April 2, 1980


Maharaj: I was talking up and down, left and right, topsy-turvy. After listening to my talks one person was completely disappointed and frustrated, and went off. The next day he came back again, challenging me. So I told him, “Oh yes, your talk is very profound. If only you had met me a little earlier, I would have made you my Guru/' Then he was very happy. 

Questioner: Maharaj said that without food there is no beingness, but I thought beingness and consciousness were always present. That is the Absolute; so it's not the same as food or material things. 

M: Everything is this consciousness, but one is not aware of the consciousness unless there is a body. The knowledge of being does not come about unless there is a form, and that form cannot maintain itself unless there is food. 

Q: Does consciousness depend on form? 

M: Consciousness is present everywhere, but knowledge pf that consciousness is dependent on the form. 

Q: Pure consciousness, without form, is impossible then? 

M: Consciousness is present, but not the knowledge of it. Who will have the knowledge? 

Q: But yesterday Maharaj said to stick to the knowledge 

M: There is no question of hanging on to it, it is there— you can't get away from it. 

Q: What should I meditate on then? 

M: Remain quiet in the consciousness. The one who understands the quality of this beingness transcends it and is no more affected by birth or death. 

Q: Without consciousness what remains? 

M: The Absolute state, out of which the five elements take shape or forM: when the movement is frozen but the potential is present. That is Parabrahman; there is no movement. 

Q: But there is nothing conscious about it? 

M: The Absolute does not know Itself. Without the aid of the food essence, body consciousness does not know itself. Nobody knows himself without the food essence body. 

Q: Maharaj is in the Absolute state, so is he not aware of himself? 

M: I know that state forever. 

Q: But you said It did not know Itself. 

M: If that state alone prevails It will not know Itself, but when this body and beingness is available It is known through them. 

Q: But when the body disappears? 

M: No-knowing. 

Q: Then when Maharaj is dead he doesn’t know the Absolute state anymore? 

M: All this play is in the realm of the five elements. Death means what? This body and beingness will merge in the five elements. 

The Absolute has the aid of this five elemental beingness and body available to It to express Itself, but beingness is made up of the raw material of the five elements. The Absolute has nothing to do with it except to express Itself through that. 

In mundane, worldly matters you have recourse to spirituality to understand how unreal this is. Once you understand the object of spirituality, you also understand that spirituality is unreal, and in the process you dismiss all this world. 

I am telling you in plain and simple language: Here is the food that is served; in that food this “I Amness" is in a dormant condition. It only peeks out when it has a body. Unfortunately, you are trying to identify with this food product; therefore all the trouble starts. 

Q: If Maharaj goes for a walk and stumbles over both a rock and a crippled beggar boy, are they the same to him? 

M: About what would I make a difference? Who are you calling a rock and who a boy? I am not an individual. What is your question? 

Q: Then Maharaj would not be concerned? 

M: The point which you must understand is that there is no individual personality. Out of the essence of the five elements all form and beingness come. Forget about Maharaj; there is no difference. 

The body, or beingness, is going to respond in the natural way for that beingness. I, the Absolute, am not concerned with its response. When the child is a few days old it is the quintessence of the food essence only. After a few months, it develops the sense of knowledge and receives impressions. Those impressions are registered, like a photograph, in that chemical. Then the five senses of action also do their part and receive more impressions. Later on the reactions take place accordingly. 

Q: Is it a law? Must it happen this way? 

M: All this play is mechanical, a part of the chemical. Birth means the formation of that chemical. The quintessence of the food body is the chemical, which is necessary for the consciousness to appear, to feel “I Am.” Do you understand now? 

Q: I understand now. But I think Maharaj must be joking. He says he sees no difference between the stone and the beggar boy, yet he spends hours and hours teaching stupid people; and there are bhajans, day after day after day, with no vacation, but he says “It happens.” I think he must be joking. 

M: This is all a joke. 

Translator: That “I Am” quality in Maharaj is suffering at seeing the ignorance of others. That quality of his beingness likes to help others. It does not like to see the suffering born out of ignorance. 

Q: Why not? 

M: Because the beingness will act according to its own nature. That is its nature. 

Q: That's rather queer. Most people, or their chemicals, simply want to serve themselves, but his chemicals are so special that they want to help others. 

M: That by which you know you are is due to what? 

Q: Body consciousness, the chemicals, etc. 

M: You are not focusing your attention on that beingness principle. Just be there. In that beingness everything is happening, but you, the Absolute, are not that. You will understand gradually. 

Q: I know I am not my finger, but I would not bite it off. 

M: Don't take any action. UNDERSTAND. You are again trying to act as an individual. To understand what I am telling you it is imperative that you have recourse to meditation. 

Don't be carried away by concepts, just dwell in the quietude. 

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