Sunday, December 25, 1977

People keep themselves busy because they find it difficult to bear their own consciousness. People look for various entertainments to escape from themselves. The greatest challenge lies in looking at oneself; sitting alone by oneself.

A much greater number of people have died than those who are living now. Where have they gone, the burden of their bodies weighing millions of tons? What must they be doing now? The answer is that they are now as they were before their birth.

The ultimate religion is Self-realization. This is an unbroken and fearless state of being. This state refers to consciousness within the body. The religions based upon the bodily behaviour of human beings take them to their downfall. The highest religion means to live with the conviction that we are pure consciousness. Liberation means to be free. Then one is not affected by the bondage of mind, intellect and ego. One who follows this gets freedom from all concepts. Only the religion of one’s own Self will last to the end. That through which worldly dealings are known is our true nature. Though fully immersed in mundane activity, one is not affected. Understand this fact, be silent and at peace. All your needs will be taken care of. Krishna says: ‘I take the responsibility of sustenance for the one who follows the religion of his own true nature’. For him, all that is required is supplied automatically. Spiritual effort is as easy as it is difficult. One who holds onto the Guru’s word that ‘I am the self- luminous Atman’ will find it easy. The highest charity is to offer Self- knowledge.

A true brahmin is one who knows he is Brahman – pure consciousness. Those who are truly religious get the real reward of Self-knowledge. Prana (vital breath, the life force) does all the dealings; hence, be friends with it. If Prana is purified by the Guru-mantra, then it mingles with the universal Prana when one dies. Others who do not know take a fall.

Prana represents all the types of speech: para – intuition, pashyanti – thought-form, madhyama – word unspoken, and vaikari – word spoken. Madhyama is called the mind and when it speaks it is called vaikari. Thus, the mind is not different from Prana. Prana is Pranava – the primordial sound, Om. Prana, the life force, does not differentiate between a worm and a human being. It treats each body the same. The jnani does not see Prana as an individual form. To him all is one. Prana of a jnani becomes Prana of the universe. Where consciousness is stabilized, there is compassion. That is the only thing left with the jnani. When your Prana is pleased, you will come to know: ‘Who really speaks, is it you or your Prana?’

Thursday, January 5, 1978

Thoughts come and go the way they came. They linger if there is a need. A jnani has not even the need for himself. How does the household of a jnani work? The One that nourishes the child for nine months in the womb takes care of the jnani. How is the child looked after and protected until he gets the knowingness that he has a body? The answer is, the universal consciousness that he is, does everything. Even if you live for a thousand years, your identification with the body will not go. How can the One who is light and pure existence, be a body? The experience of your beingness, without pronouncing a single word, is true knowledge.

The body is made of five elements. Its essence is the consciousness that resides in the body. Know with certainty that you are not the body. You are without form; you are of the nature of light. You can see light and darkness because of your own light. Om symbolizes the hum of ascent (of breath), the assurance of your beingness. As you get to know your consciousness, you become liberated. If you are not the body, how are you going to act and with whom? That is the unshakable, immovable state. Once it is known that you are of the nature of light, there is no further coming and going. You are of the nature of the self-luminous light by whose virtue you can see things. Yet you believe that ‘I am so-and-so, having a body’. When the body falls, Prana leaves. No one says that Prana is dead. If Prana is pure, the mind and intellect are also pure. If Prana is satisfied, can one have the experience of misery? The power of Prana is the same as the power of life – the vital force. The force of Prana is the same as the primordial maya – it is the same as the power of Brahman. If someone becomes great, it is only by the power of Prana.

There is love for the word as long as there is ignorance. After knowledge, there is no use of words. After realization, the sense ‘I am’ is still there but the attitude of the mind is entirely changed.

Continue your chanting of the mantra, keeping its meaning in mind. Think of who should worship whom and why? If you want the Guru’s grace, take the word of the Guru as authority.

Sunday, January 15, 1978

The movement of Prana and the movement of God are not different. Watch your breathing. Without the vital life force, the feeling ‘I am’ will not be there. Consciousness in the body is the characteristic (guna) of Prana. They are not separate. Once you have realized the Self, it is not at all necessary to put on a special pose. That would be a sign of ignorance. To grow a beard, to look impressive, etc., is tied to body-consciousness. They are not the characteristics of the Self. The concept that you may take for your meditation will be realized and you will have visions accordingly. They are all unreal.

There is no method comparable to listening to such talks. Once you listen to this, liberation is within reach. The manifest principle has movement, but the unmanifest does not. It is without qualities.

As old age comes, childhood and youth go away automatically. It is not necessary to renounce them with purpose. Similarly, your ego should naturally fade away. No experience is lasting. There is no creator of the world, nor is there a sustainer, nor a destroyer. All happens spontaneously. What we know becomes the source of our happiness or sorrow. That which is not known to us cannot be the source of our happiness or sorrow.

Mind is the concept, and concept is the mind. The concept gives birth to whatever it likes. Such is the kingdom of the mind. The Self has no association. When one understands the concept, simultaneously one realizes That which is without concepts. This becomes possible even by listening. What you have learnt from childhood has become the real world for you. Jiva, jagat and Brahman (individual soul, the world and the supreme Self) are concepts. The concept creates its own meanings resulting in the three gunas. At the root, there is the manifest consciousness. When consciousness becomes active through dealings, the mind is created. The manifest consciousness is the base on which the mind floats.

When we get up from sleep, at that moment we feel ‘we are’, prior to any words. That is the basic thought. How did this world come into existence? It is like a dreamer creating a dream world without doing anything. We feel the world to be real because we feel our body to be real, and vice-versa. Though the world is immense, there is not an iota of truth in it. The unmanifest became manifest and created the mind. The mind created the world, which appears to be real. The one who goes beyond the manifest and remains in the unmanifest cannot quite say, ‘Now, I am unknown to me’. First comes consciousness, then the mind is created through it followed by all the activities. In the absence of consciousness, is it possible to do anything? The feeling ‘I am’ is a natural concept. That concept is never satisfied. When you try to be one with your consciousness, the mind comes in the way. Keep trying. Pay attention to the Source from which consciousness has appeared. This consciousness is untrue.

The listener should watch himself rather than interfering in the affairs of others. He should take the opportunity to see or know what he is. After knowing the meaning of the concept, you will know that the world is a joke. ‘Absolutely nothing has happened, I have not seen anybody, nobody has ever seen me’; this will be your conviction.

Whatever desire you do penance with, it projects on your mind and everything appears accordingly. The life force takes shape and then come the visions. If you act with body-consciousness, concepts will proliferate. If you make friendship with your pure consciousness, it will uncover its true nature. When consciousness knows what it is, it vanishes and what remains is vijnana – true direct knowledge that has no name. If you behave accordingly, sooner or later you will realize that you never had any experience of the world. Then where is the question of going about in such a world? Till such time that you know this, do all your dealings as you like. Look after the household. Do not run away from it.

When you were born you were in your natural state, before you started hearing words. After what you heard, which you believed was true, you have come to the present state. What has entered your mind so far is behaving in different ways.

The greatest endeavour is to understand oneself. That you must achieve. Then the secret of the whole world will be understood. When you realize yourself, you will understand the world at the same time. You will know what ‘you’ are. Have the firm conviction that I am what the Guru told me. In worldly dealings you can use your identity as a man or a woman, but do not keep it within you. Everything depends upon who you are going to die as.

Death is only a word. It is never an experience. What will you experience other than Brahman when there is nothing else other than Brahman? You have become the disciple of the mind. Mind is designing you. Mind does not know its source. Your conviction should rest in the Guru’s word. ‘Guru initiated me’ means he told me about my true nature. Believing it to be true, if one behaves with conviction, then the Truth will be known. From other people’s point of view, a man is dead. From the point of view of a jnani, he has become free of his delusion. ‘I am such and such, a woman or a man’, is the delusion.

First the food gets ready, and then the jiva takes birth through that. The nature of the food is the same as that of the jiva. The body is only transformed food. It is the food for consciousness. So long as there is consciousness, there is hunger and thirst.

Either you become determined through the Guru’s word, or keep on stumbling in vain. That experience to which you are attracted today is false. It will not last. You may take the best nutrition and stay strong. Yet, when old age comes the hands and feet are sure to shake. Think of that. Surrender to consciousness which says, ‘Jai Guru, Jai Guru’. Because you believe that you are the body, such concepts as ‘I am a child, I am a youth, I am old’ occur to you. ‘I am surely here and always will be; the body goes on changing.’ This is the discrimination.