DISCOURSES Volume II - Avatar Meher Baba Trust

98 DISCOURSESThis implies that he should not be overpowered by the spectacle ofOm-pointthe multi-form universe. In fact, the wholeuniverse is in the Self and springs intoexistence from the tiny point in the Self which is referred to as"Om". But the self has become habituated to gathering experiencethrough one medium or another, and therefore it comes toexperience the universe as a formidable rival other than itself.Those who have realized God constantly see the universe asspringing from this "Om-point" which is in everyone.The process of perception runs parallel to the process ofcreation, and the reversing of the process of perception withoutobliterating consciousness amounts to realising the nothingness ofReversing processof perceptionthe universe as a separate entity. The Self seesfirst through the mind, then through the subtleeye and lastly through the physical eye; and itis vaster than all that it can perceive. The big ocean and the vastspaces of the sky are tiny as compared with the Self. In fact, allthat the Self can perceive is finite, but the Self itself is infinite.When the Self retains full consciousness and yet sees nothing, ithas crossed the universe of its own creation and has taken the firststep to know itself as everything.The entire process of withdrawing consciousness fromthe universe and becoming conscious of the Self is accompaniedby an increasing control of all the vehicles of consciousness.SiddhisSuch control is made possible by the vivificationand activation of unused centres ofcontrol; and the functioning of new centres brings in its train anumber of occult powers. These new powers are commonly knownas siddhis, and they can come