Finding the Divine Element in Oneself

The ultimate good news for us is to be reminded that we are more than the physical and mental being which we appear to be. If we were to literally dissect the body and the mind of a person, and continue to break it down into its constituent parts, what would we find? The same basic elements and chemicals which go to make-up all other objects, animate and inanimate, in the world about us. In essence, our mind and body are made up of inert matter, and derive their animation from some extra power, which non-duality calls our real Self. It is the proximity of the real Self which breathes life, so to speak, into the body and mind. They are no more than the tools which the real Self employs to play in the world. We have forgotten that we are the real Self through its close association with the body and the mind and through the play of the senses in the outside world. If every day of our life is taken up with the external world, then it is not too surprising that we forget about our deeper nature.

Each day we play many parts without even thinking about it. At the back of it all, there is a continuous stream of consciousness which identifies us as the same being throughout all these quick-change acting parts. We almost forget its presence, and it is only when we have a break from the hurly burly of life that we get a fleeting glimpse of it, so that we suddenly feel detached from the emotional turmoil of our normal life— almost as though we have been a spectator. At these times we regain our balance, so to speak, enabling us to find answers and solutions to our problems, and to experience a sense of peace which might well be out of keeping with the events of the day. This is one of the many hints that we are more than just the body and the mind, and that our normal state is one of peace.

What is it about our own innermost Self that gives us this sense of peace? The non-dual teachings reveal that our innermost Self is not other than the Self of the whole universe, that is the Essence of the universe, or God. They tell us that when we come to know the nature of our own Self, then we come to know God, and we experience peace, contentment and bliss at all times, no matter what life throws at us.

A broad and deep study reveals that in their highest expression all the great religions of the world contain the same Truth. The Gospel hints at this idea where it is recorded that Jesus said: ‘I and my Father are one.’ (John, 10:30) Some interpret this verse narrowly, saying that Jesus was special, and that the statement only applies to Him. But Jesus mentioned many times that God was the Father of all and that we were all His children. When pressed for a definitive answer about salvation, we are told:

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke, 17:20)

Buddha also gave similar advice:

The world, indeed, is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage! Like the apparent distances in a picture, things have no reality in themselves, but they are like heat haze. Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

What conclusions have dedicated enquirers of the past drawn about the origin and nature of the universe? They described the Universe as Maya, where Maya is defined as ‘The deluding power (or Shakti) of the Lord by which the universe has come into existence and appears to be real.’ The non-dual view is that the more you look outwards in life, the more diversity you will find. The world or universe is a truly astounding creation which dances before our senses—but it does not dance to our tune, or to our desire or whim. We may feel that we have control over our own corner of the universe, but even this is an illusion, for we have all seen how a person’s fortune can change overnight. And as we become older, and hopefully wiser, we eventually learn that we cannot fulfil our deepest desires by manipulating the world around us. We come to understand that no matter how successful we are in a worldly sense, we always end up feeling that there is something missing, something more to be attained. It is only when we become jaded with the searching in the outer world, that we are ready to look in a different way or direction for the answer to it all.

In the book Wisdom from the East, Hari Prasad Shastri describes Maya like this:

God is compared to a magician, and through his magical power called Maya He has made the world appear. The world hides the Lord, manifesting only His magical power.

Further on in the section on Maya, the author explains how to continue the search for that missing element:

When we go deeper into this study of the how, why and wherefore of the world, we may be able to go far, but in the end the only thing that we can come to is, it is all Maya. Shankara advises those people who want to know Maya to remember that we cannot know about Maya but we can know about the Lord of Maya; and to know about the Lord of Maya is not only to know Maya, but to participate in the magic show which the Lord has projected through His power. It is not by means of our intellect that we shall know the secrets of the universe, but it is by finding the Lord and by being united with him fundamentally that all the secrets of Maya and the universe, and much more, shall be as clear to us as a crystal placed on the palm of our hand.

If it is assumed that creation has a separate existence from God, and that it has been fashioned by Him into its present form, like a potter fashions a vase from clay, then we will always be separate from Him. But this is not the non-dual view, for if God existed separately from the universe, the question would arise as to who created the material of the universe in the first place, before God fashioned it into its present form?

The non-dual view is that the whole of creation is projected from the supreme Reality, like the magician projecting the illusion of the rope trick, where an audience is collectively hypnotised into believing in the veracity of a series of impossible events.

From the point of view of the magician nothing has happened. From the point of view of an ignorant onlooker it is a fact. From the point of view of philosophy or reason, it is inexplicable. We do not know and cannot give any reason at all.

As such, creation is part of the Lord and never becomes anything different from Him, except through the error of mis-identification, or superimposition, or Maya. In the non-dual literature it is said that God alone is real and all else is unreal, or transient. Put another way, God is the unchanging element who is hidden behind the ever-changing aspects of creation.

If we are aware of change, it means that we also know something of its opposite, in which all change takes place. The philosophy also states that what changes has no independent existence apart from its unchanging substratum. The practical approach to discovering the unifying principle is not to look at the veils and their components, but to remove them.

How then can we go about removing these veils? Since we are part of this magnificent creation, we need to look for that underlying reality within ourselves. We shall discover for ourselves that the body and mind are part of the veil, but that our real Self is none other than the substratum of all, and that true Self-knowledge is knowledge of God.

S.M.B.