OASIS logo
Credit: DH Illustration
Consciousness is one. And, the same consciousness which (or who/what) is one is many also. And there is no contradiction in both the preceding sentences. For example, if sky were looking at all the planets which dot its expanse, it would see those all within itself as an inseparable part of itself. But, suppose, various planets were looking at themselves and other planets and the sky from their comparatively limited vision of their being respectively those planets which they are then, they would see many of them scattered and located in the sky. And, looking from the eye of sky they would judiciously be counted/seen and realised as sky itself, because that’s what they will become after dissolution once their span of being is over, therefore only one. So are they many or one?
One may ask, whose gaze is decisive? Whose gaze is truly true? Whose gaze is factually true? Is there a contradiction here? Is that which is factual is not true? And, that which is true is that not factual?
Looking from the finer point (state of subatomic particles) all would appear as made of same stuff or structure; to be more precise. But, as soon as we leave subtlety and see from a grosser level of the consciousness, multiplicity begins to manifest. Though this spectacle of seeing many in one and, one in many becomes experience-worthy and is realised only when we transcend beyond the world of dualities. Yet, Indic wisdom has been practicing the manifestation of transcendence since ages through eternal guru-shishya relationship.
Since this period of ‘existing’ is so vast that it renders itself immeasurable to the ones who hasn’t experienced the transcendence. Measuring time in the transcendental state is not accomplished in terms of span, or duration but in terms of clarity, intensity and stability of Inner Peace. We call it inner peace in common parlance because the experience is at the individual level. And, words like inner and outer make sense to us as individuals in the beginning phase of saadhanaa. In reality, peace is omnipresent without any division or separation. As we ascend in saadhanaa we come to realise various levels of consciousness. Manifestation of these various levels keep transforming us. We begin to feel free and responsible. As our degree of freedom advances we realise in-dependence. Once one begins to make decisions and exercise choices one keeps becoming worthy of salvation. What about the liberation?