Advaita Condensed

Advaita Condensed

Both religious and spiritual teachers refer to the ultimate actuality as “omnipresent.” When we use the word “present,” we mean to indicate simultaneously “in present time” and “in present place”; that which is present is “here, now.”

That is why the word “Absolute” is used universally as a name for the ultimate actuality: it is absolutely in every place at all times; as has been said “nowhere is It not.” That is what omnipresent means: that which cannot not be existent in every possible place, at any conceivable time: it is limit-less.

Because the presence of the ultimate actuality is not confined to any particular place, the concept of “place” (as a significant point or area) has no meaningful relevance to the Absolute. And because the Absolute transcends all demarcations (concepts, really) of time, likewise time is meaningless in the context of omnipresence. That is why, speaking from the standpoint of ultimate awareness, the sages collectively say, “Neither time nor space are reality.” Both time and space are relative: relational, in terms of measure. (Measure is an arbitrary thought process.) Since the omnipresent is found in every place-point, at any given time, it necessarily permeates all that is. Since you are among the “things” that are, you are not impermeable to the limitless all-present Absolute. Thus, the sages say: That you are. That is the substance of (self) “realization.”