Mysticism East and West
Indigenous and Dalit Mysticism
M C Raj
Mysticism is fundamentally an experience to do with the self, the subjective. Science bases itself on the objective. To explain mysticism scientifically can take away the precious subjectivity. One’s subjectivity is an inalienable objectivity in the realm of the self. Such a subjective objectivity does not render itself to rational analysis of the other. But if mysticism does not propel the self towards the other there will be reasonable ground to question its validity. This is because in the Indigenous world mysticism is the essential consequence of communicative interaction with the other, organic beings, cosmic bodies, cosmic waves and space. Thus ‘fuga mundi’, the phenomenology of the pinnacle, the phenomenology of the cave etc. have very little to do with the indigenous order of mysticism. ‘Fuga mundi’ implies engineering of mysticism. However, if mysticism is engineered it is no more mysticism. It just happens in human bodies, in the being.
Mysticism is a body phenomenon in the indigenous world. In its fullness it is whole body orgasm and bliss. Such mysticism transcends all boundaries of definitions and identity. However, a mystic will blast into millions of pieces if he/she tries to contain it to oneself as it will be a cumulative contradiction. Mysticism being founded on communicative interaction it is under blissful compulsion to reach out to the other. It is one movement of being and becoming identified as two. But they cannot be two separate movements. It is cyclic process of being a mystic that propels one into becoming as an essential part of being. Thus there is an inextricable intertwining of the self and the other, the inner being and the external world.
Communicative interaction takes place at different level. If it is full body orgasm and bliss at one level it evolves organically into value fundaments and worldview that mark the self and the community. Cosmos is the all embracing theatre that synchronizes the movement of being and becoming, the self and the other, the inner being and the external. Cosmos is eternal. Matter is eternal. The self disappears in the fluidity of the cosmos. It is immaterial to the cosmos. Cosmos will live without the human self. This makes the indigenous mystic an utterly humble being. The worldview born out of the body of the mystic invites the other for communicative interaction and the being of the mystic receives cosmic calls to multiple becoming. In this being and becoming the indigenous mystic is an inseparable part of the cosmic movement and change.
Body is the epicenter of the mystic’s communicative interaction. Knowledge is full body phenomenon just as mysticism is. The cells in the body are in incessant communication with all cosmic energy waves. It is possible that cells in a body receive also negative and destructive waves that lead to Tantrism, Vajrayana and negative shamanism. Cosmic energies set up a process of entropy for replenishing energy in organic beings. The body of the mystic is a veritable crucible of energy waves emitted from Mother Earth. She is eternal. She is the embodiment of the cyclic process of generation, provision and protection of life and its sustenance. Earth is sustained by space and all other elements of nature. The mystic is in awesome wonder at the way his body receives energy waves from elements of nature in eight different directions. At his conscious he becomes a worshiper. Ancestors of indigenous communities have the capacity to communicate energy through their ‘wavial existence’.
The whole body orgasm and bliss is an inexplicable experience of freedom from all sort of compulsion. The mystic is always celebratory dancing in gay abandon with cosmic waves. Mysticism is thus a springboard for liberation of his people. Just as mother earth and cosmic elements the mystic is angry whenever his people’s freedom is either restricted or violently taken away. Striking back becomes an essential part of becoming. The being and becoming of the self of the mystic is equivalent to the being and becoming of the world.
