“But you can pick up pearls
only when you dive deep into the Ocean.”
Ram Chandra
– Yesterday, I became aware of the futility of some deeds of mine, aware of my own unimportance. I realized how little I was, and that wisp of humility comforted me.
The drop in the Ocean enjoys being part of that whole, says Theophile the Younger.
– A mere drop of water contains the whole Ocean. By thinking it is a drop of water and acting as such it confines itself to being so, but it is the Ocean, the entire Ocean, answers Theophile the Elder.
– What practical steps should I take?
I am that drop of water, with its own characteristics, its destiny, a training drop among all the other ones, wherever they come from.
– Viewing oneself as being a mere drop deprives you of all specificity. Identified as such, the drop will turn to the Ocean. It can’t see any difference between itself and the Ocean, which are both made of water molecules.
The Ocean itself is absolute, unchanging. When in contact with the drop of water, it just sees itself. When in contact with any substance, its own molecules get organized around the substance in order to manifest its signature, but the very Ocean remains both different and non-different, both water and Ocean.
The water in a bucket remains water. Once in the Ocean, the bucket’s content is water surrounded with water. The Ocean takes the inner and outer shape of the water, which nevertheless remains water. When the bucket is removed from the Ocean, the latter keeps a memory of it. It keeps a memory of everything and these memories are called Akashic Records. All information is stored in the Ocean, but the Ocean itself remains unchanged, without the slightest memory.
The Ocean reflects everything that exists. It has organized its own molecules in order to give life to everything that exists. Everything is within it, in its essential form first, then in its subtle identity.
– I am the drop, but I am also the one who holds the pen and writes what you dictate, amn’t I?
– The drop appears when it diversifies and reincarnates, giving birth to what you are now.
– Can we say that the drop is our soul?
– It is the “Ocean-soul”, then it is the identity in its making and unmaking, depending on the Ocean. It is the Creator’s primary expression. What follows is a series of densifications, which has its own autonomy, its own life, and generates its own activities.
– We could call it the individual soul, couldn’t we? Now I am aware that the individual is really made of the drop that the Ocean is. If there is an identity, it must be very subtle, very light and quite ephemeral.
– It can actually assume any identity. The molecules get done and undone, should the Ocean thus demand. The Centre of the Ocean is immutable; its surface sees the movements take place.
– So my work consists in being an “Ocean-drop”.
– That’s it.
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Theophile’s journal
Essays