The Absolute State
By Swami Omkarananda Saraswati

As soon as the Sannyasin sits in meditation, he sinks into a transcendental consciousness - a consciousness, where there is no past, no thoughts of the future. He sinks into a perpetual now, like in deep-sleep state. In deep sleep there is not though of past or future. It is an immediate now. This state is called transcendental consciousness, because it is beyond thoughts, beyond the space-time universe, beyond every kind of finite experience, finite phenomena. Meditation means to be absorbed in this now. It is a timeless experience. From this state man observes his mantra repeating body as something different from himself, something fleeting. He is not this mantra repeating being. He is beyond thoughts, beyond life and the world, in the now. He alone dwells - even should this whole world perish - in a state of absolute perfection. This now, this perpetual now, is his true countenance, his true heart, his true life. It is boundless light, boundless perfection. This is meditation. There one resides.

During work and in daily life one dwells there. From there one does all one's work - from this now. Such a person is a pure person, embodies in himself purity, absolute purity. Where there is impurity there is the time-space world and the play of thoughts, feelings, emotions, experiences, events, problems, desires, frustrations, fleeting pleasures and lasting misery.

Lovers of the Divine get into the transcendental state of the perpetual now. No great personality can guide us here, for these great ones - thinkers, scientists, philosophers - all live in the world of thought. They remain suffocated in the illusions and limitations of thinking.

The Soul of the soul is in this now, this transcendental consciousness - beyond thoughts. In meditation one encounters this now and unites with it. One grows one with the invisible, inaudible Om, the absolute, transcendental consciousness. It is a soundless sound. It is a light of soundless sound. As long as one hears a sound within or without, one is occupied with two … three things and is therefore not in the transcendental consciousness. One is far from God!

As long as you hear and experience the physical Om you are here, on earth. But when this Om leads you away to a timeless state, where there is no past or future, only an immediate now, a perfect experience of that which was, is and will always be, then the object of perception, the perceiver and perception disappear, like in deep-sleep. This is purity. This is God-experience, this is Truth-experience. This is life in Truth, not in illusions, not in fleeting, passing, problem-creating, distress causing thoughts, fantasies, ideas, sentiments and events. This is Sannyasa.

In this transcendental consciousness, in this perpetual now there is absolute fullness. There is total satisfaction, absolute fulfillment of life. This is the meaning of Life.

This transcendental consciousness bears every living being in itself. Yet these beings are not aware of this fact and therefore suffer and pursue illusions and fantasies. The greatest of Greek philosophers have at the end of their thought arrived at a world where one encounters Being - Absolute Being. Buddhists and Buddha call it a void, for it is indescribable. The mystic of China calls it TAO. It is nameless. The Upanishads call it Brahman - the Absolute, Eternal, Infinite. In this the Sannyasin remains absorbed. - Why Sannyasin? Because everything has dropped away: time, space, the universe, thoughts, feelings, relations, desires, wishes, - everything. There are no ties. Here there is no second person. Where there is no second person there is the here and now, the Absolute; no second thought, no second person, no second experience - as in deep-sleep; no relations, no brother and sister, no father and son, no mother and daughter, no having or not having, no pursuit of desires, no dreams, no thoughts, no property. One is in absolute perfection. One alone exists. Sannyasa - no form, no dress, like in deep-sleep. We are not interested in deep-sleep as such. We are interested in that which we experience in deep-sleep: timeless perfection, timeless peace.

In deep-sleep the experience of the Eternal and Infinite happens unconsciously and is therefore useless. It does not destroy the impurity in the heart. This does not help. We have to experience this timeless, spaceless State consciously. And this is made possible by purity - growing purity. And we attain absolute purity in this experience of the now - the perpetual now. And this place where we experience the now - the transcendental consciousness beyond past, present and future - is called Guru. There you are absolutely protected. No one can attack there. No catastrophe, no fire, no water can touch you, not time and not space. There nothing can restrict you - boundless, unassailable, untouchable, you remain in absolute security.

No one can enter there. It is a fort where you are the emperor. No other person or power can challenge you here. No power can attack you. You are in a transcendental state of absolute perfection, on the rock of truth. No one can attack here, no power, no person, no being. It is a real fortress. There the Sannyasin lives. From here one has to observe the world and life, free from worries, anxieties and problems.