Darshan of Swami Krishnananda – 1996

by Swami Krishnananda

53. A Sadhana Technique

(Darshan given on December 22nd, 1996)

Swamiji: The thing that is here cannot say that it is somewhere else. It cannot say that because already it is convinced that it is inside only. There is something else which says that it is here and there. There is a consciousness which says, “I am inside this body.” There is a consciousness which says “I am in some other body also.” So the consciousness which says “I am in other bodies also” cannot be the same consciousness which says “I am in this body only”. Do you understand? So that is another consciousness. It is the adhyatma which is saying, “I am in this body.” And “I am not in that body,” that is adhibhuta. Adhibhuta is the distinction I make: myself and yourself. That is why I use the word 'yourself'. I don't call you 'myself'.

Now, the one that says “I am not only in this but also in that” cannot be the thing which is inside the body because if it is inside the body, it will say it is only that. It cannot say anything more. So there is adhibhuta and adhyatma, and there is adhidaiva, the third consciousness, which is transcendent to both. It is like a triangle. Adhyatma and adhibhuta are at the base of the triangle, and at the top is adhidaiva, which sees both the adhyatma and the adhibhuta, which means anything that is seen is included. Like that, you go on roving your consciousness.

For a moment you have gone out of your body. You are looking at your body just as you look at someone else's body. I am looking at you in the same way as I am looking at myself. He who looks at me cannot be me. He is different from me. That which looks at me cannot be myself because myself cannot look at myself. That thing which is not myself says that I am elsewhere also. 'Elsewhere' means 'in everything'. Therefore, only one person is everywhere: “Oh, I am everywhere. I am not only in this body. I am in the other body also.”

It is impossible to easily remove consciousness from this body because so much attachment is there, but there is oneeasy way. Say, “All right, I am in this body, agreed.” If you say you are not in this body, the body will not like to hear that, so you don't say that. Say you are in this body, but you are in the other body also. That will give you some pleasure. “Okay. I am now a bigger person, not only in this body.” But don't say you are not in this body because then it will revolt. Never make that mistake. Say you are in this body, but you are in that body also. “Okay, that is very good. I am happy now,” it will tell, “because I have become a bigger man by including the other man also. That person is with me. I am he. I am a very big man now. But I am still in the body. Whose body? Everybody's body.” Now a new release takes place from this body.

Don't close the eyes. Open the eyes. See yourself everywhere. Whom are you seeing? “I am seeing myself everywhere.” This is called Virat. I am asking you what it is thinking. It is thinking like this: I am seeing only myself everywhere. You go on telling this like a mantra: I am seeing everywhere myself. The Mandukyopanishad says that. All the hands and feet, all the heads, all the eyes, all the stomachs and all the brains are my brains. Not only this brain, but every brain is mine only. Every brain, every hand, every eye, every leg anywhere is mine. Even the insects, even the dogs, even the cows, even the bulls, even the elephants – their legs are my legs. I am moving like an elephant, I am moving like an insect, I am like a scorpion, I am like a horse, I am like a soldier, I am like a prime minister, I am like a king. I am like a father, I am like a son, I am like a daughter, I am like a mother. I am inside everything, and everywhere I am moving. Sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṁ (B.G. 13.14): Everywhere eyes, everywhere legs, everywhere hands. “Oh, happy! I am everywhere and I am everything.” Don't say you are not in the body; the body doesn't like that sentence. Say you are everywhere, that you are in this body but you are in the other body also. Ask the body, “Are you happy?” It will say, “Oh yes. I am happy, of course, because I am becoming bigger. Why should I be only in this little body? Oh yes, I am everywhere. I am breathing through everybody's nose; all the air is going inside me. Millions and millions of noses are breathing through me.” 'Me' means not this person. That idea must go away. Again and again the foolish idea will come, but you must free yourself from that. All the noses are breathing now. When I eat food, the whole universe is eating. Lord Krishna ate a little leaf from the vessel of Draupadi, and when he ate that leaf, the whole universe is eating, he said. He fed the whole universe with that little leaf. When that leaf went into his body, it went into the whole universe, not only into his body. There is no 'his body'. Every body is his body only.

Go on thinking this every day, day and night – everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, me, me, me, me, I, I, I. That's all. Which I? Not this personal I. Remove this idea of personality. It is the I of everybody. Everybody's I, everything's I – even the trees' I, the stones' I, and the mountains' I, I am that I. The mountain is knowing that I am I. The mountain says, “I am here”. But you are there also. That adhidaiva consciousness is telling this, not the adhibhuta or the adhyatma. Adhyatma means this personal I. Adhibhuta means he, she, it. You should not use the words 'I' and 'he', and so on. It is all a big, big body. The word 'I' is very tricky, and also dangerous, because it can mean anything. It can mean this body, and it can also mean the whole Universal Being. When you say you are everywhere, it means that the whole universe is thinking, so all the brains are yours only. There is only one brain because all the brains are melted together into one big brain of the whole universe. The whole universal brain is thinking. The whole universe is eating food, the whole universe is speaking. To whom am I speaking? I am speaking to myself only. To whom are you speaking? Myself. Oh, how happy. Oh, oh – go on doing like this. This is the Virat thinking. I am giving a sadhana technique.

Even in your quarrelling, you are quarrelling with yourself only, not with another person, because your consciousness is there also. When you quarrel, the phenomenal clashes with the noumenal, but when you know that the phenomenal is inside the noumenal, then it becomes calm. How can the waves dash against the ocean when the ocean is the waves and the waves are the ocean? A war is taking place between the waves. A huge wave comes and puts down the small wave. This is called battle, but it is happening within the body of this great mass of ocean. Similarly, war is taking place within the universe only. It is not somewhere in a field.

This is how the Virat thinks. There is great force, energy, great joy and confidence. Everything will be all right, finally. Say that has become all right. Do not say it will be all right; that is not a correct statement. Say that it is all right. It has become all right, and it is all right. Everything is okay. Everything – there is no everything there. Only one thing is there; into that I entered, and everything has entered into me. The me has also gone. Something is thinking, thinking, thinking through all space, all time, everything. It is Pure Being. There is no thinking; it is only Being. Pure Being is Being. About Being, nobody can talk. Being is there, Being-Consciousness, Being, Total Being-Consciousness, Universal Being-Consciousness. Here I am sitting. Where am I sitting? I have no place to sit. There is no place to sit for Being. Being is Being; that's all. Take a deep breath. Oh, how happy! This is the great sadhana. So I have initiated you into a great mystery.

Ashramite: We should do that every day.

Swamiji: Every day, all day. The whole day you must think it. Even when you're walking, keep only this thought. There are no people outside. That idea must go away. You only are moving with other people. Very difficult, sir. Moksha is not easy. You must cry and weep. Every day you have to cry and weep why it is not coming, why this consciousness is wrongly thinking like this.