By Salona Ramlallai

A wave is a form of the ocean. The ocean is essentially water and nothing else. We sometimes see small waves, and at other times we see big waves. At times we see foam as the waves go crashing against the shore. And sometimes we see tiny little bubbles bursting from just the tip of a wave. When we look at a wave we know that it is a part of the ocean. We know that it is essentially water.

Each and every one of us, in some part of the day, attaches ourselves to an identity. “My life, my job, my idea, my existence, “ cries Mr Wave. The pain comes from its ignorance. It does not realise that its form and its name are but temporary manifestations of its real nature, the ocean. Each one of us is a little wave, proud and attached to name, shape and achievements — position, address, bank account, circle of friends. In reality, we are that which never changes and is ever constant. We are that which is real. We are that which is present within all beings. We are that which we share with all other beings. We are that essential being, Consciousness.

I read a book recently that explained this quite simply using mathematics: Mathematics has the digit 1. All other digits are simply multiples of that same 1. Similarly, there is only one absolute Reality and all names and forms of the universe are multiples of that One.

Now let us make a zero first, and then put one afterwards: 01. Every zero has a value if the one is put first: 10. But if the zero is put before the one, then the zero has no value: 01. All that comes from the world are like zero’s as they have no consciousness. And without being conscious of that one Reality they have no value at all.

This shows that in reality there is no otherness in others. Birth and death are temporary manifestations within our larger, never-changing nature. Just as a baby comes into this world with a single awareness: I am.

He cannot differentiate between the side of the cradle, his fingers or the world beyond that little space. He just knows that he exists. He feels his mother and father as a part of himself. He does not see the boundaries between one body and another –He is in a state of pure being.