The Universe is like a wave in the ocean of the self. Sage Ashtavakra addresses King Janaka and says that when the self is pure and unattached to anything, what indeed is that which he wishes to renounce? Dissolving the body through the knowledge that it is just an aggregate of the five elements of nature, allow the mind to merge into the total awareness which is yourself, he says.
When you open your eyes, this whole universe rises and appears, just as a bubble appears in the ocean. Knowing that you are this one self from which everything appears and into which everything dissolves, allow your mind to move into this self.
When the sage says that the universe is insubstantial and intangible, it is important that it is understood in the right manner. Even though you are able to see all the names and forms – mountains, rivers, people, sky, trees, animals, birds and cities – what you see has only the reality of the impression it has in your mind. It exists only as knowledge or a thought in yourself. This is what is meant when the Rishi says that the universe actually does not exist, even though it appears to exist. Taking the common example from Vedanta – consciousness is the substratum, like the rope which is lying across a semi-dark path. The universe that you see is like the thought in your mind that it is actually a snake. The universe manifests just like this snake thought and when the truth is known, the snake is no more.
The universe is no more and only the substratum of consciousness remains.
Describing the means to achieve this state of realisation of what one’s true self is, the sage says that with practice of being in the same state of mind in the face of joy and sorrow, desire and desirelessness, life and death – it is possible to attain the dissolution of mind.
For the one who has the true knowledge that he is like the sky, endless and infinite and the visible universe is made like a pot out of the raw materials from nature, there is neither renunciation nor taking anything. The truth is there is nothing to give and take. The same is the situation for the person who understands that he is like the ocean and this universe of name and form is nothing but waves.
While I am like the sea shell of white lime, this whole world appears to me like the illusion of silver shining in the sand. I am that one consciousness in all beings and all beings are in me.
Sage Ashtavakra gives so many example to highlight the true nature of the self that you and I are. When this knowledge becomes a reality in life, then the mind has got nothing to renounce or acquire and remains still as consciousness itself.
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