THE TWELVE AT THE END

The supreme wisdom suggests that the supreme abode of immortality has twelve internal divisions known in the Vedic tradition as the dvadashanta, the twelve at the end. These represent twelve virtual layers inherent within the supreme abode of immortality.

The twelve at the end cannot be viewed as stages on the path. Instead, they represent the internal divisions that characterize the goal of the path, and thereby transcend the forty-two stages of the path.

The essential difference between the two sets of layers is that on the scales of the first forty-two, duality dominates over unity, while on the scales of the final twelve, unity dominates over duality. In this regard, the forty-third layer, which represents the first of the final twelve layers, marks the unique layer where unity and duality attain a state of balance. From the perspective of duality, the forty-third layer represents the end, the nondual reality that characterizes the goal of the path. This is what lies at the basis of the 42 + 1 = 43 immortal wisdom. From the perspective of unity, however, the forty-third layer marks not the end, but the first of twelve unified layers, which happened to be known as the twelve at the end.

Therefore, the supreme wisdom represents a more expanded and unified form than the immortal wisdom and involves a formulation of 42 + 12 = 54 layers, rather than 42 + 1 = 43 layers. Yet just as the forty-third layer stands as representative of the Oneness that lies beyond the first forty-two layers, so an absolute fifty-fifth layer represents the immeasurable reality that lies beyond the first fifty-four layers. The ultimate formulation of the supreme wisdom involved a total of 54 + 1 = 55 layers.

In truth, the fifty-fifth layer is not at all a layer, but instead represents the immeasurable reality of the self, which is simultaneously “bigger than the biggest, and smaller than the smallest” of the other fifty-four layers (above and below).