Sathya Sai to Hislop on Self (and God) realization: Dissolve yourself into nothingness which is fullness of everything and (divine) power that appears to be everything; Interpreting this in my current meditation approach

Today I reread an extract of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's letter to John Hislop as my associated blog post, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2021/03/sathya-sai-letter-to-john-hislop-on.html , had a few views in past 24 hours. Given the japam-dhyanam efforts that I am engaged in over many months of the past year, I am fascinated to see how simply Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba explains the deep and great mystery of existence to Hislop and also tells him how to achieve realization of his self and this deep and great mystery. Of course, through this letter to Hislop, Bhagavan is also explaining it to all who are interested in such matters.

Let me share the associated text from https://saisarathi.com/thought-of-the-month/who-am-i-3/ :

[Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba:]

“My Dear! You will find it deep within yourself. Think it many times, ponder it. It tells you about your true nature; it gives you hope. It gives you new life. It points the way. It proves to you that God is within you and you are not man; man is God. It shows you that it is possible for you to realize God (Swamiji), but you and you alone must ponder this work deeply. You will find that you will begin to know what is meant by the statement “The Self” cannot be explained…. “The Self-God” is within man. You are that Self; all else is illusion of the mind’s creation, the mind that creates, preserves and destroys.

My love, the great joy, the subtlety of the bliss that you will feel as you come closer and closer to your real self! If you strive to find your-self by using your mind you will strive and strive in vain because the mind cannot give you the truth.… sensitize yourself, awaken your true, fine, beautiful qualities. Above you—nothing, below you—nothing; to the right of you or to the left of you—nothing; and dissolve yourself into that nothingness—that would be the best way you could explain the realization of the Self, and yet that nothingness would not be the absence of something like nothingness. That nothingness is the fullness of everything, the power of the existence of that appears to be everything.”

Source: To Hislop with Blessings (Nov. 1971), p. 247

--- end extract from saisarathi.com ---

Ravi: I am now trying to interpret the above in the context of my current japam-dhyanam efforts, most of which approach is covered in my October 2022 post: Trying to go deeper and merge into Awareness-I and go deeper and merge into Sai namam (name); 'Outer Zone' and 'Inner Zone', https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2022/10/trying-to-go-deeper-and-merge-into.html .

I think the key learning in this interpretation is to add 'Dissolve into (Awareness) I' helper statement (and thus directive) to the helper statements of 'Go deep into (Awareness) I' and 'Merge into (Awareness) I'. I think this 'Dissolve' word is a very powerful one, in this context. The attempt is to lose one's individuality by dissolving it into the larger and all-encompassing Divine force/power/awareness that has created this universe, sustains it and then draws it back into itself (dissolves it into itself). And, IMHO, the individual Awareness I experience is an initial experience, and tiny part/spark, of the all-encompassing (universal) Divine power/awareness.

From now on I plan to regularly use the helper statement (and directive) of 'Dissolve into (Awareness) I' in my Awareness related meditation. I also plan to use 'Dissolve into Sai namam (name)' when I am doing japam-dhyanam of Sai namam which is a very powerful divya namam and taraka namam (name that is divine and has the capacity/power to take me across the bhavsagaram (sea of worldly life) to the divine).

My deep gratitude and salutations (pranams) to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for providing such divine teachings freely and with easy accessability, to all who are interested in such matters.

[I thank saisarathi.com and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]