The significance of a flower

Following are the words he spoke on that day about the significance of a flower.

As we all know, the flower signifies beauty. Beauty is simplicity. Beauty is sincerity. Beauty is humility. Beauty is purity. Beauty is divinity.

Simplicity is the soul, and the soul is the direct representative of God. Now for a few minutes let us feel that we do not have a body, a vital, a mind or even a heart. What we have now and what we are is the soul alone, the direct representative of God. Please try to feel that you have become the soul. Do not give any form to this idea. Just repeat in silence, “soul, soul, soul,” and feel that you have become a conscious and direct representative of God.

Sincerity. We all know what sincerity is. On the physical plane, vital plane and mental plane, telling the truth is the highest form of sincerity. It is an action in the outer world. In the inner world, sincerity is seeing the Truth through God’s Eye, feeling the Truth through God’s Heart, growing into the Truth of God’s transcendental Vision and universal Reality. This is inner sincerity. Now let us feel that we have grown into inner sincerity and that we are seeing everything through God’s Vision, feeling everything through God’s Heart and growing into God’s transcendental Vision and universal Reality. Let us become inner sincerity.

Humility. There are many roads that lead to God-realisation, to the ultimate Truth, but the path of humility is the short-cut. We started on the road of our desire-life. That is the longest road. Then we became half spiritual — half desire and half aspiration. This road is not as long as the road of desire alone. The next road is the road of aspiration only. That road is a very short one, and humility will shorten it still more.

In the inner world, humility always reminds us of what we were previously, of what we are now and of what we are going to become. It was by virtue of our humility that we accepted the spiritual life. Humility has the eagerness to complete the game.

Each individual has two existences or two realities: the higher and the lower. The lower cherishes a sense of separateness, whereas the higher feels that without the lower it is incomplete. But it is the lower that has to grow into the higher. When we want to grow into the higher reality, we immediately see how far away we are. But if we are really humble in the inner world, then we make immediate progress. Then, when we dive deep within, we see how far we were six months ago and how much nearer we now are to divinity. We also see how different we are from our friends of the past. We are not criticising them, but we see that our friends have not cultivated the inner cry to grow into divinity, into a higher consciousness.

It is humility that cultivates within us the eagerness to know and to grow into higher realities. Everything is within us. But just because we are humble, the higher realities get the opportunity to fulfil themselves through us. The moment we lose our humility, we feel that we have nothing worth showing, that we have nothing that can be of any use to God. Let us meditate on our sincere inner humility for a few minutes.

Purity. In a broad sense, physical purity is cleanliness, vital purity is an open heart and mental purity is the absence of undivine and unhealthy thoughts. Inner purity is our gratitude-heart. If we really want to know what purity is, our gratitude-heart can tell us what it is. In the inner world, gratitude is the only purity. It is through gratitude, constant gratitude to the Supreme in us, that we expand our consciousness and come to know our higher vision and reality. If we can sow a seed of gratitude which will germinate and grow into a tiny plant and then into a banyan tree, then under this huge banyan tree in our gratitude-hearts thousands of seekers will be able to take shelter and grow into divinity.

Our gratitude-heart is the pioneer-seeker. It is the path-finder and the God-server. For a few minutes let us feel that what we are and eternally will become is nothing but a gratitude-heart.

Finally, the flower signifies divinity. What is divinity? It is the Supreme form of art. It is the Supreme art within each individual, created for God’s sake. Unless and until we have discovered this truth, we shall not be able to become inseparably one with God. If we do not become one with God’s Will constantly and incessantly, then the animal and the human in us may forgive us, and God Himself will undoubtedly forgive us, but the evolving divinity within us will not forgive us. Our own soul inside us will not forgive us. Our inner mounting flame, our utmost sincere cry, will not forgive us. It cannot forgive us, for to it, forgiveness is nothing short of siding with ignorance.

The animal in us and the human in us are very clever. They do not consciously, soulfully or constantly care for divinity. At times they become one with divinity, but at other times they want to preserve the sense of separativity. But the evolving divinity within us will never find any satisfaction unless and until we can become inseparably one with God’s Will, and because of this the evolving divinity is very, very strict.

God is all Compassion; therefore, He forgives us. The animal and the human in us are clever. They can forgive us because they are not constantly crying for divinity. They say, “You tried and you failed. It is a difficult task, so whatever you can do is enough. Whatever divinity you have attained is more than enough for us.” But the evolving divinity in us is very strict with our spiritual life or inner life, which is our real existence. Our soul will not forgive us when we don’t consciously and incessantly obey God’s Will, because it knows that each human incarnation is the golden opportunity to manifest God in and through the physical, vital and mental consciousness. These are subordinate realities. The soul is the most important.

The vital, the mind and the body are the younger members of the family. The soul is the eldest member, and God has asked it to take care of the younger members of the family. It is the soul’s bounden duty to take care of the members of the family, but they do not listen to it. When they do not listen to the soul, the soul cannot manifest its divinity, and it has to come into the world-arena again and again to manifest God's Will.

The soul cannot forgive the little members of the family when they do not listen to it because the soul has a task to accomplish for God. If the soul allows its family to be careless, then the soul will not be able to fulfil God’s Vision on earth. God, out of His infinite Bounty and because He deals with Eternity, will forgive us. He will forgive the body, vital and mind. But the soul knows that at each second it misses an opportunity. Then it feels that God-manifestation is a far cry and the road, instead of becoming shorter, is lengthening itself. Therefore, the evolving soul within us, the inner divinity in us, is always strict with us. It knows that each second the little members take the side of truth and light, a new world of higher truth, brighter divinity and more illumining Immortality dawns on earth.

To all seekers I wish to say that the spiritual life is the life of the soul. We have to become consciously one with our soul. Why? Because it is only when we feel our oneness with the soul that true satisfaction can dawn in our lives. We can never be truly satisfied with our own outer satisfaction. True satisfaction is to be one with the soul. We can only be permanently happy with God’s Satisfaction in God’s own Way. God is our own highest Reality. The more we listen to the soul within us, the more we grow into the Highest within us. And only then can we be eternally satisfied.

Now let us meditate on divinity, our own highest inner divinity.