Darshan with Swami Krishnananda – 1997

by Swami Krishnananda

37. Adhyatma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva

(Darshan given on July 19th, 1997)

Swamiji: Consciousness is moving in three different ways, like a triangle. Actually, this is what we call adhyatma, adhibhuta and adhidaiva. The myself is adhyatma, the world is adhibhuta, and the thing that is connecting both and is invisible and un-understandable is adhidaiva. A very serious matter.

The adhidaiva is a transcendental principle. By 'transcendent', we have to understand the principle of inclusiveness of two things, and also standing above them. This adhidaiva includes myself and the other, and yet it is neither me nor the other. It is above. Inasmuch as it includes me and the world, it is immanent. Since it is beyond me and the world, it is transcendent. So in philosophical terms we may say God is transcendent and immanent at the same time. If He is not immanent, He will not be able to connect the subject with the object. If He is not transcendent, He will be involved in the world. So can the human mind understand this situation and lift itself from the necessity to be always conscious of a world outside, and be satisfied with that which includes the world and one's own self?

If we are going to be satisfied with that which includes myself and the world, then there is no necessity to think of myself too much, and there is no need to think of the world also. Why is it that a person is too much conscious of one's own self and very much conscious of the world outside? This is a travesty of affairs. This is the greatest tragedy that has befallen humanity. It is useless to emphasise the importance of oneself and the importance of the world, because this importance arises from another thing of which oneself is totally unconscious. This is called samsara, or bondage. The worst thing has happened, to put it in proper terms. We are in the worst condition possible where we are totally severed from reality.

Inasmuch as this subjectivity of mind and the objectivity of the world exists by the mercy of that transcendent principle – they cannot operate without the operation of that principle – we may say that only this works everywhere. If I think, it thinks through me. If there is something happening in the world, it is done by it. But not knowing it, and attributing our activity to oneself or the world, either we say that we have done it or we say somebody else has done it. Now the fact is neither that we have done it, nor that the world has done it. It is done by a third thing altogether.

But there is an impossibility to accept it. The mind is not prepared to accept that it is not doing anything, nor can it accept that nothing is taking place in the world. That is because our understanding is sensorially oriented, sensorially conditioned, and intellectually also is not a very great advancement that we are making because the intellect mostly plays second fiddle to the reports of the sense organs. It is acting as a justifying medium of the activities of the sense organs. The sense organs give a wrong report that you are here and the world is there. The intellect accepts it by a logic of its own. Every logic is a dovetailing of two aspects of a proposition, the subject and the predicate. Every proposition is having a subject and a predicate. Now, no proposition can be there unless there is a subject or a predicate. They are two different things. It is necessary to bring the subject and the predicate together by the logic of identity. Why should there be an acceptance of this dual aspect of the proposition – the subjective side and the objective side? Why are there two? Why is there a proposition which is made up of two parts? And why is there a necessity to bring them together also? This is a defect of intellectual thinking.

Logic is not a final word. It is a shrewd participant in the erroneous activities of the sense organs. It is necessary, because I was mentioning about moksha, to have a great power of understanding and dispassion to one's own self, as well as the world. It is necessary to draw the consciousness to the transcendent principle, and think through that transcendent principle only, as if you yourself are that.

In a figurative way, we may say, you place yourself at the apex of the cosmos, and look at the world and all the people like this. With great effort the consciousness has to be lifted, which is a hard job. The consciousness will not leave this body; it will not leave the world also. Great effort is necessary to concentrate on that which is above this subjective side and the objective side, and place yourself as if you are the creative principle Himself. You are sitting on the throne of the Creator. With multiple eyes you are seeing the world of subjects and objects, and if this could be done with some effort, sincerity, and honesty of purpose, knowing well there is no other duty in this world, everything else is futile if this is not achieved – if this conviction arises and the higher region permits it, you will feel a thrill inside. You will shudder that this thing and the world join together like this, like the Ganga and the Yamuna joining together in the ocean. A shudder, a tremor, a shakeup and a jerking of the prana, everything will be felt at that time. People weep at that time sometimes – weep, shedding tears. It is not that they want to weep, but some tremendous change takes place, and then tears start coming. And they jump and dance; everything is done because the elephant has entered the hut. It is like an elephant entering the house, and you will not know what to do. Ramakrishna Parmahamsa has mentioned that God coming is like an elephant entering the hut. It will simply damage the whole thing, and only it will be standing there.

So we live like foolish people, being satisfied with a cup of tea and our daily meal, and we sleep also afterwards, we have got some work every day, something pulling us, some routine. The wheel is there. What is done yesterday, we do today, what we do today we do tomorrow and day after. Every day the same work, the same thing is repeated again and again and again and again, without any final meaning in it. If this is appreciated, the entire meaningless world will assume a tremendous meaning. All the chaos will become order, all the ugliness will become beautiful, and all the enemies will become friends. Everything will look beautiful before the eye of the Absolute. Everything is grand and beautiful.