Spiritual Message for the Day – True Happiness – Recognition of Oneness of All Life by Sri Swami Chidananda

Baba Times Digest© | 14 December 2014 14.48 EST | New York Edition

True Happiness: Recognition of Oneness of All Life

Divine Life Society Publication: Message of Swami Chidananda to Mankind by Sri Swami Chidananda

The ancient Vedas have from time immemorial sought to bring home to mankind the lofty message of the unity of existence, the oneness of all life. We have the declaration in the Vedas: ‘Duality is the cause of all sorrow’. That is, from duality springs fear, great fear; and Truth is non-dual, One without a second, from which springs happiness. And all that is, the entire universe that we see, is nothing other than the Universal Reality. That alone appears as the entire Universe. That alone is. All is, verily, the Absolute Reality, the Supreme Truth. This two when put together bring the message to us that in Truth there is no duality, and if we live in Truth we shall feel oneness spontaneously, from the very fact of our being based upon the consciousness of Truth which is Oneness.

In form all are different. Diversity, more than unity, seems to be the law of creation. In everything, everywhere upon the face of the earth, we find diversity. No two leaves are alike but even though a tree is full of diversity, and is full of diverse branches, twisting twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits etc., it is rooted in unity. The root is one; the tree springs from oneness. So, if you trace all diversities to their source, the apparent diversity is found to be based upon unity, based upon oneness, having a singleness of source. In the 15th chapter of the Srimad Bhagavadgita this universe is described as a great inverted tree of countless, variegated names and forms, having its roots above, in the One, the Supreme, the Changeless. The Lord says: “It has its roots above and diverse branches ramify in all directions.” But they do not affect or alter the essential oneness that is at its Source; so also the true basis of human unity.

Humanity is found to be so diverse with varying languages, cultures, customs, manners etc., that if we try to bring about a sort of superficial unity by forcing upon diverse mankind a single way of life, we will not succeed, because we will not touch the innermost core of the being in man. There is something much deeper than the appearance. The essential being of man has to be touched if the sense of unity is to be roused within him. Uniformity is not unity; it will always be only in appearance. Real unity is in the heart, in the feeling and being.

There is something in all beings, which does not alter at all and which is the one common symbol of existence. It is the ultimate essence of the individual, his spiritual nature, his spiritual identity. This spiritual nature is of the very nature of oneness, of unity. Bodies may differ, languages may differ, cultures may differ, but all beings do exist, all beings are. Everyone feels, “I am.” This consciousness of being, of existence, is the principle which is a universal common factor underlying all apparent diversity.

The Gita has brought out this truth very beautifully. As a necklace of variegated beads of diverse colours and shapes has, as the one common factor, the thread which holds all these beads together and passes through the centre of each one of the beads, there is this thread of the universal common factor which is the same, which is the one, in all the apparently many different lives. To give to humanity this awareness, this consciousness,—that of the recognition of the existence of this divinity within all life,—is the basis for all human unity and even cosmic unity. We recognise that things exist because God is in them, for He is the principle of existence within. He is the Cosmic Existence. This changeless eternal existence is God. And this principle of existence is God and this principle of existence is common to everything, to all life.

It is, therefore, in the recognition of the essential divinity of man that we have our surest basis of human unity. Recognise this and go beyond names and forms. Do not see changing appearance on the surface. Be always aware: “I am one with all that lives, in my essential Self. I am one with all that lives, in my essential being as pure light, pure being. Existence is one. Life is one.”

Such is the wisdom of those who have this awareness and perception, and their whole life becomes a blessedness to others as well. They would not do unto others that which they would not like be done unto themselves.

Manu, the law-giver of India, says: “This body has been given to you, O mortal, for the well-being of others, for the service of others, for doing good unto others.” The awareness of this supreme purpose of life has to be a source of happiness and helpfulness to others.

Human unity cannot be based on principles like: We both are one and we can now fight the third man. People join together in order to fight another group. That is not unity. It is self-doom, because the very basis of that unity is hatred, for harming some other group. Even if for a time it gives an illusion of unity, it has not the true essence of unity in it. It is destructive unity. Unity should be constructive. Unity is partial, if it does not embrace within its scope the entire universe, the entire humanity, because the same Divine spark dwells in all beings, and we are all brothers and sisters, children of one cosmic family. Only when you know that the happiness of all is the great duty of life, when the ideal of giving happiness to others is accepted and recognised by you to be the great law of this universe, then alone do you live truly. Not to feel this oneness will undo the happiness of all, undo the goodness of all. The entire universe throbs with one cosmic life-principle.

 If people were to speak in terms not of ‘my good’ or ‘your good’, but of ‘our good’, then the question of right education of the generation in the making, the generation which will lead the world of tomorrow, would have been at least partially solved.

My sincere prayer is: May this essential spirit of oneness of man, this oneness of all life, be recognised, accepted and expressed in all our life, in all our behaviour towards one another. Then, indeed, the ideal of oneness will be a glorious and happy fact. May God bless mankind! May God inspire all people to feel His Presence indwelling all names and forms! May God bless you!

 Excerpts from: True Happiness: Recognition of Oneness of All Life - Message of Swami Chidananda to Mankind by Sri Swami Chidananda

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