AUM — Vol. 7, No. 9, 27 Apr. 1972
I. Something
1. Something to forget —fear
2. Something to remember —
love
3. Something to forget immediately —
self-doubt
4. Something to remember immediately —
faith in God
5. Something to forget today, tomorrow and forever —
depression
6. Something to remember today, tomorrow and forever —
God’s Concern
7. Something to like —
sacrifice
8. Something to dislike —
jealousy
9. Something to see —
Perfect Perfection
10. Something to hear —
appreciation for all
11. Something to feel —
peace
12. Something to hide —
others’ imperfection
13. Something to reveal —
universal oneness
14. Something to drink —
the Beauty of God’s Eye
15. Something to eat —
the Heart of God’s Love
16. Something never to treasure —
the vital pleasure
17. Something ever to treasure —
the soul’s divinely supreme rapture
18. Something to be liberated —
bondage
19. Something to be perfected —
human imperfection
20. Something man likes —
aggression
21. Something God likes —
the divine procession of Cosmic Oneness
22. Something I saw —
the poverty of the human mind
23. Something I see —
the insecurity of the human heart
24. Something I shall see —
the complete manifestation of man’s divinity
25. Something to destroy humanity —
impurity of the vital
26. Something to immortalise humanity —
self-hope plus God-hope
27. Something to think about —
sincerity
28. Something to talk about —
purity
29. Something essential —
God’s Compassion
30. Something non-essential —
the suppression of the vital
31. Something indispensable —
the heart’s mounting cry
32. Something to strangle —
frustration
33. Something to embrace —
cheerfulness
34. Something to love —
self-giving
35. Something to unlearn —
self-advertising
36. Something I saw at God’s Palace —
unconditional faith
37. Something I saw in God’s Court —
unconditional forgiveness
38. Something I saw on God’s Throne —
unconditional love for mankind
39. Something I saw in God’s Crown —
unconditional humility
40. Something past correction —
nothing
41. Something needs no correction —
the real Love of God
42. Something to prove God —
man’s ascending cry
43. Something to prove man —
God’s descending Smile
44. Something to love —
the pure heart
45. Something to be loved by —
the sure heart
46. Something I chose —
night
47. Something I choose —
day
48. Something I shall choose —
the sun
49. Something I was —
Divinity
50. Something I am —
Reality
51. Something I shall be —
Immortality<html></div></html>
The Upanishads — glimpses from The Vedas and The Upanishads1
In the finite there is no happiness.
The Infinite alone is happiness."
The Infinite expresses itself in infinite forms and infinite shapes here in the world of multiplicity and, again, this Infinite enjoys itself in a divine and supreme manner in the highest Transcendental Plane of its own consciousness. The Infinite here in the world of multiplicity expresses itself in three major forms. Creation is the first aspect of the Infinite. The second aspect is preservation. The third aspect is disillusion and destruction. These terms: creation, preservation and destruction are philosophical and religious terms. From the spiritual point of view, creation existed, does exist and is being preserved. When we use the term destruction, we have to be very careful. There is no such thing as destruction in the Supreme’s inner Vision — it is nothing but transformation. When we lose our desires, we feel that they have been destroyed. But they have not been destroyed — they have only been transformed into a larger vision, which is aspiration. We started our journey with desire, but when we launched into the spiritual path desire gave way to aspiration. The unlit consciousness which we see in the form of desire can be transformed and will be transformed by the aspiration within us. What, with our limited knowledge and vision, we call destruction, from the spiritual point of view is the transformation of our unlit, impure, obscure nature.
Ekamevadvitiyam. “Only the One, without a second.” From this One we came into existence and at the end of our journey’s close we have to return to the Absolute One. This is the soul’s journey. If we take it as an outer journey, then we are mistaken. In our outer journey we have a starting point and a final destination. It may take a few years or many years for us to reach our destined goal, but the starting point is at one place and the destination is somewhere else. But the inner journey is not a journey as such, with the same origin here and the goal elsewhere. In our inner journey we go deep within and discover our own Reality, our own forgotten self.
How do we discover our forgotten Self? We do it through meditation. There are various types of meditation: simple meditation, which everybody knows; deep meditation which the spiritual seeker knows; and higher or highest meditation, which is the meditation of the soul, in the soul, with the soul, for the entire being. Now, when an ordinary seeker meditates, he meditates in the mind. If he is a little advanced, he meditates in the heart. If he is far advanced in the spiritual life, he can meditate in the soul and with the help of the soul for the manifestation of Divinity in humanity. The spiritual Masters meditate in the physical, in the mind, in the heart, and in the souls of their disciples. These Masters also meditate all at once on the Infinite, Eternal and the Immortal. These are not vague terms to the real spiritual Masters. They are dynamic realities right in front of them, for in their inner consciousness real spiritual Masters swim in the sea of Infinity, Eternity and Immortality. They can easily concentrate, meditate and contemplate on these three divine Realities which represent the Absolute.
The Upanishads have come into existence from four Vedas: The Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda. Each Veda has something unique to offer to mankind. The first and most famous Veda is the Rig Veda. It starts with a Cosmic God, Agni, the Fire God. Fire means aspiration. Aspiration and the message of the Vedas are inseparable. This fire is the fire of inner awakening and inner mounting flame. It has no smoke in it. This fire does not burn anything; it only illumines and elevates our consciousness. The Fire God is the only Cosmic God who is a Brahmin. Now Agni, fire, expresses itself in seven specific forms and it has seven significant inner names: Kali, the black; Karali, the terrible; Manojava, thought-swift; Sulohita, blood-red; Sudhumravarna, smoke-hued; Sphulingi, scattering sparks; Vishvaruchi, the all-beautiful.
Kali, the black, is not actually black. Kali is the divine force or fire within us which fights against undivine hostile forces. The Mother Kali fights against demons in the battlefield of life. In the vital plane we see her as a dark, tenebrous Goddess, but in the highest plane of consciousness she is golden. We see her terrible form when she fights against hostile forces, but she is the Mother of Compassion. We misunderstand her dynamic qualities — we take them as aggressive qualities. Mother Kali has compassion in boundless measure, but at the same time, she will not tolerate any sloth, imperfection, ignorance, or lethargy in the seeker. Finally, Mother Kali is beauty unparalleled. This beauty is not physical beauty. This beauty is inner beauty, which elevates human consciousness to the highest plane of delight.
The contributions of the Sama Veda. This particular Veda offers us God’s music, the soul’s music. In addition, it offers India’s religion, India’s philosophy and India’s politics. All these striking achievements of India have come from the Sama Veda. Music is of paramount importance in the Sama Veda. It is not at all like modern music; it is the real soul-stirring music. The greatest sage of the past, Yagnavalka, said, “The abode of music is heaven.” It is the Sama Veda which holds this heavenly music — the soul-stirring, life-energising music. Most of you have read the Bhagavad Gita, the Song Celestial of Lord Krishna. There Lord Krishna says, “I am the Sama Veda.” He does not say that he is the Rig Veda or the Yajur Veda or the Atharva Veda. No, he says that he is the Sama Veda. Why? Because in the Sama Veda, Krishna found the soul’s music which is his very own. A great Indian philosopher-saint, Patanjali, begins his philosophy with the Sama Veda precisely because of its inner music. If music is taken away from God’s Creation, then it will be an empty Creation. God the Creator is the Supreme Musician and His Creation is His only delight. It is in His music that God feels delight and it is through music He offers Himself to His aspiring and unaspiring children.
From the Sama Veda we get the most significant Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad. This Upanishad is equal to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. This Upanishad is by far the largest in size and, according to many, it is not only the largest, but also the best. Again, there are those who are of the opinion that the Isha Upanishad, which is tiny, very tiny, is the best — not because of its size, but because of its depth. Some will say the Swetashvatara or Katha or Kena Upanishad is the best. Each one has to express his sincere feeling about the essence of a particular Upanishad. The Chandogya Upanishad, which derives from the Sama Veda, says something most significant to the sincere seekers. One question which spiritual teachers are asked very often is, “Why do we need a teacher? Can we not realise God by ourselves?” In the Chandogya Upanishad there is a specific way of convincing the doubters and the unaspiring human beings who argue for the sake of argument.
The Chandogya Upanishad says: Think of yourself as a traveler. You have lost your way and a robber attacks you. He takes away all your wealth and binds your eyes. Then he takes you to a faraway place and leaves you there. You had vision and you were able to move around, but now your fate is deplorable. You cannot see, you cannot walk, you are crying like a child — helpless, but there is no rescue. Now suppose someone comes and unties your eyes and goes away. You will be able to see the paths all around you, but you will not know which one is the right one for you and even if you did, you would not be able to walk on it because your legs and arms are still bound. This is the condition of the seeker who wants to realise God by himself. But suppose someone comes, unties you completely and shows you which path will take you home. This person has really done you a favour. If you have faith in him and confidence in your self, then you will reach your destination swiftly and surely. If you have faith in him, but do not have confidence in your own capacity to reach the Goal, then the same Teacher who freed you from blindness and showed you the path will go with you, inside you, to inspire you. He will act as your own aspiration to lead you toward your destined Goal. If you get this kind of help from a spiritual Master, then your life can be of significance, your life can bear fruit and you can run the fastest toward the Goal. Otherwise, you will walk today on this path, tomorrow on that path and the following day on some other path. You may have the capacity to walk, but you will walk on the wrong path and you will come back again to your starting point, frustrated and disappointed. Along with capacity, if you know the right path and have a true Master to help you, who can prevent you from reaching your destined Goal? Once you reach your destined Goal, you reach God’s Height and start manifesting God’s Light here on earth. You are fulfilled — fulfilled multiplicity in Unity’s embrace.
AUM 818. Fairleigh Dickenson Univ., Teaneck, N.J., 30 Nov. 1971↩
A little
A little joy have I of ceaseless joy,A little day of timeless day.
Yet knows no bound this empty show of mine;
I march along a goalless way.
O Love!
A desert within me ever pines,
Do turn it into a song of dawn.
I know not in what hour of evil night
Thou art, my Lord!
From me withdrawn.
Life now must reach Thy Breath of Bliss Supreme,
Make Thee the one and only Guide.
Thou art the Bridge between my death and birth;
O let my longings in Thee abide.
Show occult powers and lose disciples
There was a spiritual Master who was a sincere, genuine Master. He had just started his ashram and he had only forty disciples. Unfortunately, most of his disciples were not sincere enough or serious enough. Only a few were truly sincere, very dedicated. Others were merely curious. They wanted to see their Master’s occult powers.The Master often spoke of occult power and spiritual power, but most of his disciples thought that he was telling only tales and that he didn’t have any spiritual or occult power.
A young lady joined the ashram. She had very little faith in the Master. When she started coming to the ashram, she was very regular in attendance. One day, at the end of the meeting, she fell down at the feet of the Master and said, “Master, Master, help me!”
The Master said, “What is wrong?”
“My father has just committed suicide,” she said. “About ten days ago he committed suicide. I went to see his dead body.”
The Master said, “Why did he commit suicide?”
"I do not know,” she said. “I live here in Florida, but my parents live in California. My mother phoned me and when I went to see my father’s body, I saw that he had committed suicide. Can you help my father’s soul?” Most pitifully she was asking the Master for his help.
The Master said, "Well, I can try.”
The following day the Master phoned the lady. He said, "Please come to my place. I have a message for you.” She hurried eagerly to the Master’s place to learn what the message was, for she was all curiosity.
The previous night the Master had actually entered into the soul’s world and done some things for the soul of the man who had committed suicide. He had blessed the soul and had had a very full conversation with it.
When the daughter arrived at the Master’s place, he said, "Do you want proof that I met your father’s soul?”
She said, “No, Master.” But it was false faith. Inside, she was burning with desire to hear the proof.
The Master said, “The fourth of September is your birthday, your father told me.”
She gave a smile and said, “Yes, Master, but…” ‘But’ meant that she had a friend who also came to the Master and she thought that perhaps the Master had learned through this friend that the fourth of September was her birthday.
The Master knew her thoughts and said, “All right. One more incident I will tell you. Then, perhaps, you will believe that I really had a conversation with your father. Do you know that your father was a thief?”
“My father! Impossible!”
Do you know that your father lost his right thumb once while he was climbing out of a house after committing a theft? When the maids of the house heard a noise, they got up and tried to catch your father. He escaped through a window, but his thumb got stuck in the window. He lost his whole thumb.”
The daughter said, “Oh, Master, please don’t tell anybody that about my father. Only my mother and I know it. Please do not tell anybody.”
The Master blessed the disciple and said, “Your father is blessed in the soul’s world and you are blessed on earth. Now I wish to tell you that with your curiosity sometimes you people torture spiritual Masters. But if they want to put an end to your curiosity, the spiritual Masters can do it. Curiosity is useless. What is useful is sincere, genuine dedication and devotion and I expect you to be a good, sincere disciple.”
The disciple bowed down and said, “Yes, Master. From now on I will be extremely dedicated and devoted to you.”
That was the last time that disciple came to the Master’s ashram. After a few months she told some other disciples of the Master that she was not coming to his ashram anymore because nobody could hide anything from the Master. She knew that she did many wrong things, many foolish, immoral and undivine things and she was convinced that the Master recognised her undivine nature. Her life was an open book and she did not want to be exposed. This was her reason for leaving the ashram.
So you see, if the Master feeds a disciple’s curiosity about occultism, then the Master loses the disciple. If he says that he does not have any occult power, the false disciple will think, “What is the use of staying with someone who does not have any occult power? He is as useless as I am, so I will leave him.”
If the Master shows just a little of his power, the curiosity-mongers fear that they will be exposed and they leave the Master. Occult power is not at all necessary to realise God. For God-realisation only one thing is indispensable and that indispensable quality is aspiration.
The court of divine justice2
The court of human justice tells me that as I sow, so I reap.The Court of Divine Justice assures me that when I devotedly think of God, He smilingly and blessingfully appears before my heart’s eye.
The human justice wishes to offer me protection.
The Divine Justice offers me protection, illumination and perfection.
The human justice is fairness. The human justice is a threatening force. The human justice is a binding law.
The Divine Justice is Love. The Divine Justice is self-giving. The Divine Justice is fulfilling.
The human judge is a problem-shooter. The human plaintiff a problem-bringer. The defendant is the problem maker and creator. The pleader is either the problem-lover or problem-nourisher; he cannot be otherwise, for that is how he remains on earth.
The Divine Judge is the Liberator. Here the plaintiff is the hungry seeker. The defendant is the devouring doubter in us and the pleader is conscience. This pleader is the common friend, mutual friend, of the plaintiff and the defendant. Under the threat of wild ignorance it yields to the whims of doubt, but inwardly in silence it loves, cherishes and adores the heart of the seeker. In the physical and vital worlds conscience is helpless. In our inner world conscience is constantly supported by the adamantine Will of the Lord Supreme. The Supreme Liberator liberates the hungry seeker and the doubter.
Justice is impartiality. Impartiality is wisdom. Wisdom is the divine Grace. The divine Grace is the illumining Vision and fulfilling Manifestation of God.
A transformed and perfected human being is the duty of Divine Justice. A fulfilled and manifested God in man is the duty of Divine Justice. Duty performed on any level of consciousness is beauty blossomed forthwith. God’s Consciousness abides in the duty of His Divine Justice. God’s Existence abides in the beauty of His Divine Justice.
AUM
Here on earth we see that liberty and justice are two different things. They are like North Pole and South Pole: liberty and justice. If one enjoys the joy of liberty, we feel that person has violated all the laws of justice. He is acting like a wild elephant. He is enjoying liberty, especially on the vital plane. Therefore he does not care for justice at all. Again, if one cares only for justice, then we feel that his life has no pleasure, there is no warmth, there is no pleasure, there is no feeling of enthusiasm in his life. This is all on the human level.
In the inner world, liberty and justice always go together. They are like the obverse and the reverse of the same coin. He who has inner liberty only can hear the message of Divine Justice. He who has known what the Divine Justice is can alone be freed and independent. There is no other way. Liberty and justice in the inner world are inseparable.
The Divine Justice is not a mere human idea. It is the divine ideal in each human being. A nation feels that might is right. When a nation is not awakened, when a nation is unaspiring, unillumined, it feels that might is right. This is human justice. But when a nation is illumined, all-loving and all-embracing, it feels that right is might. It feels that justice lies only in the divine right. Now what is this divine right? Divine right is the conscious feeling of universal oneness. God’s Justice can be seen and felt only when we have the feeling of universal oneness. If not, at every moment God will disappoint us and fail us. Our human mind will never be able to fathom God’s Justice. It will always be baffled by God’s Justice because of its limited knowledge and limited concern for humanity. The Divine Justice is ready at every moment to be of help to us, to inspire us, guide us, mould us and shape us. But we are equally afraid of the Divine Justice and human justice. When we do something wrong, we feel that we will be exposed. This is true in the case of human justice. But the Divine Justice will never, never expose us. The first time, the Divine Justice will forgive us with its compassion. The second time it will offer us more compassion, the third time it will offer us infinite compassion and then, when God sees that even His infinite Compassion is not solving the human problem, He will use His loving divine Authority, divine Power.
This Power is not the destructive power. This Power is not the threatening power. This Power is the power that awakens, arouses the dormant lion in each human being. This Power does not dominate. This Power only arouses the spiritually hungry lion in each human being. The lion can roar, but the lion is fast asleep. This lion embodies our inner cry to see the ultimate Truth, to grow into the absolute Reality.
God tries with forgiveness. If forgiveness does not work, then He tries with compassion. If compassion also does not solve the problem, then He gives another chance that is infinite Compassion. If infinite Compassion also finds it difficult to free man from the fetters of ignorance, then His last resort is divine Power, divine Authority. Through this He is bound to fulfil Himself in humanity.
Each individual seeker can claim, can feel God’s Justice. If the seeker feels the necessity of loving humanity more than he expects humanity to love him, if he does not expect humanity to love him at all yet he will go on loving humanity, then he is bound to feel God’s Justice in him, through him. Why? While he is offering his love to mankind God will not remain silent. God will not remain asleep. God will immediately give him His boundless Peace, Joy, Light, Delight. God will empty His infinite Consciousness for him.
What we have we can give to mankind if we want to. But in God’s case, He not only gives to us what He has, but what He is. He feels that He is just only when He can give to us what He has and what He is. We can also act like God and offer to mankind not only what we have, but what we are.
Now when we make an inner search, we come to learn that what we have is a dedicated heart. What we are, if this question is put, then we come to learn that we are the chosen instruments of God. We are the leaves and He is the Tree. Look at a tree from a distance or from anywhere you want to. Immediately you can tell, by looking at a leaf, that this is a tree. Again, look at the trunk of the tree, or a branch of the tree and you can immediately recognise it as a tree. When we look at an individual leaf, we can immediately enter into the source, the tree, and feel that this individual leaf is the tree itself. When we look at the tree, we see that its manifestations are the leaves. The manifestation itself can be as important as the Creator Himself.
The Divine Justice is the breath of Reality. Every day the Court of Divine Justice gets thousands of cases against ungratefulness. In the human court we get all kinds of crime, but in the Divine Court we notice only one crime every day and that is human ungratefulness. Here punishment is forgiveness. Constantly the game is being played between God’s forgiveness and man’s ungratefulness. In the human way human beings are justifying their cause saying, “We are unconscious. Hence we commit crimes. We are not yet illumined. Hence we are ungrateful.” In the divine way God is justifying His cause. He is Love. Hence He is all-loving. He is Compassion. Hence He is all-forgiving.
AUM 821. Dag Hammarskjold Aud., U. N. Secretariat, 4 Jan. 1972 — No. 11/4↩
Thirteen Love-Flames
A life of joy is the love of GodAnd God’s concern is a life of love
And life in love and love in life
Man’s Perfection-Dawn below, above.
Meditations
1.
Keep your mind centred on God. Your futile thoughts will be transformed into fertile ideas, your fertile ideas into glowing ideals, and your glowing ideals into the all-fulfilling INFINITUDE.
2.
Since it is you who want to have what you already have not, then do here and now what you do not.
3.
God thinks of me. What more can I want?God loves me. What more can I need?
I think of God. Because He is the only Thought.
I love God. Because He is the only Love.
4.
Is God astonished at our stupidity, insincerity and ignorance? No.Why? Because in spite of all apparent obstructions He knows when and how He will clear the road leading to our Destination.
