The Nectar of Immortality

[Guest guest]

M: Yes, meditation is very necessary. If you can do it continuously, it is

good, but with a daily occupation this is not always possible. Meditation

done in the early morning hoursis helpful and effective. But you may do it

whenever you have leisure. Seekers with a deep urge can meditate at any

time. In the beginning, a seeker should sit alone in a quiet spot with

complete leisure at his disposal. When he attains stability in meditation,

he can sit anywhere, anytime. Suppose such an advanced seeker sits here in

meditation. He will be totally lost within himself. His attention will be

focused on attention only, with the result that he will not be aware of what

is going on around him. Further, in such a state nothing will occur to him.

Meditation should be of this quality. Suppose somebody is deeply worried,

would he take note of things going around him?

 

When you sit in deep meditation, your sense of being is totally infused with

the knowledge " I am " only. In such a state it will be revealed to you

intuitively as to how and why your sense of " I-am-ness " emerged.

 

V: By the " I-am-ness " ?

 

M: Consciousness, beingness, sense of being, " I-am-ness, " all are the same

in you, prior to emanation of any words.

 

This is a subtle point, so try to understand it clearly. When I say " I was

not " prior to conception, then what I actually mean is that I was not like

this present " I am. " But that " I " which could discern this must be there to

judge the absence of the present " I am. "

 

Owing to the absence of a body, that " I " prior to conception had no sense of

being or sense of " I-am-ness. " With the arrival of a body the sense of

" I-am-ness " is imposed on the prior " I. "

 

In meditation, this sense of " I-am-ness " only will indicate how and why it

came about. You must be possessed by this idea of finding out what this

" I-am-ness " is, just as you would not rest until you found the source of a

smell emanating from some place. For example, if a foul smell emanates you

will have to go to that source; and when you discover that it is the

decomposed body of a rat, you will have to dispose of that body in order to

get rid of the stink. Similarly, if a nice fragrance wafts in your

direction, you would like to locate the flower. You must go to the source of

this " I-am-ness " fragrance, and find out its " how and why. "

 

V: How does one chase that?

 

M: The principle that gives rise to this " I-am-ness " fragrance is termed

Bhagavan-vasudeva ‹ the god who gives fragrance. The one who receives this

fragrance wants to retain it at all costs.

 

V: How can one enter that state?

 

M: You, from the body-mind level, are incapable of tracking it down. But

that principle alone will discover itself. Somebody you may call Bhagavan,

or Vittal or God, is so infatuated with this fragrance that he wants to

perpetuate it.

 

V: One day my efforts will bear fruit and I shall find him out

automatically.

 

M: His significance for you will be nullified the moment he is discovered,

and you will be liberated from that infatuation with vasudeva.

 

V: In other words, I think when you always feel it so, you don't go after

it. Once you realize the self then it automatically comes to you, so there

is no need for you to track it down. So once we realize it, we can use it

the way we want.

 

M: In that state you will be beyond any needs and wants; you will have no

use for anything. No desires will be left, because they are all fulfilled.

 

V: I did not mean that I should use it for my worldly needs. What I meant

was that I would become one with it.

 

M: In actuality you were never detached from it. So where is the question of

being one with it?

 

V: It is nice that I never got detached from it, but in my present state I

consider myself only the body.

 

M: This is your concept, that you are the body, and it is deluding you.

 

V: Then I will be free.

 

M: [Reciting a couplet of Guru Nanak:]

 

 

0 mind, what are you searching? Inside and outside it is one only. It is the

concept that makes you feel inside and outside. Once the earthen pot bearing

the name Nanak is broken, by getting rid of the concept that I am the body,

where is inside and outside? It is " I " only prevailing everywhere.

 

 

Nanak furthers says:

 

 

Like the fragrance in a flower, like an image in a mirror, this sense of

" I-am-ness " is felt in the body. Therefore, give up your name Nanak and also

your identity with the body.

 

 

Abide in the sense of " I-am-ness " and you shall be liberated.

 

This article is reprinted from the book, The Nectar of Immortality.