
July 1, 1981
Questioner: Deep sleep is no-knowing. The Absolute is beyond knowingness and no-knowingness. I do not understand.
Maharaj: To start with, a child is born: the infant does not know itself, the reactions of hunger, thirst, etc., take place. These are physical things, when life is there, but inside that state knowingness has not developed or matured fully. After one or two years it comes to know itself, the mother, etc. When the child knows itself, its knowingness has started.
Prior to that it is ignorance, although it is no-knowingness, it is ignorance. Then the knowledge "I Am" is attained: it does not know who it is but it knows it is something. Later on the child starts collecting concepts and ideas which other people feed it and develops certain concepts or images about itself and others. The mind has developed. Then comes deep sleep and the waking state, the daily cycle. In the waking state, in whatever state of mind you are, you know the world, together with your concepts and then you fall into sleep. Now, technically, you can call that deep sleep no-knowingness. But this is not that no-knowingness beyond which the Absolute lies.
Let us proceed again from the child. Ignorance, knowingness, accumulation of concepts, meeting the Guru. The Guru tells you, "Get rid of concepts, just be yourself." So, when you are, onlyyou are. This is the first step: to abide in the consciousness that you are, without words that is knowledge. When the child started knowing itself there was also knowledge - but that is a general knowledge and is common to all. This becomes spiritual now. The seeker, having understood what the Guru said, gets rid of the concepts, and now, as the first step, the seeker dwells in the state "I Am," just being.
First of all there is the knowingness "I Am," without words; with that knowingness the world is. Now when the seeker goes into meditation, that knowingness goes into no-knowingness. This is the highest in the hierarchy when the body aspect is there because this knowing and noknowing are aspects of the body, and body means consciousness, and in the realm of consciousness knowingness and no-knowingness exist.
The Absolute transcends knowingness and no-knowingness. So, noknowingness is the highest in the hierarchy of spirituality, and the destination is transcendence of knowingness and no-knowingness.
Q: I thought no-knowingness means the Absolute.
M: Knowingness and no-knowingness are the expressions of the bodily consciousness. When this food instrument body, together with the consciousness is totally transcended - that is the Absolute.
The light is there, the darkness is there, but what is the background?
The space. The space is there which is neither the light nor the dark, but the space is. You have to transcend light and darkness to abide in space.
Similarly, one has to transcend the knowingness and no-knowingness - the aspects of bodily consciousness. If you have reached that state you are watching consciousness and no-consciousness. That is called natural samadh:, or sahaja samadhi.
Naturally you are in that state, but this psychosomatic instrument of body and consciousness is always available. The moment somebody comes the instrument is being operated - otherwise you revert to the Absolute. It is something like this: in a big hall there is a door, and in the door is a peep hole. That peep hole is the consciousness, but you are at the back.
Suppose that those space ships are going up from the earth: when you are in the space you feel that you have escaped the earth, but it is not so -you are still under the influence of the earthly atmosphere. You must go further into the space where there is no atmosphere. But where is the thought of your going there? It is not like that - you are truly the Absolute and these are all the coverings you have gotten.
You know you are but you forget that you are and that forgetfulness is no-knowingness, which is the highest state. You can never describe it by words; that state is never captured by words.
Understanding is necessary and you should not get confused.
Suppose you live in a state of knowingness: you should not think that you are ajnani already simply because your knowingness receives many powers in that state. You might think you are ajnani, but it is not so - it is simply the first step. There are a lot of allurements at that stage. When you are only being, without words, you are powerful. Give up the powers, don't possess them.