Thursday, February 9, 1978

Consciousness can observe only that which undergoes change. That which is eternal cannot be observed by consciousness. Therefore it cannot be known. The concept ‘I am so-and-so’ is not permanent. One who knows this is everlasting. Concepts and desires appear with the body, and also disappear with the body. All that is known is a concept. However great the knower of the Self may be, what he teaches is still a concept that pleases him.

All your actions are transient. It does not matter how long they last. What is today, not a trace of it will remain tomorrow as nothing is everlasting. What will you do when the mind-flow stops?

The one who knows what ‘he is’ will never censure anyone. The world is bound by the three gunas. One who knows the gunas, does not censure the gunas. So long as you consider yourself a body with a name, there is no direct knowledge of the Self. Without that one becomes a tattler, who blames things on someone else. All wordy attacks are the result of body-consciousness. The feeling ‘I am’, which everyone has, is God. So whom will you criticize?

The respect you give to the Guru, the same will be created in you. Guru means jnana (consciousness). Guru means Parabrahman. Atman is the self- luminous knowledge. It is of the nature of God. His very form is this knowledge. The feeling that ‘you are’ is the soul of the world. Remember this constantly. Put aside what you have learnt from books. As long as you think you are separate, you have to do sadhana (spiritual practice). Whatever happens or does not happen is within God, and by God. You are not concerned with that. To keep this awareness throughout the day is constant meditation on the Self. Whether prana leaves today or 10,000 years from now, there is no gain, no loss for a jnani.

Faith in the Guru and understanding received through the Guru’s word cannot be compared with anything else. It is so pure. Consciousness is spotless, formless and prior to intellect. Worldly knowledge is born out of the word. Without your consciousness, would the sun exist as the sun? As you identify yourself with the body, you cannot even imagine the immense consciousness. Everything is transitory. One who knows that is eternal. What you take yourself as, its effects will be felt by you. If you live with the understanding that you are Brahman, the same will be your destiny.

Consciousness as ‘I am’ is atomic. The moment it comes into being, it becomes self-luminous and creates the immense world. How can you put an end to the things that have been created by your own light?

Thursday, February 16, 1978

Your consciousness contains the immense phenomenal world. Yet it appears outside. As it is created from this subtle consciousness, it is untrue. Only Brahman is true.

Hold tight to that knowledge. That is true meditation. As long as you look for personal benefit, you will not get Self-realization. Atman is our true nature. It is the formless consciousness. With the combination of body, prana and Atman, there is the sense ‘I am’. Put aside your problems if any and get stabilized in the Self. The body has a form but consciousness within the body has no form. By taking the body as our form, duality is created. It brings the experience of happiness and misery. Worship only consciousness by which all of this is experienced. It is beyond intellect.

The knowledge (jnana) is called the Guru. That means the knowledge that the teacher has is the Guru. Where there is an experience of the Self, there is bliss. We are that bliss. Consciousness is the hum of beingness. To catch hold of it is meditation. People say they are happy, but has anyone of them experienced bliss? Our true nature is neither happiness nor sorrow. The Self, itself, is happiness. To worship the Guru is to worship his word. It means to worship our own consciousness. ‘I am’ is beyond the mind, it is also beyond the qualities. Its nature is like space. It is the all-pervading firmament of consciousness. It is fearless just as space is fearless. It is stupendous and fathomless. Keep your attention on It. Worship It without bringing in duality. Do not identify with the body. You are the ocean of bliss.

In summary, worship the word of the Guru, ‘I am not the body, I am the formless, pure life force or Brahman that vitalizes the body’. There is no limit to happiness where there is no body-consciousness. Consciousness will sustain you in every sense if you have faith in the Guru’s word. When your inner urge is devotion to the Guru, death has no effect on you. Consciousness appears in various forms including different types of visions. One who is firmly established in the Guru’s teaching has no fear. Because of body-consciousness, the Atman who is of the nature of perfect bliss has to endure misery. Do not take yourself to be an individual. Stay with the awareness of the manifest (totality). Its body is space.

Take the Guru’s word to your heart. It will enable you to see and experience clearly the seed within. That seed has become the world. Though it moves about in myriad bodies, it is spotless. Hence, you need not worry about the purification of the body. You do not require rules and regulations of any creed. Your consciousness will slowly crystallize and you will realize your true nature. The concept of death will seem ridiculous. The true religion of a devotee is faith. Strictly observe the Guru’s word, ‘I have no other form but consciousness’. Then, do what you like. Do not worry. It is a waste of intellect and energy. Spontaneously, everything is happening in God, through God, and by God.

Thursday, March 2, 1978

Observe your present life, how and why it has become like this. Know that this is a temporary show. You call upon God but where was God before you came to know ‘you are’? Find the source of all this. That which is of the nature of time is not everlasting because time itself is not real. Your intellect also changes with time. The manifest is bound by time. Gods and deities are a result of the power of the word. We are alive by virtue of the word. The pulse itself is the word. Whatever you believe in is true for you. However, it is time-bound and not eternal. The Truth is unmanifested. (Maharaj is saying that the manifestation is a time-bound concept. Our body-mind is part of it. The first word, Om, is the symbol of manifestation.) Meditate on that by which you know ‘you are’.

Birth and death are nonsense. Who is born? It is only a sport of the five elements. The vital life force is playing as it pleases, by collecting and mixing the five elements in the form of a body. They have no intelligence. Why would a merciful God create a world like this, where life depends on life? That is why there is no creator. The world is there due to duality. No duality, no world.

People who want to make money should do just that. Search for spiritual knowledge and pursuit of wealth cannot be done at the same time. Spirituality is possible only when you let go of everything. As long as you take yourself as the body, what you say is true for you. It is as true as the body. All activities take place because of the rise of consciousness in the body. The feeling of misery and happiness is there due to the sense ‘I am’.

Sleep and awakening come spontaneously. They are not a result of your will. The nature of the dream continues through wakefulness. Where is the profit or loss if there is no individual thought like ‘I am so-and-so’? Have you thought of how this sense of ‘I am’ is created and how long will it last?

Such knowledge should be discussed only with people who have a sense of detachment.

Why are people interested in miracles? Is not the greatest miracle your own beingness? Because of that the immense world is created in an instant.

One may get spiritual powers by performing special practices. The knowledge of the Self has nothing to do with it.

As consciousness, you are prior to space. Before going to sleep, at least say, ‘I am of the nature of space’. This knowledge is beyond words. It cannot be acquired through austerities or japa. Sri Krishna taught it out of love. Most people get involved in rituals and various methods of search. As a result they may get visions and feel satisfied. Self-knowledge is beyond concepts. It is beyond words. It is eternal. Why and from where have the experiences of the world and of our own self come over us? How were we prior to this experience? This has to be understood. Keep listening until you have no doubt about your identity as to what you are and how you have come into existence. Faith in the Guru and devotion to the Guru spontaneously brings the understanding.

The knowledge once acquired can never be lost. One who knows samadhi does not get involved in mundane dealings. Without faith in the Guru, there is no hope for such knowledge. Krishna taught the ultimate knowledge: how the universe appears and disappears while the unmanifest remains.

This knowledge is not affected by words. When the manifest withdraws into the unmanifest, samadhi ensues. One wants meaning to the words, but this knowledge is beyond words. How the wordless state is, has to be explained in words. All doubts have to be eradicated. Worldly knowledge is of no use. When listened to, this knowledge grows by itself, becomes all-pervading, and in the end merges into the Absolute. It is pleased with devotion to the Guru and the love for the Guru. The listener should be of a pure heart. You get happiness only when you forget yourself. All other activities are entertainment. The love for the Guru is not an ordinary thing. One who goes on repeating the mantra will realize the Truth. Always remember that our consciousness is in accordance with the Guru’s word. Keep this firmly in mind. That is meditation. When the meaning of the Guru-word sprouts in a person, he goes beyond everything. He understands how the temporary consciousness merges into the eternal state of his nature (Absolute).

Your body is the food for your consciousness. It is because of the food that you feel ‘you are’. With faith in the Guru’s words, all will be explained. Simple devotees will get liberated sooner than the intellectuals. If there is fear of death at the last moment, such a devotee calls upon God, forgets himself and gets dissolved into the universal consciousness. Prana leaves and then there is no rebirth. The intellectual devotee becomes involved in concepts and is born again according to his last concept.