Your Soul Is Independent
of
Your Body and Limitations
In dream-state your soul is in a totally
different world. In that state the waking world is unreal. You do not know
that there is another world outside your dream. The sun in your dream is
not the same sun that shines in waking-state. It is an individual sun that
is real for you only as long as you dream. The moment you enter the
deep-sleep state, you forget the dream. You do not even remember that
something called dreaming or waking exists.
Supposing it was possible for someone to
visit you in deep-sleep and to tell you about the world, about the
mountains and seas, people and animals, you would just laugh at him and
think he was crazy. In deep-sleep you do not know anything of the world or
of waking and dreaming. You are totally cut off from these two alternate
states. In the same manner as the soul passes from the waking- to the
dream-state and from there sinks into deep-sleep, and in the same way as
you walk from one room to another, the soul travels from one body to the
next.
The soul is completely independent of
the body. But man, living in ignorance and entangled in thousands of sense
impressions, feelings, thoughts and activities, identifies himself with
the body, takes it to be the sole reality and loses himself in it. It is
impossible for him to imagine that he is different from the body, and that
he can leave this body and live a separate life in another body.
What happens to the soul, when you
meditate on the Divine? Instead of proceeding into a dream world, or
another body, the soul withdraws into the Witness within you. It dwells in
this observing Principle, that witnesses your thoughts and feelings, your
life, all that happens inside and outside. Time and space disappear; it is
a timeless, spaceless world that you experience. All is filled with a
boundless, unborn light, the light of the transcendental Consciousness;
nothing is there apart from this light. It alone is everything. From this
state, when you watch the space-time universe, billions of years look like
a few hours. Seeing the sun you may think: 'Ah, I have kindled this light
just a few minutes ago.' It is your inner nature, your inner being that
speaks thus, because this inner being - Truth or God - is boundless light.
All the stars are but tiny, little, insignificant candle flames when
compared to this Light. What sense would there be in lighting a candle in
broad sunshine in order to see more?
All the suns in the universe derive
their light from this Light, that is within and without - everywhere.
Without this divine Light there is no light, neither in this nor in any
other world. It is the Light of lights. And this Light is there in you, in
me, in everyone. It is an eternal light, a timeless light. A small contact
with this Light is enough to transport you into a completely different
world. It is from here that true spiritual life starts. When your soul
leaves behind time and space, thoughts and feelings, 'I' and 'you', and
retires into the inner Witness, there starts your true, spiritual, divine
life. From there you see the world with the eyes of the Immortal, the
Eternal, the Infinite. Only then do you see the world as it is; otherwise
you are caught up in illusions and are a problem to yourself and to
others. All systems of philosophy and science, all schools of thought,
that are based on an outer space-time world and its perceptions, are
misleading and soon disappear. They help very little and do great damage.
True science starts where knowledge
flows directly from the eternal, deathless, ever changeless Truth. The
light of Truth is omnipresent; you cannot flee from it. It is inside and
outside your body. It does not know such a thing as 'inside' or 'outside'.
These are your illusions, your states of consciousness, characterising and
natural for your condition. Since you have a body, sense organs, thoughts
and feelings, there is an inner and an outer world for you.
You have to touch the Light in your
soul, in the centre of your being. Here, true divine life starts; a pure
life, beyond thoughts and feelings. You have to dwell in this Light and
then start your spiritual exercises. If in such a state thoughts and
feelings are employed, it is the Light itself that employs them, in order
to function in this space-time world. In this state there is no ignorance,
no sin, there are no misleading thoughts and feelings. Life is in tune
with God's heart, God's peace, God's wisdom, God's perfection, God's joy,
God's life. Such a divine life is eternal. It does not know anxiety,
disease or death. In truth you are the boundless, unlimited light of
consciousness. You are not man or woman, young or old, but the source of
endless joy, the infinite light. And as this light you should live!
- Swami Omkarananda
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