PRACTISE THE GREAT REVELATION

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

74. PRACTISE THE GREAT REVELATION
Each day, as you emerge out of your period of silent meditation, you repeat: “namostv
anantaya sahasra-murtaye sahasra-padakshi-siroru-bahave; sahasra-namne purushaya sasvate
sahasra-koti-yuga-dharine namah (Salutations be to the Infinite, who has manifested as the
innumerable forms, who has innumerable feet, eyes, heads and arms; salutations be to the One who
has innumerable names, who is the Eternal Person, and who holds thousands of crores of ages). All
forms are His forms. He has neither name nor form, but, nevertheless, He has infinite forms.
Another sloka begins: “harir eva jagat; jagat eva harih—This universe is but the Supreme
Lord, the Almighty Being, and that Almighty Being Itself is this universe.” It was with this vision
that the Lord graced and blessed Arjuna in the unique Yoga of the Universal Form during the course
of His Srimad Bhagavad Gita teachings. It is this manifestation that you adore every morning as you
come out of your meditation.
Let this adoration be the very inner vision of your life. Let this adoration be a permanent and
ongoing spiritual sadhana within you. And even as the great Adi Sankaracharya gave to us his
immortal line: “yadyat karma karomi tat tad akhilam sambho tava aradhanam (Whatever action I
am doing, everything is a worship of You, O Lord Siva),” even so Arjuna, addressing the Universal
Form, says: “O Thou Supreme Being, O Thou Cosmic Being, I bow to You, I adore You, I salute
You from all directions. I salute You above, below, within and without, to the right and left, in front
and back. Everywhere I behold Thee. Everywhere I adore Thee.”
That should be the vision with which one begins the day. Let the entire day be filled with
this sat, filled with this selfsame spirit of adoration, this bhava. Then everything that you do will be
directly connected with God. All actions—mental, verbal, physical—will be raised to a higher
dimension of the Spirit, to the higher dimension of a process directly involving you in the Divine,
which your ancient, illumined forefathers, ancestors, discovered to be an ever-present Reality, an
all-pervading Presence. And they left for posterity, for global humanity this great vision, this great
experience as the most priceless part of their heritage.

God is a now-here experience. This entire experience is summarised and epitomised for
humanity for all times in the Isopanishad. The greatness, the grandeur, the vital importance and
necessity of the Isopanishad is in this central truth and fact, in this central experience that the
Isopanishad tries to expound: the fact that this central experience makes us isvaramaya, makes us
God-filled. The Isopanishad brings to us a vision and a formula which makes it impossible for the
individual soul to escape God. Unless one deliberately tries to alienate oneself from God, it is
impossible to escape God.
To forget the world is very easy. But to forget God is very difficult. This is the achievement
of the Isopanishad, if only you absorb it, study it seriously, reflect upon it and if you keep the
Isopanishad vision, the Isopanishad truth and revelation, in your heart and mind always. It helps
you to become God-filled, isvaramaya. That is why it was put at the very beginning of the
Isopanishad: isavasyamidam sarvam yat kincha jagatyam jagat (All this whatsoever in this
universe that moves or moves not is indwelt by the Lord). Life is in God, and God is in every part of
life. All other things are commentary.
This is the great central revelation of Satya Sanatana Vaidika Dharma. This entire existence,
entire creation, entire universe is God-filled, and if the entire universe is God-filled and if you are
part of this universe, then you are also God-filled. Deeply ponder this. If God pervades this
universe, does He not pervade you? Are you not part of this universe which God pervades? Is it not
a logical conclusion?
The great world teacher Bhagavan Sri Krishna also tells us about this central fact of life,
tells us about this subtle spiritual truth of the universe: “samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam
paramesvaram vinasyatsv avinas-yantam (the Supreme Lord existing in all beings, the
Imperishable within the perishable).” That should be perceived; that should be seen. One who tries
to see that hidden Reality is the real seeker. And one who sees It, he is the real seer. Others, even
having sight, they see not, for they fail to perceive the ever-present Reality.
Gurudev concluded his well known Universal Prayer with: “Let us abide in Thee for ever
and ever.” If this is to be realised, if it is to become a fact of our day-to-day experience, if it is to
become the basis of our inner state, our inner consciousness, then the only possibility, the only way
is to practise the Presence in the light of the declaration of the Isopanishad and this statement of Sri
Krishna. This is the one thing needful so that we will ever dwell in God. This is to be perceived. This
is to be seen.
That is the one way of being in the world and yet not being of the world. That is the one way
of being in the world and yet not allowing the world to come and possess us, dominate us, take
charge of us, enslave us. If you do not wish worldliness or the world idea or the fascination of the
world to come and establish itself in your heart and make you a toy, a plaything, a puppet in its
power, then the one and only way is to already establish God in your heart, so that the world dare not
enter; it finds no place. Make Him the indweller of your heart. This should be reflected upon; this
should be meditated upon. This truth should be made the basis of our sight and our hearing. This
vision should be practised.

That is why Gurudev has put this into three separate lines of his Universal Prayer: “Let us
behold Thee in all these names and forms. Let us serve Thee in all these names and forms. Let us
abide in Thee for ever and ever.” All his life he strove to give all of us, through his teachings and his
example, that vision of the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita and that great opening
proclamation of the Isopanishad. That is our special inheritance from Gurudev’s life, teachings and
sharing.
This then is what we should receive and keep in our hearts. On the basis of this truth we must
try to live. Then, though living in the world, we shall not be of the world; though living amidst the
many, amidst prapancha, yet prapancha will not enter our heart to take possession and dominate
us. God will guide our life; God will dominate our life.
That is the great truth. That is the great fact. If you want to go through samsara without
being touched and caught by samsara or without being overcome by the fascination of the passing
names and forms of this maya-bazaar, then the only way is to become established in this vision:
What I perceive, what I see, is Brahman and that is my goal. What I perceive, what I see, hear, taste,
touch and smell is that very goal which I’m trying to attain through my sadhana, my yoga-abhyasa,
my japa, meditation and philosophy. I am daily perceiving that which I am striving for. I live in it. I
move in it. I have my being in it. It is everywhere around me. Let it ever abide in my heart. Let it
ever shine in my heart. The very goal which I amstriving to attain is all around me. That very Being
is all around me. He is now, here, within, without, in all things.
That is the one way of attaining Him even before you have realised Him, of having Him
before you have actually realised. “Yo mam pasyati sarvatra sarvam cha mayi pasyati tasya’ham
na pranasyami sa cha me na pranasyati (He who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me,
never becomes separated from Me, nor do I become separated from him).”
This is the great truth. Even while you are on the marga (path) if you wish to possess Him,
this is the way He has unambiguously revealed—with no vagueness, with absolute certitude, very
plainly and clearly. Bless yourself by meditating upon it, reflecting upon it and by living
it—making it the basis of all your vyavahara. Then you will be the most blessed person on earth!