Form, essential nature, true nature of Being. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

You are born, you grow, you live and you merge, all is Anandam; that is the Truth, though very few know it. That is why I reminded you of it by addressing you as Ananda swarupulara. Your Swarupa is Anandam, however much you might have ignored it. (SSS Vol.2, p. 26)

Nothing in this Universe can be made without a maker. What, then, must be the nature of the maker of the cosmos? He must have limitless power unbounded glory, and perfect omniscience. It is not possible for everyone to visualise such a phenomenon though it is the very fulfilment of the purpose of each one’s life! It can, however, be conceived and confirmed by two characteristics: One, called Tathastha, and the other, Swarupa. Tathastha is the temporary time bound indication. It cannot confer a correct picture of view. It can only reveal signs and glimpses off and on. Swarupa means the very reality in its fullness. This is the result of the illumination of intuitive wisdom. It reveals the immanent and the transcendent, the limitless source of all. (Sutra Vahini, pp. 21/23)

All that anyone can depend upon as evidence or proof in this inquiry is, at best, only indicative characteristics or Tathastha lakshanas. These characteristics cannot take us far. The genuine characteristics, Swarupa Lakshanas, alone can reveal the Truth. They are Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam, Truth, Wisdom and Unlimitedness. The genuine nature of Brahman is Truth, the Eternal IS. It is the Universal Consciousness, Jnanam. It is Everlasting, beyond Time and Space. And these are immanent in every entity, living or non-living in the Universe. (Sutra Vahini, p. 27)

The genuine characteristics, the Swarupa Lakshana never undergoes change. It abides in all. The form may suffer change. Times may change, the space occupied might alter. But the core of Truth, the Swarupa Lakshana, will not change. The core is denoted as Asti, Bhati and Priyam in Vedanta texts. The thing ‘is’ Asti, It exists. Existence is unchanging Truth. It may change its form and name in time and space but ‘isness’ is genuine. It makes itself known as existing, through the native characteristic of Prakasha or luminosity or capacity to attract our awareness and confer knowledge-Bhati. We can know it because it has Bhati: all things we know have this innate characteristic. Each thing has the characteristic of Priyam also - likeability, capacity to invoke attachment and love, as a result of usability. (Sutra Vahini, p. 28)

Every object has a Swarupam (its own form) and Svabhavam (its own nature). Man is completely unaware of his real nature, which is love and compassion. He is so much immersed in selfishness that he only does every action to further his own self-interest and accumulate possessions for himself. Even the love that man exhibits today towards other persons or objects is only with a selfish motive to gain something out of them and not for their sake.

Once Shuka, son of Vyasa, wanted to leave his home and go to the forest to undertake tapas. Vyasa, overcome by parental attachment, entreated him not to go to the forest but to remain there and serve his parents as it was his duty to serve them.

But Shuka told Vyasa: ‘Oh! Vyasa! you are not my father. I am not your son. We came from Bliss. Everyone wants to be blissful. I am going to seek the Bliss, which is our common source. These names and forms and relationships are only ephemeral.’ By this he was referring to his Inner Reality, which is the same in all beings. (SSS Vol.26, p.132)