THE NATURE OF MANTRA?
When practices are given by a person who has reached a state of self-realization, not only the verbal mantra is given; when the guru perceives the mantra in a state of meditation and utters that mantra, his whole being is contained in that sound.
When you practice the mantra, the entirety of the Guru, the entirety of the spiritual Force, is outlined in Bliss form in that mantra, and it is received by the chela, by the meditator. When that meditator sincerely practices that mantra as instructed, then the person with gradual practice becomes the mantra and experiences not only the grosser form of the mantra but the subtler form of the mantra, and at its subtlest level, it is not only you but also the Guru’s Bliss mixed in that mantra. And that is why the benefits are felt. The benefits are felt whereby, through a tangible vehicle of the audible mantra, one reaches the subtleness of the mantra where your Spirit and the Guru’s Spirit become one.
There starts the awakening of the internal guru, which is forever internal and eternal.
That is the stage we have to reach through our spiritual practices. Some people tell you that you are immediately taken to Bliss when you are given a technique. Do not believe that. It is a process, but a worthy process.
ATTAINING BLISS
What is worth attaining is worth striving for. We know that. The real Guru, having experienced this Bliss, which he cannot describe in words, can allow you to experience it. His purpose, the purpose of the Light, is to rid darkness. And the Light is so powerful that all the dark corners of our Hearts are lit up, and darkness disappears. The purpose of attaining that blissful state is so that the blissful state can be shared with those who are earnestly seeking Bliss, and finding Bliss is finding God. That is the goal, that is the aim, that is the purpose of our lives.
The purpose of our lives is not material accumulation. There is nothing wrong with material accumulation. But remember one thing: let the man have sufficient for his needs. That is the basic principle. You will find that if you want a million dollars, once you have the million dollars, you will surely want two million dollars. You will surely want five million dollars when you have two million dollars. It is a never-ending process of being enmeshed in total materiality.
But if we remember that these are my needs, Why not? We are entitled to it. Good food is sufficient to look after our families. Perhaps a bit for the rainy day? There is nothing wrong with that in this modern society. That is a natural want. It is a practical need and not the accumulation of something needless because I would still like to meet the man who has made ten million dollars and take it with him when he passes off.
We live our lives according to our needs, and if our lives are well regulated in the path of spirituality, you will find that our needs become more and more simpler. And the simpler the needs become, the simpler our lives become. The path to joy and happiness and Bliss is to find the simplicity of life, for within simplicity lies Divinity, and Divinity is another name for Bliss.
To have a blissful existence is the birthright of every one of us.
Essentially, man is not born to be unhappy. Within man are all the elements that constitute Bliss. The veils of samskaras just cover up this Bliss, yet this highly polished diamond is there but covered with dust. Through spiritual practices, we blow the dust away so that the sparkle, the bliss, of this diamond is experienced.
We are orientated a lot towards mental analysis. There is nothing wrong with that. Let us have our analysis, but let us also try to experience what we analyse. The experience grows so much that it not only reaches the level of analysis but goes far beyond it. The analysis is the stepping stone.
WE WANT TO EXPERIENCE BLISS
Did Buddha or Christ ever go into deep analytical philosophies? No. They spoke of personal experience. They did not talk about knowledge but gave forth wisdom, which does not require analysis.
Wisdom is at a level where analysis falls short. At that level of wisdom, another aspect of Bliss is Love. So all these are different, not different qualities, but different aspects of Bliss, and Bliss is Divinity itself.
We want to experience. We do not take the sugar to the laboratory before we put it in our tea. We know sugar is sweet, and by putting it in our tea, we experience the sweetness of sugar. We know intuitively, without analysis, that there is Bliss, and we do our practices to experience the Bliss. Experiencing something means becoming one with something. To become one with that which is forever existent and eternal.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1977 – 10
