The Self is inconceivable. The Self cannot be described in any way. The Self is without any name. One has to use words or expressions such as “Self”, “Highest Reality”, “God”, “Lord”, “That”, etc. in order to deal with Him. And since the Self can be masculine, feminine, neuter or even something else, you can use “He”, “She” or “It” to name Him/Her/It. Well, I have to choose one gender from now on or my posts will be very confusing. I choose the masculine gender then: He, Him, His (always in uppercase too). In this way, I am making your life easier, you know.
Nobody can know the Self directly because the Self is the absolute Knower. One can perceive, realize, feel Him (so to speak, of course) but one cannot know Him ever! He is not an object to be known but the Supreme Knower. This must be clear from the start or you will never be able to realize Him. The Self is not a Light or a Sound or any other supernatural vision, sound, etc. One just cannot say what the Self is, but he can describe Him in an approximate manner as I myself have just done.
Therefore, if the Self were only such as He is (i.e. inconceivable) the limited individuals would be doomed to spiritual ignorance forever. Fortunately, there is His Power. The Power of the Self is also inconceivable but a limited individual can get in touch with the residual manifestations of this Power.
There is always this example about the sun being the Self, while the sunrays are like His Power and the planets around are the limited individuals. The problem with this example is that the His Power is not visible like the sunrays, let alone the Self Himself. So, a better example would be a solar system with a very small black hole in the middle (hahaha, really scary!) Nobody can see it and its power, but everybody notices its presence. A black hole, due to its massive force of gravity, not only attracts matter but it can also emit matter into space. Something similar happens in regard to the Self and His Power. The Self, though inconceivable, can emit an entire universe, for example, and after a while He can dissolve it. He does so through His Power and not directly.
Modern science teaches that the universe was created “a long time” ago by “something they cannot define yet” and will be destroyed in the far future. Well, this is not true, and I am completely sure. The universe is being created and destroyed all the time by the Power of the Self. The words “creation” and “destruction” never apply to the universe really, because being the universe itself a manifestation of His Power, it cannot be created or destroyed as a matter of fact. It is just a way of describing the processes.
Despite the Self and His Power being so mysterious and inconceivable, there is something that is even more mysterious and inconceivable: the limited individual. Just like you could not imagine the entire planet Earth being situated at the center of the sun and having thriving life, it is very difficult to explain the presence of this limited individual along with the Self and His Power. On top of that, there are so many of them here! All these limited individuals should not exist at all, but they do exist nonetheless. Their presence is the greatest mystery.
And who are they? The Self, obviously! There is only one Self and not two or more. But how could the Self become so moronic? Through His inconceivable Power He is able to become the wisest or the most foolish creature of the universe. From deities down to the most insignificant creatures, He is all of them! Anyway, His Power is so immense, that He remains the Self at all times, under all circumstances. He is everything and everyone, but at the same time He is beyond everything and everyone. Only the Self could be so Free!
If the limited individual (e.g. Gabriel) were not already the Self, he could not realize Him ever! This truth is difficult to understand. It takes some time to get it, but once you do, your viewpoint will change drastically.
I will continue speaking about this triad composed of Self, Power of the Self and limited individual in my next post.