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Like underground water which is the sustenance of all trees, the atma is the underlying source of all ananda (bliss) that the jivi (individual being) experiences.

Sathya Sai Speaks 4, p.143

2. Why Does Oneness Appear as Many?

If we place a candle inside a pot with many holes, there appear to be many lights. Although there is just one flame, the pot creates the illusion of many flames. The maya, or illusion of the world, creates the false impression of duality. God is worshiped in many lands by different names, but there is only one all-embracing God. Variations of name and method of worship serve the variety of human attitudes and cultures. Brahman, the universal divine principle, is expressed by individuals and groups according to their understanding, but Brahman is one.

So the conception of Brahman also will depend on each one’s equipment and experience, but that does not mean there are so many different brahmans. A man is called daddy, son uncle, grandfather, cousin, nephew, and husband – but that does not make him more than one individual!

Sathya Sai Speaks 3, pp.108-109

Understanding the unitive principle of nondualism seems at first a formidable task. The path of spiritual understanding from duality to nonduality is a difficult journey. We embark on the adventure believing we are separate and distinct from all others. The beginner does not know where or how to find God, and so he believes God is not present. The very fact of God’s omnipresence blinds the aspirant to the reality.

God is everywhere, he is everything, so it appears as if he is nowhere, and he is not in anything！ For to know him, you have to identify him as someone foreign and something unique.

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.134

Worldly people believe it is necessary to struggle against others to survive in a hostile world. Their egoism causes them to identify with their transitory bodies and personalities. Their attachment to form blinds them to the divinity within. In this state, they have yet to discover immortal atma.

Your own illusion causes you to see the diversity of the world. When we make an attempt to realize and understand the real situation and the nature of the atma, then the diverse names and forms that you see in the world will no longer trouble you. You will be able to fix your attention on the divine aspect, which is one and not many.

Summer Showers 1973, p.59

Good or bad, beautiful or ugly – these are own judgments. God is the creator of it all – and is all. He manifests through the myriad of opposites. We cannot have day without night; we cannot have the sweet without the bitter. Our task is to accept the manifestations of God’s will without passing judgment or questioning his wisdom.

When divinity is immanent in everything, conscious and unconscious, in every form of being and becoming, how can a thing be condemned as bad or commended as good? Water quenches thirst and drowns people. Fire gives light and warmth, but also burns and reduces things to ash. Sound terrifies and also thrills. They are all three divine. Divinity is inscrutable.

Sathya Sai Speaks 11, p.286

As we grow in understanding, we recognize the interdependence of all people. We cultivate love for family, friends, and community. In the concluding stages of the transformation, we see that God is within each person and everything. God is the inner motivator in us, as he is in all others and all things. Finally, we realize self as a wave upon the ocean, not different from others or from the ocean of God. The delusion of separateness, which arises from attachment, is cast off.

Advaita (nondualism) means all this is atma, then why this apparent variety? Variety is the picture drawn by the delusion that you are the body, that you are the “character” the drama has cast on you!

Sathya Sai Speaks 4, p.233

We all climb the spiritual trail toward nondual vision. Jesus at first described himself as “the messenger of God.” Later he described himself as “the Son of God.” Finally his knowledge of unitive experience led him to declare, “I and my Father are One.”

A similar analogy occurs in the Islamic Sufi tradition. First the pilgrim sees that he is in the light. Next he realizes that the light is in him. Finally he can say, “I am the light.”

3. God: With Form or Without Form?

God is like the wind – sometimes awe-inspiring, sometimes soothingly gentle. In snow-swept lands, gusts blow icy cold and terrifyingly hard. On tropical shores, the breeze is pleasantly warm and reassuringly gentle. The wind has no form, but we know it according to its place and time. The warmth or coldness of the wind is dependent on the quality of its moving air. Its coloration is dependent on dust, moisture, and sunlight. Similarly, God is without form, but we know him through his creation. We know of his love and wisdom by seeing his beauty around us.

As our divine vision grows, we begin to see God in all things. He is the essence of self and everything that exists. The transformation by which we perceive this vision is a function of atma. Through spiritual discipline, we start to disperse the clouds of ignorance. We find unity hidden in diversity. God manifests only by appearance in the world of form. Brahman needs form to manifest and express, just as the wind is inseparable from the air. God is ultimately formless, but we perceive him first through form. Only through shape, color, and size can his sweetness initially be known.

This is a silver tumbler. We do not see in this the silver being different from the tumbler. Someone has given me the silver and I have had a tumbler made out of the silver. If the individual asks for his silver back, it is not possible for me to say that he could take the silver and let me retain the tumbler. It is not possible to separate the silver from the tumbler. In this manner, as the silver and the tumbler are inextricably connected with each other, God with form and God without form are connected with each other.

Summer Showers 1978, p.164

The form and the formless are inseparably linked. For most of us, it is not possible to know God entirely apart from form, nor is it truly possible to experience form apart from God. Whether one worships God by a particular name and form or whether one worships the formless pervasiveness of God, the results of our devotion are the same. God exists in both.

The sadhana (spiritual discipline) can be to realize God as formless (nirguna) or with form (saguna). When one walks, the right foot and left foot are both necessary; you cannot hop long on one foot! The saguna sadhana and the nirguna sadhana are as the two feet.

Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.26

4.“Atma Is Brahman”

The teaching of nondualism points to an inevitable conclusion: if we know the truth of ourselves, we know the truth of creation. The Upanishads state the important principle,”Atma is Brahman.” The formless reality of the individual is no different than the reality of the universe.

Einstein theoretically proved that all matter is composed of one finally homogeneous substance, energy. The saints also attest to this unitive principle, but they focus on its essential identity and call it God. When we gain spiritual realization, we know ourselves to be that very principle. We then know ourselves as God, reflected in the world as men and women and children.

What is realization? The moment you see your own beauty and are so filled with it that you forget all else, you are free from all bonds; you know that you are all the beauty, all the glory, all the power, all the magnitude of the universe…The reflection of Sivam (God) in the mirror of prakrithi (nature) is jiva (the individual).

Sathya Sai Speaks 4, p.167

It is difficult to understand how the universe is contained within the individual. However, it is possible to gain the experience of Brahman through spiritual discipline. We know all experiences unfold within us. A child’s perception of the world is very different from adult’s. But it is not the world that changes; it is our own attitudes and understanding which evolve.

With greater understanding, we realize we are one with all. No dividing line exists between self and other. Where can such a dividing line be found? Does the individual end at the limits of skin, vision, or mind?

For ordinary people, it is difficult to understand this infinite nature of divinity. To recognize and understand Brahman, we should ourselves be able to experience Brahman. One who comprehends Brahman becomes identical with Brahman.

Summer Showers 1977, p.3

5. How Can We Understand Nondualism?

If we could in an instant realize that all creation is God, we would cease our search and speculation. The whole of creation is complete and perfect. God encompasses all opposites. Our destiny is to merge with the wholeness of life. We are bound only by the limitations of our experiential knowledge.

As unreal as the limited personality is, bondage is just as unreal. The idea of bondage, like that of liberation, results from the confusion of our minds.

The mind of man alone is responsible for both his bondage and his liberation. The difference between bondage and liberation exists only in our thought.

Summer Showers 1974, p.12

The perception of bondage is a creation of the ego’s manufacture. It is a self-deception of desire and ignorance. In fact, the creation is full and complete when we cease separating it in our minds. To realize this is to experience the truth and bliss of our basic nature. It is our immediate duty and ultimate goal to experience Oneness.

So also the universe is but One, though you may be able to distinguish stars and planets, rock and tree, bird and birch, ant and antler in it. Whatever there is, Sarvam Brahmamayam, all is Brahmam. It is all sat-chit-ananda (truth-consciousness-bliss), no more, no less. Realization of this great truth is the only purpose…

Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.302

6. Why Seek the Basis?

We seek the spiritual basis of creation because once it is known, all else is known. It is the key to understanding and inner peace. Without comprehension of Oneness, nothing else can be truly understood. Without understanding, we are held by the spell of maya. Correct action depends on correct knowledge.

The results of pursuing nondualism are found in greater peace and equanimity. When we enlarge our vision to encompass all, we live free from the snares of ego. The worries and frailties which haunt us disappear in unity.

When One is realized, there can be no fear, for how can One fear itself? There can also be no desire, for when there is no second, how can the desire to possess arise? Neither can there be envy, hatred, greed, pride nor any of the evil passions that torment man and allow him no peace. The awareness of One ensures unshaken tranquility, prasanthi.

Sathya Sai Speaks 10, p.103

When we accept the divine will as it manifests in this world, we become satisfied with playing our part in the drama. We learn to accept the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. All is the work and wisdom of God. All creatures are manifold aspects of oneself – the divine. When we achieve this realization, we can live at peace with ourselves and with “others.”

One result of this self-realization has been the recognition of everyone else as but the reflection of oneself – the true basis of unity of mankind.

Sathya Sai Speaks 5, p.110

Questions for Study Circle:

Is it possible for us to experience a nondual state?
Why does Oneness appear as many?
What is the most basic unitive element?
If one knows the self, does one also know the reality of all else?
Why are there so many religions and so many names for one God?
How is unity realized in day-to-day life?
Is it possible to realize another’s joy or sorrow as our own?
Where does “self” end and “other” begin?
Is it better to worship God with form or without form?
Why should we seek unity?

References for Further Study:

Gita Vahini, pp.112-113 (All action is performed by the Lord.)
Gita Vahini, pp.193-194 (God is equally pleased to be worshiped with or without form.)
Sathya Sai Speaks 4, p.233.
Sathya Sai Speaks 9, pp.89-91.
Summer Showers 1972, pp. 129-130 (God is in the world like sugar in a glass of water).
Summer Showers 1972, p.130 (One can only talk about nondualism when one has experienced it).
Summer Showers 1972, pp.260-274 (Dualism, qualified nondualism, nondualism).
Summer Showers 1973, pp.245-246.
Summer Showers 1974, pp.48-49 (Why there are so many religions and names of God).
Summer Showers 1974, pp.134-135 (Shankara’s nondualism).
Summer Showers 1977, pp.46-55.
Summer Showers 1978, pp.91, 98-101.
Summer Showers 1978, pp.163-164 (Worship of form and formless go together).
Summer Showers 1978, p.173 (Prahlada worshiped formless God).
Summer Showers 1979, pp.99, 102.
Summer Showers 1979, p.157 (All religions lead to God).
Vidya Vahini, p.61 (The basic truth of creation is unity).