So Near, Yet, So Far Away
— Mata Amritanandamayi
“Imagine that you are standing on the seashore watching the horizon. As you keep watching at a particular point in the distance, the horizon appears as though it is melting into the ocean. It looks as if the sky is meeting the Earth. If there is an island out there, it may look as if the trees on the island are touching the sky. We may think that if we go there, we will arrive at the meeting point of Earth and sky. But instead of reaching the horizon, we would find that the horizon appears to be still further away. As we move towards the horizon, it continues to recede from us, so that we can never catch up with it. When we are standing on the shore, the horizon seems to be touching the island and the trees, but as we approach the island, the horizon moves away. Where, then, is the horizon?
It is right here, where you are. You and the horizon are at exactly the same point. In the same way, the Paramatma is not somewhere far away but it is within you. In actual truth, you yourself are the Paramatma. People often say, ‘I am sad’. What they are saying is that they are the sadness. Whenever they feel sad, they become immersed in it. They begin to identify with their sorrow until they feel they are that sorrow.
The Paramatma or the Supreme Consciousness, is very close to us. But because of our wrong identification with pain, pleasure, sorrow, anger, and other emotions, which are caused by our wrong understanding that we are the body, rather than the consciousness, we experience a distance with our consciousness. This kind of identification happens due to ignorance. Once you transcend that ignorance and are no longer identified with the body, you will not experience that you are in pain, or that you are the pain — but only that you are aware of the pain. You become a witness, simply watching the pain or whatever sensation it may be. Your consciousness stays detached from what is happening to the body. When this realization takes place, Paramatma will be nearer than the nearest. But until then, it appears to be farther than the farthest.