One Life, Many Forms

The ancient banyan tree stretched its branches toward the sky as the Hindu sage walked with his son along the dusty path. He stopped suddenly. He pointed to a bird, and whispered "Thou art that." He pointed to a stone, and whispered "Thou art that." He pointed to the rushing river, and whispered "Thou art that." Three simple words that hold, perhaps, the most profound teaching of the Yogi philosophy. That you, I, and everything we perceive are manifestations of the same ultimate reality. 

In every human soul there is a secret chamber in which the text of this knowledge lies hidden. In rare moments when this chamber door opens—through poetry, music, art, sports, deep religious feeling, or those unexplainable waves of uplift that come to us all—the truth is recognized. The soul finds peace in its harmony with the All. The sense of beauty, however expressed, when deeply felt, lifts us beyond our separate consciousness into another plane where unity is the keynote. The higher our feelings reach, the closer we come to consciously realizing the underlying unity.

This recognition of the Oneness of all existence transforms your very experience of being. Even a glimpse of this truth changes everything. No longer do you see yourself as a mere fragment that might be destroyed or as a tiny separate entity opposed to the Universe. No. You recognize yourself as a Center of Consciousness within the Great One Life.