AUM — Vol. 1, No. 3, 27 March 1974

University lectures

Experience¹

An inner experience is the seeker’s conscious awareness of his Immortality.

An inner experience is the seeker’s conscious expansion of his Infinity.

An inner experience is the seeker’s conscious fulfilment of his Eternity.

There are three things that we have to experience in our inner life, our life of aspiration and dedication. These things are: Light, divine Light; Power, divine Power; and Peace, divine Peace.

Ordinary light will expose us if we do something wrong, but divine Light never exposes us. On the contrary, it illumines us and tries to perfect us.

Human power is the power that urges us to break and destroy, to dominate and crush others. Human power is the power of separativity. But divine Power inspires us to create and build. It is the power of oneness.

Human peace is usually a forced compromise. But divine Peace is our fulfilment in the perfection-song of the Universal Consciousness, the all-pervading Consciousness that abides deep within us.

When we experience the divine Light, we feel that the soul-seed within us begins to germinate.

When we experience the divine Power, we see our life-plant growing slowly, steadily, unerringly, convincingly and fruitfully.

When we experience the divine Peace, we see the blossoming of the perfection-flower of our life-plant.

When we have the soul’s need for inner experience, we grow into true seekers. But before we feel the necessity for inner experience, we are all ordinary human beings. For an ordinary human being, what is necessary is progress. And this comes through outer experience.

An outer experience is the insecurity of our human heart.

An outer experience is the obscurity of our human mind.

An outer experience is the immaturity of our human vital.

An outer experience is the impurity of our human body.

A human being at times represents his own divine qualities and at times represents his human qualities. At times, unfortunately, he even represents the animal qualities that still remain within him.

Destruction-night is the animal experience.

Aspiration-height is the human experience.

Perfection-light is the divine experience.

In our spiritual life, there is something infinitely more important than experience, and that is called realisation. When we have an experience of the highest magnitude, we feel that we are touching or are about to touch God the Tree. But when we have the highest realisation, we feel that we are not only touching the God-Tree but also climbing up the Tree and reaching the highest bough, where we then enjoy the nectar-fruits.

An experience of God can be denied and rejected by the doubting mind, but the realisation of God far transcends the domain of doubt and the judgement of the mind. It goes far beyond the jurisdiction of the human mind. Realisation has the power to remain constantly in tune with the highest Source, so the human mind cannot disturb its poise, confidence and certainty.

Man’s inner experience of God makes man aware of the possibility of God-becoming. That is to say, when man has an iota of God-experience, he begins to feel that sooner or later he will be able to grow into the very image of God. God’s experience in man makes God feel that the perfection of His Manifestation-Light on earth is not only possible and practicable, but also inevitable.

In man, God is a dream. This experience both man and God achieve. In God, man is a reality. This experience man and God simultaneously receive. In man, God is a dream. In God, man is a reality.

With God, man smiles. He smiles the smile of Perfection, transcendental Perfection. With man, God cries. He cries the cry that has been inside the human heart from time immemorial.

God’s Compassion-experience and man’s Liberation-experience are inseparable. When God’s Compassion descends, the meshes of ignorance dissolve and man’s Liberation dawns.

When we have an inner experience, we spontaneously learn something higher, something deeper, something more soulful and more fruitful than any ordinary human learning. One inner experience will teach us how to run towards the Goal, how to discover our higher and deeper reality. Another inner experience will teach us how to unlearn everything that has caught our mind in the outer world — everything undivine, unillumined, unaspiring, unfulfilled. The things that are fulfilling, we shall learn from our ever-evolving experience. And the things that are discouraging and destructive, these we shall unlearn. Every day, on the strength of our inner experience, we have the opportunity to learn the higher Truth and unlearn the many hostile and undivine things that our mind has mistaken for Truth.

When we are in the process of learning and unlearning, there comes a time when we achieve perfection both in our inner life and in our outer life. Today’s experience grows into tomorrow’s realisation. For a seeker, inner experience is the precursor of God-realisation, which is the most important, most significant experience. Then tomorrow’s realisation grows into the perfection of the following day. Experience is the first rung, realisation is the second rung and perfection is the third rung of the Cosmic Ladder.

Outer experiences we can share with others when we are suffering, and also when we are in a cheerful frame of mind. Whether we have something to be proud of or whether we have inner pangs, we can easily share these experiences. But if we share our inner experiences with others, we are just inviting doubt to snatch them away. And once we allow others to inject doubt into our mind and heart, our progress stops. No seeker will be able to go further if he prematurely shares his inner experiences with others. But once a seeker has reached the highest Height or has at least achieved something solid and concrete in his spiritual life, then he can share his experiences with others without the risk of losing the inspiration and illumination of those experiences. Indeed, at that time, his inner experiences will inspire and illumine his friends.

One may have hundreds and thousands of experiences during his life of aspiration. But two or three major experiences are more than enough for a seeker to realise the Highest, the Absolute. Now, we have to be careful about our inner experiences; we have to know whether these deeper experiences are real or not. When a seeker gets an experience, he has to go deep within in order to get a still higher and deeper experience so that he can know the true meaning of his previous experience. Or, if he has a spiritual Master, the Master can tell him the true meaning of his experience.

Let us start our journey with aspiration. If we have sincere aspiration, we are bound to have inner experiences and then our realisation cannot remain a far cry. And once realisation dawns, perfect Perfection is bound to blossom in our life of aspiration on earth. We have to aspire to bring down the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. The Kingdom of Heaven automatically descends to earth when we grow into Perfection, when we dive into the Heart of the highest Absolute Supreme.

The heart²

I wish to tell all my friends and my spiritual brothers and sisters here in Philadelphia that inside the heart of each individual seeker rings the liberty bell. The Liberty Bell that we see here in Philadelphia has a large crack and therefore it does not ring properly. But in the inner life our liberty bell is constantly ringing. It is up to each individual to listen to his inner bell every day. This bell has been ringing from time immemorial in each individual soul, inspiring the soul to take part in God’s cosmic Drama and to run fast, faster, fastest toward the destined Goal.

We have a loving heart, an aspiring heart, an inspiring heart, an illumining heart and a fulfilling heart. With our loving heart we welcome the world at large. With our aspiring heart we climb up to the highest pinnacle of divinity. With our inspiring heart we inspire not only the world within us, but also the world without, the world of God’s entire creation. With our illumining heart we illumine our ignorance, darkness, imperfection and bondage. With our fulfilling heart we fulfil God the Dreamer in us, God the Player in us, God the Lover in us and God the Beloved Supreme in us. Also, with our loving heart we can unconditionally surrender ourselves to the Will of God. With our aspiring heart we can grow into the very image of God. With our inspiring heart we can spread the message of God throughout the length and breadth of the world. With our illumining heart we can manifest our inner divinity on the outer plane. And with our fulfilling heart we can fulfil both God the Creator and God the Creation at once. Our fulfilling heart is nothing other than our unconditionally surrendered heart flying with the wings of the Supreme.

When we enter into the spiritual life we come to realise that we also have a soulful heart and a heart of delight. The soulful heart we need at every moment of our spiritual life, our life of aspiration. Without it we cannot make an iota of inner progress. We need the peaceful heart because we have come to realise that when peace is wanting in our life, this life has no abiding satisfaction. Our heart of delight is the very source of our plenitude and infinitude. We came from delight, we live in delight and at the end of our journey’s close into delight we retire.

Ᾱnandādd hy eva khalv imāni bhūtāni jāyante...

How can a beginner in the spiritual life have a soulful heart and a heart of delight? A beginner must make it a point to mix with other seekers in order to cultivate a soulful heart. Let him look into the sky in the evening when the sun starts to set. When the beginner-seeker looks at the sky and becomes deeply absorbed in the setting sun, his soulful heart comes to the fore. If the beginner needs a heart of delight, let him look at the waves of the ocean and allow his inner being to be in tune with the waves of the ocean. And if he needs a fruitful heart, let him concentrate, meditate and contemplate on the very depths of the ocean, the ocean of life.

The heart is intimate to us and most significant in our life. When our physical heart fails, we die, we pass behind the curtain of Eternity. Similarly, in the spiritual life, even while we are living here on earth, we will be living in the world of death when our heart of aspiration fails. Medical science will tell us that the heart is located within the chest on the left side. Some spiritual Masters are of the opinion that the spiritual heart is on the right side and others are of the opinion that it is in the middle. Then again, there are still others who are of the opinion that it is inside the forehead, a little above the eyebrows. Naturally these spiritual Masters are dealing with the spiritual heart and each is right in his own way. Each has discovered the heart according to his inner light and inner wisdom.

When we are told that the heart is between the eyebrows, a little above, at the very outset we are bound to be puzzled and to some extent disturbed. Whether it is on the left side or the right side of the chest may be immaterial to us. But when we are told that the heart is located between the eyebrows, naturally we are thrown into a sea of unrest and confusion. But I wish to say that those who are of the opinion that the heart is located there are perfectly right in their way, for that place is the source of our intuition, of our intuitive light. Heart means light. Wherever we feel the presence of light, without the least possible hesitation we can say that very place is the heart. Heart and light are one and the same thing.

Now we have to know that the heart is not the highest or the most perfect member of our inner family. It is the soul that is the highest and the best. Why? The soul is all light. In the soul there is no darkness. The human heart receives light from the soul and that is why the soul is superior. But the human heart identifies with the soul’s light, whereas the mind finds it extremely difficult to do this and that is why the heart is superior to the mind. Again, the mind is superior to the vital because the mind searches for the truth, for the light — at times consciously, at times unconsciously. The vital right now needs the truth for its own perfection, but it does not care for the highest Truth. The vital cares for the truth only when the truth offers satisfaction in the vital’s own undivine way. But the vital does at least care for the light, whereas the gross physical does not want the light at all. It is ready to remain imperfect and incomplete for millennia.

When we enter into the spiritual life, we discover that there are two significant roads that can lead us toward our destined Goal. One road is the mental road, the road of the mind; the other is the psychic road, the road of the heart. Now both of these roads can take us to our destined Goal. But one road leads us to our Goal more quickly and more safely and that is the road of the heart. When we follow the road of the mind, at any moment doubt can take us away. The world’s information can pull down human aspiration. But the road of the heart is sunlit. When he follows this road, a seeker always feels deep within himself a deer running towards the destined Goal.

There are two ways of approaching the ultimate Reality: one is the way of knowledge and the other is the way of love. Eventually they do reach the same destination. But those who follow the path of the heart become convinced, on their way to self-discovery, that love itself is the supreme Knowledge. Right now, to us, knowledge and love are two different things. The mind supplies us with knowledge and the heart supplies us with love. But the deeper we go, the clearer it becomes to us that love and knowledge are one and the same thing. Furthermore, love is the supreme Knowledge. God is omniscient, He is omnipotent, He is omnipresent. He is everything. He is vaster than the vastest. He embodies Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. But when we go deep within we find that these qualities of God do not satisfy us. There is only one aspect of God that satisfies us totally and most convincingly and that aspect is God the Love. When on the strength of our own Love we approach God’s Infinite Love, we are totally satisfied. We will not be satisfied when we see or feel God the All-awesome. Only the Love aspect of God quenches our eternal thirst.

In the spiritual life we see that two hearts can and often do become simultaneously one with each other. One heart is the heart of the seeker or student and the other is the heart of the teacher, the spiritual Master. These two hearts become one, inseparably one. And these hearts are constantly singing one song, the song of self-giving. When a true disciple meets his Master for the first time, his inner and outer promise to the Master is: “I want nothing from you. Although I have come to you so that you can help me in my God-realisation, even if you never grant me God-realisation, my love for you, my devotion to you and my oneness with you will always remain total and unconditional.” So a real seeker uses his heart, the heart of oneness, the heart of self-giving, when he accepts his Master.

The spiritual Master also uses his heart when he accepts the students, the seekers and the disciples who come to him for inner guidance. From his disciples he will get effective help for God-Manifestation on earth. And the disciples will grow into spiritual perfection through their love and devotion for the Highest in their Master, the Inner Pilot, God the Supreme. On the strength of his own self-giving heart the Master tells his disciples, “I have already accepted you, no matter what you do for God. Even if you do not do anything for God, for God’s Manifestation, I shall go on loving you.”

So the disciple’s heart becomes one with the Master's heart and makes the solemn promise: "Whether or not you help me in my God-realisation is up to you, but I shall go on loving the Supreme in you forever.” And the Master also makes a solemn, soulful promise to the disciple: "Whether you care for God-Manifestation or not is up to you, but my love for you and my self-offering to you shall remain unconditional forever.”

Those who are awakened can run the fastest toward the destined Goal. Those who are in the process of awakening may rest assured that the Goal is awaiting them. And those who still cannot get up will not be belittled by those who are in the process of awakening or by those who are already awakened. The spiritual life is not a life of competition. If competition is at all necessary, then each individual should compete with his own weaknesses, imperfections and limitations, with his own bondage and death.

It is said that a pure heart is everything. Now what do we mean by a pure heart? First of all, we must have sanctity and serenity in the heart. But I wish to say that that is not actually enough. A pure heart means a heart that embodies the constantly climbing flame of aspiration. If within the heart there is a constantly mounting inner flame, then that is a heart of purity. If the ever-mounting flame within our heart wants to reach the Highest, then ours is a pure heart. All of us here have that heart to some degree. Since we are here, we are all seekers and the seeker is bound to have the inner flame of aspiration in his heart. Let us try to feed this inner flame through our constant spiritual practice, through our daily prayer, meditation and contemplation. The life of a pure heart is the life of an inner flame rising toward the highest transcendental Goal that resides deep within each of us. Our Goal can never be a far cry. Our Goal is within our reach, provided we constantly look ahead and look deep within and look upward to the highest Height.

We leave the starting point the moment we feel in the inmost recesses of our heart the flames of aspiration. Once we have left the starting point, it is a matter of reaching the Goal. If we practice meditation daily — regularly, faithfully and devotedly — not only do we come closer to our Goal, but the Goal itself runs toward us. Halfway along the path, the Goal and the runner meet to fulfil each other’s needs. By reaching the Goal, the runner fulfils his task, the task of realising the highest possible Truth. And by reaching the runner, the Goal reaches the living breath of the heart’s dedication and surrender, which make the manifestation of the highest Truth not only possible and practicable but also inevitable. The Goal and the runner fulfil themselves as they fulfil their respective roles in the life of aspiration and in the life of manifestation.

Time³

Time is love.

Then time gives us what we want: pleasure.

Time is love.

Then time gives us what we need: joy.

Time is love.

Then God accepts from us what we have: ignorance.

Time is love.

Then God gives us what He has: Light.

Pleasure, joy, ignorance and light.

Pleasure. Pleasure on the physical plane, the vital plane and the mental plane is very short-lived, but during its brief span pleasure injures the real in us. The real in us is our cry for God, for Truth, for Light, for Infinity’s heart, Eternity’s body and Immortality’s soul. Today’s pleasure ends in tomorrow’s frustration and destruction. Tomorrow’s frustration and destruction end in the total failure of our inner divinity. Therefore, a sincere seeker of the transcendental Truth tries to avoid pleasure.

Joy. In the spiritual life, joy is of paramount importance.

Joy grows, joy flows and joy soars.

God the dancing River flows with our joy, our fulfilling joy.

If a spiritual seeker remains in a cheerful frame of mind he makes very fast progress. Joy means confidence in his life of aspiration. Joy is self-discovery and self-fulfilment.

Ignorance. When we go deep within, we see that we have nothing to give to God but ignorance. This ignorance God accepts from us most gladly, most devotedly and most unconditionally. Our life of ignorance we offer to God and God offers to us in return a life of beauty, a life of plenitude, a life of infinitude.

Light. Light is self-revelation. Self-revelation grows into self-manifestation and self-manifestation grows into self-perfection. Self-perfection and God-perfection are one and the same thing, operating on two different levels. We notice self-perfection in the heart of the finite. We notice God-perfection in the body of the Infinite.

AUM

Time is our oneness with God, our conscious oneness with God. We establish our conscious oneness with God on the strength of our inner cry. Mother Earth offers us her wealth: patience, sacrifice and compassion. Father Heaven offers us His wealth: love, wisdom and illumination. With the help we get from Mother Earth we prepare ourselves for salvation. With the help we get from Father Heaven we prepare ourselves for our divine glorification. Salvation we get from earth and divine glorification we get from Heaven. When we receive salvation, we feel that we are growing into the very image of our Beloved Supreme. When we are offered glorification, we feel that our Beloved Supreme is playing in and through us. In the finite He is singing His song celestial, His song of infinite beauty, light, melody and harmony.

The animal in us does not care to know about time. The human in us knows that there exists something called time, but it does not value time. The divine in us utilises time most effectively and divinely. The Supreme in us, the Inner Pilot, fulfils His dream and His reality here on earth through time.

AUM

Here on earth a child has no time even to eat his candy. A young boy has no time to study. A young man has no time to think. An old man has no time to rest, to sleep. But a seeker knows that his God has the time to eat candy, to study, to think, to rest. His God has time for everything, therefore he, too, must do the needful at the appointed hour. When it is time to eat, he will eat; when it is time to think, he will think; when it is time to study spiritual books, he will study; and when it is time to rest, he will take rest. For him each day is a new challenge, a new opportunity. He enters into the battlefield of life to conquer darkness, limitation, bondage and death. He has to fight and rest at the appropriate times. He has to do all the things that are necessary in order to invoke Peace, Light and Bliss from above in infinite measure so that he can bring to the fore his inner divinity and offer it to the world at large.

The seeker also knows how his God is in a position to do all that He does, how his God has the time to do everything. God does everything and can do everything because He takes the help of time. Only with the cooperation of time can He achieve everything in and through His aspiring, devoted and surrendered children. Human beings, however, do not enlist the help of time. They do not know the value of time. All human beings think that it is achievement that is of paramount importance and not the time required for the achievement. So they do not care for time, they neglect time. They do not know that time is the bridge that carries us to the other shore. If we do not use the bridge, we cannot go on to the other shore where there is Light, Peace and Bliss in boundless measure.

AUM

There are two types of time in the spiritual life: earth-time and Heaven-time. Earth-time is necessity and Heaven-time is reality and God-intoxication is necessity’s reality. The seeker in us feels that it is of supreme necessity on his part to see the face of reality. And when he sees the face of reality he becomes a God-intoxicated soul. Reality on its part enters into our necessity. When it enters into our necessity, reality fulfils our necessity by illumining us within and without.

A God-intoxicated soul comes to realise that he has to achieve the eternal Truth first and then serve the divinity in humanity. Only then will he be able to grow into the transcendental reality. God’s reality, on the other hand, feels that since it already is eternal, it must always serve its own all-pervading consciousness. The tree feels that it is its bounden duty to fulfil the needs of the branches, the myriad leaves and the flowers and fruits. It also knows that it has the capacity to do this. So reality starts serving its infinite manifestations immediately, for it knows that it has what it requires: consciousness in infinite measure. But a God-intoxicated soul feels that first he has to achieve the Highest, the Absolute, and only then can he serve the Absolute in mankind. So one climbs up the tree, brings down the fruit and shares it with humanity. The other, who is already seated on the top of the tree, comes down immediately and shares the fruit with the aspiring human beings.

In the spiritual life, a sincere seeker knows that there is a God-appointed hour, a God-ordained hour. We call it God’s Hour. This hour we can neither pull towards us nor push aside. But we can expedite God’s Hour. We can shorten our road to God-realisation provided we are ready to sacrifice ourselves, to offer to the Divine at every moment all that we have within us — the ignorant, the undivine and the unaspiring, as well as the aspiring.

There is only one thing in our physical that is unwanted now and ever and that is lethargy. In the vital there is something that we have to get rid of and that is aggression, or the feeling of superiority, the feeling of supremacy.

In the mind there is something that we must get rid of and that is doubt. We doubt others and we doubt ourselves. When we doubt others, nothing happens to them. They go on perfecting themselves through their daily experiences. It is we who suffer each time we doubt, for we eclipse our inner sun, the sun that is ready to offer us its light in abundant measure, the sun that is ready to kindle the flame of aspiration within us so that we can climb up high, higher, highest into our transcendental divinity.

In the heart we have something to get rid of and that is insecurity. Very often we feel that we are helpless, we are hopeless, we are useless. But this wrong notion we must not cherish. Once we become sincere seekers on the path of Truth and Light, we must know that deep within us is the Inner Pilot. It was He who inspired us to walk along the road of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. If He Himself had not inspired us, we could not have launched into the sea of spirituality. But He did inspire us and He continues to inspire us every day. So we can never be helpless, we can never be insecure. We know there is light within us. Just because we do not now have the light at our disposal, we cannot say that this light will remain always a far cry. On the contrary, today’s impossibility is tomorrow’s destined achievement. There is simply no such thing as impossibility in our spiritual life.

We know that we are aiming at a Goal, the Goal that has everything divine for us in infinite measure. We are trying to establish our conscious oneness with someone who is infinite, eternal and immortal — our God. Since He is our Source, since He is our Goal, how can our ultimate achievement be limited? Everything that we want to achieve, everything that we want to grow into, needs time; and our time is determined by God. We shall not pull God’s Hour. We shall not push God’s Hour. We shall simply play our role. We shall pray, we shall meditate the way we feel best from deep within; and God will select His Hour in which to illumine us so that He can fulfil Himself in and through us. In His fulfilment is our real achievement and real perfection.

AUM

Poetry selections

The supreme Truth

God is a tiny insect.

God is a huge elephant.

God is a devouring tiger.

God is a speedy deer.

God is a loving cow.

The red light and the green light

I have two intimate friends:

And

The red light warns me

And finally commands,

The green light inspires me

And finally whispers,

My red friend

My green friend

My red friend tells me

My green friend tells me

My red friend

My green friend

I feel so sorry for you

Heart, my heart,

You are staying with imprisoned flames.

Life, my life,

You are staying in your mind’s tiny cave.

Soul, my soul,

Your God-manifestation is still a far cry.

Short stories

The Master surrenders⁴

“When have I been insincere to you, my son?”

“Master, forgive me. What I actually meant was that you do not go deep within nowadays to answer my questions.”

“My child, my answers depend on the kind of questions you ask me. They entirely depend on the kind of questions you ask me.”

“All right, Master, today I am going to ask you a few most serious questions. My first question is, how many years or incarnations did it take your Master to realise God?”

“Seven long incarnations.”

“Seven long incarnations? I can’t believe it!”

“Who wants you to believe it? Who is begging you to believe it?”

“I am sorry. Master, my second question is, how many years or how many incarnations did it take you to realise God?”

“Three quick incarnations.”

“It took you three incarnations to realise God? You are such a great Master. How is it that it took you three incarnations?”

“What is wrong with that, my son?”

“Nothing, Master. But three whole incarnations? Anyway, I am very glad that my Master realised God in only three incarnations, whereas his Master took seven incarnations.”

“So you are proud of your Master?”

“Of course I am. I am positive that you have far surpassed your Master. Therefore, I should be more proud of you than I am now.”

The Master gave his disciple a sweet smile and said, “I love your innocent wisdom.”

“Master, this is my third question. How many incarnations shall I take to realise God?”

“Just one brief incarnation.”

“O Master, now you have lost all your seriousness once again! How can I realise God in one incarnation, when it took you three incarnations and it took your Master seven incarnations? It is impossible! ”

“Why, my child? Why?”

“Master, I have never understood you and I shall never understand you.”

“You don’t have to understand me. You just have to believe me. Let me make my philosophy simpler and clearer to you. Let us take my Master as a villager. A villager does not get as much opportunity to study as a town-dweller. With great difficulty he goes to school. With great difficulty he learns and becomes a man of knowledge. This was the case with my Master. But I was like a town-dweller. Naturally I got more opportunity to study than my village Master. So I didn’t have as much difficulty as he in studying and becoming a man of knowledge. Now, you are my spiritual son. You are like a city-dweller. You are getting every possible opportunity to go to school and become a man of learning. So for you it will be easy to acquire knowledge.”

“But Master, I still don’t understand you.”

“You will never understand me. I have decided from now on to understand everything for you on your behalf.”

“Master, I really don’t want to equal you in spirituality.”

“My child, I want you not only to equal me in spirituality, but to surpass me.”

“Master, on your part this is a most kind, blessingful wish and on my part the thought is nothing but sheer stupidity and absurdity."

“My son, my Master realised God, I realised God and you will realise God. Now, I surpassed my Master. And the way I surpassed my Master, you will also surpass me.”

“But Master, how will I dare to bless you? You know perfectly well that a son is not entitled to bless his father no matter how great he becomes and how ignorant and illiterate his father is.”

“Son, you are giving me earthly wisdom. I want to give you heavenly wisdom. When a son realises God, he is in a perfect position to bless his father, for he is in constant touch with the Highest. When he blesses his father at that time, it is just as though God Himself were blessing his father.”

“But Master, if both son and father are equally realised, how can the son bless the father?”

“Why not? They can bless each other. And as I said before, you should not only equal me but surpass me. So, without the least possible hesitation, I can say that you will be entitled to bless me.”

"O Master, I have pleased you in thousands of ways, hundreds of times. Of course, it was your compassion that made me succeed every time. You have made me an unconditional disciple of yours. Will it ever be possible, Master, for me to ask you to become unconditional to me, even once in this lifetime?”

“Son, I have always been unconditional. Had I not been unconditional ever since I accepted you as a true disciple of mine, by this time you would have left me. And this applies not only to you, but to all my spiritual children. I have always been an unconditional Master to my disciples. God Himself has taught me this supreme, secret lesson. Had I not been unconditional, no disciple would have or could have stayed with me even for a day.”

“Master, this time I really believe you. But will you fulfil my last prayer on earth?”

“Certainly I will.”

“Then, Master, never allow me to be your equal, let alone dream of surpassing you. I wish to be always at your feet. I wish always to kiss the dust of your feet. You have told me repeatedly that you have come into the world to make everybody happy. Such being the case, please make me happy. Please stick to your philosophy that we are all progressing ceaselessly into the ever-transcending Beyond. Just as you are far ahead of me now, I wish you always to remain far ahead of me. You sing the song of your highest self-transcendence from your own height and let me constantly sing the song of my self-transcendence from my own height.”

“Son, in this world, when two persons do not see eye-to-eye with each other, in order to create a compromise it is always advisable for one to surrender. So I shall surrender to your most fascinating philosophy, since you are unwilling to surrender to my most illumining realisation.”

The Italian teacher⁵

At the end of the meeting the Italian teacher, whose name was Mihir, said, “God wanted this spiritual community of ours to be divine, but unfortunately our spiritual leader is making the young generation into a monkey-generation instead of a God-generation.” Immediately the audience began protesting vehemently. They insulted him mercilessly and Mihir had to leave the hall in utmost humiliation.

That night around midnight, a young man broke open the door of Mihir’s home and pointed a revolver right at his chest. “How dare you speak ill of our spiritual Master!” he said. “You ungrateful creature, you shameless beast! You live here in our spiritual community, yet you have the audacity to speak ill of our Master. It is not our Master’s fault that we are not yet totally divine. He has been working so hard to make us divine, but we cherish ignorance. It is not the Master who is making monkeys out of us, but our own ignorance-loving life. Needless to say, you are in the same boat. If we are all going to be monkeys, you are certainly no exception. But I totally contradict your statement that we are becoming monkeys. No, we have made considerable progress and we shall go on making progress slowly, steadily and effectively. Anyway, I have not come here at this hour of the night to offer you a long sermon. I have come here to take your life.”

Mihir was terrified. “Please, I beg of you to spare my life,” he stammered. “I shall never criticise our Master again.”

The young man hesitated. Then he said, “Forgiveness is granted this time, but I warn you that it will not be offered again.”

Alas, a few days later Mihir announced to the students in one of his classes, “I could have written far better spiritual poems than the Master has written. It is just because I do not care much for spiritual poems and lack the inclination and because I have no time that I have not written any. If I had written poems, I could have far surpassed our Master’s poetic genius.”

The students could not believe their ears. Two students ran up onto the platform and one of them brutally boxed the nose of the teacher while the other vehemently pulled him by the ear. The sufferings of the teacher can better be felt than described. Several students immediately went to the president of the spiritual community and narrated the whole story.

The president said, “I don’t have to speak to the Master about this. It is I who have to take action. You go and tell your Italian teacher that in fifteen minutes my attendants will be at his house to take him to the railway station so that he can go back to his native town.”

With or without his consent, Mihir was put onto the next train and the ashram authorities considered themselves well rid of him. He did not go back to his home town, however, but travelled to a big city, where he applied for a job with the city’s largest newspaper. He got the job and after a while became the newspaper’s most prolific writer. He wrote considerably, both in English and in Italian. Within six years, the newspaper authorities made him the chief editor.

Now, Mihir did not forget about his humiliation in the spiritual community. Quite often he would fabricate undivine stories about his former spiritual Master and his ashram. Of course, at times there was some truth behind his merciless attacks, for he had lived in the ashram from the age of ten to the age of thirty-five and he knew the place well.

Finally, he wrote a biography of his ex-Master, of course without asking permission. In most sections of the book his imagination ran riot and when the book came out, the authorities of the ashram sued him.

While the case was in court, Mihir bribed seven of his former brother disciples to supply him with the most sensational, but private stories about the spiritual community. These stories he published in his newspaper, in spite of the fact that he was already being sued by the spiritual community. The owners of the newspaper were highly pleased with him. Because of his sensational journalism, the paper gained several thousand new subscribers.

One day an article about the ashram lawsuit appeared in the paper. It contained accusations from a disciple of the Master against Mihir, accusing the editor of slander and deception. The newspaper authorities all took the side of their editor and defended him untiringly. Fortunately or unfortunately, the editor won the case. Alas, during this time the Master himself began to suffer from most serious ailments, so the mood of the ashram was very low. The authorities of the spiritual community wanted to take the matter to a higher court. But the Master said, “I do not think it will do any good. If you have any other suggestions, however, please tell them to me.”

One of them said, “Master, we know you have tremendous occult power. You have used it many, many times. Please use it once again. This time use your occult power to make the right hand of that rogue paralysed so that he can never write again.”

The Master said, “He does not need a hand to write. Even if he does not write, whatever he wants to say against me he can dictate to his secretary. They will still be able to publish it in the newspaper.”

The disciples then said, “Master, then do something to his brain. With your occult power, damage his brain so that he cannot think properly. Make him senile so that he won’t be able to criticise you anymore.”

The Master said, “Well, that can be done.” So he used his vast occult power and damaged the editor’s brain. “Also,” he told his disciples, “I have done something else which will please you still more. I have made him blind in one eye.”

Since he had become partially blind and totally senile, the editor could no longer work at the newspaper. He had to resign, but the newspaper authorities were extremely kind and sympathetic. They continued to give him his regular salary and told him that they would do so as long as he remained on earth.

Now Mihir’s secretary was a young girl most devoted to her boss. She simply could not account for his sudden brain defect and blindness. Finally, she decided to go to see a famous occultist who lived in the same city as Mihir’s ex-Master and to him she narrated the whole sad story, as much as she knew, from beginning to end.

The occultist, whose name was Khudhu, saw quite clearly that it was the ex-Master who was responsible for the editor’s blindness and brain damage and he felt extremely sorry for the poor man. Inwardly he approached the spiritual Master and said to him, “What kind of spiritual Master are you? If people speak ill of you, you punish them mercilessly! Is forgiveness not the first requisite in the spiritual life? Anyway, since you have not forgiven this old man, I shall not forgive you either.” Then Khudhu used all his occult power and gave the spiritual Master a most serious stroke.

Within a few minutes the Master died, but just before he departed from the earth-scene, three times he said : “Khudhu, Khudhu, Khudhu."

At first, his disciples, in their extreme sorrow, were simply puzzled by their Master's final utterance, but finally it occurred to them that the Master was referring to the great occultist, Khudhu. A few of them rushed to Khudhu’s tiny house and entered into his room. When they saw Khudhu’s face they were simply paralysed with fear. They did not see him as a real human being, but as a voracious tiger. Yet in spite of their fear they fell at Khudhu’s feet and said, “We are sure that it is you who have killed our Master. Since you have the power to kill, you also have the power to revive. Please bring our Master back to life.”

Khudhu said, “Yes, I have the power, but I am not going to use my power to revive your Master. I have killed him because he has been extremely unjust to poor Mihir. With his occult power he made him blind and destroyed his brain. So now, with my own occult power, I have killed him. But it is no loss to you. Now that you have come to know that my occult power is far superior to that of your Master, you can all become my disciples. I shall teach you how to acquire occult power. You too, like me, will be able to perform miracles and to place the whole world at your feet.”

The Master’s disciples cried, “O great Khudhu, what shall we do? You have made us fatherless!”

“But I have just told you that you can now find your father in me. From now on, I can be your spiritual father,” said Khudhu.

The disciples felt extremely sad and miserable. They said, “No matter how great you are, even if you are the greatest living occultist on earth, we can’t become your disciples. Our Master is our Master. We shall remain loyal and faithful to him until we breathe our last.”

“What kind of Master did you have?” asked Khudhu. “He did not have even a drop of the milk of human kindness. I can forgive you all because I know you are ignorant people. True, you instigated your Master to punish Mihir. But why did he listen to your request? And worse, why did he harm the poor man even more than you wanted him to?

“Here is what I will do. I will revive your Master provided you can give me full assurance that when I help him regain his consciousness, the first thing he will do is kiss the dust of Mihir’s feet.”

Immediately the disciples exclaimed, “Oh no! Impossible! It is beneath the dignity of our Master to touch the feet of that scoundrel!”

Khudhu said, “You call him a scoundrel, but in what way is your Master superior to him? Can you justify the punishment your Master gave him? He spoke ill of you and of your Master, but that did not mean that your Master could go to the length of destroying him. Since you do not wish to accept my proposal, leave my house immediately. I will have nothing to do with you people.”

But one of the disciples said to Khudhu, “O occultist of the highest magnitude, what would happen if you revived our Master and he touched the feet of our former spiritual brother?”

Khudhu replied, “I am glad that you are calling him your brother, but you must know that your Master must not merely touch this man’s feet, but literally kiss the dust of his feet.” At this, all the disciples buried their heads in their hands in utter shame and disgust. But Khudhu continued, “The moment your Master touches the dust of Mihir’s feet, his former disciple will regain his eyesight and his brain will become normal again.” One of the disciples said, “O Khudhu, why does our Master have to go through this kind of humiliation? Is our pleading with you not enough? Is our prayer at your feet not enough for you to forgive our Master? If you are a greater spiritual Master than he, should you not show more compassion than he did?”

Khudhu said, “You are right. Revenge does not ever solve any problem. Only Light can solve all human problems. I forgive your Master. I shall revive him and I shall cure Mihir myself. The highest spiritual Power of the Supreme will punish the inferior and subordinate powers in its own way. They, in turn, will punish the still more inferior ones. From the highest point of view, I did not do the right thing when I punished your Master. I should have allowed the Supreme to deal with him in His own way, or I should at least have waited for the inner message from the Supreme before taking action myself. Divine Compassion and Wisdom-Light are the highest forms of action. Divine Compassion and Wisdom-Light alone can grow and blossom into fruition.”

Song

O Bujhi kanu jai

Goes there my Beloved, my sweet Lord, the anklets ringing on His Feet.

If ever my cowherd boy should cast a glance behind him, still he only goes forward.

In the twilight hour of the day, with a sweet and serene smile, leading the herds of varied light, my cowherd boy goes.

[Bengali Transliteration]

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/Shuni charan dhwani dure uthichhe rani/

/O bujhi Kanu jai nayan jena dhai/

/Godhuli bela sheshe madhur hasi hese/