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The
aspirants always think of that which is untrue.
They ask, "What shall I do, Maharaj?" The Guru asks
him not to sniff tobacco, and the disciple
immediate reacts by putting his nose into the box
containing tobacco! Or he may say, "You say that
all this is false, yet you yourself also indulge in
it." There are only two things in the world:
worldly existence and Reality. To take interest in
what has happened is to get involved in worldly
affairs. If you abandon all these things, true
knowledge will dawn. This is why a man gets caught
in bondage. Individuality is to involve the mind in
the objective world, and Godhood is to do nothing.
God is in the temple while there are rocks lying
outside. Why should God value rocks? For this God
[your own Self], to live among stones is
called "individuality" or "ignorance".
Saint Tukaram says, "God is quite ancient." God is
prior to everything. A jnani has understood that
the Supreme being [Paramatman], which is
prior to all, is silently sitting in his heart.
Leaving this God alone, people think of doing good
or bad. That is the illusion for the individual
being. The illusion makes man knowledgeable, makes
him a narrator of the Vedas, and makes him
play this worldly game. If a thing is good, it is
good; if it is bad, it is bad; if one is wealthy,
he is wealthy; and if one is poor, he is poor. Who
is the real aspirant? He is the one who has
understood the illusion is nothing. However much
you may have wrestled with the bear in a dream, it
is still all false. But the illusion does not allow
the aspirant to be victorious.
The concept of "I" and "you" is a delusion, as is
the concept of "aspirant". Even the idea "I am God"
is a delusion. This world itself is rooted in
delusion. If I and you are God, then why should
there be any supposition? As told before, "Abandon
everything!" Ignorant people start beating cymbals
for worship. This knowledge is actually ignorance.
Hence, even this knowledge has no true value. Only
knowledge of the Self destroys ignorance. The
individual "I" is the one who dabbles in the
illusion. So just do nothing. The aspirant is
tortured by those who tell him, "You must do this
and you must do that." All this is to fool him. The
illusion has long horns on his head. If you
supersedes him, he gores you, and if you fall
behind, he kicks you.
Thus, the key to transcending the illusion lies in
doing nothing. All happiness, misery, worry and
anxiety are inherent in the illusion. You have to
do nothing, you have to abandon nothing. In
Dasbodh, Saint Ramdas says, "Action and
non-action are illusion." So those who have not
understood this illusion may dance wild. The
illusion is dreamlike. If you wrestle with a bear
in a dream, your victory or defeat is irrelevant.
So it is said that the illusion is unconquerable,
even for Lord Brahma, Vishnu, Harihera, etc., since
they all take it to be true. Vishnu said, "I shall
protect them", so he became a four-handed God. This
is an illusion, yet all are engrossed in it.
Suppose a barren woman's son said that he had held
a torch at Maruti's [an eternal celibate]
wedding. This world in the form of illusion is just
as fictitious. So those who say they have conquered
the illusion are thoroughly deceived. The devotee
of God does not experience the happiness or misery
arising from the illusion. His glory is small, but
higher than that of the gods Hari and Hara. The
reason is that he takes everything as untrue and
knows that there is no action, cause or doer.
Wherever there is a feeling of cause and effect, it
is due to the feeling "I am not Reality." This
feeling is the effect and the "I" is the cause.
When you feel that you are not Reality, you become
an individual "I". When you feel that you are
neither an "I" nor Shiva, you become Final Reality.
"I", "good", "bad, etc., all these are signs of
delusion rising up from the material world. All
this is a game of "blind man"s bluff". Reality is
the one who covers the players eyes, and hence, he
is not part of the game. He blindfolds the
participants only once. Knowledge and ignorance are
the material cause of the world [prakriti].
This itself is delusion. Who expounds the
scriptures and who conveys knowledge? Chanting,
penance, methods, study, etc., are all the mesmeric
activities of the illusion. You cross over the
material world only when you are free from all
"duties". These are all matters at this initial
stage. So long as there is knowledge, there is
delusion. Reject whatever you suppose you are.
"Reject" means do not dabble in anything
whatsoever. Continue your worship: "I am the Self,
I am Reality, I am not the body, I am not the
name." The one who is speaking inside is "I", is
God. Just be convinced of that.
There was a princess who wanted to find a lazy man
to marry. Accordingly, an announcement was made in
every village. Prospective suitors claiming to be
lazy soon arrived at the palace. The princess
wanted to assure the validity of their claims. One
man pretended to be so lazy by arriving on the
shoulders of someone else. Another feigned silence
in support of his claim, and another refrained from
using his hands to eat food. There were as many
pretensions of laziness as there were suitors. The
princess rejected them all. But there was one
shrewd fellow who simply informed the princess that
he had come to get married to her. She asked him,
"How can you prove that you are lazy?" He replied,
"All the others are merely pretending. They are
only actors and are not lazy at all." Maintaining
silence, not walking, and not eating with the hands
– these are all external actions meant to
deceive. These qualities are not of the nature of a
really lazy person. Similarly, for a jnani, it is
absolutely evident that he is Reality.
The true mark of a saint is taking the world to be
untrue. If it is not understood that it is in the
nature of the material world to be false, then one
cannot get "married to the princess." Laziness does
not mean abandoning outward actions. The individual
"I" has the habit of engaging itself in constant
activity. To do something is in the nature of the
body consciousness. What has to be done, and for
whose sake? Illusion implies "my idea". There is a
proverb: "He started worshipping God when he got
tired of doing things."
If you reject all that is untrue, then you become
God Reality. The illusion is believing that "I
ought to first do this and that , manage this and
that, become rich, and then afterwards I will
become a saint and start acting differently." So
leave things exactly as they are. If you meddle in
things, your body consciousness will get enhanced
and you will constantly feel that you ought to be
doing something. This is the obstruction for
attaining Final Reality. When you are not the body,
then it is useless to think about wealth or
poverty. All is untrue. Then why this unnecessary
query? Godhood is "not to do anything." We say,
"Remain quiet, like God", but in actuality we
indulge ourselves in body consciousness.
To not worry about anything and to be at peace is
called "OM Shanti". This is my blessing to you
all.
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