The Being is Krishna, the Becoming is Radha. In her Becoming, Radha rejoices in the Being, Krishna. The Being is turned to the Becoming just as much as the Becoming is turned to and rejoices in the Being. Therefore Radha turns to Krishna, and Krishna turns to Radha – and together they make music.

The Becoming cannot be without the Being – you have to Be first, before you Become. Radha cannot exist without Krishna, and Krishna cannot live without Radha: Being without Becoming means no life. Together they make a full, complete whole. So Radha rejoices in Krishna – the Becoming in the Being; and Krishna rejoices in Radha – the Being in the Becoming. Vallabhi, vallabha…

How beautiful! It is He who is the support of all this manifestation in Creation. And then, in turn, the Creation through its creation worships that One, rejoices in that One – so that all this Creation is the worship of That. The Creation, the woman, Radha, Vallabhi, worships Vallabha through manifestation. The flowers, the trees, the streams – it is That alone which is being worshipped. And it is He who is rejoicing in Himself which is Creation which is she which is Radha. She the Creation, in turn, is rejoicing in Herself which is Him – it is He who is the manifestation, the Creation. Krishna is in Radha; Radha is in Krishna. Radha is Krishna; Krishna is Radha. Radha and Krishna are one.

Is there anything that is outside it? That is why the Indian scriptures say, ‘Verily all is One Reality’, in its movement and in its rest. It is He who is the warrior, the conqueror – Jisnave; it is He who is Visnave – the preserver; it is He who is the wielder of the disk – Cakrine; it is He who is the passion of Rukmini, of Creation, who is the very substance, who is the very essence – Ragine; it is He who is the victorious, the conch-blower, the sound. Verily all sound is the blowing of that One’s conch.

Whether That remains beyond form, or takes to form, it is all That. When it is beyond form – the Transcendental – it is Brahman, the Absolute; when it takes to form, it becomes Rama, Krishna. He plays, He rejoices, He conquers, He fights and destroys; He loves and is loved; He adores and is adored; He worships and is worshipped.

That is why Sankaracarya sang,

– because he came to this realization. Through all his dialectics, his discourses, and his discussions and his logic and his grammar, he arrived, and he found it is all This – in its Transcendental, in its Cosmic, as well as in its Immanent aspect.  And he could only rejoice in it, he could only do bhajan: he found all to be the worship of the One.

So he says to his mind, ‘Oh, foolish mind, you have carried on for so long without understanding. Now you see the Truth?’ That is why the Upanisads say, ‘It is all He, it is all He’ – in motion and in rest, in Being and in Becoming.

There is nothing that It is not – Purnamadah, Purnamidam; Purnat Purnamudacyate.  Verily This is all Fullness – not that strange idea of empty void, dry void… This empty void is only a stage before you arrive at the totality of the Reality, at the completeness of its magnanimity.

How can something come out of nothing? That is why Krishna in Gita says, ‘I am Existence, I am non-Existence – and yet I am Beyond’. Even Nirvana means Me, even Purna means Me. And yet I remain beyond all concepts and word-definitions, even though all words originate from me, all sounds, the whole of manifestation – Sridharam.

So Sankaracarya realized this in saying, Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam, Govindam Bhaja mudha mate. Abandon yourself to the Reality. You are that Reality – verily all is that Reality. That is Ananda, delight – so Krishna is delight. He is not only the delight of the Gopis – the Gopis are the ones who realize it, so all those who realize it are Gopis, are vallabhis (Beloveds) of vallabha (God).

So you see, Hindus are not so stupid: their books have come from a realization of a very very high level, complete. But there are very few to expound it, very few. The rest, they only play around down here – and make a religion of it. And Hinduism is not a religion – it is a reality and a realization. It is the truth that encompasses all truths; it is a whole that takes into account all of its parts; it is a harmony that is symphony.

So Krishna is That which at one instance is the Lord, the Master, the Beloved, and then is a Child to the same – therefore Devaki nandanam. The Being, the Master, the Lord, Nayakam, brings out this creation, and then takes birth in this creation, born of creation, Devaki nandanam, child of the Mother, born of creation, takes to form.

In the Upanisads they give the example of the spider and its web. Like the spider It brings the web out of its own womb, out of itself, as it were, creates this web of creation around itself, then goes and lives within it. The spider is the Master Creator of the web, then ultimately it goes and lives within its own creation. So on one side, Janaki Nayakam, the Lord of Janaki; then the Beloved of the Gopis; then the Child of Devaki. Verily all this is That. The Creator, the Creation, and the In-dweller is one Reality in differing aspects – there is no other.

So therefore I say, ‘the faceless One with faces plenty’. Through its many forms, through its many faces, through its many positions, It relates in so many ways – and yet it is at the same time beyond: the faceless One with faces plenty!

Janaki – Sita looks upon Rama as Master, svami, Lord; she deals with him in that way. Then later on in the song, Janaki Janaye: Janaye – the soul. The same Lord Master is the very soul of Janaki – in Him she arrives at her Self. That which is outside is within, that which is within is without. Just as Gopikavallabham, the Lover and the Beloved, the Worshipper and the Worshipped, ultimately they become vallabhi-vallabha, the Beloved, one with God.

Through the Guru, the Master outside, you reach to the Guru, to the Master within, just as Janaki through her husband, through Rama, reached to her own Self, Atmarama – that was her attitude. Just as the Gopis through love became vallabhi, one with vallabha, one with God.  Through all this activity, through all this creation, it is That which is being worshipped – as self-joy, self-rejoicing.

So in the pictures of RadhaKrishna you will see Krishna is shown as blue, the colour of a monsoonal cloud, while Radha wears her dress in the colour of blue. Conversely, She has the complexion of gold, luminous – He wears yellow gold. And they are turned to each other, they will be shown looking at each other. That is termed Yoga, Harmony.

That is what Krishna tells Arjuna, Yogam atistha uttistha Bharata: ‘Establish yourself in this realization, this Yoga, and go forth – even so to fight and conquer. Let your life be lived and expressed in Yoga’, says Sri Krishna to Arjuna, ‘then you are Sridharam also’. From Yoga to Yoga – whether it be in rest or in motion you are in Yoga – that is Krishna.

That is why such a delight: for He is fullness, He is in abundance. So wherever He is, He is worshipped – therefore He is termed Bhagavan. Therefore even such a one as Sankaracarya ultimately had to say, Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam, Govindam Bhaja mudha mate.  He had to tell his own mind, ‘Oh my foolish mind, worship, worship God– it is all a worship!’

So when you start to arrive at Yoga, you start to arrive at worship – and your heart is filled with joy, self-joy, which is abundance. Truly you have found life: all the complaints are left behind; they become a dream, and finally a fading memory.

Now life is struggling through, so there are complaints. But when you live in abundance, how can you complain? Yet even if you were to conquer, even if you were to go to war like Krishna, it would be out of an abundance of the Self, it would be from Yoga.  Therefore he advises Arjuna, Yogam atistha uttistha Bharata: ‘Stand up in life, meet it, having established yourself in Yoga’.

That is why here we have so many sittings… so that we may end up getting established in Yoga, and we may stand up in Yoga also! Because Arjuna had sat down, and started to complain, you see. He got confused, he threw away all his weapons and fell down on the ground, sat down with his hand on his head: ‘I cannot fight this war!’

And even tried to give it a positive twist, for his giving up the war: it is against all morals and all ethics, for the sake of a kingdom and material wealth to kill all your relatives and your own Guru who is standing on the opposite side! ‘So also my great-grandfather, in whose lap I have played, received so much love, and been so happy!’ All the attachments, you see, all the emotional attachments come up.

Krishna is firm, unmoved – acyutam: ‘Hey Arjuna, why this cowardliness? You are confused, you do not see with clarity. Through your emotions you are blinded. You cannot discriminate, you cannot differentiate between what is right and what is wrong, what is dharma and what is adharma’. For that, to be able to see with clarity what is darkness and what is light, He gives him the teaching of the Gita: establish yourself in Yoga, then you see clearly. It takes away all these veils from your eyes, and then you see with clarity. Now you see through emotional conditionings, through attachments, emotional attachments, and become confused. Therefore your actions forever remain biased.

He even wanted to take sannyas, this Arjuna! And Krishna told him, ‘You are trying to escape – this is not the way to take sannyas! Life is the ground to prepare you to arrive at yourself, in yourself – to arrive at Yoga. Meet it, face it!’ But how? So He gives him the teaching which is the Gita. And He defines what sannyas is: when you have gone beyond the likes and dislikes, the duality, the attachments, then you have arrived at sannyas – eternal sannyas.

 

‘Know him to be a perpetual sannyasin who neither shuns nor seeks. Free from opposites, he is released easily, O Mighty-armed’.

So Arjuna had sat down – not for a sitting for meditation like us…! But Krishna is smart, you see. All these characters are very smart: they take any opportunity and turn it over, transform it. So He turned it into a real sitting for Arjuna!  ‘Establish yourself in Yoga – Yogam atistha uttistha Bharata  – then stand up, and go forth’.

Krishna himself in the war never took up a weapon – except when Arjuna was threatened by the great Bhisma, who was supposedly unconquerable. They say the Lord will never allow His devotee to be vanquished, so He broke His own vow – He had a vow that He would never take up a weapon in the war. He lifted a broken chariot’s wheel and went after Bhisma.

And Bhisma is supposed to have put his weapons down, bowed to Him, and smiled. And said, ‘The only reason I did this, I went after Arjuna, is that I wanted to see this face of yours, the face of the Protector of His devotees’.

So tremendous is this play of the Reality! Even in Bhisma, it  is the Divine playing; even in Arjuna, it is the Divine who is coming through as the Devotee; and in Krishna – the Lord, the Master, the Teacher – it is the Divine coming through. Even with Duryodhana and Sakuni – the cheat and the liar and the rogue – is the Divine coming through. But they know it not – it is only Krishna who knows it: for He knows Himself, and so manifests the Divinity.

In that battlefield it is only Krishna who knows truly Who He is; the others are helpless in their roles – whether it be good, bad, or ugly! Krishna can make, Krishna can break; Krishna can create, Krishna can destroy – and recreate again. The rest are helpless in their play, in their roles. For Krishna is free, Krishna is Yoga, Krishna is sannyas. That is why He does so much mischief and gets away with it! He is so free…

It is amazing: the fellow does everything that is against the law and the rule, against all conventions it seems.

Of course during His lifetime He has been chased by Kamsa, He has been chased by Jarasandha, He was all the time battling. And even in Goa He is known for His battle. He and His brother had a big fight with Jarasandha in Gomantak, what is Goa now – He was always chased. And He is known to have even left the battlefield – so He is worshipped as Ranchod – the one who left the battlefield’! Amazing person – whatever He does, He gets worshipped!

He left Mathura for Dwaraka, because Jarasandha was all the time attacking Mathura. So He decided that it would be good for the growth of the people that they move away to a new place, so that it becomes too far for Jarasandha to attack –  and that is more intelligent than continuing to fight again and again, and the people all the time living in this state of siege.

Balarama, His elder brother, was very upset: ‘How can you do that? How can you even think, suggest it? We are warriors, we will die to the last person if needed, but we will not leave!’ Of course Krishna always gets His way, so they had to go to Dwaraka. But ultimately He killed Jarasandha, in His own way, without a battle – in fact He got Bhima to kill him later on.

 

So He is all life, full of life. He is unpredictable, delightful… He is richness, therefore Sridharam – Sri means ‘richness’ – richness of life. He has everything – spiritual richness, material richness. That is why they have ‘Sri’ in front of such a one – Sri Krishna. Otherwise He is incomplete – and Radha is always present… So it has to be ‘Sri Krishna’. Janaki also is always present where Rama is – therefore ‘Sri Rama’.

Pb: On my driving license they wrote Sri So-and-so!

Yes, they live in hope! The Indians are very very, ahem, kind… And they always live in hope for others, you know?

Then you can be called ‘Sridharam’ – otherwise without ‘Sri’ it would only be Dharam, dharam, dharam, without any significance. Without Sri you are insignificant.

So, once more:

Nandanam also means ‘endearing’ – children are always endearing. So Krishna, taking the form of the Child, is endearing to Devaki, and Yasoda, to the Mother – to the Mother in each one of us. Through endearment He gets Devaki and Yasoda to arrive at themselves through Him, just as with Rukmini and the Gopis it is through love and devotion; and with Janaki, as Rama, through service.

And all these bhavas to some degree are in all of us. As I have said earlier, Kabir took the attitude of a Wife, also as dasya, das. Two attitudes he kept: dasya, the one who serves – that is why he is also called Kabirdas – and madhurya, love, devotion, as a wife towards the husband, the lover towards the beloved, as ragini towards raga. Through passion to the embodiment of passion – Krishna.

That is why in India mothers and fathers call their children ‘Nandu’, ‘Nandagopal’ – it has become an everyday-life habit. This is how the Divine works when It takes form, in Its Descent, in Its Manifestation. Through Its, His, Her various interactions, It is bringing you to the Reality, to the fulfillment.

Even Kamsa is supposed to have been liberated by Krishna, just like Ravana with Rama – because Kamsa and Ravana took the attitude of opposition towards all that is Divine, and yet they were devotees: they said, ‘If there is Divinity there, then even being conquered by Him, the Divine in that form, we are truly fulfilled’.

It was not so for Duryodhana and Sakuni – they did not keep that in their understanding. Ravana and Kamsa finally accept and worship Divinity in the form of Rama and Krishna –

 

but not Duryodhana and Sakuni. So they do not  arrive, whereas Kamsa and Ravana  arrive. Neither do Jarasandha and Sisupala. So, if you want to take the negative approach to the Divine, you have to keep that in your mind…

It must be breakfast time – more like brunch… There was a suggestion that we should change the timing and have an earlier breakfast so that work can happen. Presently it gets too hot by the time you put on your gloves for action and pick up your weapons and go to the battlefield – having established yourself in Yoga…! (laughter)

All I have to do is look at people’s faces and I know who have got established in Yoga when they go to work, and who have not! Work has this strange quality: it brings up things again and again…

Arjuna is supposed not to have had much time… And even in this age you do not have much time. The opponent will not give you time. At those times, in Dwapara Yuga, when they fought wars and they were enemies, they did it according to certain agreed rules – they gave each other time. There was a time-period when you fought, and after that you could go and visit each other also. So there was still some dharma, so to speak.

In the given circumstances Arjuna had to do a very quick job of establishing himself in Yoga – here you do not have so much time either, because the Sakunis and the Duryodhanas are all very, very impatient – by their very nature.

Dharma means ‘patience, support, supportive of right life’. Ultimately you arrive at that which is acyutam – what is most patient, that which is eternal. These pillars holding the roof, they stay there patiently holding the roof – they are dharma: Dharayati iti dharma. That which supports is dharma, that which is patiently supporting – otherwise the roof will come down.

The Earth is patient, so therefore she is the Mother. Mother is patient – mothers have this quality, this patience. So Earth is Mother: she supports, she supports life, just as mother gives birth to life and supports it… while father is having a good time! She has to do all that struggling and supporting, she is committed. She bears the weight. That is why women are stronger than men – because they have the Mother in them. They can support life, carry it.

Physically they may not be that strong, but in will they are stronger, because even to the Divine, woman is the Mother! He is born of a woman: therefore Devaki nandanam. She gave birth to Krishna, therefore she as a mother has Adhikara (privilege) to beat Him up and tie Him up, when He plays His mischief.

Nobody else could tie Him up and beat Him up – only Devaki and Yasoda. Mother Yasoda wanted to check Him for butter: He opened His mouth to show her and there was the universe – and she fainted! Even though He showed the universe in Himself, when she came back to being conscious again, she tied Him up, because that is the mother… And He accepted all in play.  He said, ‘You cannot win with mother…’ He allowed Himself to be tied up – but continued His tricks. And through that endearment, through that relationship, He carried her, He made her arrive.

Verily in all there is the Divine, even in a Kamsa or a Ravana – if they only know. And, if they know, one day Kamsa and Ravana will disappear, and the cakradhari, the wielder of the disk, and the sankhdhari , the conch-blower, alone will remain.

(In a lighter vein:) Maybe we should allow you to have breakfast, otherwise the body may not remain. Krishna may remain, but the body will not! It may have to take a little journey. Otherwise it would be the Nirvana of Sankaracarya – I am not the body, therefore – what breakfast?  what food? Sivoham, Sivoham, Sivoham, Sivoham – verily I am Siva, the nature of blissful  consciousness. Breakfast? What is breakfast? What is food?’

The stories in Hindu Puranas are so interesting, I tell you. There is a story about Lord Siva and Mother Parvati, as to who was greater. In these books you find the Gods having little conflicts, like between husbands and wives. They are brought down to human level, it is quite instructive.

So Siva said, ‘I am a Yogi’, and Mother Parvati said, ‘Okay, we will see! When I am not there we will see who cooks for you. It is fine when I am there – you can be a great Yogi spending your time as you like while the food is arriving at the proper time, and you get to eat and then can play the Yogi…!’ And she disappeared from there.

She went to Banares. In Banares there is a temple where She is worshipped as Annapurna: the one who fulfills your need for annam – food; the Mother of Food, the Mother who gives you the food: Annapurna Devi.

Of course Lord Siva stayed back in Kailasa with ashes all over His body, snakes around his neck – great Yogi, sitting in His bliss of the Self. One day, two days, three days, four days – there was no problem; but after a while a first little awareness of hunger came – because He is in the body, and in the body there is hunger. Still  He said to Himself: ‘I am a Yogi. Hunger? That is nothing! Sivoham, Sivoham, Sivoham…’

After a few more days, He started to look around. He could only meditate or Be in Himself a few hours, and every so often He would start to look around. Suddenly everything was smelling of food! The senses started to play about – and ice-creams and things like that started to float in front of Him! Before that, He used to make so much fuss: this vegetable, yes; no to that vegetable – He was choosy. Now every vegetable, even the ones He did not like, suddenly had this fragrance about them! And then the thought of Parvati started to come.

First anger came: ‘How could she leave me like this? Does not she know I am meditating, I am in my Self, I am a Yogi and she should take care? Does not she know her part, her role?’ And then also feelings of affection and acceptance: ‘She was really taking care of me – I really was being a little conceited’. And then after a while He could not keep himself sitting there, so He got up, took His trident with His damaru, bam bole, bam bole, with His garland of snakes around Him… (He even forgot to put His ashes on, He started to become forgetful about these things – the hunger was so strong!) and His bowl that was made of a human skull, and He descended from Kailasa – of course still majestic, but with the pain of hunger in His belly!

‘I am going to do Bhiksa. I do not know where she is gone, so I will go to Uttarkasi and do some Bhiksa.’ He traveled all over the Himalayas; from Kailasa He descended, He went here and there. For a few days He was getting Bhiksa, but ultimately every house He would go to He would find empty. He was very surprised. And then He saw some people going down.  ‘Where are you going?’ He asked them. ‘All the food is finished’, they said, ’but supposedly there is one woman, who is giving out food in Banares. She is the only one who has food’.

So Bhole Baba also went towards Kasi-Banares. There He arrived and saw a long line. Hot khichedy was being served with pure ghi on top. Wow, what fragrance! And everybody had this look of bliss on their face, eating this khichedy with vegetables and potatoes and dahl and rice and ghi on top…

And Bhole Baba of course also had to stand in the line, in queue.  And of course He wanted to know who this woman was. She was inside – the line was tremendous, very long, and He was still outside, and He wanted to know, ‘Who is this incredible woman serving food?’ In the end – He was almost on His knees now – He finally entered the temple, and from the door He tried to look. He got a glimpse, and saw her feet – He started to recognize, they looked familiar…

Finally He managed to get a glimpse of Her face: ‘That is… my wife!’ He exclaimed. ‘Why should I stand in the queue?’ – and He tried to jump the queue, but people caught hold of Him and pushed Him back. ‘No! You must stand in the queue and wait your turn!’ ‘But she is my wife!’ ‘We do not care!’ they said. And Parvati was having a great time watching all this and  looking at Him and smiling!

Ultimately He managed to arrive in front of Her. ‘How could you leave me without food?’ He asked. ‘I am your husband and you are supposed to serve me!’  She said, ‘Who is greater? Only after you answer will you get food!’  And He answered, ‘You are’.

After that came this Ardhnaryeswar picture, form, wherein She appears as His better half!!! He accepted that. Then Mother Parvati came back with Him to Kailasa and everyday He was getting His meal. But now He had the understanding that He could not be without Mother Parvati, without the Power.

Can the sun be without its light, its heat, its power? It would not exist – this is what this story is saying. Can the flower ever be without its beauty, its fragrance, its form? Can Krishna be without Radha? Can Rama be without Sri?

You see, it is through its heat that the sun gives birth to life – we have life on this earth because of the sun. If the sun were to die, if it lost its heat and power, its light, life would all perish.

So the Hindus worship the woman just as they worship the man – at times even more so, because otherwise you may end up like Lord Siva. So you had better worship the Mother more than the Father: you will never go hungry! Father – where is he going to get you food? Mother – she has the food: she cooks with so much love.

Of course sometimes you see some fathers like mothers, and some mothers like fathers – that too is there. And sometimes they come joined together, both playing the role of both mother and father.

So, I will try to be mother now and adjourn for breakfast. By keeping you here I feel like a father! I am already seeing you weakening in body. I do not  know if you even manage to reach our Annapurna temple, Annapurna bhandar. Wherever there is a communal kitchen it is called Annapurna bhandar – throughout India. In Sikh Gurudvara it is called langar, otherwise it is called Annapurna bhandar.

So wherever you go to a kitchen, if you have the insight you will  see Mother Parvati there giving out food. Next time you go to the kitchen, try to remember. And you may also look around and see Lord Siva standing in the queue! So, be careful: when you go to Annapurna bhandar, do not say, ‘Sivoham Sivoham’ – you may not be served!

That is what happened to Sankara. He was going around saying ‘Sivoham Sivoham’, and then, in the end, once he was sitting by a river and he was unwell – he did not even have the strength, the power to move that little distance to go to the river and drink water. And yet he had been going around all the time saying, ‘Sivoham Sivoham, Naham Deham’ – ‘I am the Spirit, I am the Spirit and no other – only That – Sivoham Sivoham’. And he was so thirsty, he wanted to drink water, but he did not have the power, the strength to go to the river and drink.

Then a little girl appeared – supposedly it happened somewhere near this river in Srinagar – our Gadwal Srinagar – on the banks of the Mandakini river. And this Gadwali little girl came up – or Someone came up in this form of the Gadwali girl.

‘Babaji, what are you doing here?’ ‘Oh, my child! You have come, good. I am very thirsty, I do not have the strength, the power, to go to the river to drink. Can you bring some water for me?’ ‘Oh, you do not have the power, the strength? But you go around all over saying Sivoham Sivoham. And everything else is an illusion, all is Maya, all is unreal. Now, is not your thirst an illusion? What drink? What strength? What power? Is not it all an illusion?’

And then he realized! That is when he is supposed to have composed a hymn to the Goddess. Then she brought him the water and gave him also the darsan of the cosmic form of Hers. And he worshipped Her as a devotee, even though he knew and realized ‘Sivoham Sivoham’. On the other side now, he became a devotee of the cosmic form, of the cosmic Mother.

So these Hindus are quite humorous people and, at the same time, quite perceiving of the reality, although… by their looks you could not tell! But then looks can be deceiving…  They carry untold mysteries within themselves.

There is the story of one svamiji who arrived at an asram in Rsikes to give a talk on non-dual realization, on the spirit, the Siva in all of us, the permanent in us. He gave a very beautiful discourse…   It is easy to give discourses: you are given the mike, and of course you are the chief guest and you can speak whatever you want. It is when it is put out into practice… therein lies the difference, the actual test.

So this other svamiji who had invited him, he was a little clever. The first svamiji gave his discourse: ‘Sivoham, Sivoham, etc.’ and everybody clapped: ‘Wow, what a svami, what a Master! What discourse!’ Now the host svamiji had it all prearranged, for after discourse there was going to be bhandara, food. Always food comes afterwards, and before also, so you can give the discourse, and you really look what you say. If you did not eat before you would look completely different from what you say, and then the secret would be out… So they always stuff themselves before they give discourse.

Anyway, after the discourse  there was a big bhandara  and there was all this good food. They give it a name, chappanbhog – fifty-six types of taste – all kinds of sweets and pullaos, and various kinds of rice, channas and dahl and vegetables and paranthas, panir paranthas, panir pullao, peas pullao, ghi and jagary, cam-cam sweet, rasmallai, fruits of all kinds, strawberry with icecream… international dishes also!

This host svamiji, he was clever: he had asked the cook not to put salt and sugar in the food for the guest, to make the food without rasa – because these kind of people they take away all the rasa, all the juice from the reality.

It is like taking away the fragrance and the form from the flower; taking away the heat, the luminosity, the brilliance from the sun. So he had taken away the rasa from all that, the very salt. That is why salt is called ramras among the sadhus: without that ras, everything is tasteless. So also without that fragrance, the power, without the Mother, without the Force, the Energy, there is nothing – it is nothing, it is empty, it is void…

So the time came for this fellow to eat and everybody was congratulating him, touching his feet: ‘Wow, what a mahatma, what a great one! Maharaj, give me diksa, give me initiation!’ And he was so full of himself, fulfilled… Then the time came to fulfill himself with food; first he went for the sweet: he started with Ksir (rice-pudding) – no taste, there was no sugar in it.

You could see the changes that started to appear on his face! And the host svami was watching him! Then the guest went for the pullao and for the vegetables – no salt! And his face became grimmer and grimmer.

Ultimately he could not stand it because it was so beautiful to look at, but no taste. And then he got upset: ‘What is this?! There is no taste!’ And the host said, ‘Yes, even in your discourse there was no taste – no Mother, no Force, no Power! It was all illusion and delusion!’ He had taken away all that was essential. Niras, they say: without ras, without life.

‘Rangi ko narangi kahen asal mal ko khoya’, says Kabir. ‘That which is colourful  they call narangi – colourless, and that which is the real stuff they call no-stuff’.

Let us all go and have that khoya now – the ‘no-stuff’ that is ‘the real stuff’.

 

Arya Vihar

8 May 1996