Picture


Humility-Sea and Serenity-Sky together meet

Prayer-harvest

//[Continued from previous issue]//

37.

My Lord Supreme,

now is the time for me to give You my outer life’s all: ignorance. Now is the time for me to give You my inner life’s all: gratitude.

38.

My Lord Supreme,

do give me the heart to feel You and not the mind to understand You.

39.

My Lord Supreme,

if You want to give me a mind, then give me the mind that can understand the world, and not the mind that wants to be understood by the world.

40.

My Lord Supreme,

morning is the time for my heart’s gladness in You. Evening is the time for my life’s nearness to You.

41.

My Lord Supreme,

alas, what am I missing? My oneness with You. Alas, alas, what am I losing? My confidence in myself.

42.

My Lord Supreme,

to reach You, we start with unknown fear and we end with known strength.

43.

My Lord Supreme,

today I am following You soulfully. Tomorrow I shall live for You unconditionally.

44.

My Lord Supreme,

my gratitude-heart is truly fond of Your Compassion-Eye.

45.

My Lord Supreme,

every day You are changing the human in me and fulfilling the divine in me.

46.

My Lord Supreme,

I am exceedingly happy that my worry-power has surrendered to my poise-power.

47.

My Lord Supreme,

today Your Compassion is my name. Tomorrow Your Satisfaction will be my name.

[To be continued]


Not the outer form, but the inner essence

Swami Satchidananda had a statue of a particular God. He asked his disciple Nigamananda to worship it, but Nigamananda did not care for this statue. One day the Master said to him, “Why do you not worship the statue which I worship? How is it that you do not see or feel anything inside my beloved Lord?”

Nigamananda said, “You may see your beloved Lord there, but I see only a piece of lifeless wood.”

At this the Master became furious. He insulted Nigamananda mercilessly and told him, “If you show disrespect once more to my beloved Lord, I shall throw you out of my Ashram! Be careful.” Then the Master left the room and went to his office to attend to Ashram business.

Nigamananda was humiliated and furious. He immediately took the statue off the shrine and gave it a smart slap, exclaiming, “You! For you I have got such a severe scolding from my Master. You deserve my punishment.” Then he placed it again on the shrine.

A few minutes later the Master came back and said to him, with a broad smile, “You said my Lord is a lifeless piece of wood, but does anybody strike a lifeless thing? Only when we see that someone or something has life do we get joy by striking it. You said that this statue was lifeless; for you it was just a piece of wood. Then why did you strike a lifeless thing? No, you do see something inside the statue. I was so pleased when I heard you speaking to my Lord. One does not speak to a lifeless thing, for a lifeless thing cannot understand or respond. My Lord not only has life, but embodies the universal and transcendental life. So from now on please worship this statue.”

Nigamananda bowed to his Master and said, “Please forgive me. I shall worship this statue, and inside the statue I shall see and feel you, Master.”

The Master said, “That is absolutely the right thing, my son.”

Commentary

Faith is of paramount importance. One needs faith in infinite measure in one’s Master. The human mind may find it difficult to believe in the Master’s way, but the aspiring heart is always one with the Master’s inner and outer operations. The seeker always has to remain in the heart. To have faith in one’s Master is to feel God’s own presence here, there and everywhere. It is not what the object is, not who the man is, but if one retains faith in one’s Master’s spiritual realisation, then one achieves success in the outer world and progress in the inner world convincingly, easily and rapidly.


My Guru is the highest

Once Nigamananda went to see the Kumbha-mela, India’s most famous fair, which literally countless people join. He was delighted to see his Guru, Swami Satchidananda, there. A different spiritual Master presides over each fair, and this time the great Master Shankaracharya, Satchidananda’s Guru, presided over the fair. Everybody was full of adoration for Shankaracharya, who was sitting near Satchidananda.

When Nigamananda arrived, he bowed to his Master first and then bowed to Shankaracharya. Everybody was shocked. How was it possible for him to bow to Satchidananda first, when Shankaracharya was sitting right beside him? Some people said to Nigamananda, “You are such a fool! Don’t you know how to discriminate?”

Nigamananda replied, “I do know how to discriminate. I tell you, nobody can be superior to one’s own Guru. My Guru is and will always remain highest to me; therefore, I did the right thing by bowing to him first.”

On hearing this Shankaracharya gave Nigamananda a broad smile and said to him, “You are right, my son, you are right.” Then he asked Nigamananda a few spiritual questions which Nigamananda answered perfectly. Then Shankaracharya said to Satchidananda, “What are you doing? Why are you not asking this disciple of yours to have his own disciples and to help illumine mankind? I clearly see that he is ready for that.”

Then in front of Shankaracharya and all the seekers who were nearby, Satchidananda declared, “My son Nigamananda has realised God. From now on he will accept disciples and illumine the minds and fulfil the hearts of seekers.”

Commentary

At the journey’s start the Master is the boatman, the boat and the river. At the journey’s end the Master becomes the Goal itself. A beginner-seeker sees the Master in the beginning as the boat. When he crosses beyond the barrier of the mind, he sees the Master as the boatman. When he establishes his oneness, constant oneness, with the Master, he sees the Master as the river. And when he becomes the most perfect instrument of the Master, he sees the Master as his Goal itself. When the hour strikes for the disciple, the disciple too has to play the role of a Master, for progress is a must in the world of self-giving and God-becoming.


The core of India's light

//[Continued from previous issues]//

118.

Abhaya

Fearless

Be fearless. Ignorance-tiger will immediately disappear.

119.

Ᾱchārya

A teacher

A spiritual teacher is he who not only tells us and shows us where God is, but also teaches us how we ourselves can eventually become Gods.

120.

Ᾱditya

The sun

The outer sun is inspiration.

The inner sun is at once aspiration and realisation.

121.

Agni

Fire

If you constantly keep your inner fire burning, then God will be nearing you before long.

122.

Aham Brahmāsmi

I am Brahman

To say that I am Brahman, or God without a second, is to smash the pride of ignorance-night.

123.

Ahankāra

Pride

Human pride destroys us. Divine pride employs us for God-manifestation. What is Divine pride? I am of God only. I am eternally all for God.

124.

Ahinsā

Non-violence

To practise non-violence what I need is a pure heart and a sure life. India’s Gandhi did it. I, too, can do the same.

[To be continued]

We pray and we meditate¹

We pray and we meditate.

We pray for our protection. We meditate on God’s Perfection.

We pray to become divinely great and supremely good. We meditate to realise who we eternally are.

We pray so that we can see the beauty and the divinity of the higher worlds. We meditate so that we can receive invitations from the inner worlds.

When we pray, our Father-Friend lovingly feeds us. When we meditate, we soulfully feed our Father-Friend.

When we pray, our pure hunger itself is our striking success. When we meditate, our sure satisfaction itself is our illumining progress.

Our soulful prayer makes us our Lord’s choice instruments. Our fruitful meditation makes us our Lord’s Vision-Voice.

Our heart’s prayer-cry serves the divine in us. Our life’s meditation-smile awakens and enlightens the human in us.


The desiring man, the aspiring man and the self-giving man²

The desiring man tells me that human life is full of difficulties. The aspiring man tells me that human life is full of opportunities. The self-giving man tells me that human life is God’s constant Vision-Manifestation.

Each difficulty discourages and delays our success-life. Each opportunity encourages and expedites our progress-life. Each Vision-manifestation of God helps us march faster toward our destined Goal.

Life is love, love is oneness, oneness is perfection and perfection is satisfaction.

Human life fails; divine life succeeds.

Human love binds; divine love liberates.

Human oneness is a rope of sand; divine oneness is at once birthless and deathless.

Human perfection disappears in the twinkling of an eye; divine perfection constantly transcends its own heights.

Human satisfaction is the fulfilment of our desire-life; divine satisfaction is the fulfilment of ourselves in and through the fulfilment of our Beloved Supreme.

Human satisfaction says, “My will must cover the length and breadth of the world.” Divine satisfaction says, “Let Thy Will be done.”

Human satisfaction is necessary as long as we care for the animal in us, the hungry wolf in us. Divine satisfaction is necessary only when we care for God for God’s sake.

We start our journey with the desire-life. The desire-life helps to free us from the world of sloth, inertia and ignorance. Then we come to the aspiration-life. The aspiration-life helps us to reach higher goals, higher ideals and higher realisations. The self-giving life constantly makes us feel that we are of the One and for the One. Him to please in His own Way is our sole choice.


Liberation³

Liberation is the freedom from limitation and suffocation. Liberation is the transcendence of the body-consciousness. The body-consciousness is the “I-ness” song, the song that says, “I have and I am.” Liberation is the embodiment of Eternity’s poise and Immortality’s voice. Eternity is God’s Silence-Vision. Immortality is God’s Sound-Manifestation. Poise is the God-Beauty in man. Voice is the man-duty for God.

A liberated man is he who has smashed the shackles of birth and death. Birth is a painful cry. Death is a fruitless sigh. A liberated man is he who does not suffer from self-created ignorance. Ignorance is the unreal in us. The unreal is the source of all our teeming maladies. But our own birthless and deathless aspiration-ascent is the panacea for all these maladies.

Aspiration is Heaven-power. Heaven-power continuously sings and dances with enlightenment. Desire is earth-strength. Earth-strength is afraid of enlightenment. Enlightenment is not a boon; it is not even a gift. Enlightenment is a supremely fulfilling unfoldment from deep within.

Illumination, liberation and realisation. These three are inseparable friends. These are the rungs in our aspiration-ladder, which reaches the highest Absolute. Illumination conquers darkness. Liberation conquers ignorance. Realisation transforms both darkness and ignorance so that we can become a perfect instrument which is used by the Absolute Supreme in His own way.


We concentrate, we meditate⁴

Concentration is an art. Meditation is an art. Concentration is a challenging art. Meditation is an illumining art. Concentration reveals power. Meditation reveals peace. Concentration helps us expedite our spiritual journey. Meditation helps us reach our ultimate Goal.

When we concentrate, we concentrate on the finite in the Infinite. We concentrate on a drop in the vast ocean. When we meditate, we meditate on the Infinite inside the finite. We meditate on the blue-vast sea inside the tiny drop. We concentrate to silence the world of outer noise. We meditate to hear the world of inner voice.

When we concentrate, we feel that the world around us offers us tremendous obstacles. Therefore, we are apt to reject the outer world. When we meditate, we accept everything. The world around us and the world within us both remain at our disposal. Only we transform all that has to be transformed in the outer world and in the inner world. It is in the process of transformation that we derive satisfaction.

Concentration carries the message of conquest. Right after conquest we get happiness. Meditation gives us happiness amidst the battles of life. It gives us happiness both in success and in failure, in victory and in defeat. The message of meditation carries us far beyond the domain of success and failure, victory and defeat. Meditation makes us feel that success is an experience and that failure is also an experience. These experiences ultimately lead us to the self-same goal: satisfaction in our oneness-life with our Beloved Supreme.

Concentration reminds us of God the omnipotent. Meditation reminds us of God the omnipresent. When we concentrate, Infinity in its power-aspect appears before us. When we meditate, Eternity in its tranquility-aspect appears before us.

God created the world with His Meditation and in His Meditation. But in the process of involution, evolution, inner revolution and outer resolution, He uses concentration. God the Creator awakens us, inspires us and aspires in and through us with His Meditation-Light. God the creation is around us and for us with His Concentration-Power.

Concentration tells us, “Run, run fast, faster, fastest in order to reach the Goal.” Meditation tells us, “The Goal is not in front of you. It is not remote from you. The Goal is within you. Dive deep within. To your wide surprise, you will not only see the Goal within you, but you will see yourself as the ultimate Goal. You the seeker, you the aspiration and you the realisation are one and identical.”

We concentrate, we meditate.

We shall not wait⁵

We shall not wait. If we wait, we shall lose. If we lose, we shall weep. Who wants to weep? Nobody. We wish only to smile at our Beloved Lord Supreme.

We shall not wait. If we wait, we shall fail. If we fail, we shall die. Who wants to die? Nobody. We want only to live on earth to spread the Light of our Beloved Supreme. We want to live on earth to manifest Him in His own way.

To wait is to make friends with empty hours, empty days, empty months and empty years. To wait is to miss God’s Perfection-Freedom-Train which is bound for the Ever-increasing-satisfaction-Station.

If we do not wait, our life’s inspiration and our heart’s aspiration will make us see the Face of our Creator. Our Creator needs no future; He has and He is the eternal Now.

If we do not wait, our Beloved Lord, the Author of all good, will make us His choice instruments by transforming our life within and without totally, Him to manifest in His own way. We shall be His perfect channels of revealing Light and fulfilling Delight.

If we do not wait, in the inner world revolution will be our name; in the outer world, evolution will be our name; and in our own world, satisfaction will be our name.

We shall not wait. We shall start praying and meditating. We shall pray continuously. We shall meditate continuously. If we continuously pray, one day at God’s choice Hour, we shall grow into God’s transcendental Height. If we continuously meditate, one day at God’s choice Hour, we shall grow into God’s universal Light.


Silver Thought-Waves

//[Continued from previous issue]//

Happiness

Happiness is in self-giving. Self-giving is a secret and sacred message which we get from acceptance of earth as it is and Heaven as it is: self-giving for the final transformation of earth and for the complete manifestation of Heaven on earth. If we do this, then happiness is ours.

Humiliation

In the spiritual life there is no such thing as humiliation. Nobody can humiliate you. But if your own inferiority complex tortures you, that is humiliation. If there is no inferiority, then there is no humiliation. If there is a feeling of oneness, then there can be no humiliation.

If my legs feel that they belong to this body, the same body that my head belongs to, then how can my legs suffer humiliation? But if the legs maintain a sense of separativity, then naturally they may feel inferior to the head, because the brain is developed, and can compel the legs to go wherever we want to go. But if the legs feel that it is they who carry the head and all the rest of the body, then the legs will not feel inferior.

Humiliation is only the result of our self-imposed standard. Nobody can humiliate us if we have a sense of oneness. When we separate one part of our existence from another, that is the beginning of our humiliation.

Inspiration

Inspiration is at once the real mother and the real father of imagination.

Imagination is the private tutor of aspiration. Aspiration is the only pride of God the Dream-Boat, God the eternal Journey and God the Reality-Shore.

Intuition

Intuition does not expose. Intuition does not impose. Intuition only brings forward the hidden reality. It brings to the fore the message of cosmic harmony.

Intuition is not merely to see the Truth faster than the fastest. Intuition is to throw ourselves into the love-light and oneness-light of self-discovery and God-discovery.

Joy

He is a fool who cries for joy in the outer world.

He is a greater fool who does not bring to the fore the joy of the inner world.

He is the greatest fool who does not do the first thing first — who does not invoke God the constant, eternal Joy first and foremost.

Liberation

Liberation is freedom from self-imposed ignorance. Liberation is enjoyment of God-Height and God-Light ordained by God Himself.

Light

We do not grow from darkness to light, but we grow from lesser light to greater light. From bright light to brighter light, from brighter light to brightest light we grow.

Light is our existence. Bright light is our belief in our existence. Brighter light is our faith in our oneness with God. Brightest light is to become conscious and constant representatives of God here on earth and there in Heaven.

Love

With human love I try to see what I can do for others, and what others can do for me.

With divine love I see what God has already done for me in and through me, what God is doing in and through me for others, and what God wants to do for me in and through others. What does He want to do? He wants to smile in and through all of us the Smile of Oneness-Height and Perfection-Light.

Luminosity

The soul’s luminosity is constantly crying to us, in and through us, to accept it and to utilise it. What for? Only to discover what we eternally are: God’s conscious Light and God’s constant Need.

[To be continued]


Amusing questions on God, part I

Question: Why did God make "Space Cadets" often forgetful by nature?

Guru: As we need friends, even so God needs friends. God wants His friends to have the same capacities and qualities that He has.

Since He wants His creation to continue, He always sees the bright side of His creation; therefore, God consciously and deliberately makes Himself forgetful of His unaspiring creation, and He wants His friends to do the same. His Space Cadet friends do quite a few things wrong in life, but they forget about their mistakes and march forward. So Space Cadets are God’s good friends, who are unconsciously imitating their best Friend, God.

Question: Guru, can you tell me something completely new and funny?

Guru: During the day Casey may tell quite a few lies, but at night he remains silent. He remains silent not only to nullify his false life, but also to purify his false life. If you can make friends with silence, progressive silence, revealing silence, illumining silence, then you not only rectify your falsehood-life, but also see your truth-life.

Question: Many people kill themselves to lose weight, but I can eat whatever I want without gaining at all. Why am I so lucky?

Guru: How I wish to remain in your boat instead of you remaining in my boat! From now on let me be in your boat. No matter what I eat I gain weight, whether I eat too much or too little. My fate is such that if I lose, I gain again immediately. Since you don’t gain weight, it is I who should be in your boat.

Now in two or three of your previous incarnations, unfortunately you were fatter than the fattest. So you cried and sighed, and sighed and cried to lose weight. And fortunately, God listened to your cries. In this incarnation He is fulfilling the desire of your previous incarnations. In your Chinese incarnation you were a mountain, and now the mountain has become a mouse. That is called divine justice.

Question: What does one cosmic god say to the other cosmic god when they see the Agony Brothers' Productions? I say, "Oh my God!"

Guru: When the cosmic gods watch the Agony Brothers perform, they say to themselves, “Oh, we have seen perfect hell in imperfect Heaven and perfect Heaven in imperfect hell.” It gives them tremendous joy to see such an unimaginable, unthinkable, unpredictable, unassuming and, in one word, unfathomable expression of earth’s point of view and Heaven’s point of view.

Question: Is a beautiful snow or ice storm a blessing or a curse?

Guru: An ice storm in the inner world is an illumining blessing, but in the reality-world a destructive if not disheartening experience.

Question: Why did the Supreme not give me a beautiful smile?

Guru: If the Supreme had given you a beautiful smile, then you would have become another Supreme. Therefore, the Supreme did not favour you with a beautiful smile. But He wanted you to develop the second best thing. The second best thing is a soulful cry. If you can have a soulful cry, then you will be the possessor of the second best thing. The Supreme will always remain as the Possessor of the absolutely best thing: a beautiful smile. So let the Supreme remain first and foremost, and you remain second with your soulful cry.

Question: What does the Supreme think is the funniest thing about me?

Guru: The Supreme thinks the funniest thing about you is this: when you get angry with someone or when you scold someone, before you speak ill of them, before you scold them, before you insult them, you get the painful experience that that person is going to receive from you. Then, in spite of having the painful experience of the person, you hurt the person anyway. You know you are going to hurt someone, and you hurt them even though you have already felt the painful experience in the inner world, long before you have actually hurt the person on the physical plane. So the first sufferer is not the one with whom you are angry. The first sufferer is your own noble self. You suffer first; then you make others suffer.

When you suffer by making others suffer, then your vital ego, your sense of separativity, does not get any satisfaction. If you really hurt someone and you remain unhurt, only then have you won in the competitive world. When you lose the case before you actually make somebody else lose the case, then you are even, and your vital will not be happy with that. Your vital will be happy only when it is victorious. But your soul will be happy when you don’t hurt anyone at all. Before you hurt someone, if you intuitively enter into the experience of suffering of that person, and then take an oath not to hurt the person on the physical plane, then your soul will be extremely happy.

The vital knows how to attack. But in your case, before it attacks, it goes through the experience of being attacked. The funniest thing is that you want to be the victor, but instead of becoming the victor, you remain equal, although you attack first. To be the real victor, either do not attack at all, or after having the painful experience, do not inflict the same pain on the other person on the physical plane. This is how you can put an end to the funniest thing in your life.

Question: Why does Ashrita always act like a bear?

Guru: You have to ask Ashrita’s soul to answer that question. Ashrita’s soul will say that it has given him inexhaustable life-energy in the vital. What can he do with that energy? He wants to share it with you so that he can have some fun, some recreation.

Question: Guru, how can I lose fifteen pounds in one day? Forever?

Guru: If you lose fifteen pounds in one day, nobody will be happy. Not even one member of your inner family — your body, vital, mind, heart and soul — will be happy if you lose fifteen pounds in one day. So, don’t try to make them unhappy. Lose fifteen pounds in four months or three months. Then they will be very happy, very pleased with you. If you really want to lose fifteen pounds, then from today you can change your name. We shall call you Nathan. Your name will be Nathan from now on, and Nathan’s name will be Casey. If we call you Nathan, then automatically you will solve your problem, since Nathan is so thin. Just change your name, and automatically you will lose your fifteen pounds.

Question: Why are people with red hair so peculiar?

Guru: Red signifies fire. Now peculiarity is something uncommon or unusual. On the physical plane, fire burns and destroys. On the inner plane fire always illumines and transforms. So when the physical plane sees the result of the inner fire — transformation and purification — it feels that that is quite peculiar. Similarly, when the inner plane sees the functioning of the fire on the physical plane — burning everything to ashes — it also receives a peculiar feeling and experience. Earthly fire and Heavenly fire do not get along well with each other. Earthly fire is all destruction; Heavenly fire is all purification and transformation.

So when you are identified with earthly fire, the results of Heavenly fire are peculiar to you. When you are identified with Heavenly fire, the results of earthly fire are peculiar to you. The functioning of fire on two levels of consciousness is totally different. This difference brings about the peculiarity.

Question: How many eyes, ears and arms does God have?

Guru: Now, good girl, it entirely depends on which God you are referring to. There are two Gods. One God is God the manifested man, and the other god is man the evolving God. God the manifested man has two eyes, two ears, two arms, one nose, two legs, one head and so forth. But man the evolving God has countless eyes, countless ears, countless arms, everything countless. Now, why is it so?

God the manifested man has everything and is everything. But when He wants to give His everything to the earth-consciousness, to humanity, He has to assume earthly form and earthly ways so that earthly human beings can feel some common bond, some connection with Him. If He comes with other forms, with countless arms, countless legs, countless eyes, and all that, He will not be accepted. He will be treated as a stranger, as a foreigner. Therefore, God the manifested man comes in exactly the same shape as a human being, so that ordinary human beings can see some resemblance. In this way it becomes infinitely easier for humanity to accept God’s Light.

But man the evolving God wants to acquire everything in God’s creation and beyond God’s creation. He wants to acquire everything, so He wants to make friends with Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. Therefore, He needs everything in infinite measure. God the manifested man already has everything within — Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. He comes into the world with a finite body, carrying inside Him the Infinite. The finite body is required so that the finite realities around Him can have an easy access to Him. But He knows perfectly well that this is just a game He is playing. Once He leaves the body He becomes what He eternally is inwardly: infinite, eternal and immortal.

Humanity gets the greatest blessing from God the manifested man. Again, humanity has to go up as man the evolving God. But first it needs blessings from God the manifested man. If not, it can never become man the evolved God.

Question: You say, "I own the Golden Eye of the Supreme." Does poor God have only one Eye?

Guru: Poor God has only one Eye to reveal His Truth-Reality, Truth-Vision. But He has countless Eyes to tolerate the falsehood-realities that are running riot in the earth-consciousness. With His first and foremost Eye He reveals Truth-Reality, Truth-Consciousness. Then, with His numberless Eyes He tolerates the falsehood-experiences of the earth and from the earth.

Question: Once I had a dream that there was a big full moon, and the face in the moon was your Transcendental picture. Are you "the Man in the Moon?"

Guru: Wonderful dream! Now this experience signifies two things. Either I came to my sister Moon at that time to chat with her, or I came to bless the beauty of the moon and feed the purity of the moon. My soul’s universality has many, many times conversed with the moon. The moon-beauty and moon-purity have also come to my soul many, many times. The moon-reality and moon-divinity have come with special messages, special experiences. So this time my presence in the moon, my blessing and feeding, covered the entire face of the moon. Therefore, you saw my Transcendental consciousness, which is everywhere.

Question: Does the Supreme ever enter into gypsy-consciousness when His children travel all over the world?

Guru: When His children travel all over the world, the Supreme does not have to enter into gypsy-consciousness. He only inspires and encourages His children to feel that the entire world of His is just one little sweet family where affection can be found, love can be found, oneness can be found, and satisfaction can be found, provided one sincerely and unreservedly longs for these supremely valuable virtues.

Question: Does the Supreme wish that New York was not such a big state to travel all over?

Guru: According to the Supreme, New York is not big. What He wants from New York is very simple. He wants the heart of New York also to be as large as the body of New York. That is to say, the boundaries that the body of New York has covered, on the physical plane, geographical plane, the Supreme wants the heart of New York to cover the same area.

Question: What does the Supreme think of spare parts for the human body?

Guru: According to the Supreme, the real spare parts for the human body are a bending mind, a willing vital, an aspiring body and a self-giving heart. When these parts do not function well, or when they actually stop functioning, if so is the Will of the ever Compassionate Supreme, He can grant the human body a new bending mind, a new willing vital, a new aspiring body and a new self-giving heart to replace the old, meaningless and useless body, vital, mind and heart.

The Supreme in the seeker, if he is a sincere seeker, will never accept a defeat in the seeker. He invariably will supply the seeker again and again with the needful so that the seeker can attain the supreme victory by establishing his permanent oneness with the Supreme’s earth-reality and Heaven-Vision.

Question: Dear Guru, has God ever been bald?

Guru: People may say that a bald-headed man needs hair to add beauty to his physical reality or for the protection of his head. But I wish to say that by having hair, God’s Head will not increase in beauty, because He is all-Beauty. No matter what He has on the physical body, He is all-Beauty; therefore, no amount of hair will add any beauty to His Head. And God, being omnipresent, is definitely inside His own Head, so He does not need hair to protect His Head. His omnipresence and His omnipotence are always together; they are one. Therefore, He does not need the help of hair to protect His Head, and He does not need hair to add beauty to His Head or to His Face or to His Body.

But I wish to add that each human being is not only a representative of God, but also God Himself. So my Kanan, the God whose head is on the road to baldness, will not cause pain at all in the Supreme’s Heart of absolute oneness. But because of my oneness-sympathy with his better half, I may feel some human sorrow if I see a silver boat sailing to and fro comfortably and freely on my Kanan’s silver-head-river.

Question: Why does sleep have such a complete and powerful grasp on my life? When it comes to me I am so completely and hopelessly overcome.

Guru: I have told you many, many times that in this world nobody wants to remain indebted to others. Eventually everybody wants to be even, because by remaining indebted to somebody else one gets the experience of inferiority. Therefore, everybody wants to be even, equal, on the level of friendship or oneness.

Now you love sleep far beyond your imagination. Similarly, the Sleep-Queen also loves you far beyond your imagination. If you love the Sleep-Queen so intensely and continuously, how can the Sleep-Queen remain without loving you to the same extent? Everything is reciprocal. You love her and she loves you. If you withdraw your love, you will see that the Sleep-Queen will also withdraw her love.

There is one thing you can tell the Sleep-Queen. Tell her, “I shall be extremely grateful to you, Queen, if you allow me to come to you whenever I want. And when you want to come to me, you will kindly let me know beforehand.” Then you will go to the Sleep-Queen only when you desperately need her help — when you are tired, exhausted, dead, and you have to sleep, then go. But when you are quite fresh, energetic, and you have work to do, at that time if the Sleep-Queen wants to come to you, you will simply refuse. Then the Sleep-Queen will be extremely displeased with you. She will say, “When you needed me, you came to me. Now I need you, but you won’t see me.” The Sleep-Queen will be displeased with you and stop coming to you.

You have come into the world to accept the spiritual life. You have to do much for the Supreme. When you are ready to work for the Supreme, eager to work for the Supreme, just because you want to become a faithful, devoted instrument, the Supreme will always give you work. If He sees that your health is breaking from lack of sleep, He will feel sorry, and He will give you the necessary sleep, but not unnecessary sleep. The hours that you need — six to seven maximum — He will give you, so that you can do His work. But if you want eight, nine, ten hours, He will say, “Then go back to the Sleep-Queen. I don’t need you.” Then you will be totally lost, because the Sleep-Queen by this time has left you, feeling that it is beneath her dignity to maintain a friendship with you when you have played the role of a rogue. But of course, you have played the role of a divine rogue.

So remember always what you have come here for: to work for the Supreme. I assure you that neither your body, nor anybody’s body, will ever be shattered by working for the Supreme. The Supreme grants each individual infinitely more capacity than the individual needs to do the Supreme’s work. Your body will not fail; nobody’s body will fail, if he or she works for the Supreme. What the Supreme wants is the fulfilment of His Mission. If He has to fulfil His Mission, He will keep His instruments in perfect shape. Nobody’s body will be ruined by working for the Supreme. Nobody’s body will fail because of obeying the dictates of the Supreme for His manifestation.

Question: Does my violin love me?

Guru: Quite often your violin hates you. On very rare occasions your violin loves you. When you practise, you feed the violin. Naturally, the gratitude-heart of the violin loves you. When you don’t practise, that means you don’t feed the violin. How do you expect love from someone who starves because of you? But sometimes you give most delicious food; your heart’s oneness you offer to your violin. I shall never forget one experience. It was at the time of the Bicentennial when you played at the Fulton Street Fish Market. There you played extremely, extremely well. That day the soul of the violin blessed you most powerfully. But another, unfortunate experience I also remember. Once we had a thirteen-hour meditation in Central Park, and you played on the stage. On that day your violin and you were not on speaking terms. So I felt sorry because two strangers were desperately and unsuccessfully trying to make friends. So your violin loves you most soulfully and fruitfully only when you feed it. You should feed your violin regularly.

Question: What vegetables were Shephali, Nishtha and I?

Guru: Pranika was an Irish potato, Nishtha was Indian spinach and Shephali was an Italian eggplant.

[To be continued]

Songs

Dream not of any other world

Dream not of any other world;
This world really loves you.
Think not of Heaven-God;
Earth-God really loves you.
Who is Heaven-God?
Promise.
Who is earth-God?
Hope.



Jedike phirai ankhi

Jedike phirai ankhi
Ke jena baliche daki
Britha bela baye jai
Jib kato asohai
Nayan mudiya rakhi
Amar ki shunite baki
Britha bela bayi jai
Kena eta nirupai

Whichever way I cast my glance
I hear someone whispering
Time is passing by,
All human beings hopeless and helpless.
I keep my eyes shut.
I have nothing more to hear.
Time is passing by.
Alas, I know not why and how
I am so helplessly and totally lost.