Meher Baba was discoursing frequently, and during August, he dictated a splendid metaphor about God-Realization:
Suppose the ocean equals God. But in the beginning, the ocean did not know that it was a mighty ocean. This desire to know itself is the wind which created a bubble. The bubble is an atom, and the water in the bubble is the soul. After gradual advancement, the atom becomes a human form which becomes a wave. Now the wind gives the human form a small boat, meaning lifetimes, and the sea air is sanskaras.
The state of the man in the boat is that his hands are tied and hence he cannot take an active part in moving the boat – his life. He only breathes in and out. This breathing, which is an exchange of sanskaras, moves his boat. If he breathes in a good way and creates good sanskaras, the wind blows in such a way that his boat is led to a boatman who is the Sadguru. The boatman has dived into the ocean and now again swims to the surface of the water. He grasps the helm of those boats which come to him.
The boatman unties the man’s hands and actually drowns him in the ocean. The moment he is drowned, he realizes that “I myself am the ocean.” Now instead of remaining in the ocean, he surfaces and takes command of the boat – over which previously he had no control, but which now comes under his control – and he begins to move it wherever he wishes.
–www.lordmeher.org,p957