(Published in The Speaking Tree Column, Edit Page, Times of India, August 24, 2016)
Many people fear that becoming one with God means they will cease to exist as an individual soul. But you will never cease to exist; you will always have your identity, awareness and consciousness. What will change are the boundaries of what you are conscious of. In essence, you will become bigger, more aware and gain qualities that you were never aware that you even had.
When two drops of water merge, they form a larger drop. You may think that the two smaller drops cease to exist, but in actuality they have merged together to form a larger entity . That larger entity retains the qualities, characteristics and properties of the smaller drops but now exists as one entity. If you were one of the smaller drops, you would not cease to exist; your consciousness would expand. What happens when this newly formed larger drop falls into the ocean?
It would not exist in its original form, but all its molecules, atoms, properties and characteristics would still exist. But since it would now be one with the ocean without any separation, it would have access to all the resources of the ocean. Its sense of who it is, would expand to infinity.So has its sense of awareness, consciousness or identity ended? On the contrary , it has been greatly expanded. It now feels what the ocean feels, it now sees what the ocean sees, and it now hears what the ocean hears.
When we become One with God, we do not cease to exist; our consciousness expands. We will still retain every memory, thought, feeling, idea and emotion that we’ve accumulated over several incarnations. And all those others that we have loved and felt close to even those who have passed away will once again be with us. In the Oneness, there is neither death, nor separation. We will have access to all those we have loved and lost.
We are all made in God’s image. We are all a reflection, a representation of the Infinite Creator. So just like our own image in the form of a photo, reflection, portrait or video is a symbol of us, so too, we are the symbols of God. We are all drops in the Ocean called God.
This is why it is so important to have compassion towards each other. Not because of a subjective notion of being good but because truly when you love others, you love yourself. When you harm others, you harm yourself.Because in the final analysis, as we evolve as spiritual beings having a human experience, we will realise that we are all One in actuality . As we evolve spiritually , we will actually feel a lucid, knowable and realisable oneness with everything else.
Love is the energy of oneness. Love is the feeling of compassion. Love is the stuff out of which consciousness is made. Love is the raw material the Creator has used to create the cosmos.When we love others, we are truly loving ourselves and when we truly love ourselves, we are truly loving God.
So never again let the fear of oblivion enter your hearts or minds, for you will always exist in fullness, but that fullness will just keep getting bigger and bigger.
It is expansion towards infinity.
