Are We In The World Or Is The World In Us?

[Paramahamsa]

Dear master, are we in the world or is the world in us?

Neither are you in the world nor is the world in you. The very idea that you are in the world makes you materialistic. The idea that the world is in you, makes you spiritualistic. Both are ideas. Please be very clear that if you think you are in the world, you become materialistic. You run behind the world. You just run behind it. You want to have it. You want to possess it. If you think the world is in you, you run behind your being. You want to possess it. It is the same running, just that it is diverted a little bit inside. The running for spiritual progress or running for some spiritual experience, we call mystery mongering. Even the running for mystical experiences is nothing but mystery mongering. Both are actually concepts; both are ideas. When you understand both are just ideas, you start allowing the spiritual experience to happen in you, and this cannot be done by words.

For example, take the river Ganga. Suppose a small bamboo stick is floating on the Ganga. Considering the bamboo as the center, if you think that the Ganga has been split into two halves, right-side Ganga and left-side Ganga, would you be right? Can you say the Ganga has been divided? No, in reality Ganga is never divided. Because you have taken the bamboo as the center and divided the river for the sake of utility, for the sake of your understanding, you have labeled it as right-side Ganga and left-side Ganga. In the same way, just for the sake of utility, you name this as the body and that as the world. It is just a naming, a labeling.

Just look in; look into yourself. Why do I say, ‘Look in’? You know that for a long time you have only looked out. That is the reason I ask you to look in. When you look inward, you see there is really no boundary between this and that, between you and the world. If you perceive one boundary as stronger, you will feel that you are in the world. If you perceive the other boundary as stronger, you will feel that the world is in you. The worldly people and the so-called materialists say, ‘We are in the world.’ People who close their eyes and sit in the caves in the Himalayas say, ‘The world is in us.’ But both are just concepts. If you feel this boundary is stronger, you think you are in the world. If you think that boundary is stronger, you think the world is in you, that’s all.

Once you drop both concepts, you will see simply that you are, and wherever you are, you are joyful. Generally the great saints and enlightened people teach you that the world is in you. Do you know why they teach you that way? Because you are already addicted to the opposite idea, that you are in the world. Just to bring you out of that idea, they teach that the world is in you.

Actually to remove one thorn from your foot, you need to use another thorn. But once you have removed the thorn, you need to throw away both. The idea that the world is in you is only another thorn to remove the thorn that is already piercing you. In the ultimate sense, both are just concepts. When you drop these boundaries, you understand reality; you understand what the truth is. It cannot be expressed by either of these concepts.

If you remove that bamboo from the Ganga, can you say Ganga has become one? No, because it was always one. The very word ‘one’ exists only if you say there is ‘two’. If there is no ‘two’, how can you say it is ‘one’? Is it clear to you? The word singular exists only as long as the word plural exists. When the word plural is lost, how can you say this is singular? That is why the rishis and sages called this philosophy advaita.

Dvaita means plural - duality. But advaita cannot be translated as singular – because that would imply the presence of a plural somewhere, which advaita does not acknowledge. Advaita can be translated only as non-dualist.

It can never be expressed as ‘single’. It can be expressed only as ‘where there is no duality’. Dvaita means duality. Advaita means where there is no duality, that’s all.

If you say you are in the world, you are expressing duality. If you say the world is in you, you are doing the same thing. Only if you experience the fact that neither is true, do you experience the truth. The truth cannot be expressed with dvaita, it can only be expressed with advaita.
Read More : Uncommon Answers to Common Questions by Paramahamsa Nithyananda

[Nell]

Paramahamsa, I love the way you've answered this question - simply, beautifully and with quiet conviction - thank you.

[Derek]

Beautiful writing... I would say that once the "achieving mind" gets involved, then we get stuck in it. Without ambition, we can just BE in our experience. Best not to be a spiritual warrior, although I have heard that some masters encourage this? I would say that wherever I am, my intent is to let myself be there, even if paradoxically, I am stuck in my achieving mind... It will just be temporary.. Even in writing here, I may have an achievement in mind. When we use reason, what else can it be? To me such paradox is fun. I like to move away from all that "serious" stuff. :-) Derek