
Maharaj: I expect nothing of you, I make myself freely available to you. If an ignorant person understands and imbibes what I say he will be liberated. Why? Because of faith in the Guru, in the precious words of the Guru. People who depend on the intellect only always will be swinging like a pendulum. Imbibe fully whatever I have told you, make it your own. There is no question of any aids or discipline; by your firm conviction alone you transcend everything.
What capital is available to you? Only that “I Am"; it is a product of the five-elemental food essence. First you become this consciousness; then you realize that you are the manifestation.
Because this body is created out of this gross earth, vegetation, etc., it is the receptacle of all dirt and disease, but this very body can be put to proper use for realization if you depend for guidance on the words of the Guru. The one who realizes the Self, his place becomes a place of pilgrimage for many afterwards. Just like Sai Baba, people go and worship his statue and their prayers are answered. What is that statue? It is made of rock.
Whatever my Guru said, I implicitly followed, with full conviction, and with that conviction I got results.
You must have the firm conviction that the highest God, or the Deity, is the knowledge “I Am,” but you must get these words from a Guru who is himself a Jnani, the one who has recognized and transcended this knowledge “I Am.”
The Bhagavad-Gita says that we have five senses of knowledge; these are very subtle. More subtle than the senses is the mind, more subtle than the mind is the intellect, and subtler than these is the vital breath. And yet more subtle is “He,” the beingness, the “I Am.”
The Absolute is not these entities. You are the Absolute.
Questioner: I am not able to understand what Maharaj is saying.
M: You know you are sitting here. Be attentive to that knowledge only. Just be in your beingness. That knowingness “I Am” has created the entire universe. Hold on to that; nothing has to be done. Once you recognize that principle it becomes tranquil. Become one with that and all your needs will be satisfied.
At no stage forget that principle; whatever you are doing your attention should be there. When you are eating food, who is eating? Only that beingness. Whatever you are doing is the beingness; pay attention to that beingness.
Q: When I am very attentive to what is being translated the “I Am” seems to disappear, there is no thought arising in me.
M: Are you happy with that?
Q: There is neither happiness nor unhappiness. I am simply tranquil and witnessing; no feeling is involved.
M: Do you understand it or are you merely intellectually wrestling with yourself?
Q: I am not wrestling.
M: Are you at peace with yourself? That is the ultimate criterion.
Q: Not all the time. When I am not attentive to it I get involved.
M: Who is it that says this?
Q: That knowingness only comes afterward. Yesterday a lot of emotion came out; I was blinded by it. While it was happening I was not aware that I was not that.
M: At the time of the emotions you were one with the emotion—you were not witnessing.
Q: Would an enlightened being be involved in that sense, or would he be watching?
M: Your beingness is one—it doesn't become one or the other—but because that beingness has identified itself with your body-mind emotions, the trouble starts. Keep that consciousness separate; then you will not be involved.
Q: After an emotional outburst why is there something like a cleansing feeling?
M: That was a temporary state of mind. When that state of mind disappears you go back to your natural peaceful state.
A Yogi has a trick by which he is out of this misery and happiness. He holds the vital breath in abeyance, but the problem is not solved; it is a state.
You have all the senses and the mental factor. You have to understand the function of each and put it to proper use. Don't say that you are not going to use it, don’t keep it out of function. Use it fully because sustenance is to be obtained through it. You must understand that you are not involved in it; you are only a witness.
If you want to become a king you must have your subjects, an army, and an administration. Similarly, to become a Jnani you must have this paraphernalia and understand it; only then do you rule.
Q: Do the three states—witnessing, Iswara consciousness, and the Absolute—happen at the same time?
M: This is the actual state of affairs. Today you feel that you are the body; give that idea up. “I am this manifestation only”; be there. You are the manifest Bhagavan, Iswara principle. It is a simple meditation. You start scratching and continue to scratch until the blood comes; that is the intellectual wrestling. Just be still. Let it settle down. Don’t dig up questions.
I have been very open, very explicit. I've been telling you that you are not the body, you are the knowledge only, and this vital breath is your conveyance, a tool by which you carry out your activities, and the knowledge “I Am” is very subtle. Because of your knowledge, you are and the world is.
I am inclined to think that in future I must say, “A thousand rupees cash down to listen to my talks/’ Only then will you be serious. I should charge you a thousand rupees and give the entire course in one day; what is the use of your staying here for a month? When you charge for something it becomes very precious.
Q: In the past people used to give kingdoms for this knowledge.
M: There were so many disciplines, they had to live in the forest and live on berries and fruit; they could not store food. Those were the conditions.