My Maple Tree

Realisation¹

I see here quite a few sincere seekers. With your good wishes, your hearts' love and your souls' blessings, I launch into this divine task. But before I begin my talk, I wish to offer my blessingful gratitude to my Canadian disciples who have made this divine journey in every way divine.

Since we are all seekers here, our ultimate Goal is God-realisation. As ordinary human beings we have realised one thing: ignorance. But when we aspire, we realise that there is one person who embodies Infinity, Eternity and Immortality, and that person is God. He is at once personal and impersonal. We can see Him face to face right in front of our nose as a most illumined being, infinitely more illumined than the most beautiful child on earth. Again, we can see God as an infinite expanse of Energy, Light and Bliss. We see ourselves as ignorance-sea, but God sees us as another God. This is the difference between our realisation of our earthly existence and God's realisation of our divine potentiality.

Realisation has its stages; it is always in the process of evolution. Realisation is self-awakening, realisation is life-revelation, realisation is love-manifestation and realisation is God-becoming. Self-awakening, life-revelation, love-manifestation and God-becoming: these are four principal stages in the evolving process of eternal time.

Human realisation is the fulfilment of our teeming desires; divine realisation is our perfection, our perfection within and without. Human realisation is constant success; divine realisation is soulful progress. Success moves from a greater bondage to a lesser bondage; whereas progress moves from one peak to another — from a high peak, to a higher peak, to the highest peak. Limited fulfilment we notice in the world of desire. Once a desire is fulfilled, another desire dawns, and then we try to fulfil that particular desire. There is no end to our desires and, at the same time, there is no end to our earthbound satisfaction. When we stay in the desire-world, we come to realise that we are living in a prison-house. But when we live in the aspiration-world, we discover that we are flying in the firmament of the freedom-sky.

Realisation is the self-unfoldment of the Eternal and the Infinite within us. The Eternal beckons us to reach the highest peak of consciousness; the Infinite constantly reminds us of our Source. The Eternal is the silence of our God-Light; the Infinite is the reality of our God-sufficiency.

Infinity is our source. The Upanishadic seers have given us a most soulful and meaningful mantra. Purnam adah purnam idam. . . — "Infinity is that. Infinity is this. From Infinity, Infinity has come into existence. From Infinity, when Infinity is taken away, Infinity remains."

No human being can remain unrealised. Today we are consciously aspiring, and tomorrow others will aspire. For on the strength of His cosmic Vision, God has made it a supreme law that no human being on earth will forever remain unrealised. Divinity has descended into the heart of humanity, and it will in time regain its normal consciousness. It will reach its Transcendental Height after it has established Immortality here in the aspiring heart of Mother Earth. Realisation is the expansion of our consciousness. The individual becomes the universal. The one becomes the many, and the many become the Whole, the Absolute. The cry of the finite will grow into the smile of the Infinite. This is what realisation is. We can realise the Highest Truth in the light of the soul, in the love of the heart, in the silence of the mind, in the dynamic energy of the vital, in the dedicated service of the body.

The light of the soul whispers in the ear of the sleeping world, Uttisthata jagrata, "Arise, awake, run towards the Goal. The road is arduous and as sharp as the edge of a razor, but you have to travel it. Stop not until you have attained your highest Goal."

The love of the heart tells the binding world, "If you want to bind, you will be bound. To your wide surprise, the world will bind you long before you have bound the world. So do not bind."

The silence of the mind tells the doubting world, "Do not doubt. Doubt is detrimental to your inner health, your inner life. Doubt is poison. If you want to run fast, faster, fastest toward your Goal, then do not doubt."

The dynamic energy of the vital tells the weak, impotent world, "Dive deep within. Your inner being is surcharged with an indomitable will. Bring to the fore your adamantine will!"

The dedicated service of the body tells the idle, lethargic world, Charai veti — "Move on!"

Here we are all seekers, we are all students of the inner life. We study the inner books of faith, love, devotion and surrender. When we are assiduous in our outer studies, we acquire world-knowledge and world-wisdom. Similarly, when we soulfully and devotedly study our inner lessons, we get abundant Peace, Light and Bliss. If we are sincere, nothing can deter us from diving deep within and discovering our inner wealth.

Realisation is self-discovery, and self-discovery and God-discovery are one and the same. Realisation is self-mastery and self-transcendence: our mastery over the lower nature of the lower world, and our transcendence to the higher nature of the higher world. The lower world embodies two bosom friends: darkness and ignorance. The higher world embodies two intimate friends: Light and Delight. Ignorance devours our outer existence, and darkness envelops our outer existence. Light illumines our existence here on earth, and Delight immortalises our existence within and without. Delight is our permanent Source.

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"From Delight we came into existence.

At the end of our journey's close, into

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Give, receive and become²

Give, receive and become. Let us give what we have: love. Let us receive what others give: love. Let us together become what God eternally is: Oneness, transcendental Oneness and universal Oneness.

Real giving is self-offering. Real receiving is self-expansion. Real becoming is God-perfection.

There are many ways to give, receive and become, but usually we adopt one of two principal ways: the way of the mind and the way of the heart. When we give with the mind, we give love plus uncertainty. When we receive with the mind, we receive love plus doubt. When we give with the heart, we give love plus concern. When we receive with the heart, we receive love plus fulfilment. When we become with the mind, we become an uncertain illumination. When we become with the heart, we become fulfilled perfection.

When the mind gives something, it thinks that it is being most generous and helpful, and it tries to inject this feeling into the one who receives. When the heart gives something, it feels extremely fortunate that it is privileged to become a soulful server, and it offers its humble gratitude to the one who receives.

Right now we feel that our human mind is the supreme member of our inner family. But unfortunately, this member ponders and forever thinks in an effort to know the solution to life's teeming problems. But thinking, doubting and pondering will not lead us to any permanent solutions. It is only the illumination of the heart which offers a final solution and ultimately becomes the solution itself.

Again, we have other members in our family: the vital and the physical. When the vital wants to give something, it tries to draw all attention to itself like a magnet. When the physical wants to offer something, it delays and delays, and the hour of offering never strikes at all. But if we wait, we shall stay in the world of doubt. Fear, anxiety and worry will all join together the moment we want to give our love to our dear ones, and then these undivine qualities will enter into our dear ones along with our love.

God gives us His Compassion-sea; we give Him our gratitude-drop. His gift is unconditional and perpetual; our gift is conditional, and it has a secret motive. We feel consciously or unconsciously that if we offer a drop of gratitude to God, then eventually we shall be able to win His Heart. At our journey's start, we are sincere to some extent. We enter into the spiritual life with the aspiration for self-offering, God-receiving and God-becoming. But while we are running along the road, deception assails us and we consciously try to deceive even God the Almighty. Our ignorance within tells us that we shall be able to dethrone God, that we shall be able to win God's Power with our tears and excruciating pangs. And once we achieve this Power, we shall be able to lord it over others.

It very often happens that a seeker launches into the spiritual life and comes to a spiritual community because he is disgusted with the outer world. The spiritual leader of the community knows that he has two types of disciples. One type practises the spiritual life most devotedly and sincerely and is constantly learning. The other type is constantly preaching and offering sermons. The leader tells the new seeker, "It is up to you to become either a teacher or a student." The seeker immediately says, "I would like to be a teacher, and not a student." It has happened countless times that when the earthly life disappoints us and fails us we want to enter into the spiritual life. But before we make any progress, we start deceiving others and soon begin to deceive ourselves. We deceive our own aspiring existence. But if we start giving to our inner life what we have and what we are — our outer ignorance and our inner aspiration — then God, out of His infinite Bounty, will come to the fore and give us what He has and is: a flood of Compassion, a flood of Light and Delight.

When a child offers his mother a penny that he has found on the street, the mother receives that penny with greatest joy and offers him a dollar in return. The child has spontaneously given the mother all his tiny wealth, and the mother joyfully gives the child wealth far beyond his imagination. In the case of an aspirant, his surrender is like a drop of nectar to God. But when this drop offers itself soulfully to the mighty ocean, the ocean inundates the drop with its own vastness, and the drop receives all the inner wealth of the mighty ocean.

There are two types of seekers. One type will give and immediately expect ten times more in return. The other type will just give, and then wait for God's choice Hour to strike. Even if God's Hour does not strike, this kind of seeker will not mind in the least. There is an anecdote about this that I would like to tell you.

Once God's messenger entered into the world-arena and saw an aspirant singing and dancing in the street in praise of the Lord. He was a half-lunatic, but in his own way he was praising the Lord. The messenger also saw a serious seeker seated at the foot of a banyan tree practising spirituality in a most austere fashion.

Now, when the God-messenger approached the singing lunatic, immediately the lunatic asked, "Please tell me when I shall realise God."

"Right now I do not know," replied the messenger. "Let me go back and ask the Lord and, on my return, I shall let you know.

Then the messenger approached the seeker who was practising austerities. This particular seeker asked the same thing: "Please tell me when I am going to realise God."

The messenger said, "I do not know right now. But I am going back to the Lord, and I shall ask Him. When I come back, I will let you know."

A few months later the messenger came back to the same place, where the one seeker was singing and praising the Lord and the other was in deep, contemplative meditation.

As soon as the singer saw the messenger, he was overjoyed. He said, "Now, please tell me my fate."

The messenger replied, "Yonder is a tamarind tree. Look how many leaves are on that tree! It will take you as many incarnations to realise God as there are leaves on that tree."

Immediately the singer was overjoyed. He said, "Then definitely I shall realise God. It is only a matter of time before I realise God."

Then the messenger went to the seeker who was practising penance and told him that it would take him only three more incarnations to realise God.

The seeker immediately felt intensely disappointed. "Three more incarnations?" he cried. "I have been practising spirituality so sincerely, so devotedly, and yet I have to take three more incarnations? Then there is no use in even trying. I shall give up this austere life. If God is so unkind then I don't need Him, and He does not deserve me." With that, the seeker gave up his spiritual life altogether.

One seeker was ready to wait millions of years in order to realise God. That is called waiting for God's choice Hour. The other seeker could not wait even for three incarnations; it seemed too long for him. But the real seeker offers himself and does not expect anything in return.

In the spiritual life we have to feel the necessity of surrender. Our self-giving is nothing but surrender to the Inner Pilot, the eternal Source within. This surrender is not demanded or exploited. On the contrary, only surrender consciously and cheerfully offered blossoms into Infinity in our aspiring consciousness.

If our attitude is to wait and decide whether to give or not, then we shall never see the face of satisfaction. But if we do not wait, if we feel that God's Hour has already struck, then we shall give to God what we have and what we are. At that time our spiritual progress will immediately be enhanced.

When a seeker fails to give, he ceases to be. The moment his giving comes to an end, he becomes non-existent. Existence is the radiation of our self-offering. Non-existence is the destruction which results from our self-withdrawal.

Let us offer God our solemn promise to fulfil Him unconditionally in His own Way. And let us receive God's solemn Promise that He will make each of us a conscious representative of Himself on earth, so that He can manifest Himself in and through us.

When, as a seeker, I give, I become a chosen instrument. When, as a divine lover, I love, I become an immortal instrument. When, as a devoted server, I serve, I become a perfect instrument.

When I become a chosen instrument, I embody God the One, the sole Reality, the transcendental Truth. When I become an immortal instrument, I reveal God the Many, the divine Multiplicity in Unity. And when I become a perfect instrument, I manifest God the Whole, the Golden All.

Oneness³

Oneness is the only relationship that can forever last, because all human beings are either conscious or unconscious sharers of one divine and supreme Reality. For the unconscious sharers, dissatisfaction is the deplorable reality. If we are unconscious sharers, the body-consciousness separates us, the vital personality separates us, the mental individuality separates us. But for the conscious sharers, there is only the psychic unity. If we are conscious sharers, the psychic unity awakens us, illumines us, fulfils us and immortalises us. The human personality is a grain of sand on the shore of Infinity. If I maintain an existence separate and different from yours, then I need you to be my supplement and my complement. But our human unity ultimately blossoms into divine oneness. If I am one with you and you are one with me, then together we will grow into the highest Reality. Together we will increase our length, depth and height. Eternity's rest will welcome us, Infinity's breath will shake hands with us, Immortality's height will embrace us.

In this world, we notice that one thing alternates with another. Day alternates with night, fear alternates with courage, doubt alternates with faith, self-love alternates with God-love. But when we become unconditionally surrendered seekers of God, our oneness with God never alternates.

With our human ego we try to establish oneness with others. We feel that we have more capacity than others, so therefore we are entitled to oneness with them. But if we try to use ego as an instrument to establish oneness, then we will never succeed. Our oneness with others entirely depends on our soulful love. If we use the reasoning mind, then we can never discover love within us. If we use the demanding vital, then we can never discover love within us. But if we use the loving, fulfilling heart, then oneness becomes a reality in our day-to-day life.

When we are sincere, we feel that God loves us. When we pray, we feel that God belongs to us. When we meditate, we feel that we are of God. Our sincerity leads us along the right path. Our prayer accelerates our speed. Our meditation brings the goal nearer to us.

Here we are all seekers. This means that God is within us and God is for us. This is not imagination, but a reality that we can experience in our everyday life. We start our journey with religious training. Each religion is absolutely right in its own way. All the religions are branches of the one God-Tree. The Tree has established its oneness with the branches, and the branches have established their oneness with the Tree. The seekers do not all use the same branch to climb up the Tree; they use different branches. And sometimes they claim that their branch is the only branch to climb up to the top. But if the seekers are sincere, then they come to realise that all the branches belong to the same Tree. The same oneness pervades the Tree, the branches, the leaves, the fruits and the flowers. God was one, but He wanted to become many. When He became many, He did not lose His oneness. The dance of God's unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity we call God's eternal Game. God and we are both playing this game. The sincere and devoted seekers are very aware of their inseparable oneness with God, the unity in multiplicity. For the insincere seekers and for the non-seekers, though, it takes time. Unless and until they become sincere seekers, their conscious oneness with God will remain a far cry.

When evening sets in, the glow-worms offer their light. They feel that it is they who are illumining the entire sky. A few hours later the stars appear. Immediately the light of the glow-worms becomes insignificant, and their pride is smashed. After some time, the moon appears. When the moon appears, the stars pale into insignificance. Finally, the day dawns and the sun brilliantly illumines the whole world. The glow-worms, the stars and the moon all come to realise that it is the sun that illumines the entire world, that it is the sun that has boundless light. In the spiritual life, we eventually come to realise that there is an inner sun. The inner sun is infinitely brighter than the outer sun. When we bring to the fore this inner sun on the strength of our aspiration, we establish our inseparable oneness with the world at large.

Most of us here are sincere seekers; only a few have come out of curiosity. But I wish to say that even those who have come out of curiosity have done the right thing in coming to tonight's meeting. For today's curiosity will turn into tomorrow's sincere cry for Reality. Aspiration is the key to unlock the door of universal oneness, and those seekers who are really sincere already have the key. For them God's Hour has struck. And at God's Hour, the chosen instrument of God begins to spread the message of Light and Delight.

Our sense of immortality, our sense of spirituality, our sense of an inner bond, compels us to feel the necessity of oneness. Oneness is our transcendental Light and oneness is our eternal Delight.

The human, the divine and The Supreme⁴

I am a seeker. That means I am a spiritual farmer. As a farmer cultivates the land and, in the course of time, collects a bumper crop, even so the seeker in me is cultivating the spiritual soil of Canada. Geographically, Canada is a very vast country. And spiritually, she can become extremely fertile. Fear is human. Courage is divine. Love is supreme.

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A thing divine is long-lived.

Doubt is human.

Surrender is supreme.

A life of doubt cannot start.

A life of surrender reaches the Goal.

The human in us says the Goal is far, very far.

The Supreme in us says we ourselves are the Goal.

The human in us is stark complexity within and without. The divine in us is pure simplicity. This simplicity houses the Infinite and the Eternal. The supreme in us is sheer luminosity. In this luminosity the seeker becomes the divine Lover, and the lover becomes one with the supreme Beloved.

The human in us thinks that it has conquered everything. The divine in us feels that it can conquer everything if such is the Will of God. The supreme in us has become what it eternally is: oneness, inseparable oneness.

I am one individual and God is another individual: this is my human discovery. God and I are sempiternally one: this is my divine discovery. God is my most illumined part and I am God's most unillumined existence: this is my supreme discovery.

The human in me feels that it is all sacrifice, that it has sacrificed everything for the world at large. The Divine in me feels that it makes all possible sacrifices because the Absolute has given it the capacity to sacrifice. The supreme in me knows that there is no such thing as sacrifice. When we are all one, the question of sacrifice does not arise at all.

My body has a mind, a heart, two legs. My legs take me to school, where my mind and heart receive knowledge and wisdom. Now, my legs do not feel that they are making a tremendous sacrifice in carrying my heart and head to school, for my legs have established their inseparable oneness with my heart and my head. Similarly, when my legs and feet want to run, my head and heart co-operate. They do not feel it is any sacrifice on their part to come along.

In the inner world, there is no such thing as sacrifice; there is only the song of oneness. The physical in us ponders and thinks, and it feels that it has made tremendous progress when it starts to reason. The human in us feels that the reasoning mind is the pinnacle of perfection. But when the divine in us comes to the fore, it makes us feel that the soulful heart is what is of paramount importance, for the inmost recesses of our heart house the Infinite and the Eternal.

The human in us desires constantly and demands constantly. The divine in us aspires devotedly and inspires unreservedly. The supreme in us only loves, consciously, constantly and unconditionally.

The human in us prays, Asato ma sad gamaya... Lead me from the unreal to the Real. Lead me from darkness to Light. Lead me from death to Immortality.

The divine in us prays, Hiranmayena patrena... The Face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden orb. Remove it, O Sun, so that I who am devoted to the Truth may behold the Truth.

The supreme in us knows what its source is and where its journey will lead. It says, Anandadd hy eva khalv imani bhutani jayante. . . From Delight we came into existence. In Delight we grow. At the end of our journey's close, into Delight we retire.

The human in us has to be transcended on the strength of our inner cry. The divine in us has to be manifested, and for that we need God's infinite Bounty along with our own aspiration-cry. The supreme in us is perfect Perfection, and this perfect Perfection must be established here on earth, through our conscious prayer to reach the transcendental Consciousness. Only when we meditate do we bring down the transcendental Consciousness, the supreme Perfection, into our lives of self-dedication, our lives of self-transcendence.

Each seeker once lived in the world of pleasure. Now he lives in the world of aspiration. Tomorrow the same seeker will live in the world of illumination. Yesterday we were human. Today we are divine. Tomorrow we will be supreme. It is our intense inner cry that will make us again what we were once upon a time. Our source was God the Delight, and now we are trying to establish here on earth the Peace, Light and Delight of the Source through our conscious prayer, our soulful meditation and our devoted surrender to the Will of God.

As seekers we know that the human in us has to be transcended so that the divine in us can play its role most effectively. We also know that the divine in us must have an immortal existence here on earth. For that the divine in us needs the life supreme, and this life supreme we get only when our human existence is all love, all devotion and all surrender to the Inner Pilot.

Freedom

There is nobody who does not need freedom. At the same time, there is not a single person who has freedom in abundant measure. We are all seekers. We need freedom from ignorance, bondage and death. Now, our freedom is our conscious, constant and unconditional acceptance of the Will of our Inner Pilot. Our freedom is God's Heart of Compassion. Our freedom is the manifestation of His Will here on earth. Our freedom lies in our service and in our dedicated life.

We love; therefore we are free. How do we love? We love through our self-offering. Why do we love? We love because God, our Source, is all Love.

We serve; therefore we are free. How do we serve? We serve devotedly and unreservedly. Why do we serve? We serve precisely because we wish to expand our heart and heighten our life.

We are detached; therefore we are free. We are detached because of our awareness of the fact that we are not indispensable in anybody's life. We tried being attached to others, but we found that this attachment in no way relieved them from their sufferings; on the contrary, it only added to their ignorance-night.

But we do feel that there is someone who is indispensable, and that someone is the Inner Pilot. Our devotion to the supreme Inner Pilot is the thing of paramount importance in our life. On the physical plane some may see this as attachment, but on the spiritual plane all will know that it is devotion to the supreme Cause. When we pay all attention to the ignorance of the world, we call it attachment. But when we pay all attention to the Light within and above, we call it devotion. Since we are devoted to the Supreme, it is our bounden duty to inspire others to devote themselves to the same Inner Pilot if so He wills.

Here we are all seekers; we are all seekers of freedom-light. Once we become freedom-seekers, we know freedom represents our conscious satisfaction in a life of constant frustration. Although we are wedded to ignorance-night and constantly suffer from excruciating inner pangs, still we feel there is a streak of light in our life, and this light is our ever-growing, ever-expanding inner freedom.

Ignorance-night tells us that we are building castles in the air, that there is no abiding truth in our conception of Light, no reality in our feelings. Ignorance says that we are of night and we should be all the time for night. But our inner freedom tells us that today we are of God and for God, and that tomorrow God will make us future Gods. It tells us that God wants us to be equal to Him in every possible way. He feels that if we are an inch below Him, then He cannot manifest His Divinity, Eternity and Immortality to the fullest extent. Only when we are on the same footing as God can His divine Enjoyment reach the acme of perfection.

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Freedom is the duty of our devoted life.

Our aspiring heart is the Dream-sky of God.

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With the Reality-sun of God, we grow into the very image of the Absolute Supreme.

Freedom is peace. Peace is an inner experience of our totality. Totality is the silence-sound and the sound-silence of Reality. When the sound-silence ascends, we realise our true Self. When the silence-sound descends, it is time for God-manifestation. We ascend with sound-silence, and that is our God-realisation. We descend with silence-sound, and that is our God-manifestation. Freedom is simplicity. Simplicity does not mean the absence of complexity; it in no way stands against complexity. Simplicity is our conscious acceptance of our own integrality. Freedom includes and it excludes. It excludes hunger from our human existence. It includes the divine feast that we constantly enjoy with the Lord Supreme in our divine existence.

Freedom is purity. Purity expedites our divine journey toward the transcendental Goal. It constantly, consciously and devotedly makes us feel what we are and what we are not. What we are is God's chosen children, seeking to manifest Him unconditionally in His own Way here on earth. What we are not is the chosen children of ignorance.

Freedom constantly reminds us that our Source is Light, and that our existence can therefore be nothing but a flood of Light. We realise the authenticity of this statement only when we dive deep within and feel the necessity of listening to the dictates of our inner being. Freedom reminds us of the supreme fact that our divine Source is eternal and our existence here on earth is going to be supremely divine. It is a matter of time. At God's choice Hour, today's imperfection is bound to blossom into tomorrow's perfect Perfection. The human in us feels that freedom is the fulfilment of our individuality. But when the human in us aspires, it comes to realise that this kind of freedom is nothing but earthbound individuality. The divine in us sees and feels that real freedom is the experience of universal reality or universality itself. As the ordinary person feels that his freedom is his individuality, the aspiring person feels that his freedom is his universality. And the Supreme in us feels that the real freedom lies in our all-embracing, all-illumining and all-fulfilling love for the world which is within us, which is without us, which is all-where.

We are all human beings. Most of the time we dwell in the world of hope. Hope is right now by far our best friend. When we hope for freedom, we know that it is our human friend, our human realisation, that is speaking within us. Hope for freedom is our human realisation. Promise for freedom is our divine realisation. Finally, our will for freedom, our adamantine will-power, is our supreme realisation.

Sundara hate<sup>5</sup>

Sundara hate sundara tumi

Nishidin jena antare mor

Tumi chhara mor nayan andhar

Chaudike mor bishwa bhubane

Pabo kigo dekha nimesher tare

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Day and night may Thy image abide in the very depth of my heart.

Without You my eyes have no vision. Everything is an illusion, everything is barren.

All around me, within and without, the melody of tenebrous pangs I hear. My world is filled with excruciating pangs.

O Lord, O my beautiful Lord, O my Lord of Beauty, in this lifetime, even for a fleeting second, may I be blessed with the boon to see Thy Face."

Purity⁶

I wish to give a talk on purity. Purity is not a matter of study; purity is a matter of living reality. Purity is not the sound of life; purity is the silence of the soul. Purity is the conscious aspiration of our aspiring life. Purity is the integration of our aspiring heart.

To be pure is to be free. To be free is to be divine. And to be divine is to fulfil God's Promise here on earth. What is God's Promise? God's Promise to mankind is that He will make each human being a true God like Himself. This Promise is fulfilled by God in and through the God-seekers and the God-lovers. We are all seekers and lovers of God, so it is our bounden duty to realise God here on earth.

A life of purity is a life of self-sufficiency, because it is deeply rooted in love divine. Love is the source of humanity, love is the source of divinity. Human love ultimately ends in frustration. Why? Because human love proceeds from one limited body-consciousness to another limited body-consciousness. Divine love is all illumination. At the journey's start, in the middle of the race and at the journey's close it is all illumination. Divine love descends from the soul-freedom into the body-consciousness. Divine love is the sun of freedom both in Heaven and on earth.

Purity is a divine child within us. This divine child embodies Peace, Light, Love and Delight in infinite measure. The physical mind is at first baffled by the effulgence of this divine child. But ultimately it surrenders to the child's effulgence and receives illumination from him. The aspiring heart is immediately thrilled at the very sight of the divine child. It wants to enter and it does enter into the child's infinite Peace, Light and Bliss, and it starts swimming in the consciousness of the divine child.

Purity is harmony; impurity is disharmony. Harmony puts up a brave fight against the teeming challenges of life. Disharmony helplessly surrenders to the teeming challenges of life.

The inner light is purity. The outer life is ignorance. The inner light wants to conquer the outer ignorance. Likewise, the outer ignorance wants to conquer and devour the inner light. The inner light wants to conquer the outer ignorance with a view to transforming it. When the outer ignorance is transformed, it becomes a divine warrior fighting to establish the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

A life of purity is the life of a perfection-lover. We feel that perfection is the fulfilment of our desires. But this is a mistake. Real perfection is the fulfilment of God's Will in and through us. No matter how many times our desires are fulfilled, we do not see the face of abiding satisfaction. But the fulfilment of God's Will is our supreme satisfaction. Perfection is satisfaction divine, and this satisfaction we get when we offer to God what we have and what we are. What we have is our aspiration and our mounting inner cry, and what we are is ignorance-sea. Both we have to offer to the Supreme.

In the spiritual life, purity is of paramount importance. A seeker may have high experiences, but if purity is not well-established in his being, then at any moment he may lose the strength and the reality of his experiences. An experience can be permanent in the seeker only when his inner being is flooded with purity. A seeker may reach a very high state of consciousness today, but if impurity enters into him tomorrow, he may fall to the nadir of consciousness, the very lowest level. And once he falls down, his life is filled with the most deplorable remorse. It may take him many years to climb back up to his previous height.

Purity builds the inner life; impurity obliterates the inner life. How can we have a solid edifice which can never be destroyed by impurity? We can have a permanent building, a solid edifice in our inner life, if we cry soulfully and ceaselessly for the Absolute Supreme to descend into our inner life.

For a seeker, the inner purity and the outer purity must go together. Inner purity may be compared to having a clean body, and outer purity may be compared to wearing freshly laundered clothes. If an individual takes a shower but then puts on filthy clothes, what kind of purity will he have? Again, if for a week he has not taken a shower and then he puts on clean clothes, this is also unsatisfactory. His outer purity will not satisfy him because his inner impurity is creating a problem for him. Likewise, with spiritual purity, the inner and the outer must both be there. The body must be pure and clean, but so also must the mind be pure, as well as the vital.

Purity is the shrine within us. In this shrine we see the living spirit of the Supreme, our Beloved. It is said that a life of purity sees God. But I wish to add that a life of purity not only sees God but actually becomes God. A man of purity is a warrior of divinity. This warrior establishes the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth on the strength of his constant self-giving. Today what we call self-giving, tomorrow we shall call God-becoming.

Aspiration⁷

A man of aspiration knows that what he has is human knowledge. Human knowledge is limited or unlimited ignorance. Aspiration is divine knowledge. Aspiration knows what binds us and what liberates us. What binds us is ignorance-night; what liberates us is wisdom-light.

Aspiration does not and cannot learn anything from or with the physical mind. Aspiration learns everything through the heart, through the heart's perfection. Aspiration is not head-learning; aspiration is heart-becoming. Head-learning doubts. Doubt is slow poison in our spiritual system. It obliterates our purity, our serenity, our reality and our profundity. Heart-becoming is founded upon our faith, our self-giving and our feeling of universal oneness. Heart-becoming accepts. In acceptance looms large the message of total satisfaction, for through acceptance we eventually transform imperfection into perfect Perfection. First we see and accept a thing which is undivine. Then, on the strength of our inner light, we give it a new life. Finally we make it supremely divine.

Aspiration is the acceptance of life and the transcendence of death. Aspiration is the transformation and transcendence of the death-force. Through our aspiration we try to establish a free access to the immortal life so that here on earth we can establish the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom need not and cannot remain eternally imaginary. It must be established in our life of aspiration.

When we go deep within, we discover that aspiration is the very breath of God which we utilise for our own sake. Again, aspiration is the death of the ignorance of millennia. When ignorance comes to an end in a seeker, God claims that particular seeker as His chosen instrument and God manifests Himself here on earth through that seeker. There are two worlds on earth: the world of desire and the world of aspiration. In the world of desire, frustration looms large and the animal life reigns supreme. In the world of aspiration our satisfaction-flower blossoms petal by petal. In the world of aspiration, the seeker's dream is transformed into supreme Reality. The seeker comes to realise that God is man yet unmanifested, and that man is God yet unrealised. Man's realisation and God's manifestation take place when the seeker's entire being becomes all receptivity to God's ceaseless flow of Compassion and Light. On God's behalf, aspiration prepares our inner being. And on our behalf, aspiration welcomes and receives God. Aspiration welcomes the divine in us and fulfils the human in us. Man and God need each other equally and sempiternally. Man needs God to realise his transcendental Reality. God needs man to manifest Himself totally, integrally and universally on earth.

Aspiration expedites man's journey toward the transcendental Goal and accelerates God's manifestation here on earth. The seeker can expedite God's choice Hour provided his aspiration-flame every day climbs up high, higher, highest. Today, on the strength of his aspiration-flame, he reaches the Highest. Tomorrow, he comes down to reveal the highest transcendental Reality in the heart of aspiring humanity. Aspiration houses the outer world and the inner world, the world of realisation and the world of manifestation, the world of ego and the universe of universal oneness.

With aspiration we begin our journey, and with aspiration we continue our journey. Since there is no end to our journey, and since God is infinite, eternal and immortal, our aspiration will constantly flow toward God's Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. There is no end to our journey. Aspiration is the endless road that leads eternally toward the ever-transcending Beyond.

Progress⁸

A man of desire wants God the Giver, but a man of progress needs God the Receiver. A man of aspiration says to God, "O Lord, take me. What I have is for You. What I am is for You. What I have is an inner cry, and what I am is unlimited ignorance. O Lord, take what I have and what I am." A man of desire prays to God for earthly wisdom, material possessions and the fulfilment of his desires. Immediately God tells him, "Take whatever you need, then." But when a seeker prays for inner progress, God tells him that he has to work hard for it. That does not mean that God will deny us progress. No! He will rain down His Compassion, but we have to make our inner vessel vast, vaster, vastest, so that we can hold His infinite Bounty.

Success is an experience of pleasure and stimulation. Progress is an experience of joy and fulfilment. Pleasure's future names are frustration and destruction. Joy's future names are satisfaction and illumination. Success finds its existence between the doubting mind and the strangling vital; progress has its reality between the aspiring heart and the dedicated life.

Progress is our inner assurance of a deeper manifestation. Progress is founded upon evolving experience and manifesting experience. When we cry for God the Absolute Reality, we grow into the evolving experience. When we, as divine lovers, become inseparably one with our supreme Beloved, we become the manifesting experience.

Human progress and divine progress. Human progress wants to see more and more of the world; it wants to understand the mystery of the world. Divine progress wants to see more and more of God in each human being. Human progress feels that slow and steady wins the race. Divine progress teaches us that Grace is the swiftest way to the Goal.

In the spiritual life we deal with Eternity: Eternity's past, present and future. In Eternity's past, we made considerable progress. God inspired us and commanded us, "Arise, awake!" and immediately we listened to His inner dictate. In Eternity's present, we are still making considerable progress. We are running very fast towards the ever-transcending Beyond. And in Eternity's future, we shall see and feel that the Goal itself is running toward us. We are like hungry children Although we know not where our mother is, we run here and there in search of her. But when our mother hears us crying, she immediately runs to us. We cry to the Supreme because we have an inner hunger, and the Mother Supreme runs to feed us. The seeker who makes real progress always preserves the divine and transforms the undivine. How does he preserve and how does he transform? When he ascends the Reality-Tree to the highest realm of consciousness, he acquires the capacity to preserve the divine within him. Then, when he climbs down the Reality-Tree and brings back the smile of the transcendental Beyond, he is able to transform the undivine.

Since we are all seekers, we are supposed to make progress at every moment. But there are two things that prevent us from making progress: self-love and self-indulgence. Self-love makes continuous mistakes and Himalayan blunders, while self-indulgence is a Himalayan blunder itself. Now, there is one way for us to make constant and conscious progress, and that is through God-love and God-service. God-love does everything perfectly, and God-service is nothing short of perfect Perfection.

Progress is movement, and movement is progress. Thousands of years ago, the Vedic seers offered their divine message, Charai veti, charai veti — "Move on, move on!" Again, the seers of the Upanishads taught us to be dynamic and not to fear action. If we do disinterested action, this action cannot bind us or claim anything of our existence. Action cannot claim a man of devoted and dedicated service. Lord Krishna taught us the supreme truth: "Thou hast the right to action, but claim not the fruits thereof."

As seekers, at every moment we are devotedly doing selfless service. The result can never be of importance to us. It is only our attitude, our motive, that concerns us. The result will come in the form of failure or success, and both of these experiences we have to offer at the Feet of the Lord Supreme with equal joy and delight. In this way we can make the fastest progress.

Limitation⁹

Why are we imperfect and limited? We are imperfect and limited precisely because we do not consciously and soulfully claim God the Infinite, the Eternal and the Immortal as our very own. If we dare to claim God consciously and constantly as our very own, all our limitations will be transformed into boundless opportunities to climb high, higher, highest in the process of our cosmic evolution.

Now, what is limitation? Limitation is our unconscious or conscious expression of separation from our Source. What is limitation? Limitation is our conscious acceptance of the non-essential as our very own. What is limitation? Limitation is our failure to integrate the Dream-sky of Heaven with the reality-land of earth. Limitation is the yawning gulf between our present realisation and our future revelation. Limitation is the yawning gulf between our illumining revelation and our fulfilling manifestation. Today there is an undeniable chasm separating our realisation-world from our revelation-world, and our revelation-world from our manifestation-world. This chasm is our limitation.

A life of complexity is a life of limitation and abstraction. A life of simplicity is a sunlit path that leads to the fulfilment of our life's multifarious goals. Complexity deliberately ignores the divine beauty and the limitless capacity of humility. Simplicity knows that humility is not the painful awareness of our limitation, but the conscious recognition of our real divinity.

Self-deceit and self-acclaim are limitation. Self-deprecation is also limitation. When we deceive ourselves, we unconsciously try to uproot our life-tree. When we uproot the life-tree forcibly, it is broken and torn asunder. When we aggrandise our ego, we just feed our earthly existence and kill our inner life. Again, when we underestimate our own existence, our capacities and potentialities, we starve our divine existence, we grow weaker and weaker, and finally we die. When we deprecate ourselves, when we try to keep ourselves forcibly in a tiny prison cell, we do not allow our life-seed to germinate. Self-deceit is the conscious negation of our inner divinity, and self-deprecation is the conscious misconception of our inner divinity.

To conquer limitations is to grow into the process of conscious and speedy evolution. When we have conquered our limitations, we realise that everyone without exception has been blessed with unique capacities and potentialities. Once an individual discovers his own uniqueness by conquering his limitations, he feels certain that others also have a uniqueness of their own.

Limitation is self-thinking. Self-thinking is the conscious disproportionate adoration of our finite self. When self-thinking gives way to God-thinking, the tiny individual drop becomes the ocean of Infinity, and limitations disappear sooner than at once. When universality comes forward, the blossoming of the divine personality immediately follows. In our continuous universality, Eternity glows and Immortality flows. To conquer limitation is to grow into the process of illumining and convincing revelation. To conquer limitation is to live in the process of direct and perfect manifestation.

Earthly possessions limit us. Heavenly renunciation frees and liberates us. Supreme illumination immortalises us. Limitation abides in the cave of the unlit mind. Freedom grows in the land of the aspiring heart. Immortality abides in the kingdom of the illumining soul.

Right now we are limited. But limitation is not and cannot be our eternal reality. Each limitation of ours can easily be overcome provided we know that our Source is unlimited. Once we dare to claim God the Almighty Father and God the Mother Supreme as our very own, in the twinkling of an eye we are bound to feel ourselves unlimited in every way. And in the unlimited expansion of our consciousness, we come to feel that it is our bounden duty to manifest our Beloved Supreme here on earth in His own Way.

Spirituality and satisfaction¹⁰

If you want me to define spirituality, I can define it by using only one word: satisfaction. Spirituality is nothing more and nothing less than satisfaction. Now, what is satisfaction? Satisfaction is the manifestation of oneness. Manifestation is the song of permanence, and oneness is the crown of evolution. And what is evolution? Evolution is our heart's ascending cry for the Highest, for the Absolute. This cry needs only one thing: God's descending Smile. When our heart's ascending cry and God's descending Smile meet together, we fly in the sky of infinite Freedom.

Some enter into the spiritual life because the world has disappointed them. Others enter into the spiritual life out of sheer curiosity, because they feel it may offer something worth achieving. Still others feel that no matter how much they give to the world at large and no matter how much they receive from the world, they will never be able to see the face of satisfaction. They feel that only by leading a spiritual life will their inner satisfaction loom large. They feel that satisfaction lies in self-giving, self-giving to the root of the Life-Tree: God.

Those who enter into the spiritual life because the world has disappointed them or because they have disappointed the world may be tempted to go back to the life of the ordinary world. But those who accept the spiritual life for real and abiding satisfaction will eventually succeed.

A real spiritual life is a life of inner acceptance. Inner acceptance means allowing oneself to be shaped by the Will of God. When we pray and meditate, we try to become consciously one with the Will of God. We know that it is only the Will of God that can ultimately fulfil us and our near and dear ones. No matter how hard we try to please others, we shall fail. No matter how sincerely and genuinely others want to please us, they will sadly fail. But if we invoke the Will of God to please mankind in Divinity's own way, then, and then only, will the world be satisfied.

A spiritual man is he who does first things first. For an ordinary human being who does not pray and meditate early in the morning, the first thing in his life is his breakfast. He feels that if he eats he will be energised so that he will be able to perform his daily activities. But a spiritual person feels that there is someone inside his heart whom he has to feed first: a little child, a divine child. This little child is the soul, which is the direct representative of God. A spiritual person feels that he must feed his inner existence first, and then only will he be fulfilled in his outer life. He feels that he has to come outward from within, and not the other way around. Early in the morning, therefore, he prays and meditates. When he prays most soulfully, his inner cry immediately knocks at God's Door and God listens to his cry. His prayer is his speech. He starts conversing with God and God listens. Then, a few minutes later, he meditates. When he meditates, he becomes the listener and God becomes the talker. In a conversation, one talks and the other listens, and then it is reversed. Similarly, when a seeker prays, he talks and God listens; and when a seeker meditates, God talks and the seeker listens, by silencing his mind and by opening his heart.

Here we are all spiritual people. According to me, a spiritual person is he who is constantly serving God in humanity. A life of selfless service is his only credential. A spiritual person is he who does not and cannot separate his being from his doing, or his doing from his becoming. For him there can be no yawning chasm between being and doing, or between doing and becoming.

Very often people who do not follow the spiritual life think that spiritual people are deliberately negating society. But I wish to say that spiritual people are not negating anything. They are only trying to do the first thing first. The essence, the quintessence, of society is God. So spiritual people try to enter into the essence first.

They want to enter into the root, for then only can they climb up to the topmost bough of the Life-Tree and become one with its millions and billions of leaves and hundreds and thousands of fruits and flowers.

A sincere seeker has to accept the world, but he has to accept the world from within. His heart of love offers Love, Peace and Bliss through silence. He feels that if he can inspire someone inwardly, silently, then that person can really get some benefit from his dedicated service.

There are some seekers who think that they will be able to realise God sooner if they enter into the Himalayan caves. But I feel that the days of withdrawal from the world are buried in oblivion. If we enter into the Himalayan caves with a view to realising God, then God is likely to tell us, "My child, I am not going to appear there. In that cave I will be suffocated." Then again, there are people who wallow in the pleasures of ignorance and feel that they will be able to realise God in the superfluous luxury of a palace. But God tells them that He is not going to appear there, either. To them He says, "That place is too vast for Me." The life of idleness and comfort cannot associate with the life of divine oneness.

Then what is the place that a seeker must choose in order to receive his supreme Beloved? The place is his heart. If we meditate on the heart and in the heart, then we will bring to the fore our inner light, which constantly tries to be of service to aspiring mankind.

A spiritual person feels that God is very simple. He wants to simplify his life, for the moment complexity enters into his mind, God-realisation becomes a far cry. When he remains in the heart, when he is a child, he feels that God is nearer than the nearest, dearer than the dearest.

We have a physical mind, and at every moment this mind wants to be convinced. Therefore we talk and listen, just to convince our physical mind. But real spirituality, real meditation, real yoga, is all inside the heart. In the heart is our ceaseless cry, our ever-mounting flame that reaches up to the Supreme's transcendental Smile and then comes down to offer its inner wealth to aspiring humanity and to the world at large.

Right now the physical mind is the leader of our family. Whatever the physical mind commands us to do, we do — either willingly or unwillingly. But once we begin to pray and meditate, we feel that there is a higher member of our inner family, one which is superior to the mind, and that is the heart. When we remain in the heart, we feel that we have established a free access to the soul, which is flooded with Light and Delight. A genuine seeker knows that he needs God not because God is omniscient and omnipotent, but because God is all Love. As in the ordinary human world, in the spiritual world also somebody may be very strong and powerful, but his power or strength does not conquer our heart. Somebody may be an authority on every walk of life, but still that particular person does not conquer our heart. But if somebody is all love, then that person is bound to conquer our heart, for the heart is oneness, universal oneness.

Beauty¹¹

Beauty is the inner voice of silence. Beauty is the duty of the loving heart. Beauty is the perfection of the aspiring life. Beauty is the message of the illumining soul. Beauty is the Reality-embrace of God.

Beauty is inspiration. Beauty is aspiration. Beauty is realisation. Inspiration runs, runs to the farthest Beyond. Aspiration flies, flies to the highest Beyond. Realisation consciously becomes what it has eternally been in the inner world, in the world of silence. The mind needs illumined inspiration. The heart needs inseparable union which is founded upon aspiration. The soul needs the integration of life and the realised perfection of the entire being. Sincerity is our evolving beauty. Purity is our illumining beauty. Humility is our fulfilling beauty.

Beauty is freedom. We can gain real freedom only by establishing a free access to our inner reality, by consciously and constantly listening to our soul's inner dictates, by being conscious of our highest and most illumined part, which is God.

Beauty is peace. A life of beauty is a life of peace. Peace is not merely the absence of quarrelling and fighting; peace is the manifestation of our inseparable oneness with all. This oneness is not the oneness of the finite with the finite, but the oneness of the finite with the Infinite. When the finite identifies itself with the Infinite, the Beauty of the Infinite transforms the very breath of the finite, and earth's beauty and Heaven's Beauty are joined. Earth's beauty is a soulful cry; Heaven's Beauty is a soulful smile. When earth's cry and Heaven's Smile meet together, beauty's perfection dawns.

Beauty is in unity's multiplicity and multiplicity's unity. When we look at a beautiful flower in its entirety, the flower offers us the beauty of oneness, of multiplicity's unity. When we look at the same flower petal by petal, we see unity's multiplicity offering us its beauty supernal.

When we observe a beautiful flower, we feel that our life should be as beautiful as a flower, because there is someone whom we have to garland with our life's gratitude-beauty. That person is our eternal Beloved, our Lord Supreme. When we look at a burning incense stick, we feel immediately the beauty of purity. The fragrance of the incense purifies our inner existence and transports our aspiring consciousness to a higher plane. When we observe a candle flame, immediately we notice inside us another flame which has been burning from time immemorial, and this inner flame is God's eternal Beauty.

We look at the blazing sun, and immediately the divine warrior in us is surcharged with power divine. This power energises us to fight against ignorance. This power constantly makes us feel that we are the chosen warriors of the Supreme, chosen to fight against teeming ignorance-bondage, chosen to establish divinity's perfection here on earth. We look at the moon, and its beauty immediately inspires us to become divine lovers of God. It is only with our devoted love and unconditional surrender to the supreme Beloved that we can grow into His very Image.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." This immortal utterance of Keats can easily be cherished and treasured in the hearts of all sincere seekers. Beauty is a divine expression of the true Reality. Reality and divine beauty are inseparable, like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. Beauty expressed is divinity manifested in our life of aspiration and realisation.

It is said that physical beauty is skin-deep. But from the spiritual point of view I wish to say that the Divine Father often expresses Himself through beauty in the gross physical, the subtle physical and the vital as well as in the mind, heart and soul. But when we observe beauty in the physical, beauty in the vital, beauty in the mind or beauty in the heart, we have to use our soul's eye — that is to say, our soul's light. If we use our soul's light, we see beauty even in outer ugliness, even in darkness, imperfection and bondage.

A spiritual seeker uses his heart and his soul to see the world within and the world without. He does not use his outer eyes. He has seen time and again that the vision of his outer eyes is limited precisely because this vision is guided by the subtle or unconscious operation of the unlit, unillumined mind. It is simply impossible for the outer eyes to identify themselves with the quintessence of beauty. But if we use the heart, immediately we become part and parcel of the substance and essence of what we are seeing.

Beauty and the duty of the heart must go together. The duty of the heart is to become one with the reality of the outer world and with the reality of the inner world. Those who do not aspire try consciously or unconsciously to separate the outer beauty from the inner beauty. But a sincere seeker has discovered the truth that the outer beauty has a source of its own, and that source is the soul. The soul expresses itself outwardly through beauty. When we embody our divine duty, automatically we express and reveal pure beauty all around us. Duty is our dream-boat. We have been sailing this dream-boat through Eternity. Beauty is the Reality-shore, the shore of Immortality, which we are destined to reach. If we consciously, devotedly and unconditionally please the Inner Pilot, then He accelerates our journey, He leads us, He carries us in His Boat toward the Golden Shore of the Beyond.

A genuine seeker has discovered the secret of secrets: from the inner beauty we have to enter into the outer beauty. The inner beauty will have to go from the soul to the heart, from the heart to the mind, from the mind to the vital and from the vital to the physical. If we know what the source is and where the source is, and if we commence our journey from the source, our journey is safe. We reach the shore, and we are convinced of the reality of our attainment.

An unaspiring human being thinks that his ignorant pleasure-life is the only source of his satisfaction. But for sincere seekers, for true lovers of God, Delight is the source. Beauty is Light and Light is Delight. This Delight is the harmony, peace and satisfaction of the Absolute. We can treasure this divine wealth only when we appreciate, admire and adore the inner beauty. When the inner beauty comes to the fore, the world of darkness will immediately be transformed into the world of luminosity.

When we pray, we offer the beauty of our heart's intensity to the Supreme. When we meditate, we offer the beauty of our inner silence to the Supreme. When we love the outer world, knowing that the outer world is the manifestation and expression of the Supreme, then we offer the beauty of our universal oneness to the Supreme.

When a sincere seeker prays and meditates, he radiates beauty. This beauty comes directly from his inner existence, his soul. All human beings, without exception, are the manifested Beauty of the Supreme; but spiritual aspirants are trying to be the perfectly and consciously manifested Beauty of the Supreme.

In ugliness there is beauty, in imperfection there is beauty, in everything that exists in God's universe there is beauty. Again, beauty has its degrees, and when we become conscious seekers, we aim at the highest beauty, at the perfect perfection of beauty. This beauty looms large in us only when we become conscious and constant divine soldiers of self-giving. When possessiveness leaves us and selflessness takes its place, the beauty of the transcendental Height enters into our life of aspiration. Today what we call self-giving, tomorrow that very thing we call God-becoming, which is beauty unparalleled. Self-giving is the flowering of our love divine. God-becoming is the ultimate blossoming of our dedicated, devoted and unconditional surrender to the Inner Pilot.

Bliss¹²

Bliss is the peerless experience of the aspiring body, vital, mind and heart. When bliss descends, the insecurity of the heart, the frustration of the mind, the depression of the vital and the limitation of the body disappear. This experience of bliss we have in our soul-consciousness, which is the Reality-Light of God.

An unaspiring human being consciously or unconsciously carries two undivine weapons with him: self-love and world-hatred. But a seeker, an aspiring soul, carries with him two divine weapons: God-love and world-embrace. When we love God from the very depth of our hearts, we feel that our inner existence is inundated with bliss. And when we embrace the world as a divine manifestation of God, again our inner being is inundated with bliss.

Bliss has a dear brother, a most affectionate brother, peace. Peace paves the way, and then bliss walks along the way and enters into us. The difference between peace and bliss is this: when we have an experience of peace, we feel that we are satisfied. We do not want to go an inch farther, higher or deeper, precisely because we are satisfied with the peace that is reigning supreme in our life. When we have an experience of bliss, we are also fully satisfied; yet we have an inner urge or inner hunger to receive still more bliss, ever more. This hunger is not due to dissatisfaction with what we have already achieved. No! It is just that we feel a continuous hunger for satisfaction in an ever-increasing measure.

When we experience peace, we usually feel it in the heart centre. Then from the heart chakra, peace may enter into our other spiritual centres. But when we experience bliss, we feel it all over our body, from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head.

When we pray and meditate soulfully, we are bound to attain peace. But there is a specific kind of meditation that is the easiest way to acquire peace. If a seeker can meditate on the setting sun, then it is easy for him to feel the presence of peace. And if the same seeker meditates on the rising sun, then it is easy for him to achieve bliss. We have to know that in the spiritual life it is always advisable to meditate on the thing that embodies the reality that we want to achieve. The setting sun embodies peace, and it offers peace to the world at large. The rising sun embodies bliss and offers bliss to the world at large. And the seeker receives bliss and peace from the rising and setting sun according to his capacity and receptivity.

Bliss is freedom: freedom from the past, freedom from the future and freedom from the present. The tenebrous influence of the past does not allow us to move forward. But our philosophy says the past is dust. Why? Because it has not given us what we actually need: salvation, liberation and realisation. True, we have had a few sweet experiences. But these experiences are buried in oblivion. When we think of the past as a whole, we feel a sea of failure, a sea of frustration, a sea of dissatisfaction within us.

Now, we also have to be free from the future, the future that wants to enter into us with its theoretical thoughts and imaginary ideas. When we try to enter into the heart of the future, we see that it is all wild imagination, with no reality there. It is only castles in the air, not founded upon solid, concrete reality. So, just as we have to be totally free from the past, we should not allow the future to enter into us, either.

Then again, we have to be free from attachment to the present as well. The present is nothing but insecurity, constant insecurity. No matter what we have achieved, no matter how much power we have, there is always a sense of insecurity in us. No human being on earth can say that he is always secure. This moment he may be secure, but the next moment fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, darkness, ignorance and bondage can shatter his security-wall to pieces.

When we free ourselves from the darkness and ignorance of the past, we see God smiling at us. When we free ourselves from the imaginary hopes of the future, we see and feel God embracing us with His effulgent Light. And when we free ourselves from the insecurity of the present, we hear God promising us that He will make us another God, an exact prototype of His eternal and immortal existence.

The Vedic seers of the hoary past offered us a sublime message, a soul-stirring mantra or incantation:

Anandadd hy eva khalv imani bhutani jayante...

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In Delight we grow.

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Bliss is the creation of life and bliss is the life of creation. The creation of life is the Silence-God. The life of silence is the Sound-God. Creation enters into inconscience and then gradually comes back to its Source, and regains its Source. When it enters into inconscience, into the lowest chasm of reality, we call this involution. And when from that lowest chasm creation again climbs up high, higher, highest, we call this evolution. The Silence-God has another name: Spirit; and the Sound-God has another name: matter. Progress requires involution of spirit and evolution of matter.

Bliss enters into inconscience because it wants to offer its light and delight, its very reality, to the dark side of existence. Then, from the darkness and inconscience of matter, bliss comes back again to its Source. But on its way back, when it reaches the human level — which is still half-animal — its promise to the Absolute Supreme becomes vivid and real. When bliss enters into inconscience, it does so with the solemn promise that there, too, it will offer light. In God's creation there will be no place where Light will be missing. When bliss evolves from the mineral, plant and animal life to the human level, it becomes conscious of its original promise to the Absolute Supreme.

Human life, which is half-animal, will be conquered on the strength of our inner cry. From the human life, the divine life wants to grow. So we practice concentration, meditation and contemplation, which carry us into the domain of aspiration.

We are all seekers, and we want to achieve bliss or taste it consciously. At times it happens that non-seekers may feel bliss for a fleeting second, either in a dream or during their waking hours. But this unexpected bliss does not last. Unexpectedly it comes and, in spite of their desire that it stay, it soon disappears. Why? Because their body, their physical consciousness, is not fully dedicated to the service of the Supreme, because their vital is not sufficiently expanded, because their mind is not totally silenced and their heart is not implicitly purified. Only in the body's freedom from limitation, the vital's freedom from depression, the mind's freedom from frustration and the heart's freedom from insecurity can bliss permanently abide.

If bliss enters into a seeker's aspiring consciousness, he is not astonished. He has been expecting bliss because he has prayed and meditated. And bliss enters into him precisely because he is fully prepared. Now, when this bliss enters into a seeker who is well-prepared, it lasts for good.

A seeker's inner preparation is called his capacity and receptivity. He who has capacity is ready to choose God as his very own. He feels that there is nothing on earth that he can call his own except God, so therefore he chooses God. But he who has receptivity is chosen by God Himself; he is chosen by God as God's very own. Inside his receptivity, God is constantly playing His cosmic Game. So we can safely say that capacity is the first giant step toward God-realisation and receptivity is the second and last giant step toward God-realisation. When a seeker is on the verge of illumination, he achieves boundless bliss. At that time, bliss is not a vague idea but a living reality. Either when he is on the verge of illumination, or right after his illumination takes place, the seeker will be inundated with infinite bliss in his entire being.

We use three most significant terms in our spiritual life, in our life of aspiration: salvation, liberation and realisation. We can call them three giant realities. When we have salvation we grow into bliss. When we have liberation we grow into bliss. When we have realisation we grow into bliss. When we achieve salvation, we feel that the sin-consciousness has totally left us. Sin, as a reality, has no place in our existence. When we achieve liberation, we feel that the limitations of the world have totally disappeared from us. At that time there can be no such thing as limitation in our life. When we achieve realisation, when we discover ourselves, at that time we feel that the finite has at last reached the Infinite. The tiny drop has merged into the Infinite ocean and become the ocean itself.

We can have bliss in our life of salvation, in our life of liberation and in our life of realisation. When a seeker achieves salvation, God gives him the promise that he will have liberation and that, after his liberation, realisation will dawn. Salvation, liberation and realisation are like three brothers. First you please one brother, then you go to the second brother and then you go to the third brother. These brothers are constantly playing with the Supreme in His cosmic Lila. When a seeker achieves salvation, liberation and realisation, he becomes a conscious representative of God and helps to illumine the unlit humanity.

On the practical level, we can get bliss every day when we do not expect anything from anyone — from others, from God, or even from ourselves. We can get bliss on the physical plane when we offer something unconditionally either to our conscious being or to others. Then again, we can have bliss in our multifarious day-to-day activities if we pray and meditate sincerely and soulfully. But if we expect something from God because of our soulful prayer and profound meditation, then we shall not achieve real bliss.

Real bliss is self-giving without any expectation. We have to give what we have and what we are, freely, soulfully and devotedly, to God. What we have is sincere aspiration and what we are is a sea of ignorance. If we can give to God unconditionally what we have and what we are, then God also will give us what He has and what He is. What He has is Love, and what He is is Bliss. When we give our little possessions cheerfully, devotedly and unconditionally, He gives us His infinite possessions: infinite Bliss and His transcendental universal Reality.

The Christ said, "Let Thy Will be done." This is the highest form of prayer. Only in this kind of selfless prayer can we get supreme Bliss.

Service¹³

Service, from the spiritual point of view, is self-giving. Now, this self-giving has to be sincere, direct, spontaneous, unreserved and unconditional. When our service is sincere, the world-body needs and utilises our service. When our service is direct, the world-vital needs and utilises our service. When our service is spontaneous, the world-mind needs and utilises our service. When our service is unreserved, the world-heart needs and utilises our service. Finally, when our service is unconditional, the world-soul needs and utilises our service.

Service is self-expansion. A sincere seeker serves precisely because he knows that there is and there can be nothing other than service. When he serves aspiring humanity, it is because his inner necessity commands him to serve. Each seeker has to be true to himself all the time. It is easy for him to fool the world around him, but if he is not sincere to himself, God-realisation will always remain a far cry.

Before we become sincere seekers, we follow the path of ego. Ego is our self-made human reality. This reality has to be transformed, or illumined and perfected. Otherwise before we know it, the ego will destroy our ideals and our inner potentiality.

An ordinary, unaspiring human being does not serve. What he wants to do and what he does is to offer a kind of help. His ego tells him that it is beneath his dignity to serve anyone. To him, service is a sign of inferiority. But in the spiritual life, if a seeker serves someone it means that God, out of His infinite Bounty, has entrusted that seeker with superior capacity. A seeker knows that each time he gets an opportunity to serve, he is nearing his destination. A man of service is constantly on the move. He is running fast, faster, fastest toward his transcendental Goal.

On the physical plane, service is very often misunderstood. We feel that, if we are going to serve, we have to serve each and every one, all and sundry. But in the spiritual life, we know that service has to be rendered only to those who are ready to receive it. If not, our service will be misunderstood. If somebody is fast asleep and you try to arouse that person because you see that the sun is up, he may become angry or displeased. He may say, "What right do you have to disturb my precious sleep?" But if our service is rendered to someone who wants to be awakened or who is ready to be awakened, to someone who wants Light or who needs Light, then only can our service be properly used.

Service is self-purification. Self-purification is the precursor of the physical nature's transformation. The transformation of the physical nature and God-manifestation are inseparable, like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. The transformation of the physical and the manifestation of the spiritual always go side by side. Transformation is the dream-fulfilled Reality on earth; manifestation is the reality-fulfilled Dream in Heaven.

Service is God-receiving. We receive God with the devotion of our body, with the purity of our vital, with the eagerness of our mind, with the oneness of our heart and with the vastness of our soul.

The seeker realises God on the strength of his concentration, meditation and contemplation. Concentration, meditation and contemplation live in the world of aspiration. Aspiration is the mounting flame in us that climbs high, higher, highest, trying always to reach the ever-transcending Goal. When a seeker concentrates, God the divine Warrior energises him so that he can face world-ignorance and establish God's divine Kingdom on earth. When a seeker meditates, God the Liberator descends into his life of aspiration and grants him the capacity to liberate the world from the meshes of teeming ignorance. When a seeker contemplates, God the supreme Beloved descends into him to love the world, serve the world and become one with the world. At that time, God becomes one with the sufferings, the excruciating pangs of the world so as to transform the very face of the world with His Love.

A seeker can also use his power of concentration, meditation and contemplation to serve God. When he concentrates, he decreases the obscure, undivine thought-waves in the world. When he meditates, he serves the world of inner reality in infinite measure. And when he contemplates, he serves the supreme Beloved in himself, with whom he wants to establish his inseparable oneness. He is the supreme Lover and, through his contemplation, he becomes one with his Beloved Supreme. The seeker can serve God not only through his outer deeds but also through his inner silence. When one maintains deep silence, one's divine reality radiates from within and serves mankind. A spiritual Master serves the Supreme in his disciples through his silent gaze. He does not have to speak to his disciples. He does not have to give outer instructions. No! Through his inner gaze, through his inner silence, he serves the Divine in his disciples and illumines the disciples.

A seeker has to be like a tree. A tree always serves. From the root of the tree right up to the topmost bough, it is all sacrifice. The seed, the branches, the leaves, the fruit — everything in the tree is constantly ready to serve. When a tree serves us, we do not feel that the tree is inferior to us in any way. On the contrary, we offer our gratitude to the tree. The nobility of the tree and the generosity of the tree receive our gratitude.

A seeker serves God so that he can be God's chosen perfect instrument. God serves His children so that they can be conscious and constant representatives of Him. The life of a seeker is the life of a server, and the life of a server is the life of a liberator of aspiring humanity.

Spiritual seekers¹⁴

Everybody wants something from life. In our case, what do we actually want here on earth? We want Infinity to breathe through us, Eternity to shine through us and Immortality to speak through us. We want Infinity, Eternity and Immortality to play their respective roles in our life of aspiration, realisation, revelation and manifestation. In this life of ours, we want to live in the cosmic Consciousness. Finally, it is our inmost cry to become the cosmic Consciousness itself.

In us is the essence, the quintessence, of the Krishna Consciousness, the Buddha Consciousness, the Christ Consciousness. In us is the significance of God's creation and God's existence. With us is the radiation of Life Divine. For us is the Reality's totality and the Totality's reality.

We have two worlds at our disposal: the inner world and the outer world. The inner world awakens us; the outer world serves us. The inner world liberates us. It makes us aware of the ego-cave, which is created by our feeling of inferiority. The inner world also makes us conscious of the ego-palace, which is founded upon our feeling of superiority. This moment our ego plays with inferiority, and the next moment it plays with superiority. Before we become fully advanced as seekers, we enjoy this game. First we enjoy ourselves by identifying with the little ego, our feeling of inferiority, and then we enjoy our big ego, our superior feeling.

The outer world makes us conscious of our divine dedication, divine devotedness and divine oneness with the world at large. While the inner world is constantly pushing us forward, the outer world is constantly pulling us forward. Lo! we are in the heart-sky of God-realisation, we are in the life-sea of God-perfection.

Unlike unaspiring people, we are freed from the clutches of earthly time. Our sorrowful, hurtful past is buried in oblivion. Also, we have freed ourselves from the illusion and delusion of the future. We do not want to bind ourselves with the tempting and deluding future. Nor do we want to be caught by our present incapacity. We want only to live in eternal Time, the eternal Now that is carrying us into our ever-transcending Goal.

As seekers, we have a loving heart that can offer all the answers for the young, hungry and angry world. The present generation finds a haven in our heart. In our expanding heart the world abides. The world receives Love-Life, Concern-Life and Perfection-Life in the depths of our heart.

As individual seekers, we wish to enter into our Source, to regain our Source once again. Our Source is the growing and glowing Silence. Our Source is the divine, eternal Soundlessness. How do we regain our Source? We know that the Unknown cannot be reached by something known; the Unknown can be reached only by the unknown. Our physical mind is known. Our physical mind with all its doubts, fears, anxieties and insecurities is known to us; therefore our limited physical mind cannot take us to the Unknown. But we also have the heart. The divine potentialities and capacities of the heart are still unknown to us, so the unknown heart we can employ to reach the unknown Reality. Again, the unknowable Reality approaches us very fast when we use the heart to carry us to the Unknown. The Unknowable is the elder brother of the Unknown. When the younger brother is pleased with us, the elder brother comes on his own and loves us, blesses us and fulfils us.

It is said that life is not a dream, but a reality. But in our case, life is a divine dream. In this divine dream, reality is constantly manifesting itself. During our sleep, when we have ordinary dreams in which fear, doubt and anxiety play their respective roles, we have a disturbed and unfulfilled night. Similarly, if we are not confident in our dream-life, then the fulfilling reality cannot be found there. But as seekers we know that fear has left us, doubt has left us, anxiety and worries have left us. Our present and eternal friends are faith, courage, love, adamantine determination and the Source-Light, which is will-power.

When we want to go from the body-consciousness to the soul's height, we fly like a bird, and this bird is called the dream-fulfilling bird. Again, when we want to come down from the soul's height to the body's reality, we are like a bird flying down. We call this bird the reality-manifesting dream.

Since we are seekers, we are divine lovers of God. A divine lover is a divine enjoyer of the world within and the world without. Others suffer, but we do not. We do not suffer precisely because we are not attached to the finite. We do not bind the finite, for we know that when we try to bind the finite, when we claim the finite as our very own, suffering enters into our life. That is because the finite does not last for long. When we possess a thing that is finite, it lasts for a few hours a few days, a few months or years, and then it leaves us. Anything that leaves us creates a sense of loss, and the causes us to suffer. But if we get something eternal, immortal and divine, then we never lose it, and the question of suffering does not arise at all. When we get Peace, Light and Bliss as our very own, when we embody these divine qualities consciously, soulfully and constantly, we feel that we can never lose them, for they have an eternal life. We cannot suffer, for we are one with the Infinite, the Eternal and the Immortal. We are of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. We are for Infinity, Eternity and Immortality.

We are God-lovers, we are God-believers, we are God-fulfillers. Now, others challenge the God-believer in us. They say, "Where is the proof? Prove God's existence." We tell them that God's existence defies all proof. God is self-existent; He needs no proof. We say to them, "In order to see and feel God's existence, you must have the capacity of receptivity. If you don't keep your eyes open, no matter how many times I tell you that this is my arm, you will simply say that you don't see it. To see God, you have to keep your third eye open." Now, people may also deny the existence of the third eye. But then we tell them, "You may not be aware of the third eye, but you do know that you have a heart. If you want to see and feel the presence of God, you can open your heart-eye. Then you are bound to see God the Infinite Light, Eternal Bliss and Immortal Life. Open your heart's door just once and see if Somebody is entering. If you open it and leave it open, you are bound to see Somebody entering into your heart. At the very beginning, you may consider this guest a stranger, but gradually you will come to feel that He is not a stranger at all. On the contrary, you will discover that He is your eternal Companion, eternal Lover, eternal Beloved."

If one wants to know about a doctor's qualification, one has at least to become a nurse. Similarly, if one wants to know about God, about aspiration, realisation, revelation and manifestation, one has to know at least the ABC of spirituality: sincerity, simplicity and purity. If one does not know the ABC of spiritual life, how will he understand the spiritual life in its highest plane of consciousness? As a nurse, in a very limited measure, can appreciate a great doctor, in the same way a budding seeker can appreciate a spiritual Master in a limited measure. But non-believers and disbelievers do not even know what to look for in a spiritual Master. They have to learn that they can expect from a spiritual Master only those things that the Master embodies: Peace, Light and Bliss. If they expect something else — such as scientific knowledge or political power — then they will be sadly disappointed. They are knocking at the wrong door. If one goes to a grocery, he should ask for food, and not for clothing. A non-believer or disbeliever does not want Peace and Bliss. He feels he does not need these qualities, and he does not seek or recognise them in a spiritual Master.

People are under the impression that a sincere seeker, a real seeker, is totally different from the rest of the world. But why? A sincere seeker is a normal human being. The only difference is that a spiritual person embodies the inner cry for Truth, Light and Bliss, whereas an unspiritual person does not embody this cry.

Now, what is the difference between a spiritual Master and an ordinary human being? The difference is this: an ordinary human being finds it extremely difficult to believe in the existence of God all the time in his day-to-day life. For an ordinary person it is simply impossible to believe that God thinks of him and meditates on him twenty-four hours a day. But a spiritual Master knows that God is not only constantly thinking of each individual but also dreaming His Reality in and through each person. A spiritual Master eats, works and does all the other necessary things in life, but his attitude is totally different from that of an ordinary man. When he talks to an individual, he feels he is talking to the Inner Pilot, to the Supreme in that person. When he eats, he feels that he is feeding his Beloved, the Supreme. There is always something divine in his approach to reality, an everlasting divinity in his everyday activities. Just because he is a spiritual Master, this does not mean that he will have an unusual appearance. No! He is a human being, but in his inner life he embodies Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure. And he offers Peace, Light and Bliss to those who are in need of these qualities.

Those who have a genuine inner cry, God will bless with the capacity of receptivity. Once they develop receptivity, God fills their inner vessel with Divinity, Eternity and Immortality.

Desire-man, aspiration-man, dream-man, reality-man¹⁵

Man is desire; man is aspiration; man is dream; man is reality. Man desires; therefore, basically he always remains the same. Man dreams; therefore, basically he always remains the same. The desire-man and the dream-man always go together. They are two most intimate friends. The aspiration-man and the reality-man also go together, and they, too, are most intimate friends. At the end of their journey, the desire-man feels that his desires have proved totally useless and the dream-man comes to realise that his dreams are all fruitless mental hallucinations with no reality inside them. Desire-man and dream-man gain practically nothing. They develop only one thing: tears in their eyes and tears in their hearts.

Desire has no path, no map, no guide, no direction. Desire is the song of future frustration, and in frustration looms large destruction. Earthbound dream is only a dream. There is no reality inside it. But aspiration-man avoids the desire-life, which is based on frustration. And reality-man avoids the dream-life, which is most often founded upon mental hallucination and delusion. For he knows that real divinity can never grow in the unlit earthbound dream-land.

Aspiration is a long road, but this road is sunlit. Each seeker who walks or runs along this road knows that at the end there is a Goal. His Supreme Beloved is there to receive him, to garland him and to fulfil him here on earth and there in Heaven.

Reality is the root of ultimate Truth; reality is the life-tree of divine realisation. Reality is the life-river that flows into the sea of Infinity and Immortality. Aspiration becomes; reality is. Aspiration eventually becomes the Transcendental Reality, and reality always embodies Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Desire calculates; dream hesitates. When desire calculates, the desire-man cannot start. When dream hesitates, the dream-man cannot start. Man's hesitation and man's calculation see that something from within or from behind is dragging them backward while they themselves are not fully prepared to go forward. But the man of aspiration and the man of reality constantly move on. When they move on, they see that they are marching forward to the farthest realm of consciousness; they are climbing upward to the zenith of illumination; they are diving inward in order to reach the inmost Goal, the Goal of Goals.

Desire binds us; aspiration liberates us. Dream tempts us; reality inspires us, aids us and leads us to our destination. Desire tells us what we can do and what we cannot do. What we can do is to possess one car, two cars, one house, two houses, and so on. But what we cannot do is realise the vast, infinite, eternal Truth, for it is beyond the vision of desire to house the Infinite. Desire offers us the world of pleasure, and not the world of abiding joy. Abiding joy is far beyond the capacity of desire.

Aspiration tells us that abiding joy is our constant necessity, and that we are growing into this abiding transcendental Joy. What is impossible for desire to achieve or even dream of is an easy achievement for aspiration. For aspiration there is no such thing as impossibility; everything is possible at God's choice Hour. When the Hour strikes, today's impossibility will be transformed not only into possibility and practicability, but into absolute inevitability. This is the message of aspiration.

Earthbound dream embodies practically no reality. It is wishful thinking that gives birth to our dream in the mental and physical worlds. This dream first fascinates us, but eventually it disappoints us. Seizing this dream is like trying to catch a bird that is flying away; it is impossible.

But there is also a divine dream, which is the precursor of reality. Inside this dream reality grows and glows. This dream is the fruit of our self-giving. The divine dream and reality are not two different things. No! The divine dream and reality are inseparable, like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. When we look up, we enter into the divine dream-land from where reality descends, and when we look around, we see the manifestation of this dream in reality here on earth. And once the divine dream is manifested, it tries to expand its domain. It tries to dream of something higher, vaster, deeper.

God the Dreamer Supreme once dreamt of Cosmic Consciousness; He once dreamt of the entire creation. He was one, but He was not satisfied, and He dreamt of making Himself into many. He wanted to become many so that He could taste and experience Himself in infinite forms and shapes. Easily He transforms dream into reality, for His Dream-Boat shall always reach the Reality-Shore.

We have to dream the divine dream and then grow into our dream through our inner cry, our soulful prayer and our profound meditation. Otherwise, the dream that we cherish will have no solidity. We will simply wallow in the pleasure of ignorance and lethargy, feeling that the reality will come and stand right in front of us. But personal effort is of paramount importance. Lazy people want to feel that it is not necessary. They say, "If God is really kind, if God is generous, if He is all-compassionate, then He is bound to inundate us with Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure." This is the attitude of the unaspiring human in all of us. But the divine in us, the divine within the human, tells us that we have to play our role. We have to offer to the Supreme our own capacity. Although our capacity is extremely limited, if we can offer it to the Inner Pilot, then the capacity, the reality and the divinity of the Inner Pilot have the opportunity to grow inside our aspiring heart, dedicated life and surrendered existence.

We started our journey with teeming desires. Our desires were fulfilled to some extent, but satisfaction remained a far cry. Then we entered into the life of aspiration. There we discovered that even an iota of Peace, Light and Bliss would give us a sense of satisfaction. Now, although our ultimate Goal is infinite Peace, Light and Bliss, just a fraction satisfies us, for we feel certain that in the long run our inner being will be flooded with these divine qualities in abundant measure. Then one day we shall become the man of reality. The man of reality is a man of ecstasy. He is divine, perfect, supreme and immortal. This is the quality of ecstasy. When we see the quality of ecstasy, we see Infinity's song and Infinity's dance. The quantity of ecstasy is immeasurable; it is infinite in every possible way.

As desire-man we treasured dream, only dream. We desired, but we did not want to work for the fulfilment of our dream. Naturally the dream had nothing to offer us, because there was no inspiration, no enthusiasm, no dedicated service to water the dream-tree and make it bear fruit. But now we know there is a divine dream as well, and inside that divine dream reality is constantly growing and flowing. When we aspire, when our life becomes consciously, constantly, spontaneously and unconditionally dedicated to the supreme Cause, to the perennial Source, we see and grow into the divine dream and the divine reality. When that happens, man becomes fully totally and integrally realised, and God becomes universally manifested in perfect Perfection here on earth.

Yoga and faith¹⁶

Here we are all seekers. In the life of a seeker, aspiration is of paramount importance. Now, aspiration is a most complicated word for those who wallow in the pleasures of ignorance. But aspiration is something natural, normal and spontaneous for those who want to simplify their life. How can we simplify our life and, at the same time, receive God's boundless Bounty so that ours can be a life of complete satisfaction? The answer lies in the acceptance of yoga.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means union, conscious union with God. Now, there is a vast difference between conscious union with God and unconscious union with God. The seeker who practices yoga becomes consciously aware of his union with God. He constantly feels that he is of God and for God. An unaspiring person, on the other hand, does not know or care to know who his Source is or what his role should be here on earth in God's cosmic Game.

Yoga is love. We love God because He is all Love. We love human beings because we feel that God abides in each human being, and that we and they are sailing in the same Boat, the Boat of Love. We all have a destination, and this destination is perfect Perfection.

In India there is a well-established path of renunciation. Aspirants who walk along this path say, Neti, neti — "Not this, not that." What do they want from life? They want something abiding, something sempiternal. From the finite they want to go to the Infinite; from the mortal they aspire to reach the Immortal. These seekers are not satisfied with what they have or what they see around them. They want to live in the flow of the ever-transcending Beyond.

Now I wish to tell you an amusing anecdote: there were once two friends, an atheist and a believer. One day the atheist said to the believer, "Brother, I am so surprised at your renunciation. This world is full of pleasure, full of comfort, but you have renounced all of it! Just for God you have renounced all these enjoyments. You are really great." The believer replied, "If I am great, you are infinitely greater than I am. God is infinite Love, infinite Joy, infinite Peace — not only for me, but for the entire world. Look at your capacity for renunciation! You have renounced all this merely for the enjoyment of a few fleeting earthly pleasures. So your renunciation is far greater than mine!"

We know that there are millions of people here on earth who do not believe in the existence of God. But they do believe in something; they believe in negation. They believe that there is no God, no God whatsoever. Yet even in that 'no' we feel the presence of the living God. In their negation of divine Truth and Light, of God Himself, we feel an affirmation of our divine Beloved, precisely because we see in their negation the seed of faith — even if, right now, it is faith in their denial.

Now, in addition to the atheist, we have another friend, the agnostic. Our agnostic friend doubts the existence of God. He asks us, "Where is the proof? Prove God's existence, and then I will have faith in God!" Let us just ask him one thing: "Do you believe in anything?" He is bound to reply, "Yes, I believe in my body, in my mind, in my vital." Then we shall say, "Stay with your belief. According to our wisdom, your belief in your body is your belief in God, your belief in your mind is your belief in God, your belief in your vital is your belief in God. It may not be my God, but it is your God. I am so glad that you have faith in something."

In this world, sooner or later everybody feels the necessity of sincerity. Today an individual may try to fool the world, but tomorrow something within him, some inner urge, will compel him to be sincere, precisely because inside him Divinity does exist. Now, a doubter has faith in his body-consciousness, but he doubts the existence of God. I tell the doubter to have faith in his body. But there will come a time when the body will tell him that it cannot constantly satisfy him. There are many things that he wants from life which the body cannot give him. Naturally he will someday go to somebody else who will be able to give him satisfaction. The body will tell him, "I have tried my best to satisfy you, but my capacity is limited. Now please go to the soul. There you are bound to see and feel satisfaction."

The soul is the conscious representative of God, but the soul itself is not God. A child has wealth, but the source of the child's wealth is his parents. God the Father and God the Mother are the soul's parents. The soul, being totally illumined, tells the seeker who was formerly a doubter but who, with the grace of his own aspiring body consciousness, came to discard his doubt, "Come, I will show you my Father and my Mother. They are God the Father and God the Mother."

Now, in the spiritual life, there is another way to approach a doubter besides telling him to believe in the body. We can say, "Instead of doubting, just give a chance to your heart. Right now you feel that the highest member of your inner family is the mind. If the mind asks you to do something, you immediately do it. On rare occasions you may revolt, but most of the time the mind is your lord. Now give your heart a chance. It is a higher member of your family."

In order to know the reality, we have to approach it in a specific manner. If God is the Reality that we would like to experience, then we need to approach Him through faith and love. If we can develop faith, then inside this faith, divinity is bound to loom large.

Faith is for those who have consciously, soulfully, devotedly and unconditionally begun to walk along the path of Truth. Faith is of paramount importance in the life of a seeker. A seeker needs faith in his own life of aspiration and he also needs implicit faith in God.

The mother tells the child, "This is your father." Immediately the child believes. The mother tells him, "This is the alphabet and this is the letter A." immediately the child believes. "This is fire," she explains. The little child does not argue with his mother. Then, when he grows up, he understands for himself who his father is, what the alphabet is and what fire is. In the spiritual life also, we start our journey with faith and we grow with faith.

When a man of faith completes his journey, he has a special realisation. In the beginning, before his God-realisation, he thinks that he has worked very hard. He realises that his personal effort and God's Grace go together, but he feels that his effort brought about ninety-nine per cent of the result, and God's Grace perhaps one per cent. But when he realises God, immediately he comes to know that God's Grace did ninety-nine per cent and his personal effort did one per cent. And then, because he knows what God's Compassion and infinite Bounty did for him as a seeker, he comes to realise that even the one per cent of his own aspiration and progress was the result of God's Grace. In his immediate family he sees that there are individuals who are still wallowing in the pleasures of ignorance. How is it that he is fully awakened? It is the Grace of God operating in and through him that has made him realise God while others are still fast asleep.

There is a false yoga and there is a true yoga. One reason that many people are reluctant to accept yoga is that they have misconceptions about it. False yoga will tell us we have to enter into the Himalayan caves in order to realise God. False yoga will tell us that God-realisation can be achieved overnight. False yoga will tell us that if we offer millions of dollars to a particular spiritual Master, he will grant us God-realisation immediately. False yoga will tell us that we have to renounce everything — everything that we have and everything that we are.

True yoga will tell us that we do not have to go to the Himalayan caves in order to realise God. We will be able to realise God wherever we are, for God is realised in the heart. The heart is not only the best place for God-realisation, but the place. True yoga will say that God-realisation cannot be attained in the twinkling of an eye; it is a long, arduous process. True yoga will say that we do not have to renounce anything; we have only to transform. If we have night within us, we shall transform this night into Light. Many people are frightened to death when the idea of renunciation enters into their mind. But I wish to say that the people who are afraid of renunciation are bound to discover one day that there is no such thing as renunciation; there is only the transformation of ignorance into knowledge, of darkness into light, of earthbound frustration into Heaven-free Delight.

In order to get a Master's degree, which gives us only earthly knowledge, earthly wisdom, we have to study right from childhood for perhaps twenty years. Now, God-realisation is also a subject. When we realise God, what we achieve is Peace, Light and Bliss in boundless measure in our inner being. At that time, we are not dealing with limited knowledge, but with Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Naturally it will take us many years, many incarnations to reach this supreme Goal.

When God wants to expedite our progress, He becomes the ever-compassionate Father and brings into our life a spiritual Master. When we first hear of a spiritual Master, immediately our human ego comes to the fore. "Why do I need a teacher?" it asks. "Can I not be my own teacher?" Now, this ego is ignorance. To learn something we always need a teacher. We can go to a bookstore and buy the texts that are studied in school, and we can study at home alone. But when we read these books without the help of a teacher, we are at times confused. We may feel that what we are learning is untrue or incorrect. So we go to a teacher for expert help and proper guidance. He convinces us of the truth of what we learn. In the spiritual life also, a teacher is of paramount importance. It is true that the first person on earth who realised God had no human guru. But we know that from time immemorial, all spiritual Masters have taken help from their predecessors.

Today we are students, but we will not remain students forever; someday we ourselves will be teachers. We shall realise the Truth as our Master has already done. If we are wise, we want to expedite our spiritual journey. We feel that time is a great factor. If we can achieve something today, we shall not wait for tomorrow. To go from New York to Canada, I chose to travel by airplane rather than car, because the airplane is much faster. After an hour's flight, I touched down on Canadian soil. Right after my arrival I started my journey, and I have been able to serve the Canadians according to my capacity in many cities during my two-week stay. In the spiritual life, we feel that speed is of tremendous importance.

The first and foremost goal for us right now is the realisation of Truth. Let us forget about the word 'God.' It often creates tremendous problems for us. But if we are very sincere, we cry for Truth. There is nobody who will deny the existence of Truth. We want to be sincere, and the proof of our sincerity is that we want to see the face of Truth. First we see the face of Truth, then we try to reveal the face of Truth and finally we try to manifest the face of Truth. The sooner we can attain to this Truth, the better, for the realisation of Truth is not the end of our spiritual journey. Revelation is necessary and manifestation is necessary. Only when we can manifest the Truth will satisfaction dawn in our life.

Madhuman me parayanam

"Sweet be my departure from home. Sweet be my return."

18.

Sri Chinmoy: On behalf of all the Canadian disciples, Gariyan, you are receiving my most sincere blessingful gratitude. You have played the role of the hero-leader during this divine experience of our dedicated service here in Canada. We have been serving the manifestation of the supreme Light of our eternal Guru, the Supreme Himself. For your untiring selfless service the Supreme in me is offering His deepest Love and blessingful Gratitude. On behalf of all your Canadian sisters and brothers who are in our boat, the boat that will carry us to the Golden Shores of the ever-transcending Beyond, you are receiving my divine joy and pride. Each brother and sister disciple of yours is receiving my blessing, gratitude and pride through you.