August 1, 1980
Maharaj: All your worldly and unworldly activities are based on the individual identification. You, as an individual, want to have liberation. You remain as an individual, that is the difficulty.
However much you may think you have understood this knowledge, so long as you think that you, as an individual, have acquired that knowledge, the individual identity is still there.
One who has made certain progress which gives him some tangible results is a Yogi, but because his self identity is there he rests content with what he has achieved as an individual.
You must understand both the aspects of this beingness, this lowly physical nature from which it has arrived, and that at the same time there is no end to what this consciousness can do although this state is by nature limited. How can he who is aware of his true nature and the total potential be satisfied with anything that this limited state can give him?
Further, the potential of his abiding in the Absolute is so great that people are not able to imagine how it could be in the Absolute, what it is like - therefore they can only think of him in his consciousness state.
Questioner: How can one understand that we abide in consciousness?
M. Right now you are in that state, but you always try to judge through body-mind. You are still attached to the body-mind. Even if you might live for a hundred years, you would still like an extension of five years. In the Absolute there is no need of any kind, even the need to know oneself.
Q: There must be some cause for this temporary state arising out of the Absolute?
M. Because of the friction or interaction of the five elements this temporary phase has occurred. For example, there were two intimate friends, whose friendship had endured for a very long time, but suddenly there was some friction, some disagreement, and immediately they had a fight.
Q. At the time of death there might be a very traumatic experience, physical and mental.
M. It is not always so. For the one who has purified the mind of all concepts, to that one death will be very blissful. You have had a lot of learning and spiritual wisdom and still with all this, at the moment of death you will open your diary, wherein you have noted all your relatives.
Q. With your blessings I will have a peaceful death, I will not remember anybody.
M. Abide in the high state. You have to do nothing, only the listening. If you listen correctly, everything will happen. Now I have told you what this beingness is, it is the outcome of the five elemental play; that knowingness is the result of this food body, and you are not that. So why worry about the departure of the knowingness?
Have you understood that you are the witness of the consciousness that appears on you? You are not the consciousness, you are not the knowledge, sat-guru is your true nature.
Consciousness cannot be separate from the world and the universe, it is the same. This is my maya, it has come out of me, and, I know that I am not the maya. I am the witness of this, it is just my play, but I am not the play.
The final meaning of all this sadhana is you. Whatever is, you are. Nobody has written these things in the books so far, some people may write hereafter. One who would write on this should have a scientific outlook.
That knowledge which appeared on me, I pampered excessively, and what is the final fruit of such knowledge? That knowledge has been branded now, "You have a disease and now you are going to go away," so I know the nature of this knowledge which appeared on me. You find out for yourself. I danced with that knowledge, I called it God, and now this knowledge has been branded as sick - but I know what I am, I am prior to this. I complained to my own nature, and my own nature says it is all lila (play), you have nothing to do with it. The very consciousness is dishonest, what have I do with it? I am the support - people think I am the cause but I am not the cause, I am the support.
Q. In the jnani beingness has reached the state of no-beingness, still the appearances will happen, how will one act?
M. It is something like acting in a dream world, in the dream world everything is happening, you are not doing anything. From that highest state only witnessing of the beingness and the activities of the beingness happen.
August 8, 1980
Questioner: Should we have a firm conviction that there is a state beyond the consciousness?
Maharaj: The Absolute is there is any case, so there is no question of your having faith - it is there.
Q. Would a firm conviction change the consciousness into the Absolute?
M: There is only one state, not two. When the "I Amness" is there, in that consciousness you will have many experiences, but the "I Am" and the Absolute are not two. In the Absolute the "I Amness" comes and then the experience takes place.
In the Absolute there is no individuality, no memory that I am this or that, but there is continual stirring. I have nothing to say which can be termed, as hearsay, or which has been read, or has authority from the scriptures. What I have to say - is coming out of my own Self.
Whatever is happening, from the Absolute standpoint, without the knowledge "I Am," is very profound, unlimited, expansive. In the realm of beingness the fragmentation begins; it is limited, conditioned, because in this beingness we try to claim all the actions as ours.
In the Absolute I have no occasion to say that I exist, because It is in eternity. I do not have to make any comments about my existence.
Because of the existence of the Absolute Parabrahman state a lot of incarnations have come and gone, but the Absolute remains untainted by the movement of all these incarnations.
Q. What is the purpose of the creation?
M: This is the language of the earnest seeker, not one who is established in the truth. Out of an infinitesimal seed a magnificent tree has grown; will the seed reject the tree, the branches, the leaves, etc., asserting that this is not me, not mine? Spontaneously, it is going on. Let it go on.
Q. Is this "I Amness" a necessary threshold to obtain that Absolute state?
M. The Absolute state cannot be obtained. That is your state. To the Absolute state the witnessing of the consciousness happens.
Q. How long must one practice?
M. How long did you practice to become a woman? The first stage is to transcend this body-mind sense, it is easy, but to transcend consciousness is very difficult. Beingness is a very powerful potential knowledge, because of that you have all other knowledge, therefore it is difficult to get rid of this knowledge.
Q. Is it separate from the Unmanifest?
M. From your point of view it is separate; from my standpoint it is not separate. Sri Krishna said that whatever is, is myself only. Saguna and nirguna, both myself only. This touch of beingness is a temporary phase.
Enquire at that point. How did this beingness happen to be?
August 21, 1980
Maharaj: I am not very keen on having people stay longer than eight or ten days, whatever they have understood, they have to digest, any further talks will not reach them. Presuming that one is knowledgeable, having left here and gone elsewhere, he will not be able to remain alone - he will crave somebody's company so that he can deliver the goods of spirituality. He will want the company of others with whom he can discuss spirituality - otherwise he will feel very unhappy. Will you feel happy and satisfied if you do not encounter other sadhakas?
Questioner: Oh yes. Is this a necessary threshold for a serious seeker - to go through the stage where he would like to share his knowledge with others?
M: That is part of it, but that must also come to an end. The highest state is the unborn state in which there is no experience of mind. Investigate that concept "I Am." In the process of trying to find your true identity you might even give up the Self, and in giving up the Self, you are That.
[Maharaj is watching some sparrows on the windowsill.] The consciousness indwelling the sparrow and the consciousness indwelling this body is the same. Here the instrument is big, there it is smaller. They [the sparrows] are planning for food, their tummies are not full. All the species are suffering; creation itself is suffering. All these concepts about rebirth, etc., has the rain rebirth? the fire? the air? In short, it is a mere transformation of the five elements. You may call it rebirth.
In the process of this spiritual search, all will happen in the realm of this consciousness. You finally stumble on, or culminate, into the Absolute Parabrahman state, which is desireless. I have understood and transcended beingness. Suppose I live for 100 years more, waking state, sleep and "I Amness"- what is the use of that? I am fed up with that.
I don't have any exclusive identity for myself. Whatever identity I have is the play of the five elements, and it is universal. Since there is not much that can be said from my state, I will not be keeping people long. I will just dole out some knowledge and tell them to go. With this profound knowledge, at this level, they are not able to understand. What benefit can they derive?
August 23, 1980
Maharaj: Some people I will request to stay but I can't explain why, and some people, although they would like to stay, I say, "you go." There are various types of seekers: some come exclusively for knowledge and are not interested in the person who delivers, perhaps least interested in him. Some people want knowledge, but for them the prior requisite is gurubhakti, devotion to the guru comes first; after that they collect knowledge.
There are some great sages who, in their seeking stage, used to do devotion or worship of a God only for name, .s sake, but the intensity was devotion to the guru and because of the intense gurubhakti they reached such a high state.
Now, for this lady, devotion to the guru is predominant, and she get, knowledge incidentally, but starting with guru bhakti, to such a person even the God is devoted.
Whatever natural experiences you encounter, just accept them, don't try to alter them, just accept them as they come.
The sum total of all this is illusion and nobody is responsible for creation - it has come spontaneously and there is no question of improvement in that - it will go on in its own way. I have come to the conclusion that the world is there spontaneously without any seed, that creation is seedless but the world is full of seeds and procreation is going on daily.
Questioner: Having knowledge, how is it that you have been able to deal with all these different persons?
M. Who is to deal? I have no pose or stance, no set form of my own. If I had a set form, it would have been difficult to accept or coalesce with anybody, but my nothingness is the subtlest, so I can fit into anything, any situation.
Suppose a rich man, wearing a lot of expensive. ornaments moves in the street, he will be afraid, he will be in danger. But a naked fakir has nothing to lose, so he moves in the streets without fear.
So, having lost everything, I have nothing further to lose, I can encounter and fit into any situation. So long as you wear a name and form, all these problems will be there. In this spiritual pursuit you gradually lose your form and as the form is shed off, the name also disappears.
There are many customers to gain and possess something in the name of spiritual knowledge, but nobody is a customer for the real, true Self knowledge. There was a man who worked hard and gathered possessions for many years and now he is on his death bed in his village house. On his death bed he was looking into the cattle shed, he was not thinking noble thoughts, he was looking at the calf who was chewing a broomstick, and he was worried about the damage to the broomstick. So, even when he was dying, he was shouting, "The broomstick, the broomstick!"
Q. What is the yardstick to measure the progress of a seeker?
M.- There was a very weak man who was not able to walk. Gradually he acquired strength and started walking, so he knows that he has the strength, isn't that so?
The indication of your progress is your disinclination to associate with normal people; your desires and expectations get less and less.
When out of intense hunger for Self knowledge, the door, or the flood gate is opened, then you start rejecting everything, right from the gross state to Iswara state, your own consciousness, you reject everything.
In worldly life, by the power of money you can purchase anything, by donating money you get everything. Similarly, by donating the Self you get the Brahman and when you donate the Brahman you get Parabrahman. You must have a deep, intense desire for Self knowledge.
August 24, 1980
Questioner: If chaitanya (consciousness) is all pervading and consists of all these powers of various kinds andyet, the individual consciousness is connected with the body, for this universal consciousness is there a body? A universal body - or a combination of bodies for the universal consciousness?
Maharaj: Universal consciousness does not have a body. The universal consciousness becomes manifest whenever a body comes into the picture. The essence of the five elements constitute the sustenance of the universal consciousness.
Q. The universal consciousness and the consciousness in the body, does it have any connection?
M: It is an intimate connection. It is a continuum from the individual consciousness to the manifest consciousness. For example, you have the vital breath: outside it is called universal air and when you breathe, it is your pram.
Q. What is the difference between Paramatman and Jivatman?
M. When you think in terms of parts, you think of Jiva, and of the whole as Paramatman, but there is no difference. When it is entrenched in the body it assumes a temporality, a time unit, thejiva; at the end of the time span it merges into the Paramatman.
Q: Why does Paramatman, which is whole, limit itself to the body as a part?
M. There is no reason for it, it just happens. But in the Paramatman there is no awareness of existence, there is awareness of awareness only. As soon as awareness of existence comes, there is a duality and the manifestation comes.
Q: Earlier someone said that man alone can realize. I feel that every living cell is a manifestation of God and therefore that this is a wrong idea.
M. The consciousness is the same, but the mind can only work according to what is known to it. What is known to the lower creatures is only the basic physical requirements. It is only man, who from an early age, has been thinking of, and has been fed, higher ideas, other than merely the physical aspects. Man is able to fly and go to the moon. No other species can do this; the mind of the lesser species is limited.
There are 84 lakhs of different species, as soon as any conception takes place in any of these species, there is a sort of a causal body on which the print has been made at the time of conception about the nature of the form and its working. Nobody tells a bird to fly, a fish to swim, or a worm to crawl, it is all in the conception itself. That which cannot die is now firmly convinced that it is going to die. How has this fear of death crept in? It is based on the concept that one is born, on mere words; this is the bondage.
All that one has to do is find out one's source and take up headquarters there.
August 29, 1980
Questioner: After knowing that one is not the beingness, the beingness still wants to be - it protects itself. Is it built into that unit?
Maharaj: Yes, that is its nature.
Q. Is it that these units of beingness are of no more value than a picture, they arejust like a picture on a TV screen - is that right?
M. Yes, you may take it that they are just pictures. Nevertheless it is a most amazing instrument because inside it has a certain principle which contains the universe. Don't just dismiss it as a picture.
The Self cannot experience its knowingness without the help of the body. It is a necessary instrument. Sour food and pulsation (vital breath) - without these the growth is not there and beingness will not be there.
This body is a bag of nourishment but that knowledge "I Am" is not individualistic, it is universal.
Q. Is it the consciousness enjoying itself through all these units of beingness?
M. Yes. This beingness goes into individuality because of the form of the food package, the body. From my standpoint it is dynamic, manifest beingness only - no individuality.
Once you take to this understanding there is no question of enjoying yourself as an individual. You are no more an individual, the individual is dissolved. A rare one will do this.
The one who has understood all the five elements and its play is not worried about the essence of these five elements, the beingness - this state is transcended also. That one has the fragrance of humanity: he remembers humanity, but knows that he has nothing to do with humanity.
Having understood this and transcended it, the words are of no use. The beingness feels that it should not die, but if the so-called death has occurred, there is no loss to it.
From my standpoint, whatever beingness in the form of a human being was there is all gone; because of that dissolution it has become manifest.
August 30, 1980
Questioner: Does the consciousness remain forever?
Maharaj: No, the consciousness is there only so long as the body is there.
Q; Even when one understands, will there be bodies coming into existence and dying?
M: Yes. The five elements, three gunas, prakriti and purusha, together are the means of demonstrating the "I Amness." In the original state there is no sense of consciousness, no awareness of being, but as soon as the "I Amness" comes the entire manifestation is seen at once, this is the expression of the consciousness. In the Absolute the "I Airiness" is whole but the expression is in many. I manifest Myself in many.
Human beings are one type of form and each type of form will act according to its nature, according to the combination of the three guns. How can an individual come in?
The only way to understand this mystery is to realize your identity with the universal consciousness, which is expressed in the total space. So long as you identify yourself with the human form it is impossible for the mystery to be solved.
Why do you come here and waste your time for an hour or so? If you do some physical or mental work for two hours you would have something to show for it.
Q. These are the hours that are useful; all the others are useless.
M. How can they be useful? I am destroying that for which you say these two hours are useful. I am destroying the identity. Isn't it amusing that the teaching which destroys the individual is exactly what the individual wants? The answer is that there never was an individual. The knowledge comes that the individual was never there.
Q. What is the realization?
M: Before the idea "I Am" sprouted, you are, but you don't know you are. Subsequent to that there have been many happenings with which you have started decorating yourself. You try to derive the meaning of yourself out of subsequent words, happenings, and the meaning of words ... that is not you ... give it up. You are prior to the idea "I Am." Camp yourself there, prior to the words "I Am."