Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

6. The Universal I

(Darshan given in January 1999)

A visitor: After negating oneself that one is not the body, one is not the mind, the I remains.

Swamiji: What is the problem now?

Visitor: The I is the individual who was doing the sadhana, and beyond that there is a... Again and again one has to come back upon the I.

Swamiji: The I is not an individual. It is a Universal Being appearing to be individualised when it is located in the body.

Visitor: Which Swamiji calls the transcendental thought.

Swamiji: It is Transcendental Being; it is Brahman itself located in your individuality, looking like an individualised soul.

Visitor: Yes, Swamiji, but the next is...

Swamiji: You should not go on thinking of this I. You should think of the Cosmic I, Universal I, of which this I is only a little part, an integral part. Don't think of this I at all. Don't think of yourself also.

Visitor: After eliminating the I.

Swamiji: You don't eliminate anything. You simply contemplate on the integrated Universal I, which is called God, and that includes everybody, everything, every conceivable I. There is no individual I at that time because it is part and parcel of the ocean of consciousness. It is like a bubble or a wave. Why should the wave go on thinking “I am wave”? It doesn't gain anything by that. You should think: “I am the ocean.” What is the purpose of thinking “I am the wave”? No benefit is there.

Visitor: But that's a thought again, Swamiji. That itself is a thought.

Swamiji: That is not a thought because thought is that before which there is an object, and as there is no object, it cannot be called a thought. When the ocean is conscious of itself, it has no thought of itself because there is no 'another ocean'. There is only one ocean, so there is no object. There is an object only before a human thought, but there is no object before universal thought. The universe has no object in front of it. It is itself complete. On that you meditate. Then you will have no problem.

Visitor: Thank you, Swamiji.

Swamiji: You should not think you are a mortal body coming from Belai. You should not think like that. There is no Belai, and no mortality, no body. These are all not there. You are an integral, vital part of Universal Being, which is what you call God, which is what you call the Absolute, which is what you call Brahman. You are that only, because the higher one includes the lower. So what is the good of emphasising the lower one unnecessarily? The higher education includes the lower education. You do not go on hammering the lower one. No purpose is served. So you catch the highest, then all the lower things come automatically. Think of this and contemplate.

Visitor: Swamiji, in November 1998 in an issue of 'Divine Life' Swamiji's article came, and therein Swamiji has told that the transcendental thought is itself a thought, however. This also has to be made a subject; and all the other things which come, the objects, they can also be...

Swamiji: Any thought which has an object in front of it is not universal thought. Universal thought has no object in front of it, because the universe has no object. It itself is everything.

Visitor: That's only oneness as such.

Swamiji: Pure awareness of Being.

[Later on, to another visitor]

Swamiji: How to become God-inspired? You have to see God in yourself. The Atman that people speak of is a spark of the Supreme Being, scintillating inside you. This spark is present everywhere. The Atman is not only in this person or that person. Everywhere there is this selfhood: I. The assertion of I is common to not only human beings but even subhuman beings. Even an insect asserts itself; the I is there, though in an incipient form. If this I, which is present in everything, can be comprehended in its total form, you will find only I everywhere. There is only one mass of cosmic I. That is called God. So you are not in Africa, Canada, and all that. You are in God Himself. Even when you are walking on the road, you are walking on God Himself. God sits in the heart of everybody, not in the brain. The feeling that you have is the feeling of God Himself. Your innermost conscience is the voice of God.

One of the characteristics of being, in a way, God-possessed, I should say, is that you are confident of the certainty of what you are doing. There is no doubt that it may be or may not be. “It is like that only, certainly, and I'm sure that I will achieve what I am searching for. I want to attain moksha in this birth.”

The greatest quality of saintliness is mumukshutva. All other things are secondary. You want it; that's all. The greatest quality is wanting it. You want anything intensely and burningly, it will come.

Visitor: Can you define moksha, Swamiji?

Swamiji: Well, moksha means mukti from bondage. You are bound by your own individuality, by your feeling that you are located in one place, by your feeling that you are in a particular process of time. You see, you are today. You are not tomorrow. That is a limitation in time. And you are in Rishikesh and not in Montreal. That is a limitation in space. And you have got only a 6-foot length and 2-foot width. That is physical limitation. These are all bondages. You must be rid of this finitude. The finite wriggles out of this suffering of being considered as a limited being. Who wants to be limited? I want to expand myself. Foolishly people expand their finitude by wealth, by name, fame, authority, rulership, but this is an artificial way of expanding one's dimension.

Dimension does not mean wealth. Wealth is not your property. However much wealth you have, it cannot make you larger, because things that are outside you do not belong to you. That which does not belong to you is not you, so what is the good of talking about it? Your being, I, must expand. Now the I is this much only, this body. It must expand wider and wider and wider. You feel the I – me, me, me, everything – in this mountain, in the sun and the moon and the stars. Everywhere I am seeing myself. I am. I am everything. Every little particle of nature says: “I am.” It cries: “I am, I am, I am.” You feel: “I am this whole universe of manifestation. I am the sun and the moon and the stars.” Sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt (P.S. 1). The whole thing is one. The millions of eyes that the Purusha Sukta says... What are the words used in the Bhagavadgita? Sarvataḥ pāṇipādaṃ tatsarvato'kṣiśiromukham, sarvataḥ śrutimalloke sarvamāvṛtya tiṣṭhati (B.G. 13.14). Where is it? Where is that thing with all eyes, with all feet, with all hands, with all legs, everywhere? How can legs be there where eyes are? How it is possible? The eyes and legs and hands and feet – everywhere is the same. In one spot, all things are there. That means to say, God can think through the legs and eat through the eyes and walk through the head. He can do anything because He has no limbs. That Being encompasses everything, encompasses you also. The existence of that dimensionless being includes your existence, so you cannot stand outside it.

You forget this idea that “I am existing here”. That is existing. When you say that is existing, everything is existing, the whole cosmos is existing. Everybody – everybody is existing in that existence. Everything is your property only. The whole universe is yours only. When you ask, something comes. If you ask for something, it comes to you. When you ask for a thing, it must come. But the asking should come from the heart. When the feelings say “I want it”, it must come because the universal resources are immense. The universe is not poor. It is never empty. Everything that you want is there. But the I that asks for it should be the Universal I. Then the whole thing will flow. Sarvā diśo balim asmai haranti (C.U. 2.21.4), the Upanishad says: All the quarters will bow before you. All the quarters of heaven will do namaskar. And at that time you will not be a lady sitting there. You are a spiritual ambassador of the Supreme Being. How great it is to think like that! “Spiritual ambassador of the Almighty, I am sitting here. I'm not an ordinary person. I don't belong to Tamil Nadu, and all that. Nothing of the kind! I belong to the whole cosmos. All the powers are at my service. I can summon Indra and Varuna, and they can do work for me.”

This is not a joke, because your heart is merged with them. Whatever is identified with yourself, that is you, that is yours, and it will bow before you. They say Sri Krishna lifted the mountain. He did not lift the mountain. He lifted himself only, because the mountain was he himself. In his wider dimension of being, the mountain was his party. And the mountain started eating food. He himself was eating it in the form of the mountain. Otherwise, how will the mountain open the mouth like that? That is, he identified himself with everything.

It says in the Yoga Sutra somewhere, with some concentration you can touch the sun and moon by fingers, like this. You can touch the moon with fingers because you have transcended the limitation of your physical personality.

This is something about spirituality. What is the use of learning? Learning we don't want. There are so many professors, so many books written, but does God want you? Let the whole world want you, okay, but have you thought whether God wants you? Does God believe that you are a very learned person, a great asset, or He thinks this is nothing? Your heart will tell you what God thinks of you. You go and sit in a corner, unknown to everybody. “What does God think about me?” You put a question. Your conscience will tell you what God thinks of you. You will feel very sorry. “I don't believe God is thinking much about me, because I am not commensurate with His being. I wanted to be a friend of God. Now I seem to be very far away from that.”

If you can think as God thinks, you are a friend of God. Now what does God think, tell me? He thinks Himself only as the large expanse of this creation. This is spirituality. One day old age comes. This body will go somewhere. Then where do you go? You think over this matter. You should not completely close your eyes to the future. “Where do I go after I shed the body?” Is it a worthwhile matter thinking, or not necessary? You are thinking of tomorrow and going to Canada, but what about another tomorrow which comes afterwards? Can you ignore that?

These are the things that occur to our minds here. We are also doing some work, but this is all a secondary matter, and we believe that the fingers of God are working for His sake. Everything is done for His sake, and is done also by Him only.

Visitor: But then why so much deterioration from the time of Yajnavalkya, as you would say, if He is behind all this? Why so much of corruption now, and there is a change of perception of spirituality itself?

Swamiji: Hundreds of answers can be given to it. It is not the time for me to go on lecturing like that. There are ups and downs, ups and downs in everything, and when you go down, afterwards you will ascend. After Kali Yuga you will once again get the cycle coming up, and Krita Yuga will come. It is a long thing. We will see you another time. God bless you.