Oneness

 by Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati

We are part of everything. The world, and indeed the entire universe, is a living, vibrant entity. Everything has a soul. The universe is a sacred place - permeated by an Underlying Intelligence. As individuals, we are inextricable parts of IT. We should seek to change the quality of our perception so that we know this to be a fact and not just a concept. Yoga helps us in this process of realisation.

In this way, we will learn to respect both the living and what is usually considered as non-living. We will realise, in fact, that everything in a sense is living, even so-called inert matter - everything is imbued with Intelligence.

Our frenetic lives don’t give us the time or inspiration to contemplate the wonders of nature. Our world is often utilitarian - grubby pollution, dirty streets, endless advertising hoardings, ugly high rise blocks of flats. How can we feel inspired?

Despite the pressing needs of day to day living, Yoga offers us a gift - the possibility of refining our perception. Then we would be able to appreciate the wonder of life and really start to live. We would ‘make time’ to go into nature and hug a tree, look at the wonder of a flower, see a butterfly flutter across a patch of grassland, listen to a bird sing, watch a buzzard or kite gliding in the breeze. We would feel the caress of inspiration in our heart and would truly start to understand William Blake when he said:

"To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."

Even the tiniest stone has Spirit within it. It is animated by Spirit. It is living. The Spirit can be seen in everything, every bird that sings, every animal that walks the earth and every child that laughs. The Spirit is also within each of us. We are Spiritual beings with physical bodies.

Everything is connected through Spirit or Consciousness - call it what you like! When we conclusively know this to be true, we will feel a sense of awe at the immensity, interconnectedness and Oneness of everything.