Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

25. You Are Everywhere

(Darshan given in September 1998)

Swamiji: So society of people... By 'society' I do not mean only human beings – every living being of which you are conscious. Your consciousness of the existence of these things shows that you are present in all these things. That is your higher self, which is of a social nature. Then you see the whole world – the sun, moon, stars, sky, and all that. There also you are present because the consciousness of the existence of the world outside you is not possible unless your consciousness has gone to that place. So where is your Self? It is as large as the whole universe. This is called the higher Self, highest Self. Lower than that is the social self. Lower than that is the physical self. “I am Mr. so-and-so, Mrs. so-and-so, this and that. This is all very stupid. We should not take things as a joke. Life is short, and at any time the breath will pass away.

Meditation is not a ritual – do something, and go and do whatever you like. 'Whatever you like' has no meaning because in whatever you may be doing, there also you are present. There is no place, no action, no engagement in which you are not present because if you are not present, you will not be aware even that you are doing any work. This is a highly philosophical analysis. Whatever it is of which you are aware, there you are sitting. You are sitting in the marketplace also, because otherwise you would not be aware that it is existing. You would be unconscious of everything. Wherever consciousness is, your self is there, because consciousness and self mean one and the same thing. So you pervade the whole universe.

What is it that is pervading? Not your body. Your consciousness is pervading. What is consciousness? That by which you are aware that something is existing. Very careful in your analysis you must be. That by which you are conscious that something is existing, that is your self, and whatever be the thing of which you are conscious, there you are sitting.

It is important to know that myself, yourself or anybody is actually the awareness that we entertain in us. If you are not conscious, you don't exist. So your existence itself is consciousness. That is why philosophers say it is Sat-Chit. Existence is consciousness. If you are not conscious that you are existing, you are really not existing. So actually, the consciousness of existence is your existence. How do you know that you are existing? Because you are conscious, and the existence of yours cannot be separated from consciousness. So that is why they say Sat-Chit-Anand. If you identify your consciousness with every existence possible, up to the stars, then you become cosmically aware. The stars will send benedictions upon you. The sun and the moon and the stars will bless you. The wind will blow from the heavens. This can be done in a few minutes of assertion with full faith and no doubt in the mind.

This is a brief introduction to an analysis of Self that I am mentioning to you so that your mind may not be wandering here there.

A visitor: Should we be conscious of existence?

Swamiji: If you are not conscious of existence, you will not be there at all. A person who is not conscious of one's own existence does not really exist. It is only a sleep that takes place, or an illness. You are conscious of even the sleep, so how can you say you are not aware?

Visitor: In this state I am conscious but...

Swamiji: You cannot say "I slept yesterday" unless you are already present there. There are two varieties of consciousness: active consciousness and inactive consciousness. Inactive consciousness is what is operating in sleep. It is universal and all pervading. Otherwise, if it had not been existing, you will not even remember that you slept. So it is pervading everywhere, even in sleep. Even in that condition which you consider as unconscious, it is really not unconscious because you are aware that you are unconscious. So there also you are present. It is a very subtle analysis, and day and night you must think of this. There is no such thing as unconsciousness. If you are really unconscious, you will not know that you are unconscious.

Visitor: But in meditation there is a time when you reach a state, and then you come and say, “Oh, I was not conscious afterwards.” It's almost like sleep.

Swamiji: There is no afterwards and before. Even the consciousness of 'there is something afterwards' is consciousness only.

Visitor: But what was happening before?

Swamiji: There is no afterwards, there is no before, because the difference between before and after is filled with consciousness. So there is no such thing as before and after. You have already split the consciousness into two parts, which is not possible. Consciousness is present in before, and after, and in the space between after and before.

Visitor: So what is coming and going?

Swamiji: No coming and going. There is no such thing.

Visitor: If something else seems to come and go.

Swamiji: There is nothing coming, because unless you are present there, you will not know that something is coming. So everything is yourself only. You are creating the conundrum, unnecessary trouble. You cannot know that something is coming and going unless you are present there in that process. So you are coming and you are going. It is not something coming.

[The following day]

Yesterday I said that you are present everywhere because your consciousness is everywhere. Even in the most distant places, even in the sun and the moon and the stars, your consciousness is present. The meaning of consciousness being present is that you are present there because you are consciousness. So there is no place in the world where you are not present. So you are yourself a universal being. The idea of your being only in one place should be removed by the meditation on the fact that there is nothing where your consciousness is not, which is another way of saying that there is nothing where you are not present.

Another way is there: Creation starts with space. In all religions you will find God created the heaven and the earth. It means He created space and time. Even modern thinkers, physicists of relativity, quantum and others, start from space only. Space condenses itself into vibrations. Severe and intense movement in the form of an agitation of a cosmic nature takes place. That condenses itself into the five elements: ether, air, fire, water, earth. All these elements are present in ourselves. We have got the earth principal, we have the water principal, the fire principal, the air principal, and space.

But we have got egoism, which is not present in the original creation of God. The earth is everywhere. Earth does not mean only this globe. All physical things are called earth only. Everywhere the same elements are present, and therefore, the wrong notion that the elements are present only in one place...

As I mentioned yesterday, you are not in one place; you have to be everywhere. So this second type of analysis which I am making reference to also comes to the same point that all creation is vibrating in this body. When God created the heaven and the earth and space and time and all things, He created the very substance of your being. So under any circumstance you are everywhere.

If you are only at one place, you will be a miserable being. You are afraid of everything that is outside you. But the point is, there is nothing outside you. The idea of there being something outside is a wrong idea. The thought which thinks that there is something outside is present also, at the same time, in that thing which is considered as outside. So the outsideness is abolished by the fact that the mind that thinks that there is something outside is present in the outside thing also. So there is no outside thing. Even the gap that you believe to be there between yourself and another is a kind of thought only. So the thought pervades all things until the entire sky is covered, until it becomes cosmic thought.

Whenever you think anything, you are touching the whole sky. That is the whole point. You cannot think anything unless you think everything. No thought can arise in the mind unless all thought is accommodated at the same time. All thought is cosmic thought. There is no individuality anywhere. The isolated feeling of my existence in one place is a very, very notorious, agonising principle called egoism. It has no rationality. It is utter foolishness, total ignorance, and we cannot explain why the egoism has started. It is the assertion of I in a limited physical form, while the real I is God only. Only God can have the feeling of 'I am', but no other person has any such authority to feel that. The person who feels that he or she is separately existing is a rebel against God. That rebel state is described in the Biblical story of the fall of the opponent of God. Lucifer fell. Anyone who falls, falls head down and legs up, upside down. God punishes a person and throws him upside down. That's why we are seeing something outside, while it is not outside. We think that the world is an object, as if it came after our coming into being. The world came first; you came afterwards. You are the object of the world. Why do you say that the world is your object? It is the tragedy that has befallen us. You have to be free from it with great caution. Day in and day out you must brood over it. And exclaim, as the sages of the Upanishads exclaimed: “Oh, I am in heaven. I am in the world of the God Almighty. I am in the highest realm of infinity.” The finite cannot know that it is finite unless it knows also that there is something called infinite. The two thoughts come together. So why don't you think the infinite, instead of the finite?

Thus, this psychological analysis should be carried on every day, and you should not live like fools, by which you will not be benefited in any way whatsoever. Most of us are utter fools, knowing nothing about ourselves or anybody else. Very forsaken people. A tragic condition has fallen on everybody, and so everywhere there is fear, agony, dread from anything. This is due to the egoistic separation of your being from All-being. So meditate on All-being, wide being, wider being, widest being, as wide as the entire space and time. “Oh, I am as wide as space and time. I am as wide as space and time. I am as wide as the cosmos. I am as wide as universal expanse of God's creation. All is well with me. Hari Om!” Like that you meditate. “I am everywhere, as God is everywhere. I am inseparable from God-being.” Assert this with great confidence, certainty, without any kind of disbelief. Have faith in it. It will work miracles.