Yogaswami explains: You are all-pervasive; that is your nature. Intellectual concepts: The obstacle to realizing omnipresence. Visualizing: The first step toward experiencing. A jnani can use all-pervasiveness, not just a blissful unitive state; it's a practical state.

Commentary on book: "Self and Samadhi. Chapter 7, "How to Realize God."

Unedited Transcript:

Good morning everyone.

We've been reading from "How to Realize God." One more paragraph left here.

But before we look at that I thought we could look at some quotes from Yogaswami. I pulled these together for talks in Vancouver recently. He's talking about God's omnipresence which is also your omnipresence. A few quotes here.

First one: "Bliss, bliss, nothing but bliss. I am here; I am there; I am everywhere."

Sounds good right? But the interesting point is, the default would say it another way. Bliss, bliss nothing but bliss. God Siva is here; He is there; He is everywhere. Right? Normally you'd say it like that. But he's saying it: "I am here; I am there; I am everywhere." So he's focusing on it as his own personal experience, which is important.

"Now I am sitting here. I am in England also. I am also in America."

This particular quote shows how natural this state of being all-pervasive is to Yogaswami. He's using it. He's in touch with someone he knows in England and someone he knows in America. I can guess who it might be in America. Gurudeva of course.

Another one: "We can give initiation by thought to people in Singapore while remaining here."

That's interesting one, right? Saves all that travel. Just gives initiation without going anywhere. Again, it shows how identified he is with this aspect of being all-pervasive, is something he's using in a very practical way. He's initiating people.

"Satchidananda: that is one thing. Satchidananda. Sat is you are. Chid is omnipresence, akasha. Light is from the Sun. All knowing. Ananda is bliss. They are three but they are One. That is your nature. "

Yogaswami is pointing out on this one not just that he can experience being all-pervasive but that you can too. He is saying: That is your nature. You are all-pervasive.

He goes on to explain in another quote: "I am everywhere; you are everywhere but you don't believe it."

He's pointing out that our intellectual concepts are the obstacle. We don't feel we're worthy to share that quality of God Siva of being everywhere. We're disturbed about something we did in the past; we're concerned about some limitation we have. Couldn't possibly be talking about us, right? But he is. Everyone is all-pervasive. We need to throw away the concepts which block us from that.

"Aham Brahmasmi. You are God. You are everyone. You are everywhere. Learn this. This is practice."

So, we need to practice some kind of meditation in order to experience it is what he's pointing out. We need to practice.

"See God everywhere. This is practice. First do it intellectually then you will know."

Similar to what Gurudeva says is that the first step toward experiencing something is visualizing it. If you want to experience the inner light within you, what's the first step? Well you visualize it. You may think: Well that has nothing to do with actually seeing it; I'm just visualizing it. But it's actually an intermediate stage toward experiencing. We have to take, take it one step at a time. You know, so we don't see anything, we visualize a light. And then eventually that visualization will lead us into the actual experience.

So Yogaswami's saying the same thing here. "See God everywhere. This is practice. First do it intellectually (which is the equivalent of visualizing it) then you will know it."

And all of that leads up to Gurudeva's last paragraph. In the talk as well as in this morning's talk.

"The internal difference that makes a soul a jnani is that he knows who he is and who you are. He knows Truth, and he knows the lie. Another difference is that he knows his way around within the inner workings of the mind. He can travel here and there with his own 747, without extraneous external conveyances. He knows the goings-on in far-off places. He is consciously conscious of his own karma and dharma and that of others. For him there is no apartness, due to his attainment within the chakras previously described. His only gift to others, to the world, would be blessings, an outpouring of energy to all beings from the higher planes where he resides. It is the jnani, the enlightened being, who sees beyond duality and knows the oneness of all. He is the illumined one, filled with light, filled with love. He sees God everywhere, in all men. He is the one who simply is and who sees no differences. That is his difference. "

So again it's the same idea here. "He knows the goings-on in far-off places."

So, it's a, someone of that attainment can use all-pervasiveness. It's not just a, what would you say? Not just a blissful unitive state. It's also a practical state in that he can know what's going on in a far off place. As Yogaswami said: You can initiate in a far off place. It's a consciousness which is useful as well to a Satguru.

Have a wonderful day.

Aum Namah Sivaya

[End of transcript.]