July 24, 2026
gataṁ svabhāvam cidvyoma yathā tvaṁ rāma nidrayā
jāgradvā svapnalokaṁ vā viśanvetsi samaṁ ghanaṁ (10)
VASIṢṬHA continued:
After thus contemplating the infinite consciousness for some time I suddenly realised that all this creation was within myself, my own body, just as the tree is in the seed. When one closes his eyes to sleep, he enters into an inner world created by his inner vision; when sleep comes to an end, one wakes up and his vision enters the world of the waking state. In the same way creation is experienced by one’s entering into it within his own heart.
Having seen the appearance of this creation in pure space, I entered into other parts of myself eager to see other aspects of creation. When thus the light of my inner intelligence was directed to that “space”, there arose in it an experience of that space. O Rāma, when you enter into the consciousness of your own self, whether in sleep or in the waking state, you know that it is equally a mass of consciousness. To begin with there is only this pure space or emptiness. In it there arises the notion “I am”. The condensation of that is known as buddhi or intellect and the condensation of that is known as the mind. That knows or experiences the pure element of sound and also the other elements, the tanmātras. From these experiences arise the various senses.
Some say that there is some order in this creation, others declare that there is no such order. However, it is not possible to alter the nature and characteristics of created objects which have acquired those characteristics through the appropriate notion that arose in the infinite consciousness in the beginning.
As I was thus observing creation, I had become atomic. I realised myself as a ray of light. Contemplating that alone, I had become gross. In this grossness there were the potentialities of sense-experiences…..I began to see. The organs through which I saw became the eyes, that which I saw became the scene (object), the fruit of this experience was sight, “when” I saw all this became time (duration), the manner in which I saw became the method or order, “wherever” I saw became space. By conviction these became the order of creation.
When thus consciousness “opened its eyes” as it were or became aware of its own inherent potentialities, the tanmātras (pure elements) arose, and then all the senses which are in fact and in truth pure void or space came into being.
Even so, I thought “Let me hear something”. From this sound arose as also the organ of hearing. Then there arose the sense of touch, the sense of taste, and the sense of smell, etc. Even though all these seem to have arisen in me, in fact nothing has ever happened.