To vividly portray this total Oneness, Sri Rama repeatedly employs the classical examples that one meets with in the Vedantic tradition. When water is poured into the ocean, you cannot, later on, remove that specific sample of water, as it has merged completely with the oceanic waters. After a cup of milk is poured into a bucket of milk, that specific cup of milk can then no longer be separated from the total quantity of milk in the bucket. When a jar is broken, the space contained in the jar immediately and irretrievably merges with the space in the room, without effort, readily and naturally. Similarly, when a window is suddenly opened, the air inside the room and outside the room mingles. In all these examples, the idea hammered into the student is that on waking up to the higher state of Consciousness, the Essence in the core of the limited individual is realized as being identical with that which is at the core of the whole universe, the one nondual Self, the sole Substratum upon which the plurality of names and forms appears to dance, creating the illusion of a timebound world of flux.
“The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman,” say the scriptures. The distinctions between the individualized ego (jiva), the world of plurality (jagat), and the Creator of it all, the omnipotent, omniscient God, all merge together to be one Self divine. The Mundaka Upanisad declares clearly. “This world of dynamic action is nothing but Brahman.” This is again supported by the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad. When it declares. “All these are nothing but this Atman.
Text LVII
English Wording:
ittham yadikseta hi lokasamsthito jaganmrsaiveti vibhavayanmunih
nirakrtatvacchruti yuktimanato yathendubhedo disi digbhramadayah
Even if a wordly minded person of reflection were to practice this abheda-bhav (experience of nondifference), he, too, shall experience Me, because the world of plurality is indeed a delusion, which is proved by the words of the Upanisads and by logical thinking. The worl is a delusion just as the many moons seen, or as teh confusion of direction we may experience in a new place. Even if a person of reflection is still earth-bound, still has body-fascination, and is attracted by the fancied charms of sense objects (lokasamsthitah), if such a person dwells on the idea that the world of plurality is no-thing other than pure Conciousness, he, too, shall in time develop more and more detachment and move ahead into the spiritual dimension. In the end he will realize Me and My glory, the Self, pure and nondual.
As the spiritual seeker’s sadhana gathers momentum, his identification with the body becomes relatively diminished, and to that relative degree his sensuous life of passion naturally transforms itself into the contemplative life of spiritual pursuit: he moves from the undivine world of passions and yearnings into the divine realm of inner peace and fulfillment.
This world of names and forms is indeed a delusion, a misapprehension. The names and forms are impermanent, and therefore false. However, Reality, which is their substratum, is permanent and true. Through the authority of scriptural statements and through our own logical thinking we can come to the conclusion that this world of names and forms is delusory in nature. “Brahman is one without a second.” “In Brahman there is no plurality.” “This dynamic world of happenings is nothing but Brahman.” “This entire perceived world of names and forms is all nothing but Atman.” All these vivid and forceful statements from different Upanisads given out by different masters, in different periods of time, arrived at from different angles and through varying logical approaches, should clearly give authority to the claim about the delusory nature of the world.
Not only the authoritative statements of the scriptures command us, but by careful observation and close study of the data so collected, we can logically and rationally arrive at the same picture of illusoriness of the world of multiplicity. During sleep or under chloroform, when the mind is folded up, the world of plurality is not available for our experience. That which remains in all the three periods of time is Truth, Reality. In the dream, the waking world is negated. In deep sleep, both the dream world and the waking world are negated. When we wake up, yesterday’s dream and the peaceful deep-sleep experience are both totally negated.
Only the Substratum upon which these three realms of experience came and danced and from which they disappeared remains, Waves rise, clash with each other, and disappear, but the ocean upon which they came to play their game was continually there – before the waves took shape, while they clashed, and after they totally disappeared. In order to drive home the idea that names and forms are delusory and the Substratum is permanent and true, the teacher in Rama is tempted to string together some examples. In all these examples, certain entities are as though “seen,” yet, on analysis, our rational mind discovers them as mere illusions: We know there is only one moon; yet, we can see many moons reflected in many pools of water. Also, by pressing the top of the eyeball and thus creating defective vision in our eyes, we can actually “see” two moons in the sky !
Similarly, at dusk, a traveler to a new town in his weariness gets confused about his sense of direction. He will have to inquire of others and realize that what he thought was east is actually north. Once he has ascertained the true east, all his confusions end, and he gains the true knowledge of all the four directions.
Text LVIII
yavanna pasyedakhilam madatmakam tavanmadaradhanatatparo bhavet sraddhaluratyurjitabhaktilaksano yastasya drsyo ‘hamaharnisam hrdi
As long as one is not able to “see” the entire world of plurality as My divine nature, so long one must worship My form with all devotion. In the pure heart of him who is endowed with deep faith and mighty devotion I become self-evident.
When the individual (jiva), in moments of deep contemplation, leaves all his identity capers with the body-mind-intellect equipment, the experiencer-ego awakens to the state of God-Conciousness, the Self. In that state, the familiar world of names and forms, interpreted by the equipments of experience, gets wiped out. The usual world of objects-emotions-thoughts disappears into the vision of the pure, blissful Self, Sri Rama.
As long as this mind-transforming experience of the one Self, without properties (nirguna), has not happened to a seeker, let him engage himself in the worship of Me, in My enchanting form (saguna). Worship nourishes devotion to the Lord, and when love is directed to an altar, the mind gravitates easily, readily, and effortlessly toward it. When we live in an attitude of surrender to Him – “Lord ! Thy will be done, not mine” – the existing vasanas get exhausted, and the inner personality of the devotee becomes extremely quiet and peaceful. In such a purified heart, rich in understanding and in supreme devotion, the Self, which is ever with us, comes to shine out, just as the sun emerging out of the clouds.
