Thursday, March 23, 1978

Self-knowledge means having a perfect understanding of what exactly we are. The body, for which all the care is taken, is impermanent and untrue. Whatever can be known is not the knowledge of the Self. One who believes that he is going to die is ignorant. He should have the association of Sat (that which exists forever), and not that of the body.

Sage means our own pure, ever-present, true nature. There is no personality there. The sage is not a person; he is alone. He signifies a state of permanent satsang (holy association). Meanwhile, the course of life keeps changing and its finale is death. What you believe as ‘yourself’, is not your true companion; it never was and never will be. One who tolerates everything is a sage (jnani). Can he cause pain to others? The actions of the five elements are not his own.

Whatever identity you try to create for yourself in order to be happy is going to be left behind. Your intellect changes with age. You take pride in being so-and-so as a body-form. You feel you are like this or like that. The feeling ‘I am suffering from this or that’ is ignorance. Be convinced that you are separate from the senses; their experience is not your experience. This is the condition of Brahman. Pure consciousness has never had any experience. Mind is the collection of impressions that have been recorded in it since birth.

What is in the body is of the nature of the rest of the world. When it considers itself as the body, it becomes different from the world. To be one with the world means to have devotion for all beings, as if they are God. One who thinks he is the body has no tolerance, nor patience. Atman means my Self. It is ever free. It has no shape, but It has its own light: the sense ‘I am’. It is pure consciousness. When one lives in this state one knows: ‘I am not the body, I am the self-luminous consciousness’. What is real does not come and go; only the body falls. Does your body know that you are sitting here? All bodies in the entire universe move about because of the life force. This very life-energy is given various names such as God, Ishwara, Atman, etc. Actually, consciousness has no name. Names are given for everyday dealings in the practical world. Once consciousness leaves the body, it does not recognize the body. That which is limitless has no knowledge of its own. It has no pride such as ‘I am like this or like that’. Millions of beings are born in that consciousness every day. The same consciousness abides in all.

Your memory functions automatically. It is recorded chemically. Anything for which you claim doership remains with you as a memory. Your body is a machine that produces vital energy that has the feeling of ‘I am’. It carries out all dealings. Was there any experience to guide you before you started learning about things? This chemical ‘I am-ness’ does everything. That knowledge is not affected by the three gunas. When there was no experience of the body, what were you like? Without ignorance, there can be no knowledge. If the basic ignorance of a child is not there, no knowledge can be acquired later. Knowledge appears because there is ignorance. With the body, when one knows ‘I am’, it is called vrutta (knowingness). Paramatman has no such knowledge of a separate existence. This knowledge-information is called the mind, intellect, beingness, intuition, etc. There is no truth in it. When the meaning of this is grasped, the mind disappears.

Did we come first or did the mind (words) come first? Whatever there is, is because of the root word ‘I’. What is that state (prior to words) called as? Because words in daily dealings are taken to be true, the word body-consciousness has stuck to you. The knower (of the Self) does not consciously experience the knowingness ‘I am’. When you become unattached, compassion will flow through you. All undesirable things will vanish. To become unattached means you exist as the Absolute. In such company, others also get peace. Such a one knows how the world is created.

Ego means identification with the body. When that goes, purposeful behaviour also vanishes. The worship of such sages uplifts even the deities. God is indebted to the devotee as He becomes free from his body. To get rid of the body while one is alive is the most difficult task. Consciousness in the body is God.

Sunday, March 26, 1978

The feeling ‘I know a lot’ is ignorance. Once it is understood that this is pure ignorance, it does not matter whether one talks a lot or not at all. When you go to sleep, you are sleep itself. You are not separate from the sleep. On waking up, the knowledge ‘I am’ dawns upon you and instantly creates the world. When you are asleep, you are pure ignorance. What would happen if one day this ignorance does not wake up? Then who would be there to die? Ignorance sleeps and wakes up every day! What is the meaning of the removal of ignorance? You can take any meaning you like. But what is the real situation? You, who are awake, go to sleep. That means the knowledge itself becomes ignorance. You have to understand the true import of this fact. (Here, ignorance implies the Absolute, and knowledge implies the sense ‘I am’.)

When Brahman is liberated, Parabrahman stays as He is. That which is the cause of this itch (happiness and misery) is Brahman. When the itch disappears, it is Parabrahman. What I am, here and now, is awakened ignorance. The base for all things is ignorance that is called sleep. Wakefulness is the child of ignorance. If there is ignorance, only then there can be knowledge.

The faith that ‘you are’ is created in you. It has come uninvited. Faith or devotion means love. It is the love for the Self. The certitude that ‘you are’ is the pure and holy manifestation of Paramatman. It is jnana. Recognition of the body comes through this faith in the Self. The holy names are for that certitude of the Self. Do not worship the impermanent i.e. the body. The use of this body is to nourish the faith in the Self. The fragrance of ‘I am’ coming through the body is God. One who believes he is the body faces death.

You have different kinds of beliefs. You become according to what you believe. How very powerful is the effect of beliefs! Be aware of that fact. Your faith that ‘you are’ is of the nature of the Guru or God. It is in your heart in the form of light (knowingness). The light of the Self never dies. One whose Self-light does not die, will he ever die? He may not live in today’s form, that is all. The form is illumined by this light. The sense ‘I am’ is God. It is called Saguna-Brahman (the manifest with quality). It is contained in Parabrahman (the Absolute without quality). You are Brahman. The great mantra given to you is the expression of Brahman. It is your own nature. You must invoke it by the mantra. It will surely reveal Itself.

One who wins a big lottery becomes happy. He considers himself a rich man. It took only a moment for this to happen. If this is so, why does not the Guru’s mantra bring about such instantaneous change? With faith in the Guru, fear of death vanishes forever. Thereby the fear of birth also vanishes. As you nurse in your heart the faith of your beingness, your conduct will go on changing. The belief that ‘I am a meagre human being’ changes to ‘I am Brahman’. Then the work is done. The Guru’s word is perfect knowledge. It is the state of Being – it is movement as well. Hold onto it tightly. All other means cannot even come close to it.