Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

42. Unity Among Difference

(Darshan given in November 1999)

Swamiji: Think of the whole universe created by the Almighty God. Then your mind will be steady and very happy. The real peace of mind comes from above. The world cannot give peace of mind. Nobody can give peace of mind in this world. They can only give you work, hard work. Nobody is your friend in this world. Your friend is above in the heavens. Do you believe?

A visitor: Yes, Swamiji.

Another visitor: I meditate on the breath.

Swamiji: No, you should not do that. That will disturb you. Don't look at the breath, and all that. You should not think of it. I am telling you to meditate on God, and you are meditating on the breath.

Another visitor: Your movement reaches many different kinds of people, and the ability to reach different kinds of people to me is important because everyone is different and not everyone hears things the same way.

Swamiji: We are aiding and helping people in various ways – psychologically, metaphysically, religiously, and many other ways – to reach the great Creator of the universe, God Almighty. That is our work, and everything that we are doing is connected with that central aim. We do social welfare work, medical aid, educational aid. So many things we do. We feed people here. Everything is done, but with the intention of finally making people get awareness of their obligation to the great Creator of the universe. This is my answer briefly to your question, and if you have anything else to ask me, ask me.

Visitor: People use different symbols, different metaphors, to communicate.

Swamiji: People use symbols? Tell me one example.

Visitor: Every word is a symbol: God...

Swamiji: It is a symbol of a great idea in the mind of a person.

Visitor: I agree, yes. I think God is a symbol, that what we project... We project God and God projects back.

Swamiji: Right.

Visitor: And everything that happens happens because of what we are, not just because.... But for each person, symbols work differently. So I want to understand, to some extent, how you reach the people that are different from you, the people that are not symbolic.

Swamiji: They are not different. They are integrated in some level or the other. The whole universe is an integrated organic system, so nothing is different from the other ultimately. So we have to rise to the level of perceiving the ultimate integrated interconnection of everything with everything else. They are not different. They look different outwardly, but they are not different. There is an undercurrent of unity among the so-called differences. There is unity among difference. It is not possible to have only difference.

Visitor: I agree there is ultimate unity, but people start in different places when they are young or they are not developed.

Swamiji: Whatever it be, it is all part and parcel of this search for unity, which is the undercurrent behind every kind of difference, human or otherwise.

What are you searching for finally?

Visitor: What am I searching for? How to bring unity and, in some ways, I search for the same thing that you do: how to help all people to understand that all religions and all things unite at one place.

Swamiji: You are a professor of religion?

Visitor: No.

Swamiji: Then what are you going to do? How will you teach people? There are millions of people in the world. How will you teach them?

Visitor: I teach the piece of the world that I deal with. I cannot teach the whole world, but I can teach my piece.

Swamiji: Unless you are perfectly convinced about the ideal that a human being is seeking, you cannot teach others. You should not have doubts in your mind. The ideal of humanity is this, and towards that there are various ways of movement. So the ideal must be clear first. What is it that anyone is seeking finally?

Visitor: I have an ideal, whether I believe it perfect or not.

Swamiji: What is your final ideal?

Visitor: Final ideal? All peoples' concept of God and the world unites at one point.

Swamiji: An ideal is not a human being. It is something superhuman. It is the concept of the Absolute.

Visitor: Yahweh or Allah, choose your word.

Swamiji: Don't use such words. The Absolute is not Allah or Rama or Krishna – nothing of the kind. It is an impersonal, integrated force pervading the whole cosmos. Can you concentrate your mind on that?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Then no problem.

Visitor: That is my conception of Prime-mover, God.

Swamiji: Same thing. Prime-mover is same thing.

Visitor: Same thing. I agree. That's why I said it is a difference of symbol, not a difference of meaning.

Swamiji: There is a Prime-mover, towards which the whole world is gravitating.

Visitor: I agree. What I want to do is teach that to people in ways that they can...

Swamiji: If you are sure about everything, there is no difficulty in teaching. You will find words, you will find correct diction and language if your ideas are clear. If the ideas are not clear, then you will not find words to express.

Visitor: My words will grow with the people I work with, but I always try to improve myself.

Swamiji: What kind of people are you working with?

Visitor: I work with drug addicts, people who take drugs – heroin, marijuana – drug addicts in America. I help them get better.

Swamiji: You have to work with them as a father works with a child.

Visitor: I am the father, they are the children. They know that.

Swamiji: Slowly and lovingly you must pat them and tell them, “You have got some psychological tension, due to which you are going for drugs and drinking, smoking, etc.” That psychological tension arises on account of some other factors, which go on expanding until the world is touched finally. The world factor itself is causing the trouble in the individual. The whole world is working through an individual, and the individual has cut himself off from the world and thinks that he is totally independent, and so all these agitations arise in the mind, and to make the agitations subside, he drinks and smokes. So a little bit of philosophical and cosmological truth also must be inculcated. You must give a lecture to them every day. Conduct classes.

Visitor: That's what I do.

Swamiji: It will take you a long time, but once you are sure about what you are going to tell them, they will come round and understand what you say.

Visitor: I find progress with the people. What I'm doing is different. The people who come there are not only addicts, they are coming out of prison.

Swamiji: We are talking and talking, but what are you arriving at?

Visitor: What am I arriving at? I want your help to know how you think I can communicate.

Swamiji: I told you already briefly what is my method. I adopt the same method as you are thinking in your mind. You must go slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly. You can bend a bamboo stick when it is tender, and when it is very old and hard, you cannot bend it. So in the beginning, in the young age itself, you must try to introduce some good thoughts into the minds of people and train them practically in living a good life before they become egoistic and hard. Of course, elderly people also can understand. It is a hard job for you.

Visitor: For most of these people, even if they are mature, even if they are older, they tend to be very immature.

Swamiji: Yes, you are right. Old people can also be immature.

Visitor: And some young people can be very mature.

Swamiji: Yes, young people may be very mature, and old people may be immature.

Visitor: But for these people, their entire ego has broken down.

Swamiji: I will give you some books which I have written along these lines. They will benefit you very much.

Visitor: Okay, I would appreciate that. I appreciate your time. I know you're very busy, so if...

Swamiji: We are doing the same work that you are contemplating to do.

Visitor: I think so – to make the world a whole place.