15th January, 1936

Talk 138.

The Financial Secretary of Mysore asked: "Is Paul Brunton's Secret

Path useful for Indians as well?"
M.: Yes - for all.
D.: The body, the senses, etc. are not `I'. This is common amongst us. But how to practise it?

M.: By the threefold method mentioned therein.
D.: Is breath-control necessary for enquiry?
M.: Not quite.

Page 124
D.: "There is a blankness intervening," it is said in the book.
M.: Yes. Do not stop there. See for whom the blankness appears.
D.: For devotees there is no blankness, it is said.
M.: Even there, there is the latent state, laya ^[?]; the mind wakes up after some time.

D.: What is the experience of samadhi?
M.: It is as it is. For onlookers it may seem to be a swoon. Even to the practiser it may appear so in the early experiences. After a few repeated experiences it will be all right.

D.: Do they soothe nadis or do they excite them by such experiences?
M.: They are excited at first. By continued experience it becomes common and the man is no longer excited.

D.: Proceeding on safe lines there should be no unpleasantness.

Excitement is uncongenial to smooth being and working.

M.: A wandering mind is on the wrong way; only a devotional mind is on the right way.