Summary: In response to a query about the fears a sadhak is facing, explains that the old mind needs to transform to accept the process of sadhana. Teaches that in the lower levels we are very fixed in our thoughts and the Guidance is essential in these parts. Further explains that in spite of rebellion the sadhak must continue his journey and the entire being must accept the process of Yoga. Emphasises that the Divine does not work from biases; teaches that one must have faith and keep committed; lastly that the Guru who leads one to light cannot be thanked enough.

V.: You were saying this morning that while we do the breathing, we come to a stop; it can happen. Sometimes I have the feeling that it stops and then the next thing that happens is that afterwards I ask myself, ‘What? No breathing? What’s happening? I need to breathe to go on!’

You are doing sadhana – and this is a process of Yoga. It is a very special thing happening – and this is what should happen, what you want to happen. But the old mind still has doubts – ‘How can this be possible? What is this that is happening?’ The old mind lives only in one way, its external habitual way, and this process is unknown and foreign to it, a strange thing. The mind now has to change and integrate this new reality, accept it and be transformed; otherwise the mind becomes a barrier with emerging fear, anxiety, doubts, disbelief, etc., that can bring you out and even take you away from sadhana.

These are situations in transition; they can happen and do happen even quite frequently. That is why I was saying it needs practice and more practice and to live in such a way that you are also developing your mind, your body, your personality to suit and accept this phenomenon. Otherwise your body and mind may offer resistance to change and acceptance, not open to the phenomenon. It is a whole process, which means that it integrates the entire being as a whole as there are various parts to your being; so when these experiences and processes happen they are accepted as normal to the sadhana and Yoga. It is not to be seen in fear as being strange, for you would then cringe, as it were, in mind and body preventing the process of transformation and the onward march of Yoga. This has to be understood.

In the ordinary externalised existence there are parts that are unable to accept this process because of ignorance, and that is what creates the conflict. So I often repeat the example of this man who comes to Aurobindo and his mind becomes quiet. But he is not used to the quiet mind, for him it is a strange and uncomfortable experience because the usual education is that your mind should always be active. Like Descartes says, “I think therefore I am”, so I must continue to think – only then my existence proves itself. In the educational system and thinking of the so-called modern human society of today and especially so, this is what is taught to you. It is the accepted and favoured upbringing and conditioning that one should always be mentally active, thinking and doing and so forth, and even the idea of a quiet mind is seen as not only strange but an impossibility. Thinking may be all very well to develop the mind, but in meditation you have to quiet the mind to uncover the Reality and discover the True existence. This happened to Krishnamurti as a child when he was considered retarded by his school teachers, because his mind was always quiet, and he was markedly different from the other children who were so much more outwardly active and expressive, even hyperactive, more the accepted norm. He was even then a quiet observer of things. His mind was utterly quiet but this was not understood, not the common experience and therefore unacceptable to the society and the people around him, so he was dubbed a retarded child, an unusual child unlike the other ‘normal’ children with their normal behaviour rushing hither thither, running helter-skelter! His quiet behaviour was totally unusual and extra-ordinary and unknown to the people in their usual ordinary existence, so the human society around him could not accept it. And so too in you there is the part that is akin to the society as it were, which is a stranger to this.

Like the example of Lahiri Mahashaya whose pulse beat is not there, no movement of the pulse, while he continues to live. But according to medical science He should be dead, for they are ignorant and strangers to the science of yogic phenomena. And if one were to explain to them that this is part of the phenomenon of the inward movement of consciousness and of breath, they will not accept, rather ridicule as mumbo jumbo and voodoo. Even to many strange, first-time experienced day to day situations, one reacts similarly with incredulous disbelief if not ridicule, until acceptance happens over time through repeated association when it is no more considered strange. This is quite the normal behaviour of the human mind. If a stranger knocks on your door, what is your first impression? What is your first reaction? ‘Who is this person?’ You do not immediately accept him. Doubts creep up, especially if he is not native-looking, because he is strange to you, so this is your natural response – besides the biases, prejudices, learnt or natural that rise and come to the surface preventing you to see what should be seen. The conditionality of your mind, conditionality of your emotions, the culture, your personality, the way you look at things – they will all be confronted. So initially, your being, your personality, conditionality will react one way or another to the new things, new experiences happening to you, so you have to continue to learn to watch and observe and become used to these things. That is why you require dhamma, the teaching and knowledge that this is part of the process of Yoga.

It is known to have happened to quite a few that the force becomes active to whatever extent by chance, which causes them problems for they have no idea or understanding of how to deal with it or what is happening to them. There was this boy who had some movement happening in him involuntarily, which he could not handle. In the end he jumped off the third floor of a building and ended his life. That is why when people talk about ‘kundalini Yoga’, or this and that Yoga as if they are inviting you to the next-door coffee-shop for tea and biscuits, they do not most times understand what they are talking about and the consequences involved, and what inner and outer conflict may have to be faced and the required preparation, having had no experience themselves!

That is why the emphasis by the Guru on following his instructions and guidance; so that you start to live with this process naturally and easily, start to accept this process gradually in your entire being, in your every pore, so that when it starts to happen and intensify, there are no severe reactions or even severe delusions, as it can become delusional with excessive egoism.

That is why the need for commitment to honest objectivity and guidance. That is why I keep giving the example of Milarepa and his self-offering to his Master, Marpa. Then it is a smooth journey without you confusing your own self and others with misunderstandings, misinterpretations, make-believe and visions of self-grandeur, for there are parts in you that see and hold views which are in conflict with each other.

Sometimes the movement of the force may create psychological disturbances because of one’s own incapacities, limitations and ignorant ideas. We know of people who had something happening but did not manage to organise themselves under guidance with disastrous results. They ended up going to doctors who have no experience and understanding of these things, who in their limited wisdom or lack of it see this as simply to be some psychological problem and gave them steroids or suppressants. Doctors are also working from a limitation, ignorance and speculation. Doctors are not gods. They do not know everything, many times they are only experimenting. By stopping his pulse beat at will, Lahiri Mahashaya is proving this. But doctors cannot believe this because they are not qualified in this science; it is outside their purview and world. This is a different world – this requires another kind of doctor. “According to you I am dead, a corpse and that is all your medical science can say,” this is what He said to the doctor examining his pulse, who not finding it was perplexed. For science there is no such thing as immortality, everybody dies. They do not know the world of the spirit, they do not know the world of the processes of Yoga. This is the science of all sciences, that is why in India it is called Mahāvidyā, the ultimate wisdom, the ultimate knowledge, the ultimate science – the Science of the Self as Krishna calls it in the Gītā, offering its secrets to Arjuna.

This is the basis of all science and that is why one who becomes proficient in this science will know all other sciences, have insight into all other sciences, because She is the Mother of all sciences. That is why it is a process and the mind must start to accept it and become fearless about what is happening to you.

Now, that man visiting Aurobindo ran away from there saying, “I am becoming an idiot!” This was the response from his mind, the old mind which is a complete stranger to this phenomenon, the quietening of the mind that he acquired being in the presence of Aurobindo. So he ran away saying he was becoming an idiot being there. Aurobindo concurred, “He was really an idiot.” He missed a great opportunity – why? Because of his own mind which was conditioned through his education to see things in a certain way, which prevented him to go beyond to something incredible. And he may have been a great scientist and may have even got awards in his field of knowledge, but to the people who are masters in Yoga he is an idiot with no understanding of the process of Yoga and the Reality of the Self.

That is why you need to observe the mind and become confident of and in yourself and enable the mind to accept these things. There is a natural response when something strange like this happens to you the first time, and the first natural response is, ‘What is this, what is happening to me?’

There is an ascent and descent in the movement of the force and consciousness. When you ascend you feel very good, you even say, ‘I am enlightened.’ When you descend then all those things that are there jump on you and you feel so low and ordinary. There are different layers of consciousness, different levels of consciousness.

In this complete sadhana for complete transformation you will have the upward and downward movements, and if you are not aware, then you will say – ‘What happened?’ There can be an upsurge of severe reaction from your lower being when you come down, it can even get self-delusional.

That is why the commitment to the Guide, to follow the guidance sincerely and honestly every time, believing in the Guide, trusting in the Guide: that becomes your support. Otherwise you end up getting into a completely conflicting mind, conflicting reaction to what has just been experienced. It is like a bad trip, when people take drugs, heroin, or even alcohol. You feel high, but the next day how do you feel? Nobody wants to see you and you do not want to see anybody! It is a hangover. For many people it is the same in the morning when they wake up, and they cannot do anything till they have had their coffee. It is almost the same thing for many first-timers to sadhana. In this game you are not to become dependent on coffee or this or that: ultimately you have to master and make your rightful place in the lower levels also, the lower nature, the lower being; otherwise that lower being will create obstacles and hindrances for that higher being to manifest and come clear. Illumination must also enter into these regions so that the lower is in harmony with the higher, completely integrated and becomes an enlightened whole. So the ascent and the descent are both required.

In the lower level you are very fixed in your personality, your mechanical movements, your habitual movements, even your way of thinking – this has to be understood. That is why the guidance is so important, and that is why the Guru, the Guide is indispensable. So now the lower has to subject itself to the higher.

In fact there are many reactions from the lower that will come up, and at the lower level there are hostile beings too, hostile to your progress that you may open yourself to because of the type of personality that you are and express.

Yogis can tell from the form of the body of the person the nature and character of the person. One can tell just by the movement of someone’s walk what they are carrying inside and bringing with them. Depending on how advanced one is in sadhana one can get a sense of people even when they are far away. Every time you are in a different state, your state changes, everything changes – your walk, your voice. You are not aware because you are lost in it totally without any retrospection. So you have to commit and harmonise the whole of your being so as to be able to be open to divinity and divinity alone. This is a profound process, it is Yoga. It will open you to the light of the Divine when you rise, but then when you descend you will come in contact with and might open to the light of darkness, as it were, the distorted light of the demon. It can happen, so you need to watch out and be ever so vigilant.

The mind affected by the lower can create disturbances, disbeliefs, doubts, panic, fear – and immediately you are out! That is the moment to be quiet, but the mind brings up all kinds of disturbances – what is this, how can it be? – immediately you become agitated. That agitation pushes you out, you have lost the moment, but it is okay because you have not lost it forever: that is why it is a process. But if you are prepared you know about these things beforehand, then the journey is anticipated and relatively smooth without unnecessary delays, hiccups and interruptions, otherwise delays become the norm.

Or, if after having practiced for some time observing, non-identifying and detaching, like I say, watch, watch, watch and still watch, over and over again – then one day you lose interest because of repetition, get fed-up and in your impatience say, ‘Nothing is happening, what is He doing? We must go to another for a new technique’ – that is useless. You have not even done one thing properly, and you want to move on to something else as if sadhana is this or that technique! So save yourself the trouble, watch everything. If fear comes up, then watch it, face it and detach, then the ‘mind of fear’ will not hijack that moment so easily. The Guru is not a fool; he has done his homework and done it well. These are the intricacies of this journey if you want to walk the way of sadhana, and that is why the commitment, committing yourself each time more and more. You may have begun in a certain way, fine, but now as you advance it becomes more and more subtle, and to be able to face that subtlety means that you must have prepared well and approach this journey well, otherwise that unpreparedness itself will become an obstacle and a hindrance.

That is why I give the example of Marpa and Milarepa. Most people will say, ‘How unfair, unjust!’ Even for Milarepa it may have come up – but he stands with it, he accepts it, that is why he goes through. If he had not and had run away, then it was over for him, end of sadhana – finished! Like the man who ran away from Aurobindo. Maybe in the next lives his mind will be more open to the reality of being quiet and more subtle, open to Yoga and not as fundamentalist, stuck, rigid, narrow in his understanding. Then maybe there would be hope. But in the meanwhile, arrogant and conceited of his learning, he believes that he is knowledgeable and knows all he requires to know about himself and life.

How your mind is formulated and takes shape depends upon your upbringing, your culture, conditioning, environment and the kind of education, and therefore the different views and understandings. So it is stupid to say, ‘I am German, he is Indian,’ and all the biases that follow. Because the same German if he was to have an Indian upbringing, he would be Indian or more akin to being Indian, so to speak – the mind will be Indian culturally. The greater part of what you live and express is the product of environment, upbringing, conditioning. You can alter your mind even now; today modern psychology has started to accept. Not only that, you can rejuvenate your brain, your brain has the capacity to rejuvenate, re-connect. Yogis have known it all the time, they have been doing it all the time, and that is why I talk of recrafting yourself, modifying your personalities.

The only reason it does not happen is because you think, ‘This is me, this is how I feel,’ identifying with it totally. In this way you are always re-affirming that, time and time again and so are fixed in the particular identity and mental and emotional make-up. So how will it change? But the yogi through the power of self-observation, realisation and inner freedom is always open for change or re-affirmation. He knows, ‘This I can change if it needs to be, or if it is appropriate for the moment.’ In fact a yogi who has attained to complete freedom within starts to live an increasing free personality, living and active and yet not bound to any act, he becomes supple in his personality and being. Otherwise ordinarily you become fossils, you know, fossilised in stone, petrified – ‘This is me.’ It is as if it were an absolute, and therefore petrified you go through life. But it is you who make it absolute by re-confirming it each time.

This journey is all about observing and leaving behind the old and opening yourself to new things as you journey to your own self-discovery. Your mind will come in your way and so also your own nature, your own personality, which you must overcome and carry on.

That man who ran away from the presence of Aurobindo is an example. In his nature, in his upbringing, in his conditioning and education he believes that the mind should not be quiet: quiet mind equals to idiot – QED – Quod Erat Demonstrandum, this was his understanding! Actually the opposite is true: quiet mind equals liberation, self-discovery, self-realisation, discovery of the totality of things, awakening to the secrets of your existence! But according to him, quiet mind equals to being an idiot. So even Krishnamurti was supposed to be retarded according to his teachers, and he becomes a world teacher, the world Teacher – Jagat Guru.

It is same with Judas. He thought he was more intelligent, more educated. He was a scholar, and Jesus was a nice man, simple, lovely eyes – ‘Something keeps me with Him but I am wiser and know best how his work needs to be done’ and so goes against him in the end. Jesus can read his mind. He says, “Go ahead and do what you intend to do.” He sees even in the intention of Judas’s betrayal the will of God and the fulfilling of his mission. Judas thinks, Jesus is supporting him – in the stupidity of his mind – and is even more encouraged. (Laughs)

That is why in the Gītā Krishna says, “The self is the friend of the self, the self is also the enemy of the self.” So your mind can be your friend or your mind can be your enemy. When you have no mastery over your mind, there is a greater possibility for it to be your enemy, so you have to have the outer Guide, who has travelled the journey, mastered his own mind, who sees these things and knows the way and the pitfalls, and so have total faith in him – even if the mind suggests otherwise! It is the way it is.

Again, it is a progression. There will be rebellion in the mind, but that is what it is all about, one must be able to stay the course in spite of it, then it becomes easier over time. Marpa put Milarepa to the test and Milarepa staying the course continued to confirm his faith in and with Marpa. So he ‘goes home’ in that very lifetime – for some it will take many lifetimes – because he is able to immediately confirm the faith. And so it is a journey. Milarepa was ready in that lifetime; he confirmed his faith even though put to tremendous tests. I do it all the time, the testing and the sounding. That is why living with the Master is the key, for if the Master is around you all the time, you will be put to the test every moment – by his sheer presence, by his words, by his confrontations, by his laughter, everything, because he is living Yoga and if you are in tune with him it will be easy. But when the personality that needs changing is resistant and in conflict, then it will be difficult, and that is where your faith will be required in your journey. And if you have faith in yourself, if you have faith in the journey, and you have faith in the Guide it will keep you there. That is how it is, common sense – but not everyone has common sense, and (laughing) sense is not necessarily common!

This is the secret of Yoga and therefore throughout the history of humankind from the time Yoga was discovered, these were the basic requirements, discovered and traversed and handed down from Guru to disciple through paramparā, legacy, so that the journey becomes easy, smooth, however long it may be. Your mind itself will either be your friend or your mind itself will delay, depending on how that mind is developed. Sometimes it is a long delay also… That is why Aurobindo used to choose the people for the journey because not everybody could manage, even reading capability from their pictures. These are realities, it is not from some personal like and dislike that people are or are not chosen and neither being famous or rich or good-looking can be the criteria for sadhana. This may be done in some so-called ashrams, but it does not work in reality. Sometimes even murderers may be accepted! Milarepa for example had used black magic to kill someone who had done harm to his parents but was accepted by Marpa, and Ratnakar was a murdering highwayman targeting travellers until he was accepted and transformed into Valmiki by Narada, while the socially appreciated good man may not be ready – like this man who ran away when his mind became quiet in the presence of Aurobindo. In such a case what do you do? You cannot chase after him. If you do, they run faster – most times it is like that – thinking you are chasing them for your own vested interest and benefit!

This journey is different from the usual journey you make in the world. The physical world outside is like a mustard seed compared to the spiritual world. It does not mean that this world is insignificant and so to be left out from sadhana, nay, it has an extremely undeniable base in the sadhana. Sometimes people leave the journey half-way or mid-way because there is a part in them which prevents them to cross over and continue. It is the lack of faith, weakness in character or some severe defect in the personality that prevents them. So therefore until and unless they work it out, they cannot carry on or return. With the Buddha there was a disciple who left after twenty years… One may think that with Buddha it must be a celebration all the time, and everybody is getting enlightened all the time: these kinds of ideas are utterly naive. Do you know the Buddha left the sangha disappointed by his followers, and disappeared into the forest for long periods. This is the reality of the journey, this is not a child’s game! It is utterly naive to believe that it can be done just like that, and instantly become enlightened – it is utterly naive. How much work goes into it! It is the most difficult journey. Buddha himself says, “Mastery of oneself is far superior to mastery of the entire world.” This is the saying of the Buddha but nobody wants to read that and yet they want to be the Buddha. So this disciple leaves after having been with Buddha twenty years. Buddha said, “You do this every lifetime. It is not the first time, you do not remember though. You come to this point and you leave. How many times will you keep doing this?” The same thing can be repeated from lifetime to lifetime preventing you to go beyond, preventing you to cross over beyond your habitual personality.

Ramakrishna used to have many people come to him who were accomplished and advanced in meditation and had powers also. He took their powers away because they became barriers! There was one fellow who could transfer himself bodily to another place. You may not believe it, science will not be able to explain this phenomenon, but if you read this book called ‘Supernature’ by an English scientist Lyall Watson – he has a few books to his name – ‘Gift of Unknown Things’ is another, you may get some idea. He travelled around the world seeing amazing mystical phenomena which he could not explain within the known parameters of his science, and meeting people with special powers and gifts. He gives the example of a little girl in Indonesia who could generate fire by mere will. So this man who could transfer himself bodily got infatuated with a young woman, and so would transfer himself to her room in the night, and this had become an obstacle to his progress because of his obsession. Ramakrishna took away that power when he visited him so that he could continue his journey which had now stopped. The man thanked Him and disappeared.

Along the way one may encounter many distractions, many hiccups. Transformation is a long process, the process of Yoga is very complex, and requires tremendous commitment and integrity, because it can get delusional also. Some things are harmless and at their worst can delay, but there are things that are harmful and beings hostile to the journey and manifestation, as says Krishnamurti too, when he says there are forces in nature that are harmful to the manifestation. It is a battlefield situation where forces of darkness, forces of ignorance do not want to give an inch to the forces of Light. This is actually a truth, not unlike movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc. which are reflections of a hidden unconscious truth coming from and through the human mind, projected as conceived imagination, even so as computer games now. If you look within as you advance in your journey it becomes increasingly clear as to their reality and existence, in principle if not in outer form. Because it has come through the mind, one may think it to be fiction but in principle they are a reality. There are forces and beings that are hostile to your journey and your advance, they will disrupt and want you to be subordinate to them rather than be open to the Divine.

This is not to make you fearful, but to make you aware of the reality of it and so cautioned beforehand, and so that you keep the humility. That does not mean that you have to be low, weak and meek, rather, humility means that you are open to inquiry, you are open to the Truth and Truth alone and therefore you inquire much about it. You are humble towards it even if you are embodying within you the greatest of experiences, without the ego erupting to hijack the experience and the onward journey. Ego can only create barriers. Even if you were to be egoistic let it be from a playfulness and not from the position of the fixed separative ego, rather from the position of the Truth expressing the Truth.

That is why you have to win over your mind so the process of Yoga continues unhindered, otherwise fear, anxiety come up which will block the process: your progress moving inward and coming to a stop in the self and being still. It happens to many people – the agitation and palpitation, it comes from anxiety which prevents them to stay still in meditation and experience. This will also have to be worked out and so you have to keep going until every part of you will start accepting and participate in the process of Yoga sadhana. It is not repression but integration and allowing for transformation of each and every part and level of our being and consciousness until each and every thing is included and done, so also the body. Only then this realisation and transformation is a complete one. Otherwise the work – transformation, realisation and manifestation remains incomplete.

But for this to happen, the entire being has to be accepting of the process – and it is a process, there is no such thing as instant! There will be reactions, for example, from the body level in terms of illness before the body learns to accept, before the body consciousness, before the physical consciousness will accept. It is a cleansing process, purgation and a transforming process, all that is part of this manifestation. The yogis and the sadhaks start to look at everything differently, for them illnesses are only a cleansing process, a force and energy to face and deal with, things in the physical consciousness that are emerging, and must be allowed to pass out not holding on to them as the body is being transformed in and for Yoga. And so is your mind and vitality being transformed for Yoga. It is not about just one space and realisation while the rest of you remains as it is with all of its imperfections. This is how today it is understood in the expediency of getting another high. For the ego in its naivete, it is seen as another commodity to have in its long list of wants and desires – but it is not a commodity! It is self-perfection.

Yoga sadhana is the total subjectification of the Truth, even so in the body for it to be transformed so that it is only of truth, it will accept only the Truth, it will not accept untruth. That is why such people, when their body is being touched they feel a ‘sting’, because their body energy and electricity has altered. It cannot accept certain energies, gross energies, energies of untruth. You cannot have truth live side by side with untruth, and light with darkness, if you want the complete transformation. At certain levels it is so, but if you want to be completely illuminated, enlightened right down to your body, right down to each and every pore, then the body will also have to give up its darkness. And it is for you to allow it to happen. You can become the barrier in the way, so your attitude is important, how you look at things. So your way of thinking has to change. You cannot continue in your old way and expect the change and transformation to be completed, that is why I talk about recrafting yourself. This is part of the process of Yoga.

When the force awakens and the process starts, you come to a stop and stillness, the transformation begins. You must allow it to happen, and for that you must have preparation from before. That is why the insistence from the Guru, the Master, the Guide – keep doing the practice, continue the sadhana. That is why it is so important to live in the presence of an awakened Guide for he knows and lives the process himself. “Buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gachchāmi”, take refuge in the awakened one; besides that is why the sangha was given such an importance because it becomes easier than it would be otherwise – and not delusional, definitely – because the Guide knows the delusions that can come. He will point them out to you as you go along the journey unlike somebody sitting on the stage and giving discourses while one continues as one pleases – you can go up to a point then and not beyond it and even that point you cannot retain it for long.

So you must allow the process of Yoga if it starts in you, you must respect it, it is a wonderful thing happening. But for that wonderful thing to take you to its culmination you must accept it in every part of your being: in your mind, in your emotion, in your vitality, in your personality, in your physicality – they must all be in tune. And that too is a process. Your inner living, your outer living, all is going to change. You will have to surmount inner difficulties and will have to face and deal with difficulties from the outside. But the seeker and the yogi looks at all this in a different way, sees it as part of his or her sadhana.

You are changing, and there are the forces in and out there resistant to change that will not accept it. They want the old self and old mind to continue – not that the old self does not have its share of difficulties… And so when you start changing and transforming, you will meet with opposition from within and without. Criticism even from your friends also starts happening, which happens anyway ordinarily, but it can even take on extreme hostility. You will change friends: your old friends, you will see, you no longer vibe with, match with. Your journey is moving apart. Even with your partner in life, even so your married partner, all kinds of changes start happening and it can get very disconcerting but one must stand one’s ground. Why do you think Jesus said, “I have come to separate the father from the son, the mother from the daughter, the husband from the wife.” Simon Peter leaves his family! “I have not come to bring peace unto this world; I have come to bring fire unto this world.” Suddenly everyone is getting the shivers. (Laughing) But it is true!

Travel together, then conflicts will arise. If you can manage it, fine, if you cannot manage it then what do you do? You either give up the Yoga and live an ordinary life or face the challenge and take the bull by the horns and the tiger by the tail and carry on. It is not that ordinarily you don’t have your troubles with each other anyway, but now you can have the delusional excuse that it is because of meditation that this is happening! There was a person who was quite attached to us. She got married – husband was a delusional, arrogant upstart claiming to be enlightened – which ended up in a divorce. She has a five year old daughter now to take care of as a consequence of marriage and much bitterness and who does she blame for all this – she blames spirituality for her condition! So her tryst with sadhana is over.

That is the mind, like the man running away from Aurobindo because his mind became quiet. He must be a student of Descartes who says, “I think therefore I am!” You must think to exist, if you don’t think you don’t exist that’s the conclusion. Existence can only be up to the mind, not beyond, and that is to be human. That is why in Hindi the word for the human is mānava, manushya, in which the word man means mind. So humans are limited to the mind – however idiotic that mind may be is another matter. So now you are humans, but to go beyond to the Divine realm you need another mind, a quiet mind. Are you ready for the challenge?

It also depends on the motive with which you take to sadhana. Somebody once came here who wanted to know if I could do supernatural things like boil coffee with my finger. Can you imagine! You do have people approaching the Reality in this way. They do not last long as they have delusions… Or somebody produces gold rings, or gold ashes for healing! Thousands start collecting but they are not fit for sadhana. They won’t last long in this sadhana. Many came to Jesus in this way; there was a large collection of people for his magic of miracle making. In His case the magic was real; he had real siddhis, while there are fraudsters today who do this drama to attract people. The majority of people are attracted by such petty objectives, Yoga is not their objective. The realities of Yoga, the realities of the journey, the difficulties of the path that you will face, as also the unravelling of all of the immaturities of your self that you will be confronted with – you cannot even believe and imagine now. Get on the journey and you will know!

Look at the ideas people have of God. If you go to South India, Gods look like South Indians; you go to China, Buddha looks Chinese; Jesus looks Italian in Italy, while Jesus was in no way European in looks. Jesus was from Asia, he even had a very Jewish nose. Ramakrishna had a vision of Him when he was doing the Christian sadhana. He followed every path for he wanted to know the Truth in every way and through every path. So He had a vision of Jesus. He had never seen pictures of Jesus for there were no pictures possible at the time of Jesus anyway; nor did he know of his looks, this is more than hundred and fifty years ago. And He actually said, “His nose was prominent.” The Jewish nose is very prominent and that was one of the reasons why many Jews could not escape from Hitler: because of their nose and features they were easily recognizable.

But you have to get real about sadhana. With Jesus there were so many people, but when that moment of trial comes it becomes immediately evident as to who really was with him for the entire journey and who was not. They even turn against Him saying, “Let us see if he can save himself!” They had clung on to Him for his powers of healing, but how many remained loyal to him in the end, how many went all the way? Many were they who turned against Him descending to scorning and ridiculing him, they even spat on him and cheered his crucifixion joining in the conspiracy to do away with him in the most horrible of ways. Even the ones who were closest to Him as his disciples ran away in that moment and left him all by himself abandoning him to his fate.

So these delusions and notions and ideas, they get all washed away in the light of Truth. You need the kind of mind which does not get infatuated, deluded. The mind is very open to delusion, especially if you have ego in it, and you believe you are right! You have conditions, you have been brought up in a certain way of thinking. They will all act either with your sadhana or against it, depending on how you have been brought up, how this mind is developed. So Krishna is saying something very profound when he says, “The self is the friend of the self and the self is also the enemy of the self.” He knows it. He is a great yogi, he is a great Master, he is the Lord of Yoga – Yogeśwara.

The journey is very intricate, very subtle. As you keep going it requires great alertness, great sharpness and great integrity. Therefore it has always been said that if you have devotion, if there is a call from within, then the journey becomes easy, because that will hold you. It is like a lamp burning bright – even when you are passing through moments of darkness, confusions, doubts, it keeps you there. Otherwise whatever that may have brought you here, when the sadhana starts to unfold and reality strikes, it shakes you, and therefore your commitment is put to the test. So the commitment of all those people who were with Jesus was put to the test and you can see how short-lived their relationship with him was. This journey is not for the fair-weather personality. In this journey you must have storm-weather personality to face the storms of the soul, the dark nights of the soul, if you want the Yoga to be completed. And that is why people take many lifetimes to get there, it is a progression. Buddha said to his disciple, “You have done this in every lifetime you have been with me. This point in time comes and you go – now you make a stop to this!” Whether he did or not is another matter.

That is why it is very complex because what your mind feels and suggests seems so convincing, after all it is your mind! These moments come to all, even the Buddhas, the great yogis and Masters, Jesus also. What do you think Satan is trying to do to Jesus? Is Satan outside Him? This is a naive idea: because Jesus is the son of God, he cannot have a Satan in him somewhere that needed to be overcome, who of course he did overcome in the course of his sadhana. All are sons and daughters of God but have to face the vagaries of the mind, self and consciousness until that is realised. And anyway, God created this world – so then why did He put Satan there? God created the Garden of Eden – why did He put the serpent there?

So all these simplistic notions are thrashed to the ground in this journey – it gets very real. Ideas, notions, beliefs, they all come crashing down, and you must be open to this crashing down. That itself takes so much out of you, and that is why I say, the Master, Guru, Guide is also a friend, because he is ready to walk with you through all this. That is why that kind of faith in the Guide is required and even that may need to be developed over time, but some may have it from the past, their relationship from the past, so some may be a little ahead in that, we all have our own journeys. Partners, husband, wife, parent and child, they all have their individual journey, even otherwise in life it is so, for you are also an individual. You may travel together or you may not, and sometimes your relatives are not part of the journey and some others who are total strangers become part of the journey with you, and form the sangha. That is why Jesus asks, “Who is my family?” when his relatives come to see him. He says of the gathering of people around him, “This is my family, they walk with me, they walk the way of my Father. Whosoever walks with me the way of my Father is my family.”

In this journey you may leave your old friends of the world behind and have new friends, who are travellers like you; you will be thrown with people you have never known, even worse – look at Simon Peter: he was in fact acrimonious to James, the moneylender. In fact Simon would not enter his home, nobody would enter the home of James because he was a heartless moneylender and considered to be a bad man by the community, but Jesus chooses him, and he becomes one of his close disciples! He was without compassion in squeezing interest on borrowed money out of people and using that money for partying in the night, drinking and soliciting, while Simon is a good, hard-working and honest man, who takes care of his family and is respected in the community. So he would not even enter James’ house, leave alone befriend him, but they end up together and it is James who helps him tide over when Simon is having difficulty in leaving his old life and family behind convincing Simon, “Your life is different now just as mine is.” They leave their old life behind, that is how it is.

So when you take to the life of sadhana many changes will happen internally, externally. How strongly you are committed to the journey that much you will progress as you go along. And it is a many lifetimes journey, and sometimes someone will travel very far in one life, and sometimes seemingly the whole way in one life, like the Great Buddha. It depends on the individual’s journey, how much have they brought from the past and how much have they opened themselves to sadhana in the right way in the present, because the personality formation, the constitution and behaviour patterns, they can either be in tune and be of help, or they can be a hindrance and an obstacle, that will require much work to be done until the whole of one’s self is open and turned to sadhana and therefore requiring much time. For some people their body is not so strong: maybe their mind is in tune, maybe their emotions are in tune, their psychology is in tune and they are also committed, but their body is not so healthy – that acts as the barrier, they will have to carry that handicap and work it out. So healthy body, healthy mind, body and mind open to the sadhana, then it is a very swift journey. And for some it is so because they have worked it out in their past. Otherwise in the presence of an awakened Master some people feel so much more and some people are yet to feel or feel little – it is all right, that is how it is, for things may be happening behind the veil of their perception and feeling but ultimately they too will perceive, they too will sense, they too will feel. Everybody’s journey is unique: it is not that it makes somebody superior; it is only that everyone has their own journey.

Sometimes someone may be experiencing much but then they come to a point where in their personality something comes up which creates interference, for in sadhana everything is put to the test, and suddenly they start getting nervous! You do not know what you will uncover in yourself, even in the next moment, so a seeker, a sadhak is always watchful. If they are having a good time, smooth ride in their sadhana, they do not get carried away because they have understood the realities of sadhana. You never know what the Pandora’s box may open up any moment, and you are that Pandora’s box! You carry in you many lifetimes of experience and karma, many lifetimes of personality formation; you will have to deal with your subconscious. And in our sadhana we have to finally deal with the universal. Jesus had to and that is why He is a world Teacher, Jagat Guru – Buddha also. There have been other enlightened people who may have conquered themselves, but these ones have gone further.

M.: Something is happening to V. here and I am afraid to lose him…

You should be happy. And that should be part of your journey; you are not going to lose him. Anyway one day one loses the other – the body will pass away. And maybe if he goes in and you go in, the two might come back together in the next life also being in together. Yes, it can happen. These are the fears of the ordinary mind, they exist, I do not deny it, but one has to discard this fear.

M.: Yes, and when that happens I do not like myself either.

It is human nature, it is universal and that is what you start to see. Then you will be objective with yourself and with this also. In Panchmadhi S. was the last person to get up from meditation, he was always intoxicated – and there was Y. waiting outside the gate, ready to beat him up because everyone had gone! I had also left, but I watched from the terrace with amusement; I see both – one still sitting all by himself and the other waiting outside the gate probably hungry for lunch, and their predicament every day! These are the hazards of relationships but if you have decided to be in one, then fine, face it; but now you will have to work this out in your relationship like the many other things. It is not a crime to be in relationship but now the relationship has to evolve to the level where you will have to learn to accommodate and accept that the processes of Yoga means these things will happen and that increasingly as you progress you will not continue to look at each other in the mundane way.

How long have you been meditating? See, this old mind still exists, you did not do much about it. You will have to observe and see and work it out. But going in does not mean losing oneself or the other, rather it is the finding of oneself, and you will find him to be an improved and easy person as a result of it, increasingly. He might even stop climbing trees and falling off them and giving you scares or maybe even decide to climb higher the next time giving you a greater scare!

M.: When I see Rāmāyaṇa and see Sita, and I am not at all like that…

We are not talking of imitation; it gives you an idea of Indian culture. You have to see it objectively. Rāmāyaṇa is an ideal in India, but you do not have to imitate that! You can walk in front of him instead of behind him – and I have seen that he always looks at you for acknowledgement before he confirms anything, so there is no problem for you here! The ideal has also to be understood in its own place. In the Indian tradition there are differing and even opposing examples. When one gets married even the consciousness of the two merges. You may not see it but when you live together you start to affect each other in subtle ways, not only overtly but covertly also. So it gets doubly more intense, complicated, but it makes you much larger.

Ultimately you will have to face crowds also. If you get there you will have people come to you and you will have to face them, they will become part of your consciousness. This is what happens between the Master and seeker, they start sharing the consciousness. So you start living in the Master and the Master starts living in you, that is how it happens. Living with an awakened soul, it is through His presence, not so much through words or techniques that you start sharing his consciousness. The tough part is for the other – the Master! He starts living your consciousness, can you even imagine the horrifying nature of such an existence, and that is how he starts lifting you also, bringing about changes. That is why sometimes when I get up I feel like K.! (Laughing) It is a horrifying experience but it is the reality. It is like waking up to a nightmare. Then I have to shake him off me. And when I arrive here I see him sitting here – Oh, he is here also! That is why Aurobindo picks and chooses! He doesn’t want to have a collection of nightmares all at once I presume.

So in Indian marriages when they go round the fire, both man and woman are tied to each other with a piece of cloth. Initially it is the man that leads the woman in the first few rounds, but in the final remaining rounds it is the woman that leads the man. And this sums up the story of marriage! Indian civilization is very old; the story of marriage and its consequence has been repeated here ad nauseam over thousands of years. It is therefore done to let you know beforehand what you are getting into and also as a warning to the others sitting around who may be thinking of getting married!

Rama and Sita were exceptions. It is not about walking in front or behind, it was the nature of Sita. Rāmāyaṇa is a wonderful epic because it explains human predicaments and character, temperament, psychology and human nature. Indian women idealise Sita, but we also have Draupadi who was married to five husbands although it was not her wish but that was how her situation panned out and however shocking to her she accepted it. In Mahābhārata there is the story of Draupadi living with five husbands and the significance of it – and yet she could lift her soul. The relationship should be for our growth and lifting of our souls, not for mere perpetuation and whim of existence, it should be for the elevation of the soul. Draupadi is brought home by Arjuna after winning the test set by her for marriage, but she ends up finally being married to all five brothers.

Krishna was a yogi, he can manage anybody. He is supposed to have had sixteen thousand one hundred and eight wives or so. Can you imagine the situation? Actually they refer to the many nāḍīs, energy channels running through the subtle body and not wives. Even for Krishna that would be a bit much! Generally with one wife already there can be so much trouble. She feels left out if the husband is by himself for a moment, she will get upset, worried, she will let him know it, a commonly occurring piquant situation in a relationship! (Laughing) It is not only the story of V. but of man, right from Adam, that he has to seek approval from his woman. So each wife of Krishna was asked, how long will it be before he comes back to her again – a whole lifetime, since there are so many wives? They all said, “He is always with us.” Of course this has a spiritual meaning – God is always with us.

So probably M. is worried that if V. becomes a successful yogi he will have all these wives and then she will have to wait long for her turn to be with him. (Great laughter) There are complications every which way: even as a yogi and a meditator, not only as an ordinary man living an ordinary existence. There is never a moment when there is no complication – something to think about! While in the case with Krishna and his wives, they were in Yoga. And if you are in Yoga, then no problem. You are complete in yourself and you are complete in the other. Pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidam – there is always fullness. When there is no fullness then trouble starts. Yoga means to be full in yourself, be complete in yourself, and in all others. In all things you experience this completion whether you are alone or whether you are with another, with the world, universe, you are never not full. You are pūrṇam, fullness itself. But to get to that every moment, every instant, it means that your body, entire mind, entire being has to be transformed, has to breathe that Fullness. That is the completion of Yoga, Pūrṇa Yoga Siddhi. Krishna was fully that Fullness and therefore called Yogeśwara, Lord of Yoga.

So you have taken to the journey – complete it. The more you apply yourself, the quicker you will complete the journey. But there are no shortcuts in the journey: you will have to deal with things in yourself and with the things that may come from outside. We deal not only with the inner but also with how the inner mixes and interacts with the outer. Otherwise you may seclude yourself, and though you reduce the difficulties from the outside to a great extent, the outside has to be dealt with and taken up in the sadhana. So we deal with the outside, we face the world. Our sadhana is comprehensive and so there is complexity and you deal with it – but you become whole, your journey is complete, whole. For the wholeness to be, sadhana cannot be partially done, and so the journey will take that much longer because you are doing the complete journey. It is not just about some space and to be fixed in that, for it would be incomplete to our sadhana. You are asking for a greater journey being here, whether you asked for it or not! You see, you have to be careful whom you choose to be with, even in life many a time it is somebody else that makes the choice for you, and besides existence can make the choice for you! When that Supreme existence makes the choice for you, then there is no greater privilege, you are extra special to that Existence. That is why Jesus says, “May Thy will be done” – he was only conforming to That. Also Kabir asks, “Does He know you?” So there may be intent in existence, in manifestation and creation for a special journey for you. That is why Aurobindo is choosing, he is choosing for this reason. There is no difference for He is choosing for the Supreme, it is not from his personal like or dislike. He may choose even his detractor and enemy and work with him if qualified for that journey, because this goes beyond all worldly relationships, conflicts and so forth.

Look at you people, most of you are of other nationalities, very few Indians are here. I do not hold back the teaching because you are, so to speak, foreigners, if your souls are qualified. Somebody who is not willing to journey is not qualified, that is the choice they make, whoever they may be. The Divine does not work with the kinds of biases, prejudices and barriers that afflict the likes and dislikes of human existence. It is the soul that is seen and soul is beyond nations, countries, race and colour or some such idiotic human discriminations and preferences. It is purely by the willingness and capacity to commit oneself to the sadhana and travel the full journey that one is chosen – likes and dislikes whatever it may be, that is for the world and idiosyncrasies of life, and subordinate. When the soul has agreed to the Divine, the Divine accepts and embraces totally, completely. It does not see your antecedents, where you have come from, whether you are a man or a woman, whether you are a friend or an enemy as long as you are ready to commit yourself to the transforming process for however long it takes. It only differentiates between whether you are ready for it or not, whether you can walk the journey whatever it entails.

It is a progression. You have to develop many things along the journey, like faith and forbearance, so the journey can continue, and the mind needs to be recrafted to suit the sadhana. This is all part of the journey, for even little things can act as barriers. For example, there is no need for you to feel this anxiety, but it is there and only because what is happening is strange and unfamiliar to you. There is no real reason for it but still it is there so you have to see it and discard it, accepting what is happening as normal to sadhana and so work it out. But we do not deny it, we do not belittle your anxiety even though there is no justifiable reason for it. We know these things will be there and each one will have it differently. That is why each one’s journey is unique even though you may be together. We are all together and so we are a sangha, but because one may have feelings for someone there can be anxiety and concern for their well-being, however misplaced. While with someone else you may not feel this, you may feel envy instead, being human. It can be competition one may feel with others, ‘Oh, he is having such a great meditation and why not me!’ and that may become an irritant and an obstacle to your own meditation. Or sometimes the Guru may look at someone and not you, and that becomes a worry for you and your mind gets agitated and all kinds of silly projections and reactions come up in you and you may even take off in a huff and a puff – ‘Guru does not like me,’ the truth and Guru being far from any such thing, but the Guru has to suffer through the ignominy of the childish idiosyncrasy of your mind, which is what you do to each other anyway. This is your mind and you believe whatever it has to offer without question. So you will have to deal with this mind, however stupid. At certain levels it is so stupid! In Yoga nothing is ignored and everything is dealt with even though it may be stupid because this is the reality of the journey and you will have to meet it, face it, and work it out. But if you identify yourself with it indiscriminately, then it gets troublesome. That is why I say watch anything and everything that comes up: pleasant, unpleasant, ugly, beautiful, pleasure, displeasure, likes or dislikes. Watch your state, where is it coming from? Stand behind so that when these moments come you can stand behind and objectively see and then reason it out, ‘Is it appropriate?’ Otherwise people give up their journey and sadhana for a stupid thing like this. It is not only now, it is history, books on sadhana will tell you, old ancient scriptures will tell you about this. People sometimes give up sadhana for the stupidest of reasons, for example because the wife is having a good meditation and the husband does not and starts to feel upset. So they go away! I have actually seen such stupidity.

At one level you are an individual and this journey has to be seen in that way, otherwise you hamper each other. In the Aurobindo ashram families came in numbers but each member of the family was treated separately and accommodated accordingly, ‘You may be family but now you are a community of individual sadhaks.’ Here we are easy in our approach for it to sort itself out as one journeys, but sort itself out it must and so it will. We allow for that working out, for that evolution to happen and expect you to be mature enough to do so and committed enough to stand the journey. Then you are really strong. And this sadhana requires that strength, otherwise you cannot make it, you cannot reach. That is why you have to become stronger and stronger and that strength is your commitment to the journey and so it is a progression: you cannot hurry ahead of yourself and there are no shortcuts. If things are not happening be patient with yourself and be patient with others. This journey requires lots of patience, patience with yourself and with the other when you are journeying with the other, and because we are travelling together as a sangha, a collective, you are a community and a family. But the mind, it is an old mind with its expectations, anticipations, desires, with its wants and hurries. That is why that mind has to be settled and it is a process. The whole of the mind has to be recrafted and transformed to accept this sadhana and its pace, then sadhana will start to move swiftly. Initially it seems to be taking ever so long, but a point is reached when it is a seeking no more, it is a finding: everything starts to unfold as a revelation. But up to that point it is a journey that requires tapas, a lot of working. Everybody who has walked this journey had to go through this. There are no shortcuts, no privileges like, ‘Give me the magic pill or do some kind of magic so I do not have to work with myself.’

There is not a single one who has not gone through without having to face the trials and idiosyncrasies of the mind. Even Jesus, Son of God was tempted by Satan: ‘Jump off this cliff to test your Father.’ What is this if not a trial, a trial from within! It is the same thing when Buddha is confronted by Mara¹, you see it painted on the walls of the Sarnath temple where he gave his first sermon. There are so many things in your consciousness. At a higher level it is all good, and at the lower so many things to overcome. In this journey you go up and you come down, you go up and you come down – and you have to straighten yourself up whether you are up or down. When you are down you have to be very vigilant and work a lot to straighten yourself to be in line with sadhana. Ascent and descent, in and out, this is the movement that will happen to you through the working of the force. You will not be able to notice it so well initially, because you are not sufficiently open within and will become whatever your state, totally, with no retrospect. When you are out you will not know you are out and you will be as you are normally and be as you have always been. When you are down, you are really down, you have no memory of the up! Initially you are not even aware of it, it is very imperceptible, but as you get more advanced in your observation and finer in your observation, this becomes very visible. Then it becomes easier: you understand, you know, you see where you are straight away. Then things like, ‘You are not looking at me’ they do not disturb you anymore, do not exist, they are gone forever. Although initially in your sadhana they are so overwhelming.

This is God’s creation; this is the whole entire consciousness. There is a reason for all of this. That is when you start to understand, and it is the greatest of adventures and the greatest journey if someone will take it – and anyone can take it. There is no adventure greater than this, ‘the adventure of consciousness’ as Aurobindo puts it. So are you ready for the adventure? Not a part but the whole adventure? You may work it out in part and stop, but one day you will have to take to the whole journey if you want the whole truth, whether you do it right away or you do it with many interruptions over lifetimes. Just as when you take to an adventure there are many unexpected things, so it is here, but at the utmost scale of an adventure in consciousness: if everything is as per your anticipation and requirement and comfort, what kind of adventure is it anyway? It is boring. But here (laughing) even boredom you will have to face as part of the adventure! There is no escape, because boredom is part of your consciousness now. I have never felt bored in my entire life – never – whatever the circumstance. Maybe I worked it out in my past! I am giving you the truth that such a thing can be, from my own realisation, from where I am. You can also get there. It is not story in fiction, it is a fact. This can be reached and achieved and carried on to greater and greater revelations. When you reach this point you will be capable of dealing with other people’s boredom also and get rid of their boredom. And anyway you can get bored of anything; you can get bored of each other. In the consciousness you are a mixed bag, sometimes you get bored for no reason, sometimes you are having a great adventure and after some time you get bored. Repetition brings boredom, unless that repetition is always renewing and rejuvenating.

I have to see you every day, you also have to see me every day, but still I do not feel bored. You may get excited when you prepare to come here from Italy – ‘Oh, we are going to the Ashram’ – but when you are here, after some time the excitement is about the return back and so life goes on, excitement to boredom, boredom to excitement. But I am always here and experience no boredom. Worse, not only do I wake up being K., I have to come and see him also, (great laughter) but I am just as happy and joyful as I always am. You too can have this.

The Master, the Guru becomes a living example for you as to where you are to go, he is the path to your goal. But the ordinary mind is superficial, seeks excitement and drama and external enamour, it gets bored easily if not constantly fed with such. So a simple dress of kurta and dhoti is not very exciting and titillating while somebody wearing colourful robes is attractive and so influences your judgement.

Masters also have a temperament which is unique to them; after all they too have a personality. One may have developed a nature of great simplicity in divinity and have no external show, it goes against the very grain of His nature. And anyway how long does all that drama last? And then somebody with greater insight comes and starts making fun of it, for it does not have any significance in reality. What is important is your inner, the real thing and not something superficial. For some time you can entertain your mind in this way but it is a very external superficial mind and is easily disappointed and distracted. To sustain yourself in sadhana you have to develop an increasingly stable mind that is not affected by the external, only that can make you stable, only that can confirm your journey.

There is a point when you feel wonderful, but it does not mean that the journey has ended. The entire journey is a wonder of wonders. Then you realise there is no goal, there is a never-ending opening out, a never-ending goal: the journey itself is the goal. Now your mind constantly thinks, ‘When will I get there?” but then you will not think, ‘When will I get there?’ – rather, ‘What next?’

There comes a time in your sadhana when your heart opens and you feel the presence of God all the time, it is your own divinity expressing itself. Such a thing is there and then your life is truly blessed – but is not ended! That is eternal life, you have realised the significance of eternal life, it has opened you to divinity, godliness, and the beauty of life even in the most simplest of things, even in the repetition of things. Beauty is always present, so how can there be boredom? Because that beauty is of your soul, it is of your consciousness.

So going in is a wonderful thing and you have to go in; you cannot continue to live your mundane surface consciousness. That is not where human beings are supposed to end at; they have now to discover their godliness and that is the next step in manifestation.

When you have a difficult moment, pray, believe in your journey, believe in yourself. Even though you have not felt the faith, faith has accepted you; even though you have not felt the meditation, the meditation is accepted when you have done it sincerely. If you have done it sincerely, it will be accepted. If you have done it with sincerity, it will bring its reward in time.

And this is faith. So believe in yourself and believe in this journey. It is when you lose belief, when you lose faith that you get bored, even ordinarily, because then you need something or other to occupy you, for you are not self-occupied. One who is self-occupied can never be bored. Occupation in the things outside providing you moments of pleasures always changes because it is temporary. When you have finally occupied yourself in, then even if your occupation outside is repeated forever it makes for no boredom. That is why going in is good and from in then to live outside is wonderful! When you go in you see more with the same eyes, you hear more with the same ears, you smell more with the same nose, you taste more with the same tongue. Your mind becomes deep and vast; your life and world becomes intense. At present you are so unaware of so many different sounds, you are so unaware of so many different sights, you are so unaware of the real taste in food. Suddenly the sense of awareness becomes so intense, profound – and that is when you get the sense of beauty. Then there is nothing ugly to you, everything has a beauty. For the only ugliness there is, is the ignorance, the darkness and the perversity of life, the untruth of life.

So you must thank all those who have led you here to this journey. Whoever guided you to this, you must be thankful to them, all the Gurus that led you to the journey. That is why the Guru has such an important place in the Indian tradition. And so Kabir asks, “If God and Guru are standing before me, whose feet should I touch first?” Answering it himself he says, “It is the Guru’s, because he has brought me to God.” That is why Jesus says, “I am the way to my Father.” Through the Guru, through the Master, you reach to your own self-discovery, to your own divinity. That is why when finally Milarepa reaches the profundity of meditation and the freedom of his Self after all the troubles, he keeps crying, his love overflows for Marpa, his Guru, for having led him there. The Guru put him through all the difficulties but now he is only thankful; he cannot thank him enough – for it is the most precious thing.

Arya Vihar

18 Jul 2011