Because of this stirring, countless different waves and drops, wave-bubbles and drop-bubbles, showed themselves out of the unity of the infinite Ocean. The whiff of wind that set the still Ocean of God into motion was but a passing fancy (what we call lahar in vernacular) on the part of the Ocean Itself to know Itself. The motion of the Ocean synchronized with this passing fancy, so that as soon as the Ocean began rolling, it began creating, or creation began manifesting itself. To put the matter more plainly, God, prompted by a passing fancy, asked Himself, "Who am I?" No sooner did He thus ask Himself than He received a shock, and no sooner did He receive a shock, than the creation that was latent, and lay in a dormant condition as the most finite and formless point in the unconscious—or latently conscious, but indivisible and infinite Paramatman—God, manifested itself in infinite forms.

The passing fancy was really a passing fancy, and not a premeditated act. The shock was simultaneous with the passing fancy and the creation synchronized with the shock; and along with the shock, the Paramatman became conscious. But He became conscious, not of Self but of the creation, because the manifestation of the creation and consciousness took place at one and the same time.

Suppose you close your eyes, and then, all of a sudden imagine you are tickled. As soon as you imagine that, at one and the same time, four different things will happen, viz: (1) you will feel that your body is being touched; (2) you will experience a mild shock; (3) you will open your eyes without any such intention, and (4) you will see something of the surroundings without the intention of seeing anything. Something like this happened when the creation manifested itself. Compare the first happen­ing (your being touched) to the passing fancy of God; the second happening (experience of mild shock) to the shock which God received; the third happening (opening of eyes) to the consciousness which God experienced, and the fourth happening (that which you see) to the manifestation of creation. As the Paramatman uses His consciousness for knowing the creation, it follows then that for Him to use it for knowing Himself the universe must disappear; or the seeing must remain, but that which is seen must vanish.

When you are in sound sleep, you are not only unconscious of your body and the universe, but also of your very existence. When you are in the dreaming state, you are conscious of your existence and you see various objects,