Rama – o Rishi, tell me how this creation started and how is it going to end?
Vasista – listen O Rama, all that exists is infinite space. You can call it Atman, Brahman, God or whatever. When a vibration arises in this space, it manifests as thought. The thought assumes form and this assumed identity appears as creation. But remember, this creation is only the object of the perceiver, that is the mind. Just like the world in your dreams exists only in you and is unreal, in the same way, this entire creation is unreal and exists only within the perceiver. Just like a wave arises and falls back into the ocean, the beginning of the wave can be called as the beginning of creation and the wave merging with the ocean can be called the end of creation. This time from the beginning to the end is called Yuga. In between yugas, there is absolute stillness and only infinite space.
Kindly explain
There was a sage called Akasaja (literally means born out of space). He meditated for many many years and finally when death approached him; it could not take control of him. So death went to Yama and asked him- why is it that I cannot take custody of this sage. Yama replied – o death, you don’t take custody of people, their karma brings them to your custody. Go and find where this man’s fatal karma is. Death went to find his karma and returned empty handed. Yama replied – o death, this man is pure consciousness and exists as space. He was born out of space and continues to exist as space. As he is pure space, there is no thought and without thought there is no action and without action there is no karma. Because he wasn’t born before, he does not have latent karma either. So you cannot take him into your custody.
What is the mind?
In this ocean of consciousness, when a vibration arises, it manifests as thought. Mind is nothing but thought. Just like the ripples in the ocean, thoughts give rise to many worlds and layers of creation. When the thought becomes intense, it assumes an identity which stays as long as the thought stays. This assumed identity is what you perceive as the world. Just like an ornament potentially exists in gold, the object exists in the subject. But when this notion of the object is firmly rejected, what remains is pure space. O Rama, this world is unreal. Anything that has a beginning and ends is unreal. It appears real just like the sexual pleasures you enjoy in your dream. When the infinite vibrates, the world appears to emerge, when it becomes still, the worlds appear to submerge, just like when you rotate a burning fire brand (Sursurbathi) fast, a circle appears and when you stop rotating the circle disappears.
Vasista – listen O Rama, all that exists is infinite space. You can call it Atman, Brahman, God or whatever. When a vibration arises in this space, it manifests as thought. The thought assumes form and this assumed identity appears as creation. But remember, this creation is only the object of the perceiver, that is the mind. Just like the world in your dreams exists only in you and is unreal, in the same way, this entire creation is unreal and exists only within the perceiver. Just like a wave arises and falls back into the ocean, the beginning of the wave can be called as the beginning of creation and the wave merging with the ocean can be called the end of creation. This time from the beginning to the end is called Yuga. In between yugas, there is absolute stillness and only infinite space.
Kindly explain
There was a sage called Akasaja (literally means born out of space). He meditated for many many years and finally when death approached him; it could not take control of him. So death went to Yama and asked him- why is it that I cannot take custody of this sage. Yama replied – o death, you don’t take custody of people, their karma brings them to your custody. Go and find where this man’s fatal karma is. Death went to find his karma and returned empty handed. Yama replied – o death, this man is pure consciousness and exists as space. He was born out of space and continues to exist as space. As he is pure space, there is no thought and without thought there is no action and without action there is no karma. Because he wasn’t born before, he does not have latent karma either. So you cannot take him into your custody.
What is the mind?
In this ocean of consciousness, when a vibration arises, it manifests as thought. Mind is nothing but thought. Just like the ripples in the ocean, thoughts give rise to many worlds and layers of creation. When the thought becomes intense, it assumes an identity which stays as long as the thought stays. This assumed identity is what you perceive as the world. Just like an ornament potentially exists in gold, the object exists in the subject. But when this notion of the object is firmly rejected, what remains is pure space. O Rama, this world is unreal. Anything that has a beginning and ends is unreal. It appears real just like the sexual pleasures you enjoy in your dream. When the infinite vibrates, the world appears to emerge, when it becomes still, the worlds appear to submerge, just like when you rotate a burning fire brand (Sursurbathi) fast, a circle appears and when you stop rotating the circle disappears.
The wise realise this. External objects and psychological factors such as I are illusory. In reality, neither the objective universe, nor the perceiving self, nor perception, nor void exists, only one is, that is the cosmic consciousness. It is the mind which conjures up this diversity, diverse actions and experiences, the notion of bondage and the desire for liberation
Who is God?
That intelligence in which the apparent universe ceases to be is God. He (It) is the void in which the universe appears to exist. He can be realised only if one is firmly established in the unreality of the universe, just like he realises that the blue sky is unreal. The wrong notion that the world is real is because of persistent wrong thinking. However, it can be removed by the company of the wise and the study of scriptures. When the wrong notion is dispelled and the truth is realised, that realisation saturates one to such an extent, that one thinks of it, speaks of it, rejoices it and teaches it to others. Such people are called the enlightened.
Who is enlightened?
Everything in this creation has two bodies – physical and spiritual. The physical body is illusory and the unwise constantly dwells on it. The spiritual body is the real and the enlightened dwell in it.
(Guruji has beautifully explained this somewhere. Mind is called Manaha. When you reverse this it becomes Namaha. When the mind is turned outwards (Manaha), it manifests as the objects of the world. When it is turned inwards (Namaha), it dwells in the Lord)
Just like the sculpture is hidden in the rock, bracelet hidden in the gold, so also the enlightened sees this objective world hidden in the mind. Instead of focussing on diversity of creation, he sees only gold in the ornaments, only water in the waves, only movement in air, only cold in ice, only heat in a mirage and only emptiness in space. Similarly, he sees only infinite space and not the worlds. He while living an apparently normal life, experiences the whole world as emptiness. He is awake but enjoys the calmness of deep sleep. He is unaffected by pleasure or pain. His wisdom is not clouded by latent tendencies. He appears to have likes, dislikes and fear, but is free from all these. He is free of ego and his intelligence is unattached, whether in action or inaction. None is afraid of him and he is afraid of none.
If this whole world is unreal and only exists in the perceiver, how is it that it appears so real? If the unreality of the universe is realised, then the perceiver ceases to be just like the objects of perception!!! Please explain
The wrong notion that the world is real is because of persistent wrong thinking. The infinite space has three dimensions –pure space (chidaakasha), mind space (chittaakasha) and physical space (bhutaakasha).
When a vibration arises in the pure space, mind space occurs, persistent latent tendencies in the mind space give rise to physical space or matter. When the tendency to see arises, eyes are formed. In the same way the five senses are formed. When the pure space through the mind space comprehends the five senses, the sense experiences are born. With experiences memory is born and with memory, ego is established. Thus from a pure space, a physical space is formed, which thinks that it is the jiva or the separate self. It then looks at other jivas, which have been similarly formed and reflects them within itself. This results in multiple identities of physical space and the so called world emerges.
But remember this world is never there in the first place. Just like you can dream about so many things which are not there, in the same way the mind conjures many things giving the illusion of the physical world. Death is ending of this dream when your physical world collapses. If you have carried some of the tendencies such as fear, desire, and greed at the time of death, you again manifest all those tendencies and thus u r reborn (or an illusion of birth). This cycle continues till you wake up from ur dream and realise that it was all anyway a dream and unreal. The wise realises and laughs at the dream knowing that it is unreal, while the ignorant attaches himself to the dream and continues to manifest the tendencies of the dream
To further clarify my point, I will narrate to you the story of Lila (to be read as Leela)
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