Did God create the universe or become it (ft. Murali Venkatrao)
Good morning, everyone. I have two pages of notes today because the topic is a pretty heady one. Did God create the universe or become it? I’ll speak a little bit about it because it’s a very interesting topic and it’s kind of fun to stay in the headspace of that topic. What’s startling about this topic is, when you get into it, when you get into the essence of this question, it becomes an extremely practical thing. Not so much to think about, but to implement. It has consequences in our life.
Remember, the topic is: did God create the universe? Meaning, is He out there somewhere and the material universe is here, and in a sense, we are doomed to be here unless we admit to the fact that we are sinners and need to be redeemed to go there. That’s one choice.
And door number two says, God became the universe. Everything is imbued with the essence, so we are already that which we seek. So those are the two doors.
And the reason it’s very practical is because we all live with two odd versions of reality about ourselves that we tend to go back and forth between. “I’m very fragile. Even the smallest thing is going to affect me deeply,” versus “I can do anything. I can be anything.” Sometimes within a space of hours, we go back and forth.
When you think about this, it is a very odd thing about the human condition. Why should we be like that? Why aren’t we so spectacularly unsure about who we are? It’s not just a little bit.
The art and science of Raja Yoga, which is a 13-week course, is going to begin around the end of this month. Around this time, I always begin to start reading a wonderful book that Swami Kriyananda, our founder, wrote. It’s called The Art and Science of Raja Yoga. I want to read you a passage from that and look for a pretty good joke to sneak in, as Swamiji is at his humorous best. But there are profound things here too.
“Oh, what a puny thing seems man. A cut on the arm, a careless slip in the bathtub, and he may die. What mighty efforts he must sometimes expend merely to open the honey jar, and how frantically the slightest turn in the weather sends him running to turn up the heat or the air conditioner. Amid the universe of wonders, he rejoices only that his baldness is less advanced than that of his fellow neighbors. But behold, the same weakling man has leapt across to the moon. He has probed universal mysteries. He has offered his own life heroically for the sake of others. It is within that man’s greatness lies outwardly his puniness. Indeed, one evening our guru remarked to a few of us, ‘I see all of you as light. You have no idea how beautiful even your physical bodies are behind their outward appearances.'”
You see, this captures the two versions of ourselves that we live with. There is a part of us that is so enamored of the essential miracle that is life, that it cannot help but constantly seek the infinite that miracle represents. And there is a part of us that is so afraid of the essential mortality of life. The word “life” itself captures the fact that there is no life at some point. We live in fear.
Did God create the universe or become it? Is the reason. Do we think of it one way or another? What do we identify with now, either through education or cultural factors or whatever. There are two creation stories that are vying for space in our heads. I’ll tell you both those creation stories.
The first one goes something like this: In the beginning, there was nothing. And as a quantum fluctuation, there appeared an enormous amount of energy. This energy expanded outwards with great speed. In this infant universe, there was so much energy that only light could exist. But as the universe expanded and cooled down, light coalesced into matter, and matter became stars and galaxies. And in an obscure galaxy in a distant corner of the universe, in a distant spiral arm of that galaxy, in an equally obscure star, there appeared a third planet where the conditions were just right. In the primordial soup of that planet, complex molecules began to form. One of them figured out how to replicate. From this replication, life forms developed, and there came plants, insects, cockroaches, fishes, frogs, birds, snakes, and chimpanzees.
Eventually, the brain became big enough that human beings arrived on the stage. One day, through a purely random process of neurotransmitters, brain chemistry, and electrical signals, one of those brains said, “I am.” Until then, there was nobody in the universe, nothing in the universe that was conscious until this brain randomly said, “I am.”
When that brain goes away, the “I am” goes away, and the universe doesn’t care; it returns back to randomness. Entropy begins to build up, and eventually, the universe dies. This is known as a heat death, the lack of energy anywhere. This is one creation story. There is a lot of evidence to this. Mind you, all of what I said is scientifically proven. Nobody made this up.
Here’s another creation story. This one is taken from the Vishnu Purana in one of the Hindu scriptures and goes something like this:
In the beginning, there was only a vast ocean of milk. In that ocean appeared a fig leaf on which was floating baby Vishnu, a fragment of the cosmic consciousness. Baby Vishnu was sucking his toes like all little babies do, and he had a beatific smile on his face that reflected ever-existing bliss, which lit up the ocean of milk around him.
Baby Vishnu had a desireless desire to share his bliss through others, and this desire manifested as a cosmic lotus that emerged from his navel. On that cosmic lotus sat an impossibly ancient being with four heads, the creator, Brahma. Like all manifested beings, Brahma began his life with an exhaling breath. What is the exhalation of Brahma? It is, of course, the intelligent cosmic sound of “Aum.”
As “Om” reverberated through the universe that was only consciousness at this point, it coalesced into galaxies, stars, Earth, DNA, plants, insects, cockroaches, fishes, birds, frogs, snakes, chimpanzees. Eventually, there emerged a being with a spine that was refined enough to say, “This universe is not the reality. My consciousness is the reality. Let me merge with it.” And he said, “I am.”
This is the second creation story. This is what is vying for a place in our heart space. What do we feel? What do we identify as?
If we say God created the universe, either through the Big Bang (which can easily fit into a theistic viewpoint and often does in the minds of many writers), we can say God is out there. Therefore, “I need to achieve. I need to be deserving because I am a sinner. I’m down here. I need to be deserving to go there.”
Everything that comes to us is a problem that needs to be solved, things that need to be replaced. This way of thinking is driven by the reality of the body, which is going to die at some point. Everything is driven by a ticking, relentless metronome that will catch up with all of us at some point. Therefore, our identification is one of, “Hurry, hurry, I need to do this, otherwise everlasting hell and sin,” or however we wish to frame that narrative.
If God created the universe, if God became the universe, things change. Things stand on their head in a very interesting way. In the Bhagavad Gita, it says that “I,” meaning God, the consciousness of God, like the thread that binds the beads of a necklace, sustain the universe through my consciousness, which lies underneath every atom of creation. In that case, you, I, and everybody are already that which we seek. So, enlightenment is not a process of achievement, but rather one of revelation. Our entire approach changes in the following way: we are not so much determined by the ability of the body, but by the habits and the level of consciousness in the mind.
One of the habits I brought into this lifetime was a deep, misguided conviction that without regular meals, I would feel tired. This was a big deal for me, and one of my yoga teachers from many years ago noticed this. We had trained for 15 days in a bootcamp-like setting. He realized this habit still defined my life in a significant way. This was in Sedona, and I told him I was going to Phoenix. He suggested I stop by the Grand Canyon on my way and hike as much as I could without food or water. He knew me well enough to give this advice, and it wasn’t as harsh as it might sound. There was a lot of kindness and understanding behind it.
I decided to try it. The drive from Sedona to the Grand Canyon takes about three hours. I committed to not eating or drinking anything. I took the Bright Angel Trail, which leads all the way to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. As I hiked, I kept thinking I should be falling down from exhaustion because I had run out of calories and was dehydrated. But each time, I held on to the belief that it was a false narrative. I convinced myself it was a bunch of baloney and that I was fine. After about two hours, I was fine. I didn’t make it all the way to the bottom, but I reached a place called Plateau Point, which is around 3,600 feet from the rim. I then hiked back up.
Although I reverted to my old habits of needing food afterward, the point is that human physiology adapts itself to our state of consciousness. It doesn’t mean we can fly off a building, but it does mean there is more to what we perceive, and it depends on the state of consciousness we exist in when confronted with day-to-day problems.
In the last third of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about seeking the Kingdom of God first. He sets the priorities for devotees, saying, “Seek ye the Kingdom of God first.” He also says, “Take therefore no thought of the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself,” meaning be in the present moment.
He then says something I’ve long reflected on because English is my second language. He says, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Initially, I thought it meant focusing on the evil or bad things of the day, but after reading various commentaries, I realized Jesus was not talking about immoral actions or Satan. He’s just saying there are enough challenges today that you don’t need to add to it by worrying about tomorrow. Then I thought, why “sufficient”? That has a ring of “just so,” just enough, no more, no less. He could have said, “You have plenty of challenges today. Don’t worry about tomorrow.” Uh-uh. Right? It’s sufficient.
And maybe, maybe I’m extracting a meaning that isn’t there, but it’s okay. It serves my purpose. And I’m going to tell you the meaning that I insist on extracting from this: it is enough. It is sufficient for us to try and live in divine consciousness throughout our challenges today.
Whatever they might be, they are both big enough and practical enough for us to go all the way. So, there is a way that we can tread our journey of this particular day where it is sufficient for us to reveal that which we really are. The more willpower, the more concentration we put into it, the more that happens. That’s why the spiritual path is famously, notoriously non-linear. It could be right now, this— you never know. The meditation at the end of today may be yet.
Sufficient unto the day we have been; everything we need for development is there in today’s milieu. It is in that fundamental sense that we need to leave tomorrow to God because God became creation. We are sparks of God. That’s why it has such great consequences.
You see, living in the present moment provides great assistance to us. This is all fine, sounds wonderful—sufficient unto the day the evil thereof. And I might get enlightened today, ha-ha, maybe, maybe too. I don’t want to laugh it off because after all, we do need to get enlightened someday—it might as well be today. But at the same time, we have lifetimes of practice of insufficient unto the day the evil thereof, in all kinds of ways.
Therefore, what is a practical way of living in that divine consciousness on a day-to-day basis? Yoga has given us many, many techniques for this. One of the more underrated ones is the technique of affirmations. It’s an entire thing on its own, but basically, it goes something like this: there is always the fact of some limitation that I am this, but the truth of my higher self is that I am not this.
In other words, the fact is that I might be tired, but the truth is that there is within me enough energy to accomplish everything, even though I feel tired. So, it’s fact versus truth. If we have the willpower to change the consciousness, then we tap into the higher source of energy, the higher source of peace, the higher source of self-control. This is what affirmations are.
That’s why you are affirming something that’s already true rather than positive thinking, wishful thinking, or fantasizing. Affirmations are something that is already true. To make it more concrete, a wonderful affirmation is, “Within me lies the energy to accomplish all that I will to do; behind my every act is God’s infinite power,” or the affirmation that we just did today, “I will love others as extensions of myself and of the love I feel from God.” These are all true no matter what. Even if you are having a terrible day and you don’t feel like loving anybody, the fact that this is who we essentially are remains.
So, using that, picking an affirmation, and working with it, affirmations are done very effectively when the mind is already calm. For those of you that are new to this, that’s why we did this right after meditation where it will stick. It will rewire the subconscious. But there is a trick to this, and this is at the heart of not just affirmations, but many spiritual practices.
In a large extended family, we are a total of eight siblings, and sibling number three, my brother Raj, had a very curious and interesting approach to life. I’m only recently realizing the full extent of it. From the age of 29 until he passed away at the age of 74, he was bedridden. When he first had knee surgery, then another knee surgery, then a hip surgery, which caused him to have spinal surgery, which then led to another hip surgery. He had surgeries all the way up his spine, little by little, and it went on and on. But here he was, never, ever identifying with all the things that were going on in his body. When we talked to him, even at 60 years of age with multiple surgeries and needing a lot of aid to do anything, he would always say, “In two months, just watch me. I’m going to walk 10 kilometers, six miles.” He had once walked six miles, and it had stuck in his head as a great achievement of the body. He would then go on to say, “I’ll become a great insurance salesman.” That was a big deal back in India in the eighties. He never identified with his limitations. He embodied the affirmation, “Within me lies the energy to accomplish all that I will to do.” No matter how tired he was, he always identified with his infinitude.
But here was the problem: there was no God in his life. That self-effort and the infinitude of the self, which is easy to feel with a little mastery over your energy and willpower, and with a calm mind, you can begin to feel how huge you are. It’s not that hard and has its own magnetism. You won’t let go of it. I’m certain many on the spiritual path have felt this attraction to their own inner power.
But there was no God in his life! Still, he had such an impact on all of us. We still recollect how he put many of us on the spiritual path. Today is the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, whom many of you have heard of. Born on January 12th, 1863, almost exactly 30 years later, Paramhansa Yogananda was born. In 1892, on September 11th, he came to Chicago and gave a famous speech that had a big impact on bringing yoga to America.
He used to say one thing, which became almost a slogan for India during that time and even now: “Arise, awake, stop not until you reach the goal.” We used to recite it in school. It speaks to the fact that a certain amount of steel and discipline is required, but that’s not enough.
Our self-effort has to be connected to the deepest part of our divine status so that we can be lifted out of the slumber. If you go back to the affirmation, “Within me lies the energy to accomplish all that I will to do; behind my every act is God’s infinite power,” you see that the second part is very important. Without that, affirmations or pretty much any spiritual practice becomes a turbocharged way of making the ego bigger because they are very powerful.
Even today’s affirmation, “I will love others as extensions of myself,” could be approached as “I’m going to love no matter what.” But isn’t it so much more sustainable, scalable, and transformative when you add the second part, “I will love others because of the love I feel from God”?
This is what it means. The practical value that God became the universe lies in this: the self-effort to lift ourselves from the slumber, but always acknowledging that the result of the self-effort is connected to the divine. Duality, too, the one we love to get out of, is still of God. So, you have to be in it, but always keep your eye on the polestar. Both are equally important. This might seem very much like marching orders, and I don’t want to end on that note. I do want to add another thing that softens this but also is the real substance of it.
What happens when we make a continuous effort to tune into the infinitude that lies within us is that you do that through affirmations, prayer, kindness, and loving other people. Yogananda said that when we give love to other people, God comes to us very quickly.
When you do all of that, even on a day-to-day basis, you’ll begin to feel God’s presence in your heart. That’s what’s beautiful and transformative. Eventually, it’ll stick, become stronger, and take over our reality, and then we can legitimately claim to become enlightened. That’s still far off, but even in the very beginning, you’ll begin to feel that. And that is wonderful. That’s what you live for.
And it’s not that hard. Just pick an affirmation, pray for others, or be more regular in your meditation. Most importantly, with the idea of “sufficient unto the day,” when faced with day-to-day challenges, ask God or, for disciples with a guru, ask your guru for help. When you sincerely listen to the reply and the reply comes, that’s where the action is. That’s where you say, “Oh, it’s okay. It’s not that hard. I can face it.” And so, it sustains you.
God became the universe so that we can feel his presence and feel the joy by loving him. This is why when a lawyer, of all people, asked Jesus Christ, “What’s the most important commandment?” Jesus said, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” That’s when the whole thing becomes sustainable.
Om Shanti Amen.