Non-duality and Love

“I am the Self that dwells in the hearts of all beings,” says Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.

His words continue to inspire me, they feel so comforting and uplifting.

But what does Krishna actually mean here?

What is the Self?

Does this loving statement refer to non-duality?

Most of us still experience a sense of separation: separation between ourselves and others, between ourselves and the unfolding of life .

Non-dual philosophy does not deny this experience of separation, but it also recognizes that there is something which connects everything in the most intimate way.

Is that 'something' the Self that dwells in all hearts?

But how?

Non-dual philosophy sees manifestation—the world of form, space, and time as we know it—not as something that stands on its own. It sees the manifestation as an expression of That which is unchanging, indivisible, nameless, and unknowable in the way we usually know things.

You might call it God, Brahman, the One, Pure Consciousness, or Love.

Krishna uses the word Self here.

The Self is the ultimate reality underlying all that exists.

The Self precedes time and space.

It is infinite potential.

Emptiness and fullness at once.

It is the “substance” from which everything is made.

The metaphor of the ocean and the wave can be helpful to bring clarification.

In this metaphor, the Self represents the infinite, undifferentiated ocean.

Manifestation—the sense of a separate “I”—can be seen as the waves.

In a certain way, you can distinguish the wave from the ocean, but at the same time, it is impossible to see where the ocean ends and the wave begins. They are the same, and different, at once.

In non-dual philosophy, we recognise that on a relative level everything is constantly changing, has form and is temporary, just like the waves are.

And we also see that there is a deeper, unchanging reality that underlies and permeates everything that comes and goes. Just like the ocean is the formless and undifferentiated presence from which temporary waves arise and into which they dissolve.

When we begin practicing, we mostly still see ourself as a separate wave and try to maintain our “wave-hood,” by trying to make it comfortable and pleasant. Maybe even through yoga and meditation. This may bring some comfort and relaxation, yet ultimately it doesn’t give us the fulfillment of the deepest longing that we all share: to know ourselves as the Love that we are.

We continue to feel the pain of separation.

The inevitability of the pain of loss, illness, and death is something we all carry with us as long as we continue identifying with the wave and overlook that we simultaneously are also the ocean.

Once we clearly see that we as a wave are not separate from the ocean, loss, illness and death will still be there, but there is less suffering. Even that suffering will be recognised as an expression of the Self.

Fortunately, the non-dual experience is always and universally available—it is, after all, what you most deeply are. We don’t need to change anything about ourselves, we just need to remove what stands between us and the (embodied) knowing in our true self. We need to remember, to see more clearly.

Through the practice of non-dual yoga and meditation (or practices of other mystical traditions), you begin to see clearly, and the realization that “I” (as the wave) am an expression of the Self (the ocean) shines increasingly through the idea of separation. You begin to experience that within you, and within every other, there is something unchanging and the same.

However, in the beginning of non-dual study you might get the impression that the non-dual “state” is rather cold and pale. The emptyness that is spoken of is perhaps something not particularly appealing, maybe even a little frightening. If you have enough courage to walk this non-dual path soon you will see that the emptiness is actually full of liveliness, unconditinal love and peace.

It is the fullnness.

To feel encouragedand and motivated to keep going in moments of doubt and fear, being in the presence of the ones who have been able to let go of identification and separation, and reading about the their lives is of great help.

She is the living example that the one who knows herself as the Self overflows with love, creativity, spontaneity, compassion, and uniqueness.

Letting go of identifaction has, so to speak, opened up more space within her through which the Self can express itself in full glory.

When she sees the world and others, she sees an expression of the Self.

She cannot help but love.

Surrender to the softening of the feelings of separation, loneliness, and resistance.

Naturally compassion, patience, love, and generosity will bloom.

Manifestation is radianting a Divine light.

The Self that dwells in all hearts is visible.