Talks mar 12

 216

M.: Without knowing the body to be there how can the body be said to be in sleep?

 D.: Because it is still found after waking up.

 M.: The sense of body is a thought; 

the thought is of the mind, 

the mind rises after the ‘I-thought’, 

the ‘I-thought’ is the root thought. 

If that is held, the other thoughts will disappear. 

There will then be no body, no mind, not even the ego. 

D.: What will remain then? 

M.: The Self in its purity.

D.: How can the mind be made to vanish?

M.: No attempt is made to destroy it. To think or wish it is itself a thought.

  If the thinker is sought, the thoughts will disappear.

......

D.: Will they disappear of themselves? It looks so difficult. 

M.: They will disappear because they are unreal. The idea of difficulty is itself an obstacle to realisation. It must be overcome. To remain as the Self is not difficult. 

D.: It looks easy to think of God in the external world, whereas it looks difficult to remain without thoughts. 

M.: That is absurd; to look at other things is easy and to look within is difficult! It must be contrariwise.

D.: But I do not understand. It is difficult. 

M.: This thought of difficulty is the chief obstacle. A little practice will make you think differently. 

D.: What is the practice? 

M.: To find out the source of ‘I’.

D.: If sleep be such a good state, why does not one like to be always in it? 

M.: One is always only in sleep. The present waking state is no more than a dream. Dream can take place only in sleep. Sleep is underlying these three states. Manifestation of these three states is again a dream, which is in its turn another sleep. In this way these states of dream and sleep are endless. Similar to these states, birth and death also are dreams in a sleep. Really speaking, there are no birth and death.

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218

Talk 245. 

Misses Gulbai and Shirinbai Byramjee, two Parsi ladies, were asking questions round one central point. All their questions amounted to one. “I understand that the Self is beyond the ego. My knowledge is theoretical and not practical. How shall I gain practical realisation of the Self?” 

M.: Realisation is nothing to be got afresh. It is already there. All that is necessary is to be rid of the thought: “I have not realised.” 

D.: Then one need not attempt it. 

M.: No. Stillness of mind or peace is realisation. There is no moment when the Self is not. So long as there is doubt or the feeling of non-realisation, attempt must be made to rid oneself of these thoughts. The thoughts are due to identification of the Self with the non-self. When the non-self disappears the Self alone remains. To make room anywhere it is enough that things are removed from there. Room is not brought in afresh. Nay, more - room is there even in cramping. Absence of thoughts does not mean a blank. There must be one to know the blank. Knowledge and ignorance are of the mind. They are born of duality. But the Self is beyond knowledge and ignorance. It is light itself. There is no necessity to see the Self with another Self. There are no two selves. What is not Self is non-self. 

The non-self cannot see the Self. The Self has no sight or hearing. It lies beyond these - all alone, as pure consciousness. A woman, with her necklace round her neck, imagines that it has been lost and goes about searching for it, until she is reminded of it by a friend; she has created her own sense of loss, her own anxiety of search and then her own pleasure of recovery. Similarly the Self is all along there, whether you search for it or not. 

Again just as the woman feels as if the lost necklace has been regained, so also the removal of ignorance and the cessation of false identification reveal the Self which is always present - here and now. 

This is called realisation. It is not new. It amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing more.

Blankness is the evil result of searching the mind. 

The mind must be cut off, root and branch. See who the thinker is, who the seeker is. Abide as the thinker, the seeker. All thoughts will disappear.

......

D.: Then there will be the ego - the thinker. 

M.: That ego is pure Ego purged of thoughts. It is the same as the Self. So long as false identification persists doubts will persist, questions will arise, there will be no end of them. Doubts will cease only when the non-self is put an end to. That will result in realisation of the Self. There will remain no other there to doubt or ask. All these doubts should be solved within oneself. No amount of words will satisfy. 

Hold the thinker. Only when the thinker is not held do objects appear outside or doubts arise in the mind.

.....

Talk 246.

 Language is only a medium for communicating one’s thoughts to another. It is called in only after thoughts arise; other thoughts arise after the ‘I-thought’ rises; the ‘I-thought’ is the root of all conversation. When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence. Silence is ever-speaking; it is a perennial flow of language; it is interrupted by speaking. These words obstruct that mute language. There is electricity flowing in a wire. With resistance to its passage, it glows as a lamp or revolves as a fan. In the wire it remains as electric energy. Similarly also, silence is the eternal flow of language, obstructed by words. 

What one fails to know by conversation extending to several years can be known in a trice in Silence, or in front of Silence - e.g., Dakshinamurti, and his four disciples. 

That is the highest and most effective language. 

...

Talk 247. 

There arose a doubt if ‘I-I’ consciousness be the same as nirvikalpa samadhi or anything anterior to it. 

Sri Bhagavan said that the tiny hole in the Heart remains always closed, but it is opened by vichara with the result that ‘I-I’ consciousness shines forth. It is the same as samadhi.

D.: What is the state just before death? 

M.: When a person gasps for breath it indicates that the person is unconscious of this body; another body has been held and the person swings to and fro. While gasping there is a more violent gasp at intervals and that indicates the oscillation between the two bodies due to the present attachment not having been completely snapped. I noticed it in the case of my mother and of Palaniswami. 

D.: Does the new body involved in that state represent the next reincarnation of the person?

M.: Yes. While gasping the person is in something like a dream, not aware of the present environment. (It must be remembered that Sri Bhagavan had been with His mother from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until she passed away. He was all along holding her head with one hand, the other hand placed on her bosom. What does it signify? He Himself said later that there was a struggle between Himself and His mother until her spirit reached the Heart. 

Evidently the soul passes through a series of subtle experiences, and Sri Bhagavan’s touch generates a current which turns the soul back from its wandering into the Heart. 

The samskaras, however, persist and a struggle is kept up between the spiritual force set up by His touch and the innate samskaras, until the latter are entirely destroyed and the soul is led into the Heart to rest in eternal Peace, which is the same as Liberation.

 Its entry into the Heart is signified by a peculiar sensation perceptible to the Mahatma - similar to the tinkling of a bell. 

When Maharshi attended on Palaniswami on his death-bed, He took away His hand after the above signal. But Palaniswami’s eyes opened immediately, signifying that the spirit had escaped through them, thereby indicating a higher rebirth, but not Liberation.

Having once noticed it with Palaniswami, Maharshi continued touching His mother for a few minutes longer - even after the signal of the soul passing into the Heart - and thus ensured her Liberation. This was confirmed by the look of perfect peace and composure on her features).

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222

Talk 249. 

M.: Ignorance - ajnana - is of two kinds: 

(1) Forgetfulness of the Self. 

(2) Obstruction to the knowledge of the Self. 

Aids are meant for eradicating thoughts; these thoughts are the re-manifestations of predispositions remaining in seed-form; they give rise to diversity from which all troubles arise. 

These aids are: hearing the truth from the master (sravana), etc. The effects of sravana may be immediate and the disciple realises the truth all at once. This can happen only for the well-advanced disciple. Otherwise, the disciple feels that he is unable to realise the truth, even after repeatedly hearing it. What is it due to? Impurities in his mind: ignorance, doubt and wrong identity are the obstacles to be removed. 

(a) To remove ignorance completely, he has to hear the truth repeatedly, until his knowledge of the subject-matter becomes perfect; 

(b) to remove doubts, he must reflect on what he has heard; ultimately his knowledge will be free from doubts of any kind;

(c) to remove the wrong identity of the Self with the non-self (such as the body, the senses, the mind or the intellect) his mind must become one-pointed. 

All these things accomplished, the obstacles are at an end and samadhi results. 

That is, Peace reigns. 

Some say that one should never cease to engage in hearing, reflection and one-pointedness. These are not fulfilled by reading books, but only by continued practice to keep the mind withdrawn. 

The aspirant may be kritopasaka or akritopasaka.

 The former is fit to realise the Self, even with the slightest stimulus: only some little doubt stands in his way, it is easily removed if he hears the truth once from the Master. 

Immediately he gains the samadhi state. 

It is presumed that he had already completed sravana, reflection, etc. in previous births, they are no more necessary for him. 

For the other all these aids are necessary; for him doubts crop up even after repeated hearing; therefore he must not give up aids until he gains the samadhi state. 

Sravana removes the illusion of the Self being one with the body, etc. 

Reflection makes it clear that Knowledge is Self. 

One pointedness reveals the Self as being Infinite and Blissful. 

......

M.: Retirement means abidance in the Self. Nothing more. It is not leaving one set of surroundings and getting entangled in another set, nor even leaving the concrete world and becoming involved in a mental world. The birth of the son, his death, etc., are seen in the Self only. Recall the state of sleep. Were you aware of anything happening? If the son or the world be real, should they not be present with you in sleep? 

You cannot deny your existence in sleep. Nor can you deny you were happy then. You are the same person now speaking and raising doubts. You are not happy, according to you. But you were happy in sleep. What has transpired in the meantime that happiness of sleep has broken down? It is the rise of ego. That is the new arrival in the jagrat state. There was no ego in sleep. The birth of the ego is called the birth of the person. There is no other kind of birth. Whatever is born is bound to die. Kill the ego: there is no fear of recurring death for what is once dead. The Self remains even after the death of the ego. That is Bliss - that is Immortality. 

D.: How is that to be done? 

M.: See for whom these doubts exist. 

Who is the doubter? Who is the thinker? That is the ego. Hold it.

 The other thoughts will die away. The ego is left pure. 

See where from the ego arises. That is pure consciousness. 

D.: It seems difficult. May we proceed by bhakti marga? 

M.: It is according to individual temperament and equipment. Bhakti is the same as vichara.

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