RAMA
asked:
Holy sir, please tell me
briefly again: how does the delusion of the notions of 'I' and 'the world'
arise in the first place, without any cause?
VASISTHA replied:
As all things are
equally in-dwelt by intelligence, so always in every way the uncreated is all,
the self of all. We use the expression 'all things': it is only a figure of
speech, for only the infinite consciousness or Brahman exists. Just as there is
no division between a bracelet and gold, no division between waves and water,
there is no division between the universe and the infinite consciousness.
The latter alone is the
universe; the universe as such is not the infinite consciousness, just as the
bracelet is made of gold but gold is not made of bracelet. Just as we refer to
a man and his limbs as being one and the same, we refer to the presence of the
infinite consciousness as all beings, which does not imply a division in it.
In that infinite consciousness
there is an inherent nonrecognition of its infinite nature. That appears to
manifest as 'I' and 'the world'. Just as there is an image in a marble
slab, even if it has not been carved, even so this notion of ‘I' and 'the
world' exists in the infinite consciousness. Even as in a calm sea the waves
exist in their potential state, the world exists in its potential state in
the infinite consciousness: and that is known as its creation.
The word 'creation' has
no other connotation. No creation takes place in the Supreme Being or the
infinite consciousness; and the infinite consciousness is not involved in the
creation. They do not stand in a divided relationship to each other.
This infinite
consciousness regards its own intelligence in its own heart, as it were, though
it is non-different from it even as wind is non-different from its own
movement. At that very moment, when there is an unreal division, there arises
in that consciousness the notion of space, which, on account of the power of
the consciousness, appears as the element known as space or ether. That itself
later believes itself to be air and then fire.
From this notion there
arises the appearance of fire and light. That itself further entertains
the notion of water with its inherent faculty of taste; and that itself
believes itself to be the earth with its inherent faculty of smell and also
its characteristic of solidity. Thus do the water and the earth elements
appear to have manifested themselves.
VASISTHA continued:
At
the same time, the same infinite consciousness held in itself the notion of a
unit of time equal to one millionth of the twinkling of an eye: and from this evolved
the timescale right up to an epoch consisting of several revolutions of
the four ages, which is the lifespan of one cosmic creation. The infinite
consciousness itself is uninvolved in these: for it is devoid of rising
and setting (which are essential to all timescales), and it is devoid of a
beginning, middle and end.
That infinite
consciousness alone is the reality, ever awake and enlightened: and with
creation also it is the same. That infinite consciousness alone is the
unenlightened appearance of this creation: and even after this creation it
is the same always. It is ever the same. When one realizes in the self by the
self that consciousness is the absolute Brahman, then he experiences it as
all—even as the one energy dwelling in all his limbs.
One can say that this
world appearance is real only so far as it is the manifestation of consciousness
and because of direct experience; and it is unreal when it is grasped
with the mind and the sense organs.
Continued
Love
