THE PERSONAL GOD IS STILL A LIMITED DIVINITY WITH QUALIFICATIONS
In meditation, you have Savikalpa Samadhi, which is meditation with form, and Nivrikalpa Samadhi, which is meditation without form. In Nivrikalpa samadhi, the totality of the mind is still not transcended, but you have reached the finest level of the mind, the finest level of the superconscious mind; therefore, you are still alert, and what else can give you this alertness if not the mind itself? So even in that state, which is the highest state man is capable of, you have still not transcended the mind, and yet you read thousands and thousands and thousands of books talking of going beyond the mind. Yes, you can go beyond the mind in a lunatic asylum.
So, all these flaws are there, and many of these flaws are to be ignored. The underlying quality of that impersonal state is to be remembered—a constant remembrance of that in all actions, a constant remembrance of Divinity. For the personal God is not the final Divinity. It is still a limited Divinity with qualifications. So, by meditation and spiritual practices, which are so, so necessary, we can only reach the finest level of the mind, the superconscious mind, where we can experience. And that experience, to say again, is of joy and bliss and of knowledge, and this knowledge, this wisdom, is more important than the joy, than the bliss. It is because of this knowledge that all is one.
THE MIND CANNOT BE CONTROLLED, BUT IT CAN BE GOVERNED
Everything constitutes this vast feast. Finding the sameness in it all takes away the rough edges that we find in life, and we accept it. And with the acceptance of what just is, the acceptance of oneself, that is the most difficult part. People just do not accept themselves for what they are. That is the root of all trouble. That is the root of all the surface suffering that people go through, because they just do not accept themselves. And once they learn to accept themselves by reaching this higher layer or level of the mind, self-acceptance becomes easy. And with self-acceptance, all the things that happen on the relative conscious level are automatically accepted. Because I can accept myself, all anxieties in the mind cease, for it is only because of fearing the repercussions of things that anxiety is bred within a person.
You only feel anxious if you have fear. If you have no fear, you do not feel anxious. Does she love me or not? You are fearing, and with fear there is doubt. Like that in every aspect of life. Will I be losing my business? Will I be losing my movement because of this, that or the other? Why fear? If it is to be lost, it is lost. So, who cares? And having that attitude, it develops further.
Fear and anxiety are your greatest stumbling blocks in every aspect of life. You have to interview a big client tomorrow, and you have that fear: “Oh, will he sign the contract or not?” And you can be very sure that your very fear will stop him from signing the contract. But if you just do not care, I am going to do my blooming best, and that is all I can do. That is the attitude. If the man does not sign the contract after I have been doing my best, there is another place I can try, for he is not the only one who has that business, that hotel or that industrial establishment where I want to sign a catering contract. There are other establishments, other factories. So, I lose one. I will gain ten more. No anxiety. No fear. Then you enjoy.
There is joy in everything. The very effort put into work is joyful because there is no expectation. And this can only be done if we touch upon the finer levels of the mind, the superconscious level. Ah, then only can it be done, and that automatically controls the conscious mind.
When I say ‘automatic control,’ I mean governing. For the mind cannot be controlled, but it can be governed. So, automatic control means that the higher level of your mind is governing the lower level of your mind. Then we can truly stand apart and watch the workings of the world. For is the world not a projection of your own mind? So, the higher level of your mind is watching the workings of the lower level of your mind, and enjoying those children playing in the garden, in the park, on all the swings and roundabouts. Up and down and down the slide. Climbing up the ladder again, just to come down the slide again. Beautiful, is it not? That is wisdom, not acquired knowledge from books.
THERE IS ONLY ONE MIND
When a person, through meditation and spiritual practices, reaches the superconscious level of the mind, they experience inborn wisdom. For everything that was known, is known or is to be known, is existent there. If you say I am wiser than you, you are wrong. We have the same amount of wisdom. Mine is expressed and experienced. Yours is not. That is the only difference.
That is how I can see the Divinity in you. That is how I can find myself at one with you, for it is the same mind. The same mind: because there is only one mind. The one pond and little bubbles here, there and everywhere, thinking they are so apart and individual. Yet, they are not. They have the same amount of air and the same amount of water. And this apartness of every bubble is only seen in our dimension; just dive a little deeper, and you will not see the bubbles. They are gone. One mass of water, just slightly below the surface. That is wisdom.
THE IDEA IS TO REACH THE SUBTLER LAYER WHERE NOTHING CAN HURT
The impersonal is beyond experience. It is only the personal God that is within the range of the highest experience of bliss, of existence, of knowledge. Only that level can be experienced, which is not the total level. Many religions, many systems of thought, many philosophies, go only as far as that level, and that is why the Vedantists would say, “absolute bliss.” The Hindu and the Christian would talk of Kailasha or Heaven—different names for that level, for that area of this so-called existent. So-called because nothing really exists, it is a dream that we find so, so real. And in this dream, there are so many problems. But the idea is to reach that subtler layer where nothing can hurt. Your husband leaves you; your wife leaves you, who has left who? Little compartmentalised minds wrapped up in their own little problems. Just separating, but where are they going to? Where is the separation where only this one assumed mind exists?
I tell you these things for a purpose. The purpose is that we attach too much importance to the mind. By attaching too much importance to the mind, we become more and more attached to all the happenings in the world. The more we are attached to the happenings in the world, the more we are involved in all the pettiness of life. If my wife leaves me tomorrow, I will say, “Good-bye.” After all, where are you going to? Where can you go? You are still here, inside me. That is important, not your physical shape or body. That is, if you really love her. What have I gained? I have brought my heart close to yours and become one with it.
Likewise, in everything else. You have a business, and you lose a million pounds. What have you really lost? Was it yours in the first place? Did you bring it with you? The only thing you brought with you is your birthday suit, and that is why I tell you these things, that the troubles or sufferings people have can be overcome. A certain trend is set in motion, and that trend has to reach its culmination. But if we have the attitude, reinforced by the subtler layer of the superconscious mind, then nothing stings, nothing hurts, and everything is accepted, and even if it hurts, you know the value of the hurt, for it is also transient. Even if you have a toothache, you know it will not last. This too must pass. But having the mind entirely centred on that toothache, you are going to feel more and more pain. Feel the pain, accept the pain, but know in your heart that this will pass away. This is not the whole of my little existence. In an hour, I will be at the dentist, and he will yank it out, drill it, fill it, or whatever. It is a matter of attaching importance to the right things. The emphasis and the major thought to be had in mind is that this too will pass, and let that apply to pleasure as well as pain, for both pass away.
We live a life so full of meaning, but the tragedy is that we live it meaninglessly. We live it meaninglessly. If these meanings are understood, are accepted, slowly, slowly, gradually by the conscious mind, and accepting them in all innocence, which means with an open conscious mind, it will penetrate deeper and deeper into the subconscious, where it will dissolve all the other undesirable experiences that we have had in the past, in this life or in previous lives. And then experience the joy of the superconscious state. Experience this joy of the superconscious state, for all this must pass.
THE NOTHINGNESS IS THE EVERYTHINGNESS OF EXISTENCE
I think I might have told this story here or in England, about a rabbi in a little village in Israel, and a visitor who heard of him, a very well-known man. So, this man thought I had read some of his works, and since this Rabbi lives in this village, let me visit him. So, he went to this Rabbi’s house, and the house was empty; there was no furniture, nothing. The Rabbi tells this man, “Please, do sit down.” So, he sat down on the floor, and after chatting a bit with the Rabbi, he said, “I was passing here, I was passing by, so I just dropped in to see you.” And as they talked on more, this man mentioned, “Rabbi, where are your things? There is nothing here.” So, the Rabbi answers, “Why have those things? I am also just passing by.” You see, that is life.
Life, filled with nothingness, and yet that nothingness is the everythingness of existence. Understanding this does not mean renunciation. It means acceptance of what is. Firstly, accept oneself, and then, automatically, everything around will be accepted. Of course, the theologians will say, “It is all a creation of God. So be it.” That is what they say. The mystic says something different, although perhaps the same. It just is. God or no God, it just is. I am. All this is there because I am here. If I were not here, then all this would not be here, because for the subject to know itself it requires the object, and when the object disappears, the subject disappears. But that is in the field of the impersonal, and as long as we are in the personal, it all just is.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1980 – 27
