Day 15
Atma is motionless, but is swifter than the mind. The senses can never overtake it. It runs ahead of them. While sitting it goes faster than those who run after it. In this Atma, the prana places the karma.
Sometimes you wonder how breath is automatically going in and coming out. You are making no effort, Even in sleep the air goes in your lungs and comes out. This is true not just for you but for all the living beings on the planet.
There is something that is creating the rhythm of life, what is that? Have you ever wondered about it? There is something by which your intellect is functioning, your emotions are functioning, your body is functioning and not just your body, the entire universe is functioning.
There is something by which the mind is grasping, understanding. It is functioning on the basis of some extra energy, some principle. What is that principle? What is the basis of the whole creation?
A movie is projected on the screen.
What is this screen on which this movie is being projected? That's exactly what is being talked about here. That basic substratum in which the creation is sustained. in which the mind is sustained. in which the prana is functioning. from where love is experienced, that is the self.
These four elements in creation - earth, water, air, and fire are sustained by the fifth element, space. A scientist had come to the ashram a couple of years ago. He said that the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians knew only four elements, the fifth element, space was given to the world by scientists.
I told him "Sir, you are not well informed. We have always said that space is the fifth element." We even catagorize three types of space - Bhutakasha, Chidakasha and Chittakasha. First, Bhutakasha is the physical space in which all heavenly bodies are floating.
Second, Chittakasha, the space in which thoughts move. Third, Chidakasha is the space which is the consciousness itself. The consciousness is like space, all permeating. It is there everywhere and it is so complicated and difficult to describe that which is present everywhere.
The Rishis have beautifully said that it is already there in the front and very much present in the back also. The self, the Brahman, that consciousness is everywhere and is the basis of this creation.
