CORRECT PERCEPTION

SWAMI KRISHNANANDA
The Divine Life Society
Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
Website: www.swami-krishnananda.org
Spoken to a French-speaking group on December 27, 1972.
Swamiji: All your activities, whether they are personal, social, political or
international, are all directed to a single aim: that you want to exist and live somehow
or other. But why do you want to exist? That is my question. Why are you struggling
so much? Suppose everybody is destroyed, the whole world is destroyed, the sun,
moon, stars are all destroyed, the whole cosmos has perished; what is the harm? Why
are you so worried about it? Why are you so worried about existing? Suppose
everything perishes; what is the harm? Who is going to be the loser, because you are
not there to see it? Can anybody answer this question? When everybody perishes,
nobody is there to see that everybody has perished, so what is the trouble? But you do
not want that to happen. Why?
Visitor: Because everybody thinks, Death is for the others, the destruction of the
whole world is for the others, but I will exist. This is in the subconscious.
Swamiji: No, you are also afraid that you may perish if you do not act properly.
Somebody may attack you and destroy you, and you do not want that. But why? Why
is it that you dont want that? The answer to this question is the beginning of
philosophy.
Visitor: Because I am afraid.
Swamiji: Why are you afraid?
Visitor: Because I dont know what is afterwards.
Swamiji: Let anything be afterwards. Even if you protect yourself with great care, one
day you will perish, and it may be even tomorrow. Why are you worrying about it
now, when you have no control over anything? You do not know your breath, how
long it will go on, and yet you are worrying about it, is it? You said, I do not know
what is afterwards. Merely because you are struggling hard it does not mean you will
know it. You are not aware of it, and you will not know it at any time. Even if you live
a hundred years, you cannot know what is afterwards. Then why are you struggling to
live a hundred years? Is there not some confusion in your understanding of things?

This is the beginning of philosophical thinking. Otherwise, everything is all right. We

have our hot tea and a little lunch; we go about and see mountains and rivers, and we
think that everything is all right. We are happy because we do not know the truth. If
we know the truth of things, we will be miserable just now. Some people say
knowledge is happiness, but knowledge is also grief if we know the truth of things.
I will tell you why knowledge is also unhappiness. You are happy if you see a person or
a thing which is most beautiful. But suppose you see that person or object through a
powerful microscope. Will you see that beauty there? Do you understand what I
mean? Now, do you think that you are right, or the microscope is right? Who is right?
Naturally, you will say that the microscope is seeing correctly and you are not seeing
correctly. So your vision is wrong, and how can you be happy by having a wrong
vision of things? And yet you say, I am happy. Oh, beautiful vision, and beautiful
scenery, and beautiful persons. Such a thing does not exist, really speaking. So the
knowledge that you gain through the microscope is real knowledge, and that which
you gain through your real life is not real knowledge.
Imagine that there is such a big microscope through which you can see the whole
world. You will not see any person through this microscope. You will only see some
forces working in the interrelationship. You will not see any person or any thing in
this world through a microscope. Now you tell me, which is the correct perception, the
perception through the microscope or the perception of your naked eye? If the
microscopic perception is correct, why do you believe your eyes and then make
remarks on the basis of sensory perception?
Thus you come to the conclusion that your very perception is erroneous. You cannot
know what is in this world by merely seeing with naked eyes. If your sensory
perceptions are wrong, your thinking also is wrong because that is based on your
perception. If your thinking itself is wrong, how can you live in this world? Now, let
any wise person among you answer my question. I have put you in a very difficult
situation. Now you will realise that you are not wise persons as you imagined. Ahh!
The beginning of wisdom is the realisation that you are not wise people. To imagine
that you are wise is not wisdom. When you realise that you have no wisdom, you
really have wisdom. This is the philosophy or the way of thinking adopted by the great
philosopher Socrates. When you realise that you know nothing, then you start
knowing things properly. But we have some egoism in our minds, on account of which
we imagine we are very great and wise people.
Now I am coming to the point from where I started, that a correct vision of things
such as that which you obtain through a microscope is different from the knowledge
of things that we get through the senses. When you see things with a powerful vision,
you will see the interconnectedness of things rather than the difference of things. Now
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you are seeing many people sitting here. When you see through a microscope you will
not see these people, but forces coming together. When you see only the waves of the
ocean, you will see many waves, but when you see the ocean, you will see the base of
the waves.
You are not persons and things, but forces that have taken a shape or a form, and to
these forms we have given a name such as Mr., Mrs., this, that, etc. But these forms or
shapes which we call personalities are ultimately made up of the same substance. If we
reduce the contents of our body, they get dissolved into the five elements of earth,
water, fire, air and ether. Whether it is a man or a woman, it makes no difference;
when the body is dissolved, it becomes the five elements. So both man and woman are
made up of the same substance of the five elements. Then why do we say this is a man
and this is a woman? We make this distinction on account of the difference in the
structure of the forces. We call one form a man and another form a woman, just as we
say this is a table and this is a chair though both are made up of the same wood. We do
not know that both tables and chairs are made up of the same substance. That is why
we speak of tables and chairs as if they are two things.
I am again coming to the point of the five elements, of which all the bodies are made.
The five elements are earth, water, fire, air and ether. Think for a few minutes what the
five elements are and where they are. Earth, water, fire, air, ether are not different
elements but constituents of a single force. Earth can be dissolved by water, water can
be extinguished and reduced to gas by fire, fire can be extinguished by air, and air can
be lost into space. The ultimate cause of all things is ether, from where air, fire, water
and earth have come. Just as all bodies can be dissolved into the five elements, so also
earth can be dissolved into water, water into fire, fire into air, air into ether, so that
finally ether only exists.
Again think of what I have said. You exist as different personalities, which is a false
perception. You are made of the five elements. Now I say even the five elements do not
exist. They are only ether finally, which has become the five elements. So this
wonderful structure of the diversified world is nothing but various formations of the
universal ether in which you and I are all included. Where is ether, tell me?
Everywhere. And you are made up of that. That means your substance is everywhere.
And yet, you think that you are only in one place. So this is another misconception in
your mind. Wonderful! The substance out of which you are made is everywhere,
which means to say that you are essentially everywhere, and yet you think, I am
coming from France, and I am in India, and so on. This is a misconception. Yoga is
the art of realising that you are everywhere.
In the beginning you put a question to me about meditation. I am coming to that
point. All this I have told you as an introduction to what meditation is. You cannot
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meditate unless you know on what to meditate. Meditation is the direction of

consciousness on reality. Reality is that which is the cause of all things. You cannot call
the effect as the reality, because the effect goes to the cause. Now you have realised that
the cause of all things is ether, and so you have to meditate on the characteristic of
ether, which is everywhere. Inasmuch as ether is the cause of all things, you may
imagine that ether is the ultimate reality, but I am going to tell you that there is
something greater than ether. Ether is not the ultimate reality; that also is an effect of
something else. We have to find out what is beyond ether. Now, I put a question to
you: How do you know that ether exists? You know through your consciousness. If the
consciousness were not there, you would not know that ether exists. So consciousness
is prior to ether, and ether is afterwards. Consciousness is the cause, ether is the effect.
Now I will tell you something more interesting. Ether is all-pervading everywhere, and
your consciousness knows that either is everywhere. If your consciousness is only
inside your head, which is so small, how can it know that it is everywhere? The cause
should be at least as large as the effect. If consciousness is the cause and ether is the
effect, and if ether is all-pervading, consciousness also must be all-pervading. So
consciousness is all-pervading; remember that. If consciousness is all-pervading and
ether is all-pervading, how can there be two all-pervading things? Ah, so if an allpervading thing can be only one, there should be only ether or only consciousness, not
two things. You cannot say that only ether exists and not consciousness. Otherwise,
how will you know that ether exists? And this logic comes to the conclusion that ether
is not there; it is only consciousness that is appearing within itself, and consciousness
is all-pervading. That is why it is able to think of the all-pervading ether. Your
essential faculty is consciousness.
If your consciousness is all-pervading, only that can exist, and nothing else can exist
outside it. If your consciousness only exists, what about these people that you are
seeing in front of you? Where are they existing? All these persons and things that you
see as if they are outside, they are only forms of that one consciousness, of which you
are also a part. This consciousness, therefore, is universal, and that is the only reality.
So I told you meditation is consciousness of Reality. Now you know what is Reality.
This universal Reality is called God, this is called the Absolute, and this is called the
Ultimate Reality substance. Only this exists, and nothing else can exist. All these
varieties of the world the sun, moon, stars and the entire cosmos are nothing but a
form of this consciousness. So when you meditate you should not think of any object,
because the object does not exist. That which exists is the universal consciousness, and
that is meditation.
This is very difficult to practise because the mind will refuse to think like that, but you
should try your best and sit thinking like this for at least one hour every day. Your
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consciousness will expand more and more, and you will become more and more
powerful. By gradual and protracted meditation you will become a master of all things
and not a servant of anybody. This is the aim of yoga. Yoga is nothing but union with
this consciousness, and inasmuch as the Universal has no love or hatred for anything,
you also should not have love or hatred for anything if you want to be a yogi. To love
or hate anything is contrary to reality, and so your emotions should be free from love
and hatred.
If you have not understood anything, you can ask me about it. You will not be able to
meditate like this, but once you succeed in it, you will be the happiest of persons in the
world. Let anybody ask me if you have not understood.
Visitor: To start meditating on universal consciousness, is it possible to give it a
personal image which represents it?
Swamiji: You can give it a personal image if you cannot think of it in any other way,
but that is not the aim. The aim is to go beyond the personal image. Just as you see
your national flag and think it is the government, you can have a symbol and think it
is the Universal. You see a piece of paper and call it money. It is not money, it is only a
piece of paper, and yet you call it money. Money is only a value that you have attached
to that piece of paper. Likewise, you can have a symbol of the Universal in the form of
an image. No harm. And you can take any form as the symbol of it because all forms
are its forms. You can take even a visible form or a conceptual form as the image of it.
This is a difficult task. Though it appears that you have understood it, you will not find
it easy to think in your mind for a long time. When you are listening to me just now
inside this room everything looks all right, but later you will forget everything. You
must be able to think like this even in the bazaar and the shops; otherwise, you cannot
become a real yogi. Yoga is not only for the meditation hall; it is for the whole life. It is
very difficult. Therefore, you require a master, a teacher and a guide.
Visitor: Please tell us something about japa yoga.
Swamiji: Take up only that which is helpful in your meditation. Japa is one of the
methods. Chanting of a mantra is also helpful in meditation. If you cannot conceive of
a form or an image as mentioned just now, you can use a name. If you utter the name
of a tree, immediately the idea of a tree comes to the mind. Every name has a form
corresponding to it. Inasmuch as the form of reality is inconceivable, you take a name
corresponding to it. We regard the highest symbol of the Universal as Om. Om is the
symbol of the Ultimate Reality. Om is a universal name of the universal form. But if
you cannot think of the universal name, take ordinary names, such as the name of
Jesus or Krishna or Rama. Who can think of the Universal? It is impossible to think it.
So if I say Jesus Christ, you can imagine what it is. But Jesus Christ is only a ray of the
sun of the Infinite. You can reach the sun through the ray. Likewise, you can reach the
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Universal through the form, which is the incarnation. But whatever symbol or image
conceived in your mind should attract your mind wholly and your mind should not
think of anything else. This particular name or symbol of a chosen ideal in your
meditation is called a mantra. Constant repetition of the mantra is called japa. If you
go on chanting a name again and again, the same form comes to the mind again and
again, and the mind takes the shape of that form which it is thinking. So instead of
transforming the mind into the shape of the object, it gets transformed into the shape
of reality. Therefore, you can take to the recitation or the japa of any mantra according
to your convenience or aptitude from a master or a guide. If you cannot chant Sanskrit
mantras, you can have formulas in English or French, as you like. No harm.
For example, I will give you a simple formula: I am inseparable from the Universal.
This itself is a mantra. Go on chanting mentally or even verbally: I am inseparable
from the Universal, I am inseparable from the Universal, I am inseparable from the
Universal. If you go on saying it a hundred times, your mind will think only of that. So
the mantra need not necessarily be in Sanskrit. It can be in any language because it is
only a help in thinking, and any language can help you. The mantra is only a formula
to help you in thinking correctly.
Visitor: Some mantras have a special vibration.
Swamiji: Every mantra has a special vibration; every mantra has a vibration of its own.
Chanting a Sanskrit mantra is difficult, so I am suggesting for you to have your own
ideas in your language. But if you can chant a Sanskrit mantra, it is good. It has its own
effect.
Translator: I think the question was whether there are mantras which have more effect
through their vibrations.
Swamiji: Yes, there are mantras which have tremendous vibrations, but it is difficult to
pronounce them unless you are accustomed to it. You must take to a mantra whose
meaning is clear to your mind. The mantra is to be selected according to ones concept
of reality. What is your notion of God or of Reality? Corresponding to that you have to
choose the name of the formula. So you cannot have the same mantra for everybody.
As each person must be having different ideas about God, correspondingly you have
to give different mantras.
What is your concept of God? What is your notion of God? Then you can understand
what should be your formula or your mantra. Dont say your concept is universal. It is
difficult to think. You will not be able to think it always. You will always think of a
form, and that form must be clear to your mind first. I put a simple question: What do
you love most in this world? That is your God, your deity. Some people love their own
children. They love nothing else. Very strange! How can they think of God when their
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love is for their children? Psychologically you must be very clear. There should be no
psychological confusion in the mind. What do you love most in this world? Let each
person answer to ones own self. Do you love your own self? Do you love property? Do
you love money or your status in society? Or what do you love in this world? Some
people love name and fame. Some people love money. Some people love their own
bodies. Some people love their father or mother. Some people love their husband or
wife. So what is it that is in your mind? Let it be clear. You have to examine your mind
as a doctor examines a patient. Unless you are thoroughly analysed psychoanalytically,
you cannot clear your mind properly. You should not have desires submerged inside
and imagine that you are thinking of God. You may have conscious desires and also
subconscious desires of which you may not be aware. This requires training for a long
time under an expert guide.
What else? Whatever difficulties or doubts you have got in your mind, you can ask me.
What is your ultimate aim in life? Answer this question. Why have you come to India,
and what do you want from India? Perhaps each one has different answers. Nobody
can give a single answer. You will not be able to answer this question clearly. It is very
difficult. Perhaps you have come to see India as a land of culture and beauty and
variety, and that is quite different from coming to a person like me because I am not
India. India is something different. We are peculiar persons who have grown out of
India and have become larger than India. So if you cannot tell me anything now, you
can think over this matter deeply tonight when you go to your bungalow, and see me
tomorrow morning.