Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Crumbs from His Table

B: Who are you?

D: To whom is the question to be put and how?

B: Put the question to your "Self", trace the source from which the "I" springs and the answer will come to you

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Faith is essential for knowledge - Gita, 6-39

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Mind alone is the cause of man's bondage and freedom

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One must attempt to get at ehe ver bottom from which thought springs and root out thought, mind and desire.

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Control the mind and even Hell will be Heaven to you. All other talk of solitude, living in a forest etc., is mere prattle

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Your duty lies in practice, continuous practice of Self-enquiry.

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D: What is the effect of Japan or mantras?

B: Diversion; the mind is a channel, a swift current of thoughts and a mantra is a bund or dam put up in the way of this current to divert the water to where it is needed.

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D: Which path is best suited to me? Won't all help be provided by God?

B: Bhakti, Karma, Jnana and Yoga, all these paths are one. You cannot love God without knowing Him nor know Hin without loving Him. Love manifests itself in everything you do and that is Karma. The development of mental perception (Yoga) is the necessary preliminary before you can know or love God in the proper way.

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D: What about pranayama?

B: What about it? While I do not speak about it in terms of the well-known phraseology of purakam, rechakam and kumbhakam and of their matras (inhalation, exhalation and retention of breath in units of time) I have said that it can be used. Mind and life-breath spring from the same source; if you stop the course of one, you have automatically stopped the course of the other. Control of mind is easier than control of breath. The latter resembles the forcible milking of a cow and the former the cajoling of the cow by a feed of grass and caressing it by gently patting its back.

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Prabhu expounded to Gorakh Brahma Vidya as follows "Gorakh, conceive not your body as your 'Self'. Seek the In-dweller (the cave-dweller) and you will once for all rid yourself of the disease of birth and death. The cave is only our heart, the In-dweller thereof is called God and 'I am That'.

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DREAM , SLEEP AND SAMADHI

D:How can one control dreams ?

B: One who can control them during jagrat (waking state) can also control them while asleep. Dreams are only impressions which have been received in the waking state and are recalled to mind in the dream state (i.e., semi-sleeping states distinct from deep sleep ----- sushupti) Referring to what he saw in dreams,  the enquirer remarked,  "I could not understand what they were . There were huge figures with monkey faces in my dream ."

   B: The Self is not limited; it is the mind which  produces a from that is limited; that which has got dimensions is the mind and it gives rise to dimensions in others The real limitation is in the mind. The mind is not different from the Supreme Being. A gold ornament is not gold itself, but is also not different from gold.The mind is a wonderful power, a mysterious power (shakti) of the Supreme Being . It is after the rise of the of the mind that God, world and jivas (individuals) appear, whereas in sleep we are not aware of any of these three. That is the mysterious power of God. But although we are not aware of these of these in sleep, yet we know that we existed in sleep also. On the rising of the unconscious are with reference to the mind only. In the wakeful state we identify ourselves with the mind.If now we find the real Self b behind the mind, then we shall not have these limitations. In the deep sleep state, what limitations were there?

    D: None that I am aware of.

    B: That which says I was not aware than is also the mind.

In the deep sleep you are one with the real Self. That which appears in the interval also disappears. The Self always remans, whether in sleep, dream, or waking state. It is the substratum both of the waking state and the sleep state. The different states of dream, sleep and wakefulness are only for the mind. Trance and unconsciousness also are only for the mind; they do not affect the Self.

    D: Will the Master say that there is no difference between the poet, the artist, the clerk and the engineer, etc.?

    B: The difference is only is only in the mind: according to the predisposition of each,  the differences  exist . No two is like the sensitive plate taking images of things as they appear, whereas the wise mans's mind is like a clean mirror.

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There is no need to resign your job, but resign yourself to Him, the bearer of the burden of all. One who renounces desire, etc., actually merges in the world and expands his love to the whole universe. Expansion of love and affection would be a far better term for a true devotee of God than renunciation, for one who renounces the immediate ties actually extends the bonds of affection and love to a wider world beyond the borders of caste, creed and race. 

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Sri Bhagavan has often remarked that all that is required is that aspirants should take, in very moderate quantities, whatever food comes their way and not stipulate, discriminate or pick and choose in the matter of diet; that, in contrast to the claim of hatha yogis that yoga practice is necessary to ward off disease from the physical body and make it pure and healthy to help concentration etc. 

The enquiry method, if followed strictly as directed, with absolute one-pointedness of mind is, is capable of devouring all the germs of disease wherever and whenever they arise. He would appear also to be of the view that for such an enquirer, yama and niyama will automatically come, as is His own case. He said that when He was staying in Gurumurtham for 18 months His diet was only one cup of milk-mixture for the whole day. His insistence is on continuous one-pointed enquiry and it is also apparent even to a beginner that such an enquiry, like thailadhara (unbroken flow of oil), would automatically ensure a steady asana, freedom from. hunger and thirst and freedom from disease; only a beginner cannot easily obtain this state and has to contend with his vacillating tendencies. 

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Sri Bhagavan, having become one with the Absolute, His one repeated insistence is to realise the Self. With Him "To love God is to realise Him". Realisation is parabhakti. Realisation that God and Self are one would certainly lead to realisation of the universality of the soul and remove all hatred, jealousy, war and what not. But before realising this and conforming to His greatest teaching, it would be useless, nay injurious, to think and talk about minor details pertaining to the ordinary workaday world. 

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B: "Why? Why this prostration of one material body before another? Who prostrates? Before whom? There is no Guru, no disciple. Realise who you are."

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