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[Guest guest]

Life is the supreme Guru

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Questioner: We two came from far off countries, one of us is British, the

other American. The world in which we were born is falling apart and, being

young, we are concerned. The old people hope that they will die their own

death, but the young have no such hope. Some of us may refuse to kill, but

none can refuse to be killed. Can we hope to set the world tight during our

lifetime?

 

Maharaj: What makes you think that the world is going to perish?

 

Q: The instruments of destruction have become unbelievably potent. Also, our

very productivity has become destructive of nature and of our cultural and

social values.

 

M: You are always talking of the present times. It has been so everywhere

and always. But the distressing scenario maybe temporary and local. Once

over, it will be forgotten.

 

Q: The scale of the impending catastrophe is unbelievable big. We live in

the midst of an explosion.

 

M: Each man suffers alone and dies alone. Numbers are irrelevant. There is

as much death when a million die as there is when one perishes.

 

Q: Nature kills by the millions, but this does not frighten me. There maybe

tragedy or mystery in it, but no cruelty. What horrifies me is man made

suffering, destruction and desolation. Nature is magnificent in its doings

and undoings. But there is meanness and madness in the acts of man.

 

M: Right. So, it is not suffering and death that are your problem, but the

meanness and madness at their root. Is not meanness also a form of madness?

And is not madness a misuse of the mind? Humanity’s problem lies in the

misuse of the mind only. All the treasures of nature and spirit are open to

the man who will use his mind rightly.

 

Q: What is the right use of mind?

 

M: Fear and greed cause the misuse of the mind. The right use of mind is in

the service of love, of life, of truth, of beauty.

 

Q: Easier said than done. Love of truth, of man, goodwill – what luxury! We

need plenty of it to set the world right, but who will provide?

 

M: You can spend an eternity looking elsewhere for truth and love,

intelligence and goodwill, imploring god and man – all in vain. You must

begin in yourself, with yourself – this is the inexorable law. You cannot

change the image without changing the face. First realise that your world is

only a reflection of yourself and stop finding fault with the reflection.

Attend to yourself, set yourself right – mentally and emotionally. The

physical world will follow automatically. You talk so much of reforms:

economic, political, social. Leave alone the reforms and mind the reformer.

What kind of a world can a man create who is stupid, greedy, heartless?

 

Q: If we have to wait for a change of heart, we shall have to wait

indefinitely. Yours is a counsel of perfection, which is also a counsel of

despair. When all are perfect, the world will be perfect. What useless

truism!

 

M: I did not say it. I only said: You cannot change the world before

changing yourself. I did not say – before changing everybody. It is neither

necessary, nor possible to change others. But if you can change yourself,

you will find that no other change is needed. To change the picture, you

merely change the film, you do not attack the cinema screen.

 

Q: How can you be so sure of yourself? How do you know that what you say is

true?

 

M: It is not myself that I am so sure of, I am sure of you. All you need is

to stop searching outside what can be found only within. Set your vision

right before you operate. You are suffering from acute misapprehension.

Clarify your mind, purify your thought, sanctify your life – this is the

quickest way to a change of your world.

 

Q: So many saints and mystics lived and died. They did not change my world.

 

M: How could they? Your world is not theirs, nor is their yours.

 

Q: Surely there is a factual world common to all.

 

M: The world of things energy and matter? Even if there were such a common

world of things and forces, it is not the world in which we live. Ours is a

world of feelings and ideas, of attractions and repulsions, of scales of

values, of motives and incentives; a mental world altogether. Biologically,

we need very little; our problems are of a different order. Problems created

by desires and fears and wrong ideas can be solves only in the level of the

mind. You must conquer your own mind and for this you must go beyond it.

 

Q: What does it mean to go beyond the mind?

 

M: You have gone beyond the body haven’t you? You do not closely follow your

digestion, circulation or elimination. In the same way, the mind should work

automatically, without calling for attention. This will not happen unless

the mind works faultlessly. We are, most of the time, mind and

body-conscious, because they constantly call for help. Pain and suffering

are only the body and the mind screaming for attention. To go beyond the

body you must be healthy; to go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in

perfect order. You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. The mess will

bog you up. ‘Pick up your rubbish’ seems to be the universal law. And just

law too.

 

Q: Am I permitted to ask you how did you go beyond the mind?

 

M: By the grace of my Guru.

 

Q: What shape his grace took?

 

M: He told me what is true.

 

Q: What did he tell you?

 

M: He told me I am the supreme reality.

 

Q: What did you do about it?

 

M: I trusted him and remembered it.

 

Q: Is that all?

 

M: Yes, I remembered him, I remembered what he said.

 

Q: You mean to say that this was enough?

 

M: What more needs be done? It was quite a lot to remember the Guru and his

words. My advice to you is even less difficult than this – just remember

yourself. ‘I am’ is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond. Just have

some trust. I don’t mislead you. Why should I? Do I want anything from you?

I wish you well – such is my nature. Why should I mislead you?

 

Common sense too will tell you that to fulfil a desire you must keep your

mind on it. If you want to know your true nature, you must have yourself in

mind all the time, until the secret of your being stands revealed.

 

Q: Why should self-remembrance lead to self-realisation?

 

M: Because they are but two aspects of the same state. Self-remembrance is

in the mind, self-realisation is beyond the mind. The image in the mirror is

of the face beyond the mirror.

 

Q: Fair enough. But what is the purpose?

 

M: To help others, one must be beyond the need of help.

 

Q: All I want is to be happy.

 

M: Be happy to make happy.

 

Q: Let others take care of themselves.

 

M: Sir, you are not separate. The happiness you cannot share is spurious.

Only the shareable is truly desirable.

 

Q: Right. But di I need a guru? What you tell me is simple and convincing. I

shall remember it. This does not make you my guru.

 

M: It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness

and depth of your devotion to the task. Life itself is the supreme guru; be

attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. When you personalise

their source you have an outer guru; when you take them from life directly,

the guru is within. Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow

with it, grow into it, make it your own – the word of your guru, outer or

inner. Pu in all and you will get all. I was doing it. All my time I was

giving to my guru and what he told me.

 

Q: I am a writer by profession. Can you give me some advice, for me

specifically?

 

M: Writing is both a talent and a skill. Grow in talent and develop in

skill. Desire what is worth desiring and desire it well. Just like you pick

your way in a crowd, passing between people, so you find your way between

events, without missing your general direction. It is easy, if you are

earnest.

 

Q: So many times you mention the need for being earnest. But we are not men

of single will. We are congeries of desires and needs, instincts and

promptings. They crawl over each other, sometimes one, sometimes another

dominating, but never for long.

 

M: There are no needs, desires only.

 

Q: To eat, to drink, to shelter one’s body, to live ?

 

M: The desire to live is the one fundamental desire. All else depends on it.

 

Q: We live, because we must.

 

M: We live, because we crave sensory existence.

 

Q: A thing so universal cannot be wrong.

 

M: Not wrong, of course. In its own place and time, nothing is wrong. But

when you are concerned with truth, with reality,, you must question

everything, your very life. By asserting the necessity of sensory and

intellectual experience you narrow down your enquiry to search for comfort.

 

Q: I seek happiness, not comfort.

 

M: Beyond comfort of body and mind, what happiness do you know?

 

Q: Is there any other?

 

M: Find out for yourself. Question every urge, hold no desire legitimate.

Empty of possession, physical and mental, free of all self-concern, be open

for discovery.

 

Q: It is a part of Indian spiritual tradition that mere living in the

proximity of a saint or a sage is conducive to liberation and no other means

are needed. Why don’t you organise an ashram so that people could live near

you.

 

M: The moment I create an institution, I become its prisoner. As a matter of

fact I am available to all. Common roof and food will not make people more

welcome. ‘Living near’ does not mean breathing the same air. It means

trusting and obeying, not letting the good intentions of the teacher go

waste. Have your guru always in your heart and obey his instructions – this

is real abidance with the true. Physical proximity is least important. Make

your entire life an expression of your faith and love for your teacher –

this is real dwelling with the guru.