Darshan with Swami Krishnananda during 1996

by Swami Krishnananda

39. Our Position in the Universe

(Darshan given on June 21st, 1996.)

Swamiji: In spite of there being endless varieties of things, from insects to Brahma, or God, from atoms to the stars, even then, in spite of so much of difference, as they call it, it is one undivided existence at the back of it. How would you reconcile this kind of imponderable contradiction, of every atom at the root of things, with that great principle that it is one thing? How? If you can reconcile this in your consciousness, you are in the state of meditation just now. Meditation is nothing but this only. It is an integration of particularity with integrality. If this is possible, you are immediately in the lap of God, you can say, in one minute. But you should not have any kind of doubt regarding how it is possible, or why, and so on. There is no why, when and how for that. It is just what it is.

It requires great willpower on one side, and the capacity to understand one's position in life – where you are actually situated. Are you in Delhi? Are you on the surface of this earth? Are you in the interstellar space? Are you in the solar system? Are you in the space-time complex? Where are you sitting just now? Can you tell me where you are? It is a difficult question. When you think of it, you will be simply stunned. There are cooperative forces working everywhere because you belong to the entire space-time complex. It is not far away from you. It is the stuff out of which everything is made. You think you are this man or that man, this person or that person, doing this work or that work, because you are unable to reconcile this utter difference and contradiction with that thing which seems to be defying all these contradictions.

A visitor: Intellectually perhaps we agree with that proposition.

Swamiji: Why should it not go into the heart?

Visitor: Though we try to agree with that proposition, its integration in our practical life…

Swamiji: That practical life is not outside this real life.

Visitor: It's not, but to live that principle in our life is where the reservations come about.

Swamiji: If the practical life is completely alienated from the true life, that practical life has no meaning.

Visitor: It is not. While on the intellectual plane it is valid as a universal proposition, in its application to oneself, we are not able to live up to that principle of indivisibility.

Swamiji: You have to use your strong imagination and transport yourself to the origin of things. From that point of view you are. You are not sitting in Delhi, you are sitting at the apex of creation and from that point of view, with that eye, you see your work, and how you will adjust yourself. Then you will have the strength to do it, and also the understanding of how to adjust yourself. You should not think that you are working inside a room. You are not inside the room. You are working in the apex, the centre of the world, that is controlling even the movement of your fingers. You cannot forget that. You should not think that you are doing everything. How can you do that unless there is an order from the centre? So I have told you a mouthful, and…

Visitor: That's the reason why I keep coming to you, spending some time at least with you. It makes me rejuvenated, as it is. When I go back, it keeps me charged for some time.

Swamiji: Either we go from this world leaving the whole thing to God, as people say – let Him keep it or not keep it – or we consider that there is some necessity to do something for the future stability of this world. There are two ways of thinking. Everything, let it go; that is one way. Otherwise, whatever is possible must be done. These are the two. The empirical and the transcendental are to come together somehow. That is left to you.

[To another visitor] Gravitation, relativity, mathematics, equations – this question was raised once. Then it will mean that the system called mathematics is foolishness, but it is not like that. One person has written a beautiful article that mathematical laws, gravitation and relativity apply not to the illusory part, but to the real part. The snake is not there, but the rope is there. You forget the point. The rope only looks like a snake, and so the illusion is something to be explained properly. 'Illusion' does not mean nothing is there. The rope is there, so you should not say nothing is there. You are thinking 'illusion' means nothing is there. You are not properly seeing the thing that is there. So the laws of physics, etc., are perfectly valid because they apply to the rope, but you are not seeing the rope. You are saying the snake is there. The laws do not apply to the snake; they apply to the rope. What you are seeing as the whole world is not the snake, but the rope only. Hence, you may say it is there or it is not there, either way. You will say something is there, something is not there. The snake is not there, but by saying that, you cannot deny the rope. But we deny the rope also, and make a mistake. That's why people say the world isn't there. That is not true. It is like saying the snake isn't there, but you forget the rope is there. You bundle up the rope with the snake when you say it is not there. What you see is God only, the Almighty Being. It is not an illusion, because the rope is there. The rope is the God, and so any law applies to it. Laws that are valid apply to that which is valid, and the only thing that is valid is the rope. But it looks like a snake, and so you are getting confused. Every day you are seeing only God in front of you, and not the snake.

Visitor: It also is said, Swamiji, that we are always in the presence of God.

Swamiji: We are always on the lap of God.

Another visitor: Would it mean that the world may not be there, but maya is there?

Swamiji: Maya means the snake, but there is no snake. Unnecessarily you are bringing that. It doesn't exist there. It is the rope only. You are seeing the rope and calling it maya. It is a drama.