Talk 254.
Mr. Duncan Greenlees quoted a few verses from Srimad Bhagavatam to the following effect:"See the Self in yourself like the pure ether in all beings, in and out." "Unashamed, fall prostrate before even an outcast, a cow or an ass." "So long as `I' am not perceived in all, worship all with body and mind." "With right knowledge see all as Brahma. This once clear, all doubts are at an end and you will remain withdrawn in the Self."
He then raised the following questions:
D.: Is this a True Path to the realisation of the, One Self? Is it not easier for some thus to practise seeing Bhagavan in whatever meets the mind than to seek the Super-Mental through the mental inquiry "Who am I??"
M.: Yes. When you see God in all, do you think of God or do you not?
You should certainly keep God in your mind for seeing God all round you. Keeping God in your mind becomes dhyana [?] [?]. Dhyana [?] is the stage before realisation. Realisation is in the Self only. Dhyana must precede it. Whether you make dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial. The goal is the same. But you cannot escape the Self. You want to see God in all, but not in yourself? If all are God, are you not included in that all? Yourself being God, is it a wonder that all are God? There must be a seer and thinker for even the practice. Who is he?
D.: Through poetry, music, japa, bhajan, beautiful landscapes, reading the lives of spiritual heroes, etc., one sometimes experiences a true sense of all-unity. Is that feeling of deep blissful quiet (wherein the personal self has no place) the "entering into the heart" whereof Bhagavan speaks? Will practice of that lead to a deeper samadhi, and so ultimately to a full vision of the Real?
M.: Again, there is happiness at agreeable sights, etc. It is the happiness inherent in the Self. That happiness is not alien and after. You are diving into the Pure Self on occasions which you consider pleasurable. That diving reveals the Self-existent Bliss.
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But the association of ideas is responsible for foisting this bliss on to other things or happenings. In fact, it is within you. On these occasions you are plunging into the Self, though unconsciously. If you do so consciously you call it Realisation. I want you to dive consciously into the Self, i.e., into the Heart.