Seeing the One in All: The Vision of Spiritual Freedom
Bhagavad Gita Ch. 5 v. 18-21
Spiritual awakening is not about withdrawing from life, but seeing clearly. When the illusion of separation dissolves, we begin to recognize the same divine Self in all beings.
Contents
Renunciation Is Not Withdrawal From Life
The Promise of Direct Spiritual Knowing
Complete Dedication and the End of Spiritual Forgetfulness
Equal Vision and the End of Division
Even Here, Even Now: Freedom in This Lifetime
Letting Go of Attraction and Aversion
Bliss as Self-Knowing, Not Emotion
PODCAST EPISODE: Seeing the One in All - Awakening to Divine Oneness
The freedom we seek does not come from withdrawing from life, but from seeing clearly what we are and what we are not.
In the yoga of renunciation, we are taught that spiritual freedom is not found by abandoning action, but by releasing the mistaken identity that binds us to it. As we begin to see through the illusion of being a separate self—driven by desire, attraction, and aversion—the deeper truth of our being comes into view. These teachings reveal not only that it is possible to know that truth, but that it can be known directly, once and for all, through lived experience. From that realization, a new way of living emerges—grounded in clarity, steadiness, and the vision of the One in all.
Renunciation Is Not Withdrawal From Life
We are continuing our study of Chapter 5, the chapter on renunciation, focusing on verses 5.18-5.21. Here, we come to understand that spiritual renunciation is not a withdrawal from action or a refusal to engage in life. The setting itself makes this clear—the teaching takes place on a battlefield, where the instruction is not to withdraw, but to engage in an enlightened way.
Renunciation, then, is not abandoning responsibility, but releasing the mistaken idea of the self—the belief that we are confined to body and mind and driven by desires, attractions, and aversions. It is the systematic letting go of that false identity and the reactive patterns that sustain it.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5 shows us how freedom unfolds. When the structure of ego falls away, what remains is the divine Self—the pure, still, unchanging essence of being, the life of our life, the light of our awareness. This teaching brings us back to essential questions: Who am I? What is God? What is my relationship with God? And how should I live?
These are not abstract questions, but deeply practical ones. Do we withdraw from the world, or do we live fully within it? This is the inquiry that opens the chapter and guides our understanding.
"Those who are spiritually awake see the same Supreme Consciousness in all."
—Roy Eugene Davis
The Promise of Direct Spiritual Knowing
Another question raised in these verses is equally important: Is it possible to know the answer? Can I know what God is? Can I know who I am? Can I know how to live? Is it possible to know the truth once and for all?
That is what many seekers want to know when they come onto the path. Can I know the truth? Can I know God? The teachings answer yes. It is possible to know. And it is possible to know once and for all.
But this is not an answer confined to the intellect. It is not merely an idea or concept. It is a knowing that comes by knowing—by direct experience. It is something we have to live into. Intellectual insights develop and change. They evolve. So what we want to know is that which is unchanging, unmoving, eternal.
These verses say yes, that can be known.
And what is being sought is not just an ultimate truth that satisfies the heart in some abstract way. We also want to know how to live. Once realization dawns, what does it look like? How does life unfold from that understanding?
The promise of the path is not just information. It is direct knowing. As Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The emphasis is on knowing for yourself. That is what sets one free.
Complete Dedication and the End of Spiritual Forgetfulness
To understand verses 5.18-5.21, it helps to return briefly to the Bhagavad Gita verse 5.17. What is required, as the gurus of Kriya Yoga have taught, is complete dedication to the goal. This verse also offers a profound assurance—the promise of unwavering wisdom, a realization from which there is no return.
This points to steady enlightenment—no more forgetting, no more falling back into ignorance. Earlier on the path, we remember and forget, we find our center, and then lose it. Naturally, the question arises: will there come a time when we no longer fall asleep spiritually? The teaching says yes.
This stability arises as the mechanisms of ego—desire, attraction, and aversion are dismantled through sadhana, clear insight, superconscious meditation, and divine grace. When these supports are removed, the sense of separate self can no longer function as the driving force of life. It is seen for what it is.
What remains is the capacity to function as an individual, but no longer as an identity. Identity is established in the unchanging Self. One continues to act in the world, yet remains inwardly free—no longer bound by the reactive nature of the ego.
As practice deepens, this promise begins to feel real. We see more clearly, understand the workings of the ego, and gradually lessen our involvement in it. Greater clarity dawns, deeper meditation unfolds, and the possibility of liberation becomes tangible.
This promise is not to be taken lightly. It is connected to the soul’s deepest yearning and fuels the path. Scripture keeps this possibility before us, reminding us that awakening is not reserved for a few. As Paramahansa Yogananda said, the same God is in you that is in me—the same divine potential is present.
Seeing the One in All Beings
The next verses bring that promise of ultimate freedom home to this lifetime, and they offer exquisite descriptions of what such a life looks like.
Verse 5.18, in Roy Eugene Davis’s clear rendering, says:
"Those who are spiritually awake see the same Supreme Consciousness in all people and all creatures without exception."
Vision is clarified. One sees the One in all. No longer caught in the hierarchical view of life, one sees one life, one reality expressing.
S. Radhakrishnan’s more traditional rendering expands the picture:
"Sages see with an equal eye a learned and humble Brahman, a cow, an elephant, or even a dog, or an outcast."
— Bhagavad Gita verse 5.18, trans. S.Radhakrishnan
The verse deliberately offers examples that show the mind’s tendency to create hierarchy—to see some beings as higher and some as lower, some more deserving, some less. This erroneous seeing is one of the great causes of sorrow in the world. It manifests as seeing others—whether fellow human beings or other creatures—as less deserving of love, less deserving of respect, or even less deserving of life.
But those who are awake see the same Supreme Consciousness in all beings without exception.
The Sanskrit word used for this clear seeing is samadarshana—equal vision, the beholding of the One in all. It is a beautiful word. To see together, completely, as one. No separation. One life.
Equal Vision and the End of Division
As one contemplates this verse 5.18, the workings of the mind become visible. The hierarchical view is offensive, yet it appears everywhere—in religions, nations, cultures, and civilizations. It is part of the egoic view of life.
The mind might react even to the examples in the verse. One might think, “A dog at the lower rung?” and notice how quickly one’s own conditioned viewpoints appear. In some cultures and contexts, dogs are considered lowly; in others, they are beloved family members. The mind is always categorizing, always constructing value according to conditioned perception.
And perhaps that contemplation reveals something even more important: many people do not have much trouble seeing the divine spark in a dog, but can have tremendous difficulty seeing the divine spark in a human being who behaves badly—someone arrogant, violent, crude, ignorant, or destructive.
How are we to reconcile that? How do we understand that the same divine Self is present in one person who acts virtuously and in another who is intentionally cruel? Do we relate to them in the same way? Should we expect the same things from them?
This is where the teaching becomes especially useful. The divine Self is the same in all, but it is not expressed in the same way in all. The karmic patterns driving the ego are different. So discernment remains essential.
It is possible to see even a difficult or harmful person as a divine soul without becoming blind to their behavior. One can still act wisely, still use discernment, still have right expectations. But all the while, one does not lose sight of the same divine consciousness—no more and no less present in the one opposed than in the one adored.
This practice does several important things. First, it helps us not become what we oppose. If we are hateful toward what we hate, we become that very thing. As the Buddha said, hate never dispelled hate; only love can do that. This is not sentimental love, nor is it a fantasy about how someone behaves. It is divine love for the One in all. It keeps the heart open, discernment clear, and life grounded in humility.
Second, it reminds us that the reality of God is always at work in the world, in every person and every circumstance. That helps keep faith alive. Even in a world filled with terror and trouble, there is no force of evil that stands apart from divinity as some opposing power. There is only one power, one divine reality expressing as all that is. There may be evil action in the world, but there is no separate power of evil opposing God.
That is a profound encouragement.
S. Radhakrishnan comments that this vision makes us look upon our fellow beings with kindness and compassion. The wise see the one God in all beings and develop the quality of equal-mindedness that is characteristic of the divine.
Even Here, Even Now: Freedom in This Lifetime
The next Bhagavad Gita 5.19 verse continues that theme:
"Even here (on earth), the created (world) is overcome by those whose mind is established in equality. God is flawless and the same in all. Therefore are these (persons) established in God."
—Bhagavad Gita verse 5.19, trans. S.Radhakrishnan
Roy Eugene Davis translates it this way:
"Even here in this realm, the need for rebirth is overcome by those who are established in the realization of oneness. They are stable in realization of Supreme Consciousness because of knowledge that is flawless and the same everywhere."
—Bhagavad Gita verse 5.19, trans. Roy Eugene Davis
The first words are a cause for rejoicing: Even here. Even here, in this realm, in this lifetime, on this earth, in this incarnation, in this world. That is the promise.
This echoes the words of Jesus: “In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world.” Overcoming the world does not mean leaving the world. If that were the teaching, it would simply say so. Instead, it points to overcoming the errors of worldly perception while living here and now.
There are two levels of reality operating: one is changeable, the other changeless. The vision of oneness brings freedom from sorrow because it roots awareness in the changeless.
Letting Go of Attraction and Aversion
The Bhagavad Gita verse 5.20 provides practical instruction for stabilizing this clear seeing:
One should not rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant nor sorrow on obtaining what is unpleasant. One who is (thus) firm of understanding and is unbewildered, (such a) knower of God is established in God.
—Bhagavad Gita verse 5.20, trans. S.Radhakrishnan
This is an instruction for clarifying the faculty of discernment. It is instruction in equanimity. One no longer assigns well-being to externals.
That does not mean numbness. It does not prohibit feeling. This is important. Spiritual practice is not about becoming a lifeless, emotionally flat person. Human feeling remains. But one is no longer ruled by emotional reactivity to changing circumstances.
The fundamental work here is letting go of attachment and aversion, which manifest as emotional ups and downs in response to external conditions. If one wonders, “How do I know whether I have attachment and aversion?” a simple answer is: watch the ups and downs. Watch how the mind rejoices and sorrows over externals.
Through the practice of returning awareness to God—what Brother Lawrence called practicing the presence of God—we become increasingly established in Supreme Consciousness. The more grounded we are in remembrance of God, the more what is pleasant or unpleasant can wash over us without being taken in as identity.
This is even-mindedness. It is a gateway to freedom and to inspired action.
Bliss as Self-Knowing, Not Emotion
The Bhagavad Gita verse 5.21 completes the teaching:
"When the soul is no longer attached to external contacts or objects, one finds the happiness that is in the Self. Such a one who is self-controlled in Yoga enjoys undying bliss."
—Bhagavad Gita verse 5.21, trans. S.Radhakrishnan
Roy Eugene Davis renders it this way:
"That devotee whose awareness is detached from externals, who is content in Self-knowledge and abides in samadhi, knows changeless bliss."
—Bhagavad Gita verse 5.21, trans. Roy Eugene Davis
This understanding of bliss is important. Bliss is not simply an elevated emotion. It is not the emotional high of happiness. Roy Eugene Davis often clarified that bliss is awareness and experience beyond emotion. He defined it as the perfect joy of Self-knowing.
That distinction matters. Otherwise, one might imagine that spiritual awakening means always feeling peaceful or always feeling happy, in an emotional sense. Then a new attachment appears—this time a spiritual attachment to a desired emotional state.
Kriya Yoga does not teach a life without feeling. Feelings continue. There is happiness, grief, sweetness, sorrow. What changes is that there is steady Self-knowing, and that Self-knowing is unlike emotion. It does not come and go. It is not the effect of something. It is the truth of what we are.
We do not get it from ice cream, or from a kiss, or from a beautiful place in nature—not because those things are bad, but because what they offer is changeable. Bliss, in the spiritual sense, is not changeable. It is the conscious realization of one’s essence of being.
We stop searching for God because we come home to God as the essence of our own divine nature.
And then the equanimous mind becomes an open gate to divine light. Our calm and clear mind opens the floodgates.
It is strange how human beings chase the very light that shines within them, pursuing what is already emanating from within. We go outward in search of the source of joy, peace, and knowledge, when all along that light is our own deepest Self.
One light. One power. One presence. Beyond sensory perception, but known to the soul.
Behold the One in all.
Listen to the full podcast episode below.
Bhagavad Gita, pt 48: Seeing the One in All - Awakening to Divine Oneness
Chapter 5, v. 18-21
Discover how spiritual awakening transforms the way we see ourselves and others. This episode explores how true renunciation dissolves the illusion of separation, revealing the same divine Self in all beings. Through disciplined practice, devotion, and clear insight, the ego’s patterns of attraction and aversion fall away, giving rise to equanimity and compassion. Learn how steady awareness of oneness brings freedom, peace, and the realization of undying bliss.
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