Mercedes De Acosta - 5

[Guest guest]

Before leaving the Ashram, Bhagavan gave me some verses he had

selected from the Yoga Vasishta. He said they contained the

essence for the Path of a Pure Life.

 

Steady in the state of fullness which shines when all desires are

given up, and peaceful in the state of freedom in life, act

playfully in the world, O Bhagava!

Inwardly free from all desires, dispassionate and detached,

but outwardly active in all directions, act playfully in the

world, O Bhagava!

Free from egoism, with mind detached as in sleep, pure like the

sky, ever untainted, act playfully in the world, O Bhagava!

Conducting yourself nobly with kindly tenderness, outwardly

conforming to conventions but inwardly renouncing all,

act playfully in the world, O Bhagava!

Quite unattached at heart but for all appearance acting as

with attachment, inwardly cool but outwardly full of fervor,

act play-fully in the world, O Bhagava!

 

 

 

Before leaving the ashram I wrote down several questions for Guy

to ask Bhagavan that I had not had a chance to ask myself. I had

been bothered by the fact that so many saints and enlightened

people had been ill and suffering physically. I asked, should they

not have perfect bodies and why do they not

cure themselves? In Europe I got a letter from Guy saying he had

discussed my question with Bhagavan.

 

He wrote, "Bhagavan told me to tell you that the spiritually

perfect person need not necessarily have a perfect body.

The reason, as he explained it, is very simple- You see, the ego,

the body and the mind are the same thing. The spiritually perfect

person, like Bhagavan, is above these three things.

 

Consequently he has no body to heal, neither a mind--or ego--to

heal it with. He is beyond all this because it is illusion.

He is living in Reality. Christian Scientists can take the mind

and heal the body--for they are the same thing. American Indians

heal, too, in this manner. It is faith healing.

 

But if the spiritually perfect person is sick in body it is

because the body is working out its Karma. Bhagavan gave an

illustration of Karma, which he says is like an electric fan and

must just run its course, only gradually ceasing even after it

has been turned off. He says the mind is born into illusion and

builds a body and a world to suit it--that is, a world that it

has earned and deserves (by its Karma). Bhagavan, knowing the

body and the mind to be illusion, cannot experience any

bodily ailment or discomfort. We make him suffer pain, loss of

weight, etc. It is in our minds not his. He is bodiless, actually

is, though you and I cannot realize this as a fact."

 

 

Mercedes De Acosta - Here Lies the Heart