Oneness

Tarun Pradhaan

*This article provides a simple idea of oneness to a beginner without going into the details of the path of knowledge or without requiring self realisation.*

When I ask who am I, I immediately get the answer that I am a human, man/woman of a certain age etc. However, going deeper, it seems that I am a thinking being also, with thoughts, emotions, desires etc. Then I am a knowing being also with awareness of self and perceptions of all kinds.

Can we go further? Is there anything else, which can be me? Or a part of me?

This can be known by a simple technique. Remove an aspect of what you think you are and see if you can still exist. If you can, then it is not included in what I am. So we can start applying this technique, starting with whatever is familiar to us. Let's take body, if we make it disappear, am I there? Do I still exist? The answer is obviously no. Body is my necessary part, in fact, even if some important organs in the body disappear, I will not exist, or if some minute but important processes disappear (such as cell division etc.), I will not exist. So the whole system of the body, the organism, is a necessary part of me.

That brings us to the mind - thoughts, desires, emotions, pain, pleasure etc. What if it disappeared? And the answer is the same, I will not exist. In fact, if any of these mental activities stop, I will not remain either. If there is only sadness, no happiness, it is not a complete me, and if there is no sadness at all, only happiness, it will be meaningless to say I am happy. All these mental aspects are necessary for me.

What if we remove the food, water or air? Surely, I will disappear in minutes, if these disappear. So it seems they are a necessary part of me, as per our definition given above. Can food, water or air remain, if the earth disappears? Obviously, no. So the whole earth is my part. In fact, I will not exist if some important processes on earth stop, such as day/night, climate or rain etc.

Can the earth remain as it is, if the sun disappears? Now, you can see where it is going. Earth will not be livable in that case, so I will not be there, no one will be there. Sun or any other star exists because of the important processes of gravity, formation of matter and stars or galaxies, play of energy etc. Sun or any star is needed, and so this whole universe is needed, so that I can be. They are all my necessary parts. Or you can say aspects. Even if one goes, the entire me is gone.

So it takes the **whole** for me to be there, the whole is nothing but me, appearing as divided aspects of me. It is my ignorance that I thought I am separate from the whole. There is no **I** separate and independent from the whole.

If something seems to be unnecessary or redundant from my narrow point of view, it is still necessary for someone else, some other creature. Since all is me, as per above discussion, all creatures are me also, and hence that which is assumed as unnecessary is also necessary from the broader or wholistic point of view.

The same conclusion is drawn in other words - there is no me, there is only the whole. It means the same. Either I am the whole existence, or I am not anything at all. The *I* is an illusion, which appeared for a while due to its ignorance. I was always whole and complete.