OUR ESSENTIAL NATURE🔗

The concept of time and space that we have is based on our mind and senses. Whatever we perceive is a projection of our mind. He measures time in terms of kṣaṇa. Kṣaṇa is the time between two thoughts. It is the space between two thoughts. Buddha referred to this time and space as śūṇya. Ādī Śaṅkarācārya referred to it as pūrṇa. It is the no-mind zone, the mindful zone, the space of completion in which we touch base with ourselves. It is the present moment, in which we come face to face with the divinity within, by which we recognize the Cosmic energy that is our essential nature.

When we are caught in chasing one material pleasure after another we have so much stress, tension and worry bombarding our heads very second. Our kṣaṇa is very small because of the high number of thoughts inside us. This is why we get a suffocated, panicking feeling. We constantly feel time is running out. We are greedy for more and more experiences before this body dies and we are afraid that we might lose whatever we have come to possess. We feel this way because we associate ourselves with the kṣetra, the temporary body and mind. The body and mind are made up of the five elements and they return to their source once they have served their purpose.

A WITNESS TO THE MIND

On the other hand, an enlightened Master knows he is kṣetrajña. He knows that he is not the body-mind system. He has realized that he is the ultimate consciousness. He has no urgency to run in the rat race because he knows that life goes on, even if this body perishes. He has become a witness to the mind. Any thought that springs up will be only an action-oriented authentic thought, never an unproductive thought. He expresses the power of words, vāk śakti. The moment the thought happens, it immediately expresses itself as an action. No thoughts accumulate inside him. He experiences eternity because of this thoughtless zone that he stays in. This is the beginninglessness of the consciousness that Kṛṣṇa explains here.

The Master Exists Everywhere

When we are in front of an Enlightened Master, one who is in a no-mind state of completion, the number of thoughts in us also comes down and our kṣaṇa becomes longer. The gaps between thoughts increase. So without even trying, we become calmer, more peaceful, and more aware! The knowable that Kṛṣṇa explains is beyond any changes. It is eternal because it does not follow the laws of creation and destruction like other objects around us. It has always been there and will always continue to exist. Whatever physical matter we see around us follows a particular cause-effect relationship. However, our deepest core is untouched by these changes.

Every thought inside us affects the functioning of the whole Cosmos. Whether we want to accept it or not, we do not operate as separate islands. Thoughts that are present in the space that we live in affect our mental setup, that is the way we think and operate.

This positivity and negativity, creation and destruction, are all properties of the changing world around us, of the kṣetra that we live in. The minute we know that we are not this changing kṣetra but the eternal and unmoving kṣetrajñya (the consciousness that runs the kṣetra), we are liberated.

Kṛṣṇa calls this eternal bliss jñeya, knowable. When the knowing happens, the knowable (jñeya), knower (jñātā), and the knowledge (jñāna) merge. In this experience, the knower, known, and knowledge become one. No separate experience, experiencer or object of experience eexists. It is called triputi, where no difference between the three entities exists.

Kṛṣṇa explains that His eternal nature, the eternal Self, is not bound by time. Now He says that He exists everywhere, sarvam āvṛtya tiṣṭhati and He is not bound by space. Normally we understand the presence or absence of an object or person in terms of physical attributes. We function in our lives based upon what we see, smell, touch, taste and hear. If our pañca indriya, five senses, cannot sense anything, we think nothing exists.

INTENSE PRESENCE

One important and surprising thing is that an Enlightened Master is more present in his absence than in his physical presence. This means that his energy never dies nor does it know any barriers. When you are in the energy field of an enlightened Master who is no longer in his body, as in a jīva samādhi, the final resting place of the Master's body, without even making an effort, you become calmer and experience that space of peace within. Many great temples such as Tirupati, Tiruvannamalai, Mantralaya and Pazhani in Bharat are built around the final resting places of Enlightened Masters. That is why these places serve as powerful energy centers today, drawing millions of people every year. Although physically the Master is no longer in the body, we feel his presence. Why? Because he is not bound in space by the body. The cosmic energy that he manifests transcends space and time. Only we know physical barriers.

Here, Kṛṣṇa uses the phrase, 'Hands and feet everywhere, sarvataḥ pāṇi- pādaṁ, eyes, heads, faces, ears everywhere, sarvato akṣi-śiromukham (13.14).' What does He mean by this? This diagram shows the seven energy bodies or layers that we have in us. The outermost layer is the physical layer, with which we associate ourselves all the time. We know this body as having a pair of eyes, hands, legs, one nose, head, etc. Now let us take a few points on that layer.

Let us call them ' you' , 'me' , ' your neighbor' , 'Kṛṣṇa' , 'Buddha' etc. So, at the gross layer, you are different from your neighbor; your neighbor is different from me and different from the various forms of God. You can see each point being distinct from the others. We are so rooted in this physical gross layer and so we see many barriers between us and everything around us, because everything appears to be different from the other in this layer.

Now, for each point, if we follow the corresponding points in the inner layers, as we go deeper and deeper, we suddenly realize that we all merge in the nirvanic layer. It is here that the Universal Energy connects every being. There is no difference in this space between you and me. This is the space of consciousness that Kṛṣṇa talks about. Here, Kṛṣṇa and Buddha are no different. All are various forms of God, all are manifestations of the same divinity.

The supreme truth is inside and outside all living entities. It is moving and non-moving on account of being subtle. It is near and far. Kṛṣṇa uses all these terms and concepts such as moving and non-moving, near and far, inside and outside because these are the only terms we can understand. He is giving us an idea to tell us that Supreme Consciousness is beyond these concepts and terms that we know.

There are three spaces we can live in: The space that is covered by the body, the space that is covered by the mind, and the space that cannot be covered by body and mind. The first is ghaṭākāśa, or the space enclosed by this physical body. Most of us live in this space nearly all the time. The next is cidākāśa, the space that you are aware and conscious of. Right now, if you are aware of this hall it is your cidākāśa. This is the space of the thoughts and mind. The third is mahākāśa. This is the whole space, cosmos, everything put together.