29th April, 1938

Talk 482.

Dr. Pande of Indore is on a visit here. He asked leave of Bhagavan to ask questions so that his doubts might be cleared. He wanted to be shown a practical way to realise the Self.
M.: A man was blindfolded and left in the woods. He then enquired of the way to Gandhara from each one he met on the way until he finally reached it. So also all the ways lead to Self-Realisation. They are aids to the common goal.

D.: Dhyana ^[?] will be easy if there is a pratikam ^[?] (symbol). But the enquiry into the Self does not show any pratikam.

M.: You admit the existence of the Self. Do you point to the pratikam

(symbol) and say that it is the Self? Maybe you think the body is the Self. But consider your deep sleep. You do exist then. What is the pratikam there? So the Self can be realised without pratikam.

D.: Quite true. I see the force of the words. But yet are not mantras , etc., helpful?

M.: They are helpful. What is mantra ^[?]? You are thinking of the simple sounds of the mantra. Repetition of the same excludes all other thoughts. The single thought of the mantra japa ^[?] remains. That too drops away giving place to the Infinite Self, which is the mantra itself. Mantra, dhyana, bhakti, etc., are all aids and finally lead to Swarupa, the Self, which is they themselves.

After a few minutes Maharshi continued:

Everyone is the Self, indeed infinite. Yet each one mistakes the body for the Self. To know anything, illumination is necessary. Such illuminating agency can only be in the form of light which is
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however lighting the physical light and darkness. So then that other Light lies beyond the apparent light and darkness. It is itself neither light nor darkness but is said to be Light because It illumines both. It is also Infinite and remains as Consciousness. Consciousness is the Self of which everyone is aware. No one is away from the Self. So each one is Self-realised. Yet what a mystery that no one knows this fundamental fact, and desires to realise the Self? This ignorance is due to the mistaking of the body for the Self. Realisation now consists in getting rid of this false idea that one is not realised. Realisation is not anything newly got. It must be already there in order that it may be permanent. Otherwise Realisation is not worth attempting. After the false notion `I-am-the-body' or `I have not realised' is removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone is left over, which is however called Realisation in the present state of knowledge. However, the truth is that Realisation is eternal and already there, here and now. Finally, Realisation amounts to elimination of ignorance and nothing more or less.

D.: My profession requires my stay in my place. I cannot remain in the vicinity of sadhus. Can I have realisation even in the absence of sat sanga ^[?] as necessitated by my circumstances?

M.: Sat is aham pratyaya saram = the Self of selves. The sadhu ^[?] is that Self of selves. He is immanent in all. Can anyone remain without the Self? No. So no one is away from sat sanga.