Sadhana’s ultimate result is the experience of Brahman in all beings.
The Master used to say, “Seeing Brahman, or God, in all beings is the last word in sadhana.” At the culmination of sadhana, one reaches that plane. The Vedas and Upanishads, the most authoritative Hindu scriptures, support this statement. The scriptures say that whatever you see in the world is truly one nondual Brahman, be it gross or subtle, sentient or insentient, bricks, wood, clay, stone, trees, plants, human beings, animals, gods, or demigods. You are seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the same Brahman in various forms and in different states. Although you accomplish all of your daily activities with Brahman’s help, you are unaware of It: you believe you are dealing with a multiplicity of objects and persons. (Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play)
One day Sri Ramakrishna became a kalpataru (the wish-fulfilling tree) and fulfilled the wishes of his disciples. Some asked for devotion, some knowledge, and some liberation. Seeing Sharat silent, the Master asked him: “How would you like to realize God? What divine vision do you prefer to see in meditation?” Sharat replied: “I do not want to see any particular form of God in meditation. I want to see Him in all beings. I do not like visions.” The Master said with a smile: “That is the last word in spiritual attainment. You cannot have it all at once.” “But I won’t be satisfied with anything short of that,” replied Sharat. “I shall strive my best until I am able to attain it.” At last the Master blessed him, saying, “Yes, you will attain it.”
—–
The following incident indicates how that blessing was fulfilled towards the end of his life: “One of the devotees who was nurtured by Swami Saradananda’s loving care one day remarked, ‘Swami, why do you love us so much?’ Swami Saradananda did not say anything. After a few days when that devotee came to Udbodhan, the swami said: ‘A few days ago I went to Belur Math and prostrated before Sri Ramakrishna. The Master appeared before me and said, “You love all because you find me in all.” That is the answer I would give today.’”
One day Swamiji came downstairs and sat on the canvas cot under the mango tree in the courtyard, facing west, as he often did. The monks around him were busy with their activities. One was sweeping the courtyard with a broom. Swami Premananda was climbing the steps to the shrine after his bath. Suddenly Vivekananda’s eyes became radiant. Surcharged with spiritual fervour, he said to a disciple: “Where will you go to seek Brahman? He is immanent in all beings. Here, here is the visible Brahman! Shame on those who, neglecting the visible Brahman, set their minds on other things! Here is the visible Brahman before you as tangible as a fruit in one’s hand! Can’t you see? Here — here — here is Brahman!” These words struck the people around him like an electric shock. For about fifteen minutes no one could move or function. Premananda went into ecstasy; others experienced an indescribable peace and joy. At last Vivekananda said to Premananda, “Now go to worship,” and all were released. The disciples were amazed to witness the spiritual power of Vivekananda.
Swamiji explained this phenomenon on another occasion: “He who has realized the Atman becomes a house of great power. From him as the centre, and within a certain radius, emanates a spiritual force, and all those who come within this circle become animated with his ideas and are overwhelmed by them. Thus without much religious striving they inherit the results of his wonderful spirituality. This is grace.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
‘Wherever The Eyes Fall, Lord Manifests.’
Recalling the olden days in Alambazar Monastery, Turiyananda wrote to Premananda on 20 November 1915: “The memory of all past associations with you gives me great joy. And why shouldn’t it be so? You are so full of the Master that there is no room within you for anything else. This reminds me of an incident that took place at the Alambazar Monastery. As you spoke that day, you invoked the memory of the Master in all visible things. At that time I observed in you the truth of this saying, ‘Wherever the eyes fall, there the Lord manifests.’ You did not see anything that did not remind you of the Master. I don’t know whether you remember it or not, but it is indelibly imprinted on my mind. That day I realized what it is to be merged in God.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
—–
Towards the end of his life Swami Premananda casually wrote to someone: “I feel a desire now to love everybody. This is a disease which has now possessed me.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
Akhandananda faced terrible poverty in Sargachi. He wrote letters to some of his old acquaintances asking for financial help. Pramadadas Mitra of Varanasi wrote back to him mentioning that it is better for a monk to travel, study, and practise meditation and japam than to get involved in social service. On 19 October 1898 Akhandananda replied:
I am delighted that you have reminded me about my olden days. Those days are gone, and now a new era has sprung up. The Atman never changes, but life changes. Now I don’t enjoy travelling anymore.
When I first went to the Himalayas, I was a different person. Now I wonder upon seeing myself. At that time I would avoid seeing human beings, and leaving the village, I loved to live in the secluded caves of the Himalayas surrounded by ferocious animals. In this way I lived for some years. Now I see God living in all human beings, and I have realized that service to man is service to God. God, as it were, is whispering in my ears, “Verily these human beings are the Vedic sages; they are divine incarnations like Rama and Krishna — they are everything.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
—–
To see God in all beings is the culmination of the Vedantic experience. Swami Akhandananda had that experience, so he served all as God. A few years before his passing away, the swami told a monk his life’s philosophy: “The Master has still kept me alive for his work. Distribute your Self among others and bring other souls within yourself. You will see how much joy you will get from it. On the other hand if you are always busy about yourself, you will be entangled within yourself, you will kill your Self, and you will die. [Not knowing the Self is akin to suicide or death.] The more you disseminate yourself among the people, the more you will attain bliss and that will lead you to Self-realization.” (Source: God Lived with Them)
The Master’s vision of Krishna.
When the Master’s love for God as beloved was purified and intensified, he experienced the grace of Radha, the goddess of Vrindaban, and shortly afterwards had the vision of Satchidananda Krishna. The form of Krishna merged into his body, as the other deities had done before.
Two or three months after this vision, Paramahamsa Tota Puri initiated the Master into the disciplines of nondualistic Vedanta. So it seems that after attaining perfection in madhura bhava, the Master spent some time in divine communion through that mood. The Master told us that he was then so absorbed in the thought of Krishna that he forgot his own identity. Sometimes he regarded himself as Krishna, and sometimes he saw Krishna in all beings, from Brahma down to a blade of grass. (Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play)
The Master realized that the goal of all disciplines is to attain the nondual state.
Established in the nondual state, the Master experienced another truth also. He discovered that the ultimate goal of all spiritual disciplines is to become firmly established in nonduality. After performing sadhana according to the main religious denominations prevalent in India, he observed that each one of them led the aspirant towards the nondual plane. When we asked about the nondual state, he told us repeatedly: “It is the last word, my child, the culmination of sadhana. At the ultimate development of love for God, this nondual experience manifests spontaneously in the life of all aspirants. Know it to be the goal of all faiths; and as many faiths, so many paths.” (Source: Sri Ramakrishna and His Divine Play)
Ramakrishna’s illness showed no signs of abating in spite of the best available care and treatment. When Narendra realized that the Master would not live long, he intensified his own spiritual practices. One day he entreated Ramakrishna for the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi, the highest realization of Advaita Vedanta. But the Master reprimanded him: “Shame on you! You are asking for such an insignificant thing. I thought that you would be like a big banyan tree, and that thousands of people would rest in your shade. But now I see that you are seeking your own liberation.” He said further: “There is a state higher than that. It is you who sing, ‘O Lord, Thou art all that exists.’” The Master wanted his disciple to see God in all beings and to serve them in a spirit of worship. (Source: God Lived with Them)
Swami Vivekananda Says —
- After so much austerity, I have understood this as the real truth— God is present in every jiva; there is no other God besides that, ‘Who serves jiva, serves God indeed.[Source]
- He is in everything, He is everything. Every man and woman is the palpable, blissful, living God.[Source]
- He is the all in all; He is all and in all.[Source]
- In worshipping God we have been always worshipping our own hidden Self.[Source]
- Losing faith in one’s self means losing faith in God.[Source]
- The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot see Him in everything, see Him in one thing, in that thing which you like best, and then see Him in another. So on you can go.[Source]
- The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him—that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
- The nearer we approach God, the more do we begin to see that all things are in Him.[Source]
“Do you know what I see? I see Him as all. Men and other creatures appear to me only as hollow forms, moving their heads and hands and feet, but within is the Lord Himself.” – Sri Ramakrishna
Related Articles:
- Among thousands of men, one strives for perfection and even among those who strive and succeed, one knows Me in essence. (BG 7.3)
- At the end of many births the man of wisdom seeks refuge in Me, realizing that Vāsudeva is all. Rare indeed is such a high-souled person. (BG 7.19)
- Highest Worship
- Among things conducive to Liberation, devotion (Bhakti) holds the supreme place. The seeking after one’s real nature is designated as devotion. (Vivekachudamani, Verse 31)
- The sage harmonised in yoga sees the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self; he sees the same everywhere. (BG 6.29)
- He who sees Me in all beings and all beings in me never becomes lost to me, nor do I become lost to him. (BG 6.30)
- The Yogi who worships Me abiding in all beings and who is established in unity abides in me in whatever manner he is acting. (BG 6.31)
- Its hands and feet are everywhere; Its eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere; Its ears are everywhere; Its existence envelops all. (BG 13.14)
- He who sees the Supreme Lord abiding alike in all beings, and not perishing when they perish— verily he alone sees. (BG 13.28)
- Because he sees the Lord present alike everywhere, he does not injure Self by self, and thus he reaches the supreme state. (BG 13.29)
- The wise man beholds all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings; for that reason he does not hate anyone. (Isha Upanishad, Verse 6)
- Seeing the Atman in all beings, and all beings in the Atman, one attains the highest Brahman – not by any other means. (Kaivalya Upanishad, Verse 10)
Rāmānanda Rāya continued speaking to Lord Caitanya: “First I saw You as a sannyāsī, and then I saw You as a cowherd boy. I see before You a golden doll, and due to its presence Your complexion has become golden. Yet I see that Your complexion is dark, like a cowherd boy’s. Will You please explain why I am seeing You in this way? Please tell me without reservation.”
“It is the nature of highly elevated devotees to see Kṛṣṇa in everything,” Lord Caitanya replied. “Whenever they see anything, they do not see the form of that particular thing. They see Kṛṣṇa.” This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 11.2.45):sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyedbhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥbhūtāni bhagavaty ātmanyeṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ
“One who is highly elevated in devotional service sees the Supersoul, Kṛṣṇa, who is the Soul of all individual souls.” A similar passage is found in the Tenth Canto (SB 10.35.9) where it is stated that all creepers, plants and trees, laden with flowers and fruits, were bent in the ecstasy of love for Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa was the Soul of their soul. After Kṛṣṇa left them, those trees and plants became thorny.
🌸 Bhagavata Purāṇa (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)
11.2.45:
“The highest devotee sees his beloved Lord in all beings, and all beings within the Lord. For him, nothing exists apart from God.”
7.9.43 (Prahlāda’s vision):
Prahlāda prays: “O Lord, You are within and without, You pervade all beings. Where can I go to find You are not?”
“Whatever is perceived with mind, tongue, eyes and other sense-organs, is nothing besides Me. There is no entity besides Me. Understand, this fact carefully” (Śrīmadbhā. 11/13/24).
🌸 Yoga Vāsiṣṭha
Teaches that the enlightened one sees the universe as nothing but Brahman in manifold forms.
“The sage delights equally in seeing a king, a beggar, or a stone — for all is the same Self.”
🌸 Vivekachūdāmaṇi (by Ādi Shankaracharya)
Verse 241: “That by which all beings are pervaded, That indeed am I. In reality, there is no other.”
Verse 260: “Seeing the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self, the knower becomes free from all delusion.”
🌸 Avadhūta Gītā (Dattātreya)
Chapter 1, Verse 3: “In me, the boundless ocean of bliss, the waves of the universe arise and subside.”
Declares that everything perceived is Brahman alone, the difference is only apparent.
🌸 Ribhu Gītā (part of Śivarahasyam)
“All this is only Brahman. The knower sees no difference between Self, world, or God.”
Swami Vivekananda used to recommend reading this to disciples for the vision of oneness.
🌸 Ashtavakra Gītā
Chapter 6, Verse 2: “I am in all beings; all beings are in me. Thus I am ever free.”
Radical non-dual vision: everything is the Self alone.
🌸 Tirumantiram (Tamil Śaiva text, by Saint Tirumūlar)
Verse 222: “He who sees all beings as Śiva, and Śiva as all beings, truly worships Him.”
🌸 Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture, echoes Vedanta deeply)
“The One Lord is pervading in all beings; the Guru has shown me this vision.” (Ang 45)
“Recognize all of humankind as one.” (Ang 349)
🌸 Swami Vivekananda’s Complete Works
“It is practical Vedanta — to see God in the poor, the sick, the weak, the ignorant. This is the worship we must now practice.”
He draws directly from Upanishads + Gītā and rephrases them for modern life.
Related Articles: