
September 11, 1980
Maharaj: Whether one be a jnani or an ignorant person his bodily nourishment, sustenance, maintenance, etc., goes on through the meaning of the words of his mind. His thoughts will also flow according to the impressions he has received since childhood. The activities came out from. the vital breath, the words, and the knowingness "I Am."
If you want to invoke your Deity you will have to worship the vital breath; through the vital breath you approach your Deity. The image of any God is given through the vital breath. the language of the vital breath means words. When all aspects of the vital breath are purified there is no scope for desires, there are no physical or mental sufferings. As per the command of the Guru hold on to the "I Amness" - the Atman preen - I love." All our activities, physical or spiritual, are based on emotion.
All these details I accept, but I know that the sum total is zero. My,earlier talks anybody could understand, to some extent, but my present talks are very difficult to understand. To become qualified to understand, stay put at that source of your birth.
These talks are spontaneously flowing out. I am not framing them. I myself am often amazed as to why these types of profound expressions are emerging, and people who listen to my talks are also nonplussed because they are not able to frame any questions based on my talks.
Everything is spontaneous, the stage of witness also has come spontaneously. All my activities come out spontaneously, there is no scope for thinking.
Since I know my state prior to birth, I also know that birth point, and since the birth, whatever I am - my beingness - I also know. That's why I talk like this. The experiencer and the experiences, both are to be dissolved. The moment the translators come and I take my seat for talking, I am energized, my battery is charged - otherwise I am down and out and have to use this cane. I am least inclined to collect any spiritual seekers of any grade.
Questioner: We can understand with our mind but beyond mind we cannotunderstand.
M. From deep sleep to waking state, what is it? It is the "I Am" state with no words, later the words start flowing and you get involved with the meaning of the words and carry out your worldly life with the meaning of those words - that is mind. But before this "I Am" and waking state, that borderline, there you have to be.
It is only a rare one who understands what I am driving at. To a normal spiritual person we have to say, "You do this or that and you will get this benefit." Then for the time being he feels happy and relieved, but this is not final; he again comes back to the same cycle. But we can't help because he has no capacity to understand the subtlest aspect of this spirituality.
At the most, I would say, "You know you are; you worship that `I Am' principle. You worship that, be one with that only, and that `I Amness' will disclose all the knowledge." That's all I will say, but the subtlest part is this, from deep sleep to waking state. To abide in that you must have an intensely peaceful state. In that state, witnessing of the waking state happens. You must go to that limit, but it is very difficult. For a normal person, with the arrival of the "I Am" and the word flow, he will go with the word flow. The one who has discrimination, who is intelligent, and is intensely spiritual, we must bring here prior to that "I Amness."
If you have regard for me, remember my words. The knowledge "I Am" is the greatest God, the Guru; be one with that, be intimate with it. That itself will bless you with all the knowledge relevant for you and in the proliferation of that knowledge it will lead you to the state which is eternal.
You will become mature enough to be in the province of that nirguna (without attributes) state. You cannot convert a raw mango into a ripe mango, full of juice, overnight. It must pass through the course of time to maturity. Is this clear to you or not?
September 15, 1980
Questioner: In meditation when I try to stabilize at the point behind the mind, there is darkness, nothing, blankness. I don't like the state.
Maharaj: Don't you see - You are still there. Prior to stabilizing in the Self, traces of the mind are still there. This machine is a self-generating machine; when you go into that the momentum helps clear all doubts in your mind. This is exclusively your knowledge which you will enjoy most, and then all traces of the mind are completely uprooted. This is the stage where you are - you are not, that is the borderline. The moment you know you are duality is there, when you do not know you are, you are perfect, but you must go through this process. In deep sleep you do not know you are, but that is a grosser state. In this alive state you must recede into the state of noknowingness.
What is this knowingness? It is the stamp or registration of the booking "I Am." You are booking a flat which is under construction but where is that flat? It is only the booking. Similarly this "I Am" is only booking, it represents your Absolute state.
Q: What gives you the courage to transcend in the nothingness which you know is there?
M. Your deep urge to understand the Self. Receding only means to go within, your normal inclination is to come out through the five senses and see the world. Now reverse; I am not the body, I am not the mind, I am not the senses; now you are stabilized in consciousness. After stabilizing in consciousness all further things will happen automatically.
You expand into the manifest. I was, I am, I shall be in that original state before the "I Amness" came. Why is it that the terrible name of this disease has no effect on me? For the simple reason that what I am has nothing to do with that of which the disease is just a name.
Q: What does Maharaj think about all the different religions?
M. As far as I am concerned all religions are based on concepts and emotions. Those emotions are so violent and absorbing that people have immolated themselves. Being one with some other personality emotionally can be so effective that those who have identified themselves with Jesus Christ have had the marks of crucifixion appear on their own bodies. All these experiences are totally useless. One individual has identified with another individual, and unless individuality is given up the Reality can never manifest itself. Do not repeat what you have heard, parrot-wise, unless you have it with the conviction that I have.
I know my state before the body and consciousness came, I have the knowledge of it, I have the awareness of it.
Merely listening to these words will not do - you must be one with the consciousness. Don't treat that knowledge "I Am" as insignificant, because it is the stimulating force for your entire universe.
The expressions of consciousness are limitless; if you enter into the expressions you will be lost. Surrender to and be one with your consciousness and your consciousness alone will show you the process of how it can be dissolved.
September 21, 1980
Maharaj: All that one does is for the continuance of the consciousness, but for me there is nothing at all that I would like to continue. You come here as individuals expecting to get something from me, that is where the mistake atises. There is no individual, so how can I do something for a non-existing individual? Your true nature is in no way different from mine. This happening is just a happening which has come and which will go.
If one feels he has to urinate, he just has to urinate, it is not something different for each one, it is a process of urination which happens to everybody but you consider everything as something happening to you as an individual.
Questioner: How can I understand what Maharaj is saying?
M: Discrimination is very necessary to understand what I am saying. It is only after the arrival of consciousness that we try to understand ourselves. Consciousness is the so-called birth; birth means the three aspects: waking state, deep sleep and the knowledge "I Am." Once I understand what this birth is, then the whole mystery is solved. Since I have thoroughly known what this birth principle is, I will know very well at that happening of the so-called death, I shall observe the departure of the vital breath, the language and the "I Amness"; there is no question of death.
If I understand right now that my vital breath is quitting, I am not going to arrest it, I am not going to say "You stop now, wait for some time," because I know very well it is of no use retaining this vital breath and life force.
Any number of dissolutions have come and gone, but in my true, eternal state I am untouched by them. Prior to this experiential state I was perfect in every respect, with the arrival of this beingness this imperfect state has started, and I am fed up with that.
If you really want eternal peace, don't bother about anybody else, worry about your own self, investigate only your own self. Who is going to give you eternal peace? It is only that sun, that "I Am." If you embrace that Self-effulgent sun everything else will go, but you will prevail eternally.
Investigate fully. With what authority can you sustain yourself? To what extent can you prolong your life? You should realize that beingness is not independent - it depends on something. When you investigate you will come to the conclusion that you, the Absolute, do not depend on that beingness.
Q: If Atman is sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss), what is Paramatman?
M. Sat-chit-ananda will, in due course, become the Paramatman. Satchitananda is "I Amness" and is itself a state of bliss, a state of love, but it is an experiential state, so long as consciousness is there, and consciousness is there so long as the body is available - it is a time-bound state. You must transcend the sat-chit-ananda state.
Q. Should I stabilize in beingness or should I, flow with the thoughts?
M. If you stay put in beingness the thoughts will get less and less. If you get mixed up with the thoughts they will multiply. Stay put in beingness only.
September 24, 1980
Maharaja How many years back did you take the mantra from me?
Questioner: Three years ago.
M. The knowledge you are is God. You worship that and one day you will realize that you are not an individual. You will realize that you are the universal consciousness which cannot suffer; there is no pain or pleasure for that consciousness. Not through intellect, but through intense meditation you will know it.
The meditation will be done by that consciousness itself. To meditate on something is to become that.
I am fully established in that unborn state but still I am experiencing this state of multiplicity, but it has no effect on me.
Q. What is the effect of being with the Maharaj?
M: Presently the effect on the seeker is more. If you have the purity it is faster, for the impure and dull it is slow. I didn't know I was, presently I know I am, this is the same "I" with the knowingness mantle over it. This is the way the very Absolute transformed Itself into this grosser consciousness state, the state of appearance.
I am the God, I am the devotee, and I am the worshipping; all the same, one common principle.
Q. Was the saint we were speaking of, who was so irritable, a jnani?
M. Yes. Jnani means knower of the knowledge.
Q. How could he be so irritable if he was a jnani?
M: In the manifest consciousness all the activities are happening, socalled good and bad. In the manifest consciousness this quality was expressed. You cannot attribute this tamasic quality to a jnani because he has transcended the individual consciousness.
Q: Is it all right to eat non-vegetarian food?
M. So long as you feel that you are an individual you have to abide by the code of conduct given to you. Once you are the manifest consciousness there is no question of do's or don'ts.
In the universal manifest consciousness is there anything good or bad? Nothing of the sort. The fragrance of flowers will be there, garbage will be there; it is all the play of this consciousness. The witness of thconsciousness cannot come in the realm of the consciousness.
Q: Suppose the witnessing stops, is it samadhi?
M. Suppose you all go away, there is no more witnessing, I am still here, but I have nothing to witness. In that beingness the otherliness is there and witnessing takes place. If consciousness is not there the Absolute cannot know Itself - there is nothing but the Absolute - therefore no witnessing.
Q: Suppose I am just watching that all actions are happening through me and I am doing nothing, is meditation necessary?
M. That is a sort of meditation, but the right meditation is when you meditate on your Self. You come to that state when you woke up in the morning and you watch the consciousness; that is the state when you meditate on your Self.
Presently you think that consciousness is watching consciousness, but consciousness is being watched from the Absolute platform only.
September 27, 1980
Maharaj: All this spirituality is only for understanding your true nature. To achieve this what is "being alive" is the whole question. Once you know your true nature then being alive is not as an individual but being alive is simply being a part of that spontaneous manifestation.
There is nothing to be sought, the seeker is what is to be seen. Merely see the picture as it is.
All of you are seekers: let me know what it is that you are seeking.
Questioner: Can you reach that, not just by meditation, but by living with others in the world?
M. Unless- you are part of the manifestation can you live? Know this! When you are not conscious, your world does not exist. You are conscious of your presence and the world outside, they are not two things.
Understand this. The world can exist only if this psychosomatic apparatus is there. If you consider this apparatus as yourself, you accept death and die. The jnani knows this to be just an apparatus and is apart from it.
Having understood this, you do your job happily. What is happening is spontaneous and all activity is part of the total manifestation.
Q. If manifestation is spontaneous, is there any reason, or cause, of all actions?
M: In dreams you live for 100 years but when you wake up that dream lasted for just five minutes. How did that happen?
Q. Does Maharaj relate the causeless happening to that dream?
M. The basic reason for all this great cause is that you exist, so find the nature of that. All these acts are done by the child of a barren woman. All these are problems of the consciousness; find out the root of the consciousness.
Q. How?
M. Catch that consciousness by the throat. Conceptual consciousness by conceptual throat. Pamper and woo this basic consciousness, it alone can satisfy your quest, not your intellect. Unless that knowledge is pleased, you cannot have knowledge.
I never knew; if I had the slightest knowledge would I have descended into the prison of my mother's womb? Whatever happens, happens by itself. Who can have knowledge of that which existed before conception?
There is nothing to be acquired. You are That.
September 28, 1980
Questioner: Why so much attraction of the "I Amness"for the body?
Maharaj: When it expresses itself as "I Am" it is already fully charged with that love to be. Why, in the insect, worm, animal, or human being, this instinct to keep itself alive? Because with the sprouting of the life force, this "I Amness," that is itself the very instinct to live, to love to live.
That love to be is the prime motive force for all life's activities. You will find, when you are the manifest consciousness, you alone are the multiplicity; you express yourself in all this ample, manifest world.
This state will itself be transcended, and you will be in the nirguna state; but these are all your expressions, only you as "I Amness."
What I am talking about now is more subtle and more profound and very difficult to understand, but if you understand the job is done. Consciousness is an aid to know. Presently that consciousness knows itself as the body, it should not be so, consciousness should know consciousness bereft of body sense.
Understand logically what I have been telling you again and again.
This "I Amness" is the outcome of the food which I eat. Am I the food? No, I am not; the outcome of the food I also am not. All will realize this knowledge, but presently you are caught up with this intimacy with the body.
"I Amness" has no authority of its own; it is a puppet in the play of the five elements; it is an outcome of the five elements.
The one who expresses "I was not," Its position is secure and stable and eternal. Whatever you witness will not remain with you. It is imperfect. The One who recognizes the imperfect is perfect, It is total, It has not to do anything for Itself because it is perfect and complete in Itself.
Why can the Parabrahman afford to have this luxury or suffering of this manifest world? Because to the Parabrahman, this does not exist.
September 30, 1980
Questioner: Oh, when will I understand what Maharaj is telling us?
Maharaj: It will come gradually, because of all the concepts. You have to get rid of those. and that takes time. Some people are in search of knowledge which is acceptable to their mind and intellect, but the sphere of the mind and intellect is of no use to receive this knowledge. All your experiences and visions depend on your knowledge "I Am" and this itself is going to dissolve.
For this knowledge there are no customers, no devotees, because they want something concrete in their hand, but when your knowingness itself is going to dissolve, is it possible to hold on to something?
Your guru tells you that you have a true identity, but it is not this. It is formless, Parabrahman. That Parabrahman is without any doubts. It is not conditioned by mays, because with reference to Parabrahman, mays does not exist.
When you listen to this you feel satisfaction and with that the matter ends for most people; they don't meditate on this again and again and try to find out that principle behind everything.
When will I be pronounced dead? When the Atman has left the body, but I am not that Atman, where is my death there? I am not affected by cancer because whatever happens, whatever the experience, I surrender all those to the Atman. All the actions and fruits of the actions are surrendered to the Atman by the Parabrahman, the Absolute.
You can never have knowledge about your Self because Parabrahman cannot be witnessed. You know what you are not - what you are you cannot know.