September 16, 1979


Maharaj: The flame of Vishnu is supposed to be ever- effulgent and lustrous; because it has entered this body doesn't mean a change in quality. Whether that flame enters into an animal or a human being it does not lose its natural quality. Even if you claim it as your own, saying “I Am," it is still one. The empire of consciousness is yours, and when you realize that, you will know that you are not a person. 

Questioner: Maharaj has said that the “I Am" is the consciousness through which comes the world; behind that is awareness, but there is no “I" consciousness. Implicit in the word awareness is this existence; existence also implies proprietorship. That means whose existence is it? One comes back to the feeling of “I.” 

M: Who is understanding, knowing, your awakened state? 

Q: The “I Am." 

M: The waking state is “I Amness," but who observes that “I Amness"? Before that waking state, are you not there? 

Q: That awareness, or sense of being, has a reference point, and the reference point always has to come back to that which feels its existence as being and “I-ness." 

M: There is no proprietor behind that feeling of awareness. 

Q: How can you know that? 

M: It only is; it is beyond description; words cannot be of any use. That is the permanent state and this manifestation is only its movement. Nobody becomes a Parabrahman, nobody can become a Parabrahman; It is. Before the knowledge “I Am" appeared on you, that is Parabrahman. 

Q: It's understandable that the “I Am" equates with the ego and mind. Now God, in his own description of Himself says, “I Am That I Am" as being the truth. There are two 

M: One “I" is the substratum and the other is the moving cosmos. 

Q: If one reverts back and gets beyond the “I Amness," there still remains a sense of “I.” 

M: If you revert properly, the consciousness “I Am" will disappear. There is no movement. 

Q: Guru has been compared to the sun, in that Guru radiates light, and it is incumbent on the seeker to turn toward that light. 

M: Guru is only purest consciousness which is all- pervading. 

Q: But the books describe situations in which the sadhaka is looking for his master and it is said that the Guru looks harder and yearns more to find the sadhaka. 

M: Don't quote any books here. Ask directly. Don't even use the word Guru—purest consciousness, that's all. 

Q: There is a seeker who is seated before this purest consciousness. It is said that the pure consciousness manifests itself personally, as well as impersonally; can he then take a personal interest in the sadhaka, rather than having the sadhaka turn to the light? 

M: He is a real seeker who desires to get knowledge of the Self only. The rest of the desires will entitle you to be called jiva and not sadhaka. This is only the kite-flying of your intellect. 

Q: Does that mean that the sadhaka before him loves the pure consciousness more than the pure consciousness loves him? 

M: They are not two, they are one. There is no difference. 

Q: That is on the Absolute plane. 

M: If you feel that stream of love flowing, it is your own pure consciousness which is flowing. Don’t think that you are loving somebody, or caring for the Guru, or that the Guru must care for you. It is your own Self which is wanting to know and which is flowing with love. That love is the Self loving the Self. 

Q: But is it not true that there is something coming from the pure consciousness continually to help realize this? 

M: The remembrance of the Guru strikes only those whom the whole pure consciousness is wanting to be one with. 

Q: We are led to believe that a pure mind is one of the requisites to achieve Self-realization. By “pure" do we understand auspicious thoughts within that mind, or any thought at all regardless of its content? 

M: Throw off the mind completely. It is only the indication of the body-mind consciousness. You are without shape or name. When the water comes out of the river, has it changed in quality? The receptacle of that water is only imagination, water is one. Who is manifesting through all the great incarnations? Who is also manifesting through the donkeys and pigs? All is consciousness only. 

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