
Questioner: It seems to me that Maharaj is perpetuating the concepts by his way of giving us explanations.
Maharaj: All this conceptual cycle is created by you, be- cause you have the concept 4< I Am,” which you must eradicate yourself.
Q: Why create all this separation? Separating whatever there is from someone who is supposed to be different from it? This creates more concepts.
M: It is only saying that I am not this. When you are in deep sleep is there any experience of pleasure and pain or birth and death? What does that mean? It means that the concept “I Am” has vanished.
Q: I was wondering whether the relationship with Maharaj is breeding dependence? What we call laziness?
M: This knowledge is full of life; how can anyone be lazy? You can call the body or mind lazy, but how are you connected with them? In what way do you feel dependence on Maharaj?
Q: It is as if I am waiting for something to happen.
M: Find out the identity of that one who is waiting for something to happen.
Suppose there is a public well-that water [consciousness] is used by all. You have taken a portion of that water for your personal use. That consciousness which you have taken for yourself is the omniscient, the omnipotent, the omnipresent; and you must understand that. You cannot afford to be lazy.
When you have come thousands of miles from your country and have listened to this great knowledge, are you going to die as an individual of a particular country, caste, and color?
Understand that what is going around as your body and name is of the nature of the all-pervading consciousness. When you travel in a car are you the car?
Q: I understand.
M: You are the symbol of that consciousness; you need not understand it; it is conscious of itself. But you are limiting yourself to the body, that is all.
Q: If it is consciousness which is doing that, if consciousness itself is taking that limitation, there is nothing I can do about it.
M: That consciousness, through ignorance, has taken upon itself that limitation. That ignorance has to be discarded.
Q: The fact that you tell me that does not make me discover it. I have to discover it myself; otherwise I can talk to Sages for thousands of years without a single thing being changed. How do I discover it for myself?
M: It happens. If it is in your destiny, you will come here and listen to it, and the result will follow. Yesterday two people came here with this lady and then went away. It was not in their destiny. People come here with a predetermined concept of what they want. You come here as if to a tailor with an order for a suit of particular measurements, color, and material. But I will not give you what you want. I will not give you knowledge according to your predetermined requirements. I will only tell you to see yourself as you are, find out who you are.
Thousands of people come here; they will utilize this knowledge as it suits them only. This is not the Truth; it is the Truth as seen through their own concepts, according to their own point of view. This knowledge, filtered through their own point of view, is not knowledge, it is only a point of view.
Q: I give all my energy trying io understand what Maharaj says. Pve been working very hard. Today I am at the point to stop. Essentially nothing has changed. I came with the idea that Maharaj is my Guru. Guru means the one who removes darkness, but darkness is still present. Now I feel that all my work has taken me nowhere. I feel that I have to start anew, from right now. How can I do it?
M: A man who was sitting in dense darkness wanted to remove the darkness and started praying to God. Then someone came and said: ‘‘What! Are you going to remove this darkness with your devotion? No. You have to bring the light.” The light was brought and the darkness went away. Doing discipline is not necessary, but you must know that this is the Truth. “I Am the Truth,” and that Truth has no beard or mustache; however it is the Truth, which you must realize. Truth has no form. If Truth had a form you would have gone and got it. Without effort, whatever is natural is that Truth.
Q: Is it that the Guru is only pointing the way?
M: You have to hold on to it, and gradually, when it grows, the light will envelop everything. The evidence of the Eternal is this transiency, the evidence of Truth is this untruth, and the evidence of Brahman is Maya.
Q: We ask questions and try to understand with the mind. How are we to go beyond this?
M: You are not the mind, nor the body. Who has this difficulty? Who has to go beyond? You were there before you asked this question. Before the appearance of the waking and sleep states, you are.
Q: How can I realize this?
M: As far as possible remember what you have heard today. Believe in it. It may not suit your requirements, but it is as it is. You have only to see it as it is and be blissful with it.
When you become that knowledge there will be nothing that you need anymore. You will be infinite yourself. I do not quote scriptures or give you the judgment of others, but whatever is, I tell you. You will never get evidence of Brahman's existence anywhere except within you.
What is evident one is likely to overlook. What I am saying is very clear and simple. You do not understand because you want something complicated.
Q: What exactly does Maharaj want to tell me?
M: You are the proof that there is God. If you are not there, there is no God. This “I Amness” is the proof. You think that it is limited to the body, but it is universal. It is the source of manifestation. You are the knower of the body. When this past disposition stops it is void and that void is witnessed by someone who is not void. One who knows that there is darkness—can he be darkness? If you keep absolutely quiet, then the concepts will be strangled to death.
I am doing nothing every day but telling you, in different words each day, but always the same thing. It is for you to see. It is for you to understand. The flow is continually coming, but you are not hearing. In this very body, in this very birth, you must realize what I have told you. Leave all other concepts and hold on to this. When a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] has become a Jnani it means that he has understood, finally and absolutely, what he is.