Darshan with Swami Krishnananda – 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

7. Parvati’s Meditation

(Darshan given on February 10th, 1998)

Swamiji: Something inside tells you that you are not going to die. You will continue. This is the conflict between one thing and another thing inside us. Everybody knows that tomorrow may be the last day. Nobody can say it is not. Yet, why do they build palaces and want to earn money? For whose sake are they earning money? Tomorrow you are going. That shows, the Eternity says you are not going to die. You will be reborn in a better condition.

And also there is what is called conservation of energy. The principle of conservation of energy will not allow the mind to be destroyed, because mind is energy. So if the mind is not destroyed, it will continue. If it continues, the individual also will continue. The abolition of existence is not possible. Nobody would like to hear that also, that you are abolished. Are we born only to get abolished and annihilated? It is a very terrible thing to hear. We hope for the better, hope for the better, hope for the better. Endlessly we hope: better, better, better, better. But suppose someone says, “No, this is the final thing. You are going to be annihilated by death.” You say, “Go to hell! Oh, like that don't tell.”

There is something which is telling inside that life is not a tragedy. It is a comedy. It is a blessedness. It is a movement from the lower truth to the higher truth, until you reach the highest truth. Only by not appreciating that there is a thing called higher truth, the lower truth annoys us.

This kind of thing requires proper instruction by a competent teacher. This is a great science, like physics and chemistry. No amount of writing books on this subject will be of... We always emphasise that the student should sit at the feet of a teacher. If I want to learn electronics and nuclear physics, I must sit at your feet and learn it. If I read a book and a newspaper, I won't understand. These are all highly intricate truths of the deepest nature, and human beings which are involved in body consciousness and selfishness, greed, and property ideas, etc., cannot appreciate it.

A visitor: I read an Indian story about Parvati that she had to sit in meditation for five thousand years before she could marry Siva.

Swamiji: She did not spend five thousand years on this earth. It was in another space-time altogether, where even one day may look like ten thousand years here. The time calculation in higher realms is quite different from this realm.

Brahma, the Creator, brought forth this universe how many years back? Can you imagine? How many years have passed since creation took place, roughly, in your mind? Millions and millions and millions of years, according to our calculation. But in Brahma's kingdom, even half a day has not been over. It is about 11 o'clock now after he created the world. That is, even half a day is not over, and you feel millions of years have passed. So which is the truth? That realm is different, and this realm is different. So these calculations should not be compared with the earthly calculations.

That Parvati did tapasya is a fact. As it was in the higher realm, it looks like five thousand years for us, whereas five thousand years there it may not be like that. It may be one year only, or even less than that. As I told you, half a day of the Creator looks like millions of years here. So we are thinking of numbering the years according to our calculation, but actually in their realm it is quite different. So no problem. Why are you remembering poor Parvati?

Visitor: Why I remember her? Because actually I was thinking of visiting Parvati Valley in Kullu.

Swamiji: Oh, that Parvati may be quite a different person. It may be another person altogether. It is the name of a valley, and not Siva's wife, so unnecessarily you are going there. You won't find Parvati there. [Laughter.] Oh, you want to see Parvati there?

Visitor: No, I do not expect to meet her.

Swamiji: You will not find any god anywhere, wherever you go. This is not the way of finding the gods. They are not sitting in valleys. And it is up to you to find out where they are sitting. Where are the gods? We hear of angels. Where are these angels now, at present? Can you imagine? Every religion speaks of gods in heaven, but where are they? At this moment, where are they staying? Can you imagine? How will you contact them?

You can contact them in an instant, in one instant. They are not far away in spatial separation. Suppose you are dreaming something, dreaming, and you want to contact something in the waking condition. How much time will it take to rise from the dreaming condition to the waking condition? How much time will it take? Somebody has to simply shake you, like this, and in one instant you are in another world. So you require a shaking, and immediately the angels will be seen. No need of going to Parvati Valley, and all that. That is not the... They are not outside you. They are living in a universal atmosphere, so you cannot contact them by moving horizontally. They are in a vertical heaven, and horizontal movement is not the way of seeing them.

Whom do you want to contact?

Visitor: I have not had any idea about contacting anyone.

Swamiji: You can contact anything if your heart opens. They are all sitting inside your heart only.

Visitor: Yes. My question about Parvati was actually about... Because I thought about that question, and I thought maybe Parvati's sitting in meditation meant the dedication to your sadhana, your practice of meditation.

Swamiji: Yes, right.

Visitor: And that it is not for a short time. It is forever, for a long time, because Siva is not...

Swamiji: Meditation cannot end in one life. You may have to meditate for ages. Though by some miracle it may end in one life itself, normally speaking it may have to be carried on for several births. Just as you continue the work of yesterday today, and today's work you continue tomorrow, and the whole life you go on working, expanding the area of your activity and achieving more and more happiness by work, likewise is this.

Life and death are just like waking and sleeping, and after sleeping you have to wake up again. There are techniques by which you need not wake up also. That is God-consciousness. Usually it is not possible. Normally, nobody can attain that. Otherwise, this will go on – going on, going on endlessly, and you will be improving slowly, gradually, stage by stage, in several births. Many centuries of comings and goings, in usual parlance, by trial and error method, by going to so many people and asking so many questions and getting so many answers, and doing so many things, and all that. But if you have got a very steady and powerful mind, established in a perfect comprehension of what is really good for you, the whole problem can be solved in one life. It need not be for several births.