The Retroprogressive Path

Prabhuji is the creator of the Pūrvavyāpi-pragatiśīlaḥ Mārga (पूर्वव्यापि-प्रगतिशील-मार्गः), or the Retroprogressive Path. It is a process of involutionary nature because, as we move forward, we get closer to the initial and primary. This message of retroevolution speaks of returning to the source, getting closer to where we really are, of returning to what we truly are, and going back to what it is impossible to abandon. This path is a march toward the here and now, as this Hebrew blessing indicates:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם,
שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה

ַ“Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.”

Although Prabhuji’s teachings are universal, liberal, interreligious and inclusive, it would be a mistake to disconnect them from the framework of the Sanātana-Dharma religion and Hindu spirituality.

The Retroprogressive Path establishes three essential modes of understanding reality. The first is a realist perspective, in which the world is conceived as a collection of perceptions and sensations, without necessarily affirming the independent existence of matter or objects. At a deeper level, the notion of the soul emerges, a sphere where thoughts and emotions arise. Finally, the instance of the knower or knowingness, identified with divinity, is reached. These instances emerge from Being, conceived as pure consciousness. Pure consciousness is the ontological foundation that originates and sustains the world, the soul, and the divine. It is the realm where all manifestation occurs and acquires its being.

 

  • Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) → Historical dialectic: reality evolves through the tension between opposites (thesis, antithesis, and synthesis).
  • Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) → Corsi e ricorsi: history follows cycles in which the old resurfaces in new forms.
  • Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) → The Decline of the West: civilizations go through cycles of rise and decline, where the old nourishes the new.
  • Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) → A Study of History: cultures advance by balancing tradition and innovation.
  • René Guénon (1886-1951) → The Crisis of the Modern World: the world must reconnect with traditional metaphysics.
  • Julius Evola (1898-1974) → Revolt Against the Modern World: true transformation arises from ancient values.
  • Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) → The Sacred and the Profane: human beings need ancient myths and rituals to find meaning.
  • Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) → Eternal Return: time is not linear; the essential always returns in new forms.
  • Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) → The Forgetting of Being: it is necessary to recover the primordial understanding of being in a technological world.
  • Carl Jung (1875-1961) → Collective Unconscious: ancient archetypes remain present in the modern psyche.
  • Henri Bergson (1859-1941) → Élan Vital: evolution is not mechanical but a creative force integrating past and future.
  • Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) → Spiritual Evolution: human progress must integrate the sacred and the rational.
  • Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998) → Perennialism: all traditions contain a common essential truth.
  • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) → Omega Point: humanity evolves toward a synthesis of science and transcendence.