How the Worlds Came into Existence

The two Dimensions of the Divine are the Manifest and the Unmanifest. The manifested Universe has come from some Power of the unmanifested Reality. This supreme transcendental Reality is motionless, immutable, all-perfect. This we have called the unmanifested Reality, but, in fact, this unmanifested Reality is there everywhere in the Manifestation. Within the Unmanifest one Portion has come forth - the manifested Reality, and some Intelligence of the Divine, called God, the Creator, is maintaining This.

Within us and all around us there is the blazing Reality of the all-seeing God. We are brought into existence by the Love of God; we are being sustained by the Delight of God. The entire Cosmos, all Manifestation, all Matter, all Space is filled with the infinite Delight of the divine Consciousness.

At every Point, in every Atom, there is the Centre of this infinite Happiness of the infinite Consciousness. Not only our inner spiritual Being, but every Nerve and Bone, every Cell is a Point of the infinite Delight of the infinite Consciousness. Therefore, everything in creation longs for Happiness, searches for Happiness. Happiness is the Aim of everybody's activity; Happiness is the Goal of all life.

The whole creation is moving towards happiness. Why does it search for happiness? Why does it long for happiness? We search only for that which we have lost, not for something which we possess. Our nature, which is the infinite Happiness of the infinite Consciousness, is lost to our experience and understanding, and therefore we are looking for happiness, searching for happiness.

Man in general is restlessly conquering the outer world. Though man steps on and walks on the moon, man is not a grain happier for it, nor has he solved even one millionth of his problems. He is more miserable for his conquest of the moon; he has new fears, he has new problems to face.

No matter how much wealth you have, how many houses and buildings you own in many countries of the world, or how much beauty, how much physical strength you have, no matter how fine your senses be and what keen pleasures they bring you - you are restless and unhappy. Something in your heart creates disturbance, a sense of want. You will always look for something else. You are condemned to do so, as long as you are in creation. No matter who you are, whether a poet, a rich man, a king, a genius, no matter what you are, you will be perpetually restless. The Spirit in you would have no satisfaction worth mentioning. You will be always seeking, even if you do not know what you are seeking. So, all empirical search for happiness is an attempt, an outward attempt, to regain the happiness that we have lost.

In Reality, in Truth, there is nothing anywhere except God as infinite creative Consciousness, as Beauty and infinite Happiness. Matter, mind, life are manifestations derived from the Consciousness. The human individual, not knowing this Truth, ignorant of this fact, driven by a sense of multiplicity, finds only the many in the experience. He does not see God. He sees many things in the world, he has the experience of the many, and therefore he is constantly exposed to suffering, for he is in the untruth. What is the Truth? The Truth is everywhere GOD ALONE. The world is in Him, He is in it, He is the world, He is more than the world. All is resident in Him. He is the first and the last Truth.

All creation has emerged from the Fire of Thought of the Divine, the Fire of creative Intelligence in the Divine. Thought is present everywhere, even as the dream in the mind of an individual is a product of thought, even as all the works of the human individual - whether they are buildings or books, or any other things - are a product of thought. The infinite Mind, the infinite Intelligence, is present everywhere, vibrant in all metals, vibrant and active in the mind of man, in all living forms, vibrant and active everywhere, in every point of space. The whole matter is vibrant with the Consciousness and Intelligence of God!

Numberless universes have risen and disappeared. Let us say, every universe lasts for several millions of years. After that what happens? Perhaps there is another creation. From the timeless bosom of the infinite Reality another universe comes into manifestation. Like thoughts rising and disappearing, like dreams rising and disappearing, numberless thoughts and dreams rise and disappear in the infinite Intelligence of the Divine. From where have they come? And where have they gone? Who bears them? It is the timeless Reality. That Being which is timeless bears in Itself all time-eternities. Our universe is one among the countless universes that have risen and disappeared, and there will be countless numbers of universes in the future. Who is great, this beautiful universe or That Which has founded the universe, That from Which this universe has come as a temporary structure which will soon disappear, even if that 'soon' be millions and millions of years? Certainly the Creator is the greater.

Let us suppose you are dreaming. In the dream state you create a magnificent universe, with stars, planets, and so on. You are supervising what you have created. Suddenly, somebody comes and wakens you. The moment you open your eyes, all the universe has dissolved. Where has it gone? Back into your consciousness. Yet you can create it again. So, when God wants it, He can instantaneously re-manifest. That infinite Consciousness created billions and billions of cosmic cycles. When we look at the sky, we see the planets, we see the stars. Each of these stars is a universe in itself. It is an unimaginable boundless creation. It is childish to say that the universe is created for the first time. What was there before this universe came into existence? Perhaps another universe. What was there before that? Perhaps some other manifestation. What was there before that? You can go on questioning, and you will find endless numbers of universes that have risen and disappeared.

Not all the creation is important - all these worlds are mere expressions of the Divine. These expressions are not important. The Creator of all these expressions is all-important! Expressions come and go; the creative Spirit behind is eternal and perpetual. The whole universe is like a fleeting dream in the Mind of God. Such dreams He had by the millions, and such dreams He will have endlessly. Such dreams come and go. What is all-important is the Divine Itself, the supreme creative Spirit.

Man in the Creation

Man is an externalization of Consciousness. The divine Intelligence in the human individual, with the help of which we perceive colours and everything, with the help of which the intelligence of man is functioning, this divine Reality in the human individual which is the source of all our experience - this is the same as the supreme divine Reality! That is to say: this Reality of the Divine in the human individual which is sustaining all experiences - be it a perception of colour, or hearing a sound, or responding to human love - this Being which makes all these experiences possible - that is the same as the divine Reality, the absolute Existence.
The human individual is a structure of the infinite superconscious Being, caught up in the network of self-ignorance. Man is an ontological being, not a physical being. He is a natural being seen empirically, seen psychologically and materially. But this natural being is only an outer structure in which the ontological, the super-conscious Being is resident and indwelling. Man is primarily a creative Spirit, for he is made in the Image of the Divine. God's very Nature is supreme Creativity. He is the supreme Genius, He is the Source of all genius. In every man is the highest creative Principle. From that Principle, with this Principle the supreme Divinity has fashioned all the universes and filled all these universes with all kinds of wealth and values.
The highest Principle is unfortunately imperceptible to the human physical eye, and unfortunately also imperceptible to the perceiving intelligence in man. Yet that ultimate Principle can be experienced by the very faculty by which a great scientist discovers new things; with that very faculty by which the poet creates new words and new images and awakens new emotions; by that very faculty with which a businessman becomes more efficient; by that very faculty by which a thinker becomes a genius; by that very capacity by which a great writer becomes the greatest writer, a great inventor the greatest inventor. What is that faculty? It is the meditating capacity, the contemplating capacity. Even God Himself brings all the universe into existence by contemplation.

How does the poet create? How does the sculptor shape new forms? How does the scientist discover something new? How does the engineer construct something extraordinary and unique in the history of engineering? By contemplation, by deep thought. How does Homer or a great epic writer bring the whole story into existence? Through contemplation. By contemplation God makes manifest the whole creation, even as the poet or a great creator, a creative artist in any field, brings magnificent phenomena into being. The capacity to obtain and present greatest thoughts is a gift of the Intelligence of the Spirit. A capacity of poetic expression, a capacity for a creative life are expressions or gifts of the Spirit within. This marvellous Presence of the Divine is in everyone, and it is a great blessing to grow ever more conscious of this fact.

There is a unique building, extraordinary for its structure, extraordinary even in its details, extremely complex. How did this wonderful building come into existence? It is the projection of the architect, the designer. God projects this universe through contemplation.

Through contemplation the aim is attained; through contemplation new things are discovered; through contemplation something is brought into being, something is obtained. It is a capacity that has to be developed. It can be developed; everybody can be contemplative. In fact, everyone is contemplative. Meditation is as pervasive as life; wherever there is life, even in a unicellular organism, there is concentration, meditation, contemplation. It is a natural capacity with which you are born. By this very capacity you can experience God, you can know the Truth. There is no other way of knowing the Truth.

An all-creative Spirit is present everywhere. It is in the crystals, in the sea, in the sand, in the wind, in all forms of life. Look at Nature; it constantly changes itself, forms itself, expresses itself, presents new beauties, survives destruction and puts forth newer and newer forms of expression. It is the creative Intelligence of the Divine that is ensouling all Nature. It is the creative Intelligence of the Divine that is always present within you, constantly ready to serve you, to help you conquer situations and make progress. All is created by God in Himself, with His own Image of Peace, Happiness, Perfection, Beauty, Harmony, Order, Fullness. To see anything other than God is to be punished, is to be human, is to be conditioned, is to be ignorant. Man in the world does not experience God; therefore, he is exposed to suffering, is limited in knowledge, knows death, experiences diseases, makes a tremendous waste of life's resources. For this reason the knowledge of the Divine is of supreme importance. It changes our life, It dwells in our intelligence and guides it to higher and higher stages of evolution. It is the secret of true happiness.

Life in the physical body is temporary; everything that it seeks after is also temporary. Anything temporary, no matter how pleasant it can be, no matter what it promises, is something that is going to fail us. Even if you have everything that the creation can offer you, you will still be wanting; though there is nothing missing, there still is discontentment in you, still there is some frustration, some fundamental and residual restlessness. Therefore, wisdom compels the seeking and earnest heart to shift its central interest on the Creator.
There is infinite celestial Music within you! And that is why you are restlessly seeking for delights of music. And even if you were Bach, you would struggle and strive after greater melodies. That which is in you is infinite Harmony, infinite Melody, and you shall not find satisfaction until you have discovered that which is in you. All the wonderful music produced in the world is the enjoyment of the endless Music within. Where is the end of the striving after musical perfection in a great musician? Only in the endless Music, in the infinite Music. Till then musicians will always be born in the world - each greater than the preceding one - yet they will be striving after greater and greater perfection in the field of music. In this tendency each reveals that there is infinite Harmony and Melody and Music within himself.

There is endless Light within man; and in his tendency to seek after light, the light of knowledge, in his search for wisdom, in his search for perfection, he reveals what is within him. Even a carpenter wants to be perfect, the ironsmith wants to be perfect, the cobbler wants to be perfect, everybody wants to be perfect - be it in the field of work, in the field of their knowledge, in the field of their skills, or in the field of the entire life. Perfection is what every man aims at and thus reveals what is hidden within himself: infinite Perfection.

There is endless knowledge within you. All your outer striving for knowledge, for ever more knowledge, is an apologetic attempt to arrive at the endless Knowledge within you. There is endless Peace within you; and therefore you shall never be satisfied - however much peace may be given - until you discover and experience the endless Peace within you which is God, which is the Truth.

All human problems can ultimately be reduced to the simple fact that there is deep in your soul something great which is satisfied by nothing, which could be satisfied only by infinite Joy, infinite Love, infinite Life, infinite Knowledge, infinite Beauty and Power which are characteristic and natural attributes of the divine Spirit within you. This greatest Being is your real Life of life. That has to be befriended. The greater your contact with the Divine, the more blessed you are, the more wonderful you are, the more peaceful you are. Eternal life is given to you in consequence of your close relations to the Divine.

All science is purely aiming at the conquest of creation. On account of that it is absolutely unable to grant man peace or wisdom worth the name. All science, therefore, fails us. Nothing in creation can satisfy us, can solve the fundamental problems of life, the riddles of life, can grant us Immortality, everlasting Peace, creative Intelligence, everlasting Joy. No matter what the sciences gain for us, it is something within creation; and nothing in creation is of any value where the fundamental questions of life and soul are concerned. Science says: "We will create new energy." But in creating new energy also new problems will be created. We are not happy for the petrol we have, though it brings us much comfort. And when petrol comes to an end, you are miserable. You produce another energy, and you will produce it from some other resources in creation. Again that comes to an end, creating new problems. Nothing in creation can satisfy the heart of man. So, all sciences from this standpoint are useless, are more a disservice than a service; but any science that turns its attention to the Creator is a great science, an immortal science, leading to the conscious experience of the Immortal, leading us to sources and resources which are inexhaustible. Biology pertains to creation, physics pertains to creation, economics, all social sciences, all material sciences pertain to creation. These will not help us ultimately. Seek for that knowledge which is not pertaining to creation but pertaining to the Creator.

Science has enabled man to step on the moon but has completely destroyed the environment; it has destroyed the earth, its natural resources, its pure air, everything it has destroyed. That which seems to be a blessing turns out to be a curse. There are problems above problems. Nothing in creation has the real solution to the problems of life. The solution to the problems of life lies in only one place: in the Hands of the Creator.
The doctor is within the creation, and he has not the solution to the problems of life. He is himself worried; his ability to help is limited. The rich man has not the solution to the problems of life. The most beautiful person, or the most gifted person, the most desired person has no solution to the serious problems of life. Nothing in creation, not all its beauty, not all its wealth nor all its resources can make you a little happier. If they make you a little happy, quickly that happiness is overcome by other problems. Even if you embrace the whole creation as your personal possession, you shall never be happy.

Perhaps the birds all over the world join together to make perpetual music for you; all the beautiful rivers and the seas of the world may wash your feet in honour of you - even then you will not be happy. Perhaps all the factories around the world will be busy producing whatever you want - even then you will not be happy. Perhaps all people, all mankind become poets and begin to write praises of you - even then your heart will find no rest and peace. While your face smiles at the praises that man can give you, secretly the heart within is being torn by its own sorrow.

The problems of life resolve themselves the moment we learn to dwell consciously in the Creator. From one point of view we are already living in the Creator, but we are not conscious of it. If all could grow conscious of this fact that we live, move and have our being in the Creator, then everyone would lose the limitations of being a creature. Everyone would then subsist in unbreakable peace and joy, wisdom and freedom. Consciously to live, move and have our being in the Creator, in oneness with the One, is the key and the solution to the riddle of human life.

How to experience everything as one? How to live in an ecstatic, all-absorbing God-Consciousness? We must be in a position to think like God, feel like God, live like God, before we can realize and express His infinite Perfection, Peace, Beauty, Light. How does God think, how does God feel, how does God work? Human feeling is limited, narrow, conditioned, relative, troubled. God's feeling is unlimited, all-perfect, untroubled. Human love is limited, mixed up with dislike and hatred, governed by conditions, time and space. God's Love is unlimited. Therefore, you must constantly seek to express unlimitedness. It is true, physical conditions make it impossible for us to serve every son of the earth, and we are only able to serve our own children; but we should include all other children at least in our thoughts and prayers and feelings. When we are walking in the street, let us say in our hearts: "May all humanity be peaceful, may all be blessed; may there be peace and happiness and joy and progress everywhere on earth."

Let our life be a continued festival of pouring blessings, peace, happiness, joy, strength upon the world. Let us also bless and have the greatest goodwill and love for creatures and beings which are invisible, and also for beings who are in other worlds. Let us breathe a blessing and a thought of peace and love even for children who are not yet born and who will be born a thousand years later on earth.

Swami Omkarananda