Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

26. Thinking as the Universe Thinks

(Darshan given on September 16th, 1998)

Swamiji: Your thoughts will be the same as the thought of the universe. Can you think as the universe thinks?

A visitor: Whatever the universe makes me think, I think.

Swamiji: No, no. It cannot make you, because if you say that, it is not integral. It is outside. It cannot make you do anything. You are yourself the universe.

Visitor: If I think that I am thinking like the universe, that means I am not thinking...

Swamiji: You should not use the word 'I', because you have merged your individuality with the cosmic existence. So it is a total thought arising in the entire cosmos. So when you think, you don't think as Mr. So-and-so thinking. The whole universe is thinking. If you concentrate on this point for a few minutes...

“I am not coming from the United States. I am not Mr. So-and-so.” I am telling you something which will solve your problems once and for all. “It is impossible to exist as an individual if I am an integral, inseparable, vital part of the whole universe.” 'Vital' means a living part, not like a part of a machine, which is a dead part. Go on thinking. Who is thinking? You should not say, “I am thinking.” This I has gone away. The universe is thinking. Even when you are walking on the road, who is walking? “The whole universe is walking with me.” What do you want? “I can want nothing, because I myself am the resource of all things that anybody can want.” The universe cannot want anything because it is itself the resource of everything. You are immediately free. At that time, in that stupendous, exalted mood of your perception of the universe and your relationship to it, if you think anything, it will materialise.

But you should give up the idea of Mr. So-and-so coming from New York, and all that. This idea must go away. Though in practical life you cannot give up this idea, at least for one hour you sit quiet. This is the meditation time. “I am not coming from the USA or anything. I am coming from the whole universe. I am a citizen of the cosmos. I have no nationality. I belong to the nationality of the cosmos, and I don't require any passport, visa. God does not want a visa from me. That which is everywhere is neither outside me nor inside me. It is the thing that is existing. When I say this, I am included in that.”

Always the ego... There is a thing called ego inside, which insists on being separate. “I am Mr. So-and-so. I am going from this place to that place. It is a hackneyed, egoistic perception in every human being, which should be obviated by melting down this separatist consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. The cosmos is the body of the Almighty.

Incidentally, if your consciousness is identified with the whole cosmos, you have identified yourself with God's mind. When you think, it is God thinking. When you are thinking like the cosmos, you are thinking like God Himself. If for a few minutes you can concentrate your mind on this point – even for a few minutes, with heart and soul in it – all your karmas, all the deeds that you performed, all the troubles that you might have accumulated right from your birth, they will all vanish in one second just as the entire darkness of night vanishes by sunrise. You don't require any engine to push the night out. You simply become the sun, and automatically night goes. How to get rid of trouble? It is like asking how to get rid of night. You become the sun. Do you understand what I am saying?

Visitor: Oh yeah, I am understanding thoroughly.

Swamiji: This is called the highest kind of meditation. If you can do meditation like this every day for one hour, you will reach per chance that great goal in this life itself. This is the goal of life. A mighty answer I have given to a mighty question.

But your mind should not have hesitation. “Oh, I will do meditation tomorrow.” You should not say like that. For the universal question, there is no tomorrow. It is like breathing. “I will breathe tomorrow only. Today I have no time.” You should not say like that. It is a perpetual activity. What else do you want to tell me?

Visitor: We want the Almighty.

Another visitor: We should recognise ourselves by name, or not? We should?

First visitor: As soon as you recognise your name, you are separate from the universe. You should not. That is what he's saying.

Swamiji: You can recognise each other in spite of inwardly knowing that you do not belong to this world. You are an ambassador of the universe, coming to India. An ambassador from America comes to India. He knows that he does not belong to India. He knows that he belongs to the United States. His interest is only the welfare of the United States, but he will also know that he cannot come in conflict with the Indian Government. Both things he will do at the same time.

So is the case with ourselves. God has sent us as ambassadors for doing the purpose of His law. God has not sent you here for enjoying and sleeping. That's not the purpose. He has sent you for a purpose which you have to fulfil, as the ambassador in India from the US will keep an eye on the welfare of the United States in spite of his knowing that he is staying in another country. So you can talk to each other, yet you must know that you belong to another country. It is a double action of the mind, and it requires great willpower.

Visitor: What are the symptoms that we have realised...?

Swamiji: What is the symptom that...? Now it is daytime. How do you know that it is daytime? You don't require any argument for that. It is daytime; it is very clear. More than this will be the clarity of reaching that.