The Secret Supreme15
The Secret Supreme is the Supreme Himself. He can be seen. He can be felt. He can be realised. When He is seen, He is Existence. When He is felt, He is Consciousness. When He is realised, He is Delight. In His embodiment of Existence, He is Eternal. In His revelation of Consciousness, He is Infinite. In His manifestation of Delight, He is Immortal. His Vision Transcendental and His Reality Absolute are man’s future achievements. Man’s expanding love, crying devotion and glowing surrender are God’s future possessions.God is at once finite and Infinite. He is in space. He can be measured. He must be measured. He is beyond space. He is measureless. He is boundless. He is Infinite. Smaller than the point of a needle is He. Larger than the seven higher worlds and seven lower worlds combined is He. In His Heart is Earth’s Suffering. In His Soul is Heaven’s Joy. Secretly He tells Earth, “My child, I am yours. I am at your service. Use Me. Lo, you and I are fulfilled.” Openly He tells heaven, “My child, you are Mine. You are at My service. Bend your head and go and give My Vision’s Light and Reality’s Height to your brother Earth, younger in wisdom, older in patience.”
The Secret Supreme is the Knowledge Supreme. This Knowledge is the song of liberation. This Knowledge is the dance of revelation. This Knowledge is the silence of perfection. When a man is liberated, he sits at the Feet of God. When a man reveals the highest Truth, he plays in the Heart of God. When a man is perfectly perfect, God will shake hands with him. Rest assured, one day God will send that perfect son of His into the world.
The world tells you a frightening secret: God is austere, God is demanding, God is stern. I tell you an illumining secret: God is reachable, God is lovable, God is enjoyable. When your mind is calm, God is reachable. When your heart is pure, God is lovable. When your soul is sure, God is enjoyable.
For God’s sake, do not be afraid of Him. He not only enjoys but appreciates your jokes. Your innocent jokes delight Him. The Vedic seer is now singing in you, through you and for you: “If, O God, Thou wert I, and I were Thee, Thy prayers should have their due fulfilment here and now.”
And for your own sake, for your own joy and pride, you can sing along with the Vedic seers: “O God, Thee I shall not sell for the highest price, not for a thousand, not for ten thousand, not for an amount measureless, O my Lord Supreme of Infinity’s Plenitude.”
Self-realisation is the Secret Supreme. Right now we are in both ignorance and knowledge. The Isha Upanishad teaches us that ignorance and knowledge should be pursued together. Through ignorance, we must conquer death. Through knowledge, we must obtain Immortality. Here ignorance means ritualistic actions, actions done for the sake of fruits. And knowledge means the deepest meditation that makes man consciously one with God; action done to fulfil God here on earth, there in heaven; truth for truth’s sake.
The world tells me that human birth is the worst possible curse. I tell the world that human birth is the best possible opportunity. India’s peerless Avatar [direct descendant of God] Sri Krishna has something more to tell the world. He says, “Blessed is the human birth; even the dwellers in heaven desire this birth, for God-Realisation is attained only by human beings here on earth.”
Dear North Dakotans, dear friends, dear brothers and sisters, I have come to you to speak on the Secret Supreme. I wish to spring a surprise on you. With my soulful joy and in all sincerity, I wish to tell you that your own state and your own university have secretly and most open-heartedly taught me the Supreme Secret. The dedicated motto of the state of North-Dakota has taught me the Supreme Secret: “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable.” The aspiring motto of the University of North Dakota has taught me the Supreme Secret: “Light and Law.” With your kind permission I wish to say a few words on these two divine mottoes. To start with the State motto, liberty means responsibility. Whose responsibility? God’s responsibility. When a man is liberated from the meshes of ignorance, God acts in him proudly, God acts through him unreservedly, God acts for him unconditionally.
Lord Halifax once aptly remarked, “If none were to have liberty but those who understand what it is, there would not be many free men in the world.”
We shall all have liberty, both inner and outer. The inner liberty is the highest realisation of the absolute Truth. The outer liberty is the most successful manifestation of Divinity’s perfect Perfection on earth.
Union, man’s union with God: God is consciously and fully aware of it. Before long he too will be consciously and fully aware of this union. In man’s union with God, we see man the soulful gratitude. In God’s union with man, we see God the Compassion-Flood.
Now and forever: once liberty has given birth to man’s union with God, or man’s union with God has given birth to his liberty, man’s life starts living forever in the Eternal Now.
One and inseparable: liberty and union are inseparable because they have to enlighten each other. Now and forever are inseparable because they have to feed each other. Man and God are inseparable because they have to fulfil each other.
It is time for us to dive into the life-growing and soul-fulfilling sea of the university motto: Lux et Lex, [Light and Law].
Light is not a theoretical knowledge, but a practical wisdom. Law, the Divine Law, is not a command, but an experience. Man’s inspiration expands through the bliss of Light. Man’s aspiration ascends through the peace of Law. The spiritual Light has an inner glow that illumines the outer life. The unspiritual light has an outer glare that obscures the inner life. When an aspirant lives in Light, he is the doer. When an aspirant lives in the Divine Law, he is the knower. The difference between an ordinary man and an aspirant is this: an ordinary man wants to be defended by the law, although he himself will not care for or follow the law, whereas an aspirant will soulfully, unreservedly and unconditionally defend the law. Law is truth. We have to know how to use the truth in our daily activities.
A truth that is told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
— William Blake
This is true, absolutely true. We must always tell the truth with divine intent. Our truth must be flooded with love, concern and oneness. Our truth must illumine and not blind. Our truth must liberate and not bind. Finally, I wish to say with regard to the university motto that Light is the weight of the universal Soul, and Law is the height of the transcendental Soul.
The Secret Supreme. If you want to realise the Secret Supreme, you have to meditate. You have to know how to meditate. And for that you need a spiritual teacher. Until you have a teacher of your own, you have to meditate all alone. During your meditation, do not be afraid of anything. Fear is something you can and must give up. God’s constant Love is something you can and must have. Your fear kills God’s Love. Your aspiration for God-Realisation and your surrender to God’s Will kill all your fear, born and yet to be born. Harbour divine confidence in the inmost recesses of your heart. Confidence is the secret of success. Hope is the secret of attempts. Doubt is poison. Doubt destroys your life of aspiration sooner than immediately. During your meditation, do not fight against evil thoughts. If you constantly fight against evil thoughts, you will, to your great surprise, only strengthen them. But if you open yourself to divine thoughts, evil thoughts will have no need for you. They will be terribly jealous of your divine thoughts and in no time will leave you. During your meditation, try to cultivate divine Love. Try to love humanity soulfully. You may say, “How can I love others when I do not know how to love myself?” I will tell you how you can love yourself. You can love yourself most successfully just by loving God unreservedly. You may ask, “How can I love God when I do not know what Love is?” I will tell you what Love is. Love is the transforming power in our human nature. Love transforms our life of stark bondage into the life of mightiest freedom. Love cries for Life. Love fights for Life. And, finally, Love grows into the Life Eternal.
The Secret Supreme is God-Realisation, nothing more and nothing less. Yesterday my ignorance unconsciously offered me to God. Today my knowledge consciously offers God to me. In my unconscious awareness of God, neither God nor I am fulfilled. In my conscious oneness with God, both God and I are fully fulfilled.
EL 15. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 6 May 1969.↩