2. THE EMERGENCE OF BEINGNESS


Maharaj: Regarding Christ, Krishna or any other prophet, please understand one point clearly. When they became embodied, the raw material and equipment which went into the process were the five elements only.' Further, the beingness which emerged out of those embodied forms was an outcome of the interactions of these five elements. It expressed itself through the three gunas’ and lasted only so long as the five-elemental food essence was available. And when the beingness disappeared, these saviours did not know their existence nor their performance in their embodied state. 

When and how does one first have the experience of the world? This experience becomes possible only after the emergence of the beingness out of the five-elemental food-essence body. Now this beingness is something like a telescope. An observer views the sun, moon, stars etc. through the telescope. But the observer is neither the telescope nor its field sidered the fundamental building blocks of the entire physical universe. 

Now a question. Ten days prior to your conception, what were you doing? 

V: Only observing. 

M: This reply is incorrect. From what standpoint do you talk? I want to nail you down to the point of the telescope. I bring you down to the beingness, but you digress. About which telescope did I talk to you? Right now, which is that telescope? It is made up of something; it has emerged out of something. Instead of concentrating on this point, you are babbling about this and that, and consider yourself knowledgeable. Is it not a telescope, through which you experience and observe the world? But you, the Absolute, are not the telescope. Are you? 

Better stay put here at this point, in the beingness. But you jump here and there, leaving your standpoint. Then how will you get peace? 

V: That is the whole name and game of life. 

M: With your present attitude, no amount of knowledge will bring you peace. The beingness is given innumerable names and titles. It took nine months to create this telescope—this beingness—out of the five elements. Do you ever ponder over this? With that telescope, all this is experienced and seen, but the Observer is not the telescope. 

V: In Lord Krishna’s statement, there was never a time when I was not ... 

M: Through the telescope, that is the beingness, which is the expression of the Observer only, he witnesses the manifest world. But do you think that the Observer has also disappeared when the telescope and field of observation are gone? 

To say that an object exists, there should be two condi- tions. One is the object, and the other is the observer of the object, who says “the object is.” The primary quality of the beingness is the sense of “I-am-ness.” Later, there arises a multiplicity of qualities. But the Observer—the Absolute—is totally free from any qualities; therefore, it is called nirguna, which means “non-qualitative,” “attributeless” etc. 

V: You agreed that Krishna could not make any statement, when he was not in the body form, because there was no one to make it. 

M: Certainly, because Krishna, in the Absolute state, has no instrument with which to make a statement...and to whom!? 

Once you realize that all these goings-on are the products and play of the five elements, in the realm of the beingness, you remain unaffected by it and apart from it. 

My attention is only on the medium by which I know “I am,” and by which I experience the world. I pay no attention to the siddhi powers and anything that appears. The only relevant question is, how did this medium happen to be? 

Visitors come here with acquired knowledge and they expect me to comment on it. How can I? They are already clogged up with that knowledge. So let them fend for themselves. 

A dead man does not interfere with the affairs of a live one. Similarly, the one who has understood and realized the beingness is not interested in the activities and happenings within the domain of beingness. 

Here we are discussing knowledge that transcends the beingness. But, in the world, who is really interested in such profound knowledge? 

It is a great privilege that you are inclined to listen to such talks. Many people would not care for the talks, in spite of the opportunities. 

V: There is a story of a Zen Master. When a disciple visited him, the Master shouted, “Why have you come? Are you not dead yet?” Also Ramana Maharshi had said that the mind should be totally killed. 

M: Throw out all your talking, concepts and words! After all, what is the mind? It is just the noise that goes on inside. 

With waking begins the chattering, and the talk goes on endlessly thereafter. This is your mind, and you run after it. Your breath itself is the talk. If the breath stops, there can be no talk. 

V: As I reflect on the matter, I find that love and truth are the same, and I also understand that realization of love is quite beyond the mind. 

M: All this talk is at the mind-level. But I do not talk from the standpoint of the individual, but from the level of total manifestation. An individual understands himself through certain concepts and accordingly undergoes pleasure and pain. But in actuality this is not so. The mind, which interprets happiness and unhappiness, is meant for conducting affairs in the world. 

V: The rituals of worship—such as waving of lights, that is, arati and singing of bhajans—are necessary to keep alive our fervor for God and to prevent drabness. 

M: What is the meaning of arati as you understand it? 

V: Special love. 

M: In the Marathi language arati means “special need.” This special need is the love that every animal has for itself. It is that love to be that prompts each animal to carry on activities in the world; it is the inborn nature of all the species. Because of the identification of each species with its own kind, the idea of “otherness” springs up and it is this “otherness” which is the root cause of pleasure and pain. Love to be is the self-love. Who does not love himself? This very love is called atma-prem or “Self-Love.” 

Because a human being considers himself an individual, he suffers pain and pleasure; only in the state of consciousness there is no such question of happiness or unhappiness— these are experienced only at the body-mind level. I have transcended this state of body-mind—that is, the individual state—and am talking to you from the dynamic manifest consciousness. The very concept that “good” or “bad” is going to happen is completely wiped out from me. Also, I do not have any concepts regarding birth and death. 

My physical condition is so weak. Any other person in such a state would not even be able to get up. 

Total loss of pride in individuality is my nirvana; that is, the state of non-identity. You carry out all your worldly and spiritual activities with an identity. So long as your individuality is not lost, you will be bothered by pleasure and pain, past and future, birth and death, etc. 

Have you ever thought along these lines? Who asks you this question? I, the formless, the dynamic, manifest con- sciousness, am asking you. 

Why do you suffer pain? You have compressed yourself into a form and an identity, hence the suffering. You pursue spirituality from the same limited and conditioned standpoint and hence you cannot secure any foothold in these pursuits. In whatever subject you are absorbed, you deal with it from the standpoint of a personalized entity, and not as dynamic manifest consciousness. The knowledge that “you are” is manifest and all-pervading. It is purer and subtler than this light and therefore it cognizes light. Since you hold on to the individualistic memory, you are unable to digest this knowledge and so you have no peace. 

There are any number of hatha-yogins, as well as persons who recite holy names (doing japa) and those who practice austerities (tapa). Ostensibly, many of them are on the spiritual path. But they rest content with the acquisition of siddhi powers for indulging in miracles. They cannot make progress towards real spiritual knowledge, and they pride themselves on their particular systems, the powers acquired and their individualities. This is not spiritual knowledge at all. A person in service should either be satisfied with his meager salary or quit his job. Similarly, a jnani should be satisfied with the three states of waking, deep sleep and knowingness or quit them. I as a jnani am telling you my story. What is the use of this alternation of deep sleep and waking to me? I do not want it. This perceptible universe is limitless and infinite. By preserving it what shall I gain? 

Since a realized sage abides in perfection, he has no need at all to gain anything. However, a seeker will obtain million-fold benefits by merely remembering and dwelling upon the life of the sage, so great is its potential. An ordinary person cannot even get a glimpse or inkling of the Absolute state of a jnani. He has to be satisfied with the behavior and physical expression of the jnani, evidenced as an outcome of his beingness. Such a sage, however, is neither the bodily expression nor the beingness. For example, a military officer wears a uniform with appurtenances which denote his rank. All this makes up the officer, but the uniform and the appurtenances are not the officer. Thus your body, which is a food-packet, is not you, but the indwelling principle of “you-are-ness” in the body is that “you” in essence. 

You are not able to give up your identity with the body. This is the great maya—the Illusion. Therefore, you do not imbibe what I say. 

V: How does a jnani know that he is realized? 

M: When he recognizes his knowingness, which is the sense of “I am.” Right here and now, you are in the realized state. But you try to judge it through desires and mind-concepts, hence your inability to apperceive it and abide in it. 

In the jnani state, there is no need for anything, not even to know oneself. You are attached to the body-senses. Therefore, even though you may attain an age of hundred years, you still would crave for more years. 

V: Sir, do you not feel sorry and concerned for us ignorant seekers who visit you? 

M: Why should I? I am the very sun of knowledge and look upon everybody as such. 

V: What is the significance of astrology, stars, good luck and bad luck? 

M: Everything is important at the appropriate place. The one who has not recognized his true identity will naturally be after the “significance” of astrology, stars, luck, and so on. But for the one stabilized in the Self, nothing is important and significant. Such a one is not concerned with anything. 

V: The Absolute state is said to be eternal. How is it that out of such a state of eternity, an ephemeral and temporary state like beingness should arise? 

M: For the appearance of such a temporary state there must be a cause. For example, there are two intimate friends, who are in harmony with each other, but suddenly they start a quarrel. There must be some cause for this: some friction, some misunderstanding. Similarly, there must have been some cause to give rise to the five elements and the manifest universe out of the Absolute state. This primary cause is beyond explanation. 

Just as the friends were separated by their differences and friction, the primary elements—space, air, fire, water and earth—were formed out of the Highest, as a result of friction and interaction. As the process continued, a variety of forms were created leading to the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 

In the vegetable kingdom, termed vanaspati, we find shrubs, plants, trees etc. which grow in one place and do not move about. The next stage of evolution is termed vachaspati, the animal kingdom, which abounds in germs, worms, ani- mals and human beings. These species have the privilege of movement and communication. 

Human beings, though biologically animals, are a superior species and are termed brihaspati. Because of the highly evolved indwelling principle, which is consciousness, a human being is able to acquire wisdom intuitively and transcend itself into the Highest. During the process his con- sciousness, initially conditioned to the body-mind, develops into the universal consciousness, amply justifying the title brihaspati. This means “Lord of the immense magnitude,” con- noting the all-pervading principle. Ultimately, the universal consciousness subsides into the Absolute. 

V: Is there any physical pain when the vital breath leaves the body? 

M: One who is involved with concepts suffers at the time of death. The intensity of suffering is in accordance with the meaning of concepts held on to. One who is devoted to God and free from concepts dies happily and peacefully as though going into a slumber. Do you suffer when you fall into sleep? The poet-sage Tukaram mentioned in one of his poems that vegetation is our kith and kin, and it is also our ancestor. But how could it be otherwise when vegetable essence is an absolute necessity for the creation of the animal kingdom, the vachaspati family, and also the bribaspati family of the human species? 

The Gods in the heaven have to take a human form, to manifest on the earth, and their bodies have to be sustained and nourished on the vegetable essence. To reach the godly state, one must have a human body and consciousness. 

To abide in the highest state you have to do nothing else but listen to these talks carefully and then everything will happen correctly, conducive to your spiritual progress. 

Now I have told you about the beingness, which is the outcome of the five-elemental play and the result of the food-essence body. But “You” as the Absolute are not the body, and not even the indwelling beingness. Then why should you worry about its departure? 

V: Since we are born, we are going to die ... 

M: A jnani is not born and he does not die. But when the body of a jnani drops off, people around him may weep in sorrow, because they identify with their bodies. They therefore consider a jnani to be an embodied person, which, however, he is not. 

V: How is it that a jnani, abiding in the “non-knowing” state, is able to communicate with us? 

M: A jnani is so called, because he is in possession of jnana—the beingness—which is sustained by a body. While in possession of jnana, a jnani is in the “non-knowing,” Absolute state. The beingness and the body are the media of communication for a jnani. But he is not the language expressed for communication. 

You too, could be in the jnani-state provided you recede and abide in a state prior to emanation of words in you. Such a state is revealed at the borderline of deep sleep and the waking state, which is the very beginning of emergence of the consciousness. 

This state is known as the para-shakti or para-vani state, which is the source of words or language. From this source, which is the first stage, until it finally explodes out of the mouth for communication, the language has to pass through three more stages—that is, four stages in all. The second is pasbyanti, the incipient stage, where the intangible formation of language begins. The third stage is madhyama or the middle stage, in which the tangible formation of language takes place in the zone of the mind. The fourth and last stage is vaikbari, when the breath causes the language to explode from the mouth into vocal expression. 

Para-vani is the subtlest form of language. This term has a deeper connotation. Para means “the other,” indicating separateness from the Absolute state, but the closest to it. 

A jnani or Lord Krishna says, “I am not the para-vani,” because they abide in the Highest. When I talk about Krishna, do not take him to be a personality; he is the Absolute. 

One feels one has “understood” when some concept, title or name like “Krishna” is given; but that is not the way. One has to be Krishna to understand him truly. 

Para-vani is not the language of the Absolute, as it is still an outcome of the beingness. After passing through various stages of development, it finally expresses vocally a concept, which on our acceptance possesses us. In the process we identify totally with the concept and lose our true identity. 

V: Once in my meditation, I stabilized in the para-vani state, prior to mind, and saw visions of the past and future. 

M: In the para-vani state one gets siddhi-powers and can read the past and future. It also leads to the awakening of the kundalini energy. 


January 9th 1980 

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