It’s interesting. As you start loosing your identity associated with your name, your profession, your body, your species, your form, your mind, your thoughts, when you’ll absolutely be certain that none of these things are you, you’ll come across the idea that your identity is everything.

People of old times have refered to this identity as the 6th body, or Brahman.

It may be noted that this is also the meaning of the God Brahma in the Hindu Trinity.

You get the experience of cosmic union, you realize nothing is independent of one another. That it’s all one huge whole, very intricately woven together.

You realize that you, the human, is not separate from it, the universe. That you’re one with everything around you, one with the entire universe. You’re a universal consciousness which is alive and ever-flowing.

But this identity is false as well, this is still your ego talking.

You move ahead and you start experimenting with the idea that you’re nothingness.

In time, you successfully separate yourself from the identity of everythingness and you experience yourself to be nothingness.

And you come to see that this nothingness is witnessing everything.

You realize that you’re just watching everything happen, that you have nothing to do with the cosmic doing, you take the back seat, chill out, and just enjoy the show.

Ananda or as I like to call it, genuine happiness and bliss is gifted to you.

You’ll be calm and peaceful, at ease with everything. You’ll have a certain glow on your face, which people around you will recognize and appreciate. You’ll take nothing too seriously and will generally be cheerful all the time.

Now this identity is called Nirvana, which is the 7th and the final body as said by old folks.

Nirvana means nothingness.

Also, the Hindu Trinity of Shiva is a reference to this state.

Shiva means that which is not.

So first you realize you’re Brahma, but then you realize that this is false. Brahma is not real.

But Brahma means everythingness, and you’ve separated yourself from it, so the way you go about it is by saying: I am that which is not or I am what I am not.

In simple words, the state of Shiva (also known as Nirvana) is simply the state of not being Brahma (also known as Brahman)

But wait, Nirvana is the final stage right. But then we still haven’t encountered Vishnu, have we?

Where is Vishnu? We’ve been through everything, and even nothing but Vishnu was nowhere to be found.

I was Brahma once, then I came to the state of not being Brahma and was revealed that this state is called Shiva. But where is Vishnu?

Here comes the most interesting part: Nirvana is not the final stage after all.

Because you still have an identity, the identity of nothingness.

You have to loose absolutely all your identities to get to the source, and even though nothingness seems to be nothing, it still is an identity.

You have to separate yourself from nothingness as well. You’re already not Brahma but you have to not be not Brahma as well, getting it? Haha 😁😁

This is how you really reach non-duality.

When you talk about nothingness, it cannot be without talking about everythingness first.

Because nothingness is simply not being everything.

Just like being shapeless is actually not having any shape. You cannot talk about being shapeless without talking about shape first. You cannot define being shapeless without defining what is shape first.

One cannot exist without the other. That’s duality right there.

That’s how the universe comes into being, it is dual in nature. It is at the state of being nothing (zero) and everything (infinite) at the same time.

But you have to get out of this duality. This is where Vishnu comes into being. It’s negation of negation.

You reach to an ultimate I, which is everything, cosmic union. You say I am not that I. And then you say I am not not that I.

The process is hence complete, you’ve come out of the loop. Freedom from birth and rebirth.

Birth and rebirth is not just the idea that life forms (like animals and humans) take birth again and again.

It is also the idea that universes take birth again and again.

You’ll be free from those rebirths as well because every universe is an instance of the duality of nothingness and everythingness.

I guess nothing corresponds to the idea of time and everything to the idea of space.

But you’ve come to realize that you’re neither nothing nor everything, neither Shiva nor Brahma, you’re free from the cycle.

Let an infinite universes take birth and in them, an infinite life forms, but you know your identity is not anything in that.

It’s also interesting that Vishnu, by it’s nature cannot be assigned any qualities or any names.

Because it’s not even nothingness. Every great quality of God ever expressed - that he is shapeless, formless, omnipresent, present in all beings, is always watching us - all those qualities are of Shiva, of nothingness, not Vishnu’s.

The idea of a God in most religions is the idea of nothingness or Shiva as well. Right from Allah in Islam to God the Father or God in Christianity.

Vishnu is beyond the idea of God as well. Because not having any quality is a quality in itself. Shiva has the quality of not having any quality but Vishnu does not.

Vishnu is pure and genuine silence. It’s beyond existence (Brahma) and non-existence (Shiva). And now you know the real meaning behind these words as well, hehe 😁😁

Witnessing this entire journey, from Brahma to Shiva to Vishnu is pure celebration. From being everything to being nothing to not even being nothing, haha 😁😁

Have the time of your life, go chill out, party with your friends, have a joint, spend time with your loved ones, do good to others, for experiencing all this is amazingness 😁😁