A warm welcome to all the new sishyas and other existing members of this Mission.

On this Ganesh Chaturthi, remember that one celebrates not the 'birthday' of a separate being, but the Divine Intelligence that lies within each and every creation. 'Divine Intelligence' is neither born nor does it die. It is the very operating power throughout the vast Universe. It is only through the proper direction of the inner intelligence that one's path becomes clear from obstacles. This is the reason why Ganesh, the symbol of the

'Intellect', is also widely known as the 'remover of obstacles'.

It is clearly stated by Adi Shankara, also famously known as Shankaracharya (who was one of the most revered Hindu philosophers), that it is not another being that one worships but the Self. While Ganesh is masked in the form of an elephant-headed being, he is actually 'Ajam (unborn) Nirvikalpam (attributeless) Niraakaaramekam (formless)'.

This is consciousness; the Supreme Consciousness that is latent in each and every being. Perhaps it is rather inaccurate to even use the word ‘being’ because most people mistake ‘beings’ as mere living things. This is how language fails us because divinity cannot be described accurately with words.

Many people then say divinity can only be experienced, but to experience divinity, does it not indicate the presence of duality as well? You can only experience ‘something’ when you and the experience are separate. However, when you and the experience are One, since there is nothing but Atma itself, where is there the experience? There only is. You have ceased to exist.

What is born today must die someday. So, God can neither be born nor can He die. For attributes to exist, one cannot but be confined and imprisoned to the existence of duality. But God is beyond duality. Since God is not born, God does not die. God just is.

Thou art. You are. I AM.

Did the Bible not reveal that God’s response was “I AM THAT I AM”?

This “I AM-ness” is also affirmed in the Vedic literature. Aham Brahmasmi. I am Brahman. What is Brahman? Brahman is also described as the underlying force of existence or creation, that which is formless but yet, exists in all forms.

The expression “I AM” is infinite. You are the all-pervasive infinite field of energy that people call God. This is undifferentiated pure potential energy, which when you finite it into a particular form, it becomes verily it. For example, “I am Ben”. You’ have now limited yourself to only being Ben. How about saying “I am poor”? You have also now limited yourself to being poor.

The famous Sanskrit spiritual phrase “Tat Tvam Asi” clearly iterates the essence of whatever I have just said.

You are one with the limitless and infinite force that moves the entire universe for “Thou Art That”. When you say I AM. Full-stop. You can be anything that you want to be because you are all that ever existed, continues to exist now and will ever exist. But when you say “I AM something”, you have just limited yourself to being only that.

So, knowing that “I AM THAT I AM”… “Thou art That”…  you should now know that the so-called reality you are experiencing in this multi-faceted dream called life is in no one else’s hand except your own. You are pure undifferentiated potential energy, ever-ready to be diversified into limited forms. The form in your ‘finite’ mind is verily the vessel of which this energy takes shape into. You are the creator, sustainer and destroyer of your own illusory ‘reality’. Saying thus, you are the creator, sustainer and destroyer of your very own obstacles in life too.

It is only when you have truly grasped the concepts of Vedanta that so many have tried to teach the masses since time immemorial that you know that there is nothing to understand in the first place but simply being that which you already are. I AM.

Many sishyas usually ask what the goal of meditation is. It is nothing but to dwell in the state of ‘BEING’ – the state that which consists of infinite possibilities. Nothing else matters. Why limit Your-Self to be only ‘something’ when you already are ‘everything’ that ever was, is and ever will be?

Now, let us get into a moment of silence and let us all just be.



Discourse delivered by Master Genevieve Tan Shu Thung on August 29, 2014 in conjunction with the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. 

Source: Sandhya Maarga Organisation (http://www.sandhyamaarga.org) 
Copyright © 2014 Sandhya Maarga Mission