What is, is One Cosmic Being

Sage Vasishtha

UDDALAKA continued to reflect thus:

The self, which is consciousness, exists as the supreme self of all, everywhere in all bodies at all times. Who am I, what am I made of, what is my form, made by whom: and what shall I acquire and what shall I reject? There is thus nothing which can be called 'I' and which undergoes being and non-being: when there is no ego-sense in truth, how can that ego-sense be related, and to whom? When thus it is realized that there is no relationship at all, then the false notion of duality vanishes. Thus, whatever there is is the one cosmic being; I am the reality, why do I suffer in delusion? When one alone exists as the pure omnipresent being, how can there even arise something known as the ego-sense? There is no substantiality in any substance in truth, the self alone exists: or, even if one assumes the substantiality to tbe real, there is no relationship between that and the self. The senses function as senses, the mind exists as mind, the consciousness is untouched by these - what is relationship and how does it come into being? Just because they exist side by side, it is not right to assume a relationship: a stone and an iron rod may lie side by side, totally unrelated to each other.

It is only when this false ego-sense has arisen that the perverse notions 'this is mine' and 'that is his' arise. And, when it is seen that all these are tricks of the false ego-sense, there unreal notions cease to be. There is in truth naught else but the self; hence I realize that all this is the one cosmic being or brahman. The delusion known as ego-sense is like the blueness of the sky: it is better not to entertain that notion once again, but to abandon it. After having abandoned the very root of the ego-sense, I rest in the self which is of the nature of peace.

The ego-sense is the source of endless sorrow, suffering and evil action. Life ends in death and death leads to birth and what is is disrupted by its own end - such notion entertained by the ego-sense leads to great sorrow. The anxiety caused by thoughts like 'I have got this now', 'I shall get that too', burns the ignorant. 'this is and that is not' such notions cause restlessness in the egotist. But if the ego-sense ceases to be then the illusory world-appearance does not germinate again and all cravings come to an end.