After reading Swami Shantanada's commentary on this most mysterious sutra, I think I'm beginning to understand it. See, the implication is that everything around us is Consciousness, because Consciousness cannot help but create everything; that's her nature. Just like water is wet, just like fire burns, just like the wind blows, it is in her own nature to create and to create everything. 

And what about the fact that she created the universe upon a part of herself? Well that implies that what we see is only a part of her magnificence. Consciousness is all that we see, all that we know, all that we can imagine, AND all that we can not see, all that we can not imagine. It is that vast, that wide, that infinite. And it is also that present, that real, that transient. Consciousness as we know it, is both form and formless, changing and unchanging, beyond the universe and containing the universe. 

A great koan-like question Sally Kempton asked us in her last workshop at Black Dog Yoga was, "Is my awareness in this room? Or is this room in my awareness? Or as Shatananda asks: "Is my consciousness in this space? Or is this space in my consciousness? Kind of brings back Kabir's magical poem: Everyone knows that the drop is inside the ocean but not everybody knows that the ocean is inside the drop."

So this very trippy sutra and respective contemplation has been incredibly helpful. I came home late last night from teaching at  Black Dog's Teacher Training. Was doing a Restorative yoga workshop -which is one of my passions- and the workshop was just great. The group is so into it, everyone is so smart and attentive- my friend and fellow teacher trainer Jenny was there to support and she was lovely. Really, it couldn't have been better. 

And then suddenly one of the students made a comment about how great a fellow student was in adjusting him in savasana and he said that she was better at adjusting him than I was. And he repeated his statement again- it was done quickly and really his intention was to honor his fellow student, and it was a beautiful moment. But guess what happened to me as I drove home? As I got to my apartment? As I got under my covers and closed my eyes? Yes, you guessed it: "Oh he hates me, oh I'm not a good teacher. Oh I didn't adjust well. Blah blah blah..." A beautiful three hour workshop suddenly diminished into a most painful reality. 

So I thought back on this sutra and in fact made sure to read it before I went to sleep so it could stay on my consciousness. I thought back on how Supreme Reality is not just what is, but more. How I am Supreme Reality. How I  am not just my thoughts, not just my feelings and emotions, not just my body. How I am so much more spacious than that. We all are. I kept repeating it and went to sleep with the awareness that as painful and compelling as some of our thoughts can be, they are just a fraction of who we really are.