Spiritual Message for the Day – The Awareness by God is Awareness of Himself by Swami Krishnananda
Baba Times Digest© | 27 November 2014 23.35 EST | New York Edition
The Awareness by God is Awareness of Himself
Divine Life Society Publication: The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
Yajnavalkya says to Maitreyi, “After departure, there is no consciousness.” “I cannot understand,” Maitreyi says. When I say there is no consciousness, I mean that when the consciousness departs from this individuality of the bodily personality, there is no particularised consciousness.”
To us, all consciousness is psychological consciousness; to us, every consciousness is sensory consciousness. When we make a statement like “I am conscious”, we mean that we are conscious of something – which is psychological perception, sensory perception. Consciousness by itself does not perceive anything. It is the Self, the universal perceiver. “So why did you say that there is no consciousness after the absolution of consciousness from entanglement in this body?” The reason is: yatra hi dvaitam iva bhavati, tad itara itaram pasyati (Bri.U. 2.4.14). ‘You will see another only when there is duality’. If there is something outside consciousness, consciousness can see something; but if there is only consciousness everywhere, what will it see? What does God see, for instance? You can put a more poignant question to yourself, in a more intelligible manner: Does God see anything? What does He see? If the entire creation is pervaded by God, what does God see? He sees nothing; He sees Himself only. The awareness by God is awareness of Himself. The so-called omniscience of God, which we attribute to Him, is actually an all-knowledge of Himself. The very quality that is attributed to God is actually connected with Himself, His own existence.
Therefore when there is no duality, no consciousness outside Its Self – It is Itself all things – there is no knowledge of anything. It is pure Being-awareness.
Who will know the knower? Who will think of the thinker? Who will understand the understander? Who will be conscious of consciousness? No knowledge of anything? All-knowing and yet not knowing anything outside? Knowingly It knows not anything, not-knowing, It knows all things. It knows all things because It alone is everywhere. It does not know anything because outside It, nothing is. You understand the point. God does not know anything, because outside Him nothing is; but God knows everything because He Himself is everything. There is no gulf between the seer and the seen. Therefore the seer alone reigns supreme.
Excerpts from: Yoga of Synthesis - The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
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