Day by Day with Bhagavan 19-3-45 Morning

[Guest guest]

A visitor from Sind, very probably Kundandas A.Mahatani of Hyderabad,

Sind, (now Pakistan) asked; "It is said the world and the objects that

we see are all unreal, like the snake in the rope. It is also stated

in other places that the seer and the seen are the same. If the seer

and the seen are same, then how can we say that the seen is unreal?"

 

Bhagavan: All that is meant is that the seen regarded as an

independent entity, independent of the Self, is unreal. The seen is

not different from the seer. What exists is the one Self, not a Seer

and a seen. The seen regarded as the Self is real.

 

Visitor: It is said the world is like a dream. But there is this

difference between dream and the waking state. In dream I see my

friends or relations and go through some experiences with them. When I

wake up and ask those friends or relations whom I met in the dream

about the dream, they know nothing about it. But in the waking state

what I see and hear is corroborated by so many others.

 

Bhagavan: You should not mix up the dream and the waking states. Just

as you seek corroboration about the waking state experiences from

those whom you see in the waking state, you must ask for corroboration

about the dream experiences from those whom you saw in the dream

state, i.e., when you were in the dream. Then in the dream, those

friends or relations whom you saw in the dream would corroborate you.

 

The main point is, are you prepared when awake to affirm the

reality of any dream experiences? Similarly, one who has awakened into

jnana cannot affirm the reality of the waking experience. From his

viewpoint, the waking state is dream.

 

Visitor: It is said only some are chosen for Self-realisation and

those alone could get it. It is rather discouraging.

 

Bhagavan: All that is meant is, we cannot by our own buddhi, unaided

by God's Grace, achiveve realisation of Self.

 

I added, "Bhagavan also says that even that Grace does not come

arbitrarily, but because one deserves it by one's own efforts either

in this or in previous lives."

 

Visitor: Human effort is declared to be useless. What incentive can

any man then have to better himself?

 

I asked, "Where is it said you should make no effort or that

your effort is useless?"

 

The visitor thereupon showed the portion in "Who am I?" where it is

said, "When there is one great Force looking after all the world, why

should we bother what we shall do?" I pointed out that what is

deprecated there is not human effort, but the feeling that "I am the

doer". Bhagavan approved of my explanation, when I asked him if it was

not so.