Sri Ramakrishna Math : The Vedanta Kesari, Editorial: God in Everything

An ancient Vedic rishi had once a remarkable experience. He realized that the whole world, made up of animate and inanimate objects, was verily the abode of God. As he came out of his meditative trance and opened his eyes, he saw a marvellous sight. Everything made up of name and form was covered, as it were, with a covering of God. True, forms were still there, but what he saw was God through all the forms. Spontaneously, out of the fulness of his heart, sublime poetry burst forth:

Everything, both moving and immovable in this world, must be covered with God. Do thou enjoy through this renunciation, for, after all, to whom does wealth belong?

This is the first mantra of the Isha Upanishad, which is traditionally considered the first and the most ancient Upanishad. Indeed, this mantra summarizes in essence, the message of Vedanta in just a few telling words.

Do you know what I see right now? I see that it is God himself who has become all this. It seems to me that men and other living beings are made of leather, and it is God Himself who, dwelling inside these leather cases, moves the hands, the feet, the heads. I had a similar vision before, when I saw houses, gardens, roads, men, cattle_all made of one substance; it was as if they were all made of wax.

With Sri Ramakrishna, this was not an isolated experience occuring at the height of spiritual ecstacy; he actually lived always at this level of consciousness. Nay, he could transmit this experience at will to competent recipients.

One day Sri Ramakrishna tried to bring home to Swami Vivekananda_then Narendranath_the truth that all was Brahman, but without success. Narendra left the room and going to Pratapchandra Hazra, said, 'How can this be? This jug is God, this cup is God and we too are God: nothing can be more preposterous.' Hearing Narendra's derisive laughter, Sri Ramakrishna came out and touched Narendra.

That magic touch of the Master brought about a wonderful change over Narendra's mind. He actually saw that there was nothing in the universe but God. He found that the food, the plate, the person who served, and even he himself_was nothing but Brahman. He felt that the cabs plying on the road as well as the horses were made of the same stuff. This state remained for a few days. When there was a slight change in that state, the world began to appear dream-like. He would then strike his head at the iron railings to see whether they were real or only a dream. This experience continued for some days.

While explaining the unreality of the world to his western audience, Swami Vivekananda once described one of his experiences which he had while travelling through the deserts of India. He would see lakes full of water, with the reflection of trees as he walked along. One day he felt thirsty and proceeded towards one of these lakes for water. But the lakes went on receding from him. In a flash he realized that it was a mirage. Next day, he saw the lakes as usual but now he was not tempted and knew that they were mirages. Describing this experience, Swami Vivekananda told his audience that after spiritual realization one might still continue to see the world, but one will be convinced of its unreality and would not be affected by its allurements or terrors.

There was another experience which Swami Vivekananda had at the magic touch of Sri Ramakrishna, during one of his earliest visits to Dakshineswar. Narendra saw with open eyes, the walls and everything in the room whirling rapidly and vanishing into the void and the whole universe and even his individuality was about to merge in an all-encompassing mysterious void. Frightened at such an impending death of his ego, Narendra had shouted, 'What are you doing? I have my parents!' At this Sri Ramakrishna had again touched him and brought him back to normal consciousness.

It is believed that Sri Ramakrishna wanted that day to impart to Narendranath the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, in which even the ego and mind are dissolved. Later, by the grace of Sri Ramakrishna, Narendra did have that supreme experience. While he has clearly described his other experiences, Swami Vivekananda has never described the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi_except probably in negative terms in his poem A Hymn to Samadhi. We can, however, leave it out of consideration in our discussion related to seeing God in everything.

On analysing the experiences which Swami Vivekananda had, we find in them two entities or elements: the presence of God, and the world of name and form. At the touch of Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda first saw God in everything_rather, everything as God. When the intensity of that experience got reduced, he did not see God, but he experienced the phenomenal world as a dream_unreal. In the third example, he continued to see 'water' in the desert but knew for certain that it was an illusion. In the first case, experience of the reality of God was the main fact. In the second, the phenomenal world did not appear as real as in the waking state but there was no experience of God. In the third, water in the mirage continued to appear as water, but its illusory nature was revealed. The first experience has a strong positive content, while the other two are more negative in the sense that they stress the unreality of the world. Thus, 'God in everything' could mean: (a) the world may disappear completely; (b) it may appear as God; (c) or it may appear unreal. There could be various grades and combinations of these three elements in the experience what we term 'God in everything'.

From the foregoing analysis, one may probably conclude that 'seeing God everywhere' is merely a subjective experience which has nothing to do with reality. No. It is not so. The Upanishads declare that there is only one absolute reality called Brahman which can be directly experienced and the world is none other than that. Sarvam khalvidam brahma. We cannot realize or 'see' or experience it with a 'conditioned' mind_impure, restless mind_just as we cannot see by the unaided eyes, the electrons and protons of which the whole physical universe is made. To see the subatomic structure of matter, we need an electron microscope. Similarly, to see the Divine matrix of the universe we need what is called divya chakshu_a divine vision. Sri Krishna had imparted such a vision to Arjuna before the Kurushetra war. Sri Ramakrishna too had the ability to impart such an eye that could see the Divine Reality. He did impart it, not only to Narendra, but also to many others at the Kashipur Garden house on 1st January 1886.

This latter incident, on what is now known as the 'Kalpataru Day,' is significant for more than one reason. Sri Ramakrishna did not touch some people that day, and these unfortunate ones had to wait for spiritual awakening, which, however, occurred later. Among those who had spiritual awakening was Vaikuntha. He started having holy vision of the Master in every thing. It continued to be so wherever he went, to the office or elsewhere, on any business. He could not attend to the work on hand and it suffered. Only after this experience could he understand the extent of desirelessness of mind one has to have to remain in that high state. Finally he prayed to the Master again with fear to withdraw that experience. Even the experience of seeing God everywhere which Swami Vivekananda had did not last more than a few days. But that short-lived experience was enough to convince Swami Vivekananda that everything was God. Later, of course, with spiritual practice, he could obtain that realization on a much stabler and lasting basis.

The fact is that the empirical dealings cannot go on if one constantly goes on seeing God everywhere. It is said and authenticated from the lives of great saints and sages that when they start constantly seeing God everywhere, their bodies do not last long.

First, that one needs considerable purification of mind and preliminary discipline for experiencing God everywhere. Secondly, even when preceded by the required preparation, the sublime experience of the vision of God everywhere cannot last long. Thirdly, it is immaterial whether one sees God everywhere, or sees the world like a dream, or has a memory of the experience of God everywhere or of the world as dream. All these are merely different grades of one and the same experience. Fourth, this experience of God everywhere can be obtained by the grace of the divine, or by one's spiritual endeavours. Even if it is bestowed as grace, spiritual practice is needed to make it permanent and lasting. And finally, even one glimpse of such an experience is potent enough to change one's attitude towards oneself and the world and to transform one's personality.

How does one get about 'covering everything with God', as advised by the Isha Upanishad? It is physically not possible to cover everything with a cloth called God. Nor does the Upanishad mean that. One may put on a pair of coloured glasses and see the world coloured, but one cannot have glasses of God.

Can we not condition our eyes? Just as a cat and an owl can see better at night, and a vulture has a special set of long-sighted telescopic eyes which can spot out a small piece of meat from very great heights, can we not modify our eyesight to be able to see God? Unfortunately even this cannot be done.

However, we can modify the subtler and much more powerful instrument of perception which we have_the mind. And indeed, our vision of the world greatly depends upon the conditioning of our mind. For example, the eyes of a cat are not only made to see better in the dark but also its mind is conditioned to detect mice and their hideouts. Humans too see the world according to their conditionings. A sensuous person would see woman everywhere. It is described in the Ramcharitmanasa of Tulsidas that when Kama, Cupid, went to tempt Lord Shiva, he first extended his sway over the whole world. The result was that even the yogis and ascetics started seeing 'woman' everywhere. Similarly a greedy person would look at every object, assess every situation of the world from the standard of how much profit he can get from it. Sri Chaitanya's mind was so tuned to God that everything reminded him of God. The ocean reminded him of Yamuna, on the banks of which cloud-blue Sri Krishna sported.

Sri Ramakrishna also endorses this fact and explains it with the help of various examples. It is a belief that one would see snakes everywhere if one were to apply to one's eyes collyrium made of frog's head. If one were to look at the flame of a lamp continually, one would continue to see it even after closing the eyes. Similarly, according to Sri Ramakrishna, a person thinking of God day and night, would see Him everywhere.

But thinking of God day and night is not easy. However, if somehow one could develop love for God, this would become much easier and natural. This is the path of Bhakti Yoga. All the disciplines prescribed therein are meant to inflame love of God in our heart. Love colours our mind as nothing else.

The path of Jnana Yoga emphasises the need for intellectual conviction that God is indeed present in everything. We tend to act according to our intellectual convictions. If it can be proved rationally and firmly understood intellectually that the world as we see it is a mere illusion and its basic reality is God, we shall start acting accordingly. If everyone is God, and not a petty human being full of imperfections, why not serve them as God? Such a conviction when put into practice matures into actual realization. Swami Vivekananda considered this as the easiest and most direct method of experiencing the divine presence in every being.

According to Swami Vivekananda there is greater manifestation of divinity in human beings. Man is the greatest temple, the 'Taj Mahal' among the temples of God. Hence we must try to think of the presence of God in young and old, rich and poor, in the wise and the ignorant, in whomsoever we may happen to come across. Let us think that we are seeing, meeting, and talking not with human beings but with God in various forms. Pure hearted saints and sages are traditionally revered as veritable embodiments of God. It is naturally easy to see the divine in them. However, to restrict our practice of seeing God in saints and sages only would narrow down the field considerably. Swami Vivekananda has urged us to see God more specifically in the poor, the downtrodden, the sick and the miserable. We may therefore combine the traditional belief with the modern concept of Swamiji so that our practice of trying to see God becomes more comprehensive.

Indeed, every object having a special quality is considered a special manifestation of God. According to Sri Ramakrishna, although God is immanent in all creation, there are degrees of His manifestation. A person having greater learning, strength or virtue, or the person who is honoured by many, manifests divinity more powerfully. A similar idea is expressed in the seventh and tenth chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, according to which God is present as the radiance in the sun and moon, as sapidity in water, as manliness in men, as wisdom in the wise, as the strength of the strong, etc. Among the orbs of night He is the moon; the Samaveda among the Vedas, and among the senses He is the mind. 'Of purifiers,' the Lord says, 'I am the wind; of warriors I am Rama. Of fishes I am the shark...and I am the quality of sattva in the good.' Further, He is ever present as the life of all living beings. The ocean, the Ganges, the Banyan tree, spiritual knowledge, etc. are special manifestations of God. Among the virtues considered as female, Lord is fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, consistency and patience. Now, these gross or subtle objects are scattered all around us and we can try to remember God whenever we encounter them. Indeed, this is the purpose of the Lord in describing them.

One can also use the faculty of imagination for seeing God or Consciousness everywhere irrespective of special qualities or excellences. It is a well-known fact that young children 'see' everything as conscious or living. They cannot differentiate between living and dead matter, between conscious entities and inert objects. Why not consciously try to 'see,' with the help of imagination, every object we perceive, as conscious? The pen in one's hand, the paper, the table, the wall, the calendar, the electric lamp_let us project 'consciousness,' as it were, on them. Let us imagine that all these objects are living, conscious entities. After all, we do such a thing with respect to images and pictures of gods and goddesses, especially in the temples. We 'see' God in the stone carved and installed on the pedestal as a divine being, but not in the stones forming the walls and steps of the same temple! However, with practice, we can start seeing God in all the stones, nay, in every object around us.

There is a diametrically opposite method also. If we accept that the experience of the unreality of the world is one of the facets of experience of God in everything, as discussed above, then constantly negating everything as not being God, is another equally valid method called 'Neti, Neti,'_'This is not Brahman, this is not Brahman'.

This is the traditional method used in Vedanta to negate the world. Swami Vivekananda had, at the touch of Sri Ramakrishna, first seen everything as God, and later everything as unreal like a dream. We can, for our spiritual practice, proceed in the reverse way also and it is claimed by the scriptures that on total negation of the world made up of name and form, pure Consciousness, Sat-Chit-Ananda, would alone shine forth. Since our experience of the world's reality is so deep and strong, it is important that it be negated with equal intensity and persistence. This is the reason why many spiritual techniques lay greatest stress on discrimination between the real and the unreal, and, repeatedly stress that the world is unreal like a dream or mirage which appear as true as long as the reality behind them is not discovered.

Finally, the need for purification of mind by various means cannot be over-emphasized. A pure mind alone can, like the electron microscope, comprehend the true divine nature of the world.

We have tried to suggest some of the techniques which experiences of great sages directly suggest. There could be many other techniques. 'As many faiths, so many paths'--Sri Ramakrishna has said. All paths ultimately lead to the same experience which the ancient Vedic rishi, the seer of the first mantra of the Isha Upanishad had.