(March 27,2013) You are the waves in the Sea of Consciousness by Swami Krishnananda

You are the waves in the Sea of Consciousness

From Yoga, Meditation and Japa Sadhana by Swami Krishnananda

People ask, “Does God exist?” This is a meaningless question. If the world exists, God must exist, because God is only a name that we give to the Consciousness that indwells the whole universe, just as consciousness indwells your own individual personality.

You may ask, “How do you know there is Consciousness everywhere?” I ask you, “How do you know your friend has consciousness?” You know you have consciousness, but you cannot see consciousness in your friend. But you infer from his intelligent activity that he has consciousness. Likewise, from the activity of the cosmos we can infer the presence of a Cosmic Intelligence.

This Cosmic Intelligence, immanent in all objects, is what is called God, the Supreme Being.

The analysis of the process of perception of objects will give you an indication that the world is made up of Consciousness, and not matter. It is only by inference that you can come to this conclusion, not by direct, visible, sensory perception.

You look at an object, a mountain which is a mile off, in front of you. How do you come to know that there is a mountain in front of you? Your eyes do not touch the mountain and the mountain does not touch your eyes. Both are far from each other. There is a connecting link between the mountain and your eyes. That is the reason why you are able to know that there is a mountain. But what is the connecting link? You may say it is light rays. No. Light rays are inert. Inasmuch as inertness cannot produce an intelligent perception, we cannot accede that the light rays which are inert can be the connecting link, really.

The connecting link between the mountain (or an object) and the perceiving consciousness would be one of the two things in this world: either it is consciousness or it is matter. If you say that matter or anything material is the connecting link between the mountain and your consciousness, there would be a gap between consciousness and the object. This is because consciousness cannot become matter and matter cannot become consciousness, they being characterised differently, just as milk cannot become stone and stone cannot become milk. Thus, if the connecting link is matter, there would be a gap between matter and consciousness and there would be no connection between the two, and you would not know that there is a mountain in front of you. So, that cannot be. And, naturally, the other alternative is that the connecting link is consciousness. Consciousness can mix with consciousness. By this inference we come to the conclusion that consciousness must be hidden behind even material objects—otherwise, perception itself would be impossible. Just as we infer the presence of intelligence by the activity of people outside, we infer the presence of intelligence in the world by the analysis of the activity of the individual, which is known as perception.

World is ultimately Consciousness in its nature; it is not matter. You are also not matter, because your whole personality remains unaffected even though the limbs are cut off. You are Consciousness. You are not a body. You are something far more than a body. Likewise, there is an immanent principle of Consciousness in the whole cosmos. This immanent Consciousness is what is called the Absolute, or Brahman, or the Atman. It is called the Self (i.e. the Atman), because it always remains hidden in the individual as the seeing principle, and not the seen object, because Consciousness cannot become an object which you can see with your senses. So, the Universal Consciousness, being incapable of being converted into an object, remains ever as a subject, as the Self. The Supreme Consciousness, which is the Absolute, is the Self of everyone.

If you can retain this state of mind for a few minutes—that the universe is a sea of Consciousness and you are like waves in this sea of Consciousness, and that there is nothing like matter or inorganic stuff in the world—this is universality of perception, as different from individual perception of objects. This is meditation.

Continue to read (Divine Life Society Publications)

“Yoga Meditation and Japa Sadhana” by Swami Krishnananda

Japa Sadhana by Swami Krishnananda

“What is Japa?” by Swami Sivananda