The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [28]
Rumi is an internationally famous, thirteenth-century Persian poet and Sufi.13 His works have been translated into many languages, and his influence transcends ethnic and spiritual borders. Rumi wrote clearly about the continuous arising of existence: “You have a death and a return in every moment. . . . Every moment the world is renewed but we, in seeing its continuity of appearance, are unaware of its being renewed.” He also said that life is like a stream: “it arrives new and fresh at every moment while it appears constant in its material form.”
Mahmud Shabistari is another celebrated Persian poet. He wrote the following in 1317 C.E.:
The world is this whole, and in every twinkling of an eye,
it becomes non-existent and endures not two moments.
There over again another world is produced,
every moment a new heaven and a new earth.
Things remain not in two moments,
the same moment they perish, they are born again.
Finally, A. H. Almaas, a modern-day teacher with roots in the Sufi tradition, has written powerfully about all of existence continually coming into being: “The universe is never old; it is always new, for it includes both animate and inanimate objects, the Earth and the sky, the planets, the Sun and the stars, the galaxies and the space that contains them; it also includes all the thoughts, images, memories, feelings, sensations, and all phenomena at all levels of being.”14 All of this, says Almaas—the one totality that continuously comes into being—is something that we can experience directly.
Hindu Views
Hinduism dates back at least thirty-five hundred years and is the oldest and perhaps most complex of the world’s living religions. It has no identified founder, but is known by its Vedas, or scriptures. Hinduism is the third-largest religion in the world with roughly 14 percent of the world’s population, the majority of whom live in India. Although the term Hinduism encompasses many diverse sects and philosophies, all Hindus believe in a supreme cosmic spirit called Brahman. Brahman is the sustaining life force that is ultimately beyond description and the reach of human language. Brahman is the foundation of existence, and the source of all things as all things participate in the being of Brahman. By practicing different forms of meditation, Hindus believe that we can directly experience our sacred nature as Brahman. Atman, our individual essence or soulful nature, is Brahman—the sustaining cosmic spirit whose nature is often described as infinite being, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss.
At the heart of the Hindu view of reality is the belief that our universe is continuously upheld by a divine life force. Huston Smith, scholar of the world’s religions, writes, “All Hindu religious thought denies that the world of nature stands on its own feet. It is grounded in God; if he were removed it would collapse into nothingness.”15 In the words of a revered Hindu teacher, Sri Nisargadatta Majaraj, “The entire universe contributes incessantly to your existence. Hence the entire universe is your body.”16
We are continually created from Brahman, and therefore at the most fundamental level, all things are one, unified, whole. The Bhagavad-Gita, written roughly 2,500 years ago, is one of the main holy texts of India. There, Brahman is described as the “king of all knowledge.” The Gita states: “This entire universe is pervaded by Me, the unmanifest Brahman. All beings depend on Me. I do not depend on them.” “I am