#33 Dissolving World Meditation

Consider the form of the entire universe being dissolved successively from the gross state to the subtle, and from the subtle state to the supreme, until finally one’s mind is dissolved. The world is part of God. It flows out from God.

Verse 56

How to do this Meditation

• Now, one has to imagine this process being reversed. Just as a wave subsides back into water, a pot dissolves into clay, or a bracelet dissolves into metal, meditate that the entire world dissolves into God.
• Practice this meditation sitting comfortably, and with eyes closed. Imagine the entire world or the universe slowly dissolving. First see it as a solid object. Then imagine it becoming liquid. After this, as gas or vapor.
• Finally, there is only space. When there is nothing left, only space, there will be awareness. Everything has dissolved into consciousness. You will be aware of this empty space, and aware of yourself being aware.
• At this stage, there is only one Observer, and that Observer is God. Nothing else exists. This meditation shows us Ultimate Reality the way it actually is.
• There is only God, and God is aware, and aware of Himself or Herself being aware. In the final stages of this meditation, you are just like that. There is nothing else. The universe has dissolved. There is only you being aware. And you are aware that you are aware. until finally one’s mind is dissolved.
• This meditation helps us identify with consciousness. We have two selves within us. There is our mind that keeps on thinking. This is our ego-self. Our ego is not real. It is something insubstantial, like a shadow. Then there is awareness – the witness within us, who observes all the events of our life. This is our Real Self. This verse helps us identify with the witness in us, not with our mind or ego. As we start identifying more with consciousness, our mind starts dissolving.
• Eventually, our mind disappears altogether. In this practice, the world and everything in it is being dissolved. Your body, your separate identity is also dissolving into One. When your separate identity dissolves, your mind also dissolves. In the end, when everything is gone, there is still consciousness. Everything has dissolved into consciousness. Consciousness is the Supreme State. God is Consciousness. Consciousness or awareness is the True Reality underlying the entire universe.