or Spirit-energy). The Son, the disciple’s Self (or Buddha)-nature, is the same Presence as the Father’s, but the disciple cannot realize his True nature as the Son (or Christ, or Self, or Buddha) until the Father’s Power (or Spirit-energy) blesses him to the degree of full en-Light-enment. The Holy Spirit is the Father’s dynamic Power, or Light-energy. It is deemed a separate or unique Person or Body to differentiate it from the Father’s static nature as Presence (or Source). Ultimately, Reality is a Monad, but this Monad, the all-subsuming, indivisible Supreme Being, can best be comprehended and apprehended when it is approached from a triadic, or trinitarian, perspective.

The Trinity and the Sacred Heart-center 

How, exactly, does the Holy Spirit enable you to realize yourself as a Christ, or Son of God?

The Spirit penetrates you, divinizing (or deifying) you with its Light-energy. When the descending Spirit-current cuts the knot in your Sacred Heart-center (just to the right of the center of your chest), illuminating your soul (the composite of psychical seed tendencies, or impulses, that manifests, or “sprouts,” as your mind and emotions), then you awaken as a Christ, or Buddha. Your soul (or “seed consciousness”) is located in your Sacred Heart-center (Heart-center, for short), and when your Heart-center knot is cut, your divinized soul, now a Divine Soul, or Son, functions as a perfect reflector of the Infinite, ceaselessly radiating Light unto the world.

Q: Are you saying that the mind isn’t located in the brain, that it’s really located in the Heart-center?

According to Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), the greatest Hindu guru of the twentieth century, thought-forms exist as psychical seed-tendencies (samskaras in Sanskrit) stored in the Heart-center. These seed tendencies sprout, or rise (via a “subtle,” or non-physical, channel) to the brain, where they crystallize as thoughts. Thus, the brain is the organ or medium through which the mind functions, but immanent consciousness itself (the soul) is located in the Heart-center. Any disciple who can “ride” the Spirit-current into the Heart-center and rest in Heart-felt samadhi (absorptive engrossment) can confirm Ramana’s observations for himself.

The Heart-center is where your soul (or composite of psychical seed-tendencies) is divinized (or penetrated and illumined) by the Holy Spirit (the descending Spirit-current). The individual soul is the son (or daughter) of God, and when it is en-Light-ened by the Holy Spirit, it becomes the Son (or Daughter) of God. The union (or sacred marriage) of the Son with the Holy Spirit (the Blessed Virgin, or pure Divine Blessing Power) in the Heart-center results in the disciple’s God-realization, his recognition that “I and the Father are one.” Consequently, the only way to the Father is through the Son—but the spiritual Son does not emerge until the individual son, or soul, is divinized by the Spirit; and the Father cannot be realized until the Son and the Spirit unite in the Sacred Heart-center.

In Catholic theology, “Mystery” is defined as that which is incapable of being grasped apart from “Divine Revelation.” In other words, the Mystery of the Trinity, the three-in-one God, cannot be radically “solved” until the Divine Being reveals Himself to the disciple; and this revelation occurs when the Son and the Spirit unite in one’s Heart.

The Trinity in Hinduism and Buddhism

What you’re saying sounds exactly like the union of Siva and Shakti in Hinduism.

Yes, the Truth of esoteric Christianity virtually mirrors that of India’s tantric traditions. According to the tantric traditions, the individual soul (the jiva, or contracted Siva) cannot recognize himself as Siva (the Self, or Son) until Shakti (the Holy Spirit) unites with the jiva in the Heart-center. And the union of Siva and Shakti in the Heart-center results in the Self (or Son) realizing its eternal identity with the Divine Being (the Holy Father). Just as Siva-Shakti = Sat (Being), Son-Spirit = Father (Being). The way to the Father is through the Son, but the Son cannot emerge as the Son until the son is awakened by the Holy Spirit.

The truth of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism also mirrors that of mystical Christianity. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the three bodies, or hypostases—the Dharmakaya, Nirmanakaya, and Sambhogakaya—are analogous to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thus, Buddhahood (the Nirmanakaya’s realization of his eternal identity with the Dharmakaya) cannot occur until the Sambhogakaya, the Light-energy (or Bliss, or “Blessing”) Body, unites with and frees the nirmanakaya (the contracted soul) in the Heart-center. Upon this Nirvanic realization, the awakened Buddha (the now en-Light-ened Nirmanakaya) realizes the three bodies, or dimensions, of Reality (the Trikaya, or “Triple Body”) as an indivisible unity.

Radical Nondual Trinitarian Truth

What is the secret to realizing the truth of the Trinity?

The Trinity is the Truth itself, the Absolute in three apparently distinct “phases” that are ultimately one; hence, the three Persons of the Trinity are said to be consubstantial, of the same Supreme Substance or Essence. The key to apprehending and comprehending the Trinity is Grace, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit (Shakti in Hinduism, and the Sambhogakaya in Buddhism) is the “secret ingredient,” or “missing link,” that enables the son (or self) to become the Son (or Self) and realize his identity with the Father (the Divine Being). The fact that Baptism by the Spirit is one of the two cardinal sacraments of the Church (the Eucharist is the other) informs us that without the descent of Divine Power, salvation (or en-Light-enment) and a radical (or gone-to-the-root) realization of the Trinity (Triune Reality) are not possible.

I’m still not clear on the Father, the Divine Being, and the nature of His relationship to the Son. Can you elaborate on it?

The Divine Being is infinite, all-pervading Consciousness (or Awareness), eternally shining as radiant Presence-Power. Because the Divine Being is infinite and all-pervading, He can never be reduced to a finite, cognizable object or “Other” that the mind can grasp. Because the Holy One cannot be found through the mind, He is sometimes referred to as the “Hidden God.” But when the son (or soul), by virtue of Grace, awakens as the Son (or Soul, or Self), he spontaneously realizes that, as the Seer, the nondual Subject, his own Beingness (or divine existence as radiant Presence-Power) is coessential with that of the Divine Being, the Father. Hence, for the disciple, the way to the Father is through the Son.

The Divine Presence-Power is God’s effulgence, His Splendor and Glory. When this Splendor is spiritually contemplated as static, eternal, all-pervading Light (the timeless Now), then we speak of the Supernal Presence; when this radiance is channeled as dynamic Light-energy, which the disciple draws down, then we speak of Supernal Power. But God’s splendorous and glorious Presence-Power is only His objective side. For God to be fully realized, His subjective (or non-objective) side must also be realized. God’s subjective side is Consciousness (or Awareness). But Consciousness (or Awareness) can never see or know Itself directly as an Object or “Other”; it can only behold Itself in its own radiance or Light. And for this to happen, the Light-energy from above must pierce the disciple’s Heart-knot and unite with his soul (his contracted, or “dark,” individual consciousness). The consummation of this Divine Union of Light-energy and consciousness in the disciple’s Sacred Heart-center awakens him to his True nature as en-Light-ened Consciousness (or Conscious Light). The Father is this Conscious Light, and the Son (the en-Light-ened son) is a perfect human manifestation of the Father, a God-man who unobstructedly reflects, or radiates, His Conscious Light, His Divinity.

Upon his awakening, the Son realizes that Consciousness (or Awareness), his own True nature, is coextensive and coessential with the Divine Presence-Power, which he previously contemplated as a great Object apart from himself. He recognizes himself as consubstantial with the Virgin Mother (the Holy Spirit, or pure Light-energy) and the Ineffable Father (the unknowable Divine Being), and thus the Trinity reveals itself to him as a great Unity, a single indivisible Reality or Truth Body.

Can you simplify and summarize what you’ve just said?

Yes. The subject (the son, or soul, or individual consciousness) must consciously become one with the Object (the Holy Spirit, or Light-energy) in order to recognize himself as the Subject (the Son, or Self, or Consciousness) who is always already one with the Object. The ever-united Subject-Object is the Divine Being (the Father), and the en-Light-ened Son knows that “I and the Father are One.”

What you’re saying here is way beyond me, but I’m sure it would be construed as heresy by the Orthodox Church.

Yes, it would be considered the height of apostasy, punishable by death just a few short centuries ago. When a great Christian mystic, such as Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), alluded to his own Christ (or Son)-like identity and realization, he was risking torture and a gruesome death.

The fact that Christian mystics could not speak openly or write about their radical nondual spiritual realization exclusive of Jesus is a major reason why the Trinity has remained such a mystery in Christianity. Consequently, to more deeply understand the Christian Trinity, it is necessary to study other great trinitarian traditions, particularly Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen, and Daism.

I know that what I’ve just said about the Trinity is very esoteric and quite challenging to some here, but hopefully it will be perceived as a breath of fresh intellectual air. Consider it an invitation to deep study and thought that will inspire deep spiritual contemplation.

More light will be shed on the Trinity in our further discussions on Electrical Christianity. But the essential point to remember is this: the Holy Spirit is the “missing link” between the Father and the Son, and only when you “find” this link, through the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, can the Trinity become a living Reality for you.