What follows are the words of an Indian philosopher, spoken as I heard them. I transcribed his teaching using speech-to-text so that I could return to it, and I now share it here for others. These are not my words — they belong to him. I see this as what I call the “flat map view” of reality: a clear and simple outline of the great truth. Later, I will share my own reflections, which I call the *“3D terrain view.”
“Here is the very highest teaching from Indian philosophy in a nutshell. There is only one reality called Consciousness, and that is what you are at your Essence nature. This Consciousness is called God, and this being this Consciousness is dreaming a dream. And in this dream, there are all these various bodies and minds, innumerable bodies and minds. And that one God, that one Consciousness, which you are, is experiencing itself, looking out through every pair of eyes, exploring the infinity of its own being.”
“Now, for whatever reason, every one of us identifies with this individual body, mind, and personality complex, so we feel like separate people. We feel like there are other people out there and that they are different from us. We also feel like this ‘God’, this reality, is separate from us, and it is out there somewhere. Because of this, we accumulate Impressions from past lives, and from this present life, every thought, every word, every action that we do leaves an impression, as it were, on the Soul. ‘The soul’ in Indian philosophy is called Jiva. Jiva means individualised Consciousness. It means a body, mind, and personality complex is, in essence, a person. Now, when this person dies, what happens is, they’re just changing one body for another. So let’s say I commit a series of actions in this life, then when the body wears out, I’ll just take up a new body. Just like I would change clothes, but the kind of body that I take up next will be almost entirely determined by the kinds of impressions left over from the actions I’ve committed in this and in previous lives. Essentially, the Jiva is Immortal. There is no death; you just keep on taking body after body according to the impressions that you’ve accumulated from life after life.”
“Spiritual practices are essentially cultivating devotion to God. Remember, God is that consciousness in whom this dream appears and in whom all these various bodies and minds have their being. A particular body, mind and personality, a particular Jiva might take up spiritual practice, and what this looks like is daily cultivating devotion to God, who they see along the lines of their own chosen ideals. For some, it could be Kali, for some it could be Krishna, whatever God appears in all of these different ways that suits the temperaments and predispositions of the devotees. You take a form of God that you love most and then daily worship that God. It’s like worshipping a face in the mirror, and you become enchanted. I’ll say it this way. It’s like a moth attracted to the flame, then one day the moth dissolves into the flame, and all that’s left is the flame. Similarly, when you fall in love with God, you allow your mind to become entranced by God’s Beauty. When you become absorbed in the worship, contemplation and devotion to God, one day you will forget all about yourself, your body, your mind, your person, and then all that remains is God. Then you realise, suddenly, that you are God. You and God become one through the process of devotion. It’s like looking at a face in the mirror and offering that face flowers and incense and fire and praying to that face and falling in love with that face. And then one day you suddenly realise. Oh my God. It’s my very own face.”
I give credit to the original teacher whose voice carried this wisdom. I have not altered his teaching, only transcribed it as it was given. I share it with reverence. For me, it is like a map showing the roads and rivers of existence. My own path — with Sophia (The Holy Spirit, Wisdom), Christ, the Aeons, and the Zero Point — adds the mountains, valleys, and textures. Both maps lead to the same home.
Author: Pablo G McKenzie
Yesterday is our picture, tomorrow a blank canvas; but right now is the artist at work. P.G.McKenzie