7. You Are That Which Observes the Coming and Going of the Consciousness


Visitor: One of the things that Maharaj was talking about this morning is how the life force in our bodies, the prana, would not have been able to appear without consciousness being present. 

Maharaj: When you understand that this knowledge-consciousness is your very thought, and as your conviction about that increases, you become desireless. Then, gradually you let go of all desires; they drop away. 

With medicine, can one make a condition endurable? 

V: Each case has to be taken on its own merits. You can’t make a universal law. Yes, in my experience this can happen. You can’t say, yes, it definitely will happen. That is just not the way it wo*-ks. 

M: We must have death without pain. Most of the great sages in India died of cancer. We had one sage, some three centuries ago, by the name of Tukaram. He was doing bhajans and at the last moment he just disintegrated into nothingness. No pain, no body, nothing. All he left were probably his sandals and sitar, that string instrument. He just vanished. We have three or four other sages like that, who just disap- peared into thin air. Mirabai was another one; she merged into an idol. In the South, there was a sage from Bengal. He went to Puri [city in Orissa State], and he also merged into an idol...no remnants. So I said that is the best type, and if they could pass on this skill to all of us, we would be immensely grateful. 

V: The stoiy I heard about Tukaram was not that he decided to die, but he was with his disciples, and he was so disgusted with their lack of response to his teaching that he said I am going to leave you. He entered this little room, with only one door and no windows at all, while the devotees were sitting outside. After some time, they went inside and found no trace of him. 

Interpreter: Maharaj does not want people to hang on to him for long periods. They should receive the talks, understand, and abide in them even while being away from him. 

M: Spirituality is very necessary to keep oneself alive. Having understood what is what, you come to the conclusion that death is also an illusion. A jnani is one who abides in the Absolute, who is the Absolute only. A jnani who has understood and transcended this consciousness does not want to prolong the life of consciousness. He leaves consciousness to its own nature, to spontaneity; he does not interfere. 

Of a jnani, nobody can say he has any relatives: all could be his relatives or none could be. Only a jnani knows that everything is not, everything will not be, and everything has never been. For a jnani, individuality has been liquidated completely; there is only manifest consciousness, which is ample and plenty for him. 

V: He is saying there is no identification with that. 

M: A jnani has transcended consciousness, although the association with consciousness is still there. And consciousness, “I-am-ness,” represents manifestation in its totality, because it is not confined or conditioned by the body as an 


As are the concepts occurring to a person, so will be his behavior. This “I am” itself is the primary concept, and from that flow all others. According to you, what is your identity? With what identity do you exist in this world? 

V: Well, I try to detach myself from any identity. 

M: Yes, but who tries to detach from any identity? Who is it who detaches also from that identity? What is the nature of that particular identity or entity which wants to get rid of the suffering? Is it the happiness or is it something else? What do you think? 

V: Maybe, the feeling of dissatisfaction. 

M: You have a feeling that happiness is there, and you have a feeling that suffering is there. Between these two points, where are you? Who are you to find out this feeling of happiness and that feeling of suffering? 

V: I found there is actually nobody there. There is only the suffering. 

M: The fact that there is nobody, no entity to feel like that, are you really convinced of it? 

V: Well, the conviction is based on practicing. 

M: Nobody is there, nobody is existing there, thats what you are saying; there is no identity whatsoever; that 

a monastic robe.] 

V: No, the difficulty is there is still some sense of attachment. M: Since when do you know that you are? 

V: Maybe since I was born. 

M: Did you have any experience of your birth, or you just heard about it? 

V: There are only vague memories of very early childhood, and images. 

M: That is, you have heard about your birth, but you don’t know anything yourself directly. 

V: I must have heard about it also. 

M: You know that you are, because you have heard that you were born. Therefore, you are. You say “I feel I am” since my birth, but you only heard of your birth. 

V. And that is more or less interrelated with one’s environment. The memories build up a sense of self-identity. 

M. Regardless of what you have heard about being born, that particular identity is this, is it not? Whatever you feel you are, is it not the form? The same form, is it not, of which you have heard that it was born and signified your birth? 

Vo You mean I stay in the same identity with which I was born? 

Ms You have heard about the form being bom. And this is the form. You call it now your identity, whatever you call yourself. You have heard you were born and you are experiencing that birth only now, isn’t it? From the moment you are experiencing the world, you are experiencing the birth. 

All that you understand is objective knowledge, which is impermanent and will not remain with you. The one who says, I don’t understand, that is “you.” You are that particular thing that says I don’t know. And whatever you know, whatever is an objective perception, is all impermanent. 

V: Doesn’t that imply the sense of “me” as well? 

M: If you say you have a sense of "me,” that is not going to remain with you; it is impermanent. Once again, it is anat- ma. So why be bothered with that? Why worry about a thing that is not permanent? So where is your question now? 

The one who says “I don’t know,” does he exist prior to the one who says I know? There is something which says I know and there is something in you which says I don’t know. Which is prior? 

V: There must be something existing before. What we mean by “I know,” I don’t know. I know if it is just knowledge based on objects that are impermanent. 

M: That which knows it is impermanent is existing all the time. Without this knowledge, you cannot make the statement “I don’t know.” All objective knowledge is impermanent. 

V: But then what is so-called “Self-realization”? 

M: We will come to that a little later. Self-realization means I am completely full, I don’t want to know anything [laughter], I don’t require anything at all now. Self-realization is a term, a goal which we are trying to understand. If it is an outside answer, it cannot be reached. Unless it undulates within you, signifying you are that, you will not be able to understand it. It cannot come from outside. Those are the only terms and goals, and no path leads to it. There is nothing more to be understood, since you are that. If you understand this, that is all. Then whatever objective understanding is impermanent, that entity which knows is permanent, which you will never be able to understand. 

V: The thing is complete already, and I have failed to realize that. I am trying all these days to be one with that. 

Second Visitor: But as long as we try this, there is a sense of separation involved. That means in a way the trying must stop. 

M: You cannot try that, you know. It must be there already. You say, it is perfect, is it not? Then where is the question of reaching the perfection? You cannot reach something which you are not. You must be perfect right from the beginning. Therefore, you are that. You don’t have to reach something. 

You are trying to create a goal. Only your mind is creating something, you see. You don’t know the fact at all, because you are the fact. How are you going to know a fact as an objective thing? That is, if it is a fact, it is subjective. You cannot know it as other than you. 1 If you are going to know it as other than you, it becomes objective, it is impermanent. 

That is why all people are after spiritual pursuits, you see. They go with one hand out, they want something to be blessed. But if somebody blesses you, you put out another hand and you say bless me here also. Self-realization is not to be given on a platter. It is already there. What is there to be given? That which can be given to you, has to be secured. You don’t require any security, or anything at all. It is already there. If you feel it is not there, you are never going to realize it. 

V: Some instruction helps, though. 

M: If you are getting the instructions according to a certain path or method, then again you will get into trouble. There is nothing like that; there is no path, no instruction at all. That you must understand. 

V: There are strong habit patterns. 

M: Yes, and once you know their impermanence and that they are not true, why worry about the habit patterns? Remove the habit. Go beyond! If you cannot do so, then you cannot understand this, the whole final truth, yet. No path, no instruction, no method, no technique. You are full, you are all One. You feel you are two, so OK. Understand you are not two, advaita. 

You were a child, and you have become a big boy now, a big man. Do you know anything about along which path you have come? And how you have grown? You don’t know anything about this? Then why do you want to ask which path to follow now? 

I would like to know the path by which you have come into this life and have grown into this man. If you tell me, then I will tell you the path to go back. 

These are all ideas, concepts! A grand idea that you were born and you are growing, and you have come this way, that way. There are people who told you this. So I want you to go back to the source from where you seem to have come. Stop there and find out. Look back, and see what is happening there. Don’t go with the current and then see what is what. You will never be able to find out, because your travel in the stream is only conditioned...with concepts. You have heard about things from people, you have read about it in books. That is why you are passing along the stream, is it not? Go back. Go to its source and find out whether there is anything. That is the beauty of my teaching. It takes you back to the source and does not allow you to leave that source at all. If you want to discuss anything regarding what happened to you after entering the stream, OK, then so many stories abound. All the scriptures of Hindu as well as other religions, are available to you. Go and read them. They are of no use. But I say you can go back. Go back to that point from where you seem to have come, and see if you have really come. That will require meditation, and you will have to constantly return to that point. You will have to have full attention on it and find out really and truly whether you are actually coming from there, whether you are really born. Until then, they are all stories which you hear in listening to people. 

V: A certain amount of awareness to be able to go back is required. 

M: Awareness of what? You are already aware of so many things, are you not? You must be aware of the correct thing, mustn’t you? You are already aware of everything: whatever is happening around you, you are aware of. You can’t do anything without being aware. So your attention must be on this source, that is all. 

V: Well, awareness must be there always. 

M: But you are not aware of that awareness, which must be there. 

V: One is not always focused on this to the same degree. 

M: In the awareness also you are moving with the conditioning, because your consciousness is nothing but a bundle of concepts, ideas—whatever you have gathered right from childhood. 

V: That means, the point of awareness is in the present moment only? 

M: If you are really conscious of everything you see, would you ever try to enter the consciousness and thereby drag yourself down into the suffering? Consciousness brings you trouble, does it not? The very moment you became conscious that you are, the trouble started. Whatever suffering you are talking about began only when the consciousness came upon you. 

Suppose somebody wants to be; being rooted in the consciousness means once again being rooted in the suffering and whatever comes out of that. All you need to understand is the nature of the consciousness and feel that you have nothing to do with it. Consciousness is a guest with you, is it not? It was not there, and in future it is not going to be there either; it remains with you temporarily. And in that temporary knowledge about the consciousness, you want to understand everything in that consciousness itself. What can you really understand in the consciousness? Unless and until you try to be aware of this consciousness, which is coming and going, which is conditioning—concepts, ideas, hopes, and all the things... 

V: So the awareness must be beyond consciousness? 

M: It is already beyond consciousness. If awareness is there, that is where the consciousness appears on. 

Now the body is there for you. The body is made of what? Elements, is it not? If for once you understand that you are not the elements...You exist prior to the coming of the elements. 

The moment the consciousness of “I” appears on you, you have the experience of the world. Therefore, you have the experience of suffering as well as happiness. Try to know the nature of this suffering and happiness, which is coming through the consciousness into the mind. And once you understand that, you know that you are not anything of the sort; then that’s all. Suffering has nothing to do with you, happiness also has nothing to do with you. It is all happening in the consciousness, and you are observing the consciousness coming and going. All this is known by something in you; this is your nature, you are That. That cannot be understood as an objective thing. The moment the consciousness comes and the moment it goes away from you, you are understanding that everyday, is it not? Is it not in your experience? 

In the sleep state you are not conscious, in the waking state you are conscious; that means all these things are there, you are there, you know that. Who knows that? Who knows the coming and going of the consciousness? The particular thing that knows it is “You,” that is your true nature. Do you understand that? 

V: Yes, I understand intellectually, but I still cannot grasp it. 

M: But where is the question of grasping? And understanding it intellectually also? We always say, I have understood intellectually and I have grasped intellectually; but where is the question? It is a fact, is it not? Do you have to understand each and every fact by the intellect only? It is a fact, you know it now, that’s all—it is that simple. 

Since you have been doing sadhana for five and a half years, do you have any honest recognition of the identity in you which is permanent? You have the consciousness which knows the world, but you also know it comes and goes. Now, do you know what it is in you that remains always, which is not coming or going but is permanently there? Were you able to find that out within these five and half years of whatever you have been doing? You see there is a principle in you, which we call chetana or consciousness, which is the common factor, because in chetana you are moving, you are doing everything. But you also know this comes and goes. Consciousness is not permanent. When consciousness comes, you call it birth, when it goes you call it death. So that is also not a permanent identity. Have you any other knowledge about a permanent identity within you, which always remains with you, and never goes away? 

V: I cannot really say that I have such knowledge. 

M: You have accepted this fact right from the beginning when you say I don’t know anything. So we are now pointing out the “you”; that which says “I don’t know anything” is your real nature, you are That. And that which you know, is not real; it is impermanent. 

That which you know, which you can perceive with your eyes, is not true. And that which says, I don’t know anything, that is your true nature. You are That, and you cannot find it out as an objective thing. The moment it becomes objective, it is impermanent, so it is not true. 

V: So actually, it cannot be explained then. 

M: Naturally, it has already been stated everywhere that it cannot be explained, it cannot be described; it can only be pointed out. So whatever I am pointing to, look at that particular point, don’t look at the finger which points out to you. You are only looking at the finger; you are not looking at the point which is showing. The finger is not the thing! Any question? 

V; How far can any questions be of use if we cannot explain? 

M: Unless and until you are once again the image, you are not going to ask me a question. Otherwise, you are one with me. 

There is no change in your state. You were perfect before you came here, and now that you are returning you are also perfect. There can’t be any change anywhere at all. But you feel there is a change now, so you are happy. Go back with happiness! When “you are” is a feeling, subsequently any other experience is a feeling, too. Where is the question of happiness or unhappiness? Everything is a feeling only. 

When you move around the world, checking out the advice from different people, various techniques, methods which you study, and then you come back to a certain conclusion, what happens to you, really? You remain the same, and you never see that this journey was not necessary at all. No advice is ever necessary from anywhere. There is no change in me whatsoever. You are only moving in ignorance all over the world, if you are closing your eyes and say “I can’t see, I can’t grasp.” 

So long as you are identified with the body, your surrender has no meaning. What is meant by progress? There is no question of progress, in the spiritual sense. To become more and more convinced about the guru’s words, to get more understanding about your true nature is the only thing that matters. Other than that, there is no spiritual progress or spiritual path, because you are That. Only you must be absolutely clear about it. 

The visions you get while doing meditation—what about them? Don’t give much importance to them. Because the first miracle you have is that when you know that you are, you see the world also. It means that in your consciousness the whole world is present. Surely, that in itself is a miracle: to see the world with your consciousness. What greater miracle do you want? 

Interpreter: They have been going to somebody for eight years; in spite of that they are not able to understand his language. And Maharaj is asking what have you done in the last eight years? Your achievement is that there is some God and you are a human being. That is your conviction; that is your only gain. So what have you understood? 

V: Unless you meet the right sage, you cannot progress in spirituality, you cannot do anything. 

M: There is no progress. You have to dissolve “progress.’' 

You get conviction about yourself only when you go to a man of conviction. But who knows him? He has no doubts about himself. But they find it very difficult to understand him. 

V: Have they read Maharaj’s book at all? 

I: Yes, but they have some doubts. Whether they are satisfied is not certain. Because only when you listen to him for a number of days can you understand. And in this way, you can understand more if you attend both morning and evening talks—that is the best. All your doubts will cease; don’t allow any doubts to remain. 

V: Many of the people who have come here have become jnanis. Maharaj has said that one should stay with the beingness-consciousness. Is that enough to automatically realize oneself or should one transcend the consciousness? 

M: I am giving you an example. Suppose I am sitting here and you come. I come to know you are; then witnessing happens automatically. Has anything been done to make it happen this way? No, it is just like that. It is simple, you should understand. At some other time I have explained that it happens in the same way that a raw mango becomes a ripe mango. 

V: Some gurus have taught or insisted upon the necessity for actually being in the physical presence of a realized spir- itual master. Maharaj did not seem to say that. Yet, when reading the English translation of his recorded teaching, we feel we very much want to be in his company and there certainly is something very enlightening about his presence. Does he feel that that is important or essential? 

M: It is very advantageous to get rid of all your doubts. That is why the question-and-answer session is required. So I want you all the time to ask questions. Otherwise, if you keep the doubts within, they will stay with you. This is the place to get rid of all concepts. 

There is barely anyone expounding knowledge who is totally honest with himself. Normally, knowledge is given out with a view to getting something. What is that Self one has to abide in? The entire world is the expression of the Self. At the same time, the tiniest of the tiny, like an ant, like an atom, that also is the Self. 

V: Sometimes it is called the mustard seed in the heart. 

M: Beingness is like that sesame seed, very tiny. But its expression is the manifest world. The entire world owes its origin to this seed, the touch or pinprick of “I-am- ness. The seed contains the oily substance, which is the very source of love. Having provided love or oil to the entire manifest world, the remnant is that “I am.” The pinprick or touch of “I-am-ness” is the quintessence of all essences. 

Since you asked the question, many people having got the knowledge are not yet Self-realized. He who claims to have gained the knowledge and yet is still worried as to what will happen to him, cannot be considered to be a jnani. Have faith in the words of the guru, whatever he says. Here I do not repeat or imitate what other so-called sages are doing. I am not championing any religion, have no stance or pose for anything; nor even that I am a man or a woman. If you accept any pose or stance, you are obliged to take care of that by following certain disciplines related to that pose. Pay no attention to whatever other people have been saying. I abide in the Self only. 

As to actions by other sages, I have nothing to say. No comment. 

Whatever is happening spontaneously, let it happen. 

Did anybody exist prior to me? When my beingness appeared, then only everything else is. Prior to my beingness, nothing was. 

The layers of relationships pertaining to the bodily self are now being obliterated. 

V: Does he mean the five sheaths as traditionally described in the scriptures? 

M: Originally, I am untainted—uncovered by anything, without stigma—since nobody existed prior to me. Nor do I entertain any concepts about somebody existing before me. Everything is in the form of the m'anifest world, after the appearance of the knowledge “I am” with the body. Together with the body and the indwelling “I-am-ness,” everything is. Prior to the appearance of this body and the knowledge 

V: There was nothing. 

M: The Paramatman was there, the highest Self, the core of the Self. This identity is without any stigma. Even the sky cannot touch it. The space cannot touch it. It is subtler than space. It is just like sun rays or moonbeams: they do not get dirty in dirty waters. If such is their purity, what would be the purity of the Self, Consciousness? 

Understand this first moment, when we understood “we are”—the first moment of the body, when it understood “it is.” Recognize that very first moment. Once you grasp this, then you are the highest of the gods, the point at which everything arises. At that very point, everything also sets: the source and the end are the same point. So once you understand this, you are released from that point. Nobody tries to understand this happening of the self, the happening of this “I-am-ness.” Once it is understood, I, the Absolute, am not this “I-am-ness.” 

What did you understand? 

V: That when the practice of dwelling in this “I-am-ness” reaches its fullness, there is no longer any containment by that sense of being a separate individual as indicated by the words “I-am-ness.” That is how I understand it. But I may be wrong. 

M: The only way we can express it is through words, there is no other way. 

This I-am-ness,” the quintessence, the sattva , parashak- ti, is not I. ’ That “I-am-ness,” the feeling of "I am,” is the quintessence of everything. But I, the Absolute, am not that. That I-am-ness” is the highest knowledge. And this is surrendered here by the abidance in the action. 

I: The duplicate of him, who talks like this, you will not find anywhere else. 

M. [Addressing one American visitor ] Would you be inspired to put this into writing, these teachings? 

V: Yes, I would. 

M: Every creature in the Universe prays to that principle which he considers his God or whatever, but all this can only happen from the time the life force has awakened until the time that the life force is no longer working. 

In the practice of meditation, this life force gets puri- fied, and then the light of the atman shines forth. However, the working principle is still the life force. When this purified life force and the light of the Self merge into each other, then the concept, imagination, or mind, everything, is held in abeyance. 

When anyone tells you to do some sadhana , with what can you do sadhana of any kind? It can only be this life force. The only instrument one has to do sadhana with is the life force. This life force, instead of viewing it merely as an instrument, has to be treated—mentally accepted— as the highest principle in the world: that is, God, Para- mcUman , Ishwara, or whatever you want to call it. So that when this life force is pleased, it gets purified and merges with the light of the atman . 

What is creation? Whatever has been created, is it the creation of God or is it the creation of this life force? By practicing meditation, diligently and continuously, this life force gets purified to such an extent that it attains divinity. Do understand that this life force is God, and God is the life force, and be one with it. 

Now when this life force and the highest principle become one in your meditation, then whatever is reached by this merger, signifies the moksha or awakening, liberation, call it whatever you like. So what is mohsha ? Subjection to the gun as and all the other upadh is (the conditioning, obstruction) connected with the individual, all that disappears. That is liberation. This life force is the acting principle; and that which gives sentience to the person is the consciousness. 

V: This is the traditional imagery of Shiva and Shakti . 

Publishers Note: Shiva is emblematic of God in the aspect of the unmanifest, still, immutable Absolute. His consort Shakti (Parvati), is considered God in the aspect of the Divine Mother, representing the creation with its illusion of diversity. 

M: Shiva is that speck of consciousness; and the working principle is the life force, the shakti. 

People only go by the various names that have been thrown up and forget the basic principle. The principle is that within the body, consciousness and the prana or life force together are atman. I call it antahkarana, “psyche.” 

It is said that somebody is dead. So what has happened? The life force has gone and the principle behind the life force—that is, this consciousness—has also disappeared. That is all that has happened. I have been explaining the principle, analyzing it, for all these years. But from now on, 

I haven t either the energy or the inclination to explain all this again, so I can only say what is to be done, if anything. And the only thing is that nothing is to be done as is generally understood by the word “do,” but merely to sit in contemplation and let the consciousness unfold itself, unfold the knowledge about itself. 

You have done a certain amount of homework; that is why I am still explaining whatever needs further clarification. So far, what most people do is they explain only the surface position. You are to do dhyana or meditation, and in that meditation itself the consciousness will unfold whatever knowledge is to be revealed. But people generally don’t go to the root of the matter and explain the principle, which is what I have been doing all these years. But now, I will also stop doing this for other reasons. 

The Gita is a song, sung by Lord Krishna. What is it you want to ask about it? 

V: I don t have a lot of questions about the Gita. It seems that it epitomizes some of the things that Maharaj has been saying to me very graciously over the past few days. I just wanted to hear his comments on that. 

M: What meaning did you gather? What have you understood? 

V: I feel that when dhyana is done properly in the way we are instructed, the first thing that becomes apparent is that this consciousness which is usually spread in a thousand different directions by our daily activities starts to get a greater sense of itself and then witnesses what arises. At the same time, the body’s energy as a consequence becomes intensified too, and it seems to be polarized in a vertical dimension. I can’t explain it any better than that. The other thing that happens seems to be part of the purification and what he was talking about was that we often... 

M: I am talking about the meaning of the words, first as you have understood them, not what is happening. Happening would be an experience. 

V: Well, that is what I have said; that is what I understand by the meaning. I also feel that many of the Upanishads and the Gita talk about the heart as the seat of the soul or where the soul enters this body; and beingness as something that is prior to this whole vertical dimension in which the life force moves. And even the life force gets eventually resolved in the center. It is like Maharaj’s description of consciousness as a tiny seed and in that seed not only our body-being, but the world which we perceive, even the whole universe, has its seat. When dhyana is directed, the tendency of consciousness is reversed into the center; then that knowledge becomes resolved, the life force becomes purified, and is once again re-absorbed in that center, and you are free of that tendency to play into the world all the time. 

M: This consciousness and the life force, when they merge they tend to become steady in the Brahmananda. And then all thoughts cease, even the thought that you are sitting in meditation. And that is the start of the samadhi. That state will remain for a while and discontinue again, whatever the reason. And then normal behavior in the world will start. That is, the life force will start its normal work or activities. 

Now I am asking: This disease that I am said to suffer from, to what has this illness come? It has come to this consciousness and the working principle—that is, the life force. These two are concerned with that illness. And I, being apart from it, am not concerned with the illness. But it is one’s duty to keep that life force in reasonably good working order. That is why the medicine was taken in the same way that the food is normally taken, so as to keep this consciousness and the life force in proper working condition. 

So medicine is much like food. But as far as I am concerned, I don’t really care whether this life principle and the consciousness work or not, because I am totally apart from it, beyond it and tired of it. The life force and the consciousness are not really two; as a concept they are treated as such but they are really one. As soon as a form is created, the life force is infused in that form and sentience is automatically present. There is a physical form and the life force, and in the absence of the consciousness there would only be a technically alive body. But merely that life force within the body—what is the use of it? It is like gas coming out of one’s innards. No, it has no meaning, no function, unless consciousness is also present. So it is this consciousness which gives this life force, which would otherwise be merely air, the potency to create a sentient being. 

People write to me, thanking me for my guidance and they say they now understand that although physically they and me are separate, we are actually one. All that, however, is still superficial knowledge which has been obtained by the consciousness upon its realization that it is not the body. But it is only at that stage that the knowledge has remained—on the level of words. They have not really gone beyond. 

V: So they have just replaced certain concepts by other concepts. 

M: Yes, you see, so long as that concept “I am” is still there, they have not gone beyond or prior to it; they have not gone beyond the total manifestation. So now when people come here, I talk with them. From what level am I talking? 

I am talking from the level that you are consciousness and not the body-mind. In my state, whatever comes out is from the total manifestation, not from the point of view of the Absolute. Hang on to that consciousness, which is your only capital, and do dhyana, and let that unfold whatever knowledge has to be unfolded. 

I: Previously, he says, he had an intense desire to impart knowledge. So when people came and he found someone who was really interested, he even suggested that they stay four days, five days or a week longer. So that those who had made plans to leave would change their minds and stay on. But, he says, that was some time ago. Now if someone says he is going to leave in the evening, he will say leave now. 

He gives an example. At a traveller’s bungalow, people will come and go. The bungalow itself is not concerned whether someone stays for an hour or ten days. Earlier there was that little bit of desire left, not for himself but for imparting knowledge. But now even that little bit of desire which previously did not enter total manifestation, has gone and has become the total manifestation. That weak link between the total manifestation and the persons who came here has now snapped. 

Have you understood this? Now there is no mind left at all—the mind to create a link between him and anything else. That mind has totally disappeared. 

M: People come here. When someone goes to someone, there is a purpose. This may be for acquiring something worldly, or, as in this case, to acquire spiritual knowledge. So whatever the purpose, as far as I am concerned, they come, acquire something, the knowledge. Then, the person will say, I have got my knowledge now, thank you very much, and leaves. If I ask him to stay, it means I have some purpose in asking him. The purpose may be good, bad, worldly or unworldly, but there is bound to be some purpose. But I havo no purpose. So if he goes, he goes; if he stays, he stays. Now the lady says: But what about the other person...I am not concerned with the other person; I am talking of one end of it. Not the other. 

There is this “Adhyatma Kendra,” which is a foundation created for this person, for spreading knowledge given by me; but I have no interest in that Center. What the Center does, whether it exists or does not exist, does not concern me. So now they have accumulated some money; they are going to give it to my family to build a house. So whether they do so or not, and what the family does with it is of po interest to me. I don’t need even a house to live in; what is more, I don’t need God either. I have no need of any kind. 


July 9, 1980 


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