There is scope here for some distortion – of another retelling. There is fear too. Of being forgotten. Lost in the “annals of history” as they say. Time is a consequence of space some say and others that space is a consequence of consciousness. And what is consciousness a consequence of? Itself surely.
Being and becoming
In India, Shiva is also called Bhava (being) and his consort Shakti is known as the great refuge granter Bhavani (becoming). Bhavam Bhavami sahitam namami. The ancient song goes “I salute to Shiva as Bhava, being, accompanied by Bhavani, becoming."
Being is easy, the yogis, just be, rest in the self. But becoming is difficult. It involves Maya, illusion. What do we become? This is the question.
The Seer of the Sight
Are we the sight being observed? Are we the act of seeing? Are we the seer? Are we all three? The triad itself. Or are we as the Upanishads tell us, the seer of the seer. The seer behind all seers of sights profound and profane thrown up by Maya illusion. As this final seer we are non-doers. We are the Sakshis. The witnessing consciousness. We are the observers not the observation.
Inaction in action
We don’t act. The senses act, it is said. The karmeindreyas and the jnanaendriyas, it is they who perform the action. But due to mental confusion of the self with the non self we think we have acted. Life a confusion, or it is a stillness. When the stillness of yoga sets in the confusion disappears.
Maya and Advaita
The illusion of a separate existence exists. But it melts away too. With nonduality we all can realise advaita. The pause within the pause, connecting all pauses. The nondual real. And even the nondual unreal. For did being not arise from non being. That is what the creation hymn from the Rig Veda tells us.
