Man finds security in the presence of God

CHENNAI, JULY 2.The Absolute Reality which is non-dual, is identical with the Self (Atman). The Self is self-revealing and its essence is consciousness and hence it is referred to as being (conscious). It is limitless in space and in time. These attributes are intuited in one's experience of the Self, which is blissful. The knower and the known (subject and object) exist in the consciousness. The non-dual consciousness is not opposed to subject-object duality and can be compared to water and the wave existing in the expanse of the ocean. From this analogy it is possible to gain insight into the nature of the Supreme Reality. The entire manifestation derives its being from this Reality.

Due to a certain adjunct this all-knowing Reality becomes God (Iswara), who is also omniscient and whose manifestation is this manifold creation. Thus God is both the efficient and the material cause of this universe of insentient and sentient beings. The limitation at the empirical level does not have an independent reality and is a component in our process of gaining knowledge of the objective world.

In his discourse, Swami Dayananda Saraswathi said the search for understanding this truth was instinctive in human beings. The feeling of insecurity starts as an infant when the baby begins its independent existence from its mother. At that stage it is totally helpless and has absolute trust in its mother and then also in its father. But as it grows up, this trust gets eroded when it understands the limitations of its parents. The search for psychological security which is centred on the ``I'' continues till it ends in the presence of the Almighty.

How does a person find this security in his life? Sunlight can enter a dark room only when the windows are opened; so also an aspirant must welcome God into his life. It is possible to discover God and connect to Him through knowledge. Just as love unites two people, it is necessary to emotionally connect to God through His manifestation which is before us. One need not know botany to appreciate the beauty of the forest; likewise, when we appreciate this universe in its totality, one develops the intuitive understanding that it is the Almighty who is manifest as this diversity. The understanding of the Divine in the biological, physical and physiological orders must be extended to the psychological order also to discover the freedom ``to be''. The human mind is complex and it has the capacity to exercise this choice.

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