In response to a question about recognizing consciousness as the basis of all life, Gurudev shared the following:
How is your breath coming in and going out? You’re making no effort. Even in sleep, the air goes in and out. There’s something creating the rhythm of life.
Have you ever wondered? There’s something by which your intellect, emotions, body, and the entire universe function. What’s that?
This happens on the basis of some energy, some principle. What’s that principle? What’s the basis of the whole creation?
A movie is projected on the screen. What is the screen on which life’s movie is being projected? That basic substratum of creation, in which the creation and mind are sustained and the life force is functioning, from where we feel love, is the higher self.
The five elements
The four elements in creation, earth, water, fire, and ether are sustained by the fifth element, space. We categorize three types of space:
- The physical space where the heavenly bodies float.
- The space where thoughts move.
- The space which is consciousness itself.
Consciousness is all-permeating. It’s there, everywhere. So the higher self is everywhere and it’s the basis of this whole creation. But you might think it’s stagnant. No, it’s not stagnant! It’s not a dead space. The space is scintillating and so lively!
