Darshan of Swami Krishnananda in 1999

by Swami Krishnananda

49. Knowing God

(Darshan given in December 1999)

Swamiji [to a visitor]: You have already known God?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Then why are you putting a question to me?

Visitor: Sometimes it's hard to...

Swamiji: You are not believing in your heart of hearts that God is everywhere. You are thinking He is far off. That is why you are not able to contact Him.

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: If He is everywhere, not only is He everywhere, He is everything also. All things are He only, including yourself. Then what remains, afterwards? Who will be speaking at that time? You have gone into it. That which is everything includes you also, so you will not be existing there separately. If this has entered your mind, you have done the highest meditation, and then you have known God instantaneously.

But this will not work so easily because the mind will not agree. It will not agree to what I am saying. First of all, it cannot accept that He is everywhere and, much worse, it cannot accept that He is everything. If He is everything, you will not be existing afterwards because you are also one of the things which He has flooded. So who was talking to me now? Who is speaking?

Visitor: [laughs].

Swamiji: Now you have known what is God, so I have brought you near God. Be happy. You have understood it. Now you must keep this in your mind continuously: "What is this word that Krishnananda just spoke to me?" And that must enter your being. So you will be simply jumping with joy, jumping with joy. You don't require any university salary afterwards. Salary will come from all parts of the world. People will bow before you. You understand what I said?

Visitor: Yes.

Swamiji: Ah, very serious matter. Now you are smiling before me because you understood it, but afterwards suddenly it will vanish. The mind cannot concentrate on that.

Visitor: Yes.

[Later on]

Swamiji [to another visitor]: Every event in the world has a cosmic cause. Nobody causes anything. The ultimate Universal Centre is causing everything. If you are very happy, you have a blessing from that Centre. If you are unhappy, that also was due to some clash between you and that Centre. If you are in clash between yourself, if there is a clash between yourself and the ultimate Centre, you will never be happy. It is like a man who is clashing with the central government. You can never have peace of mind. So the central government is somewhere. Where it is? Where is the central government of the universe? Think over this matter. These are not jokes. Very serious matter. The Centre of the universe is everywhere. It is not in one place. Where does the circle begin? Is there a beginning for the circle? Any point in a circle is the beginning of the circle. Like that, this Centre is everywhere, but it has no circumference. It is not limited. God is a centre that is everywhere with no circumference anywhere.

[Later on]

Swamiji: The being in you, which is indivisible, externalises itself in action outside. That is called karma yoga. But if your being is not involved in the action, it is binding karma. If you yourself are the action, it cannot bind you. That is called karma yoga. You are not actually doing anything. You yourself are moving out. The waves are the ocean, the ocean is the waves. So when the waves rise up, the ocean is not doing any special work. You cannot call it an activity at all. It is being itself, becoming becoming. So in that way your movement, the movement of your being outwardly in space and time, becomes karma, which is liberating, because you cannot bind your own self. The ocean does not become poor by dashing waves. It is same thing. But if your being is not present in the activity that you perform, it ceases to be karma yoga. It becomes binding karma. This is the whole Gita's essence.

In any action that you do or any word that you utter or any thought that you think, you must be present there. If you are not in that, the thought is outside, action is outside, and the speech is outside, and that will react upon you as karma phala. But your own self cannot react on yourself. You don't react on your own self. So convert every activity, every speech, everything that you do as a manifestation of your existence itself. In karma yoga, you become larger. In selfish action, you become smaller. 'Larger' means you spread yourself outside to whole space-time and do what you like. This is like God working. So this is essentially 'being taking the shape of a becoming' in an activity that is more than your being in an external field of space and time. It is like God acting. You understand me?

Visitor: Yes. Thank you. I have one more question. The Sunyavada of Nagarjuna, is there any similarity between Advaita?

Swamiji: It is a simple thing. Sunya means 'nothing is', but who was saying that? Who is saying that nothing is? The person who says that also doesn't exist, so how can a non-existent man say something is non-existent? It defeats itself. But there is a consciousness of there being nothing. That consciousness is Vedanta. Merely saying 'nothing' is not acceptable. Even if you say nothing exists, still there is a consciousness of there being nothing. That is consciousness. That is Vedanta. So there is a similarity between Nagarjuna and Sankaracharya, but with a little bit of difference. You accept that your philosophy of nothingness you are propounding in Madhyamika Shastra. There are two things. One thing is: When you say nothing exists, you also don't exist, so who is speaking? Who is speaking?

Visitor: Consciousness.

Swamiji: It has no meaning. It is a self-contradictory statement. However, accepting that nothing exists, there should be a consciousness that nothing exists. That consciousness is the foundation of Vedanta philosophy. You understand me?

Visitor: Yes.