............ January 14, 1981
Maharaj:
The Ultimate state is that state in which nothing exists, neither I, nor you, nor manifestation.
Questioner:
Can Maharaj describe the Ultimate state?
M:
Can I cut up my sleep and make a design of it? Disassociate yourself from your body and tellme something about that. Can you describe it? My talks are not meant for normal human beings.The normal person's field of understanding does not go beyond his own body.The one who identifies with the body is the consciousness itself. It mistakenly assumes that itis the body and behaves as if its unlimited potential has been limited by this one single phenomenon. Therefore, with this identification, whatever behavior the consciousness adopts will be limited by the body.The one who understands this ultimate meaning of life gets disassociated from the body and atransformation takes place. The consciousness is universal, universal like the day, universal like thenight. To that principle you cannot give a name or a title. Who is the one who knows that there wasno day, no night, the consciousness was not there? Day and night, remembering and forgetting, thewaking state and the deep sleep state, are they one and the same thing or are they separate?The capacity of consciousness is something astounding. I didn't know I was, and then suddenlyI knew "I Am". This "I Amness" is the power of
Maya.
Q:
Is the desire to be free wrong?
M:
There is nothing happening - nobody is bound -therefore there is no question of liberation. It isonly when one thinks of himself as an individual that he thinks of bondage and liberation.Whatever concepts you have collected in this world are totally useless. Understand that thetotal manifestation is the child of a barren woman, but having understood this, give full attention toyour work, and let that work be done as efficiently as possible. Take good care of this work that youdo in the world because it is an orphan!
January 17, 1981
Questioner:
In consciousness is there doership and also witnessing?
Maharaj:
Everything is in the realm of consciousness.
Q:
Are all the actions in the world being done through consciousness? The movement of the fiveelements also?
M:
The sum total of the five elements is consciousness.
Q:
It's beautiful to praise this consciousness by consciousness, no?
M:
Oh, yes. Whatever you are, only you know. In the body is only the knowledge, no person. For practical purposes you use various names.
Q:
In the body, why is this consciousness saying, "I," "You," etc.?
M:
Consciousness is one, but it manifests into many, so for practical purposes you say "I," "You,",etc.
Q:
My consciousness is due to this body, sustained by this body, not other bodies.
M:
In your consciousness all the bodies are there.
Q:
Maharaj said that I am not in the body, that the body is in me.
M:
If you are an author, a number of books are potentially in your pen. Since when did you realizethat you are?
Q:
When the body and consciousness appeared.
M:
The sum total of my spirituality now is nothing, even that word "nothing" is not there, so thereis no spirituality left.Suppose I do not like my body, or even the vital breath, what can I do - the body is there, vital breath is there, and therefore this "I Amness" is there. They are functioning by themselves, whyshould I worry about it? It is having its play, let it have it. So long as that knowingness, "I Amness",is there that attraction will be there for others. The knowingness is the outcome of the food body;when this body is consumed, where is that "I Amness"?There is no such thing as spirituality; whatever is, is only this worldly life, in the five-elemental play. You are nothing better than vegetation. Just as grass is growing, human beings aregrowing. Will anybody accept this? Birth is a material aspect. If you are yourself alone, that statewill not be felt; but if there is a foreign element, only then the suffering starts. On you, the original,this foreign element is imposed, that is why it is suffering.You will not enquire into what you are. Because you are intellectuals, you will preparedelicacies out of your intellect and you will go on eating that. Even in spirituality you employ your intellect, you prepare so many delicacies out of your concepts and you relish them.Take a hint from what I have said. That you experience the world at all is the result of somebody's fun; now it has become the source of misery.
Q:
Is it possible to be in a wordless state?
M:
Can you live without words? Words are very necessary.
Q:
We are prisoners of our own concepts.
M:
Just enquire into that birth principle. You are; because you are, the father and mother are. It's asimultaneous happening. Because of their action you are, and (at the same time) you have parents.Without their bodies what are they? Try to understand what they could be without their bodies.Ignore that action because of which you are; and then try to recognize what the parents are. As aresult of these two presences, there is a third presence, "I Am". Now will you clear out thoseconcepts of yours about parents?
January 20, 1981
Maharaj:
Earlier the knowledge used to overwhelm me , and I would to invite people to listen tothe talks, but that time is gone now. Now, I don't encourage people, I don't keep people here for very long. I give them a dose of knowledge and send them away.It is most incredible in the guise of that little so-called birth, everything has happened. Not onlythe "I Amness", but the whole manifest world has appeared. Is it believable? Actually I am not, butI feel that I am because of the incident of that birth.When you get this knowledge you will realize that knowledge of this world and consciousnessare not even worth your spit. You can spit it out; it will be unworthy. I appeal to you with my foldedhands, don't get into this spirituality. Whatever knowledge and concepts you are having, only thatfinal spark is to be applied. You have everything, the raw material is already with you, the symbolof birth and death is already removed.The factual state of affairs is open, very clear, but nobody wants to look at it.Translator: He has preference for simple devotion to God. In people with devotion, even withlimited intellect, the intellect is not making mischief, as it is here.
M:
This is the place where the intellect gets annihilated.I was created and possessed by the five-elemental ghost, but having stabilized in the
Parabrahman,
I know what it is and I am out of it. Now, just see how I am possessed by these elemental essences. I am addicted to chewingtobacco; despite the advice of doctors not to do it, I am still doing it. That is because I am possessed by the essence of these elements.Space is indicative of the world, in that space the world is. Space is like an incipient world. Theworld is not there, but the material of the world is there. From there I start feeling "I Am". With air the movement is there, with fire the heat, with water all seeds and everything else, and because of water the taste is there.But you are dispossessed of these elements because of the Satguru. Satguru
{Parabrahman)
isall love for no-knowingness. Because of your association with this Satguru, it means illuminationfor you.I don't feel like talking at all, I want to go into a sort of silence. My present talks, if they arereally understood, require no more discipline or
sadhana.
They should click right there and then.
Q:
At one time, there were a number of saints of the highest order. Why was it, that suddenly therewere so many saints at that period?"
M:
At that time the devotion was so strong that the very object of meditation would take a completeshape in front of the meditator. Because of that devotional state, the whole atmosphere was imbuedwith that devotion, now it is only with the intellect. People are not going to accept anything blindly , because their intellect has become more subtle, like space. They are going to pick and choose, toanalyze everything.
January 24, 1981
Maharaj:
Listen to what I am saying, but do not expect to benefit in any way by what you hear, because to benefit there must be an entity, and there is no entity.Since I have had this disease there has been a slight change in the way I look at things. Earlier,I had felt that there was a slight touch of individuality, to the extent that I felt that this universalconsciousness was acting through a particular form. Now there is not the slightest touch of anyindividual form nor functioning. There is now cognition of total functioning as such, but even thatwill last only so long as the body lasts. In that body there is consciousness, and both are material. Inall this there is no question of any entity cognizing anything as separate. Instead, there is totalfunctioning through various millions of forms. I have identified the disease with the totalconsciousness.
Questioner:
What remains when consciousness goes?
M:
Nothing phenomenal remains. The present talks are the culmination, or termination, of spiritualunderstanding. The more the physical pain is observed, the more it is being realized that everythingis illusory.
Q:
Maharaj has reached the destination, we have not.
M:
There was a house, and in the house there was a person; now the person is gone and the house isdemolished. The sum total is, whatever experiences you have, whether for a day or for years, it is allillusion. The experiences begin with knowingness.What is the most ingrained habit you have? It is to say "I Am". This is the root habit. Wordsand experiences are unworthy of you. This habit of experiencing will not go until you realize that allthis domain of the five elements, and the experiences in the five elements, are unreal. This "IAmness" is itself unreal.
January 29, 1981
Maharaj:
You must give up identity with the body. Abidance in that knowledge "I Am" whichdoes not identify with the body-mind is the spiritual light. Self-love and "I Am" without words arethe same. The sicknesses may come and go, but the Self-love does not go.
Questioner:
The realization of Self does not come.
M:
Who says that? Without the knowingness who could say anything?
Q:
Knowingness must exist because there is something to be known.
M:
You have come here with the idea that you are full of knowledge, full of wisdom; so what isyour idea of knowledge? You are very seasoned, having roamed about in all corners of the world.
Q:
I know that I am not full of knowledge.
M:
Why do you tell a lie?
Q:
The books speak of that Ultimate joy and fulfillment which is the result of knowledge.
M:
You are not going to meet it because you are it. Would you go out to meet your Self?
Q:
No, I come here.
M:
Before you knew you were, did you have knowledge or ignorance? In the absence of consciousness, who could say "I Am"? [Long silence].You have all gone into quietude.
Q:
Every thought, every feeling in consciousness, is changing all the time. I cannot be thechanging, I am the changeless consciousness which enables thoughts to pass.. That is how I understand it. Is it right?
M:
How deluded you are!
Q:
What I am trying to do is to stop identification with the thoughts and feelings and not be possessed by them, as I use them as pointers to the highest consciousness.
M:
Then why do you talk? The pointers of your feelings and your thoughts are your Self and that isconsciousness, so consciousness and your Self are one.
Q:
I want to get away from the pain.
M:
The mind is deluding you, is cheating you.
Q:
So I am the pain and I should be happy to be the pain?
M:
Focus your attention on you-are-the-happiness, then the pain will diminish. You assume thatyou have knowledge. You have developed a pride that you have knowledge, so for testing yourself you have come here.
Q:
I cannot help my pain by repeating that "I-am-happiness". Maharaj speaks from his level. I haven't got that highest happiness to diminish the pain.
M:
That is because you are embracing your body as your Self.
Q:
Exactly. That is why I am using a trick to escape that.
M:
Very good. In the later stages this consciousness is itself the pain. Until you recognize andcompletely identify yourself with the knowledge "I Am", you will identify with the body. Thatknowledge "I Am", you do not know her. Some others here have no pride that they areknowledgeable; you alone are claiming all the knowledge and pride. Now, how many more days areyou going to visit this place?
Q:
Until the 7th.
M:
You have been given answers to your questions, why should you return?
Q:
Then these others do not have the knowledge, and that's why they can come back?
M:
You speak for yourself! Other people may be more knowledgeable than you, why do you equatethem with you? You have committed a grave offense by equating these people with the level of your wisdom. Take care of yourself, don't worry about others. How dare you bother about otherswhen you do not fully know yourself?
Q:
There is some link which binds us together.
M:
Never criticize others.
January 30, 1981 A.M.
Maharaj:
Just as a person continues going to work every day because he wants to receive hiswages, so you keep coming here because you want to gain knowledge. Once you have thisknowledge, there is no need for you to stay any longer.Until you get the knowledge, you don't want to leave; nevertheless, the only ones who shouldstay are those who feel a great urgency to know. [Maharaj sends some more people away.]I do not want casual seekers to stay here anymore. The only ones who should stay now arethose who have a real anxiety about progressing spiritually, those who are earnest seekers.If you are an earnest seeker, you should accept my words as the truth or you should leave, as Ido not want merely to entertain you. And what am I telling you? You are not the body. You are theconscious presence. Accept it and you can forget it.In future, I will not be able to go into the problems of each one of you. I will simply tell you,"This is false," or, "This is the truth." You can accept what I say, or you can leave.
Questioner:
I
don't have the capacity to accept what Maharaj has given me.
M:
If you don't think you have the capacity, then you can go elsewhere. I am not concerned withany state which is temporary. This consciousness state is not of my choosing. The sooner it goes the better. Once it is known what is temporary and what one's original state is, no further knowledge isneeded.As soon as consciousness stirred, space and time came. It has a time limit. In this space-timeeveryone suffers, so why should I accept this suffering as something unique? I was always in that blissful, complete, total state; suddenly I am in this imperfect state. Those who have apperceivedmy knowledge will not fall a prey to the logic or spirituality expounded by others. I dare to say toany scholar who considers himself full of wisdom, that when he was being born I was watching his birth from a corner. Would you accept this?
Q:
Yes. Why did consciousness arise at all?
M:
Hang on to this consciousness which has come and it will explain why it arose without cause. No one else can explain to you why and how it arose.It is the manifest consciousness which is continuously talking, I am not talking. How does thelanguage emerge? Is it because of your efforts?If you grasp the essence of the talks which I am giving, you will illuminate the world. Those people who run about from place to place aimlessly will gather nothing. What is that you are after?Eknath, a country sage who has written wonderful poems, said, "I am stung by a scorpion!"What is that sting? It is the consciousness. This knowingness is the scorpion which is giving me allthe pain in the form of various experiences and concepts.I am telling you with the authority of a jnani, everything is unreal. This is all the play due toyour consciousness, and your consciousness is due to the food essence body.
Q:
I am grateful to my body which has brought me here.
M:
You have come here just to commit suicide.
January 30, 1981 P.M.
Maharaj:
A real spiritual seeker ponders over these things all the time. When I have no body, whatam I? What is the Ultimate Reality?The Absolute state cannot be explained by words. Words are only pointers. You are thatabsolute, unchanging. Consciousness, or the knowingness, is homogeneous and one only. Whenyou are in that state of consciousness, it is all one, all the same, only the expressions are different.Everything which gets consumed, exhausted, is unreal. Your knowingness will, in due course, be consumed, will disappear, so it cannot be real; but you can't just dismiss it, you must understandit fully.Presently there are an infinite number of items in your associations with this world because youhave the association of the vital breath. Suppose that vital breath goes. What will happen then to allyour associations with the world?This knowledge which has been expounded will not go to waste, many people have takenadvantage of it. The time will come when they will be enlightened also and then they will expoundknowledge.A jnani's state remains the same with or without the body.You should meditate, you should not lose what you have learned.When one disidentifies with the body, one transcends not only the body but consciousness aswell since consciousness is a product of the body. The consciousness no longer says,"I Am","I Am".
January 31, 1981
Maharaj:
I deal with only two things:. What is your identity, and what is your conviction aboutwhat you are?. These questions cannot be discussed with everyone. I can speak of them only withthose of you who are in earnest. There are those who have a lot of wisdom but have not solved theriddle of "I Amness".
Questioner:
Scientists have discovered, in the last ten years, that if they don't observe the reactionsof the atomic particles, the reactions remain as they are. If they do observe those reactions, there isa change. The very act of observing causes a change in that which is observed.
M:
The observer is also changing. What is being observed brings about a change in the observer,and unless that change is brought about in the observer, the observer cannot observe the object;therefore, one can never get to the depth of spirituality.When you are cognizing something as an individual, where do you place yourself?Consciousness is that which is cognizing, the cognition, and that which is being cognized.You are only scratching the surface. It can't do you any good at all. What you hear must enter you like an arrow and hit something deep within you. There must be an internal reaction; withoutthe reaction what you hear won't do you any good. You should know it when the arrow reaches itsmark.
February 5, 1981
Questioner:
It is very difficult to give up this attraction to the bodily identity.
Maharaj:
You have to find out what this body is, then the job is done. Initially, the body is veryminute. The consciousness appears in the body, and then the tiny body changes into a large one.That causal body, which is very minute, needs to be known. By meditation you can know it.The quality of that causal body takes on the appearance of the consciousness and the form. In thisworld there are many species, in all sizes; initially what was the size of each variety?At the point where you first feel knowingness, consciousness is not static; it is a continuousstate, just like a wheel moving. The center of the wheel, the axle, is not moving. As you proceedfrom the center of the axle outwardly, the movement increases, does it not? Similarly, the beginningof consciousness is like the center of a wheel; that point is steady, constant. In a human being that isthe most constant principle. Since the day I was born until I am dead, that consciousness principle isthere at that center. As you merge into the world, the movement increases. Watch that center point,watch that movement of consciousness.
Chaitanya
and
Chetana,
that central, stationary point of thewheel watches the movement of consciousness. The one that observes the movement is almoststationary.To bring about the actions of the world — the movement — consciousness must descend. If there is no consciousness, there is no worldly movement.Similarly, you must become stabilized in a more stationary position, near the center. When youleave that center point, the movement takes over.
February
7,
1981
Questioner:
I am becoming more aware of my "I Amness" as a product of the food body.
Maharaj:
You must be that principle prior to the emanation of the word "I". Suppose I get a prick here - that principle prior to the emanation of words knows there was a prick. Prior to words andfeelings, you are.
Q:
How is it possible to know and feel that Absolute?
M:
This knowingness, or understanding, is in the realm of consciousness. Whatever you say thatyou know and feel is consciousness only. The Absolute is beyond this.
Q:
In practice, how can we go further?
M:
Deal with the consciousness only, get to know it thoroughly. That is all that can be done. Later on, everything happens spontaneously, doership goes.Know the inside-out of consciousness and recognize it as useless; it is a fraud. When youtranscend it, you will say, "I can manage without this. This is imperfect! Therefore, meditate inorder to know the consciousness.
Q:
I have never been able to meditate.
M:
When you were unaware of this message of "I Am", how did you function? The questions I put,nobody can answer. All of you great scholars, people with a lot of knowledge, have gone intoquietude.
Q:
My questions are answered.
M:
When your problems are solved, you are also solved. I want you to dwell on that borderline of consciousness, no-consciousness.
February 8, 1981
Questioner:
Sometimes I have a feeling of mindlessness I feel that only I exist. There is only onething in the world. I don't have to do anything. I simply exist.
Maharaj:
That state of being is common to all, that is the message "I Am" without words.
Q:
Is it possible to remain stable?
M:
Change is only in the mind-flow. All the studies you are doing are in the realm of the mind-flow. The sense of "I Am" is present because of your birth, through which you encounter manythoughts and concepts, always changing. Presently the message "I Am" is constant.
Q:
How can one be in that no-mind state?
M:
Prior to your birth and receiving the message "I Am", what were you?
Q:
That is a mystery.
M:
It is open, very clear, but still it is a mystery. Subsequent to that "I Am" and body-mind, and inthe realm of the mind, there occurs what you call spiritual seeking, or spiritual knowledge. This isnonsense. In due course this message "I Am" will disappear.
Q:
How can you say that? What about rebirth?
M:
There is no rebirth. In the case of a jnani, the disappearance of the "I Am" will be termed as Niruta, free from the "I Am". In the case of an ordinary person, involved in mind, the disappearanceof the message "I Am" will be expressed as "the person is dead and has taken another birth." Youcan never undertake studies about that no-message state; you are making studies in the mind zone.
Q:
So the witnessing is only possible when there are modifications of the mind?
M:
Witnessing
happens.
Remember one thing, I am addressing my talk to the message "I Am".
Q:
How can I communicate with the "I Am", how can I listen?
M:
Listening will come spontaneously—just as you wake up spontaneously and fall asleepspontaneously. Don't make any effort.I did not extract my beingness from "there" and insert it into "here". It is happeningspontaneously, and therefore I am experiencing it. During these talks you have gotten very angry;this is in the zone of mind modifications - it is not a reflection of your consciousness. The one whounderstands that anger is the message "I Am". All your spiritual studies are conducted with your identification with the body-mind.
Q:
I think so, yes.
M:
Unless you identify correctly who you are, how can you identify others correctly? Recognizeyour real Self.
Q:
How shall I start?
M:
Faith in God is one of the
sadhanas.
The firm faith in the Self is not a
sadhana,
it is abidance.
Q:
I believe in God, or I do not believe in God-are these beliefs the same?
M:
Who is saying this? What you say will be correct only when you have the conviction that youand God are one, then you will recognize that there cannot be a God without you. To know yourself is the real knowledge, but you cannot LOOK at yourself, you can only ABIDE in your Self. Give upyour attachment to mind modifications.
Q:
Sometimes it does happen. How can I transcend the mind?
M:
Understand that you have no connection with this mind-flow; you are apart from it. Bewatchful, be alert. A century ago, were you possessed by these mind-modifications?
Q:
No.
M:
Remain exactly like that.
Q:
How can I remain in the "I Am"?
M:
It is a stupid question. You are ALREADY that. Are you not already the "I Amness"?
Q:
I can't be free from that?
M:
A jnani has transcended the "I Amness" and only witnesses it.
Q:
What kind of rule should a man choose for conducting himself in life?
M:
This question emanates from your concepts. Throw out your concepts. In the course of your study of spirituality, you have acquired many concepts which you call that knowledge. Do you wantme to be embroiled in your concepts?That thought-flow is always there, except in deep sleep. Even for a jnani, the thought-flow is present but the thought has changed.Most people are carried away by the thought-flow, but a rare person turns around, goes to thesource and departs from the track of that original thought-flow, saying, "It is not mine, not myaffair. This 'I Amness' is the product of objective material, it is not me. I am out of it."The statements which come out of here will stick to you, and with that sticking, your spiritual job will be done. When you do anything it is for "me", but there is a limit to which that can go, isn'tthere?
Q:
The needs are limitless.
M:
I meet many people who, in the pursuit of happiness, are always miserable. Rarely do Iencounter someone who says "I am content."
February 9, 1981
Maharaj:
My present state is such that this consciousness and all this physical suffering areunbearable. I am prepared to dispose of it right now; this is the state of affairs. Nevertheless, peoplecome here and these talks emanate out of the consciousness. I am addressing you as consciousness;you are the Godly consciousness. I am not concerned with your bodily affairs. But you listen fromthe body-mind standpoint; it is quite natural.I am telling you about the consciousness. In my true state, if I had been aware of consciousnessat the moment the body formation was taking place, I would have rejected it. But at that higheststate such knowledge is not there and this body formation and consciousness are both spontaneous.
Questioner:
Maharaj, will you please explain how we can dive further into that consciousness?
M:
How long have you been following spirituality?
Q:
For the last ten years.
M:
Who were your guides or Gurus?
Q:
Mostly I was reading. I had a Guru in Delhi.
M:
Who is employing the body and the name given to it?
Q:
That is what I want to discover.
M:
You need not go in search of it. It will be spontaneous, but you have to wait. I had to wait sucha long time to meet you.
Q:
I will wait.
M:
Now, understand the subtle difference, what are you and what do you understand to be you?The body is not you, the name is not you. The body is the food you have consumed, the taste of it isthe knowledge "I Am". That is Self, the feeling "I Am", that is the love to be.How amazing, how incredible, it has no name, but you give many names to it. It is the Self, thelove to be. That love to be is all-pervading.Heaven, hell, countries, houses, these are all concepts. There were rock and earth, a conceptwas employed and buildings were built. Before you conceptualize anything, you are, even beforethe knowingness, you are.You have only to apperceive this knowingness, the love to be, the Self.Who will be listening to such dialogues? Only the Self in the body has the urge to understand.People hasten to this place, traveling from distant countries, leaving their families for the time being, because the Self wants to know itself.
February 11, 1981
Maharaj:
I
studied the five-jeweled ornament, I have understood. It was a very precious gem, andthe ultimate product was that diadem. I have understood the value of that, but I am not that.The five gems are the five elemental body and consciousness, which I considered myself to be.It is very precious because it has the value of the cosmos. I recognize it, and in the process of recognition, I know that I am not that. Now I rarely speak, and when I speak, rarely does anyone understand. You might collect a lotof words, but will they remain with you? You are bereft of words and the meaning of words, youare not a personality. That birth principle which gives rise to the consciousness is not conditioned; ithas come spontaneously and manifests as consciousness.How caught up you are with the world! Until yesterday you did not have knowledge of your existence, and today you are loquacious; you are speaking so loudly, and you claim that you are
Brahman.
Questioner:
I know that I have to understand all this play of consciousness and conclude that thisis like the child of a barren woman.
M:
How are you going to catch that child of a barren woman? Just be in your beingness.
February 12, 1981
Maharaj:
Nothing in the world is of any use to me. That very identity with which you try tounderstand everything is unreal. Daily you have to convince yourself about yourself. You have tocarry out your life, first of all assuring yourself that you are. Nothing has happened except theknowingness, only a pin-prick of knowingness against the background of your innate nature of no-knowingness, and this is of no help at all.I don't have any identity arising out of consciousness.Presently this body is undergoing a lot of agony: dizziness, pain; all these things are happeningat the physical level. In spite of this state, the talk comes out inspiringly. What permits that? It is the
guna,
the beingness. That beingness not only experiences your visits here, but it also experiencesvarious changes and transformations in this body and in the world.Sometimes I experience the state of lying in some rubbish, and other times I experience that people are worshipping me. But that is all in the realm of consciousness. I realize this is all theoutcome of that birth principle "I Am".Will the space and the stars feel unhappy about the dirt in the world? It is part of the game inthat universal space. Consciousness is subtler than space. You are bent on having knowledge at themost mundane level, but whatever knowledge you collect is bound to disappear.There is only one truth in the world, and that is that everything is unreal. I am theUnmanifested talking through the Manifest. When the body, the mind, the vital breath drop off,nothing happens; only I, the Absolute, prevail always. No knowledge is called for to understand thistruth, because that knowledge is innate.What you have learned here will be your guide. The sprouting will take place.
February 13, 1981
Questioner:
I have so many questions to ask that it is chaotic.
Maharaj:
Your questions are regarding the concepts of others. Ask questions only regardingyourself.
Q:
I don't know my Self, how can I reach that point, how can I come to that?
M:
The fact that you do not know your Self is very appropriate; you are not the body, nor the nameof the body, therefore how can you know your Self?
Q:
How can I experience my Self?
M:
Is it because of the body that you do not see your Self?
Q:
Perhaps because "l am".
M:
I am leading you in that direction. You
are;
because you are, your world is. You are lost in thenames and titles imprinted on that world. Give up the habit of labelling whatever you are. Be whatyou were prior to the label or title, be that.
Q:
Is it intuitive, not of the mind?
M:
Don't employ the mind, do nothing.
Q:
Should you not be aware?
M:
That awareness will be there provided you are. You must give up all you have read and heard,and just
be.
Don't be carried away by concepts. Truth is eternal; whatever you can grasp is unreal.Even your experience that you are is not your true nature. You, as the Absolute, are not this "IAmness", but presently you have to abide in your "I Amness".
Q:
I feel afraid.
M:
Because you have assumed something as "I Am", which actually you are not, that is why youare afraid. Suppose you find a diamond ring on the road and you pocket it. Since it is not yours, afear overcomes you. When you put on an identity that is not yours, you are afraid. When you are the pure "I Amness" only, there is no fear. Presently you are this "I Am", but this "I Am" is not thetruth. Whatever you are prior to the appearance of "I Am", that is your true nature.
February 25, 1981
Maharaj:
Each one lives in the world according to certain preconceived concepts. Whatever spiritual knowledge he thinks he may have achieved, he continues to live according to thoseconcepts.
Questioner:
What is it like to live with no concepts?
M:
Any answer given to you will be a concept.
Q:
How can one know that he is beyond concepts?
M:
Merely to understand, without the slightest doubt, with great conviction, that there is a state prior to the arising of this consciousness. That, itself is, sufficient.
Q:
How can one differentiate between just having the thought of it and living it?
M:
How do you understand anything? Any knowledge of any kind that you think you have can only be in the consciousness. How can the consciousness, which came later, give you any knowledgeabout that state which exists prior to its arrival?Any thought that you have reached or are going to reach that state is false. Whatever happensin consciousness is purely imaginary, an hallucination; therefore, keep in mind the knowledge that itis consciousness in which everything is happening. With that knowledge, be still, do not pursue anyother thoughts which arise in consciousness. What is necessary is to understand with sureconviction is that all is temporary, and does not reflect your true state.
February 27, 1981
Questioner:
Could Maharaj speak on the relationship between body and spirit?
Maharaj:
You must get to know your own Self. This body is not your true nature. The principle bywhich you know "I Am" is your true nature.
Q:
What responsibility do I have towards other people?
M:
You have built your responsibilities around the teachings which you have derived from theworld, but what is that "you" which is accepting all the responsibility? You must understand thatfirst. You are identifying yourself as a body; that is not Self-knowledge.
Q:
I don't always feel that I am the body; when I become still and concentrate, I realize that thereis more than just flesh and blood there. It is a new realization for me.
M:
Have you come to the conclusion that there is no difference between different groups of people?
Q:
Except that some people are more greedy and ambitious. I like to visit foreign countries, meet various kinds of people with different customs.
M:
Don't roam about; don't come here, either. Abide in quietude, peace, stability. Here we are notengaged in any buying or selling. That knowledge "I Am", without concepts, is evoked or stimulated by the consciousness and peace which emanate from this place.
Q:
That is why it is valuable to be with Maharaj.
M:
I am not able to speak much. Don't ask questions. If you want, you may go elsewhere.
Q:
I have been with Maharaj before and I have felt a profound effect from that visit. I understood more.
M:
Whatever the experiencer feels or thinks is all in the consciousness, and is not real.
Q:
It is difficult for me to express.
M:
There is no individual looking at another individual; the sense of presence is cognizing. Other than that, there is nothing. This state of consciousness cognizing what appears in consciousness is being witnessed as a temporary state. The alternate states of waking, sleeping, and the sense of presence are all temporary states that have come upon me. I am not the states. They have all comespontaneously and will go spontaneously. No one has any control over them. Are any of these statesyour true nature?
Q:
The sense of presence is what I feel I am.
M:
Will that remain permanently? You must understand that truth is not changeable. Truth isconstant and eternal, whereas the combination of these three states has come upon you and were notthere earlier. Whatever is temporary and time-bound cannot be the truth.It is good, as far as it goes, that you have identified with this sense of presence, but understandthat even that is temporary and not your true nature.The most important thing for you is the "I Am". Just be that and the necessary guidance willcome.
March 2, 1981
Questioner:
Maharaj has said that he used to think of himself as an individual, but now he doesnot, for that would be identification with the body. The fact that the body continues even afterward -I mean - the body is so strong that it can continue for a certain period even after one realizes that he is not. Maharaj has said that when this sickness started, the last traces of individualitydisappeared.
Maharaj:
What is your question?
Q:
Is the identification with the body so strong - I mean - is it such a habit that one identifies withthe body even after one knows what lies beyond?
M:
It is not identification as a person, as you think. The body is an aid for the manifestation of consciousness, for experiencing. So long as this consciousness exists, it needs an instrument;without the body, consciousness cannot exist in that form. What is lost is the feeling of being aseparate entity.A jnani is like an unborn child, the consciousness is the child when it is born, and the child issick. This material, objective body is sick. The jnani cannot be sick. This body [referring to himself]instrument is disturbed and there is an imbalance; therefore, I am not able to talk properly, nor walk properly.Only so long as you have a body do you know that you are. This applies to all other creaturesalso. When the body is, the knowledge "I Am" is also there.
Q:
As the Ultimate, am I not aware of my being?
M:
To the Absolute, the witnessing of this "I Amness" happens.
March 4, 1981
Maharaj:
How did you get this "I Amness"? Did it come spontaneously, or did you try for it? Asthe Absolute, you were free from all concepts, including the primary concept "I Am"; suddenly youwere caught up in this "I Amness". Who did it? Has it not happened spontaneously?
Questioner:
Yes, that is true.
M:
You did not have this concept "I Am" in the course of the nine months in the womb. Understandthis state of affairs; the concept "I Am" comes spontaneously and goes spontaneously. Amazingly,when it appears, it is accepted as real. All subsequent misconceptions arise from that feeling of reality in the "I Amness." Try to stabilize in that primary concept "I Am", in order to lose that andwith it all other concepts. Why am I totally free? Because I have understood the unreality of that "IAm".I offer my salutations to all the prophets, creeds, religions, etc. I know they are not real, theyare only the play of this consciousness. The Truth, the Eternal, cannot be witnessed. It ever prevails.In your true state there are no words, but you think yourself important and you embrace manywords. Poor human beings are caught between worldly life and spiritual life. One in a millionunderstands all this play of consciousness, transcends it.
Q:
What is death?
M:
Death is also a hearsay. Have you experienced death? Having followed the course of spirituality, you have come to the end of personality and there is no more human being. There isonly impersonal consciousness. In this realm of consciousness all that is going on is dynamic playfulness, a process of functioning. There is no differentiation in this process as to a person, anentity, a community, a creed, a religion.In the flash of your consciousness, all this play is going on. The play will come to an end.
March
7,
1981
Questioner:
In pursuing what Maharaj says, the result may be a type of behavior which will beconsidered peculiar in the world.
Maharaj:
Whose behavior? And considered peculiar by whom? All that IS is the essence of thefive elements. By this aperception, the nature of the five elements is not going to change. Theessence of the five elements is this momentary sense of presence, as compared to eternity.You come here with a sense of love and regard for me, and you will benefit to the extent of how you perceive me. If you continue to see me as an individual, that will be the extent of your benefits; if you see me as I see myself, and as I see you, that will be the further measure of your benefits. The real state is that state which was prior to the arrival of consciousness. Very few willhave reached that state. Most of you will not want to go beyond identification with an entity or a body.This identification, which has been changing from infancy to your present state, and which willcontinue to change in the course of time, is purely seasonal.You identify with the body on the strength of hearsay. Your parents told you that you were born on a certain date, and that this body is what you are. So, based on hearsay, you formed your identity with a certain image. You may think that now you have become jnanis and that you knowyour identity very well, but most often this is a case of sensory deception. Whatever your image of yourself, it is nothing but a concept.Just understand what you are, and carry on your daily life to the best of your ability.
Q:
Is daily puja (worship) being observed here?
M:
Yes. Here the worshipper is the consciousness, and the object of worship is also theconsciousness.
March 12, 1981
Questioner:
What arose first, "I Amness" or desire?
Maharaj:
If the "I Amness" is not there, what else can there be? This consciousness is in a state of flux, not stationary. If the power to manifest itself and that knowingness ("I Amness") have notappeared, no identification can take place. When that "I Amness" appears, and is accepted as real, itis conditioned, or confined to a certain identity.
Q:
I have dropped my identity.
M:
Who has dropped it?
Q:
No one has dropped it. It dropped by itself. It was possible to observe the capacity of the brainnot to register anything.
M:
If the non-reaction state was possible, consciousness would not arise.
Q:
If consciousness is only the content of consciousness, then that knowledge is dropped.
M:
What is the necessity of its getting dropped? What was not, will not be. That knowledge was notthere earlier and is going to disappear.There have been so many teachings by the various saints who have appeared and disappeared.In these talks here, where are the references to Christ, Rama, Krishna, or others? Do we refer tothem in our dialogue?There have been so many saints, sages, and jnanis, and each one has been enamored of a particular concept that he wanted the world to know about. Ultimately, the different religions wereonly individual concepts which appealed to the consciousness in a particular individual at a particular time.
Q:
That is why we are here.
M:
When you came, was it not on account of your body-mind? Not only is the body-mind unreal, but this manifest consciousness, this universe, is also unreal. The "I Amness" is dream-like,ephemeral.Even the feeling of having understood is likely to lead one into a sense of illusion, because theindividual thinks he has found something to impart to others, but there is no individual.It is so easy to get totally lost when juggling words, by attaching too much importance to them.Just remember that the total functioning of the manifest happens through the friction of the fiveelements and the talking which takes place is a part of the total functioning. There is no question of anyone seeking a particular benefit for himself as an individual teacher.Man identifies with the gross form, he neither recognizes nor identifies with the manifestconsciousness. All the activities go on because of the consciousness, but no one really understandsit.When people come here they have many questions and they think, after a while, they knowsomething, but when they finally know there will be no questions to ask.
March 13, 1981
Maharaj:
Everything happens out of our own Self. This consciousness is spontaneously felt in theSelf only. This "I" is not an individual. What
is,
is the Absolute unmanifested. What appears, as if in a dream, is the manifested, relative world, and this experience of the dreamlike state is the same,an identical state, for everyone.In this process of functioning that becomes manifest, if you accept something as an individualevent then it affects you as an individual. If you do not take delivery as an individual but as totalfunctioning, then you are free of whatever is happening. The knowledge of the Self is this dream-like feeling of "I Amness". By assuming a separate identity one taints that which is taintless; that isthe original sin.Go to the very root: who are you, what are you? You are the product of the five elements, youhave taken the support of the five elements. Your feeling of "I Amness" emanates from the fiveelements. Focus your attention at that point. What change should occur in you so that you realizeyour Self? What change could happen to you? When you come here, you must be expectingsomething to happen. What change do you expect in yourself so that you may say, "I have nowattained what I sought. I need not go to Maharaj any more." With reference to what state are youspeaking? What is that state? In that dream-like state, I am not keeping a record of anyone cominghere, nor of any conversations among us.
March 21, 1981
Questioner:
If someone understands the truth, does this have any effect on the world at large?
Maharaj:
The first thing that happens is that the individuality is lost, and whatever happens then isseen as total functioning; the understanding of the total functioning cannot be divided. There is noquestion of "I" or "you" understanding something. It IS understanding.This knowledge is not found in books. It is not intellectual knowledge. Although thisconsciousness functions through millions of forms, it is one and the same consciousness.We have this conviction that I am, I exist, I'm alive. That conviction is because of theconsciousness, and consciousness is not aware of itself unless the body is there,so what is the relationship? Consciousness is the taste of this physical form. If the form is notthere, the taste is not there. The body is the essence of food and the consciousness is the essence of the physical form. If this is properly understood, is there any individuality? This individuality is a process of manifestation.
Q:
Why does the consciousness want to preserve itself in a particular form ?
M:
When the consciousness identifies itself with a form, it is the nature of this identity to want tocontinue as long as possible. Consciousness loves that identification so much that it wants tocontinue.
Q:
If this individuality is lost, will consciousness still want to continue?
M:
Once consciousness has lost its individuality and has become one with the universe, it will haveno need to continue?
March 24, 1981
Maharaj:
If you sit here quietly, being one with the knowledge "I Am", then you are not concernedwith the world or what goes on in the world. It is only when the consciousness starts operating andthere are various movements in the consciousness that the behavior in the world takes place. When Iam not conscious of the existence of the body, experiences are not registered.Just as the universe is contained in consciousness, so too this physical body is merely anappearance in consciousness, perceived and cognized by consciousness. No amount of effort canmake you understand this; only the deepest apperception of this in consciousness will make thatexperience happen by itself.Anyone in that condition, where the consciousness is present but the registration of theexistence of the body is not, even in that state the conditions in the body change constantly. All of this is an appearance in consciousness; therefore, consciousness has to suffer all of the changingconditions.In that state any number of events happen, but all that is really happening is a total functioningagainst the background of this void which, in reality, is really consciousness. There is no separateidentity; what IS is this consciousness, apart from that no one can exist.When you are very quiet, you have arrived at the basis of everything. That is the deep, dark blue state in which there are millions of stars and planets. When you are in that state, you have noawareness of your existence. ................
