Moonlight reflections on thousands of lakes are many, but the moonlight itself is only ONE, and it is THE TRUTH.
Believing themselves to be individual entities, lakes compete with each other and suffer in duality.
Realizing yourself to be only awareness and nothing else (body, mind) removes our dualistic belief and makes us merge into the ONE.
Lakes are only reflections of the moonlight.
They are sure to perish and stop reflecting someday, but the moonlight will remain.
Moonlight cares not if the lakes stay or perish.
When you have body consciousness, you are only reflecting the consciousness, and someday, you will stop reflecting and die.
Consciousness does not care whether its reflection lives or dies. (Do you care if your dreams stay or not?)
But when you become conscious only of consciousness (and not of the body), a transformation occurs.
You receive a gift of life and are freed from death; consciousness is life.
When you lose body consciousness, duality disappears, and only the non-dual state (no-thingness) remains.
Individual ownership is no more.
A water droplet merges with the ocean, and then the droplet is no more.
And this opens up the biggest mystery of life –
There is consciousness everywhere, and yet, there is “nobody” who is conscious.
(Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahma – the life) is only a halfway statement).
There is moonlight, but there is no moon.
There is Godliness, but no God.
There is enlightenment, but nobody to claim it.
There is only a perpetual life and no death. (An individual dies, life never dies).
How do you live with this inexplicable, but pleasant truth?
Like a hungry bee who has found a big pot of nectar and is getting drunk with it.
Except, this nectar of consciousness never makes you drunk; it keeps you fully awake.
Get drunk with the drink of awareness.
Being drunk and still remaining fully awake is the highest joy of the spiritual life.