I am sure most of us think about these questions. They are so fundamental to everything we see around us, including our own existence. So, who is Ishvara (God)? It is not an easy question to answer. Ask people and you will get a variety of answers and even divergent viewpoints. Ask a Christian, they will say Jesus Christ is their God. Ask a Muslim, they will say Allah is their God. Ask a Hindu, you will get a list of different Ishvaras.

People have so many different concepts, ideas, and viewpoints about Ishvara. Who is correct? One thing is certain—there is a lack of proper understanding and knowledge about this topic. When there is a lack of knowledge, myths and misinformation take root among people. This lack of understanding makes Ishvara very remote and distant. It seems Ishvara is beyond our grasp. So, what is the solution? The only solution is proper and correct knowledge of Ishvara. One of the major benefits of this knowledge is that it takes you closer to Ishvara. The more you learn about Ishvara, the closer you can get to Ishvara—this fact cannot be denied. The more you demystify Ishvara, the nearer you get to Ishvara. The question is, how do you demystify? Proper knowledge is the only solution. Yes, knowledge is a MUST, a prerequisite, to understand Ishvara. Without proper knowledge, progress can be limited. It is a fact; knowledge is not the ultimate step. Once the correct knowledge is acquired and understood, then devotion is a necessary step to reach the destination. So, it seems like a two-step process: acquire the correct knowledge first, and then reach the destination with devotion. The focus of this essay is the first step of acquiring the correct knowledge about Ishvara. We will see in this essay that Ishvara is hiding in plain sight. It is everywhere.

The next question–if you ask people where Ishvara is, many people will point to the sky, thinking heaven is somewhere in the sky and that Ishvara resides in heaven. Some people may consider that Ishvara is found only in temples. People who are exposed to the scriptures will agree that the divinity of Ishvara will be found within each one of us, but with limited understanding. In this essay, we will also discuss where is the residence of Ishvara.

Who Is Ishvara?
People who have been reading my essays may be able to answer this question. Ishvara is Awareness. Yes, Ishvara is Awareness. It is that simple. Awareness seems such an ordinary word, but the powers within Awareness are simply extraordinary. Awareness is the most powerful force in the universe; it is the substratum of anything and everything in the universe. Everything exists because of Awareness. Nothing can exist without Awareness.

1. How do we witness everything in the universe through our five senses? It is because of Awareness.
2. What is the makeup of all the objects in the universe—right from atoms to galaxies and everything in between? It is Awareness alone, nothing but Awareness.
3. How do you see, taste, smell, listen to all objects? It is because of Awareness.
4. How do you learn and understand everything about this complex universe? It is because of the knowledge and intelligence which is within Awareness.

So, it seems everything in the universe happens because of Awareness. Are you aware of reading this essay? Are you aware of your surroundings? The answer must be Yes. That is the Awareness we are talking about. It is that simple. If you think about it, we have experiences on a continuous basis. We are aware of all our experiences. You cannot say I had an experience, and I am not aware of it. Awareness is the basic ingredient of all experiences. The content of all experiences is Awareness, for only then can you be aware of the experience. We have had experiences on a continuous basis ever since we were born. So, it seems Awareness is with us right from our birth. We therefore take Awareness for granted and do not think about it very much. This Awareness is Ishvara. To support this idea, let us discuss the powers which are present within Ishvara. If you can understand and appreciate these powers, you will conclude that Awareness must be Ishvara.

Powers of Awareness
We have discussed the powers of Awareness in so many different essays and in my book, Science Meets Vedanta. We will briefly repeat them here to show how these powers of Awareness must be the powers of Ishvara. Awareness is made of Subject, Object, and Intelligence, and it has three different powers—Knower, Known, and Knowing.

• Awareness = Subject + Object + Intelligence
• Power of Awareness = Power of Knower + Power of Known + Power of Knowing

It must be understood that Subject, Object, Intelligence, and the three powers are not something outside in the world—they are within Awareness and make up Awareness. If any one of them is missing, Awareness will not work and will be incomplete.

• If there is an object to be observed but there is no subject, there will be no Awareness, as there is no one to see the object.
• If there is a subject but no object to see, there will be no Awareness, as the subject has no object to observe.
• If there is an object but the subject has no way of knowing what this object is, no Awareness will take place. This knowing must have intelligence.

Wherever there is Awareness, there must be present Subject, Object, and Intelligence with all the three powers. Right now, you are aware that you are reading this essay. In this Awareness, there is a Reader (Subject) who is reading this essay. The words in the essay are the object within Awareness. There is intelligence which decodes the words so that the reader can comprehend them. Every experience must have these three powers. These powers are the gift from Ishvara. Let us discuss these three powers of Awareness in some more detail.

Power of Knower: There must be a witness within us that witnesses these experiences. Vedanta uses the term Sakshi or witness. This witness is the Subject. Power of the Knower manipulates Awareness so that Awareness plays the role of a Subject. This power gives the Subject the ability to play many different roles. Here are some examples of how the Subject undertakes this task:

• When it is the Knower of seeing, the Subject is a seer.
• When it is the Knower of hearing, the Subject is a hearer.
• When it is the Knower of reading, the Subject is a reader.
• When it is the Knower of tasting, the Subject is a taster.

There is one Subject within us, who is playing all the different roles of seer, hearer, reader, taster, smeller, feeler, and many more such roles. This Subject is indeed a very dynamic entity; at the drop of a hat it keeps changing its role all through the day. One moment it is a seer of a tree; the next moment it could be a listener of music, then back to the seer of a car ahead, then the smeller of perfume of a passerby. With every change of experience, the Subject plays a different role. The profile of the Subject keeps changing thus rapidly all through the day. It is simply amazing. All this is possible because of the Power of Awareness, which is nothing but Ishvara.

Power of Known: A simple question—how do you know an object exists? The obvious answer is that you are aware of the object. Since you are aware, you are sure the object exists. If awareness is not present, then the object will not exist; you will not know the object. Awareness is the basic ingredient of any object. This Awareness must fill up the object, take the exact shape of the object, so that you can be aware of the object. Power of the Known manipulates Awareness so that Awareness can take the shape of the object. A good metaphor to understand this is that it is like a lump of Play-Doh. You can manipulate Play-Doh into any shape. You can make a car, a tree, a house. In the same way, Power of the Known can manipulate Awareness into filling up any object with Awareness. How Power of the Known manipulates Awareness into becoming all the different objects in the universe is a million-dollar question—only Ishvara knows.

• If you are aware of the car outside your window, it is because Power of the Known manipulates Awareness into taking the shape of the car.
• If you are aware of the music from your device, it is because Power of the Known fills up the music with Awareness.
• If you are aware of the taste of chocolate, it is because the taste form of chocolate is superimposed on Awareness by Power of the Known.

Awareness is the ingredient, the substratum of all objects “out there.” Object forms vary, but the content of all objects is Awareness. Since Awareness is Ishvara, all the objects in the universe are made up of Ishvara. Simply amazing. This idea is worth thinking about and contemplating. This logic should help you to look at these objects “out there” with a new and different perspective.

Power of Knowing: Awareness is the repository of all possible knowledge and intelligence. It is like a digital library within Awareness. No possible knowledge or intelligence is missing.

1. If you are aware of 2+2=4, it is because this knowledge is within Awareness. If you know calculus, it is because all the knowledge of calculus is within Awareness. If you know Sanskrit, it is because this knowledge is resident within Awareness. Everything you have learned since you were born, that knowledge is present within Awareness. Initially, the knowledge is covered by ignorance. You are unaware of that knowledge. When you remove ignorance of a topic, Power of Knowing exposes that knowledge from within Awareness. Once that is done, you learn, you understand, you become aware, and you know that knowledge. If you think about it, our knowledge is very limited, a small iota of all possible knowledge. All the remaining knowledge is present within Awareness, but it is covered by our individual ignorance. If the right effort is made, Power of Knowing helps in removing this ignorance and exposes the required knowledge. All the unlimited knowledge is present within Awareness. Breathtaking!

2. All the intelligence is also present within Awareness. All the logic, making inferences, creative thinking, making cross connections within different knowledge streams, remembering knowledge—all this and much more is present within Awareness. Unfortunately, the human mind is exposed to only a small part of this Intelligence.

Awareness is the storage of all possible knowledge and also all possible intelligence. Therefore, it is only correct to conclude that Ishvara must be Awareness.

I am sure this discussion must have convinced you that Ishvara is Awareness. All the knowledge, all the intelligence, all the objects of the universe and our ability to witness them are part of Awareness. The powers within Awareness are nothing short of breathtaking and amazing. If you are aware at this moment, then that Awareness is Ishvara. Wherever there is Awareness, Ishvara is present there. Since Awareness is everywhere, it does seem that Ishvara is not making any attempt to hide itself or make itself very complicated. Where there is Awareness, Ishvara is already present there. You can say that Ishvara is hiding in plain sight, but we are ignoring this fact. My suggestion is to understand Awareness. Once you can do that, you will understand Ishvara and you will understand this universe. You will also get closer to Ishvara.

Where Is Ishvara?
We have just seen that wherever there is Awareness, that Awareness is Ishvara. All the objects in the universe are made up of Awareness. That means Ishvara is everywhere. Go to any corner of the universe—if you are aware of the surroundings, then Ishvara is present there. So, it is correct to conclude that everything “out there” is only Ishvara and Ishvara is everywhere. This is the only correct conclusion. So, the next question to answer is—what is the source of this Awareness? Where does this Awareness come from? If you know the source of Awareness, then you will know the residential address of Ishvara.

We have discussed in many different essays that our innermost core is a Bulb of Awareness. This Bulb of Awareness is like a factory generating and radiating Awareness. This Bulb is the source of the Awareness “out there.” All the Awareness in the universe is due to this Bulb of Awareness. For students of Vedanta, it is worth mentioning that Bulb of Awareness and SatChitAnanda are synonymous. If the Bulb of Awareness is present in our innermost core, that would mean that Ishvara is present in our innermost core.

What does innermost core really mean? Innermost core indicates that it is something which is within us. However, if we look inside, we only find the inner parts of our body—all the organs, muscles, blood, and so many other things. The scriptures teach us that divinity does reside within each one of us. It is not easy to understand how divinity can reside within us, when we have only internal organs within us. Is there something else within us of which we have no clarity or understanding? It does seem that our innermost core must be something much deeper than our inner organs. Something beyond our inner organs. How do we find this place and how do we understand it? The only way is to investigate the starting point of space. If we do that, we will find that the innermost core is beyond space. The Bulb of Awareness or Ishvara is sitting outside space.

Understanding the Starting Point of Space: Science has got it completely wrong about the starting point of space. Yes, the universe may have started with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. However, the Big Bang is no longer the starting point of space—it is now the outer edge. We know space is expanding; therefore, the outer edge must also be moving further away from us. Logically, space must start from a nonmoving point. The outer edge is expanding and moving; therefore, the Big Bang point cannot be the starting point. We must look elsewhere.

The best way is to look at space in terms of time, not distance. How much time does light take to reach us from different objects? Let us study the objects “out there” in terms of time. We see a faraway star, say, five million light-years away; it takes light from that star five million years to reach us. Now we see the sun; light from the sun takes eight minutes to reach us. We look at the moon; light takes three seconds to reach us. We look at the plane flying in the sky at 30,000 feet; light takes about 300 milliseconds to reach us. As the distance of the object being viewed is reduced, the time taken for light to reach us is much less.

Now, we look at the tree outside the window; the time taken for light to reach us is 10 microseconds (10-6). Looking at the computer screen one foot away and reading this essay, light takes about one nanosecond (10-9) to reach us. As the distance reduces, the time taken for the light to reach us reduces. If you extrapolate this backward, the only logical location for light to take zero seconds to reach us is the Subject (Sakshi), who is watching all these objects. This subject is the starting point of space. This starting point is the t=0 for space. This Subject is the nonmoving point of space.

If you or anyone else looks around at the objects in the universe and uses the reasoning given above, each one will reach the same conclusion: that the starting point of space is the Subject within each one of us. This is simply amazing that space starts from the Subject within us. That means that everything which is behind the Subject is outside space. The physical body and all the objects “out there” are within space, but everything behind the subject or observer is outside space. If you travel from Mumbai to New York, the starting point for space will travel with you. The Subject within you will always be the staring point of space, irrespective of your location.

What Is Behind the Subject, Which Is Outside Space? We only know everything which happens in space. Knowing what happens outside space is not an easy task. We know that the Subject is just outside space because we have shown that the Subject is the starting point of space. As we have discussed, Subject is part of Awareness, therefore the source of Awareness is within us, but outside space. The Ishvara which is present within us is outside space. This is a new dimension to understand that both space and outside space are within us. If you go deeper into understanding what is outside space, you will find it is a busy and happening place. I would request you to read my essay “What Is There within Us,” where we have discussed this topic in detail. As mentioned in this essay, the following levels are within us, but outside space. Level 1 is our innermost core and Level 4 the outermost. It may be surprising to know that the mind is not in space, but outside space.

Level 1: SatChitAnanda/Ishvara
Level 2: Soul/Seed Body
Level 3: Individual Mind/Cosmic Mind
Level 4: Cosmic Waveforms

The only correct conclusion of this essay is that Ishvara is Awareness and Ishvara is within us, but outside space. To reach Ishvara, our focus should be understanding Awareness.