Sahaj Marg Philosophy

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Introduction

Concept of Philosophy

Philosophy is a subject not based on reason but in-tuition. It starts not rom doubt as most o theWestern philosophers hold, but rom wonder. Generallyphilosophers have attempted things beore actually goinginto the lie o practice as is commonly the case with the

Western philosophers. I may say that it is not certain thata philosopher being a philosopher cannot be corrupt ordegraded. But there is no possibility o corruption i hehad studied things by leading a practical lie.

Sages in India have generally attempted philoso-phy by rst going into the lie o practicality. They have

opened the secrets o existing things, as ar as they coulddo, at their level o advancement. The outcome is the sixschools o philosophy in dierent hues. We should alwaysattempt the expression o things when our practice orabhyas is over. This is the key point or the philosopherto note in order to achieve the accuracy o things.

India is the home o spirituality and as such thepursuit o the Real has been active here in all ages. Spir-ituality is a science concerning the power which fowsrom the original repository and has the capacity, in theorm o knots, both o creating and destroying. The sages


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in India have used the power o creation or the reorma-tion o humanity. The destructive power too is ound insuch abundance that even the atom bomb is nothing incomparison. The yogi uses these things according to thedivine command and his willpower.

At present too this power is being utilised and a newworld is being created. Spiritual renaissance must neces-sarily take place and India will again lead the world, nomatter how long a time it may take. Other countries have

begun to realize that no nation can even survive withoutspirituality. The age o diplomacy and stratagem is nowpassing switly. By the end o this century a great changeis bound to take place. Every one should gladly welcomewhat is destined to beall and should come to the path ospirituality whereby his welare is promoted.

I am revealing herein the greatest philosophy. Peo-ple may grasp it or not in the beginning but in due courseo time they will surely begin to realize as such.

History of Sahaj Marg

Great men are not accidentally born. They are bornwhen world waits or them in eager expectation. Such isthe phenomenon o Nature. India, the home o spiritu-ality, was groping in darkness and had totally orgottenthe age-old system o yoga. Solid materialism had takenthe place o ne spiritualism. Dark clouds o ignorancewere hovering all over. Yogic transmission had becomequite oreign to the Hindus. At this stage, when spiritu-ality was tottering helplessly, some great personality wasurgently needed to set things right, or the uplitmento mankind.


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Introduction

It was the auspicious day o Basant Panchami,February 2, 1873, on which the power o Nature de-scended to earth in the human orm o Samarth GuruMahatma Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj at Fatehgarh indistrict Farrukhabad (U.P.). The happy day so beautiullyco-ordinated with the most pleasant season o the year,breathed into every heart the blooming reshness o thespring. The blissul time ushered in by his advent intro-duced a new era o spiritual awakening which promises

a practical solution o the human problem o existence.We are struck with a reverend joyul awe when we recallto our mind the grand renaissance brought about by himin the spiritual feld. He oers an easy solution o theproblem o existence which has ever been conoundingeven the greatest o sages.

This divine Personality was born in a respectableKayastha amily. His childhood was infuenced by hismother, a noble-minded simple lady, who spent most oher time in devotion and worship. It was due to her infu-ence, that he received inspiration at a very early age. Theincident goes, that one day while he was playing withhis mates, some divine orce aroused in him the eeling

that he had not come or the purpose he was engaged in.He had to realize himsel and to equip himsel or thegreater task ahead. The soul was awakened and he set toit in right earnest. He attained perection only in sevenmonthsreally an unparalleled example. Since then hedevoted the whole o his lie or the cause o spirituality.He is the Adi-Guru o our Mission.

He was an embodiment o moderation, tolerationand devotion. With him dawned the new era o yogictraining through transmission, o which he was the mas-


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ter. He showed a way to bring a man to perection in onelie only, and even leading a amily lie in the grihasthaashram. He used to say that troubles and miseries o gri-hastha lie are penances and sacrices or spiritual attain-ments. He had simplied the method o spiritual trainingto a great extent and adjusted it to suit the requirementso our time. With a high calibre and spiritual dignity,our great Master, the divine light, devoted every momento his lie to the uplitment o humanity. He was in act

the Natures prodigy and his work in the spiritual eld isbeyond common conception. His wonderul researches inthis science have made human approach up to the high-est limit, in the least possible time, quite possible andpracticable. He introduced an improved system o RajaYoga which later came to be known as Sahaj Marg. Aterserving the masses or about thirty-six years this spiritual

genius let his material orm at the age o ty-eight onthe 14th o August 1931. The work he did during hislietime, is beyond conception. Posterity will know hismerits in due course.

Shri Ram Chandra Mission was established atShahjahanpur (U.P.) on 31st March 1945 ater the name

o this great personality, by me as his successor, throughhis grace; and slowly it is attracting the seekers o theReal rom everywhere. I am happy that Masters grace isworking in this respect and people are attracted to benetrom his grace.

The system o Sahaj Marg Sadhana now ollowed

in the Mission presents an easy and natural path or theattainment o the Ultimate. Sahaj Marg does not advisethose cruder methods which are hardly practicable inthe routine lie o man. Under the Sahaj Marg system o


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spiritual training the action o the senses is regulated ina natural way so as to bring them to their original state,i.e., just as it was when it assumed the human orm orthe rst time. Not only this, but the lower vrittis (modi-cations) which are working independently are subjectedto the control o super-consciousness. Hence their per-verse action is stopped. The higher centres come underthe charge o divine centres, and in this way the wholesystem begins to get divinised.

Special Features of Sahaj Marg

Whatever I say or write is on the basis o my ownexperience and anubhava irrespective o what Shankar,Ramanuja or others might have said about their own.

Every one in this world wants peace. That means thatrealization is not his object. In that case he will get onlypeace and not realization. But i realization is the object,peace will automatically come on its wake. We shouldnot be only ater knowing what realization is but alsotry to attain it as well.

Generally people think that it is dicultnay,quite impossible, to attain liberation in this very lie.This, however, is a mistaken idea. Who knows perhapsthis very lie o ours might be the last one, taking ustowards liberation. Our Masters declaration is that asadhak can reach such a state not only in one and thesame birth (lietime) but even within a shorter period,

i he is a diligent worker and has got a real guide. Thishe proved also, but the proo is impossible to be givenin words. Our experience alone can show it.

The popular belie that God can be sought or only


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in the midst o the orest, as i He is but a orest-dweller,is vain and absurd. I believe He can better be sought orin the midst o ones own heart. But, or that purpose,the spirit o the Spartans is necessary.

There is not the least justication or any one to feeaway rom home in utter disregard o his worldly dutiesand wander about without any denite aim or purpose.As a matter o act even in that state o vairagya, oneis seldom ree rom eelings o worldliness. The most

important eature o this system o sadhana is that itgoes on in conjunction with the normal worldly livingo the common man, with due regard to his duties andresponsibilities o lie, so that both the acets o lietheworldly and the Divinemay develop equally bright. Wedo not mean merely to preach or propagate these ideas,

but also to bring them into practice and apply them indaily lie.

The Mission aims at the promulgation o the ide-ology set orth by the great Master through this newlyintroduced system o Sahaj Marg, and to awaken thesleeping masses to divine consciousness, so as to setthem right on the path o progress. For this purpose, itis but essential that the old mechanical methods involv-ing orced austerity and penances, most ill-tted to theenvironments o the present day lie, must necessarily beset aside and replaced by simple and natural means.

As ar as the attainment o liberation or completereedom is concerned, almost all the great sages o the

past and the present agree on the point that Raja Yogaalone is the path that ensures success up to the nal limito human approach; and everyone destined to completereedom, i.e., realization, must sooner or later come up to


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it. Sahaj Marg runs closely along the lines o Raja Yoga;but o course, with certain amendments and modicationsto purge out superfuity rom that system.

Under Sahaj Marg, the Masters support being a veryspecial eature o sadhana, it becomes incumbent upon theabhyasi to seek a worthy guide to lead him on, helpinghim by his power transmitted through the yogic processopranahuti. The Master by the application o his innerpowers, awakens and accelerates the dormant orces in the

abhyasi to action and directs the fow o divine currenttowards his heart, through the process o pranahuti. Asa result, the abhyasi begins to advance spiritually expe-riencing more and more o bliss. The abhyasi has only toprepare himsel to receive it or in other words to makehimsel capable and deserving o it. In this way all that

which previously required persistent labour and hard-ships, can now be achieved very easily in a much shortertime with least labour. But it is all practical and cannotin any way be put into words. Only practical experiencecan reveal its merits.

Many a man must have had a taste o the conditiono peace. In act the actual state o real peace is beyondcomprehension. It admits no contradiction. It is literallyneither peace nor restlessness, neither union nor separa-tion, neither bliss nor otherwise. It is, ater all, that orwhich we had developed pain. May you all have a tasteo that pain. It is not however dicult to cultivate. Onlya rm will and an undivided attention towards it, is all

that is required or the purpose. Then that you seek or,will be ound quite close to you, rather with younay,you might yoursel be that which you seek or. For thatthere must be a burning in the heart, which might burn


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down the weeds and bushes on the path.

I do not mean to advocate, in any way, the orthodox

idea o gurudom. In our sanstha we take it in the sense ocommon brotherhood, in a spirit o service and sacrice,helping each other as needed and required.

The Sahaj Marg system o spiritual practice andtraining is open to every one without any distinction ocreed, caste, sex or colour. Seekers o Truth may come to

experience and practice and derive the greatest benetrom the grace o my Master, who has turned a new leain the tradition o Indian philosophy. May the benignsupervision o the Master Supreme, guide all to the Re-alization o the Ultimate Goal, and ullment o humanpurpose.


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RealityIts Static and DynamicAspects

Ultimate Reality

There has been a great deal o controversy over thequestion o the existence o God, the Ultimate Real-ity. The real problem o my mind, is not that o proving

or disproving the existence o an Eternal Absolute but

that o dening it in an adequate and satisactory way.

The actor o blind and enthusiastic aith, created and

strengthened by individual miseries and cravings in

dierent cultural contexts, has added more and more

conusions. Consequently the man o reason and thought

rightly eels disgusted at the very mention o the word

God.

There are various conceptions o the Ultimate

Reality. People look upon Him dierently according

to their capacity and understanding. The most com-

monly accepted conception o God is Eternal Power. But

philosophic view includes the idea o Nirguna Brahman

(Indeterminate Absolute) which is above all multiplic-ity and distinction. It is beyond quality, activity and

consciousness. This Nirguna Brahman is regarded to

be the ultimate cause and substratum o existence, the


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superactive centre o the entire maniestation. It is alsoknown as Para Brahman.

Next comes the idea o God as Supreme Existence.We see the universe with all its diversities and dierentia-tions and we are led to believe in its creator and controller.We call him Ishwara, or Saguna Brahman (DeterminateAbsolute). We think o him as an Eternal Existence whichis omnipotent and omniscient, possessing all the nestattributes. He is the ecient cause o the world and is

also its preserver and destroyer.It is only when viewed rom the lower standpoint

that God (as the God o religion) becomes an object oworship, which is the nal approach o almost all thereligions. This, Saguna Brahman (Determinate Absolute)is also known as Apara Brahman. Much has been said in

religious books about the above-mentioned two concep-tions. Some think that the concept o indeterminate orattributeless God (Nirguna) is better than that o deter-minate God (Saguna). Others hold just the opposite view.In act both o them are erring. They neither attain Nir-guna Brahman nor Saguna Ishwara. There are, no doubt,the two ways; but the goal is onethe realization o the

Ultimate or Eternal Absolute. Both the conceptions, asgenerally understood are greatly misleading. Truly Godis neither Nirguna nor Saguna but beyond both. He iswhat He is. It is we who conceive Him to be Nirguna;and it is we who make him Saguna. What we should doin order to avoid these quarrels is that we must x ourview on the original Element (Adi Tattva)be it Nirguna

or Saguna. Whatever it is we must love it.So long as we remain conned within the bounds o

religion, the God o religion remains in our view; and weremain entangled in one or the other view. The highest


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Reality - Its Static and Dynamic Aspects

spiritual attainment is possible only when we go beyondthe limits o religion. In act spirituality begins wherereligion ends. Religion is only a preliminary stage orpreparing a man or his march on the path o reedom.The end o religion is the beginning o spirituality; theend o spirituality is the beginning o Reality; and theend o Reality is the real Bliss. When that too is gone,we have reached the destination. That is the highest markwhich is almost inexpressible in words.

Thus God is not to be ound within the olds o aparticular religion or sect. He is neither conned withincertain orms or rituals nor is He to be traced out withinthe scriptures. Him we have to seek in the innermostcore o our heart. Really God is very simple and plain.He is not in solid orms. There is no solidity whatsoevero any kind in Him. God is simple and extremely subtle.

In act the very simplicity and purity o the Ultimate hasbecome a veil to it.

In order to understand the conception o God orUltimate Reality, let us start with the stand taken by anatheist, that there is no God. This is to say in mathemati-cal terminology, that no positive or negative value can be

assigned to it. The mathematical sign or that which hasno positive or negative value is zero or nought.

Now let the atheist be aced with the question as towhat exists. A consistent agnostic can doubt and deny theexistence o everything but not o his own sel, viz. thatwhich doubts or denies. Speaking again in mathematicalterminology it may conveniently be expressed as one.

Look at the magical unction o zero. As you go onadding more and more o that which does not exist, i.e.,zero to the right side o that which exists, viz. one, itgoes on swelling and multiplying itsel. There is hardly


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a comprehensible limit to this expansion, and the Upan-ishads have rightly characterised this expanded Inniteas bigger than the biggest (mahato mahiyan). Then startadding zero to the let side or negative side o one,with the unction o negativating will, i.e., the decimalpoint. The addition o more and more noughts willgradually bring the one closer and closer to the zero.Again there can be hardly any limit to this shrinkage othe sel and the Upanishads have rightly characterised

it as smaller than the smallest (anoraniyan).I believe that the controversy over the question o

God is a ake one. It really arises due to misconceptionswith which God has become loaded in course o thehistory o the various cultural groups o humanity. Theneed thereore is to give up the impulsive approach tothe problem because it blurs the vision and thus impedes

progress o man towards his goal.

For the sake o understanding we may call it Zeroor the Centre, or the Base. Noprakriti and no universecan stand without the Base. There must be a backing orthe existence and that backing is God or Brahman, Ulti-mate Reality. It is the Bhuma, a substanceless substance

and a orceless orce.Further I may now reveal herein the true signi-

cance o a mystery little known to the people. Generallythey considersatto be Reality and treat it as the yardstickor measuring the knowledge o God. In act it is all thesphere otam and tam alone. This is the only thing worthachieving or a true yogi. It is, no doubt, very very di-cult to gain access to this point. To acquiresatis a veryeasy job but the state termed as tam cannot so easily beattained. There is nothing beyond it. Though peoplegenerally talk a good deal about it, ew amongst them


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even attempt to secure an approach up to it. Purity, sim-plicity and peace even are not there. It is in act beyondall o them. This is the very thing which is acquired ateryears o persistent labour or lives. I can boldly assertthat even the greatest saints o the world have remainedshort o the mark in this respect. The stage o negationwhich one craves or and is the real lie, abides in it andall activities cease beore one reaches the point. It is thecentral point and the real state o Being which in most o

the cases remained unattained in spite o all the eorts.People consider this state otam as their deadliest

enemy. But i you ever happen to study a person in whomthis state o complete ignorance is reigning in ull swing,you will eel that in the highest pitch o advancement,he will, like an inant baby, have no awareness o his owncondition. But i a slight touch osatis applied to it, he

will then begin to have cognizance o his state o tam.This is due to the act that the meeting-point o the twoleads to the creation o a new state identical with thatwhich was the basis o creation.

Generally our eyes are attracted to any thing brightand glaring which we commonly misunderstand assat.

This bright object is nothing except maya and thosewho talk so highly about it are in act ar away rom thesphere o spirituality even, not to say o Reality. Butthe people have developed such a state o torpidity thatthey are neither prone to hear nor perceive anything inthis connection. They have lost sight o the true Realitywhich is beyond both light and darkness. This is what has

been shown in the emblem o the Mission; and that is ina true sense the state o mans perection, rom which nodecline or all is possible. This is a very delicate point ophilosophy. The saints have generally called this state oneither light nor darkness assatpadwhich is not correct


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because this state is much beyond that. That is in act therefection o Reality which in itsel is still beyond.

This may be quite astonishing to most o those whogo through these pages, but I have written only or thosewho are well advanced in spirituality and are in thoroughknowledge o this science. It can only be experienced ina practical way and is not to be ound within the boundso the religion. It is an entirely dierent path. It is itsela science or which one may not be well tted unless he

develops the capacity to perceive Nature with his innereyes.

Identity

As regards Identity I may say that it can better

be presumed to be something like a ne idea whichsubsequently develops into thought. It is very dicultto convey its exact sense. One may however take it tomean as that which brings into our cognizance the con-sciousness o the origin, or, as a bit grosser orm o theoriginal consciousness, or, in other words, as Realitygarbed in a somewhat grosser covering. The grosser orm

strikes in our heart an idea that there must be somethingbeyond, which serves or a cause to bring it into being.One might thereby be led to the conclusion, that too, inits turn, must have a cause o its own. The sequence ocause and eect may thus continue till one might comeup to the point where the sequence too gets out o ourconsciousness. Logically one might as well say that even

this must have a cause. But then it is all beyond humancomprehension. Suce it to say, that at its nest level itis denoted as Identity. Every embodied soul must havean identity, which at the higher level is ner and subtler.


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The subtler the identity, the more powerul will a manbe in lie.

Identity remains in existence till the time omah-apralaya when it loses its individuality or identity andmerges into one common Identity, which later serves orthe cause o the next creation. Thus it is only the indi-viduality that ends and not the Identity. It is so becauseo the dormant action at the Root or the Centre wherethe dierence between being and non-being is but

nominal.

Cosmology

The world is in existence rom time immemorialand the correct date is not to be traced out, although

certain persons have attempted to x down the Srishtiera. The only thing beore creation, was Divinity in itspure and original state devoid o all solidity and grossnessand every object in its essence was merged in it. Beorethe creation came into eect, there was only the latentmotion around the Centre and adjacent to it, and in itwas present the idea o creation. You may call it the rst

thought or initial knowledge (avidya). It may also becalled motion, kshobha, vibration, orce or any thing or(the sake o) understanding. It was the ultimate cause ocreation and o every thing else necessary or it.

When the time o creation came, the idea whichlay hidden or sleeping in the latent motion matured andchurned up the whole motion and created orce or powerwhich rushed out. The subtlest particle got heated up.Thus the coverings set in rom the very rst day. By theeect o continuous heating, the particles began to comeinto motion. Its intensity went on increasing and add-


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ing veils ater veils to it. Grossness began to develop bythe eect o the growing intensity and vibrations. Theaction o every particle started and went on multiplyingtill Reality was wrapped up within, like a silkworm inthe cocoon.

Thus at the beginning o creation there was a stir,a motion. This motion was the basis o creation. It was asacred thing next only to God. The same thing appearedin the orm o the human mind. When the time o crea-

tion came, preparations commenced, currents fowed, vi-brations intensied, ormations o knots (granthis) started,momentum gathered, churning process set in. Actionsand reactions began and continued till objects began toassume individual orms. The process o creation cameinto ull swing. Animate and inanimate objects beganto come into existence. In course o time all the objects

came to light and the universe was ormed.

The prakriti came into existence through the e-ect o revolving motion round the centre. The motiongenerated power which subsequently led to be the causeo creation. This primary motion or the stir (kshobha),which arose to be the cause o the cosmic phenomenon,

was brought into action by the dormant will o God.The stir set into motion the latent powers; and processeso creation and animation started. The same root-orceappearing as stir or stimulus descended in every beingin the orm o the chie active orce. In man it came tobe known as the mind at the root o which there is thesame dormant will, just as it was in the stir. Thus the

human mind is closely identical with the root-orce orthe original stir o which it is a part. As such the unc-tions o both are also closely similar.

Pointing out the cause o the stir (kshobha) I would


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remark that perect calmness prevailed beore creationcame into action. Even power or orce lay rozen at itsorigin. The time or the change, however, came. Motiongot awakened and set things into action, resulting in theormation o orms and shapes in accordance with the willo Nature. At the root o all this there was something,which we might call an active orce. But that too musthave a base or itsel, without which it cannot have itsaction, and it was the Ultimate. Thus we come to the

conclusion that creation was the result o motion andmotion that o the Base, which is and shall be.

Space and Time

Beore creation there was only space all over. Thusbeing o God (Isha) was a later development and it tooksome time or its appearance. We see the space as endlessand eternal, so we conclude God as well to be eternal.Time ollowed ater God had come into being. Thusspace served as the mother o creation o God, and timewas the negative state o it. Everything must have itsend in endlessness. Motion was also there in every thing,

however ne or invisible it might be. One might also askwho created space then? The only possible answer canbe that the need or creation o God and o the universeled to be the cause o the existence o the space. It is andshall ever be and is thereore eternal. Why not then wor-ship space instead? There is denitely a hint about it inRigveda but the mystery remains unsolved and unclear

or want o precise clarication.I one develops within him the state oakasha, he

has then reached the highest point which correspondsto the nal state o negation, which everyone must duly


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aspire or. The solution is no doubt wonderul and at thesame time perectly correct too. The akasha or the spaceis the Absolute. It is not composed o particles nor isthere any action in it. It is perectly pure and unalloyed.It is o course very dicult to bring it home to the mindo every one.

Akasha is the space whileavakasha is the time, bothwidely dierent rom each other. Timethe creation ospacemay be taken as the grosser state o akasha. As a

matter o act the universe is the maniestation o timeor avakasha; while God is that o akasha or space. Theinner circle led to the creation o the outer universe. Theintervening portion is the duration. I the outer coveringalong with intermediary portions gets dissolved, as ithappens at the time omahapralaya, only akasha or spaceremains. This is to say that the identity transorms into

akasha; or in other words the identity is akasha.

At the time when there was only the Absolute andno creation, the question o time did not arise at all.When the thought o creation got enlivened in the Base,it was perectly ree rom everything. It proceeded on anddue to the eect o motion, got transormed into power,

with its tendency directed towards action. But, or theaction it must naturally stand in need o a eld or base.Now the brie pause, intervening the original thoughtand subsequent being, or in other words between causeand eect, was already there. This can appropriately beinterpreted as duration or time and served or the eldo its action. Thus time having merged into the power,

got itsel transormed into power, or urther actionstowards creation.

As a general rule a thought when it becomes deepbrings into eect something like a pause, which has a


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tremendous orce. In the case o the Centre, the questiono depth does not arise at all, because o perect uniorm-ity there. The idea o velocity o orce, the direct actiono the mind, was also absent there, since the Centre orthe Ultimate Brahman, though Absolute, did not pos-sess mind.

Thus whatever existed between thought and actionwas power, which is termed as time. The same power wetoo got into our share but in accordance with our limited

capacity. Now in order to utilise this power we have tomerge it in the greater power o the Centre, which is alland absolute. There is nothing in the worldnot eventhe megaton bomb o the modern scienceto match thisgreat power. The modern science may not have realizedits ull signicance, though even i it had, it would haveutilised it or the destructive purpose only.

The power can, however, be brought down to theearth and utilised in the works by the exercise o strongwill power. A yogi at the highest level o ascent is how-ever with it consciously or unconsciously. To my view, thescience o physics cannot be taken as complete withouta ull knowledge o this great power which is in act the

root o all powers.

Jiva and Brahman

Jiva, the individual soul, becomes cognizant o itsbeing when it assumes individuality and that becomes thebasis o its existence. Originally jiva and Brahman werequite akin to each other and it is only the individualityo the jiva which eected a dierence between the two.Now, jiva as a soul bound up within ego or individuality,came into existence. The sphere it was in, also began to


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cast its eects upon it. Various hues one ater the otherbegan to settle around it, giving it a new colouring. Ina way diversity began to settle in and step by step egobegan to develop and grow thicker and denser. Feelings,emotions and desires began contributing their own shareto its grossness. Thus jiva like a golden bird got itselcompletely enclosed within the iron cage o the body.All this resulted rom the eects o actions and counter-actions o thoughts, emotions, eelings and desires (in the

zone o ego) which went on adding to its opacity. This isin a word the whole history o the jiva.

Now happily when it comes into dynamic contactwith one who reminds it o its origin, it begins to cast othe coverings one by one. But since jiva possesses motion,it is cognizant o the creator too i.e., o Brahman. Thusthe word jiva carries within it the sense o motion and o

thinking as well. The two things are parallel in the beingo the jiva. Thus the unction o both the Brahman andthe jiva is almost the same, with the only dierence thatBrahman covers the entire universe while jiva is connedonly to the narrow sphere o ego (sel). In this respectBrahman may be said to have its own bondage just as ajiva has, with the dierence perhaps that the bondageo jiva is thicker and grosser in comparison to that oBrahman. Limitations they both have. This is about theexact concept o Brahman.

Parallelism in Nature

The only thing in existence, beore creation cameinto existence, was Divinity in the original state andevery thing in essence orm was merged in it. The proc-ess o maniestation started with the kshobha which


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stirred up a churning movement in the sphere o thelatent motion. Activity revived and with it the orce gotenlivened and started its action towards maniestation.This line o action though in perect consonance withDivinity appeared in its outer aspects to be somewhatdierent rom it since it had taken another course aim-ing at maniestation. It may or that reason be denotedas the line o humanity, because o its close associationwith the ormation o man.

Both the lines are now in action, the Divinity andthe humanity, running side by side, parallel to each other.But since creation was the primary object at the root,the line o humanity began to acquire predominance andeverything, including man began to assume a tangibleorm though the subtlest at the stage. In other words theline o humanity became the base o the entire structure.

But its action remained subject to the dormant actions othe line o Divinity, which ran along parallel to it. So theproper working o the orce went on bringing out ormsand shapes. As a matter o act humanity could neverhave worked so well, unless it had proceeded along inconjunction with Divinity. In short, humanity set itselconjointly with Divinity, running parallel to it.

The actions went on multiplying and man alongwith everything else began to assume grosser and grosserorm. Everything in the composition o man alls underthe class o humanity, with Divinity at the root o alland everything. It is or this reason that they say thatGod is within man and the same view is held by almost

all religionists. Thus our ultimate purpose can be servedonly when we keep pace with Divinity and link it withour line o humanity.

Now since both have come down rom the one great


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Godthe Absolute, humanity too, like Divinity, was inpurest state. The orce o activity in it was but nominalat the time or it was so to say in a sleepy state. The jerkscaused by actions and counter actions began to stir upa sort o wakeulness and variations and contradictionsbegan to come to view. Heat and cold made their diverseways promoting ormations. All these things entered intothe composition o man and he became a conglomerationo all things in existence. All that we have now to do is

to bring them again into their original state or in otherwords to restore them to a state o poise and tranquillity,so as to keep up its link with Divinity. The only way toaccomplish it is by introducing into them proper mod-eration and we do the same in Sahaj Marg.

This is the secret o Nature which I have exposedherein, in order to bring people to a ull understanding

o the real meaning o complete Divinisation o man.

Avatars

Strictly speaking, it is we who have set up a tinycreation by providing the material which ormed its ba-

sis. In it the unction o God was but nominal except orthe primary stroke o Will which stirred up the action(kshobha). The actual root o all things in existence wasmatter, which existed in essence orm, just in the sameway as the root o all machinery is the iron ore under theearth. The stroke o Will was ull o high velocity whichis still there and shall continue till the end.

In this respect the beginning and the end o crea-tion are like the two extremities o the same velocity.The middle space comprising the real orce was the maininstrument or bringing the entire structure o the uni-


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verse into existence. It possesses immense power and givesout shocks like those o the electric current. The middleportion serves as the centre. A little below, there is thechie activating orce which serves as the cause. Thereis also another point, seemingly only a ew millimetresdistance rom the central point where something likean animating orce exists in proper moderation. I put itas only a ew millimetres distance because o its beingobserved rom a great distance. But i one takes a closer

view o it ater getting out o his body limitations, thedistance would then appear to him as unlimited.

The higher we go above the central point the dim-mer becomes the orce, and this serves to indicate ourcloser proximity with the Real. The dim orce is thatwhich alls to mans lot while the stronger orce at thecentral point alls to the lot o avatars, who are ully

charged with the conditions o the point.

Lord Krishna as an avatar has come down rom thesphere o the central point while Lord Rama has romthe other end. For this reason he had more o humansynonymity in Him. He presents an ideal o lie as onemust try to have as a man.

Some are o opinion that avatars do not have anidentity. I do not agree with them, since, i they hadno identity, they could not have worked bodily or thepurpose o accomplishment o the task allotted to them.As or their work, they stand in need o a physical body,which admits o growth and development. The identityis absolutely essential or them as it is or any one else.

The avatars come down or a denite purpose,endowed with all the necessary powers required or theaccomplishment o the work, allotted to them. That may,in other words, serve to be their samskaraswhich brought


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them down into the world. The power withdraws themater their work is nished.

The dierence between an ordinary man and anavatar is that man is covered with numerous sheaths whilean avatar is ree rom most o them. They have the Divinewithin their perception, while a man is deprived o it.Now though the origin o man and avatar is the same, theavatar is in closer contact with the Divine. Everything hestands in need o, comes to him, rom the eternal store.

He receives divine commands to guide him in his workswhich are popularly known as divine inspirations (deva-vani). Now since avatars possess activity, the possessiono mind or manas is necessary or them also. But theirsis purer and more balanced; and their actions are in ac-cordance with the divine will. Thereore it is wrong topresume that avatars do not possess mind or manas.

Regarding the present personality at work today,so ar as my reading goes, I can say that he comes downrom the central point, hence in possession o the highlypotential powers though to our outer view, they mightappear to be dim or subdued. None o the avatars whoso ar came down to the earth had ever been bestowed

with the power o the Root. I give this out on the basiso my reading o Nature through the kind grace o Godwho alone is the real knower o things.


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33Knowledge and Its Nature

The wordjnaana in ordinary sense means knowledge

which may be o dierent kindsphysical, mental,material or spiritual. In the spiritual sense the term isapplied so vaguely that oten it becomes very dicultto understand its true signicance. The range it covers,extends rom the baser level o common understandingto the higher level o inner enlightenment. This givesrise to a lot o conusions and misunderstanding. A man

who has learnt a ew scriptures, another who recites everymoment set phrases like Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brah-man) et cetera claims to be ajnaani or enlightened, andis accepted as such by the masses, irrespective o his realinner state.

Jnaana in the real sense reers to the inner condition

o mind, which an abhyasi develops during the courseo his pursuit, while passing through dierent spiritualstates at dierent knots orgranthis. Jnaana, in act, is therealization o the conditions prevailing at each knot. Nowsince the knots are innumerable, the knowledge gainedis also dierent according to the level o approach oan abhyasi. Thus it is almost meaningless to call one a

jnaani without dening his level o approach or the limito knowledge realized by him.

The real state o enlightenment comes when weget into ull consciousness o the condition o enlighten-


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ment, and ater imbibing its eect secure our merging init. When we develop this state and merge into its con-sciousness we come to know all about it and thus becomejnaani, i.e., enlightenedup to that extent. I we try togain the knowledge by applying our orce o thought, itwill only be articial and not true and genuine. The realknowledge o a state means complete identicality withthe state we have merged in. The help that knowledge atdierent states oers is that it inuses us with a longing

or the search or the Ultimate.Ignorance and knowledge are the two extremities

o the same thing. Up to a certain extent it is termed asignorance, ater that it turns into knowledge. They arelike the two poles o a magnet. Thus avidya (ignorance)has no existence without vidya (knowledge), or vidya

without avidya. I one is there, the other must also bethere. That means when the veil o ignorance is torn o,avidya and vidya are both gone. Avidya comprises theentire sphere included in both avidya and vidya. Thatis the state o tam which is beyond both. It is in truesense the state o realizationwhere is neither avidyanor vidya. What is it there then? Neither o the twoa

state o perect latency, not-knowingness, nor completeknowledgeless-ness which may roughly be denoted asthe state o Ignorance, just as it is at the age o inancy.Ignorance in act is the highest pitch o knowledge. Thatcomes to mean that we start rom the level o ignoranceand nally end in a state o higher Ignorance (or completeIgnorance as I call it). The sphere o knowledge (in thepopular sense o the term) is only an intermediary stage.Really so ar as it is the sphere o knowledge, it is allignorance in true sense.


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Knowledge and Its Nature

Can that which dawns ater the veil o ignorance istorn o, be ever expressed as knowledge? Certainly not,though one does call it so in the outer sense taking intoview the two opposites. Does it cover the sense o knowl-edge? No: knowledge implies awareness o that which isbeyond sel. Realization means merging or oneness withthe Absolute. In that case no question o knowledge canever arise. What then may that be calledknowledge-less-ness, not-knowingness, Ignorance or whatsoever?

In short it must be something like that, though it maywell-nigh be impossible to express it in words. CompleteIgnorance as I have put it, may however be nearest toappropriateness.

One on the divine path is supposed to be march-ing rom darkness to light. Let darkness be avidya (as it

is commonly represented) and light vidya. Sahaj Margdoes not have light or its goal. It is but an intermediarystage which we pass through during our march to theUltimate, which is neither light nor darkness but beyondboth. Thus do we start rom avidya (ignorance) and passthrough vidya (knowledge) on to that which is neitheravidya nor vidya but beyond both. What word can denote

the exact sense o that which is neither light nor darknessor which is neither avidya nor vidya? Is there any wordor that in any vocabulary in the world? None, or sure.Let it thereore be as I say complete Ignorance, dierentrom its crudest state o preliminary ignorance.

Means: Tarka, Shruti and Anubhava

Generally, philosophers have attempted to reachthe innermost core o things through reason (tarka) and


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not through vision. Reason in its popular sense may beaulty and may ail us, but i a thing is seen throughintuitional insight without the unnecessary medium oreason, it will be visible in its original orm without er-ror or deect. We should try to understand things whenthe knots begin to open by themselves.

Guidance sought rom books is not o much availsince it is oten misleading and sometimes dangeroustoo. Methods prescribed in books are generally conusing,

touching the outer aspect only. One can never becomea physician by simply reading the names o the medi-cines and their properties. It is impossible to come to athorough understanding o the taste o a mango merelyby reading the description about it in books. The prooo the pudding lies in the eating o it, is a well-known

saying.There seems to be contradiction in Vedas apparently.

The six schools o philosophy are the result. Everybodyaccording to his reach says something or the other. Thereal study is that by which we realize the unchangeable;and that is realized neither by reading nor by believingnor by reasoning, but by super-conscious perception.

I may rankly coness that I have studied no books,or, I never thought them worthwhile. I aimed at Real-ity which I thought to be the only thing worth havingand let the study o books or the scholars and pandits.Whatever I say or write is on the basis o my own experi-ence andanubhava on the path o Realization irrespective

o what Shankara or Ramanuja or others might have saidabout their own. I no doubt do read sometimes nowbut that only by way o recreationand try to retain asmuch as I can or the sake o easy expression. I remember


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Knowledge and Its Nature

one such thing which I had read in Vivekachudamaniby Shankaracharya, which means: Books do not help usin Realization, and when Realization is achieved, booksare useless.

There is hell or the sinul, paradise or the ignorant,and brahmaloka or the innocent. But, or the wise andthe learned, there is the articial paradise o their ownmaking, and or those who are weak this mortal world.But who may the weak be? They are only those who lack

sel-reliance and condence. Shastras go into contradic-tion o each other but they are o value to us since theyoer a chance to think upon and arrive at a solution. Theyhave another merit besides, viz. that they oer meansand methods or spiritual advancement or men o everytaste, mentality and standard o mind.

I I had proceeded along the path o Realizationthrough books, I could never have come up to that levelo Ignorance which is the basic property o the Divine. Itis only the practical lie that is worth having. We shouldnot only be knowing what Realization is but should tryto attain it as well.


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Man

coverings were o nest nature and with them we existedin our homeland, the realm o God.

The additions o more and more coverings o egocontinued, and subsequently manas (psyche), chit(con-sciousness), buddhi (intellect) andahankara (ego) in cruderorms began to contribute to our grossness.

In due course samskaras began to be ormed whichbrought about their resultant eects. Virtue and vice

made their appearance. Slowly our existence assumed thedensest orm. The eects o samskaras is the commence-ment o eelings o comort, miseries, joys and sorrows.Our likings or joys and comort and dislikings or sor-rows, and miseries have created urther complications.Consequently we nd ourselves surrounded by pain andmiseries and we think that deliverance rom them is our

main goal.

Man is a bipolar being. It has got its root nearest tothe Base and the other end towards the world. I somehowthe individual mind gets moulded towards its cosmicmind it begins to appear in its true colour. As a mattero act, the human mind is a refection o the kshobha

which set into motion the orce o nature to bring thecreation into existence. The individual mind is thus apart o the Godly mind (kshobha). I we somehow turnits downward trends towards the Base, it will becomequiet, calm and peaceul. So ar as my personal experiencegoes, I nd that only the help o a dynamic personalitycan turn it towards the Base. It is only the power and

the will o such a personality that makes a mark in thisrespect. Reading and writing are o little avail. The manwith aith, devotion and sel-condence wins.

Man is Natures instrument. He possesses immense


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has yet tried to utilise it or the good o humanity. Myview may not be acceptable to most o the jnaanis; andeven i I demonstrate it to them, they may not be sensi-tive enough to realize It. A time has however to come asit must, when people will understand and realize it.

Extinction of Parallelity Between the

Human and the Divine

It is commonly believed that God created man inHis own orm. All the religions, philosophies and sci-ences o the world more or less agree on this point. Itdoes not mean that the physical orm o God is the sameas that o man, the human body made o fesh, bones,skin, et cetera, possessing arms, legs and other limbs. It

really means that man possesses or is composed o all thepowers, orces and energy which are present in Nature,in the same order.

The composition o man is exactly the same as thato the universe. Just as behind this solid external uni-verse there are innumerable others o ner and still ner

types, so behind this gross physical orm o man thereare numerous ner and still ner orms o existence. Theoutermost orm is the gross-body (sthula sharir) behindwhich there exists the astral body (sookshma sharir) andcausal body (karana sharir). Besides these three outerorms there are innumerable others which are so ne andsubtle that thinkers do not call them bodies but only as

ne coverings round the soul. It is really very dicultto assign a name or each one o them which may becountless.

With all these innumerable orms, rom the nest


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to the grossest, man is in existence in the material worldas a true copy o the universe or the entire maniestationo God. Represented by a complete circle rom the out-ermost circumerence to the innermost centre or Zero,mans existence and o Gods maniestation are really thesame. This is why realization o God means the sameas the realization o the sel and vice versa. The entireuniverse came into existence rom the same point, theZero, through the process o evolution. Similarly, mans

existence too developed rom the same point.We belong to the country where religious spirit has

ever been fowing in one or other orm. We are bred tohave union with the Reality we have emerged rom. Wehave brought with us the very essence o the Innite. Theysay that God is within man. Thus our ultimate purpose

can be served only when we keep pace with Divinity andlink it with our line o humanity.

As stated earlier, humanity was akin to Divinity atthe source o creation; and assumed grosser orm as theresult o the jerks caused by actions and counter-actionsin the process o evolution. We have only to bring allthe constituents o the human rame o existence againto their original state o poise and tranquillity to keepup its link with Divinity. This is achieved by introduc-ing into them proper moderation; and we do the samein Sahaj Marg.

The routine practice o meditation really aims atremoving immoderation thererom by the action o our

will so as to keep up the balance. Thus, the humanityin us begins to get transormed into divinity. That is inact the exact sense conveyed by the term divinisation oman. This having been done, the parallelity disappears


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Man

and bothDivinity and humanitybecome almost one.Humanity however, can never become totally extinct solong as one has his body with him.

Thus by the eect o meditation under the systemo Sahaj Marg, we go on reducing the intensity o theorce working along the line o humanity. Divinity thusbegins to gain ground, and parallelity begins to dimin-ish. In other words humanity begins to get charged withthe orce o divinity, which in course o time begins to

prevail all over. When the conditions get settled ullythe parallelity is gone and humanity along with its orceo creation is reduced to insignicance.

In this way, God being innite, man at that high-est level o approach too, is likewise within the sphereo humanity. When human limitations are gone, the

expanse o sel becomes unlimited, so much so that theentire universe seems to be contained within sel. Any-thing then that strikes anywhere in the universe, causesan echo in his heart. Everything within Nature is thenin his knowledge and perception.

Realization and Its Means

From time immemorial God realization has beentrumpeted to be the goal o human endeavour (purush-artha) and existence, specially in India. But just like theconcept o God (i.e., Ultimate Reality) the idea o Godrealization too has become shrouded in such sheaths o

mystery that a sincere man o reason and science beginsto eel disgusted at the very mention o the term.

Most o the scholarly saints have dened the state orealization in numerous odd ways, but to me it appears


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that so ar as it can be dened, it is not realization. It isreally a dumb state which is beyond expression. Feeling orobserving luminosity within or outside is not realizationat all. During the early period o my abhyas, I oten eltand witnessed luminosity. But that not being the goal, Iproceeded on under the watchul support o my master.Really it is a tasteless stateunchanging and constant.There is no charm, no attraction, and noanandam in thepopular sense o the word. It can more appropriately be

described as sang-e-benamak (i.e., a lump o salt romwhich saltishness has been taken away). One having at-tained the state o realization develops an unailing willin the spiritual sphere.

Generally, learned men express their opinion aboutrealization or its conditions on the basis o learning and

not on that o their experimental knowledge, which is thereal one. For that reason I regret to say that realization hasnow become a present-day art. The Reality, in act, hassunk down deep leaving out its colours according to theirmental taste and skill. The result is that people begin toocus their attention on those very paintings and get intothem to the extent that is neither spirituality, nor Reality.

I believe that one must not have the right to touch thesubject o realization unless he has attained it in the truesense, whereby the divine wisdom has awakened in him.Only the lie o practicality is required or the solutiono the problem.

Realization can better be deined as a state o

changelessness which is a condition seldom bestowedupon man even in the course o thousands o years. Buti one happens to get a master who has attained it in ull,and the abhyasi too is keenly interested in and earnest


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Man

about it, it becomes quite easily attainable. But so longas there exists the eeling o is (existence), it is notcomplete realization. It ollows thereore that even blissis a drawback.

People oten ask me to let them know rst whatrealization is, and aterwards they would start worship-ping. It is just as one may say, Let me rst understandthe thoughts o Shakespeare or Milton, and aterwards Ishall try to learn the alphabet. It is the same as an abhyasi

saying, Let me rst realize God, and then I shall startworshipping Him. When the very thing you seek comesto you, why should you then worship at all. He alone canclimb up a height who has created in himsel the recog-nition o his low-lying state. The spiritual discontent isrightly recognised as the starting point o philosophic

endeavour in the tradition o Indian philosophy.Realization has now, today, become very easy

because o the presence o the divine Personality. Thethought o people generally does not go beyond the pointo liberation, which they take to be the nal limit o hu-man approach. But that is a wrong idea. As a matter oact, liberation is one o the lowest attainments on thedivine path, hence it is just like a toy or a child to playwith. Beyond that there is yet a lot to be achieved. Theinnite ocean lies still ahead, which is but a limitlessexpanse. Have your eyes xed upon That and That alone;and go on and on to trace It out.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is also a yogic attainment, but

it will not solve the problem. The real state osamadhi isthat in which we remain attached with Reality, pure andsimple every momentno matter how busy one may beall the time with worldly work and duties. It is known


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assahaj samadhione o the highest achievements, andthe very basis o nirvana. Its merits cannot be describedin words, but can be realized by one who abides in it. Itis not so easy as its name denotes. It was highly spokeno by Saint Kabir, and it is the thing worth gaining.

There are numerous means and practices prescribedor the realization, out o which we have to choose thatwhich guarantees speedy success. Now what it may be,let every one judge or himsel. For a hint, I accept the

judicious opinion o Swami Vivekananda on this point,That it is Raja Yoga alone that can successully lead aman up to the highest level o approach; and that nonebut one having the capacity to apply his own internalpowers through pranahuti is t or being a guide orMaster.

I may also assure you that Hatha Yoga has no accessbeyondAjna Chakra. Besides, there is also another seri-ous deect in it. When we start with the bodily exerciseso Hatha Yoga, the consciousness o our physical eorts,with the idea o sel in the background also remains allthrough. Thus the ego instead o getting reduced goeson increasing thereby. But that is not the case with RajaYoga, wherein one proceeds with the subtlest meansor silencing the ever-active tendencies o the mind.Besides, while practicing this, one is always away romthe idea o the body since he has xed his attention onthe subtlest.

In order to realize the subtle Being, we must take

up means which are equally ne and subtle. The di-culty arises only when intricate methods are applied orthe solution o the simple problem. In other words theyapply huge cranes or picking up a small sewing needle.


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Man

God is simple and can be achieved by simple means. So,in order to realize Him, we should adopt such methodsthrough which we may be able to ree ourselves romthings created by our own will, actions and surroundings.All our thoughts should be regulated and our individualmind should be cleared o the burdens lying on it. Weshould be as light as cotton so that we may start ourfight towards Him with the help o a single push roma capable Master.

In our sanstha, Reality is inused at the rst stroke owill which serves as the seed in the long run. The processis generally set in by ones Master so that the seed maygrow easily, and scorching winds may not burn it up. Thedisciple waters it by constant remembrance which is theonly thing needed on the path o realization.

Grihastha ashram (amily lie) is not a bar in gain-ing the real aim o lie. I think this is the best ashram inwhich higher approach is easily possible. I am a grihastha,and my Master was also one. I assure you that a perectsaint may be ound in this ashram alone. We perorm ourduties, and remember Him as Ultimate Reality.


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Way to Realization(Role of the Abhyasi)

Non-Attachment

It is true that we can never be ree rom mayaunlesswe cultivate non-attachment. But it does not meansevering our connection rom home, amily and allworldly concerns and taking up the lie o a religiousmendicant. I do not agree with those who hold the viewthat the only means o cultivating non-attachment is toget away rom home and amily and retire to a solitarycorner discarding all worldly ties. Renunciation eectedby such orced means, is seldom ound to be genuine, orit is just possible that in spite o their apparent orced

detachment rom the world, they may still inwardly beclinging to it.

No doubt, as a householder we have to look atermany things; we have to support our amily; we haveto provide or the education o our children; we haveto look to their wants and necessities; we have to protectthem rom heat and cold; and so on. For these necessitieswe earn and possess money and property. The real evil isonly our undue attachment to the things which we areassociated with. This is the main cause o our suering.But i we are able to do everything in lie thinking it to


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Way to Realization

be our duty without any eeling o attraction or repulsion,we are in a way ree rom worldly ties and have renouncedthe world in the true sense, although we possess and makeuse o many things. Everything we possess shall thenseem to be a sacred trust rom the Supreme Master, orthe discharge o the duties entrusted to us. Renunciationtruly means non-attachment with worldly objects andnot the non-possession o things. Thus a householderslie in which possession o things and worldly ties are

indispensable is no impediment in the way o renuncia-tion and consequently o realization, only i one is notunduly attached to the objects he is connected with.

There are numerous examples o saints having at-tained the highest degree o perection leading a house-holders lie all through. Renunciation is in act a condi-tion or an inner state o mind which brings to view thetransitory and changing character o things and createsa eeling o non-attachment to such objects. His eyesare xed every moment on Reality which is unchangingand eternal and he is ree rom the eeling o attractionand repulsion. This is vairagya (renunciation) in the truesense o the term. When we have achieved this state o

mind, we are ree rom desires. We eel contented withwhat is available to us.

The end o desire means stopping o the ormationo samskaras. What remains now is only to undergo theeect (bhog) o the previously ormed samskaras (im-pressions) which are to be worn out during the course oour lie. Nature too helps us in the process by creating aeld or bhog in order to remove the impressions o ourthoughts and actions rom the causal body. When thesecoverings melt away we begin to assume ner orms oexistence.The man who is born in this world is sure to


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taste miseries. One cannot escape these. When I see theworld, I nd it very troublesome. Some are groaning withpain, a ew are suering rom the loss o their dear onesand a great number are anxious to achieve success at eachstep. We try to get rid o these by going into penance,and rishis (sages) have devoted themselves thoroughlyto it. All that is born o attachment is misery. Pleasureand pain both contribute to misery. There is no remedyor overcoming these miseries except devoting ourselves

towards Godly thought o the purest nature.We need not renounce the world and go or penance

in the orest. Let the material world and spiritual worldgo side by side, glittering equally. One cannot be a loserin any way, i doing his household duties, he brings him-sel up to the realization o God as well. We should soarwith both wings i we want to succeed. It is a vague ideao the people in general that God is to be searched or inthe orests. My idea is that He should be searched or inthe heart. One is perorming the household duties andat the same time is equally busy with Godly devotion.You may say that these two things are incompatible andare contradictory to each other, but it is not the case. In

the long run, Godly wisdom begins to work and one doeshis duty rom the mind beyond.

Thus, vairagya can be attained only when one iswholly diverted towards the Divine. When it is so, onenaturally becomes disinterested in his own sel includ-ing everything connected with it. Thus he loses notonly the body-consciousness but subsequently the soul-consciousness as well. What remains then is nothing butthe being in dead orm or a living dead.


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Way to Realization

Meditation

Under Sahaj Marg system o training we start rom

dhyan, the seventh step o Patanjali yoga, xing our mindon one point in order to practice meditation. The previoussteps are not taken up separately but they automaticallycome into practice as we proceed on with meditation.Thus much o our time and labour are saved. In certainsansthas the usual routine ollowed or practice is otenkept condential. It is released and revealed only to those

who undertake to join them ormally. What their pur-pose at the bottom may be, is not quite understandable.Nature has no secrets and I think that one proessing toollow the divine path must also have none.

The practice ollowed in our Mission is meditationon the heart. The same method has been recommended

by Patanjali. There is a great philosophy underlying it.We nd ourselves all the time busy with worldly things.I we are not doing anything, our thoughts seem to havewings in the leisure hours. We are always in tumult anddisorder. Our individual mind has become used to such acharacteristic activity, and thus we have made every thingtopsy-turvy. Our actions and thoughts count much in

our wrong doing. When we remain in contact with ideasand thoughts o dierent kinds, they leave impressionsupon our emotive eelings and senses. All the senses arespoiled and adopt a wrong course. The marks we thusmake upon the senses and indriyas turn them solid likerock, having no bodh or wisdom. Soul is, no doubt, notacted upon, but we create such obstacles and coveringsas to keep it enwrapped all round like a cocoon. We can-not even peep into the soul, let alone realising it. By theeect o our vicious thoughts and actions we spoil oursense o discrimination and right cognition.


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Those who have reached this state o solidity donot like to come under the training course o Raja Yoga.This is why people turn a dea ear to what we say. Nopractice o Hatha Yoga can bring out true realization asit ails ater theajna chakra and there still remain verymany states still to pass ater it. Thereore Raja Yoga isthe only thing that can lead to the end. There is no othermeans o approaching the Centre.

We have got within us the same central orce,

though marred by our wrong doings. We take workrom the same orce during meditation. This is how weproceed naturally with natures orce, so to say. When wemeditate, the central power we have, remains in orce. Itdisperses the overwhelming clouds which are greatly riedup by its orce. It cannot be expressed in words, only anabhyasi can eel it. This can only be known practically.

You will soon nd yoursel swimming in everlast-ing peace and happiness. Everything ends here. Thereremains no attachment with the world. The mind isdisciplined, it is regulated automatically. Senses beginto come under control and you gain mastery over them.To master yoursel means to master Nature. When the

passage becomes clear you nd Natures work within yourbounds and limits: rather you begin to work yoursel.

In our system the abhyasi is advised to meditate onthe heart thinking o the divine light there. But he isdirected not to view light in any orm or shape like thato an electric bulb or a candle, et cetera. In that case the

light appearing therein will not be real, but one projectedby his own creative speculation. An abhyasi is advised toproceed with a mere supposition o light with the thoughto Divinity at the bottom. What happens then is that wemeditate upon the subtlest which is to be attained.


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Way to Realization

The method o meditation on the heart is to thinko Godly light within it. When you begin meditatingin this way please think only that Godly light within isattracting you. Do not mind i extraneous ideas hauntyou during meditation. Let them come but go on withyour own work. Treat your thoughts and ideas as unin-vited guests. I even then they trouble you think they areMasters, not yours. This process o meditation is veryeective, and can never ail in bringing about the desired

result. Sit in an easy posture or an hour in the morningin quite a natural way. You should only meditate. Youshould not struggle with your ideas which generally comeduring meditation. Concentration is the automatic andnatural result o meditation. Those who insist on con-centration in place o meditation, and orce their mindto it, generally meet with ailure.

In the evening again sit in the same posture, atleast or hal an hour and think that the complexities,the network o your previous thoughts and grossnessor solidity in your constitution are all melting away, orevaporating in the orm o smoke, rom your back. Itwill help you in purging your mind and will make you

receptive o the ecacious infuence o our great Master.As soon as I nd that you are ree rom oreign matterI will either change it in some other way or ask you tostop, as the case may be. In this way, we soar up high byawakening and cleaning the chakrasand the sub-pointsthereo, taking up kundalini at the end, with which theabhyasi has nothing to do himsel. It is exclusively the

outlook o the Master. But it must be remembered thatwhile practicing these methods one should not orce hismind too much but only sit in a normal way.

This process o cleaning is to be repeated or about


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ve minutes beore meditational practice in the morn-ing as well. Other ways o cleaning may also be advisedaccording to the needs o individual abhyasis, and neednot be mentioned here in detail. Suce it to say, that theprocess o cleaning uses the original power o thought inthe orm o human will or the renement o the indi-vidual soul to enable it to ascend the steep and slipperypath o realization o the subtlest Essence o Identity.

Every saint has used the word light and I too can-

not avoid it because that is the best expression or Reality.But that creates some complications, because, when wetalk o light the idea o luminosity becomes prominentand we begin to take it as glittering. The real light car-ries with it no such idea. Under our system, the abhyasi,no doubt, sometimes sees light. But the glittering lightappears only in the beginning, when matter comes intocontact with energy. In other words it is only a clue thatenergy has begun to work. The real light has the dawncolour or a aint refection o colourlessness. Althoughlight is not the exact translation o the thing (becauselight is really ar more heavy a thing than what thatactually is) it has been expressed so merely or the sake

o understanding.I the abhyasi begins to eel himsel lighter and

lighter, it means he is progressing, because in that casehe is going into the state that God is in. Light meansthe loss o the weight o ones own thoughts. Thus thereal Light reers only to the real substance, or more ap-propriately, substanceless substance.

All articiality and misdirected emphasis guidedby the abhyasis own desires and preconceived notionsprove injuriousvery oten irrevocably. As such the vi-sions o light, et cetera, are not to be articially created


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or insisted upon. These may only be noted, when they doarise, without any eeling o personal attachment to anyo them. The only object o personal attachment shouldbe the Ultimate goal, viz., realization, which is to bermly held in view throughout; and this is to constitutethe most reliable guarantee against any and every irrel-evant diversion.

One example o harmul misdirected emphasis, asalready pointed out, is the insistence on concentration o

consciousness, expected anxiously during every session omeditational practice by most raja yogic abhyasis. Thishas played havoc in the history o yogic sadhana in Indiaand elsewhere. Methods o ascetic austerities, penancesand physical mortication usually applied or keeping themind under control, do not relieve it o its misdirectedtrends. On the other hand, they only serve to keep theevil subdued within and it might at any time burst orth,when, by chance, the control is somehow relaxed.

The real solution o the problem lies, not in con-trolling the mind articially by suppression, restraintor mortication, but in its gradual moulding which isto relieve it o its misdirected trends. In this, and every

other matter thereore, having the attitude o a sincerestudent, grasping and allowing everything to workand develop in a natural way, is to ensure the most speedyprogress.

Generally I advise meditation on the heart at thepoint where you eel its beats. Meditation on other points

can also be undertaken such as xing the attention onthe point o the nose or between the eyebrows, et cetera,but in my opinion, meditation on the heart is the easiestand most benecial.


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There is a great philosophy underlying medita-tion on the heart. The heart is the pumping station

o blood. It sends out puried blood to all parts o thebody and to the smallest cells. Now we have taken theheart as the centre or meditation. The blood that runsthrough our system is aected. The solidity due to ourown thoughts and actions begins to melt away. This is

the rst thing that we begin to gain rom the rst dayby this method o meditation on the heart. It is the

nucleus and creates the vibrant motion, wherever it isdirected. This is the eld or the mind to work and this

is the instrument by which we develop the discrimi-nating aculty. The subtle orce works in this place orthe descent o divine energy. I somehow our thinkingconjoins with it, or we train it so that it may percolate

the right thing and direct it towards Reality, the prob-lem is solved.

People may ask why it is necessary to proceed withmeditation. The answer is quite plain and simple, thatby meditation we gather ourselves at one point so that

our individual mind may leave its habit o wanderingabout, which it has ormed. By this practice we set ourindividual mind on the right path because it is now meta-morphosing its habits. When this is done, our thoughts

naturally do not go astray. The heart is the only pointat which the connecting link between the animate andthe inanimate is most clearly elt. This is the reason whymeditation on the heart is very useul.

Further, heart is the eld or the action o mind.Mind is always as it is. It is the heart which, as the eldo action o the mind, is to be set right. Hence the mostappropriate point or meditation can be only that where-


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rom the current fows on, either upwards or downwards.It can only be the heart and nothing else. Trikuti (centre

o the eyebrows) can also be taken or the purpose butthat is not an easy job or common people as it requiresmore labour rom the abhyasi. It may also give birth tomany complications in due course i the meditation isnot properly practised by the abhyasi. Meditation on the

navel point has no spiritual value except that it causesa tickling sensation which nally makes the mind and

passions all the more powerul.

At a certain stage o the development o aith inan abhyasi, we generally lay stress upon meditation ap-

parently on human orm. Critics may perhaps considerit suicidal to spiritual advancement. The case is not so,provided the man meditated upon is one o special calibre,

who has come down rom the Immaterial Absolute orspiritual training, or has attained the spiritual standardo evolution required or the purpose by supreme sel-exertion.

Preliminaries to MeditationWhen the thought o going back to the original was

stirred up in man, it became essential or him to bring

activity, which had sprung up in him, into a latent stateas ar as it was possible. He began to seek out means orit. At last it came to his understanding that just as the

latent motion was grosser in comparison to the Absolutewith which it was connected, even so he must take upsomething grosser or the purpose, to enable him to attainthe desired ideal o Reality. This led him to the conclu-sion that he must create in him a orm o contraction or


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withdrawal similar to that at the time opralaya.

Now Sel is all pervading in man just as it is in the

whole universetaking the universe in a collective sense.The state opralaya comes in when contraction begins

to take place. Similar contraction in man leads to hisindividualpralaya. That means that he begins to proceedrom his state o grossness to the real state.

The contraction always starts rom below and pro-

ceeds gradually upwards because o its upward tendency.Thereore, in order to go upwards he must start contract-ing rom below. The orm o contraction could be onlyto bring his legs and allied parts to one pose and to keep

them steady. In whatever way it might be done, the ormwill nally be that o theasan. It is essential because itpaves our way to the Ultimate. This posture must alwaysbe the same. The reason is that in this way he gets himsel

associated with the great power, the very thing he takesup in the beginning or the attainment o his particularobjective. Thus the orm which is associated with Realityhelps him a good deal in his primary initiation.

The upright position o the backbone, neck and

head in an erect straight line during meditation hasbeen thought to be most advantageous rom very an-cient times, because the fow o divine grace is believed

to descend straight upon the abhyasi in that posture. Inour way o practice, however, this is not insisted upon. Iadvise the abhyasis generally to sit in a natural easy pos-

ture. Moreover, even those who assume a tight straightpose, are ound to give way automatically to a suppliant,slightly orward drooping posture, as the state o blissulabsorbancy sets in. As such, it may be considered to be


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more natural even or the purpose o an ascent into higherstates o consciousness. In act a controversy over a point

o comparatively lesser signicance seems irrelevant.It is better to sit in the grey o the morning or

meditation, or when that is not possible, at any xed hourconvenient to the abhyasi. Do not eel disturbed with theouter things but remain engaged with your own workthinking that they are in a way helping you to eel thenecessity or greater absorption in your practice.

Prayer

One thing more by way o practice is to oer dailythe brie prayer (O, Master,..........)1 at bedtime in themost suppliant mood with a heart overfowing with di-

vine love. Repeat the prayer in your mind once or twiceand begin to meditate over it or a ew moments. Theprayer must be oered in a way as i some most miserableman is laying down his miseries with a deeply afictedheart beore the Supreme Master imploring or his mercyand grace, with tearul eyes. Then alone can he becomea deserving aspirant.

There are many methods o loving God and manybhavas are resorted to, e.g., paternal sentiment (pitr bha-va), riendly sentiment (sakhya bhava), et cetera. In myopinion there can be no relation better than that o thelover and the beloved. I an abhyasi thinks himsel to belover and takes God to be beloved and proceeds with the

same sentiment the result will be that God himsel willbecome the lover and the abhyasi the beloved in the longrun. But i one thinks that one has realized the goal at thisstage it will be a serious blunder. What remains urthercannot be stated, or it is related to practice only.


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Prayer remains the most important and unailingmeans o success. Through it we have established our linkwith the Holy Divine. The reason why prayer should beoered with a heart ull o love and devotion, is that oneshould create within onesel a state o vacuity so that thefow o divine grace may be diverted towards him.

When the world emerged into the present orm,the central point was already rooted deep in all the be-ings. This central point rooted in us being a part o the

Supreme, turns our attention towards the source. Inprayer we try to reach up to the same central point. Thisis possible only when we create a similar state within.This requires practice. It can be attained by resigningourselves to the divine will, which is absolutely simpleand tranquil. Apparently it seems to be very dicult,but in act it is not so, though only or those who aspire

or it.

When a man creates in him a strong craving orthe Absolute, he is indeed in a state o prayer, and it isor every one to strive or. Whenever a man enters intothat state even or a moment, his prayer is granted. Butit requires continued practice to accomplish it. People

should be exhorted to oer such a type o prayer. I oneachieves and settles down in it, what else remains or himto do except remembrance; and that too in a way that itnever comes into consciousness even.

Constant Remembrance

Constant remembrance o God is o course, a spe-

cial eature in spirituality. The method or cultivatingconstant remembrance is to think with rm convictionduring your leisure hours whether in oce or at home,in the street or in the market that God is pervading all


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over and everywhere and you are thinking o Him. Tryto remain in the same thought as long as you can.

The minds o people are absorbed every momentin thinking about the various problems o their materiallie and their attention is seldom diverted towards Godexcept when they are in deep distress and misery. Thereason is that they attach primary importance to theirworldly interests alone which constantly remain in theirview. Thus they remain entangled within maya without

ever thinking o getting out o it at any stage.

Frequent remembrance o God, though greatlyhelpul, is not all that we need or our nal success inrealization. We generally begin an important thing inthe name o God and it is customary almost in everyreligion to do so. But that is only a matter o ormality

and has no signicance. We never dedicate the thing toGod in the real sense and at heart we are in act quiteaway rom the idea o God. Remembrance o God thusis o no avail.

The real signicance o the custom is that we mustremain in touch with the idea o God in all phases o our

mental and physical activities. We must eel ourselvesconnected with the Supreme Power every moment withan unbroken chain o thought during all our activities. Itcan be easily accomplished i we treat all our actions andwork to be a part o divine duty, entrusted to us by theGreat Master whom we are to serve as best as we can.

Some people think that constant remembrance oreven requent remembrance o God is not practicablewhen a man in lie is surrounded by numerous worriesand anxieties caused by worldly attachments and respon-sibilities. But practice and experience will prove to them


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Surrender

The easiest and surest means to achieve the goal

is to surrender yoursel to the great Master and be-come a living dead yoursel. This eeling o surrender,i cultivated by orced or mechanical means, seldomproves to be genuine. It must develop automaticallywithin you without least strain or pressure upon themind. I the knowledge o sel is retained, even then itis not true surrender.

What remains to be done when you have surren-dered yoursel in the true sense? Nothing. I believe thatin this state an abhyasi will be in close touch with Real-ity all the time and the current o divine eulgence willcontinue its fow to him without any break. In this wayyou can solve your problem o lie in the easiest and most

ecacious way in the shortest possible time. Thereore, ione can give away his heart, i.e., make a git o it to thedivine Master, hardly anything more remains to be done.This shall naturally bring him to the state o absorptionin Absolute Reality. The adoption o this simple and easytechnique makes the very beginning to be the end o it.

What except a tiny heart can be the ttest oering orthe achievement o the dearest object o lie?

One thing more. To eect the surrender o heart inthe easiest way, only an act o will is required. Besides,the lighter and ner the will, the more eective shall beits working. The adoption o this method is sure to bringin an attitude o renunciation rom the very rst day. Acourageous start is all that is needed or the purpose.

Sel-surrender is nothing but a state o completeresignation to the will o the Master, with total disregardo sel. A permanent stay in this condition leads to the


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beginning o the state o negation. When we surrenderourselves to the great Master we begin to attract a con-stant fow o highest divine orce rom Him. In this statea man thinks or does only that which his Masters willordains. He eels nothing in the world to be his belong-ing, but everything as a sacred trust rom the Master andhe does everything thinking it to be his Masters bidding.His will becomes completely subservient to the will othe Master.

Surrender is not an ordinary thing to be achievedeasily. It begins ater complete negation o all senses andaculties or which we proceed by elementary rules odevotion. We submit to our Master, thinking him to bea super-human being. We love him with devotion andaith and reverence trying by all means to attract his at-

tention and avour.Sages have classied disciples under two main heads:

the manmatand thegurumat. The ormer are those whoapproach the guru with some particular worldly end inview such as relie rom misery, desire or wealth, et ce-tera. They submit to him only so long as they are hopeulo satisaction o their desires. When they meet disap-pointment in this respect they are o. For such disciplesthe question o obedience or submission does not arise,what to say o surrender.

Gurumatdisciples are thos

Sahaj Marg Philosophy

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