Let
there be peace and love among all beings of the universe. OM
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
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IDDHARAMESHWAR
Maharaj
wished that people all over the world be happy. His
teaching is available to those who are fully
dedicated to realising Final Reality
[Brahman] so that they may enjoy Eternal
happiness.
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The following
exposition describes only one of the ways to attain
Final Reality – the knowledge that you are
apart from the four bodies. Once this knowledge
penetrates the heart, the ego of knowledge
dissolves in Reality.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF KNOWLEDGE
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At the beginning
of this exposition, reverential adoration has to be
offered to Sri Ganesh first, then to Sri Saraswati
and finally to Sri Satguru. What is the reason for
offering salutations in this order? If someone were
to ask, "If the sequence of this adoration is
changed will there be confusion?" The answer has to
be, "Yes, there will be confusion." This is because
Sri Ganesh is the deity for meditation and
contemplation, and Sri Saraswati is the deity for
the exposition of the teaching through words. With
the help of these two deities, a third deity in the
form of "Light of the Self" will rise in the heart
of an aspirant. This deity is none other than the
Satguru, which necessarily has to be adored after
Sri Ganesh and Sri Saraswati. The study of this
textual exposition reveals the subject before the
eyes. When the understanding of the subject becomes
firm, only then does the Grace of the Satguru, the
Self, descend. Neither the exposition of this text,
nor the contemplation of its content, will by
themselves lead the aspirant to the goal. Hence,
one should reverentially adore both Sri Ganesh and
Sri Saraswati simultaneously.
There is an ancient method of expounding the
teaching of Vedanta that is commonly followed in
this tradition [Sampradaya] when presenting
the subject matter of this text to the aspirant.
According to this method, first the manifest form
of the Satguru is seen by the eyes. Then the
knowledge about the teachings of the Vedanta, and
value and significance of these precious teachings
is extolled through the words of the Guru. Then a
mantra [subtle name of God] is given and
the aspirant is instructed to practice meditation
on the repetition of the mantra for a short period
of time to imprint its significance within. This
provides a means for the aspirant to make the mind
more subtle so that the teachings that follow can
be more easily grasped and realised. This is the
seekers' initiation to the teaching an invitation
to become an aspirant on the path to
realisation.
In accordance with the method of the saints that
have been outlined above, the Satguru first
explains about the subject that is to follow, then
indicates its characteristics, and finally follows
by imparting a detailed knowledge of the subject.
In most schools of education, when teaching small
children about any subject, the teachers first
verbally informs the child about the subject matter
that will be taught. This is called the
"kindergarten method of education". Similarly,
initially the Satguru verbally gives you a concept
or idea of Reality, such as "You are Reality" or
"Only Reality exists", or some other similar form
of mantra, that is to be contemplated upon. Through
repetition or churning, this idea will be indelibly
imprinted on the mind. This is the tradition of the
Satguru, the direct learning method, and through
this preliminary method the aspirant achieves
results sooner. So be it!
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Afterwards, the
Guru expounds the Truth [the subject
matter] to an ordinarily intelligent aspirant,
and he intellectually understands what the Satguru
conveys through the teaching. However, the main
difficulty is in experientially realising the Truth
about what has been intellectually understood.
Through the exposition of the subject by the
Satguru, one understands what the Self is. However,
the ghost of doubts pops up in the mind of the
aspirant in the form of the question, "How can I be
the Self?", and the aspirant's mental attitude does
not become free of doubt. There is an intellectual
understanding, but no realisation! The remedy for
this is to study with determination, and learn the
teaching. Unless there is sustained and repeated
study, it will not be fully understood and
realised.
For example, in the instructional handwriting book,
the letters presented are very beautiful. We
understand this, but initially we cannot write the
letters in the same way. If however the same
letters are written repeatedly, then by virtue of
that practice or study, the letters are beautifully
formed as soon as the pen touches the paper. Here
someone might ask, "How much study or practice is
required to learn the subject well?" The answer is,
"The study, and the practice, or effort, must
continue relentlessly according to each one's
capacity until it is understood or realised."
A general rule can be enunciated here – "An
ordinarily intelligent man can understand it if it
is explained to him two or three times. If he
repeats it ten or twenty times it becomes a habit.
If he repeats it a hundred times it becomes an
addiction. Once he becomes familiar with it a
thousand times, it becomes inherent nature of the
one who practises it."
Wisps of jute are so delicate and fine that they
are scattered in all the ten directions when blown
by the wind. However, when the same wisps are
entwined together they form a rope, so strong that
it can bind even a strong and violent elephant to a
small peg. So great is the power of study of this
type of practice or repetition!
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It is indeed true
that ultimate Reality [Parabrahman] is
all-pervading and ever-free. Yet, the mind in the
form of air has become so strong in us, due to the
misdirected practice and study through birth after
birth that it has imprisoned the ever-free Reality
in the thought of identification with the body.
This is the tremendous result of repeated practice
– "Whatever is unachievable becomes achievable
only by virtue of study, repetition and practice."
Recognising the importance of this study, the
aspirant should adore Ganesh and Saraswati. This
means that he should fulfil himself by continuous
meditation and learn through the hearing of the
exposition of Truth.
Now, before he begins this study, it will be
desirable for the aspirant to know about other
things relevant to the subject of study. Why has
the illusion "I am the body" arisen in a human
being? What was the condition of the human being
when an "I" was born? How did he develop the idea
of "me" and "mine"? Was the condition in the world
free from fear? If not, by whom and how can he be
helped to get rid of that fear? All this must be
deliberated upon.
At first, the human being was lying all twisted up
in a small space inside his mother's womb. When he
was born, he came out into this boundless world,
and slightly opened his eyes and looked around. On
seeing the immense space and tremendous light, his
eyes dipped and he was aghast. "Where have I come
alone? Who is going to give me support? What is
going to be my fate?" This type of fear arose in
his mind. Immediately after birth, with the first
shock, he started to cry. After a little while, he
was given a drop of honey to lick. With this he
felt relieved, thinking all was well and that he
had someone's support: thus he pacified himself.
But that first shock of fear was so ingrained in
his psyche that he got startled at the slightest
sound, and yet again he becomes quiet when he gets
honey or his mother's breast. In this way, taking
external support at every step, this human being
keeps on sustaining his life depending on the
support of his parents.
As he grows older, his teachers along with his
parents start giving him knowledge about the world.
After that the school teachers prepare him in the
physical sciences such as geography, geometry,
geology, which are valueless like dust. Now this
being enters the stage of "youth" and again looks
out for further props for his life. Then, as it is
predetermined in this world, that support for life
comes from money, wife, family, etc., this human
being gathers wealth and takes on a wife. He takes
it for certain that he can be sustained on this
support alone and squanders away time. With fame,
learning, power an authority, wealth and wife, he
gets added prosperity and becomes more and more
entangled.
The principal possessions and his entire life are
his wife, wealth, status, youth, beauty and
authority. Thus, he takes special pride in these
things and under that intoxication, the human being
misses knowing his real nature. Pride about money,
pride about authority, pride about beauty –
all such types of pride get absorbed in the man and
he forgets his real nature. When his possessions
start dwindling one by one according to the law of
nature, the memory of the primary shock he had
received shakes him to the very roots and he gets
frustrated.
He panics, "What shall I do now? I am losing
support from all sides. What will happen to me?"
But this ignorant man does not understand that all
these possessions had only one solid support –
his "I am"-ness. With that support alone money had
its value, his wife appeared charming, the honour
received seemed worthwhile, his learning brought
him wisdom, his form acquired beauty and his
authority wielded power. Oh man, you yourself are
the support of all the above described wealth! Can
there be a greater paradox than to feel that wealth
gave you support? Added to this wealth, power,
wife, youth and beauty of form, and honour, if he
further received ill-gotten fortune, how strange
would his actions become?
A poet once described the pranks of the mind as:
"Primarily a drunk monkey that gets bitten by a
scorpion." Even such a poet would put his pen down
seeing the ludicrous absurdities of this human
being and would bid goodbye to his poetic
talents.
The sort of man who considers his body as God and
is absorbed in its worship day and night should be
considered as a shoemaker who carries hide on his
back. An apt proverb is that a shoemaker's God
should be worshipped only with shoes. This tells us
the way in which this "God" [body] of the
said man has to be adored. The devotion of an
atheist is to feed his body, and his liberation is
the death of the body. For such a man whose
ultimate goal in life is feeding his body and his
liberation is death, there is no rising above the
gross body level. This is not surprising in his
case! If due to some misfortune he were to lose all
his wealth, he would still borrow money to indulge
in his habits of eating, drinking and enjoying. And
if his creditors were to hound him, he would
declare insolvency and thus get rid of the whole
issue. And when death strikes him ultimately, he
just lies dead. He passes away just as he came.
Could there be anything more tragically wretched
than this sort of life?
The woman who showers praise on her husband for
getting her a lovely nose ring, why should she
think of the Lord who provided her with a nose to
put the nose ring in?! In the same way, these
animalistic human beings who only look to the body
as the "be all and end all", how can they see God,
their own Self ? The One whose power gives the sun
its existence as the sun, the moon its existence as
the moon, the gods their existence as gods –
who is the support of all and present in the hearts
of all beings – this One has become invisible
to man! So be it!
The man whose eyes are trained outwards sees only
that which is external. The eyes will bring him
information of only the external objects. Gross
objects will be visualised by the gross eye and the
subtle will be sensed by the senses, which are also
gross, but knowledge cannot be seen either by the
gross external eye or the subtle eye of the
intellect. Like the physical eye, the other sense
organs are all pointing outwards and continue to
exist on the strength of external objects. The king
of knowledge, the "I am", persuades all the senses
and seems to grant them Lordship. It is because of
this externalisation, that the fact that he is
present prior to the senses does not attract
anyone's attention. The mind and the intellect over
many births have acquired the habit of only looking
outwards therefore to "turn within" has become a
very difficult task. This is called "the reverse
path" which the saints follow when they turn
towards the opposite direction and behold mind,
completely giving up seeing what is external. Where
an ordinary man is asleep, snoring away, there
these saints are awake and where a man is awake,
the saints dose off. All beings find themselves
awakened to the external objects and have become
extremely skilful in this sort of awakening. The
saints, however, have closed their eyes to the
external things. The subject of Self, to which the
other beings are asleep, keeps the saints wide
awake.
One who gets a hundred thousand rupees is worried
about how to double it the next day. He goads
himself to acquire more and more. But the saints
warn him, "Turn back, turn back, Oh man, or you
will get caught in a whirlpool. As this illusion
[world appearance] has fully come during
high tide, you will certainly get carried away by
it."
The modern advances that come to this world with
newer and newer additions, and those that are yet
to come, make up a cyclone of illusions. Be certain
that you will be held captive by it. Who knows to
where this man who is caught by this cyclone is
carried away? When the saints see this person whose
attention is taken up by these modern advances,
running here and there, and struggling with them,
they try their utmost to bring about an awakening
of Self-knowledge in him. Indeed, that will be an
auspicious day when the world in the form of
Kumbhakarna [a demon character in the
Ramayana epic who eventually attains
salvation] awakens from his present deep
slumber!
Samartha Ramdas and Saint Tukaram [two great
Maharashtrian saints from the 17th century] met
each other while standing on the opposite banks of
a river. Ramdas asked Tukaram with a gesture of his
hand, "How much awakening have you brought about
amongst people?" Tukaram also replied with a
gesture. He formed his right hand in to a fist and
put the back of it to his lips, indicating that
nowhere had he found anybody who cared for
awakening to the Self. Tukaram put the same
question to Ramdas and Ramdas suggested that there
was no awakening wheresoever. Then they went their
own way. Even when this was the case, these
merciful saints have consistently continued to do
their work. "How can I describe the obligations of
these saints? They are continuously awakening me
from sleep."
It is true that from the bodily point of view Saint
Tukaram and Samartha Ramdas have left us today, yet
Abhangagatha and Dasbodh remain with
us and contain all that they wanted to tell us.
Whatever wealth they wanted to hand over to us,
they have left the legacy in their will in the form
of these books. Whoever makes a claim that he is
their legatee will get the whole of that wealth.
But the man who wants this wealth must give up the
pride he has accumulated in his mundane, worldly,
demoniac wealth. Not only this, whatever acts he
has considered as achieving merit, and therefore
dear to his heart, must also be renounced. He must
be prepared to take a step on the path that turns
inward. This is the only condition for becoming a
beneficiary to this will. Man is fully immersed in
the pride of his body, his caste, his family, his
country, his nation, and whatever good or bad is in
his nature. All these types of pride have possessed
him. Until such time as he becomes completely free
from pride, how can he claim to benefit from the
legacy of this treasure that saints have left
behind for him? But one whose heart sincerely
repents can become the beneficiary of this wealth
that the saints have left. The man who sincerely
repents, yet worries whether he can rid himself of
all these types of pride which he has acquired
birth after birth, and which have thus become his
second nature, need not worry nor be frustrated.
For if a slave is awakened to the knowledge that he
is a slave, he instantly starts looking for a way
to freedom. A slave who finds joy in his slavery
and makes every effort to continue in that
condition cannot even think that a highway to
freedom exists. Only when he repents will the
consciousness of slavery dawn on him. Similarly, a
lucky man may get the feeling that the ambition of
going ahead of the other is actually taking him on
a downward path. From that day on he gets a glimpse
of the reverse direction shown by the saints. He
may be slow, but automatically he starts making the
effort to step onto a new path.
All those types of pride, bad or good, may not
leave a man all at once, but if he starts with a
determination to become completely bereft of pride
and leaves them one by one, the infinite merciful
Lord will not fail to give him a helping hand. If a
man takes pride in his vicious acts, this should be
broken by increasing pride in his good acts. Thus,
through practice all bad qualities will be
eradicated. Good qualities should be nourished and
imbibed, however one should not be attached to them
at all and not even allow them to leave any
impression. Here a doubt might arise, that though
vices deserve to be rejected, why should good
qualities also be rejected? After all, good
qualities are always good. But dear aspirants,
though the possession of good qualities in
comparison with vices seems to be better, in the
pursuance of attaining the wealth of
Self-knowledge, these good qualities are a hundred
times worse and also deserve to be thrown away.
Just see that a man with several bad qualities will
try to be good only because he possesses a sense of
shame in his mind. This shame has come from the
society in which he lives. But a man that possesses
good qualities is always receiving praise in the
world, and thus when he is full of pride about his
good qualities, it becomes very difficult for him
to move away from that pride.
Whereas the pride regarding bad qualities can be
left fairly easy, it is not the case with pride
about good qualities. Nobody admits that he has
committed a sin, but the pride that enters a man
when he has given meals to thousands, has visited
the four holy places, has opened up holy lodges for
people or has worshipped the deity ten million
times, this pride has become so firm in him that it
becomes almost impossible to give up. By
repentance, a sinner soon finds a Satguru. However,
the one who has done meritorious deeds gets so
deeply buried in flattery showered on him by the
world that even his way to the Satguru gets buried
and lost.
When one realises this, one must conclude that
pride about bad qualities is tolerable but the
pride about good qualities is best avoided
completely. Both types of pride are thorns on the
way to knowing the Self. When one thorn is pulled
out by another, the second thorn is placed in your
shirt pocket. This is the pride of good qualities.
Will this thorn not eventually prick you? If a
thief is shackled in iron handcuffs and a king in
golden handcuffs, does it mean that the king is not
bound at all?
But even as the man thanks someone who unlocks the
iron handcuffs, the man with golden handcuffs will
pounce on the throat of him who tries to free him.
He will try his best to keep the golden handcuffs
permanently on his wrists. Due to what force is
this so? Who is this friendly enemy of man who
makes him feel happy in bondage? It is the pride of
good, meritorious deeds that has caught man by the
neck and is the real arch enemy of man. This is the
enemy that blocks the way to absolute Truth
[Paramartha] more persistently, and
therefore it is necessary to renounce it. This may
require tremendous labour because without
renouncing it, we can never claim our legacy to the
wealth of true knowledge [jnana].
It is believed that man's wealth, such as money,
beautiful wife, status, etc., is a result of
meritorious deeds done in previous births. But on
the way to finding ultimate Truth, these very
things act as boulders obstructing the way.
Therefore it may be said that these are the result
of sin. When a person is infused with pride about
these things, he becomes possessed. Therefore he
becomes incapacitated of treading the path of
absolute Truth.
Contrary to this there might be a man who has not a
penny, who is quite ugly, has no wife, no status
and is so poverty stricken that in order to fill
his belly he eats whatever the food he get sfrom
whomsoever he gets it. He lost his caste, family,
friends and all dear ones. This type of a fakir,
naked on all fronts even if believed to be sinful
by the world, might be more worthy of receiving
Self-knowledge because he is naturally free of
pride. The ears of this naked man turn towards the
Satguru sooner than the one whose ears are filled
with flattery and have no room for containing the
advice of the Satguru. They have no time to turn to
the Satguru's advice even for a minute.
The whole of humanity has got entangled, right from
birth, in bondage. Besides this, man has created
several artificial bondages around himself in the
form of comforts resulting from newer inventions.
If man has to live in present society, he has to
respect and conform to the bondages of tradition,
social conventions and governmental rules. For
example, wearing a neck tie is supposed to be the
proper etiquette nowadays. To be up-to-date in such
a society makes him believe that he is getting more
and more freedom. One who does not drink poisonous
tea, or one who does not shave everyday is supposed
to be a rustic. Diving into the bondage of such a
society and building such silly ideas dear to the
heart, this man goes on binding himself further and
increases his pride about worthless things. Unless
such bonds and pride are thrown away completely,
and unless he is called a "mad man" by these
"up-to-date" people, there is no hope at all for
him to attain a mental state without any pride or
become free from bondage at anytime!
The only aim is that one should completely shed off
all pride and eradicate the identification with the
body. If the aspirant finds all this work difficult
to do or is unwilling to take it upon himself to
formally renounce his wife, his money and his
estate, then he can begin with inward renunciation.
When that becomes successful, the formal
renunciation slowly becomes possible.
Inward renunciation means renunciation undertaken
through the mind. Suppose someone has the habit of
hurting others through words, it does not cost
anything to leave that habit by repeating only
sweet words to others. Some people have the habit
of telling lies unnecessarily. They should first
stop telling lies at least until such time that an
occasion arises where unless they tell lies a great
calamity may occur. This too will not require any
expenditure. While looking at a neighbour's
prosperity one should not envy him. Will taking
such a decision bring him any harm? In this way,
when one renounces bad qualities, one also gets the
strength to renounce external things.
This world is like a dream and hence in this
dream-world, whatever is considered as good or bad,
true or false, merit or sin, moral or immoral
– are of no consequence for the awakening of
Self. And therefore renunciation of both auspicious
and inauspicious, good and bad, is necessary to
attain the knowledge of Self. Even if the above is
true, men still find it problematic to eradicate
pride. No matter how often someone repeats the
precept "renounce, renounce", time and again, it
will not make even the slightest dent on pride.
Only when one discovers the reason why pride enters
and is able to eradicate that reason –
renunciation automatically follows. The main reason
why pride about an object enters a man is that he
takes the object to be true. But if he gets
convinced intellectually about the utter
uselessness of the object or understands that it is
only an appearance, then the apparent reality of
the thing fades away automatically. For him it
becomes possible to develop a detachment from that
object which is held close to his heart as
true.
A toy tamarind pod from Gokak [in the state of
Karnataka] is not a real tamarind pod, but only
one made of wood! Yet until such discriminative
knowledge dawns on one, the sight of the wooden
tamarind is bound to set one's mouth watering. The
reason for this is the man's conviction of the
thing being true. But once he definitely knows that
the tamarind is made of wood, he may appreciate the
artistic or aesthetic features of it, but it will
not affect his salivary glands! This very happening
is detachment and brings us to the conclusion that
detachment from a thing follows after understanding
its true nature. Unless the futility of this
"world" is impressed irrevocably upon man's mind,
the knowledge of the Self is difficult to attain.
Unless one understands the false nature of an
object, one will never aspire for the Real. There
can be no renunciation of the false so long as the
intellect believes it to be absolutely true.
The day the perverse knowledge of the world is set
at naught by virtue of the Satguru's advice, then
one gets convinced that all this is only an
appearance. After this happens, we will be able to
look at the world and appreciate it as if it was a
cinema or a source of entertainment, but the
detachment achieved will remain unaffected.
Detachment without Self-knowledge is akin to that
experienced at the cremation grounds. Without
Self-knowledge there can be no real renunciation
and without renouncing there can be no
Self-knowledge. This is the paradox. Saints have
shown various methods of getting out of this
vortex, by way of devotion to the Guru, singing
devotional songs, worship, singing God's glories,
visiting holy places, charity, meritorious deeds,
etc... In this way they have enjoined an infinite
number of obligations for humanity. Human nature is
such that if a man is forcibly robbed of a thing,
he suffers immensely. He will make persistent
effort to regain it. But if he were to part with
the same thing out of his free will, that sacrifice
would bring him immense joy. A man who is unwilling
to spend a dime under compulsion, would out of his
free choice spend thousands in order to feed the
people of Pandharpur [a religious site in
Maharashtra].
One whose pride does not allow him to bend to other
people's will bow in total submission to a much
lesser being, after mixing with saints chanting
devotional songs. Thus he completely forgets his
pride of his caste or status. That Rao Saheb
[Honorary Government Member] who felt
ashamed to apply sandalwood paste to his forehead
in his house now allows black powder [buka]
to be smeared on his face, "Thus blackening the
face of pride." The same one who considered singing
and dancing as obscene forgets himself and his body
and starts whirling in joy with a partner, loudly
chanting the name of God along with the rest.
Understanding how man sacrifices his pride in this
way, the saints have spread the cult of singing
devotional songs and ceremonial worship for
everyday practice. Thus they have pointed out a
progressive step on the way to knowledge of Self.
In this way they have impressed upon man how easy
it is to renounce and how the aspirant's mental
attitude gets cleared from pride.
Self-knowledge means knowledge about one's Self.
Once we recognise who we are, then quite
automatically the decision is made about what is
permanent and what is transient. Then very
naturally the renunciation of the impermanent and
acceptance of the permanent follows. Because of the
transient nature of all things, the fear of
disillusionment is inevitable. Man overpowered by
this fear of death or disillusion, continually
strives to see that things do not get separated
from him. He takes every precaution to preserve his
money and relationships, tries hard to keep his
wife's youth and beauty from deteriorating,
struggles to keep his status and authority, but
nothing happens according to his wish and
desire.
Death is all-consuming. No one can escape his
destiny, and everyone will eventually get crushed
under death's teeth. Even gods, like Brahma, were
not free from the fear of death. Even if a poor man
is given everything, does he still not remain
afraid of death? The only gift he needs is the gift
of fearlessness. He needs something that will free
him permanently from this fear. Man is like a
beggar – having lost his own treasure of Self,
he continually chants "I am the body, I am the
body." He is forever unhappy and unsatisfied,
saying "I want this and I want that" and wanders
around begging for something or the other. He can
be pacified only with the gift of the Self.
The fearful man who chants, "What will happen to
me, my wife and children, and my money which I
consider mine?" is always disturbed and upset. This
sort of man should get the gift of fearlessness and
thus be made fearless. Only the Satguru is capable
and generous enough to bestow such a gift of
fearlessness, which is the noblest of all gifts.
Kings and emperors, and even gods, are incapable of
granting this gift of fearlessness. Although all
earthly wealth is at the feet of an emperor, he is
still restless with fear at the very thought of an
enemy's attack. Lord Indra too is anxious, day and
night, with the thought that his status as Indra
might be shaken by the penance and austerities
performed by some sage.
Think of this deeply – those who have not
freed themselves from fear, can they give others a
gift of fearlessness? Only those Mahatmas who have
uprooted fear from its very depths, by establishing
themselves in the centre of the Self and destroying
the identification with the body, are capable of
granting the gift of fearlessness. All the gods,
demons and men are penniless beggars in comparison
with these Mahatmas. They can never receive the
gift of fearlessness, only unless they take shelter
from a Satguru. Even if they are gods, they still
entertain pride of godly wealth, and demons still
carry the pride of their own vicious wealth on
their heads. Human beings get crushed under their
own burden. Gods are no better than baggage men who
carry other people's burdens on their heads! What
the of the human beggar? It is only the Satguru who
extends his hand to help them unload their burden
and blesses them at the same time with the gift of
fearlessness.
Of all knowledge, Self-knowledge is the most noble,
and of all dharmas [paths], Swadharma
[one's duty or path to one's own true nature of
Self] is the most noble. These very Mahatmas
spread this knowledge of the Self amongst men and
teach the meaning of Swadharma. In this world, the
knowledge of astrology, black magic, public
relations, 14 types of sciences and 64 arts are
taught, but the saints refuse to recognise all this
false knowledge and only spread the art and
knowledge of the Self.
Many missionaries competing with one another assert
their opinions by giving advice. They say, "My
religion is the noblest and all others will lead
man to ruin." Not only do they give advice, but
they also fulfil their sacred duty of conversion by
bribing, threatening and even killing people. This
is going on even today. This piracy of religion,
full of compulsion and tyranny, is not useful for
accomplishing the well-being of anyone. If there is
any one religion in the world which is the noblest
of all, it is Swadharma – aligning with one's
own true nature. To live in one's innate nature is
Swadharma, even while belonging to a certain caste,
religion or nation. To understand Swadharma, one
should realise that It is existent in all forms of
life, be it an ant or an insect. This alone is
Swadharma and all other cults, parading as
religions, are pardharma [a path that is alien
to the Self and devoted to non-Self]. These
religions impose absurd rules and methods that are
alien to our real nature of Self. That is the
definition of pardharma.
Supposing there is a prostitute. She also has a
relevant dharma which she follows assiduously,
believing that it is her Swadharma. She teaches the
same to her daughter in the cradle itself and in
the end she also dies following her own religion.
Who knows if some lover of women comes forward to
include that woman's life story in the book of
religious saints? The Lord has already cautioned us
in the Bhagavad Gita by saying, "It is best
to die in Swadharma." Dharma which is alien to Self
is full of danger. While trying to achieve this, if
death comes, it is to be preferred than following
that dharma which is alien to Self. The translation
of the Lord's verse of caution should carry the
above mentioned import. Eradicating the idea of
identification with the body is the sign of
knowledge of the Self. Mahatmas experience this
sort of death while still living. This sort of
death is to be preferred.
"I have seen my own death. How shall I describe
that process which is unique?" How can the cowards
living in pardharma, and who die a corps's death,
understand this process of death while still
living? The unfortunate one only thinks of death in
terms of a cremation ground – bamboo, jute
rope, dung cakes, wood and fire – and the
rites of his religion. Those dharmas, built on the
strong basis of body-identification, contain the
temptation and fear of heaven and hell, merit and
sin, bondage and liberation. Every human being has
the right to follow the path of Swadharma –
leading to his own Self – where there is no
temptation of heavenly enjoyments, no fear of pain
in purgatory, and where both bondage and liberation
have no meaning. There is a cruel maxim: "Whatever
comes has to go." These pseudo-religions are
shining and spreading because of their "newness",
and in some cases, with government patronisation.
They will definitely sink to the bottom, and there
will be nothing but glory and victory to Swadharma
alone!
In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord advises
Arjuna to do one thing: "Leave aside all religions
and come seek refuge within Me!" Come to Me by
rejecting all religions which create hindrances.
Seek refuge in Paramatman, the true Self, which has
the nature of true knowledge. You will then have
fulfilled yourself when you attain Me and there
will be nothing more for you to do. All karma gets
exhausted in Self-knowledge.
On the pretext of advising Arjuna, the Lord has
given this advice to all human beings and they
should fulfil themselves by accepting the same.
There is nothing in the whole universe as sacred as
the Self-knowledge. All other "work" or "action" is
meaningless. In this context, one should not think
that all other types of knowledge apart from
Self-knowledge are useless and have no value.
However, they are of no help in achieving
Swadharma. It is not that getting results such as a
son, or heaven, by means of performing sacrifices
is not possible. By studying scriptures, one does
become proficient, and it is possible for one to
appease various deities by worshipping them. Even
if this is so, and even if all these actions are
supposed to be meritorious in this mundane
practical world, they still come as hindrances so
long as the Self is not pleased and does not shower
His Grace. The qualities valued as best in the
practical world count as disqualifications, and all
remedies only turn into obstacles. The sages know
this well and do not care a whit even if they are
able to conquer all the three worlds of existence
[physical, subtle and causal]. They
consider Indra's status, ridden as it is with
jealousy, as useless as a crow's droppings. All the
saints harbour only one desire within their hearts
– to achieve oneness with Reality. Otherwise,
desirelessness is their stance. These men of good
fortune became one with Reality when their
consciousness separated from the body. In ordinary
cases, the body is taken only as a corpse while, in
the case of the Mahatmas, they become worthy of
obeisance and they receive adoration from people.
Not only this, several temples are built on their
shrines. Thus, they become immortal by becoming the
object of worship and adoration from the whole
world.
Ram, Krishna, Siddhartha, Hanuman, Malhari and
Jagadamba – all these were Mahatmas in the
form of Gurus. While they were alive they did the
work of spreading true knowledge and became gods
when they left the body. All the temples on earth
belong to these very gods who grant the wishes of
devotees according to their vows and desires. They
lift the spirant to their own level and make them
achieve fulfilment. Many people think that the God
he worships meets him, through visions, and gets
the work done, but God is not limited to one point
or place as the devotee imagines. He resides in the
devotee's heart as in every heart and inspires to
get one's work done. Nobody should entertain the
wrong idea that even after the Mahatma leaves his
body, he assumes the same body, comes out of his
tomb [samadhi] and then gets his devotee's
work done!
When you wish to send ten rupees to someone in
Pune, you give a ten rupee note to the Post Office
at Sholapur for them to transfer the money to that
particular person. On the second or third day you
get the receipt that the amount was delivered to
the recipient. Have you ever made enquiries to find
out whether the same ten rupee note, with the same
number, was given to the recipient? This type of
question never arises in your mind. Your attention
is centred not on the number of the note, but on
the value of the note, and when the amount has
reached the person you do not have any complaints
or queries. In the same way, these saints and
Mahatmas, who have turned into gods, get the
devotees work accomplished through the living
Mahatmas that are available and who are of the same
calibre. This is the way they get their devotees'
vows fulfilled.
What magical skill did these persons possess who
were honoured during their lifetime and became
immortal, retaining their fame even after their
bodily death? What special learning did they have
that they should be receiving adoration from people
even after death?
In this world, there are many arts and sciences.
Many discoverers, many adventurous heroes who are
praised during their lifetime. These heroes are
felicitated and covered with garlands and flowers.
People even express their admiration for them by
deyoking the horses of their carriages and by
carrying them on their shoulders! But at the same
time, a hero who has been an object of people's
adoration also becomes subject to their censure.
Soon, people who are pampered as heroes for a few
days are condemned in an assembly. Even resolutions
condemning them are carried out! From this it is
clear that the greatness of these heroes is
artificial and not everlasting, because their
greatness is based on their transient learning.
Their greatness is not based on the sacred,
everlasting peace, but on some practical motive or
some physical sciences, like politics. Who was once
judged as "great" is found to be of no importance,
and in some other corner of the world another
"hero" starts shining on the horizon.
The greatness which is achieved through any
learning other than the knowledge of the Self,
takes an opposite direction, due to which these
great ones have to suffer sweet and sour
experiences of honour and insult. It is no wonder
that no one takes the trouble of thinking about the
great men after they are dead. Out of all
knowledge, Self-knowledge is the only learning
which grants everlasting peace. What is the use of
such learning which does not grant peace of
mind?
Nowadays, many types of courses of learning are
available in the world. Why is there such a
proliferation of courses? The reason is because no
one has yet found peace of mind. The struggle has
not yet stopped, not even for a little while, and
the mind remains ever restless. Why? Because all
these sciences and arts have got their entire
centre in ignorance and are only useful for
increasing the agitation and restlessness of the
human mind. The one who values the sciences and
arts has lost the happiness that comes from peace
of mind. He is unable to examine himself. The man
who does not know who he is, he is never free from
restlessness. It is futile to know many addresses
if one does not even know his own address! One who
has not searched his own house, why should he
search another man's house for a thing he lost in
his own house?
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WHO IS THIS "I"?
Once
upon a time there lived a person [a non
grata] in a village called Andheri
[Darkness]. He, however, could establish a
custom in courts of Law, that no order or document
be accepted as legal unless it bore the stamp,
"Gomaji Ganesh" ["The Brass Door"].
Afterwards, all the officers of that city accepted
a document as legal only if it bore this stamp on
it. This procedure continued for a long time and
thus the stamp became firmly rooted in the city of
Andheri. No one ever enquired as to who this
"Gomaji Ganesh" was.
But as time passed, it so happened that an
important document which bore no stamp of the
"Gomaji Ganesh" was cited as evidence in a case
filed in a court of law and even though, as
ordinary procedure goes it was thoroughly legal, it
was still not accepted as evidence. At that point,
a courageous man, who was a party to the suit, put
before the judge the argument that the document was
perfectly valid as it bore all the signatures of
all the relevant government officers. He argued,
"Why should this document not be admissible if it
is otherwise perfectly legal? Why should it have in
addition this stamp of "Gomaji Ganesh"?" Thus, he
questioned the legality of the stamp itself, and in
consequence, the legality of the stamp was made an
issue of contention. Till that day, no one had
ventured to bring this issue before a court of law.
Since it had risen for the first time, it was
decided that this point should be brought to a
decision as to what this fuss was all about.
So the judge, out of curiosity about the procedure
of the "Gomaji Ganesh" stamp, took the matter in
hand first for enquiry. When the enquiry was
complete, it showed that some person of no status,
taking advantage of the badly administered
government, had pushed in his own stamp and the
government officers went on following this
tradition blindly. As a matter of fact, this Gomaji
Ganesh was a man of no importance and had no
authority of any kind. It is not necessary to
describe how this stamp was looked upon with
ridicule, since that day when the decision was
taken by the court.
In the same way, we should also enquire about who
this "I" is, and how it dominates everything as "I"
and "mine", just like in the story concerning the
"Gomaji Ganesh" stamp. It is a general rule that if
two people quarrel, it usually results in advantage
to the third party, or if two things get mixed up,
some third thing is produced. For example, by the
contact of a piece of thread and flowers, a garland
is produced which was not there in the first place.
Even the names of the parents [thread and
flowers] whose contact was responsible in
producing a garland get eclipsed as soon as the
garland comes into existence. The garland itself is
brought into prominence and is known by its own
label. The names "flowers" and "thread" become
extinct because a new name, "garland", is now
evoked, and with this new name further actions take
place. With the contact of earth and water, both
the earth and water become extinct and mud arises
as "I". So also, stones, bricks, mud and mason come
together and a third thing called a "wall" stands
before the eyes. The stones, bricks, mud and mason
simply vanish from our sight.
Through the conveyance of knowledge and ignorance,
this is how a peculiar thing called an "intellect"
comes into existence, and with this contact,
emerges the "world". Gold and a goldsmith produce a
certain object with a certain form, and that thing
starts tempting our eyes as an "ornament". The gold
and the goldsmith are forgotten. As a matter of
fact, if anyone is curious to find out if there is
anything like an ornament inside the gold, one
would see nothing but gold! If we told a goldsmith
to make an ornament without touching any gold, what
would he make? Actually, the thing called an
"ornament" would simply vanish into thin air.
In the same way, due to the meeting of Brahma
[the creator] and maya [the
illusion], this thief "I" has appeared, and
proudly hums "I" while raising his head. This "I"
has uprooted both Brahma and maya. This barren
women's [maya's] son ["I"] actually
never existed and yet tries to establish his
unlimited sovereignty permanently in the world. If
we observe the parents of this "I", it would be
clear that it is impossible for them to get such an
issue. The mother of the child is maya and does not
exist. From the womb of this maya, "I" has appeared
and pretends to be born from pure existence. But
existence has no gender and does not even claim to
possess the art of "doership". So readers can
imagine what kind of an "I" this is.
As described above, the existence of "I" is only in
name and yet like Gomaji Ganesh, he announces his
own name while moving around everywhere and saying,
"I am wise and great!". This man has forgotten from
where he came. Instead, he starts glorifying
himself as "I" and even if this glory is deserving,
he is like a cat who laps up milk with closed eyes,
unaware of the stick that is ready to strike it on
the back. As soon as he accepts a right or
privilege, he must also accept the responsibility
which goes along with it. As soon as I say that "I
am the doer of a certain act" I must enjoy the
fruit of such an action. Enjoyment or sufferance of
a fruit, or result of an action is yoked to the
action itself.
Actually there exists no one like "I" and the
entire doership is contained in Reality. Final
Reality is so smart that the moment He finds that
some pride of doership appears as "I did it", He
leaves all the responsibility of the action on the
head of that "I" and remains unattached. He leaves
this poor "I" to it's destiny of revolving on the
wheel of birth and death.
Like in the above mentioned example of a "garland"
being produced by the contact of a piece of thread
and flowers, when the garland dries up, nobody says
that the flowers dry up. Everyone says that it is
the "garland" which dries up. And when the thread
snaps, everyone says that it is the "garland" which
has snapped. It means the doership of the original
objects is imposed upon the third object due to the
pride of the object. In the same way, a series of
miseries strike this non-existent "I". If one wants
to get free from this misery, one must leave that
"I", but before it is left, we will find out where
exactly this "I" resides. And once we find him,
then we will talk about leaving him.
Everyone should begin the search for this "I" at
his own centre if he is keen to find it. This "I"
will never be found outside of us. In every human
being this "I", or ego-sense of "mine" and
possession, is filled up to the brim. All the
actions in the world are carried on the strength of
this ego-sense of "mine". This theorem of "my
action" is taken for granted by all human beings,
but in fact the totality of all actions can easily
be carried out without this ego-sense. We shall see
how this can be done later on, but at present we
shall enquire into this sense of "I" and "mine". In
order to make the search for "I" successful, we
shall first look into our gross physical body which
has become very dear to us. After analysing it, let
us see if any such "I" is found to reside in this
body.
GROSS BODY
What is a physical gross body? It is a collective
assembly of parts or members such as hands, feet,
mouth, nose, ears, eyes, etc... We call the
assembly of all these members a "body". Out of
these members let us find out which one is the "I".
If one says, "The hand is "I"", and then if the
hand is cut off, nobody says "I have been cut off
or discarded." Suppose the eyes go blind, no one
says, "I am gone or have disappeared." If the
stomach is distended, no one says, "I am inflated."
Instead, one says, "My hand has been cut off", or
"My eyes have gone blind", or "My stomach is
distended." All these parts are spoken of as being
"mine", and not only that, the body itself which is
the assembly of all these members is also spoken of
as being "mine". Thus, this "I" is not any part or
limb of the gross body. But the maxim goes, "Where
"I" does not exist, there does not exist anything
which can be called "mine"." You cannot be in the
neighbours' house.
Lets say that you go to the house of Rao Bahadur,
your neighbour, and say "I am Rao Bahadur and his
wife is mine", you will see what experience you
will get! If you start making advances to his wife,
saying that she is "yours", Rao Bahadur's hand will
immediately turn your cheek pink and red with a
slap, and you will get a sharp and sudden
realisation that "I am not Rao Bahadur and his wife
is not mine." In the same way, when "I" cannot be
traced anywhere in the body, then how can it be
said that the limbs of the body and its tendencies
belong to me? If you still insist on calling it
your own, first think of the result [a
slap], and ask yourself whether it is really
necessary to possess anything at all? See the
result of such thinking.
Everyday we see the condition of all the human
beings who look upon their bodies as their own and
who act accordingly. The human being has forgotten
his true Self and does not even try to understand
who he really is. Therefore, he must take birth in
every species. Sometimes he takes birth as a worm
and is passed out in a stool. Sometimes he takes
birth as a bullock, he gets yoked to an oil
extracting mechanism and spends the day turning
around in circles. Sometimes he takes birth as a
donkey and works hard while wallowing in a heap of
garbage! It is almost impossible to describe how
many such miseries he has to suffer. After
suffering births in all the other species, at last
one takes birth as a human being. In this birth he
attains an intellect, so that he should know God
– the ultimate Self.
Even if we look at the body of the human species,
it merely looks like a dressed up character in a
vulgar play performed during the Shimga Festival.
The character has his face smeared with black paint
and his body is dressed in rags. A garland of shoes
is placed around his neck and an umbrella made of
shoes is held over his head. He is placed on a
donkey and is taken in a procession through the
streets, accompanied by weird noises. But this
deity character takes pride in being the centre of
such a demeaning show and salutes the crowd as he
passes.
In the same way, man's body is also a peculiar part
of this passing show of life. All the beauty of the
face is supposed to be concentrated in the nose and
eyes. We say a man is handsome or a woman is
beautiful if their nose and eyes are
well-proportioned. But in fact, the nose is only a
tube for nasal discharge. The mouth is a spittoon
containing saliva and phlegm and the stomach is
like the sewage depot of the municipality. The
body, which is a mixture of bone, flesh and blood,
is given some respectable name like "Shiral Seth".
The Paramatman's intention is to awaken a human
being by demeaning him through this body. He makes
the human being cry aloud for happiness and wander
about in all directions in search for it.
In spite of this, the human being considers the
body as a great gift and accepts it with joy. He
eulogises the body with flowery language – the
nose, which is a tube of mucus, is compared to the
bud of a champaka flower; the eyes, which are the
repositories of discharge, are called "lotus eyes";
the face, with a spittoon of saliva for a mouth, is
called a "moon face"; the arms and legs, which are
crooked branches of a tree, are claimed to possess
lotus hands and feet! The human being looks upon
this demeanour as a great victory and exhibits his
shamelessness! The Great Lord, however, has granted
a wonderful thing called an "intellect", even to
this Shimga character of a human being, which He
has not given to any other species. The purpose of
this gift is to use it to understand the ultimate
Truth – the Self – and to put and end to
this demeaning show. Yet the human being misuses
his intellect. He looks upon the gutter as the
Ganges and the body as God and he is spoiling it
further. This person spends a lot of his time
engrossed in adorning his physical body, taking
this body as "I", and then when he comes in contact
with a female body, he even calls her body his own!
He deposits all his sense of "mineness" or
possession in that female body. By virtue of the
contact of this "I" and "mine", many children are
born, and a whole household is brought into
existence. The household is shattered at last, and
the poor man suffers ridicule – his story has
been described in the book Dasbodh by
Samartha Ramdas. It cannot but be recommended that
this book should be read thoroughly.
The "I" cannot be traced anywhere in the body. It
is also a fact, therefore, that the body is not
"mine". Then to whom does the body belong? Who is
the "owner" of the body?
The five elements [prapancha] – the
earth, water, heat, light and air or space –
have the rightful ownership of this body. After
this body falls, each of these elements reclaims
their own share from it, and finally the body is
destroyed. The body is a bundle of these five
elements and each of these element returns back to
its rightful owner. The clothes that were tied in
the bundle have been taken away by the respective
owners, and the cloth in which the bundle was tied
up is also taken away by it's owner. How then can a
thing called a "bundle" remain? There is nothing
left to be seen. In the same way, once the body
which is composed of the five elements gets
absorbed back into in the five principles of these
elements, there remains no object such as the
"body" at all.
Thus, "I" am not in the body, nor does the body
belong to me. This type of body cannot sustain the
pride of "I" or ego nor can it sustain all the
relationships which exist due to the contact of the
body, such as birth and death, or the six passions
that affect the body. All these cannot thus be
related to me as "mine"! The body may be in a state
of childhood or youth or old-age, or the body may
be dark, fair, beautiful or ugly, it may have been
infested with a disease, it may be just wandering
aimlessly, or going to holy places for a
pilgrimage, or it may be motionless in samadhi
– all these attitudes, conditions, properties
or modifications belong only to the body – but
the "I" is quite separate from all these. This at
least we have learnt from the analysis of the
physical body. Someone else's beautiful, cute,
bonnie baby is of no value to us compared to our
own dark, stocky boy, who has pock marks and a
dirty, running nose. We do not suffer if someone
else's sweet child dies, as much as we suffer if
our old slipper is lost.
The reason for this is that we do not have the same
sense of "possession" or "mine" for the other
person. Once however, one understands that this
particular thing is not "mine", and that it belongs
to someone else, one becomes indifferent and
gradually even starts despising that "someone else"
or "another". And then it is renounced. Body
belongs to "another", to the five elements. Once we
understand that it is not "mine" and is the
property of "someone else", then whatever kind of
body it may be, how can it affect us? So come on
– leave this body and let it proceed ahead.
Yet, to leave this body does not mean that it
should be pushed into a well or be hung with a
noose around it's neck. The body, if destroyed on
purpose, definitely gets born again and again. This
is a reason for rebirth. "Leaving it" means gaining
factual knowledge about the body. When it is known
as it really is – belonging to the five
elements – then the abiding interest in it
wanes and the body automatically gets renounced.
Complete renunciation of the body is achieved only
through discriminative thinking, and renunciation
liberates a human being from the body
altogether.
There are five kinds of dissolution that take place
everyday. They are:
1. dissolution through death,
2. constant dissolution,
3. dissolution of the creator [Brahma
pralaya],
4. dissolution of the world at the end of a
kalpa [kalpa pralaya] or a thousand yugas,
and
5. dissolution through discriminative
thinking.
Out of these, everyone knows the constant daily
dissolution. This dissolution refers to sleep. In
deep sleep, the whole world including our body gets
dissolved. After awakening, however, the body and
world are present as before and all the actions
start as they did before. The dissolution after
death is the same as this. After death, in the
absence of Self-knowledge, the being has to take
another body in accordance with his karma. In the
new body, the actions – like eating, sleeping,
getting afraid and mating – happen according
to the impressions gained in previous lives. Brahma
pralaya is the dissolution of the creator of the
whole universe. Kalpa pralaya is the dissolution
that takes place at a certain point in time, in
which many creators have come and gone [and has
a cycle of 4,32 billion years]. Again, a new
kalpa starts and the creation, which was latent for
sometime, rises with renewed vigour and activity
and starts all over again. In this way, this wheel
drawing forth each life, continues to revolve by
rising and setting at fixed periods. Bodies
therefore cannot be dissolved in these four types
of dissolution. But the result of the dissolution
by discriminative thinking is very powerful and
unique. In this type of dissolution the body not
only dissolves itself while living, but after
death, when it completely dissolves, it will not
allow itself to rise again.
Suppose there is a toy snake made of rubber lying
about. Till such a time that one does not
understand that it is made of rubber, the fear of
the snake will remain. As long as the snake is
taken for real, one will be shaken with fear. In
deep sleep the snake is not there, but upon
awakening, it reappears. Getting drunk to forget
about the snake will not do because the effect of
the drink wears off, and again the snake reappears.
Even if the snake is hidden from sight, still the
image remains within the mind, and the fear is
sustained. This shows that the eradication of the
fear of the snake by the above described means is
not everlasting. The only remedy to destroy the
fear so that it never returns is to know for
certain that the snake is only made of rubber. Once
this knowledge dawns, even if the eyes see the
snake again, there is no cause for fear. In the
same way, when one correctly knows what this body
is, even if the body is alive, the pride of the
body being "mine" vanishes and automatically the
body is renounced. This is what is called the
"dissolution by thought". One who dies with
certainty of thought is free from the cycle of
birth and death. However, one who dies
thoughtlessly, it should be taken for granted that
he died in order to take birth all over again!
Thus, by virtue of dissolution through thought, the
thing is seen as if it is immaterial. With the
other four types of dissolution, whether the thing
is there in front of you or is hidden out of sight,
it is still seen as if it is existing there!
Samartha Ramdas therefore asserts that it is only
thought that fulfils a human being by making him
complete. The "I" could not be gleaned even when
the physical body was passed through the sieve of
the procedure of dissolution by thought.
SUBTLE BODY
Now we will use the same sieve of dissolution by
thought to try and trace the "I" in the subtle body
and see if this thief called "I" is found anywhere.
Let us first find out what the subtle body is. This
body is comprised of a higher committee of
seventeen members – the five senses used for
action, the five used for gaining knowledge, the
five pranas, and the mind and intellect. Whatever
orders this committee promulgates are carried out
by the working members of the working committee,
which is the gross body. The subtle body's field of
authority is very vast, so it might be possible to
spot that "I" here, for he has a strong passion for
authority. But the moment we start our search here,
that "I" has already put his stamp of "mine" here.
Whatever is found here is also called "my" senses,
"my" pranas, "my" mind, and "my" intellect. But no
sound like "I am the intellect" is ever heard here.
That "I" parades about as the "owner" of all these
members. But the "I" himself is not seen or found
here at all. Thus, according to the axiom, "There
can be nothing which I can call "mine" where "I" am
not present", it is clear that the seventeen
members of the subtle body cannot be "me" or "mine"
at all.
One could object to this axiom by asking, "King
George the Vth is not present in Sholapur [city
in Maharashtra], but does it mean that Sholapur
is not under his ownership?" The answer is, "At
least there is an individual called George the Vth,
and even if he is living somewhere else, his
ownership can exist in some other place even if he
is not present there." This "I", however, is a
nonentity and yet, like Gomaji Ganesh of the city
of Andheri – the empire of ignorance – he
claims that he is the authority here. Thus the "I"
is evidently non-existent here, as it cannot be
traced, so then how can the sense of "mineness"
sustain itself in the subtle body as well?
The subtle body is like a subtle silken bundle of
five principles, even if it more difficult to untie
the silken knot by thought, still it becomes
incumbent upon us to untie it with effort. Once the
bundle is untied and left open, this body gets
automatically renounced.
The seed of birth and death is this subtle body,
which is of the nature of desire. If that seed is
roasted in the fire of Self-knowledge just once, it
may appear unchanged, but there is no hope of it
sprouting if it is ever sown.
A doubt may arise here that if both these gross and
subtle bodies are renounced, and the attitude of
pride – such as "I" and and "mine" – has
also disappeared, then the actions of that body may
either come to a halt, or they might not be
executed efficiently. The doubt may be removed by
the following example. Suppose a man keeps a thing
in a locker, as he is of the impression that it is
made of gold. But if he discovers later on that it
is only made of brass, he may either leave it in
the locker or remove it and keep it outside. His
attachment towards that thing may either vanish or
become much less. This is a fact. In the same way,
if the pride of possession of the body as "my own"
gradually gets ignored, nothing much will be lost.
If an aspirant reaches this level of conviction,
then the attitude – "Having experienced the
ecstasy of Brahmananda, one's own being, who cares
for the body?" – arises in him. This is really
praiseworthy.
A dog once bit off a piece of flesh from Kabir's
calf muscle, and Kabir, who was a great devotee,
simply said, "Either the dog knows or the flesh
knows that anything is possible!" On hearing these
words from Kabir, what could have been the feeling
of the people standing nearby? To what degree of
renunciation Kabir must have reached – the
aspirant could well imagine! But even if this
happened to Kabir or to Tukaram when he lost his
whole household, you might not get the ecstasy
within yourselves, yet if with God's Grace such an
ecstasy overwhelms you, you might say, "What is
this worth after all?", and you will never ask such
pointless questions as, "Will my house run
properly?" You will have developed such an
indifferent attitude as to say, "Let whatever that
has to happen, happen and let whatever has to go,
go."
However, if the aspirant understands
intellectually, which is easier than experiencing
the Self, he may raise the question, "After the
knowledge of the Self is attained and the
possessive pride of the body and mind has vanished,
could worldly duties still be performed?" The
Satguru, to console him answers, "Dear one, even
after realising the utter uselessness of the body
and mind, one can still establish a household and
have children without bringing in the pride of the
body and the mind. These both can be looked after
very well. All the relevant duties one did earlier
can still be diligently performed." How? Just see!
Look at the behaviour of a hired nurse of an
infant. She nurses the child, takes him around,
consoles him if he cries, nurses him back to health
if he gets sick, just exactly as if she were his
mother. If she likes the child, she even kisses it
lovingly. But while doing all this work, she does
not even have the feeling that the child is not her
own. In spite of all she does for the child, if the
father of the child dismisses her, she at once
packs up her things and leaves the house. At the
moment she leaves, she is neither happy if the
child has put on weight nor is she sad if the child
were to die of some disease. The reason for this
type of behaviour is that she has no sense of
"mineness" for the child, but it cannot be said
that due to the absence of this "mineness", she had
not discharged her duty properly.
Let us take another example. Take the case of a
trustee who manages a minor's estate worth several
hundred thousand rupees. His sense of "I" or "mine"
does not obstruct his duty, yet the trustee has
been managing the estate of the ward very
efficiently. If the duty is not discharged
properly, the trustee becomes liable for
punishment. The trustee does not get affected if
the estate increases in value, or if it is decided
in a legal suit that the estate does not belong to
the minor, but to someone else. His duty is only to
manage the estate carefully, so long as it is under
his management.
In short, in order that the duties be discharged
properly, it is not necessary that one has the
sense of ego, of "I" or "mine", while performing
the duties. Exactly in the same way, the gross and
subtle bodies form a bundle that belong to the five
elements and are given as a "keepsake" and a
"trust" to a human being. As a trustee, you must
look after the bundle in the best possible way. If
you shirk the responsibility, you will suffer the
punishment in the form of loss of health of both
the mind and the body. If the trustee manages the
minor's estate efficiently and the nurse looks
after the child very well, they both get their
salaries in return. If you look after your body and
mind well and keep them in a healthy condition, you
also receive joy in return. To attain absolute
Reality [Paramartha], a healthy body is
useful. All this however, has to be achieved
without the sense of "mine". With this attitude,
even if the body becomes nourished and fat, thin,
or it lives or dies, there is no elation or
lament.
If the trustee of a minor's estate establishes
"mineness" or ownership of the estate and embezzles
it, this will come to light and he will either have
to commit suicide or go to jail. In this case,
identification with the body means forgetting the
Self or killing the Self. Getting bound to the idea
of body being the Self, the hope of liberation will
recede.
From the above discussion, you might have
understood that the usual obligations and actions
of the body and mind should be fulfilled in a
proper way and it is not necessary to establish
"ownership" or "mineness" over both. The
obligations of the trustee and the nurse, while
acting such, have no sense of possession, and are
carried out quite normally. In the same manner, the
duties of a human being can be performed without
entertaining the sense of "possession" or
"mineness".
CAUSAL BODY
Suppose we lose the sense of possession in both the
gross and subtle bodies, and we admit the fact that
the bundle belongs to a stranger, but we still have
to find out the answer to the question, "Who am
I?", or "Where am I?" Now then, let us go to the
causal body. But what is this? As soon as we step
in here, there is just pitch darkness everywhere!
Is it possible that this ignorance is the city of
residence of this "I"? It seems this is his main
headquarters. This seems to be the main capital
that belongs to him. There is certainly a hope of
finding that "I" here. Let us at least try and see.
But if we move about like the blindfolded, sensing
for it, that "I" is not found anywhere here either.
Here "I" seems to have given up his sense of
"mine". There seems to be nothing which can be
called "mine" in this place. Everything seems to be
absolutely quiet. That "I" who harshly cries aloud
"I", "I", in both the gross and subtle bodies,
seems to be totally silent here. He seems to be
playing hide and seek, so that he may not be caught
by one who is in search of "I". The "I" seems to
have dug a trench here, so that the one seeking him
may fall into it and abandon his search.
Dear aspirants, do not be afraid. The Satguru is
standing behind you as well as in front of you and
he will take you safely across the trenches of
darkness. Many scholars and learned persons have
turned their backs in fear at this very point and
have abandoned their quest for Truth. For you
however, there is no reason to be afraid like them.
You have a guide here who is Samartha Satguru, a
very capable master.
After getting stabilised in this darkness, and
planting the feet firmly there for a long time, a
voice is heard softly saying, "I am the witness of
this ignorance." All of a sudden there springs some
courage uttering the hope of catching the thief. It
becomes stronger with the thought, "Oh! This thief
is somewhere nearby witnessing the ignorance."
Here, one must watch persistently, and how it is
done will be discussed in the next lesson. That
witnessing he is doing from beyond the trench of
the causal body, taking a position in the
supra-causal body [Mahakarana or Turiya].
This is understood quickly, and then "I" is so
overjoyed at having found himself! Who can describe
that joy? In that joy, "I" cries out "Prajnanam
Brahma" ["Knowing absolute Reality is
the Supreme knowledge"] as well as, "Aham
Brahmasmi" ["I am absolute Reality"].
BRAHMAN
This one who says "I" "I", is really the
all-witnessing Brahman, the unique Reality with the
nature of the pure knowledge "I am". When the
certitude is established, there arises wave after
wave of bliss. When the bliss ebbs away, look at
the miracle that happened! After deep thought, I
started feeling that I am not even of the nature of
knowledge, as I am covered with ignorance, in the
same way I am covered with knowledge – not
that I was born with ignorance or knowledge.
Ignorance and knowledge came after "I" became "I"
and this sequence seems to point towards me as
their creator. Therefore, this knowledge is my
child and "I" am his father, and "I" as father am
someone different from that knowledge.
When this series of thought dawned within me, the
"Aham Brahmasmi" in the Supra-causal body, a body
also started ebbing out and even that got fully
eradicated. Then I was suddenly naked, of course.
Now it cannot be described who that "I" is and how
that "I" is! If you want the description of the "I"
who is found here, then you may utter any word
found in any dictionary. I will have to express it
as, "It is not this, not this", but the One who
throws light on this. Again you utter words and
sentences, and whatever meaning comes forth, take
it as the description of "I". And if you do not
understand, leave the words aside and just merge in
deep silence and see who "I am".
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During the search
of "I", we turned all the four bodies inside out,
but we could not trace it here. It is true that "I"
went away without words beyond all the four bodies,
where there is not even an idea of "I" or "you".
However, it will not do to just keep the mouth shut
and go into deep silence.
In this exposition which is done so far, the gross,
subtle, causal and Supra-causal bodies have been
described superficially, and it is necessary to
examine all the aspects of these four in detail.
More so, unless these are understood very properly,
and unless that understanding is made a part of
one's nature, an aspirant will not be able to
achieve deep silence. We will therefore examine in
detail the aspects of these four bodies.
Here it is necessary to remember that these four
bodies are the four steps leading to the fifth and
final rung of still silence, where words become
silent. If one goes step by step, one can surely
reach the end of the journey, but if one step is
skipped by putting one's foot on the following
step, there is a greater possibility of losing
balance and falling back. Thus when one body is
fully understood, only then should the aspirant see
what is in the next body. Without doing this, if
one starts stepping on the steps hastily, there
will be a lot of chaos. In all this chaos, then, as
the state of conditioning is the same in ignorance
as it is in samadhi, the actual difference will be
lost, and the aspirant might mistake sleep for
samadhi and ignorance for knowledge.
A toy top, when it is steady and when it appears to
be steady due to intense speed, is similar to total
darkness and the blackout caused by intense light.
Thus, although these appear similar from outside,
there is a vast difference between the two states.
Their unity is also different. If therefore one
goes, step by step, there will be no chaos.
Herein it will also be prudent to bring up one more
subject to the notion of the aspirant. That subject
is to convince the aspirant about the fact that
there is no basis for any doubts that arise in the
aspirant regarding the contradictions in the method
adopted for the exposition of a point in the
scriptures – we will therefore first examine
the method adopted in the scriptures.
When a subject is to be explained to an aspirant,
first a description of it is given to show its
great importance, and then it is said that a great
reward will ensue if it is understood. Once the
aspirant understands the subject completely, before
explaining the next subject, the method is first to
bring home to the aspirant the futility of the
subject that is already understood. Only after
that, the great importance of the subject to be
taught next is brought home to him. The reason for
this method is that there is no tendency at all to
turn to a subject unless its importance is brought
out first, and also unless a reward is held out as
a temptation. In the same way, the futility of a
subject is brought home, and then the subject gets
automatically renounced and the aspirant becomes
eager to know the next subject.
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The
Vedas, taking into consideration the
psychological background of an aspirant, first
inspire him to work for food, telling him that food
is Reality. Then they give him some time to fondle
the gross body, telling him that the gross body
itself is Reality. Whatever experience of joy may
come to the gross body is actually enjoyed by the
subtle body. The gross body is merely a corpse, and
a corpse can in no way enjoy anything if it does
not contain the subtle body. Thus, the futility of
the gross body is shown.
Next, they tell him that the mind, intellect,
senses, and the sheath that is made up of pranas
[vital breath] are Reality. Thus, it is
bigger. The Vedas thus give importance to
the subtle body. After that comes the causal body,
which is steady and even bigger. It swallows the
subtle body. So the causal body is now eulogised as
Reality and advice is given to the aspirant –
"You yourself have become the causal body."
However, since this body is considered to be in
ignorance and total darkness, this claim could not
be made here. The aspirant is therefore compelled
to search further in the Supra-causal body, from
where the voice saying "I am the witness" emanated.
After this, the Supra-causal body of Self-knowledge
is studied thoroughly. The Vedas, after
having rejected each body, assert that That which
remains is Reality. When they were confronted with
the problem of explaining the steady Reality, they
started professing ignorance and repeated the
sentence, "Not this, not this!" That which is
neither touched by ignorance nor knowledge is
Reality. In such a negative way, the Vedas
describe Reality as "That which is beyond all the
four bodies."
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Its principle is
as follows – when it said that one is bigger
than the other, it does not mean that the one is
more superior than the other. In comparison with
the needle, the needle used for stitching jute bags
is big, but it cannot be bigger than the iron rod
used for digging. Therefore, the qualities like
"big" and "small" are not inherent in a thing, but
are imposed upon a thing by relating it or
comparing it with another thing. The same rule
applies here. After enunciating in sequence –
food as Reality, gross body as Reality, subtle body
as Reality, causal body as Reality, and finally the
Supra-causal body as Reality [the latter being
greater than the others] – the intention
is to give this instruction and enunciate the
principle that out of all these, there is none
which can be said to be Reality. Though the latter
state is relatively higher than the previous one,
yet it is still not Reality, which is absolutely
unique.
When remembering the above mentioned method of
exposition, it is necessary to clearly understand
what Reality could be described as being. Why
should Reality be described at all? How far can one
go to describe It as such? And why first describe
It and then negate that description in the same
breath? It is very necessary to understand all this
correctly. To a person who is not a proper cook,
the instruction is given to him as to how to cook
rice – "Light fire below the cooking pot."
After some time, an instruction is given again to
the same person – "Now put out the fire." The
person may wonder about the contradictory
instructions, but his Guru explains to him, "Dear
one, it is necessary to keep the fire under the
cooking pot until the rice is cooked, and after it
is cooked, the fire must be put out otherwise you
will have to eat burned rice."
This is the reason why any method that is
practised, must be practised only until you reach
the goal, otherwise if you don't stop at the end,
it will only bring exhaustion and may even bring
you nothing at all! Thus, when the subtle body is
called "Reality", once it is understood wherein
lies the merit of the subtle body, it loses its
value as Reality and it becomes necessary for the
aspirant to search for the next thing. It means
therefore, that when we offer a price to something
to achieve results, it may be that the price may
not reflect the exact value of the thing. "If an
occasion arises, you will have to address even a
donkey as "uncle"." In this example, honour is
given to the donkey due to some calamity that has
befallen you. In the same way, a human being is
facing a great calamity due to the fact that he has
forgotten his real nature. It is therefore
necessary to liberate oneself from the calamity or
obstruction in which he is caught. If you are
caught by a crocodile, and if you could get out of
its grip by flattering it, telling the crocodile
that her back is very smooth and soft, does it
really mean that her back is as soft as a feather
mattress? This question should be asked to the man
who thus gets released from the crocodile.
Similarly, to get out of the grip of the four
bodies, they are called "Reality" for some time
until the true understanding of Reality dawns on
the aspirant. Remembering this method of
exposition, we will now turn our attention to the
description of all the four bodies.
The nature of the gross body is quite well known.
It is a mass of flesh and blood and can be touched
by the hand, so all are quite familiar with it. Not
only this, everyone uses it fully. The gross body
is "I", and therefore, all the passions and desires
that arise in the body are "mine". The dark or fair
complexion of the body and the stages of childhood,
youth or old age belong to "me". The relationships
that are created through the body, caste, religion,
cult, house, the land and wealth are all "mine".
Every human being has learned this lesson so very
well by taking many births. In fact, it is so
well-learned that while dreaming he would tell you
that he is such-and-such a "Gomaji". It is
therefore unnecessary to teach the lesson again and
again because it is already firmly implanted in his
psyche. The feet of all the human beings are
resting steadily on the step of this gross body.
The stage of this gross body is of "awakeness" and
in this body there is partial forgetfulness and
partial remembrance. This body is therefore
predominated by activity and passion, and this
explanation is enough to understand the gross body.
Now we will turn to the next step of the subtle
body.
The subtle body is a committee of the senses, the
mind, the intellect, the vital breath
[pranas] and the instruments of inner
perception [antahkarana] which creates a
pseudo-mental world when the seen world becomes
visible after closing the eyes. After some thought,
it comes to our attention that the subtle body is
really a different and peculiar thing. All the
movements of the gross body are in accordance to
the dictates of this subtle body. Volition
[sankalpa] means something is like this and
doubt [vikalpa] means something is not like
this. This subtle body is such that it projects a
perverse type of knowledge of contradictory
thoughts; and its state is the stage of dreaming.
Continuous memory is the indicative quality of this
body and preservation [sattvaguna]
predominates here.
After the aspirant is introduced to the subtle body
in this way, he would himself become that body.
When one foot is implanted firmly on the next step,
the other foot can be lifted up and placed next to
it, completely leaving the previous step. When one
crosses the boundaries of a village and puts his
foot in the limits of the neighbouring village, the
first village is left behind and one becomes a
traveller and explorer of the neighbouring village.
In the same way, to properly understand the above
described step of the subtle body, once he plants
his foot firmly on this step, the aspirant has to
lift his foot from the gross body in order to bring
it into practice. The gross body is left behind and
he has to sever all the connections with it.
This work is not as easy as it seems, for crossing
over all these steps every human being only has two
legs. One leg is the leg of "learning" and the
other leg is that of "bringing into practice what
which has been learned". Removing both feet from
the step of the gross body and planting them on the
subtle body means transgressing the physical body.
When one leaves aside all sense of pride and
possession of the small gross body and takes pride
of possession in the subtle body by saying "I am
only the subtle body", it means that the gross body
is renounced and the subtle body is accepted as
"I". When the aspirant arrives on this second step,
then the lower self, made up of the gross body, is
seen and perceived as "not "I"". Now "I" has no
relationship with this gross body. The changes that
happen to this gross body or its qualities –
as it's dark or fair complexion is not "mine"
– means that the chief string pullers are now
of the subtle body, which are mind, intellect,
vital breath, senses and "I am". But are they
endowed with such qualities as fat, dark, old,
etc...? "I am only the mind and the intellect." If
the aspirant studies this assiduously, then both
his feet get firmly planted on the second step, and
he loses pride and the sense of possession of the
gross body. He then becomes indifferent to all
conditioning of the gross body.
The third step, beyond the gross and subtle bodies,
is the causal body of ignorance or "not-knowing".
It is only a state of pure forgetfulness, of the
quality of darkness, where there is no thought of
well-being nor of the gross and subtle bodies! The
state in which there is no knowledge of anything is
the causal body. It is like sleep, but it is not
sleep. It is very important to understand this
state. Those who enunciate the principle of zero
– where there is nothing, only a void –
came to this state and turned back, as they say
there is nothing ahead. This point is the state of
the "unknowable", from the point of view of Western
philosophy. This state being bereft of all
thoughts, fancies and doubts is taken as
transcendental awareness [samadhi] in the
form of Self-absorption [nirvikalpa
Brahman], and as soon as this void is reached,
one is apt to get false satisfaction by saying,
"Today I saw Brahman."
When one modification of the mind is stabilised,
and another fresh one has not yet risen, the
interval or pause between these two – the
intervening pause period before sleep sets in and
the waking state disappears – is a state of
pure forgetfulness. This state of forgetfulness is
described in the scriptures as the "borderline of
the Self" or the "sheath of bliss" [anandamaya
kosha]. All the chaos, struggle, infinite
number of waves of thought have ceased in this
causal body, and therefore there is peace in this
third body in comparison with the other two bodies.
It is true that the aspirant experiences joy here,
but this is neither ultimate peace nor real bliss.
One must remember this well! The natural state of
all the gods, demons and every human being is in
this state, which is the causal body in the form of
forgetfulness.
The chief indication of this body is to forget
everything. Unless one forgets, one cannot have
deep sleep. To say, "I was asleep, but I remembered
something", is to say "I never slept." Having deep
sleep therefore means not remembering a single
thing. In the same way, to sleep while being in the
waking state means one enters the causal body,
which is the natural state of all human beings. Not
knowing anything means you have entered this state.
Even big scholars do not understand the true nature
of a human being, let alone the true nature of
Shiva. In order to explain that state of human
forgetfulness, the way of studying the pause is
shown. If anything is difficult, it is to
completely stabilise in this state of forgetfulness
and to know it thoroughly. With great effort, an
aspirant should try to achieve this. They [the
scriptures] have particularly laid stress upon
this.
The fact is that during the pause between two
states, there is nothing but pure consciousness.
The state of muni [the silent man] is such
that he does not allow a single word to rise, or
even if it does rise, he does not allow its meaning
to rise. He just lets it slip by. When the word
rises and is allowed to impress its meaning on the
mind, the world is born. Rejecting the word by not
allowing it to carry any meaning to the mind is the
eradication of the world. When the word does not
energise the mind, then whatever is left is the
pure energy of consciousness. To experience this
state continuously is what is called the "state of
still silence".
The aspirant who is about to put his foot on the
third step after climbing the first and second,
although he is told that this is the state of pure
consciousness, still gets the impression that this
state is pure void. By taking the void to be Final
Reality, he is unable to witness the void. However,
if he goes to the fourth step from the third, and
he looks back at the third step, he will not be
able to see anything at all, and he will wonder,
"How is it that my Guru instructed me to put my
foot on a step which does not exist at all!?" The
reason is that once pure consciousness is known,
there can be no trace of what is called
"ignorance". One does not understand what the state
of forgetfulness is, and there does not arise any
modification in the aspirant's mind except that of
pure consciousness.
Consciousness or knowledge presents itself to the
aspirant in two ways – the first is when there
is an object in consciousness, then it becomes
"objective knowledge" and he will experience it as
objective knowledge. The second is when there is no
object and this will be experienced as pure
consciousness. When there is an object, it will be
objective knowledge and when there is no object, it
is simply pure knowledge, or consciousness. Except
for these two, there arises no other modification
in the aspirant's mind. The word "ignorance" is
meaningless from the point of view of the aspirant.
It is not possible for forgetfulness to exist in
this case. Whatever is, will be either knowledge or
consciousness. It may be objective or it may be
non-objective, but it is all still pure
consciousness.
Putting before him the state of the causal body and
telling him it is just ignorance, a void, a state
of forgetfulness where nothing can exist, helps the
aspirant to realise that it is all just pure
consciousness. In order to help a student
understand that a tiny dot has no width nor length,
the school teacher draws a large dot of great
length and breadth on the blackboard. That is how
it is here too. If it is not done in this manner,
the next step cannot be explained, so who can help
it? The aspirant should therefore keep full faith
in the Satguru without further argument, taking for
granted that there is a state of forgetfulness, and
should go on practising it to learn to forget each
and everything. He will understand that the causal
body is the cause of the previous two bodies.
There is a side curtain on a theatre stage called
the "wing" from which actors emerge and into which
they again disappear. The natural state of a human
being is like this wing on the stage – the
state of forgetfulness. From behind the curtain
emerge all memories, and they disappear again
behind the same curtain. When we say we have
forgotten a thing before remembering it, it means
that the thing was abiding in that state of
forgetfulness, and it proves that it emerged from
that state alone. As opposed to this, when we say
that we forgot a certain thing, then it means that
the thing that was in the memory has disappeared
behind the curtain of forgetfulness. A memory
before it is forgotten returns to forgetfulness
after it is remembered. The rising and setting of
all ideas are in the womb of the one
"forgetfulness" and therefore this state is the
common ground for all human beings. By reason of
forgetfulness, each human being says he is ignorant
and struggles to get at least some kind of
knowledge. During this struggle, a majority of
those unfortunate ones gain worldly knowledge and
completely miss out on gaining true knowledge of
their own nature.
That is why, while introducing the causal body
described above, the Satguru tells the disciple,
"Dear one, you are not the gross physical body and
you are not the subtle body, so you better identify
yourself with the causal body." The aspirant must
attain this state of forgetfulness, and he will
come to realise that, "I am definitely not the
gross body and not even the subtle body, therefore
all the dreams and doubts that arise from both
these bodies, do not abide in me. I am complete
forgetfulness, bereft of all ideas. The birth and
death of the body, the misery, temptations, pain,
pleasure, hunger and thirst – none of these
can ever touch me. Honour and dishonour exist only
in the mind, and a fair or dark complexion belongs
only to the body – I am totally detached from
these qualities associated with the gross and
subtle bodies. Nothing can attach itself to me. I
am mere forgetfulness." Revising this lesson again
and again and thus making it firmly established in
the heart, the state of forgetfulness without any
idea or attachment, thus becomes one's own nature.
When this kind of mental practice is firmly
established, then the aspirant definitely rises to
the third step and becomes steady. Only then can it
be said that he has now become worthy of putting
his foot on the next and final step of the
Supra-causal body.
Before going to the next step, it is necessary to
mention the fact that the causal body, although
like sleep, is a state distinct from sleep.
Furthermore, it is explained that in deep sleep all
the senses are in complete repose, therefore no
objects exist there. In such a state, each being
enjoys the bliss which radiates from his own true
nature, but he does not still know who he really
is. On waking up from deep sleep, each being
describes his own experience in the following
manner – "I slept happily and I did not know
anything." In this way, he conveys the bliss of his
own nature as well as his own ignorance about it.
He unknowingly conveys his knowingness of his own
ignorance, and thus proves his knowingness, but he
does not know his own Self. An heir to a treasure
of buried gold coins – in the absence of the
knowledge of such treasure – goes about his
day begging to make his livelihood. For him, that
treasure is as good as not being there at all.
Thus, each human being, going back and coming out
of his own nature, dives deep within it and
experiences profound bliss, but his deep ignorance
about his own Self abides there permanently. It is
for this reason that deep sleep cannot be the means
of attaining knowledge of the Self, one's own true
nature. In deep sleep, the aspirant has no scope at
all to study the state, but this is not the case in
the matter of forgetfulness. To study forgetfulness
means to enjoy the deep sleep state while being
fully awake. How to enjoy this wakeful deep sleep
is taught by the Satguru.
How does a fish go to sleep while living in water?
This you will only understand when you take birth
in that species. How can the sleep of a fish not
get disturbed by the water entering it's eyes? This
secret cannot be known unless one is born as a
fish. Thus, how can one enjoy deep sleep while
remaining fully awake? One will understand this
only by becoming a true son of the Satguru.
Fogetfulness is nothing but deep sleep, yet what is
described above is the silence within, which is
created knowingly during the stage of wakefulness.
It is not deep sleep which comes knowingly, because
in deep sleep nothing is known. But in
forgetfulness, which is knowingly brought about,
the nature of the Self is known. This is the
difference between deep sleep and samadhi.
Though it is known that forgetfulness is nothing
other than forgetfulness, and nothing is known in
that state, the fact is that after everything is
forgotten, some knowledge still remains. This can
be understood only through the study of
forgetfulness. This state is absolutely true. Deep
sleep and forgetfulness are both the results of
tamoguna, a form of ignorance that lulls the
spiritual being away from his true nature. For
example, if an analysis of a piece of coal and a
diamond is made, it is found that there is nothing
but carbon in both – which means that both are
only two forms of carbon. But even if it is true,
it is not necessary to say that there is a vast
difference in their respective value. When the
ingredient of carbon is the same in both, how is it
that the diamond shines whereas the coal is black
and lustreless? The reason is that the proportion
of carbon is different in both. Likewise, deep
sleep and forgetfulness share different proportions
of ignorance and that is why in deep sleep the
immense density of ignorance is felt, whereas, in
forgetfulness the rarity of ignorance is realised.
As the depth of sleep decreases, the onset of
wakefulness rises. The man who has woken up from
deep sleep is first slightly under the fuzzy
influence of sleep, and then he awakens slowly.
This state is the result of the decrease in the
depth of sleep until the stark state of full
awakeness emerges. Deep sleep is like a pitch black
curtain covering the lamp of Self, and the causal
body, which is the state of forgetfulness under
study, is like a thin transparent velvet curtain.
This means that in both these states the enjoyment
of bliss is the same. Yet from the point of view of
achieving the knowledge of one's own Self, deep
sleep is useless. It is like having sexual
intercourse with a barren woman while hoping for a
child. The study of the anandamaya kosha in the
form of the state of forgetfulness affords joy, and
is a precursor of reaching the goal of knowing
one's own Self.
After having said all this, we will now observe the
Supra-causal body which is endowed with the
knowledge that comes after the study of
forgetfulness. Let us digress a little here. Those
aspirants who have taken the traditional mantra
according to Bhausaheb Maharaj's [the Guru of
Siddharameshwar Maharaj] cult, may have a doubt
in their mind at this point. It is here that the
study of the causal body helps you to forget
everything. If this is so, does it mean that the
repeating of the incantation given by the Guru and
the colour or forms that stand before the half
closed eyes should also be forgotten? The answer is
"Yes, you have to even forget this." Before doing
it, while only reciting the mantra and the colour
or whichever form would be present, the aspirant
must decide for himself that the rest of the noise
and the mental prattle have ceased and died out
completely. After concentrating on the tip of the
nose with half closed eyes, no other words or forms
should arise apart from the incantation and the
present colour forms. Once this is done, it is true
that even that has to be forgotten. The broom taken
in the hand to sweep up all the rubbish in the
house should not be kept in the hand after the
rubbish has been removed from each corner of the
house. That also has to be thrown out. The Satguru
imparts the mantra to the aspirant as a discipline.
He has thus given the tool in the form of the
mantra – to sweep up and clean up all rubbish
in the form of doubts, worries and dreams
accumulated in our bodies and minds over an
infinite number of births. How far that tool should
be preserved in the heart and when should it be
left alone has been clearly explained above. Now we
will see that this Supra-causal body is like the
father of all the other bodies.
In Indian mythology, King Janaka was a videhi, one
without a body [which means living in the
world, but not being of the world]. He had a
daughter named Janaki [which also means
"knowingness"]. In this story, King Janaka is
the same as the Supra-causal body. There is a state
of consciousness which is "bodilessness" in spite
of the fact that the body still exists, and that is
the state of knowledge in the Supra-causal body. In
comparison with the last three bodies, though it is
called the "Supra-causal body", it is still a state
of "bodilessness" only because it has no
conditions. The Supra-causal body is in the form of
knowledge. This does not mean there is an absence
of knowledge in the former three bodies.
Knowledge is the same, whether it is in a disturbed
condition or in equanimity. Knowledge is as clean
and pure in the state of equanimity as it is in a
disturbed case, or even when immersed in the slush
of objective knowledge. In all the states,
knowledge is one and of the same kind. But the
knowledge in the three bodies other than the
Supra-causal body is taken as adulterated knowledge
or conditional objective knowledge. The state in
the Supra-causal body is balanced or equanimous
[with regard to the gunas] and it can be
experienced as pure knowledge.
Whether knowledge is in a equanimous or unbalanced
state, knowledge is always pure knowledge. However,
it is different with regard to the conditioning, or
because of its identity with conditioning, a human
being who is inexperienced finds difference and
separateness even in pure knowledge itself.
Sweetness in a laddoo, jalebi or basundi
[Indian sweets] comes only from sugar, but
because it is in the form of that object, we say
that "the laddoo, jilebi or basundi is sweet." If
we do not mix sugar with any other ingredient, we
will still have to say that, "sugar is sweet." If a
man has to be given an idea of what sugar is like,
and if he is given just laddoos to eat and has been
told that the sweetness in a laddoo is sugar, he
will never get the knowledge of the true nature of
sugar. However, if he is shown pure sugar, without
mixing it with any other ingredient, then of course
he will know exactly what sugar is like.
That is why knowledge cannot be experienced in it's
primal state, because in all other states it is
always conditioned, what is more it will be
explicit only as objective knowledge. But in the
Supra-causal body, knowledge which is unapparent or
impure in the other three bodies rises to shine in
it's pure nature. That is exactly the reason why
the aspirant has to be taken to the Supra-causal
body. Once the pure knowledge is known, which is
knowledge of the Self, then even if it is mixed up
with any other type of objective knowledge or is in
any other state, it will still be correctly known,
and never again will there appear to be a separate
identity called the "world".
Even when each state comes and goes, the witness of
each state has not gone anywhere or come from
anywhere. The one who has seen dark and fair
complexions, childhood, youth and old age of the
physical body, has himself kept an account of all
dreams and doubts in the subtly body. The same
witness has also seen the causal body, where there
is complete absence of dreams and doubts. This One
who has witnessed these bodies is forever
awake.
One woman had a peculiar characteristic – when
she gave birth to a child, the child died before it
knew it's mother, and it never saw the faces of
it's brothers and sisters because they were already
all dead. This woman, in this way, gave birth to a
number of children and they all died shortly after
birth. However, after burying all the children in
the ground, this woman remained where she was. Not
one child had seen the face of another child, still
the woman had seen the faces of all the children.
Exactly like this, the four bodies were born of the
Supra-causal body in the form of the great illusion
[mahamaya]. Yet these bodies never had the
chance of seeing the faces of other bodies, or even
of their mother.
Even when one state does penetrate into the other,
still the pure knowledge travelling within all
these states is never adulterated. The thread
supports all the beads equally, even through one
bead does not penetrate into the other. The
Supra-causal body is exactly like this and it
pervades all the three states of sleeping, dreaming
and awakeness. The pure state of "knowingness" in
the Supra-causal body is the Self, the lit flame
which makes itself bare after making ignorance
forget itself. Once the nature of the witnessing
knowledge is known, the state of ignorance vanishes
completely. Though this is true, it is not true
that the appearance of the seen manifest "world"
also vanishes. It is only the attitude of the
aspirant that changes. By virtue of intense study,
he will experience all that is seen and appears as
only knowledge.
When one sees only the gold in a piece of
jewellery, the piece is not destroyed. In the same
way, even though the Lord of the universe
[Janardana] is known, the universe is not
destroyed. When the light from a lamp destroys the
darkness, the objects which have come to light do
not vanish. First there was no light, so nothing
was known beyond the fact that there were some
forms of objects. The nature of the same objects is
clearly known in the light. In the same way, while
we are looking at and feeling the world with blind
eyes in the darkness of ignorance, the Satguru's
advice brings vision to our sight. When the flame
of knowledge is lit up in the heart, it spreads
light all around and the darkness is destroyed, yet
the world stays on as it is while it's true nature
is laid bare. Thus, the point of view through which
one was looking at the world does of course change
after one acquires true knowledge.
The sight of a mirage is different in each case
that follows – from the point of view of the
sun, that of a man, and that of a deer. The object
is the same, but the point of view or the act of
seeing is different in each case. When rocks get
heated by the sun's rays, the waves of steam that
rise upon the rocks appear to someone who is
standing at a distance as a stream of water. This
appearance is termed as a "mirage". The reason why
a mirage is called "mrugjala" [deer's
water] in Marathi is because the deer gets
deceived at it's sight and runs to get it's thirst
quenched, thinking it to be real water, but gets
disillusioned. To consider the appearance of water
as true is the deer's attitude, but even if it
appears as water to a man, he does not run to it to
quench his thirst even if he is thirsty. The reason
for this is that mirage is not as it appears and
the man understands that there is not a drop of
water in that place. He is not deceived. This then
is the human attitude. Now from the point of view
of the sun, there is nothing like a mirage at all!
Why even consider it?
It is in this manner that the attitude of the
aspirant who is ignorant and bound, and the
attitude of a seer of Truth [siddha] who is
liberated, are at a variance. The one who is bound
is driving the cart of practical duties, taking it
for granted that the world is true. When the
aspirant attains knowledge of the Self, he looks at
the world with the attitude that it is just an
appearance. But a siddha, the one who has become
Self or All, does not see the world at all!
So far, everything regarding the physical gross
body up to the Supra-causal body has been
discussed. The part after the Supra-causal body is
the affirmation of this Principle. Even if the
aspirant attains Self-knowledge by entering the
Supra-causal body, he cannot yet be called a
"siddha". He still has to be looked upon as only a
sadhaka, or aspirant. The field where the siddhas
rest is the field of thoughtless Reality. Let it
rest! Why should we discuss that at this stage?
Just now, it is the step of the Supra-causal body
which is temporarily under our feet. We will
discuss it here in more detail. We have said that
the Supra-causal body is the state of annihilated
ignorance. But ignorance, or the state of
forgetfulness, is a state which comes into
consideration only in relation to the gross and
subtle bodies. Actually it has no real existence,
and yet this ignorant state has to be annihilated
by acquiring knowledge.
It is ridiculous to say "that which is not" has to
be annihilated! For example, Ram has a ring, but
Govind does not have a ring. Does the absence of a
ring actually denote the state of existence of a
certain thing called a "ring"? No, it does not.
Exactly in the same way, the state of forgetfulness
– which is really non-existent – arises
only in relationship with the gross and subtle
bodies, and it is an imagined state. It surely does
not exist. Samartha Ramdas has proved in his
monumental book Dasbodh, that "this state of
ignorance" in the form of forgetfulness is the
state in which "that which is not" becomes
non-existent. Does the state of Self-knowledge
really exist? One who has seen the absence of all
dreams and doubts, and knows the absence of
everything – as in the state of forgetfulness
– he knows that he too does not exist. The God
of Knowledge [Jnanadeva] witnesses the
dissolution of the modification of knowledge. He is
the President in the Supra-causal body. This
witnessing knowledge is also actually a parasite,
an unwanted growth, which imposes itself on the
pure nature of the Self. It is ignorance in the
causal body and should be renounced. As soon as
this witnessing knowledge leaves the body by
forgetting the state of forgetfulness, then true
knowledge of the Self starts looking at itself.
Observation of one's own Self cannot be called
"witnessing". When one forgets one's own Self and
sees something else which is different from one's
Self, only then the "seer" can be called a
"witness". But when one starts seeing oneself as
the unique Reality, one abides in this true
knowledge. That knowledge is of the nature of the
Absolute.
Here also in that "aloneness", one likes humming to
oneself, "Aham Brahmasmi" ["I am Brahman"].
With that sound, which rises from within, even this
knowledge gets bound and caught in the Supra-causal
body. This "hum" is the "grand illusion", the
mahamaya, and is of the nature of the three gunas.
If one wants to get rid of this beating, the
humming sound also has to stop, so that the
rumbling mahamaya is permanently abandoned. "I am
Brahman" is a type of "I"-ness imposed on the
nature of Self, and is really speaking of the
absence of ego or a separate self. However, this
subtle type of "I"-ness is like a particle of salt
in milk, and therefore has to be eradicated as
well. To take the false as true is a pretty and
wicked idea, but to take the true as true is the
absence of such an idea. By virtue of this
statement, the gross body is "I", the subtle body
is "I", and the causal body is also "I". So long as
man continues to uphold his ego as these three
bodies, it certainly is a type of wicked pride.
Yet, the "knowingness" which sustains the "I" as "I
am Brahman" can be called "no-pride" or
"egolessness", because this "I"-ness is upholding
the Truth. Where is the falsehood in it? Actually,
there is nothing untrue or false, but if the true
one goes on announcing that "I am true! I am
true!", then there arises a doubt about that which
he calls the Truth. For example, if a brahmin goes
on telling everybody he meets "I am a brahmin! I am
a brahmin!", then the hearer will think to himself,
"If this man is a brahmin, then what is the reason
for him to repeat this to everybody? Actually, he
must be of some lower caste."
In the same way, by repeating this incantation "I
am Brahman! I am Brahman!", it has to be stated
that this "knowingness" – or knowledge in the
Supra-causal body – seems as if it has not yet
become free from doubt about it's own true nature.
From this point of view, even the memory of "I am
Brahman" which reminds one of the Self, has to be
erased and "knowingness" should be allowed to
stabilise in a state which is neither memory nor
forgetfulness. Then alone the aspirant becomes of
the nature of pure knowledge and bliss. Even when
he takes his usual daily gross experience into
consideration, he is in a natural state which is
without any remembrance or forgetfulness. Does
anyone have the following kind of experience –
"I have forgotten myself" or "I was remembering
myself"? By making such efforts, has anyone
succeeded in proving their existence? We need not
forget nor remember ourselves. It is unnecessary.
We are in a natural state which is beyond the state
of remembrance or forgetfulness. That is really our
true nature. Remembrance or forgetfulness is always
of some other thing which is not our own Self. From
this Truth, one should make a firm mental decision
that whatever is remembered or forgotten is not
"I". This should be your firm conviction. Then
whatever you can remember and whatever you can
forget is definitely not you. While there is no
memory of Self or forgetfulness of Self, just being
one's Self is to be recognised as
Self-illumination. Thus, the gross body is not you,
the subtle body is not you and the causal body is
not you. You are the Self whose nature is of the
knowledge, "I am in the Supra-causal body." You
must constantly be the same.
By the theory of elimination, according to the
instruction given above, once the conviction of
one's true nature as pure knowledge is inculcated
in the aspirant, then the Vedas have
collectively considered the four bodies by the
method of deduction. Until now, it has been
explained that you are not the three bodies, but
the Vedas, again turning back, have
enunciated that all this visible appearance is you
– the world sprouts from your "knowingness".
The theorem is like this – a thing produced is
like the thing from which it is produced. Suppose
water is turned into ice, it still is only water.
One may superficially see that water has a flowing
tendency while ice is solid and that water has no
shape while ice has a shape. Yet they are still one
and the same.
Accordingly, the world and its Lord are one and the
same. This is the enunciation in the Vedas
– earth, water, heat, light, air, sky and
Self, though from a gross point of view appear
different due to the difference in quality, are one
and the same. As ice becomes water after melting,
so also the earth dissolves in water, water gets
dried up by heat and light, heat is contained in
the air and the air spreads in the sky and just
disappears; and because the sky is the womb or all
these five elements, they all disappear in the
Self. If these principles were absolutely different
from each other, they would never be able to
dissolve into each other as one without any remnant
of difference. So these five elements and this
gross and subtle world are the Self only, despite
appearing as different characters and species. When
a artist paints a tree, a stone, cows, buffaloes, a
river, the sky, gods and demons and human beings
– it is all painted with one single thing
called "paint". So also, this spectre in the
infinite number of forms is nothing but pure
knowledge. This has been the bold and convincing
deduction. One thing has to be mentioned here
– whether by method of deduction or
elimination, or by adopting different contradictory
methods, the method itself is of secondary
importance, while the main purpose is to impart the
knowledge of the Self. When an example in
arithmetic is solved by different boys in different
ways and the answer is the same, then it becomes
compulsory to accept the answer as right. The
importance is given to the answer, and the method
of arriving at the answer is only subsidiary. That
is how the Vedas have accepted and expanded
such a method in order to explain to the aspirant
the nature of his true Self.
There is a kind of snag in proving the identity of
water and ice, of the world and God, or gold and
jewellery. Through a method of deduction, even if
the gold and the ornaments are the same until the
goldsmith has tried his skill on the gold, the
ornament could not be manufactured without the
goldsmith. So too, water could only turn into ice
by virtue of intense cold. Thus, though the world
and God are the same, still the rationale presents
itself like this – that there was a
transformation in God, that He solidified as earth,
or melted and became water and then dried up and
became heat, etc... In this way, first, the Lord
became the five elements and then the world was
formed out of these five elements. This is a fault
of the method of deduction and an objection can be
raised in this way. However, Samartha Ramdas has
eradicated even this objection by the sentence, "Oh
man, what are you asking of a thing that does not
exist at all? The world has not come at all into
existence while the absolute Reality alone is."
To forget one's Self is the birth of maya, "that
which is not", "that which does not exist". How can
one describe this nonentity? Does the son of a
barren woman have a fair or dark complexion? What
is his height? What is his breadth? What is his
caste? How can we answer all these questions?
Absolute Reality alone is.
To keep the child quiet from crying, he is told,
"The scarecrow has come." He is quietened by the
creation of a scarecrow which is not there. He is
kept quiet. After the child becomes quiet he asks
his father, "Daddy, what does the scarecrow look
like? How long is it's beard and moustache? Does it
have a big nose, big eyes and big teeth?" When the
child shoots these questions at his father, what
answer can the father give? But unless he responds,
the child is not going to keep quiet. At such a
time, the father has to stretch the scarecrow's
nose as far as Rameshwaran [town in Tamil
Nadu], his feet up to the Netherlands and his
head has to reach the sky. Thus saying whatever he
likes, he just draws a frightening picture of this
imaginary scarecrow and says, "He is like this, so
don't cry again." This sort of description alone
will match the description of maya, the unreal
world appearance.
The non-existent maya exists and she has created
this world. The Vedas try to explain to the
aspirant how this world was created and what is the
nature of maya. According to his capacity to
understand, the aspirant can then discover the
Source of this maya and this world. "This way it
just happened." The reasoning for deduction of a
thing contradicts another theory. Yet instead of
accusing the Vedas of cheating because they
describe one way to A, and another way to B, it
must be said that the Vedas have explained
the knowledge of the Self to all. They eradicated
the illusion, which was the result of the aspirant
using their particular spectacles in the form of
their personal intellects, and thus were cheating
themselves as to the real nature of this world.
A mother gives porridge to one child, but gives a
roti [bread] made of different grains to
another child as he is suffering from indigestion.
Can you call this mother partial? This mother knows
which food would be beneficial to which child. The
same thing can be said of the Vedas
regarding the methods they have used –
different methods for different types of aspirants.
They are different according to their different
intellects, and they all are suffering from the
disease of this objective world [samsara],
which means that the idea of a "world" has been
created. To treat the disease of this idea, the
Vedas explain the path to Self-knowledge in
different ways according to the learner's
understanding capacity.
Even if fever is one symptom, a clever doctor will
give different medicines according to the physical
condition of the patient. The ideal before his eyes
is just one – the restoration of good health.
There would be difference in medicines
administered, but not in the ideology. If one
medicine suits one patient, it may not suit another
one having a different physical condition. Thus
instructions given to one may not appeal to
another. The knowledge or advice given to an
aspirant who has a certain background may be
useless for the one who has either a higher or a
lower background. So there is no fault regarding
the methods of exposition which the Vedas
have accepted. The faults are present in the mental
background of the aspirant at the time when the
exposition is made. Whatever the Vedas have
told anyone, their Final goal is to make all the
children understand what is Self-knowledge, and
therefore, the aspirant should reject the fault
finding attitude and fulfil himself by achieving
his own life's goal of acquiring the knowledge of
the Self.
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THE ATTAINMENT OF ONE'
S OWN NATURE
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Up to this point,
an explanation of what the four bodies are has been
given. Now we will see how the "knowledge" actually
dawns on all these four bodies. To attain the
knowledge of objects through the gross body with
the physical eyes, it is necessary and expected
that all the four bodies are there to help. For
example, when you look at a mango, or have the
knowledge that this is a "mango", see what happens
if you see just what the physical eyes alone sees.
Does the physical eye also see that object as a
"mango"? No, it does not happen like this,
therefore behind this physical eye is a subtle eye
of intellect whose help has to be sought to know
the mango. Even this is not sufficient. If these
two bodies have no support of the causal body, then
the intellect is dead. The gross causal body is
ignorance, which is the idea "I am". This body acts
in all these ways, like space, sky, void, distance,
and because it acts in all these ways in order that
the intellect should work, it needs space in which
to act. There is the eye, the intellect, the sky in
the form of the casual body [which is
ignorance], but if there is no witness in the
form of the Supra-causal body to connect all these
three together, then there would be no knowledge of
anything at all.
Thus, to attain knowledge of objects, it is
obviously necessary that all these four bodies be
present. In order to know the changes
[vikaras] in the subtle body, there is no
necessity of a physical body – changes like
attraction, repulsion, thirst, hunger, stomach
pains – all these can be known, but this
knowledge requires the help of the causal and
Supra-causal bodies. Now in order that knowledge
should dawn on the causal body, the help of the
gross and subtle bodies is not required at all. It
must have the Supra-causal body's help. For gaining
knowledge in the causal body, the subtle body
– which includes the mind, intellect,
conscience, pranas and senses – has absolutely
no use. All these only have their sway over the
gross and subtle bodies. The field of the causal
body is entirely different and no one can ever step
into it. Then how can one even enter the
Supra-causal body ? The scope of the mind and
intellect is only limited to the subtle body, thus
they cannot enter the causal and Supra-causal
bodies.
Now, the knowledge of the Supra-causal body is
absolutely self-sufficient. It expects no help from
the other three bodies. This body is self-luminous.
Even though the eye sees the objects, no object can
see the eye. To see the sun, none feels the need
for a lamp. Like this, nobody is capable of seeing
the King of knowledge, which is the Eye of the eye.
It proves its own existence by its own light or
illumination. Even though the eye cannot see
itself, anyone who has eyes never doubts whether he
has eyes or not. This type of certitude abides in
him. Similarly, knowledge gains more knowledge
while one witnesses something or someone other than
oneself. If we have to see our eye somehow, we have
to stand before a mirror and then we can see the
eye by witnessing the reflection of the eye. But
that knowledge of the eye is only knowledge of the
reflection. This knowledge is proving its own
existence by witnessing everything other than
itself. For the proof of this, no other evidence is
required.
This knowledge is all-pervading, and yet it becomes
invisible from the point of view of an ignorant
being, who takes the gross body as true and
everlasting. He is like a poppy seed in the ocean,
reducing the Highest to the smallest thing. The
ways of the world are indeed perverse! It has
become our habit that when we are looking at a
small thing, we forget the bigger thing. We ignore
a self-proving and self-sufficient thing and we
praise an artificial thing. Whatever words of
praise we give to a beautiful electric light while
looking at it, we never give to the sun. When we
look at the pictures painted on the wall we forget
the wall itself, and when we look at the wall, we
forget the house itself. When we discover objects
in the light, we forget the light, and while we are
reading letters written on a piece of paper, we are
not conscious of the paper at all!
THE PROCESS
In spite of the fact that the pervader is
infinitely bigger, when we pay attention to the
pervaded object, we forget the pervader. The gross
is pervaded by the subtle, the subtle is pervaded
by the causal, and even the causal is pervaded by
the Supra-causal body. Though this is the case, the
Supra-causal body cannot be seen because one's
sight is concentrated on the gross. When the narrow
outlook of beings widens and becomes like the
pervading One, then they will gain the vision of
the Truth, that infinite knowledge which can cover
the whole sky and even encase it!
The knowledge that abides in the Supra-causal body,
though a destroyer of ignorance [causal
body], cannot destroy the gross and subtle
bodies. Ordinary superficial knowledge gained
through the gross and subtle bodies is not the
destroyer of ignorance. Only that extraordinary
unique knowledge is the opponent to ignorance. For
example, the wood contains fir, but the fir does
not destroy the wood. So, ignorance is sustained by
ordinary knowledge. It is only after achieving the
original knowledge that ignorance vanishes, but the
function of the gross and subtle bodies does not
stop, since the impulses of the gross and subtle
bodies continue to impel the Self-realised being
[jnani]. Those objects which are not
visible in the darkness can be seen when the
darkness is destroyed by the light of a lamp.
Though the light destroys darkness, it does not
destroy the object. Only when the light and the
objects remain can you know the objects. Here it is
darkness alone that meets with destruction. In the
same way, when one attains Self-knowledge, the
ignorance is completely eradicated. Only the gross
and subtle bodies go on receiving impulses, but
does the causal body stop getting impelled? Let us
give this point a little thought.
Ignorance has many forms. Ignorance, sky, space,
point of contact, distance – all these various
forms belong to ignorance. After gaining
Self-knowledge [of "I"], all ignorance is
destroyed. But in this type of Self-knowledge all
these impulses are in the form of gross or subtle
desires, so they will not rise at all unless the
sky or space is created first. So, when we look
back at the sequence in which body after body gets
eradicated at each step while trying to attain
Self-knowledge – first there is Self-knowledge
["I am"], then the causal body in the form
of sky, then the subtle body, and after that the
gross body – all these readily appear and take
form. Even before the impulses of the gross and
subtle come, the ignorance in the causal body is
destroyed, yet it perforce establishes a step of
space between the subtle and Supra-causal
bodies.
APPEARANCE OF THE WORLD
When knowledge gets released from itself and allows
another impulse to come within itself which is not
its own, the causal body in the form of pure
consciousness [chidakash] simultaneously
gets created. Then in sequence, the subtle body
appears and then the gross body starts to appear.
The four steps which we previously climbed in
sequence were: 1. gross, 2. subtle, 3. causal, 4.
Supra-causal
Now, the same sequence has to be reversed: 1.
Supra-causal, 2. causal, 3. subtle, 4. gross.
Knowledge, instead of abiding peacefully within
itself, starts stirring. When it starts sliding
back down, the latter two steps cannot be stepped
upon unless the causal state, in the form of pure
consciousness, is stepped upon first. Then the last
two steps of the subtle and the gross bodies dawn,
and on these steps alone, the appearance of the
world is felt.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED
?
The knowledge of the world's appearance has not
been able to destroy ignorance completely. When
light destroys darkness, it also gives us knowledge
of objects which were not previously known due to
the darkness. Similarly, the world appears only
because the causal body sustains it in the form of
space. At this stage, there will be no knowledge of
the gross and subtle bodies as long as the
appearance of the world is felt, whether by a wise
one or an ignorant one. It must be understood that
ignorance is always lurking in some form or other.
The difference being that ignorance will not appear
in that particular form [of objective
knowledge] within the Self-realised being.
Unless knowledge dies, ignorance cannot die.
Knowledge and ignorance are twins born to this
illusion [maya]. Like Siamese twins, they
both take birth at the same time and also die at
the same time. If one is there, the other also
lives on. If one dies, the other also is no more.
Since this is the Truth, we will now see how
knowledge itself will die. Before the knowledge in
the Supra-causal body dies, the bodies that are
underneath it must first die in sequence. We will
observe this now. When we are looking at a dying
man, do we do anything else but keep looking at
him? We do not die with him! In the same way, we
will calmly see within ourselves how these four
bodies die. One principle about death is that when
growth stops, dissolution begins. The meaning of
this is that whenever a thing stops growing, it
starts disintegrating on the path to death until it
is fully destroyed. It is not necessary to do any
extra work for death. Destruction is inherent in
growth. In birth there is death, while in death
there is birth. This is the tradition of birth and
death. A thing which is born dies its own death.
Even though there may be some other factor
attributed to death, like a car accident or
disease, the root cause of death is nothing other
than birth. These four bodies have appeared within
pure nature, so they have to die. How do they die?
We shall see that now.
The death of the physical gross body, according to
the principle "Where there is growth, there is
destruction", can never be avoided. If not today,
at least after a hundred years it must die. The
gross body grows until the age of twenty-five and
after that the body starts getting disintegrated
and slowly starts walking the highway of death and
one day, it becomes a victim of death. As the gross
body is only the physical form of the subtle body,
it can be said it has no separate independent
existence. A tree in the gross form is nothing but
the result of its seed, which is the subtle body.
The subtle body is the seed of birth and death.
This seed does not get destroyed as easily as a
tree. Its growth itself is enormous, so that if it
is not sought out and destroyed by man's effort, it
will keep on growing eternally. Its growth is the
cause of the infinite number of gross bodies, and
it puts a being through eighty-four million births.
When the physical body stops growing, this subtle
body does not stop growing and it is here that one
feels the need for a Satguru in order to understand
how to stop the growth of the subtle body.
To stop the growth of the subtle body of dreams and
desires, all desires must be given up. Desires,
dreams and worries are the product of the mind. The
task of breaking them can be done only through
one's own mind. Whatever is created by mind cannot
be destroyed by the hand, and whatever is created
by hand cannot be destroyed by the mind. When we
try to break these dreams and desires by force,
their crowd only seems to grow. The mind is
flippant when you try to curb it and only gets more
agitated. Therefore to stop the growth of this
mind, Satguru gives you the remedy by telling you,
"If you try to keep quiet, gradually the dreams and
desires dissolve." When a small infant is sleeping,
you observe its eyes for some time. You will easily
learn to stay quiet from watching him. When going
to sleep, you will realise how easily the infants
slips into sleep, forgetting himself. While you are
looking at it, you also slip into the stage of
forgetfulness which is without any dreams, desires,
worries or doubts. A thorn can be removed from a
finger by the trick of using another thorn. The
mind can only be broken by the mind. Birth and
death, rising and setting are two opposites sides
of the same state of consciousness. When one comes
the other goes, and when one goes the other comes.
Death dies its own death, like Bhasamasura who put
his own hand on the own head and destroyed
himself.
Thus, when the mind is broken, the stage in the
form of the causal body or forgetfulness gets
completely exposed and the aspirants attains the
knowledge of that forgetfulness. Here a doubt might
arise again, even if the mind gets broken up after
attaining the state of forgetfulness. The mind does
not die completely, so what is the remedy for this?
The remedy is to go on persistently practising
repetition of the mantra given by the Guru. Once
the effort of practising to stop the growth of the
mind starts, the mind slowly goes along the path of
death and is completely annihilated. But the study
and the practice has to be equally persistent. Once
a tree starts drying up, even if one tries to keep
it ever green, after some days a time will come
when it gets uprooted, broken up and eventually
falls down dead. Even if it is plastered on the
top, painted and is repaired again and again, a
time comes when it will crumble into pieces. In the
same way, if the mind is constantly stopped from
growing, it will one day naturally get tired and
break up. But the aspirant should not get tired of
practising. Thus, the next body lies exposed after
death of the subtle body. The curtain or covering
of the subtle body gets destroyed and automatically
the causal body gets exposed.
Now let us see how this causal body also comes to
die off. The causal body is the producer or father
of the subtle body. Whenever any state comes
uninvited, it is experienced for a short while, but
once the flush of it recedes, it is not even
remembered. This state, while coming, is forceful
and growing, but once the flood ebbs away it is not
even remembered. While getting submerged after a
short while, it starts breaking up and at last
becomes as if it were not there at all, finally
getting absolutely destroyed.
When a human being is getting roasted in the hot
sun, and comes under the cool shade of a tree, at
that very moment the flood of cool peace comes to
that being with such force that he utters "Ha! Ha!
Ha!" with joy and shows that flood of peace
overflowing from inside and outside of him.
However, after some time, that "Ha! Ha! Ha!" passes
automatically and he lies quietly unaware of his
surroundings. Thus, when the hustle and struggle of
the subtle body comparatively becomes less, the
forgetfulness in the form of peaceful void of the
causal body is indeed instantly forgotten. When
this negative state is negated, it results only in
negation. To kill it, it does not require a sword
of a positive state of "I am". Samartha Ramdas has
made this clear by saying, "The negative is negated
by its own negation." Thus, when the state of
forgetfulness is dissolved, the highest state of
consciousness and knowledge [Turiyavastha}
immediately becomes exposed. This state of
knowledge comes to a being who is still related to
ignorance. But even this Supra-causal state, though
it grows to be powerful, starts dissolving later
on. When one attains knowledge, it is necessary
that the knowledge itself dissolves. One which
comes has to go. As ignorance comes, knowledge
comes. Thus, when the Supra-causal body dies, the
ultimate Reality [Parabrahman], who is
immanent in all four bodies, gets exposed, and this
being is never born and never ever dies. After each
and every body dies, the one who sees the death of
all these bodies, He remains – That is your
real nature.
THE FOUR CASTES
Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagavad Gita,
"I have created four types of castes
[varnas]." This can be a subject of
experience for any human being in his own Self. "My
creation is divided into four parts –
Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra – and
these parts are divided according to their quality
and karma." These four bodies or castes are divided
on the same basis. The Supra-causal body is of the
Brahmana caste, the causal body is of the Kshatriya
caste, the subtle body is of the Vaishya caste, and
the gross body is of the Shudra caste. In the same
way, the Paramatman contains these four separate
parts within itself.
The gross body is heavy and an instrument of
service and labour, therefore its caste is Shudra.
Sitting on a mattress at a place in the gross body,
taking a balance in hand and managing the business
of the whole world, this intellect comparing things
as good and bad, big and small, employing the gross
body as a servant, gets things done as he likes
because he is the master. For this reason, this
trader received the epithet Vaishya.
Now look at at the brave action of the causal body!
This causal body establishes his kingdom by
swallowing up the whole wealth in the form of the
world. This world was accumulated on the strength
of the capital desires, dreams and doubts. The
causal body swallows up the servants in the form of
the gross and subtle bodies!! This causality which
is one of total destruction is the attitude of
Kshatriya, and therefore the causal body is that
state of Kshatriya.
Now what still remains is the Supra-causal body. In
this body there is complete neglect for each of the
three other bodies – "I have nothing to do
with the gross body, which puts in hard labour and
dies. Neither have I anything to do with the
Vaishya in the form of of the intellect, which
trades in ideas and dreams and spreads a big
panorama of the world. I also have nothing to do
with the Kshatriya in the form of the causal body,
who sits quietly as if nothing has happened after
killing both the subtle and gross bodies. They may
all do anything – may the gross body groan
under hard labour, may the subtle body do business
with the world, and may the causal body wage a war
against these two – but what have I to do with
all of this?"
Just think of Ram and let the world fight. Knowing
this very well, the Supra-causal body goes on
announcing the Vedic words, "Aham Brahmasmi" and
sits quietly on his own ground. That Supra-causal
body has reached the high stage of Brahmanhood
[Brahmana] and is very orthodox about the
touch of another caste. It cannot tolerate the
touch of any other body. The other bodies hold the
Supra-causal body in high esteem and smear their
heads with the dust of his feet. From the point of
perfect knowledge [vijnana], even if this
Supra-causal body becomes polluted, it is still the
most sacred and highest in all the three
worlds.
SWARGA ,
MRITYU AND PATALA WORLDS
The gross body is the Swarga world, the subtle body
is the Mrityu world, the causal body is the Patala
world, and the Supra-causal body is the Brahmana
world. All these bodies are divided according to
their qualities and these worlds are known by these
qualities. The gross body is the Swarga world
[heavenly world] and it is on top of all
the worlds. It is in this world that all sorts of
external enjoyments are experienced. The wonderful
gardens and beautiful forests are created for this
world only. The presiding deity is Brahma Deva
[the creator], whose main quality is
activity.
The world below the Swarga world is the Mrityu
world. This is a big factory of birth and death,
where the qualities of appearing and disappearing
are continuously being processed. This continuous
process of birth and death is nothing else but the
rising and setting of mental modifications. The
rise of one mental modification is birth, and when
it sets it is death. In this way, we are born so
many times and die so many times during the same
day. Everyone is conscious of their innumerable
births and rebirths. Every idea produces a visible
appearance and when that sets, the appearance also
sets. In this way, it is the end of an era
[kalpanta] when an idea stops. This is
experienced continuously in the subtle body. The
writers of the scriptures have accepted the
principle of creation and appearance. They have
stated that as soon as an idea rises, the world
rises, and when the idea sets, the worlds sets.
Unless this subtle body in the form of the Mrityu
world is permanently destroyed and buried, hundreds
of eras are sure to rise and set. Therefore, one
should die such a death that eliminates the further
necessity of being born at all, and live in one's
own true nature in such a way that there is no fear
of any further dying experience. Let this be so.
Whatever has to happen will happen, but until then,
it is certain that this Mrityu world keeps its
mouth wide open for entry! The abode of the subtle
body is the inner sense, which is known as the
antahkarana or the "seat of consciousness". The
presiding deity is known as Vishnu, who nourishes
the world.
Now the world below this is the Patala world, which
is the causal body in the form of forgetfulness. In
the Patala world there is pitch darkness of
ignorance and therefore Mahesh the destroyer, who
has the quality of darkness, is the presiding
deity.
Above all these three worlds is the Supra-causal
body, which is the highest and is therefore higher
than the three worlds. Here, the presiding deity
that rules is pure and true knowledge, which is the
God of all gods. All the worlds are produced from
this very God, which is called "Trailokyanatha"
[the Lord of of the three worlds]. Brahmana
– the basic knowledge "I am" – is the
Guru of all the other castes and is therefore most
highly placed amongst them. This gives him the
status of a master. He does not allow even the
shadow of ignorance to fall on him, and what is
more, he even refuses to get polluted by the mind
and intellect. So, give up even the idea that he
will ever embrace the corpse of the gross body.
This orthodox, clean Brahmana in the form of pure
universal consciousness does not allow a single
entrant into his Supra-causal body –
Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra cannot enter his
house. The gross and subtle bodies can never enter
the Supra-causal body. But the other castes cannot
do anything without the help of Brahmana. All their
good and bad actions or works are sustained by the
strength and support of Brahmana. At this time,
Brahmana leaves his dwelling and accomplishes the
work of these three other castes, and as soon as
the work has been completed, he cleans himself up
right in front of their doorstep, and only then
re-enters his own dwelling.
PURE KNOWLEDGE AND SELF
This Brahmana is rich with knowledge and that is
why he is called "Vedo Narayana". He knows all
three tenses – the beginning, middle and end
– and he has the characteristic of sandhya,
the junction point of any two ideas. He is
worshipped by everyone and therefore he is also
called "Bhudeva" – "Lord of the earth".
Everyone from every caste and creed worship this
God [the Reality], whether they are aware
of it or not. The worshipper may be a hindu, a
muslim, a christian, a jain, a parsi or a buddhist,
or he may be from Iran, Turkey, etc., yet he
worships this God, whoever he may be. He cannot
help it. When this God is hungry, all types of food
and drink are offered to him as an oblation. There
are mattresses with cushions ready for him to sleep
upon. If God feels like travelling, there are cars,
aeroplanes and carriages ready for him. To supply
him with fragrant garlands, many trees and creepers
blossom forth with bunches of flowers. All the
servants and attendants are ready to obey him with
folded hands. Wife, children, palaces are all for
his entertainment and they are all his dwellings.
God, as Self, dwells in the innermost heart of one
and all beings and all kinds of services are
rendered to him. In spite of this, beings consider
their body as God and offer all their services to
it. Ignorant people have accepted the wrong idea
and have misunderstood the whole thing. So, what is
there to be amazed about?
All those who are doing any action, are doing it
for nothing else but the Reality. The Mahadeva is
constantly enjoying the shower of all the objects
of the senses, through the five instruments of
action and knowledge – sound, sight, touch,
taste and smell. That devotee is indeed glorious
who has understood the secret of this Mahadeva. All
natural acts of such a devotee are dedicated to
God-Reality. The bees, birds, insects, and even the
ants are performing worship to Reality, but they do
not understand this because they have no intellect,
so they cannot be blamed. But how unfortunate it is
that even an intelligent human being should not
understand that all his daily and occasional
actions are for the sake of this God alone! Really
how unfortunately it is!
This God-Reality is the same as a "king of
knowledge" who, while swallowing a mouthful of
food, tastes and enjoys it. It is he who
discriminates between fragrance and stench, who
understands which sound is pleasant or harsh to the
ear, who observes the difference between a
beautiful, a fierce or an ugly form, and who
understands the hard of soft touch of a thing. He
is always present, reigning Supreme in every
being's Heart. How utterly misguided is this idea
that we worship any other God than Reality!
Just think which God they worship when christians
worship their Christ, hindus worship their Vishnu,
parsis worship their Zoraster, or buddhist worship
their Buddha? Are they not worshipping merely the
corpse of the above gods? But what is the feeling
of the devotee who is worshipping? Ask anyone from
any religion to describe their God. They will never
say, "My God is all conscious, all light, solid,
omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, he activates
all, owns all and is without birth or death." Will
anyone say that his God is a stone, a rock, mud,
metal, heavy, dull, vacant without consciousness,
weak, blind or deaf?
From this it is clear that whether it is Christ,
Vishnu, Zoraster or Buddha, whichever God it may
be, his nature is full of consciousness and his
qualities are Godly. If anyone really possesses all
these qualities then this indicates that he is the
Absolute [Paramatman]. Universal Reality
[Vasudeva] is of the form of knowledge
which is present in everybody's heart. He alone
dwells in all things. The hearts of Mohammed and
Christ are pervaded by him. It is through this
Reality and nothing else that the quality of Vishnu
as the protector is sustained. Any devotee
whosoever he may be who worships any God, that
worship is the worship of this innermost one Self.
The obedience made to all the other gods go to this
God-Reality alone. This is the absolute Truth. The
forms of all the above mentioned gods are only
temples of this one Reality. All the names belong
to his temples. He is present in the innermost
regions of all the forms. He sits in all the forms
of beings and accepts worship from all of them.
Whichever actions are being done by your gross
body, whatever dreams, desires or doubts have
crossed your mind, all these happen for the sake of
Reality, in order to please him. If you recognise
this much, then your work is done. Everyone is
doing something through their body and mind. If you
say, "I do not want to do it anymore", still you
cannot stop yourself from doing it. But whatever
you do, the doer and the enjoyer of all your deeds
is only Reality. This fact alone must be recognised
in every movement.
All the auspicious and inauspicious acts thus
become dedicated to Self-Reality and the aspirant
remains absolutely free. This is what is called
"jnana yajna", or sacrifice through knowledge.
"When you come and go, speak with your mouth or
swallow a mouthful, when you give and take, stand
or sit, do any action at home or outside, or enjoy
sex in bed, reject all shame and think only of
God." It is explained in this verse how one
knowledge alone is playing at each point. To
contemplate this means to contemplate Reality. The
body consciousness has to be turned into
Self-consciousness. The decision taken that Self is
doing all alone is the state of liberation. This is
the advice given by Samartha Ramdas. Even Tukaram
asked for this gift from God, so that "I may never
forget you." Likewise, we too must never forget the
Self. Then surely salvation is at your feet! As
this rope in the form of mind is twisted in the
direction of body consciousness, it must be guided
by the intellect and directed towards the Self, in
which it gets absorbed. When this rope is twisted
in the opposite direction of Self-consciousness, it
unwinds completely, leaving the strings which form
it to blow away in the wind. In the end, there will
be no remaining rope worth its name at all! As a
screw is screwed in, only when it is turned in the
opposite direction will it come out. In this
manner, if the mind is guided by the intellect in
the opposite direction towards the Self, it gets
absorbed in Self. Similarly, a mind directed
towards Rama gets absorbed in Rama. Afterwards,
there is nothing left in the form of mind, inside
or outside, because it becomes one with Self, one
with Rama. An aspirant will see this for
himself.
To understand better how the one pure knowledge is
playing, go out of the house and at once look at
the moon. With what speed the pure consciousness
rushes out to the moon out of the window and how it
pervades the whole sky in a fraction of a second.
Experience this! Has the mind this much speed? How
could it be? The mind has received this much speed
only through the help of knowledge. Wherever the
mind goes, consciousness is already present there.
What wonder then that the movement of the mind gets
stuck in this consciousness? You only have to open
your eyelids and instantly the pure knowledge of
consciousness pervades the whole sky, the spectre
of stars and the moon disc! Instead of saying that
it pervades, it is better to say it has already
pervaded the whole, but comes to be experienced as
new. When consciousness travels from the eye to the
moon and knows it to be the moon, that is objective
knowledge. In this example, the moon is the object
and consciousness takes its shape the moment the
moon is known. If there is a cloud in front of the
moon, then consciousness takes the shape of the
cloud and views it as an object. Thus, it pervades
the cloud and knows the cloud as an object.
ILLUSION AND REALITY
Now try to notice the crust of consciousness
without an object – pure knowledge without a
mixture of any object at all. That vacuum or void
which is lying between the eye and the moon did not
at all come to your attention, but still it is
pervading in its own nature. That is the pure form
of knowledge. That void or empty space, though not
noticed before, if purposefully made an object of
attention, can separately become noticed as space.
Whatever can be noticed is illusion, and whatever
cannot be seen is Reality.
While looking at the moon, the void did not come to
your attention, because it is consciousness without
any object. If this space or void is separated and
is made an object of sight, then this pure
knowledge is transformed into zero – if space
is seen separately, then the modification of the
mind becomes only a void. If there is any
difference between the sky and pure knowledge, it
is this: to separately look at one's own nature is
sky, and when the "looking" is abandoned, it is
pure knowledge. Once pure knowledge is recognised
properly in this way, then even if it is mixed with
any other object, it can be selected and
recognised. Once pure water is known, even if it is
mixed with anything else, its part can be
recognised with that mixture of water.
Water is a fluid, but if it gets condensed and
becomes ice, and even if it gives up its fluidity
and assumes density, it can still be recognised as
water even in that dense form. It is not difficult
to recognise the wetness in the mud as water. Just
like this, once pure knowledge is known to be
existence-knowledge-bliss [satchitananda],
that which is immobile in the moving world, then it
can also be recognised.
Pure water has no colour, no form, no taste and no
smell. Once this is properly understood, then even
if it is condensed and assumes a dense form, or
even enters a hot chilli and tastes hot, or enters
a sugarcane and tastes sweet, or becomes fragrant
and coloured as rose water or water paint, it is
quite recognisable as pure water without a mistake
by simply subtracting the form, the taste, the
smell and the colour. Thus, by the same method of
elimination, even when this pure knowledge is
conditioned, by subtraction of that conditioning
and by dividing the form into its elements, it will
be recognised absolutely correctly as to how pure
knowledge alone is filled up to the brim everywhere
and in every form. But before one attains this pure
knowledge through the method of elimination, if
someone accepts the method of elimination and
starts prattling about how God alone pervades in
all beings, in all the forms, there is none else
than Rama, world and the Lord of the world are but
One, etc., then his bla bla can never be useful. In
contrast with the above, if one just talks such
empty words such as "I am Brahman", "The senses do
their job", "I am not the doer", "There is no sin
or virtue on my doorstep", then instead of gaining
the Self, he will only deceive his Self. In this
way, all Self-discovery loses its joy for this
world as well as for the other world. Kabir says,
"He went away as he came." These people die in the
same state of consciousness in which they were
born. They receive no benefit other than this.
These worldly scholars hold the noises of words as
true Self-knowledge, but has the merciless Truth
ever dawned on an ignorant man? "The senses do
their work, yet I am not the senses. The qualities
of the mind remain with the mind, the qualities of
the body remain with the body, and what have I to
do with them? I am different from these." What is
untrue about this statement? Who is it that
understands the Truth? Who has the experience of
the Truth? Only the man who knows who he is. Of
what use is it to others? Each one enjoys his own
pleasures and bliss. Tukaram accordingly says,
"Each one for himself." You can teach a parrot to
say the words "Reality is Truth and the world is
only an appearance", and it will repeat this
without understanding the underlying meaning. Where
there is no understanding, there cannot be bliss of
Self-knowledge.
Let that be as it is. However, the aspirant should
not be after the one who is a expert in words, who
is a hypocrite. With persistent study using the
method of elimination, he must first come to know
what pure knowledge is. Knowledge is of different
types – general knowledge, particular
knowledge, objective knowledge, dream knowledge,
doubting knowledge, and thoughtless knowledge.
Unlike thoughtless knowledge, the others types of
knowledge are contradictory to pure knowledge. When
the pure consciousness leaves the eyes and takes
the external objects within itself, then that pure
consciousness takes the shape of those objects and
one gets objective knowledge. If the object is
gross then one gets objective knowledge, and if it
is only a subtle idea, then one gets distinctive
[savikalpa] knowledge. Thus, when pure
knowledge takes the shape of any object, thought or
idea, it can be categorised as particular
knowledge. Particular knowledge is artificial and
only remains for a very short time, so it
inevitably has to be of unsteady nature. However,
the rule is that particular knowledge has to turn
back to general knowledge, the knowledge "I
am".
For example, we walk with common general speed, but
when we increase the speed and run, then that
running speed becomes a particular speed. Yet, for
how long can we continue to run? After sometime the
running has to end and soon one has to assume the
natural speed. Just like this, we are naturally
very loving and blissful within, therefore the love
for oneself is the general and common type of love.
But when love is for the son or a friend or a
house, it is an unnatural uninvited state of love,
and thus this love which comes also goes! This love
that "comes" is of a particular kind, and is
transient and destructible. The happiness one gains
from objects is also of the category of a
particular kind, and therefore it is short-lived
and only sustains itself for a short time. A small
thing brings in an experience of a "particular",
but the One that pervades everthing cannot be
experienced. The reason is that the "all-pervading"
is big and infinite, and actually we are the same
"pervading" Reality. The "particular" is illusion
and the general or common is Reality. You are That,
and therefore you can not experience love for your
own Self, nor can you enjoy the happiness or bliss
of your Self.
Now we have to observe what is called "general
knowledge", which is without any object or idea.
Between the outside gross object and the eye of the
inside mind is some distance. This void or vacuum,
though we see it, is as if not seen, and therefore
we gain no knowledge of this vacuum. This
intervening knowledge, being knowledge itself,
cannot become the object of its own knowledge!
Knowledge cannot be the object of its own
knowledge. How can jaggery [a coarse dark brown
sugar produced by evaporating the sap of palm
trees] taste its own sweetness? In the same
way, knowledge cannot experience or know itself as
an object of its own knowledge. This knowledge has
spread itself naturally between the eye and the
object, and also between the intellect and thought.
One should again and again notice how this general
pure knowledge naturally pervades us before it
takes up an object. But this noticing or seeing of
pure knowledge is not the same as seeing an object
or thought. It can only be seen when one gives up
the idea of "seeing" and the thought, "I am the
seer."
The instrument of seeing is the eye and the
instrument of knowing a thought is the intellect.
Keeping aside both these instruments, pure
knowledge alone can be seen. These instruments of
the eye and intellect are too blunt. To try to know
pure knowledge by means of an eye or intellect is
to forget the pure knowledge "I am" and allow the
eye and intellect to step in. Knowing that
knowledge cannot know itself, you become pure
knowledge itself. This is the way of seeing it. One
gets separated from it when one tries to meet it.
But without trying to meet it, you are always in
union with it. This puzzle is very difficult. Wise
men and yogis make a mistake here by
misinterpreting the seen for the seer. They say,
"Supreme Self has four hands, he is like the light
of ten million suns, he is lustrous, he has a dark
complexion, he is like a point, he is like this and
he is like that..." In other words, they say
whatever they like. But by whose knowledge was it
stated that "He is like this and he is like that"?
That one is completely forgotten while they say
great things of Self-realisation. The seer is
forgotten and the seen is taken to be Reality! One
does not know what to say of them. The brave set
out to find Reality, but the obstacles in the form
of what is seen come in the way. This is the case
for the majority of seekers.
In a crowd at a pilgrimage, I lost myself and could
not find myself even when I tried to search within.
Then I went to the police station and gave them the
information report that I was lost. At that time, a
constable came and started slapping me hard on the
cheek until it was red, and then he asked me, "Who
is this fellow?" Only then did I become conscious
of myself and I was very happy that I was found.
This is the very condition of the one who is
Reality, yet is in search of the Reality. Where,
when and how can he find it? The one who knows
everybody is not known by anybody. This is the
exact position. Yet the one who tries to know him
does not know his nature as pure consciousness and
starts wandering about in forests and jungles. How
amazing this is! The one who remains after the
consciousness capacity of knowing has been
transcended, how can he be known? Unless one
becomes steady within oneself, one cannot attain
any knowledge of Reality, and the desire to know
will continue.
One foolish fellow wanted to know what sleep is.
Whenever he would start to dose off, he would
immediately remember, "Ah, now I will catch sleep."
With this thought he would clap his hands and
suddenly he became completely awake. By repeatedly
doing this, the poor fellow became so tired that he
entirely gave up the effort of trying to catch
sleep. To catch Reality the procedure is the same.
When one gives up trying to know it, one becomes
the very nature of Reality itself. When the gross
and subtle bodies get negated, the instruments of
mind and intellect get broken up. The aspirants
then enters the state of causal body, which is the
state of forgetfulness. This itself is the
ignorance of the human being. To eradicate this
ignorance it is necessary to acquire the knowledge
of Reality. Therefore the aspirant, with the help
of the subtle intellect, and that part of
consciousness which is pure knowledge, tries to get
the knowledge of Reality. Shankaracharya has called
such a man a "great fool". It is like a woman in
menses who tries to clean the ground with cow dung.
However, wherever she goes, the floor will become
impure instead of pure. So in this manner, if one
tries to know the Reality with the subtle
intellect, the subtle body's scope will go on
increasing. When the subtle body gets destroyed and
one enters the causal body, the person who tries to
know Reality with the intellect does not get
stabilised in the causal body and returns to the
subtle body with a bang from the causal body. Once
again, he gets caught under the sway of dreams,
ideas and doubts.
If it can be said that pure knowledge can be gained
even if it is polluted by the mind and intellect,
then the purity of Reality should remain unsullied,
even if he eats in the company of a cobbler sitting
next to him. Where speech and mind cannot enter, if
the aspirants dreams of using words or mind, he
will never progress and instead he will return to a
lower plane. The aspirant cannot remain as an
aspirant, but has to become a perfected liberated
being, and for this purpose one has to cross the
posts of all these four bodies. By constant study,
one has to enter this platform of the four bodies,
clean and purify them, and only then can one invoke
the Supreme Truth. Once the aspirant gets
established in Reality, it is certain that he
becomes a perfected liberated being. Until
stabilisation is complete, the exposition regarding
the four bodies and the syllabus of its study must
continue. Aspirants must have also understood its
underlying meaning. Even if a wooden stool with
four legs [in the form of the bodies] is
built, it is still very crude. In order to make it
shine, more effort is required to polish it
properly. By polishing a thing, it starts to shine
and reflect its own light. The procedure of making
a thing is different from the procedure of
scrubbing and making it absolutely smooth. Unless
it is manufactured in that way, it is not said to
be completely ready, nor does it fetch any price.
Therefore before becoming a fully liberated being,
we have to be aspirants for some time, persistently
polishing the pure knowledge in the Supra-causal
body. We must make it completely clean.
We may only intellectually know that pure knowledge
in the form of absolute Self pervades every form,
but in order to study and accept it as Truth, one
should try to make everyone happy. With this remedy
alone, the Self pervades everything and the whole
world is seen to be pure knowledge. When this
thesis of the Vedas is proved and
experienced, then Self-knowledge gets firmly
established. The quality [saguna] of
worship of the Supreme Self is only this. Bliss of
being is in so many forms, right from an insect, an
ant, a dog and a pig. Self alone pervades them all.
The Supreme Self, who is formless, qualityless and
unmanifest, manifests itself with qualities in the
form of the universe. He is of course present in
all that is immovable, but he is experienced
clearly in the movable beings. Therefore, instead
of worshipping the lifeless gross things such as
stone and metal idols, it is better to worship the
moving, talking, walking God, where the quality of
knowledge is clearly experienced. This is saguna
worship. Where are the qualities in a stone idol?
Out of the three qualities – rajas, sattva and
tamas – which quality is to be found in the
idols of stone or metal? But in those who are
moving, there is at least one or more qualities
found. Therefore, all the beings are forms of
God.
If one prays sincerely to the saints or to a good
man who are full of knowledge [sattvaguna],
he becomes pleased and grants out wishes. But, if
we censure his action [tamoguna], he slaps
our face and gives us an experience! Therefore,
"Please worship the God who is walking and talking.
Worshipping a stone idol is of no use." Kabir has
given this warning in clear words. He has advised
to worship a walking, talking God alone.
As soon as the word "worship" is uttered,
sandalwood paste, rice, flowers, haldi kumkum
[tumeric powder] come to mind, but to
really worship means to please and make happy every
human being. Shankara gets pleased with bel leaves,
Maruti with simdur powder, Vishnu requires tulsi
leaves and Ambabai requires haldi kumkum. If a
particular deity gets things other than what are
required for his worship, it will only mean
mischief and not worship. Though the Supreme Self
is One everywhere, the way the devotees worship him
differs according to the form of the deity. A
donkey has God within it, yet if you fold your
hands before it in obeisance, it would be a joke or
mischief played on the Supreme Self. Does the
donkey get pleased if you fold your hands before
him? If the donkey is given green grass to eat and
clear water to drink, it would be true worship to
God who has taken the form of a donkey. But to God
who has taken a human form, feeding him with food
to please him is the worship of Supreme Self. And
in order to worship this deity, donkey's food
should not be offered to him. By giving whatever
the form of God wants, the devotees heart is
pleased and blessed.
A snake and a scorpion are also forms of God, but
one should worship them from a distance. It means
that they should be left alone to live their own
lives. Instead of this, if you start embracing them
with devotion, that serpent God will bite you and
prove that embracing him is not worshipping him.
Here someone may raise a doubt by asking, "How
could allowing the snake and scorpion to escape
alive be a form of worship? Those beings are wicked
and they must be killed." I would ask them in
return, "Unless a snake or scorpion is touched or
hurt, do they ever bite unnecessarily?" But a man
is ever ready to kill them, even if he is at a
considerable distance. Is not the nature of man
more wicked and cruel than the nature of a snake or
scorpion? Yes, because you have a desire to kill
them. Let the feeling, "A snake and scorpion are of
my nature", become firm in you and then see the
miracle that happens! The Self of the snake or
scorpion is not a stone. When your Selfhood becomes
firm in the snake or scorpion, the Self of the
snake or scorpion also becomes one with your
Selfhood and there will no longer be a desire in
the snake to bite you. As you see a snake as a
snake, he also sees an embodied man as an
enemy.
You will see the same kind of facial expression in
the mirror as you have on your face. If you see a
bad expression in the reflection, is it the fault
of the mirror? If you make a smiling face and look
into the mirror, you need not order the reflection
in the mirror to make a smiling face. Why does the
thief rob our house? Because we also have a
continuous desire to rob people in many ways to
fill our own house. As we develop the feeling of
complete renunciation, then our feeling will
reflect in whatever comes before us, and even if
you refuse to ask for anything, people are prepared
to give up heaps and heaps of whatever they have
for you. But whosoever begs for it does not get
it.
From this discussion, a reader may get confused and
say, "Maharaj, your way of thinking does seem
right, but as soon as I see a snake, to leave him
alone seems impossible, or when someone puts his
hand in my pocket to steal money, to take him as
God and do nothing is something I can never do."
"Agreed", I would say. "Agreed a hundred times!" Oh
aspirant, this cannot be possible because of the
habits of many, many births. It cannot be achieved
all at once. Even if this is true, a beginning can
be made from say, the house bugs instead of
scorpions or snakes. From a petty action like not
killing the house bugs, keeping in mind the Oneness
of all, the Oneness of Self in everything and every
being, you will eventually attain the feeling of
Oneness in all beings, even with those which are
more troublesome than the bugs. This experience
gradually increases one's confidence. One should
not have the feeling, "Bugs are not to be killed,
so they should be left alone", but rather have the
thought, "They are of my own nature and are my
form. Their happiness is my happiness." A mother
experiences the feeling of joy by pleasing the
child and allowing it to suck at her breast. One
should experience the same feeling of satisfaction
by allowing the bugs to suck blood out of one's
body. This is the beginning, or the first lesson
concerning the feeling of Oneness for all beings.
Gradually and persistently studying this, the earth
will be without an enemy and fearlessness will come
your way. You shall be free from all fear.
When an aspirant has no doubt of any kind left in
him and he achieves knowledge of the Self, he
becomes free. Though true, as yet he cannot
experience the glory of real liberation. Richness
is one thing, but the joy of the status after
becoming rich is another thing. In the same way,
unless a feeling of Oneness of all comes to the
Self-realised being, his knowledge does not develop
or spread out, like a stingy rich man's wealth, and
he cannot attain the bliss of liberation while
alive. Even if one achieves the knowledge of Self,
unless one experiences a feeling of Oneness with
all, fearlessness does not come his way.
Fearlessness means "full bliss". In quality, fear
is a concomitant of duality. Fear is a very great
impediment which blocks the bliss arising out of
liberation. So after attaining Self-knowledge, the
aspirant should worship the Supreme Self in the way
explained above. Thus, dry knowledge gets moistened
with devotion. A jalebi [Indian sweet]
which has been fried in ghee becomes juicy and
sweet when put in sugar syrup. In the same way,
after attaining Self-knowledge, the Self-realised
being achieves fullness of life through
devotion.
In the game called "Surfati" a player slides first
from the lower to the higher house, bringing back
with him all that he gets from the other houses.
Only then is the game over. By gaining the
knowledge all the way from the gross to the
Supra-causal body, one has to bring this gift of
knowledge back to the lower gross body in the same
way. The factual experience that "The world is
nothing but knowledge", is itself perfect knowledge
becoming thoughtless Reality. It is because of the
feeling that there is someone else in the world who
is not "I", that we go around night and day with
the feeling of anxiety that we should protect our
wife, our wealth and our belongings from the
clutches of someone else. In this way, we turn into
a "gasti" or watchman due to the feeling of
possessiveness and ownership! However, when one
realises a feeling of "Oneness with everyone" and
the feeling that "I am present everywhere, I am
pervading everything", on that day the "gasti"
becomes an "Agasti", the sage who drank the ocean
in one sip. Then this ocean of the five elements
may not be enough for even one sip! This is the way
in which the devotee who knows his Self becomes
fearless while in the body, and enjoys the full
celebration of what is called "liberation".
Now, at this point, we have given the exposition
about Self-knowledge and the devotion after
Self-knowledge. We have reached a stage where an
aspirant has become a Self-knowing being!! The end
of all knowledge of the Supra-causal body bears
fruit in seeing the whole world as one's Self. This
being true, Samartha Ramdas still has called this
knowledge of the Supra-causal body as being
"unsteady Brahman [Reality]" when compared
with that of the Supreme Self [Paramatman].
Supreme Self is steady and is different from the
manifest Reality [saguna Brahman] and
unmanifest Reality [nirguna Brahman]
associated with the four bodies, and therefore it
is "no-knowledge". So finally, the Vedas
have said "neti-neti" ["not this, not
this"], meaning it is neither knowledge nor
ignorance. Unmoving Supreme Self is the only Truth
and only essence. It is without substance and is
the root of all that is transient. Samartha Ramdas
has expounded upon this conclusion very nicely in
Dasbodh.
So, why is this knowledge unsteady? It is because
Final Reality has been given so many names and
attributes of masculine, feminine and neuter
gender. It is called Satchitananda, Ishwara,
Ahamkara, Shesha, Narayana, the Primordial Being,
and Shiva, etc. These are some of the masculine
names. It is called Shakti, Prakriti, Shruti,
Shambavi, Chitkakla, Narayani, etc., and these are
some of the feminine names. It is called Nija Rupan
[one's own nature], Mahakarana
[supra-causal body], Jnana, Brahman,
Anandayatnam [Empire of Bliss], etc., and
these names are of the neuter gender. These neuter
gender names have come to be known as
Self-knowledge. One who is not one of these is the
steady, immovable essence, the true Reality.
Though the great quality of the knowledge in the
Supra-causal body is much greater in comparison
with the knowledge in the gross body, it sill
remains "knowledge". One can eliminate certain
knowledge through deduction, but as long as there
is still a "knower", it means that the aspirant has
not yet achieved the Final Reality stage. Final
Reality is that stage of knowledge from where no
one can return.
Knowledge has been labelled as "knowledge", but
Reality has really no name. In the pure knowledge
"I am", there is a modification or movement in the
form of the world. As the mind changes, that
knowledge also changes. Modification is a state or
a stage, whereas Reality is beyond all
modifications. Thus, there is as much a difference
between the pure knowledge "I am" and the Final
Reality as there is between darkness and light.
Samartha Ramdas says, "Where there is a contact
between the steady and unsteady, the intellect is
confused." According to this statement, the last
misunderstanding or delusion lies here.
Before the knowledge "I am" dawns, forgetfulness is
mistaken for knowledge. In the same way, when true
knowledge is underdeveloped, it is mistaken for
perfect knowledge ["I am"], which is the
last stage of "absence of modification" or Final
Reality. And when the aspirant embraces that
["I am"], his progress is arrested here.
Samartha Ramdas has compared this type of an
undeveloped Self-realised being to a man who is
awakened in a dream and thinks he is awake. Yet he
is snoring! "You think that this is wakefulness,
but your illusion has not yet gone!", is the
warning given by Samartha Ramdas to this type of
being. That Supra-causal body, in which the gross
and subtle bodies are like a dream, is itself like
a dream in the pure knowledge "I am". There is
bondage in ignorance and liberation in knowledge,
but when both ignorance and knowledge are not
there, how could the idea of bondage or liberation
exist?
The Vedas and scriptures talk up to the
point of the Supra-causal body. Until then, it is
the primary premise or the theory. In the field of
knowledge beyond the Supra-causal body is the
proven final conclusion [siddhanta], and
the cancelling of all that has been laid down is
right here. When all phenomena is destroyed or
annihilated, whatever remains is your real nature.
It is impossible to describe it in words. Where the
knowledge of words is proven to be ignorance, where
consciousness becomes non-consciousness, and where
all remedies recommended by the scriptures are only
hindrances, you will see for yourself how you reach
that highest point. The Satguru brought you to the
threshold and pushed you inside, but the Satguru
cannot show you the beauty or the panorama within.
You have to seize the treasure, the trophy,
yourself. Now, after all this has been said, there
remains nothing that can be conveyed through words.
Words were used for whatever had to be told. That
which cannot be conveyed by words has now been
entrusted to you. We can only inspire you to be an
aspirant, but you have to become a siddha
[liberated being] by yourself. We have
reached the end of the exposition. Words are
redundant. One thing is clearly enunciated here,
and that is "All praises to the Satguru"
["Satguru Bhajana"].
Hari OM Tat Sat
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