Matter is Condensed Consciousness

Yes, both are very intimately related. Saints have always talked about what the theory of Big Bang is telling us today. There was a Big Bang – a powerful sound and the whole world got created from a grand void. Christians call it Logos – the word, Indian saints call it Shabad, Pranav, Omkar, Satnam. The whole world got created out of it. First of all ‘Omkar’, then the energy in different forms, and then all matter and finally the expansion of the whole world came into existence. At the level of the matter, science discovered matter energy. Similarly, in spiritual terminology, we may call body and soul, matter and consciousness – they are the same things and are interchangeable. The consciousness gets condensed and becomes mind and when mind gets condensed, it takes the form of the body. That is the reason why our body is also influenced by the desires and the expectation of our mind. Let’s understand this point with this fact. Thousands of years back, the sense of smell was not quite developed in man. Just go through the Rig Veda – one of the sacred texts of Hindus, you would realize that it does talk about flowers but there is no mention of fragrance at all. It seems that during that period the sense of smell was not developed. First the desire to smell was born in mind and then the body started developing the sense of smell. In older times some people could see only three colors. The scriptures of those times mention mainly three colors. Today we are able to differentiate seven colors of a rainbow. May be in future, we will be able to see more colors. Even today, the artists, painters, poets are able to see more different shades than we do. Five percent people are normally color-blind. Their eyes are not capable of differentiating seven colors. Human being is progressing day by day and its senses are also becoming sharper.

First the desires awaken in the mind and then accordingly, the body develops its senses. So from consciousness to mind and from mind to body – this is how it works. Therefore, the discovery of science that matter and energy are inter-transferable is more or less similar to what I would like to tell you all. The theory of Big Bang also finds similarity in what our saints have always said that the world came into existence with the grand sound of ‘Omkar’, from the Omkar, and will also disappear into the grand sound of Omkar, will merge in the Omkar.

Science says there was just a grand void – nothingness – in the beginning which got divided in to two – positive and negative. And certainly, at the time of the final day, the negative and the positive energies would re-unite to finally disappear in to the void. The whole game, the joyful play would cease to be. It’s just like water, ice and vapor – three different states of matter. In liquid form it is called water. It becomes ice when solid and vapor when in gaseous state. Similarly our body is the solid form; mind is like liquid – very unstable and consciousness like vapor – almost invisible. All these three states are interchangeable. That’s why they are not opposite of each other, they do not oppose each other. The ice on the Himalayas and the clouds floating in the air are not opposite of each other. One same element is present in both but in different forms. Although their shape is very different, their way of being is very different but basically they are one and the same thing. Life is just like that. Life is a spectrum, just like a rainbow.

Spectrum of Consciousness
Let us understand the spectrum of our energy or consciousness. The outer most layer is our physical body. The second one, according to the saints is subtle body, which is called etheric body or emotional body. The third one is a bit more subtle and is called the Astral body. The forth one is still more subtle and is called Mental or psychic body. Then the next one, fifth body is called the spiritual body, the sixth one cosmic body and the seventh one – Nirvan body or the bodiless state. So in the beginning there was nothingness. The whole game started out of nothingness and gradually reached the state of physical body. From the subtle to the physical level, the whole spectrum is like a rainbow. There is no opposite in it. Therefore, when science says that matter and energy are inter-changeable, it is just like the colors of a rainbow gradually changing shades – violet becoming indigo and indigo becoming blue, blue becoming green and green becoming yellow. On one side green becomes blue and on the other it becomes yellow. Or we can even say where blue and yellow unite, the green color appears. In a rainbow, there’s no clear-cut demarcation as to where a particular shade ends and where another one begins.One shade gets converted into another

So, from the Nirvana body – the bodiless state, the cosmic body was born and from this cosmic body appeared, in an individual, it developed in to a mental body and from the mental body, the astral body was born. From this subtle body, the emotional body and from this emotional body the physical body was born. This is the whole spectrum. Things are getting inter-changed. For the sake of division, it has been divided in to 7 parts but actually there’s no clear-cut partition anywhere. There’s a sort of overlapping, everything getting converted into one another.
So, in a way, the ancient belief of the religion that the body and the supreme soul are opposite to each other is not really correct. There’s no enmity between the two. This is how it should be understood

All three things are essential – effort, waiting and grace. We will have to make efforts; we’ll have to wait. And when the waiting will also drop, the grace is showered. His grace showers. That for which we have been waiting – happens. In the beginning we have to be associated very actively. We have to work very hard, practice the meditation technique regularly. Gradually the active phase slows down. Even in waiting, a sort of subtle activeness is still present; we are waiting for something to happen. True, that we are not doing anything from our side but still we are waiting for something, a subtle activity is still going on. This will also disappear gradually.

I’ve heard an incident about Chandulal’s wife who woke up her husband at midnight that she was worried about her son whom she had sent to the market at 8.0’clock. It was already midnight and he had not yet returned home. She said, she was quite worried and was also getting tired of waiting and had started feelingsleepy also. Now what to do? Chandulal asked – what did you want him to buy? The wife replied – I had sent him to the chemist shop to buy some tranquilizers as I was not feeling sleepy. Now just imagine what she’s saying – she’s saying that she has got tired of waiting and has started feeling sleepy now, what to do?

So, first of all – make some efforts, send your son to buy tranquilizers and then wait for him to come back. But he will not come back. Your waiting will not make him come back. But meanwhile you would start feeling sleep that is sure. So keep on waiting and then go to sleep. The supreme happening that has to happen will happen itself. Your efforts are also essential and the waiting is also important. Although, your efforts and your waiting, as such, are of no use. But after reading this statement of mine, if you would not do anything, then also, nothing would happen.

So, dear friends, your efforts are important because they will tire you. So do it with totality so that you get tired fast. When I say to put in all your energy, it is just to exhaust you so that you get tired fast; that’s all. If you will do slowly, half-heartedly, it might take years and years and you will never get tired. And then the ultimate moment of grace will never arrive. When we are totally effortless – the grace is showered. And that is the moment when we realize that the grace was always showering. We were missing it because of our efforts, because of our waiting. We were not able to realize IT because of our own misconceptions