Enter the Peace of Dissolution (Ashtavakra Gita 5.2) - 1st November 2016

Now we go to the second verse: 'The universe arises from you like foam from the sea. Know yourself as one; enter the peace of dissolution.' So, the first way is: are you aware now? Awareness aware of itself. You come as being, as Consciousness; you come to the recognition of what you are. You are that awareness which remains immaculate.

The second way that the sage talks about is to see that there is no fundamental difference between the finger and the hand. So, the finger comes from the hand and yet it remains part of the hand. So, 'I am' is also 'I'. Consciousness is also awareness; it is made up of awareness. My master calls it the dynamic aspect of awareness. To see that this being is not separate from this seeing, from this awareness, but just an aspect of it—like the Yin and the Yang, like Shiva and Parvati—they are not two.

And therefore, all that emerges in the light of this presence, in the light of Consciousness, also arises from within me and plays itself out and comes back to its own source. Therefore, not two have ever arisen. There is no distinction between 'I' and 'I am'. The Yin and the Yang are one circle. Shiva and Parvati are one. It is 'I am'; it is not two.

All of this universe is just a layer, and sometimes a stormy-seeming layer, on top of the ocean where all movement happens. The waves are not separate from the ocean. So, the waves called these universes, they arise and they fall within myself. They never were two; there is only one. And as you see this, you enter the peace of dissolution because you are not in resistance to anything. The waves are allowed to dance. All these universes can come and go. The sense of being can play and come back to its own source. As you see that this non-phenomenal Self and this appearance of phenomena, they are one, not two, there is peace. So, this is the second way.