wisdom

Be a Bhakta, a devotee, in order to worship. The word Bhakta is best explained by the concept of negation. Bhakta is the one who is not Vibhakta. (Vibhakta means separate).

 

When you are a Bhakta and are worshipping what it means is that you are worshipping with the conviction that you, yourself are that, and that you are the real object of worship. In order to worship the Self, you have to be one with the Self, i.e. there is no difference between you and the Self. There is no separate identity. There is no separate You; you are what you are seeking. You must have the firm conviction that You are the Almighty. When you are consumed with that conviction your ego ceases and the "I" thought totally vanishes. It is not an artificial state; it is the natural state; and then only Reality remains.

It requires a boldness to assume this Oneness with the All; it is a boldness which God himself has granted us for the purpose of achieving the Reality. Use all your boldness to forcibly mold yourself into the nature of the Self. To do that one has to cast off one's ego, by ceasing to identify oneself with the body and by eradicating the notion the "I am the body." A revolutionary change is brought about and one is transformed into an entirely new entity as soon as one surrenders to the Master. It is totally beyond imagination.

"Along with everyone, i am Shiva,
Including one and all, i am Shiva"

Duality is erased totally only when one overcomes the habit of being and remaining severed from the Self, and one is severed by identifying oneself with the body. You have come into being because you, in spite of being "non-perceivable", have perceived yourself as a separate entity against the flimsy background of illusion. When you realize that you are the one beyond perception, you exist in this world with the conviction that your worldly existence is nothing but a reflection of the Reality. You become Videhi, without a body, when you identify with the Self that is without a body. This is achieved with a firm determination and the guidance of the Master.

Thoughts arise in the Atman and the mind is born. Failing to concentrate on the Atman, you get absorbed in these thoughts. As a result of this absorption you get lost in a string of thoughts and lose sight of the Atman. Just as waves appear on the ocean, so do waves of thoughts appear on the Self. The rising of waves of thoughts in the Atman is called mind. If you concentrate on the waves you forget the Self. Wave after wave of thoughts arise in the Atman entirely engulfing it. Gradually the Atman gets concealed in the thoughts and the world we see comes into being. Having forgotten the Atman, you see and perceive only what the senses show, the appearance of things, and then get engrossed in it. Language is simply the vehicle by which that which appears and is experienced, is expressed by the mind. Buddhi, the intellect, is the highest function of the mind and is what the Master uses for teaching. The darkness of ignorance is dispelled by the light of this teaching.

As long as one is ignorant the triad exists, i.e., the aspirant, the process of aspiring, and the aspiration. To put this in perspective the Sadhaka is the one who aspires for the Ultimate Truth. Sadhana is the practice taken up by the Sadhaka to reach the goal, and Saddhya is the goal, the Final Understanding , the Ultimate Truth. Listening to the discourses of the Master is essential. With the aid of his teachings you gain your own experience of the Ultimate Truth. This experience is a unique phenomenon where the aspirant along with the process of aspiring blend with the aspiration in such a way that no trace of either remains, only the Ultimate Truth. The triad is thus eliminated and what remains is the Divine experience. The aspirant has been transfigured into the Source and he is now Reality itself, the embodiment of the Truth.

After the Trinity is dissolved your understanding is Soham. "I am That." The realized one then exists without the sense of existence. How is this possible? He does possess the gross body, no doubt, but he performs all the worldly functions and duties without a sense of being the doer. It is done without the sense that anything has been done, and without the sense of "I am someone". The inner consciousness has thus been transformed.

If you trace the source of both God, the ultimate Truth as well as the devotee, the aspirant, you will discover that they both originate from the same source, Nivritti, the state devoid of thoughts. It is only possible when the "I" thought, the doer, is no longer present.

LECTURE 9
December 6, 1928