Nectar of Immortality Ch. 21 (Excerpt)

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From " Nectar of Immortality " Ch. 21 (excerpt)

 

Maharaj: I once felt a sense of individuality, but I do not now have

that individuality. The sense of individuality has transformed

itself into the universal manifest state.

 

Visitor: Did it happen just like that?

 

M: The moment the name of the disease emerged, the feeling of being

an individual arose. Now the sense of individuality is gone and only

the feeling of universal consciousness remains.

 

The individuality is gone, together with the identity of body form.

The body is not my design, nor am I male or female. Everything

happens spontaneously. Who sees that the day has dawned and the sun

shines? Could the knowledge of the day be the individual's? The

moment one wakes up, the " I-am-ness " arises, which means the sense of

being only; later also the sense of body is there. This sense of

beingness is all-pervading, and it has no name and no form -- it is

existence itself.

 

V: When the body suffers, what actually happens? What is the

relationship between the Unmanifest and the body, or between the

actual and the illusory appearances in the world?

 

M: They are intimately related. The culture and sentiment of every

atom is different, so also every individual is different in this

world.

 

There are varieties of expressions in atoms and sub-atoms.

 

V: Is the truth manifest or unmanifest? If the truth manifests

through the body, then all the diseases of the body are in the

Unmanifest.

 

M: When the Unmanifest manifests, it is called saguna-brahman. This

brahman principle is ample, plenty and manifest and comprises the

five elements, three gunas and prakriti-purush; it is this that

recognizes the sun and the space and is more pervasive and subtler

than space even.

 

V: What is all this play about? In this manifest universe, which is

the outcome of the Unmanifest, a body suffers from sickness -- the

body of Maharaj. As a result, we also suffer, after witnessing the

sickness. Why all this nuisance?

 

M: If your " I-am-ness " is not, who would observe the rising of the

sun?

 

V: Although you have explained it thousands of times, I still have

not understood.

 

M: " Who " and " what, " as such at the highest level, are Nothing;

whatever IS, is very clear and obvious. But such a simple fact has

turned into a riddle, because that principle has identified itself

wrongly with a form, and then takes pride in that identification. It

has accepted body as its identity.

 

V: But why should this happen to you through whose body the

Unmanifest manifests itself.

 

M: In order to have a reply to this question, you will have to

retreat into yourself.

 

Out of this atomic touch, this speck of consciousness, all this

magnificent universe has materialized. How and what would you reply

to this question: Did it create itself or did it arrange for the

creation? Your replies will be mere conjecture and guesswork. What

evidence have you that you have births and deaths? What proof have

you about rebirth?

 

V: You mean to say that we should remain at the point of emergence of

consciousness? Shall we then understand this?

 

M: Yes, I have been telling people exactly that.

 

V: Then you mean to say that unless I stop at the rising of

consciousness, I shall not understand this play of the Unmanifest,

manifest, body suffering, etc., and that all my talking is actually

only blabbering and therefore a mere nuisance.

 

M: Yes, it is just entertainment to pass the time.

 

 

.... November 20, 1980