You and your self are the universe. You are the whole universe. You are the self, omnipresent, all-pervading. This is your real nature. If you just have a glimpse of this, how can you possibly fear anything? If you learn to live in the present and become spontaneous, forgetting about the past, not concerning yourself about the future, but understanding who you are right now, can't you see that this will take care of everything?
It reminds me of this old story about Krishna and Arjuna. They were invited to a rich man's home for dinner. When they entered the home and they sat down at the table, the rich man abused him. He told Krishna he doesn't believe anything he says. His teaching is a waste of time. He told him, "Why don't you go and get a decent job someplace?" and Krishna didn't say a word. When they were finished. Krishna blessed him and he said to him, "May your prosperity increase a thousand fold, and may your riches become a million more than you have now," and they left the home. Arjuna wondered about this, but he didn't say anything.
The following morning they were invited to breakfast to a poor man's house, and the poor man had no possessions except for a cow. But the poor man fell at Krishna's feet when they came in, and he worshipped Krishna and Arjuna, gave them the last bowl of rice he had and sang glories to Krishna. When Krishna and Arjuna were leaving the house Krishna blessed him also, and he said, "May your cow drop dead soon," and they left.
And Arjuna couldn't hold it in any longer and he said, "Krishna, tell me what you’re doing? What's going on? You went to the rich man's house and he abused you, and you blessed him and told him his wealth will multiply. And you go to the poor man's house who loves you, and his only possession is a cow, and you told him his cow will drop dead. What is the meaning of this?
And Krishna said, "You see, the more you're attached to, the less of a chance you have for enlightenment." So I told the rich man his wealth will increase. This means he will be attached to his wealth for many, many incarnations. Thousands of incarnations he will be attached to his wealth, and he will never become enlightened for a long time. Now the poor man, his only attachment was his cow. When he got rid of his cow, he would be finished on this earth, and he will become self-realized. So I told him his cow will soon die and he will be free.
This story is very significant of the way we live. We have something we own, a person, place, or thing. We can not get it out of our mind. We're attached. Because of this attachment we go through many lives, it appears, and we go through many experiences, simply because we are attached to something. It can be mental or physical.
Even if you hate someone. If you hate someone or something with a passion, that's attachment. You will come back to this earth, or to another planet similar to this earth, again, and again, and again, and you will meet this person that you hate so much under different circumstances again, and again, and again. One time he may be your daughter, he may be your mother, he may be your husband, he may be your wife. But that person that you despise so much will meet you again, and again, and do things to you in order to upset you. And you will hate again, and again. You will never be free until you understand.
The understanding is to turn within, to forget about the person, but to see your own reality, to trace the I thought to the source. After all it is the I thought that hates and loves, that has attachment to person, place or thing. When the I thought is transcended, only the self remains. Then your karma is finished, your body is finished, your world is finished, your God is finished, and you're home free. But as long as you allow a person, place or thing, and it may be your own body that you're attached to, your own mind, that's person, place or thing also, as long as you feel deeply about those things, you will never become free until you let it go.
You have to reconcile yourself with the whole universe, the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom. When you have become friends with the entire universe, you will not have to do atma-vichara. You will not have to trace the I, or worry about the I. Just the reconciliation with the universe will free you. After all, when you love everything, unqualified, what else can you do? There's nothing else. The total love of the whole universe kills the ego. For it is the ego that plays the other games with you, that makes you love someone special or hate someone special, that makes you despise certain animals and eat them, that makes you think poison ivy is worse than the rose, that causes you to qualify life. A sage sees everything as equal. No thing is worse or better than any other thing. And just by hearing this, allowing it to go into your heart, feeling it, will lead you to an awakening.
- ROBERT ADAMS
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