The Genius of Life Lies in
Experiencing the Creator in Creation
Speech by H.D. Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati
Switzerland, 25th May 1974

My adorations to the Presence of the Divine in your blessed hearts.

A musical voice is an asset, it is a value, it gives a personality, it puts a price on a person. And if a person is talented and has more talents than others, he is most desired in society. He is welcome everywhere, he has a value. He has a capacity which he can immediately apply. A musical voice is everywhere welcome, it's valuable. What is that which is the source of this value? And what is that value by having which we shall have every other value? And how to possess that value? That value which is the source of all values, and which can bring into manifestation numberless values, that is the highest Spirit in man. That is also the Spirit in the universe. And that is also that which transcends the universe. It is called God, the Divine.

He who has devotion to the Divine perpetually lodges the Divine in his heart.

Where the Divine dwells, there is the value of values, the supreme value. There the personality acquires every conceivable value. There is nothing which is wanting. It is the supreme fulfilment of life. One has every talent if one has the Divine in one's heart. When the Divine is lodged in one's heart through the power of devotion or through the power of wisdom, one's personality acquires immense value. All nature seeks the company of such a person. He is welcome everywhere. To have the Divine, to possess the Divine, to befriend the Divine, to dwell with the Divine, and to make the Divine dwell in one's heart, this is the supreme and ultimate blessing. In consequence of this, numberless blessings follow.

To have the Divine is to have a Mother and a Father, who accompany us after death.

To have the Divine is to have a Friend whose friendship is eternal, unbreakable, whose sacrifices for us can be endless.

To have the Divine is to have every capacity, every conceivable wealth, - most of all the wealth of love, and the wealth of wisdom.

There is no security anywhere in the world, no matter what we do, no matter what provisions we make for ourselves, there is security only if we befriend the Divine, the Supreme, the absolute Power, the absolute Life.

To seek the company of the Divine is to seek the gift of life eternal, is to own a source of knowledge which is inexhaustible.

Our daily conduct, the life within our heart, the life within our consciousness, has to be such that the Divine perpetually dwells in our hearts. And when the Divine dwells in our hearts we have unending wisdom, unending knowledge, illimitable love, illimitable life, a treasure everywhere, a joy that is perpetual, a peace which is our essential nature. Life can be enriched truly, and consummately, only by companionship with the Divine.

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The Creator is infinitely superior to everything that is created. Every man in the world strives for something or the other within creation, - and he is the greatest man who strives after the Creator himself. To strive after the Creator, to make the Creator dwell in our hearts, to walk with us, to be with us, in all conditions, this is the greatest blessing, this is the ultimate fulfilment of life, this is to have something which nothing in creation can ever give.

Everything in creation, no matter how precious and valuable it be, is infinitely less than the Creator. What do you need then, something in creation, or the Creator Himself? To ask for and to strive after that which is in creation, is asking for and striving after that which is perishable, something that falls away through our fingers.

Life in the physical body is temporary, everything that it seeks after is also temporary. Anything temporary, no matter how pleasant it can be, no matter what it promises, is something that is going to fail us. Even if you have everything that the creation can offer you, you will still be wanting, still there is something missing, still there is discontentment, still there is some frustration, some fundamental and residual restlessness. Therefore wisdom compels the seeking and earnest heart to shift its central interest onto the Creator.

* * *

No-one can say how many times the world has come into existence and disappeared; no scientist can ever imagine, no matter how great a genius he is. It is childish to say that the universe has been created for the first time. What was there before this universe came into existence? Perhaps another universe. What was there before that? Perhaps some other manifestation. What was there before that? You can go on questioning, and you will find an endless number of universes that might have risen and disappeared.

There is a symbolic presentation of the time and the timeless, in one small field of Hinduism. The Kali, or the Divinity of timelessness, wearing upon Herself time-eternity. There are skulls on the body of this Divinity. When you ask the person who knows what it is all about, can you please explain to us what this garland of skulls means? The man who knows something about this science, of this symbology, at once tells you that every skull is a universe. Numberless universes have risen and disappeared.

Let us say every universe lasts for several million or billions of years. After that what happens? Perhaps there is another creation. From the timeless bosom of the infinite Reality, another universe comes into manifestation. Like thoughts rising and disappearing, like dreams rising up and disappearing, - numberless thoughts and dreams rise up and disappear in the infinite Intelligence of the Divine. Such time-formed universes are countless, and that chain of skulls means: so many, a countless number of universes have disappeared. From where have they come, and where have they disappeared? Who wears them? It is the timeless Reality, Kali. That Being which is timeless, wears all time-eternities.

Our universe is one among the countless universes that have risen and disappeared. And there will be countless numbers of universes in the future. Who is great? This beautiful universe, or That which has formed this universe? That from which this universe has come as a temporary structure, which will soon disappear, even if that 'soon' be millions and millions of years? Certainly the Creator is the greater.

If you could only reflect upon the meaning of "Gro'er Gott", ("O Great God") the song that you often sing*, you will be led from one reality to another, until you discover that which is the greatest of all greatest things: the Truth, the Timeless, the Infinite, the Eternal, the Absolute, the Divine. If you befriend that Divinity you attain eternal life. You are liberated from the hold of the universe.

Everything that is within the universe is subject to the conditions which have formed the universe. And these conditions tyrannise the human spirit. Man longs for peace, and peace is nowhere to be found. Man longs for happiness. He has twenty houses in Switzerland, forty in Germany, hundred in Russia, two hundred in England, yet the man is restless, unhappy. Money he does not lack, friends he does not lack, all the world admires him, yet the heart is restless, yet the problems are tyrannising.

No matter how much wealth you have, or how much beauty, or how much physical strength, no matter how fine your senses be, and what keen pleasures they bring you, you will be restless. Something in your heart creates disturbance, a sense of want. You will always look for something else. You are condemned to do so, so long as you are in creation. No matter who you are, poet, rich man, king, genius, no matter what you are, you will be perpetually restless; the spirit in you would have no satisfaction worth mentioning; you will be always seeking, even if you do not know what you are seeking.

* * *

The most wonderful thing about you is that though you are yourself a product of the product that the universe is, you carry in yourself the Creator. This is the one factor which elevates you above the universe. So long as this is so, you are theoretically at least assured of total freedom from the limitations which the universe imposes on you. You can make this a practical fact by your personal striving.

The Creator, who is infinitely greater than everything that is created, is within you, while all the time transcending 'you'. Let us say in a bottle there is space, or air. Though the air is inside the bottle, there is also air outside the bottle. Perhaps also in the pores of the bottle. While being in the bottle, it is also outside the bottle, it transcends the boundaries of the bottle. Even so, the Spirit called the Creator, while being in your inner being, He transcends the limitations of your body, of your mind, of every psychological and psychical principle in you. This fact makes you the crown of creation, this fact confers upon you unending dignity, and makes you heir to everything the Divine has.

Everything that is visible in the universe is nothing compared to that which is within you. That's why great spiritual scriptures in their wonderful wisdom say, "That which is within you is greater than what is without you." What is without you? The whole universe, the sun and the moon and the stars, the planets, the entire world, the entire universe, all this is outside you. But what is outside you, no matter if it be immeasurable space, or endless mountains of gold and diamonds, or endless seas of milk and butter and honey, no matter what it is, what power it is, what value it is, - all this is smaller than what is within you. What is within you is always the greater. If you can conceive of something very great, be sure there is something greater than that, and that is within you. What could be that marvellous thing? It is the Divine, God, the Creator.

It is this fact that is the cause for your restlessness. You are conscious of something great, but you are not definite about what it is. You hunger for something great, but you do not know what it is. You are frustrated in your attempts to attain it. The human problem can ultimately be reduced to the simple fact that - it arises from the fact that there is deep in your soul something Great, which is satisfied by nothing, which could be satisfied only by infinite Joy, infinite Life, infinite Knowledge, infinite Beauty and Power, which are characteristics and natural attributes of the inner Spirit within you. This greatest Being is your real life of life. That has to be befriended.

Man in general is restlessly conquering the outer world. Though man steps on and walks on the moon, man is not a grain happier for it, nor has he solved one millionth of his problems. He is more miserable for his conquest of the moon, he has new fears, he has new problems to face. Science has enabled him to step on the moon, but it has completely destroyed the environment, it has destroyed the earth, its natural resources, its pure air, everything it has destroyed. That which seems to be a blessing turns out to be a curse. There are problems above problems. Nothing in the creation has the real solution to the problems of life. The solution to the problems of life lies in only one place: in the hands of the Creator.

The doctor is within creation and he has not the solution to the problems of life. He is himself worried, his ability to help is limited. The rich man has not the solution to the problems of life. The wisest man has not the solution to the problems of life. The most beautiful person, or the most gifted person, the most desired person, has no solution to the serious problems of life. Nothing in creation, not all its beauty, not all its wealth, nor all its resources can make you permanently happy. No matter that all the fruit trees all over the world belong to you, all the pearls in all the seas belong to you, even then they do not make you a little happier. If that makes you a little happy, quickly that happiness is overcome by other problems. Even if you embrace the whole creation as your personal possession, you shall never be happy. Perhaps all the birds all over the world join together to make perpetual music for you. All the beautiful rivers and the seas of the world may wash your feet in honour of you. Even then you will not be happy. Perhaps all the factories around the world will be busy producing whatever you want, even then you will not be happy. Perhaps all people, all mankind become poets, and begin to write praises of you, even then your heart will find no rest and peace. While your face smiles at the praises that the men can give you, secretly the heart within is being torn by its own sorrow. There is only one place where you can find rest and peace and joy and power and strength in life: catch the Creator. That is your Lover, that is your Father, that is the Soul of your life, that is the secret of all satisfaction, that is the supreme creative Principle.

Befriend the Creator, talk with Him, converse with Him, cultivate relations with Him. He is all-sensitive, every word of yours is heard by Him, every thought of yours is seen by Him, every feeling in your heart is felt by Him. He responds to you, in a way nothing else in the world can respond to you. Before your own ears can hear your words, He hears you. He is closer to your words than your tongue is to your words. He is the pervading Reality, the intelligence of intelligence, the space of space, the oxygen of oxygen, the supremely creative Principle. Even if God were to produce an endless number of geniuses, and numberless universes, nothing of His wisdom and His creative capacity is exhausted. He has endless possibilities.

Millions and countless numbers of universes like this may appear and disappear. Scientists say many stars have already died, though they are still visible to us. Many universes have already disappeared, and many more are on the way to disappearance. What is that mysterious Intelligence from which all this emerges? God. A mighty Presence, present with every man, in all creation, at the same time transcending all creation. It is not caught up in the universe which It has projected, It is always infinitely greater than the universe.

Man as he is constituted seems to be a helpless tiny creature in this gigantic world of gigantic powers and forces. Yet such a man has the highest redeeming Principle in him, the whole of the Creator is in him. The Image of God is not different from God Himself, it is one and the same, there are no two Gods. This Divinity holds the real key to all our problems. He is the truest and the final and consummate fulfilment of life. Try to establish in your own way relations with this divine Being, - with this which is the greatest of the greatest, which is very sensitive everywhere, which is recording everything everywhere, which knows everything everywhere, which is sustaining everything everywhere, and which is transcending everything everywhere.

Maybe by meditation, or by prayer, or by the noblest conduct, or by devotion, or by any other method, or by all methods, try to establish relations with this supreme Creator.

Merely to address this supreme Creator is a great gain. Human history is full of noblest examples of persons who have conversed with the infinite Peace, who have experienced the eternal life while being in this mortal body, who have tasted the boundless infinite Power while yet being helplessly caught up in this physical form. Being in the limitations in which we are, in this universe, we can still here and now experience That which transcends the universe, while sustaining the universe.

The whole genius of life in creation lies in its capacity to experience the Creator. Every creature is richer for a mere awareness of the Creator. The creature which is destined to perish, whether it is a lizard, whether it is a fly, man, bird, fish, no matter what the creature is, - an elephant, a lion, a snake, a child, - no matter what the creature is, it has a formed body, it perishes. Every creature is a perishable thing, the whole creation itself is perishable, even if the creation endures beyond our bodies, even when the creation has a longer life than the creatures. Everything is perishable. In this perishability the only way out is to have a hold on the Creator. To have a hold on the Creator is to lose our mortality, the fear of death. The possibility of perishing is taken away the moment we have a hold on the Imperishable, the Creator.

Not only is the mortality lost, and a conscious awareness of the Immortal gained, but one dwells in perpetual delight, ever-new joy, the fullness of joy. There is the true satisfaction, therein is the real rest for man. Nothing in life is a greater goal, and is more valuable.

Blessed are those creatures who seek to befriend the Creator.

All that you see, or hear, or think of, is within creation. The whole creation as such is marked by perishability, imperfections. No matter what it is, it shares the characteristics of the creation which are imperfect. Therefore it becomes the duty of everything created to turn towards the Creator, to befriend the Creator, to reflect upon the nature of the Creator, to find roads and ways by which one can contact the Creator, to live in the Creator while yet living in the creation.

The problems of life resolve themselves the moment we learn to dwell consciously in the Creator. From one point of view, we are already living in the Creator, but we are not conscious of it. It needed the spiritual greatness of Saints to recognise that we are living and moving and having our being in the Creator. Such spiritual greatness not all have, and therefore from one point of view they are not living, moving and having their being in the Creator. If all could grow conscious of this fact that we live, move and have our being in the Creator, then everyone would lose the limitations of being a creature. Everyone would then subsist in unbreakable peace and joy, wisdom and freedom, unbreakable wisdom and freedom, illimitable wisdom and freedom. Consciously to move, live and have our being in the Creator - this is the key and the solution to the riddle of human life.

* * *

Creature that you are, you are greater than creation. Is that not a paradox, a puzzle? You are not even stronger than a pebble, and there is no-one who can count the number of pebbles in the universe, yet you are greater than the creation. What makes this possible for you? The mere fact that the Creator dwells in your inner being. By this reason you are infinitely greater than the creation, no matter how great the creation is, how valuable everything within creation be.

Look at the great emperors of the world through thousands of years. Each thought he would make himself happy by conquering new lands, when he has much wealth, when he has many pleasures. Every emperor almost had everything that he wanted, but few mortals were more miserable than these emperors, and few have met a death that they had met with. So nothing in creation can really make you happy.

You are a great doctor, you are getting much money, you own many wonderful houses, you have much wealth, you have everything that a man could desire, - yet you will have serious problems, yet your intelligence will give you no rest. Therefore be wise, try to contemplate the Presence of the Creator. Devote a little, something of the time of your wonderful and hard-working life, to the Divine. That is the best investment, and you will find you will have everything that you need, and much more shall be added unto you.

Always strive to befriend the Creator. When all friends in life fail you, this Friend will never fail you. When wealth fails you, this wealth will never fail you. It is ever-creative wealth. It is inexhaustible wealth. So wisdom says, "Keep, if not one of the two eyes upon the Divine, keep at least a little glance from one of the eyes upon the Divine." That would be sufficient to secure for you every kind of security. And that would be sufficient also to cause in you that wisdom which will awaken a third eye in you which is constantly focussed on the Divine. From such a focussing you will draw resources which are non-existent in the whole creation. You hear of beautiful mountains, green mountains, red mountains, blue skies, diamond fields, pearl floors in the sea, you hear of everything, but you don't hear of mountains of peace, or seas of joy, or oceans of life, or forests of creative intelligence. These resources are in you. The Creator within you has endless mines, mines of peace and joy and creative intelligence, all wonders, all treasures.

This fact also makes of life a big question-mark, a big challenge. All science is purely aiming at the conquest of the creation, and therefore it is absolutely helpless to grant man peace or wisdom or happiness or freedom worth the name. All science therefore fails us, nothing in creation can satisfy us, can solve the fundamental riddles of life, can grant us immortality, everlasting peace, creative intelligence, everlasting joy. No matter what the sciences gain for us, it is something gained within creation, and nothing in creation is of any value where the fundamental questions of life and soul are concerned.

Science says, "We will create new energy." Good you create new energy, but you will also create new problems. We are not happy for the petrol we have, though it brings us much comforts. And now petrol is coming to an end, and you are miserable. You produce another energy, that you will produce from some other resource in creation. Again that comes to an end, creating new problems. Nothing in the creation can satisfy the heart of man. So, all science from this standpoint is useless, more a disservice than a service. But any science which turns its attention to the Creator is a great science, an immortal science, leading to the conscious experience of the Immortal, leading us to sources, resources which are inexhaustible.

The waters of the world can be exhausted, but nothing can exhaust the resources in the creative Intelligence of the Creator. All resources in the Creator are inexhaustible, unlimited. Use them unlimitedly, endlessly, still they are endless and unlimited. Inexhaustible resources, in whatever it be, be it in power, energy, intelligence, music, happiness, peace, freedom, beauty, genius, life, - no matter in what field, the resources in the Creator are inexhaustible. Therefore wisdom tells us: turn to the Divine. You have 24 hours a day. Please, at least 20 seconds or 24 minutes a day, devote to the Divine. You will be richer for it, you will be more peaceful for it. You will find new channels struck in order the resources from the Creator come into you, the creature within the creation. These channels will constantly feed you with inexhaustible resources.

The creature within creation that man is, owes himself the duty of somehow discovering the Creator and establishing relations with Him, of discovering the Divine and establishing relations with It. Wherever you may be, in whatever circumstances you may be, just think of the Creator, and you will find that Creator thinking of you a thousand times. He has a million hearts, and one boundless heart of infinite and inexhaustible love. Every little thought concerning the Creator compels the Divine, the Creator, to think of you a thousand times.

When the child brings one little chocolate to the mother and gives it, automatically the mother gives the child back a box full of chocolates. God being the supreme Mother of the creation, which has come out of Him, which He is sustaining, which is His responsibility, this Divinity is by His very nature boundless Compassion, He is infinite Love.
No matter where you are, maybe in the bank, as a director, sitting at your office table, maybe you are in a car as a taxi-driver, or a housewife, just preparing the tomato soup, no matter where you are, in what conditions, just think of the Creator, you have thousand ways out of creation open for you, ways out of the limitations of creation. As a housewife you become the greatest creature among the creatures in the universe, by the kind of relations you can establish with the Creator. While washing the dishes Brother Lawrence has established relations with the Creator. Thus many great men of God have established in many conditions and circumstances and situations of life, relations with the Creator.

Every little thought devoted to the Divine enriches you in a manner as nothing in creation can enrich you even if you possess the whole of it. Man is not merely a creature among many creatures in creation, but the bearer of the Creator in creation, and therefore by that very reason, supremely great. He is greater than the creation. Without that Creator he is no more than a dry and broken reed. It is the Presence of the Creator in the inner spirit of man that makes him greater than the creation. With that much of greatness that you bear in your soul, why have you to beg for small solutions in the created universe? Turn to the Creator, and you will find numberless inner resources constantly serving you. No matter what energies science can create in consequence of the best function of the best genius of the best scientists, it will have an end, it will be accompanied by problems. No-one can exhaust the love in your heart, no-one can exhaust the peace in your heart if you have contact with the Creator. No-one can exhaust the joy, the beauty, the knowledge in your being if you have contact with the Creator. You have inexhaustible resources. The earlier you recognise this fact, the more noble, dignified, valuable your life becomes.

All that you need to do every day is to turn a little of your thought towards the Creator, and when possible devote a little time for Him, do some selfless service, seek to develop your love and extend it to creation. Seek for that knowledge which is not pertaining to creation, but pertaining to the Creator. Biology pertains to creation, physics pertains to creation, sciences, literature, economics, all social sciences, all material sciences, pertain to creation, these will not help us ultimately. Seek a little of knowledge, science, pertaining to the Creator. That is real knowledge, that is the most essential science. A little of that is necessary for the beauty and the peace and the harmony and the progress of life. And if you have more of it, your life becomes more beautiful, more strong, more peaceful, and more free from problems which make life more ugly. Freedom of every kind, beauty of every kind, wisdom of every kind, art of every kind seek to find their expression through your personality, when you seek to know the Creator, when you seek to establish some kind of relation or the other with the Creator.

Liberation ultimate and absolute is possible because you are not a condemned creature in creation, but a creature bearing the whole of the Creator in yourself. This is the security and assurance of your total liberation and freedom.

For true freedom, true peace, true joy of life, and for eternal life, you have to turn to the Creator, the highest Principle within us, the highest Principle within the creation, and the highest Principle which transcends all that is created.

Let us meditate upon It for a few minutes, and enrich ourselves in this creation with Its endless Peace and Joy and Light and Beauty. Om ...

I offer my heartfelt prayers to the Divine to open in your blessed lives many ways by which you are in constant contact with the supreme Creator. May your love, your wisdom, secure for you many forms of relations with the Creator, and make of your life a thing eternal in the mortal field, in the field of creation. Even when the creation disappears, that which is eternal in you remains, lacking nothing. It lacks nothing, it has perpetual fulfilment in itself, ever-new fulfilment, and absolute fulfilment.

My gratitude and thanks for everyone.

- Swami Omkarananda