Divine force—”Seek It…”
“There is a force within you that gives you life. Seek it.”
This is widely attributed to Hazrat Rumi.
The same truth is pointed to from another perspective by Sri Ramana Maharshi:
“You function by the very force of Grace that moves you.”
When we look deeply into these two statements, we find that both turn the human being away from the external world and inward, toward the source within.
What is it that keeps us alive?
We breathe.
The heart beats.
Blood circulates.
Food is digested.
The body grows.
The mind thinks.
The senses perceive.
Even while we are asleep and doing nothing consciously, the biological processes of the body continue uninterrupted.
What is that fundamental force that drives all these processes?
Modern physics holds that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. At the same time, the Vedantic and Sufi wisdom traditions point, in different languages, toward a fundamental reality underlying life itself.
Thinkers such as Erwin Schrödinger were deeply influenced by the Vedantic idea of One Consciousness/force. In his philosophical reflections, we find the view that behind the apparent multiplicity of individual beings, there is one underlying consciousness/force, one universal mind.
The countless living beings that appear in this world may differ in form and characteristics, yet at the very foundation of their life processes there seems to be a common mystery.
Every human body is composed of countless living cells.
“Not even an atom moves without Him.”
Here, “Him” may be understood as pointing to the same ultimate reality that different traditions call the formless Brahman, Allah, God, or the Supreme Reality that pervades everything without exception.
The word “atom” here may be understood metaphorically, referring to the most subtle constituents of life.
His essential nature is to set everything in motion.
Just as an object and its inherent property cannot be completely separated, the Supreme Reality and the dynamic power through which it manifests cannot truly be separated.
In this sense, behind every movement of this human body, composed of countless living cells, is that mysterious, unseen power.
Not even an atom moves without Him.
It is that force that gives life to the cells.
Where is it?
It is present between every inhalation and exhalation…
Before every thought…
Before every movement…
Before every sensation…
It is simply there.
Pay attention to it.
Feel its presence in every movement of the body.
Notice the presence that exists before the breath arises…
The silence that exists before a thought appears…
The power that exists before an action takes place…
Discover it. Experience it.
That very force is the foundation of—
appearance and disappearance,
existence and non-existence,
growth and decay,
knowledge and its functioning,
the mind and its thoughts,
inhalation and exhalation,
sleep and wakefulness,
every movement of the body,
and every sensation that arises through the senses.
Through the grace of the Guru, one gradually begins to experience directly that this very force is the foundation underlying all of these.
Then one is no longer merely someone who knows about that power.
One begins to become established in the awareness of that force itself.
As one continuously observes the force within—
with every breath,
before every thought,
before every movement…
At a certain point, an inner realization dawns:
“This body is that.
This life is that.
This world is that.
There is no separate ‘I’ apart from that.”
Then the duality between “I” and “That” gradually disappears.
Transcending all distinctions such as—
existence and non-existence,
movement and stillness,
action and actionlessness,
coming and going,
darkness and light—
One merges into the formless, limitless, all-pervading Brahmanic force.
“Consciousness is He; life is He.
Union is He; separation is He.
One cannot even think of Him as something separate;
When realized, He stands as intimately as the fragrance within a flower.”
These are the concluding verses traditionally associated with Thirumoolar’s Thirumandiram.
Consciousness/force is He…
Life is He…
Union is He…
Separation is He…
The vision pointed to by Thirumoolar leads us toward the One Supreme Reality that lies at the foundation of everything that appears as separate and distinct.
Perhaps this is also the deeper spiritual meaning of Rumi’s invitation:
“There is a force within you that gives you life. Seek it.”
To know it is wisdom.
To become established in it,
to transcend the distinction that says,
“That is different; I am different.”
and to become that itself—is liberation.
And thereafter…
One does not return to the state of being a separate “I.”
Because—
What he was seeking had always been within him.
The very power he was searching for
had always been present as his life,
as his consciousness,
and as his very existence.
The seeker disappeared.
Only that which was sought remained.
That is—
“Tat Tvam Asi”—That Thou Art.
Sri Gurubhyo Namaha 🙏
Aadesh 