Who are you? Do you know about yourself? Find out about yourself first. If you think you are just the body, that is not possible because the body has its limitations. If you think that you are the mind then that is also not possible because the mind too has its limitations. It is just another layer of our existence. If you know that you are Silence or that you are Space, then it is possible; God is also space.
Just like your body is made up of proteins, amino acids and carbohydrates, your mind and soul are made up of love. You are made up of love. Everyone is full of love and love is God. So you are made up of God! Every little atom of your body is made up of love and that is what is God. Do not think God is sitting somewhere in heaven. God is here and now!
God is not somebody with a big white beard, sitting in heaven. God is love. He is space. When you are meditating, when you feel at peace, at home with everyone, you are in touch with the Divine force. Can you live without love? In the Upanishads, it is said kham kham brahma — the space is God, in which every thing is and into which everything dissolves.
What is not God? What is the definition of God, if at all there is one? You describe it as that which is everywhere; which is all-powerful; which is responsible for this creation, for its maintenance, and for its dissolution; which is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient.
You say, ‘‘I want to see God’’. When you want to see God as something, as an object, then it is not everywhere. Then you are not God. This wanting to see God as separate from you is also an illusion. God is not an object of senses, but the feeling of feelings, the prescence of presence, the sound of silence, the light of life, the essence of the world and the taste of bliss.
Just as love is felt in the heart, so is God’s presence felt. God is never an object of isolation. God is the sum totality. When you dissolve, God remains. When you are there, there is no God. Either you can be there, or God can be there, not both. So when you meditate, you become one with God. You are God. That is why, it is said, Tatvamasi, meaning, ‘Thou art that’.
God is to be felt in the depth of your heart. God can neither be perceived through your senses nor through the mind. God is the seer himself. Who sees? That is God. Space is God. Space is everywhere, and everything is in space. Nothing can touch space. Nothing can destroy space. And you cannot see space as a separate object.
There are three types of space: l Bhuta Aakash: Outer space in which all this universe exists l Chitta Aakash: The world of impressions, thoughts, and dreams that exists in your mind l Chida Akaash: The sky of consciousness that is all permeating, everywhere; the consciousness, the basis of all creation, that is Divine — that which knows all.
You cannot make God an object of your sight. If you make it that, then it is no more God. You can live God, can be God, but you cannot consider God as an object which gives you the path.
The whole existence has a mind of its own. It is just like you. You have a mind and it has such intelligence, that’s why it keeps everything orderly. Similarly, this moment is seen by this big mind. This moment knows exactly what to do. There are so many activities happening in the whole creation. Right now, some people are sleeping, some are waking, some activity or the other is happening in the whole world. Right now enormous activity is happening in the mind, in the present. In the Now! This mind is what you can call Atma or God and that is what you are.
The one beyond the Self is God. First one needs to reach the Self at least. The difference between Self and God is just like the Wave and the Ocean. Can there be a wave without the ocean?
GOD is the Generator, Operator and Destroyer (Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara). The present moment has generated; the present moment is operating; and the present moment destroyed the past. So you are in God and, God is in you. There is a place for everybody in the heart of the Divine.
The mind is so used to looking to the concrete and promises that it cannot appreciate something abstract. Then the mind needs promises. When you love somebody, you want a promise from them that they really love you. That is why Jesus says, ‘‘I am partially exposed so you will know what I’m saying to you. You just know me partially, and there is a big part of me that you do not know.’’
If you are inside the house, the doors do not mean much to you. You do not need the door to be closed or open when you are already inside the house, inside the room. When you are not inside the room, you need the door. You need the door to be opened.
Jesus said, ‘‘You have burned enough in the sun, in the heat. You have roamed all over the place. Just come inside; this room is ready for you.’’ This is the confidence that a master gives you.
You do not believe what you do not know. You say that you do not believe in God. God is the very core of your being. Like an onion, if you start peeling the layers one by one, when you reach the center, there is nothingness and everything is made up of that space. The whole is God; everything is God and that consciousness is present everywhere. I am present here, I am present there, I am present everywhere. That being, that space, the very consciousness is what people have called God because it is present everywhere at all times. It is to that omnipresence, that omnipotence that all the different names have been given.
You can look at it this way. In the body there are many cells and each of them has its own life. New cells are coming up and old cells are dying but they have no knowledge of you. Yet they are affected by you and you are affected by a single cell. In the same way, know that the big life and the big mind, which encompasses all our minds and all our lives, is what we can give the name — God. It is useless to find a meaning. A flower blooms. What is the purpose of beauty? You may say that it is to enjoy. What is the purpose of joy? There is no purpose to joy; it is an end in itself.
Life, when it is lived in its totality, is an end in itself and a beginning in itself. Love, joy, beauty, all that is precious and valuable in life, are really beyond value, beyond meaning, beyond purpose.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
