Talk 164.
Another American asked about thought-forms.M.: Trace the source of thoughts, they will disappear.
D.: Thoughts materialise.
M.: If there be thoughts they will materialise. If they disappear there is nothing to materialise. Moreover if you are physical the world is physical and so on. Find out if you are physical.
D.: How shall I be useful to God's world?
M.: Find out if `I' is different from the divine part of the world. Not being able to help yourself yet you are seeking the divine part of it to help you to help the world. The divinity is directing and controlling you. Where do you go in deep sleep? Wherefrom do you come out?
D.: I have been influenced by deeds and thoughts.
M.: Thoughts and deeds are the same.
D.: Is there any way of sensing super-physical phenomena, e.g. , guardian angels?
M.: The state of the object is according to the state of the seer.
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D.: A group of seers see the same.
M.: Because there is only one seer behind all, and there is diversity of phenomena. Do you perceive diversity in deep sleep?
D.: We see Abraham Lincoln who died long ago.
M.: Is there the object without the seer? The experiences may be real.
The objects are only according to the seer.
D.: An assistant of mine was killed in the war. A photo was taken of another group nine years after his death. His picture appears in the photo. How is it?
M.: Possibly thoughts have materialised … Go to the root of it.
D.: How?
M.: If the way is external, directions are possible, but it lies within. Seek within. The Self is always realised. Something not already realised might be sought afresh. But the Self is within your experience.
D.: Yes. I realise myself.
M.: Myself. Are there two - my and self?
D.: I do not mean it.
M.: Who is it that has or has not realised?
D.: There is only one Self.
M.: The question can arise only if there be two. Abandon the wrong identification of the Self with the non-self.
D.: I mean the higher stage of consciousness.
M.: There are no stages.
D.: Why does not a man get illumination instantly.
M.: The man is illumination itself. He is illumining
D.: Is your teaching different from that of others?
M.: The path is one and the realisation is only one.
D.: But people speak of so many methods.
M.: Depending on their own state of mentality.
D.: What is yoga?
M.: Yoga (union) is for one in viyoga (separation). But there is only one. If you realise the Self there will be no difference.
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D.: Is there efficacy in bathing in the Ganges?
M.: The Ganges is within you. This Ganges does not make you feel cold or shiver. Bathe in it.
D.: Should we read Gita once in a while?
M.: Always.
D.: May we read the Bible?
M.: The Bible and the Gita are the same.
D.: The Bible teaches that Man is born in sin.
M.: The Man is sin. There was no man-sense in deep sleep. The body-
thought brings out the idea of sin. The birth of thought is itself sin. To another question the Master said: Everyone sees only the Self. The divine forms are only like bubbles in the ocean of Reality, or like pictures moving on a screen.
D.: The Bible says that the human soul may be lost.
M.: The `I-thought' is the ego and that is lost. The real `I' is "I am That I Am."
D.: There is conflict in the teachings of Aurobindo and of the Mother.
M.: First surrender the Self and then harmonise the conflicts.
D.: What is Renunciation?
M.: Giving up of the ego.
D.: Is it not giving up possessions?
M.: The possessor too.
D.: The world will change if the people will give up their possessions for the benefit of others.
M.: First give yourself up and then think of the rest.
In answer to another question Sri Bhagavan said: The methods appear easy according to the nature of the individual. It depends on what he has practised before.
D.: Can we not get realisation instantaneously?
M.: Realisation is nothing new. It is eternal. There is no question of instantaneous or gradual realisation.
D.: Is there reincarnation?
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M.: Reincarnation can be if you are incarnate now. Even now you are not born. To another question:
M.: The ego is the root of all diseases. Give it up.
There will be no disease.
D.: If all renounce will there be a practical world? Who will plough?
Who will harvest?
M.: Realise first and then see. The help through Realisation transcends all the help through words, thoughts and deeds, etc. If you understand your own reality then that of the rishis and masters will be clear to you. There is only one master and that is the Self.
D.: Why do masters insist on silence and receptivity?
M.: What is silence? It is eternal eloquence.
D.: What is receptive attitude of mind?
M.: Not to be distracted in mind.
D.: Is there use in bringing America and India closer by bringing the intelligentsia of the two countries together, say, by exchange of professors, etc.?
M.: Such events will take place automatically. There is a Power guiding the destinies of nations. These questions arise only when you have lost touch with Reality. Is America apart from you, or India apart? Get hold of it and see.
D.: Sri Ramakrishna prepared Vivekananda. What is the power behind?
M.: The power is only one in all.
D.: What is the nature of that force?
M.: Just like iron filings drawn towards a magnet, the force is inside and not outside. Ramakrishna was in Vivekananda. If you think Vivekananda to be a body, Ramakrishna also is a body. But they are not bodies. Vivekananda could not go into Samadhi had not Ramakrishna been within him.
D.: Why should one suffer when stung by a scorpion?
M.: What is the cause of the appearance of the body and of the world?
D.: It is part of the cosmic mind.
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M.: Let the cosmic mind worry about such happenings. If the individual wants to know let him discover his Self.
D.: About yogic mysteries of drinking nitric acid, swallowing poisons , walking on fire, etc., are these due to a state of vibration?
M.: Let the physical body question it. You are not physical. Why worry about what you are not. If the Self had any form it might be affected by objects. But the Self has no form, therefore it is immune from contact with things.
D.: What is the significance of the sea of Love?
M.: Spirit, Holy Ghost, Realisation, Love, etc., are all synonymous.
D.: Very, very illuminating conversation. Mr. N. Subba Rao: What is visishtadvaita?
M.: The same as this.
D.: They do not admit maya [?]?
M.: Sarvam is Brahman, we say. They repeat Brahman remains qualified (visishta [?]) in all.
D.: They say that the world is a reality.
M.: We say so too. Acharya has only said, "Find out the reality behind the world." What is called illusion by one is called changefulness by another. The end is the same in both.
Dr. Hand: Maharshi! Do not think we are bad boys.
M.: Do not tell me so. But you need not think you are bad boys.
All laughed and dispersed at 5 p.m.
Sri Bhagavan a minute later: If they remain a day longer they will become silent.