we are imagining we are bound

[Guest guest]

Day by Day with Bhagavan________5-1-46 AfternoonWhen I entered the hall Bhagavan was answering somequestion saying, "There is no difference between dream andthe waking state except that the dream is short and the wakinglong. Both are the result of the mind. Because the waking stateis long, we imagine that it is our real state. But, as a matter offact, our real state is what is sometimes called turiya or thefourth state which is always as it is and knows nothing of thethree avasthas, viz., waking, dream or sleep. Because we callthese three avasthas we call the fourth state also turiyaavastha. But it is not an avastha, but the real and natural stateof the Self. When this is realised, we know it is not a turiya orfourth state, for a fourth state is only relative, but turiyatita,the transcendent state called the fourth state."A visitor asked Bhagavan, "Priests prescribe variousrituals and pujas and people are told that unless they properlyobserve these with fasts, feasts, etc., sin will accrue, and soon. Is there any necessity to observe such rituals andceremonial worship?"Bhagavan: Yes. All such worship is also necessary. It maynot be necessary for you. But that does not mean it is necessaryfor nobody and is no good at all. What is necessary for the infantclass pupil is not necessary for the graduate. But even the graduatehas to make use of the very alphabet he learnt in the infant class.He knows the full use and significance of the alphabet now.The same visitor asked, "I do Omkara puja. I say `OmRam'. Is that good?"Bhagavan: Yes. Any puja is good. `Om Ram' or any othername will do. The point is to keep away all other thoughtsexcept the one thought of Om or Ram or God. All mantra orjapa helps that. He who does the japa of Ram, for example,becomes Rama-maya. The worshipper becomes in course oftime the worshipped. It is only then that he will know the fullmeaning of the Omkar which he was repeating.Our real nature is mukti. But we are imagining we arebound and are making various strenuous attempts to becomefree, while we are all the while free. This will be understoodonly when we reach that stage. We will be surprised that wewere frantically trying to attain something which we havealways been and are. An illustration will make this clear. Aman goes to sleep in this hall. He dreams he has gone on aworld tour, is roaming over hill and dale, forest and country,desert and sea, across various continents and after many yearsof weary and strenuous travel, returns to this country, reachesTiruvannamalai, enters the Asramam and walks into the hall.Just at that moment he wakes up and finds he has not moved aninch but was sleeping where he lay down. He has not returnedafter great effort to this hall, but is and always has been in thehall. It is exactly like that. If it is asked, why being free weimagine we are bound, I answer, "Why being in the hall didyou imagine you were on a world adventure, crossing hill anddale, desert and sea? It is all mind or maya."(to be continued)