Part II

Receptivity and assimilation

When you meditate, receptivity is of paramount importance. Spiritual wealth is like the sun. The sunlight is for everyone, but if you close all the windows and doors to your house, then how can the sunlight enter? When the Master meditates, he brings down from above Peace, Light and Bliss. But if you keep your heart’s door closed, then what he brings down won’t be able to enter.

I always tell my disciples to keep their eyes open when they meditate. Otherwise, I will be in my highest and you will be in your own world. Sometimes I am bringing down infinite Peace, Light and Bliss, but you are in the world of sleep. If your eyes are open you will see the source, where it is all coming from, in my eyes. My eyes are just pulling down Peace, Light and Bliss from above.

Also, it is good if you can fold your hands when you are in a very high state of consciousness. When you pray and meditate with folded hands, at that time your attention, concentration and everything in you become one-pointed. Your physical mind, your physical being become more devoted. Some of you are folding your hands very devotedly and soulfully all the time while you meditate. Some of you are folding your hands only some of the time, for a few minutes. I don’t blame you, because your hands become tired after a while. If it is physically tiring and you are in pain, you have to know that this pain is not going to bring you satisfaction. You can pray and meditate and still go into a very high state of consciousness without folding your hands. But there are some who fold their hands soulfully almost from the beginning to the end and it does help their aspiration.

Again, many times when you fold your hands, there is no sincerity or depth in it. If you can keep your hands folded with utmost sincerity, I will be very pleased.

If you are sincere, others will be inspired when they see you with folded hands; they will see or feel something in you. But sincerity has to be the safeguard. Just because so-and-so folds his hands, or because you are worried about what he or she thinks of you, that is no reason to fold your hands. If you don’t feel the necessity from within, there is no obligation. Just because you feel the Master will know if you don’t fold your hands, there is no need to do so. Only if you feel your aspiration is increasing, that you are receiving more devotedly, should you fold your hands. But if you feel you are not getting anything more by folding your hands, then don’t do it. But again, not out of insincerity or because others are doing it, but if you feel Guru will be very pleased if you do it, then you should fold your hands. So there is no hard and fast rule. Again, towards the end, when I am looking at each of you individually, please keep your hands folded. When you keep your hands folded with utmost sincerity, at that time, like a magnet you pull from me. Also, when you sing the Invocation, all of you without fail should fold your hands.

When I tell you to fold your hands, I am not the one who gets your devotion. Never, never! If you fold your hands, I don’t get a cent of devotion. But your physical mind is convinced. The reluctant, unwilling, stubborn physical mind becomes devoted. At that time, the whole being, the entire physical being becomes devoted. Devotion is like a magnet; it pulls Light from me. If you want to increase your devotion, then always you should try to do something on the physical plane. Indians are wise. When they see a Master, they immediately touch his feet. If you touch the feet, the entire being surrenders — at least for a second. But even if you can offer surrender for a second, you can achieve something which otherwise might have taken months.

The best way to receive during meditation is through gratitude. You are offering gratitude to the Supreme because He has chosen you to be in His Boat. Because your consciousness is elevated, you are seeking what I am bringing down. Some don’t even see it. Others see it, but they feel they don’t need it. But you see it and you are hungry for it. Others are not hungry in spite of seeing the food; or they are hungry, but they don’t want to eat the food which the Master wants to supply. In your case, you are hungry and you have recognised the fact that there is someone with food. And who created your hunger? It is not you who created it. The person with the food has created it in you. So you are grateful to the person once more. And your gratitude goes directly to the Supreme. It doesn’t go to me, I am just the messenger-boy. It goes to the Source, the Supreme.

Gratitude is always more intense if it goes to the personal God, rather than to the impersonal God. When it is the impersonal form, for a fleeting second you get joy. You feel your oneness with the Vast, but the sweetness is not there. Vastness, immensity, is indispensable; but if the seeker wants to grow into sweetness and feel a sense of delight in his being, then the personal aspect is indispensable.

If you have a high meditation, you should not talk immediately afterwards. You should first try to assimilate what you have received. Once assimilation takes place, it becomes your property. Before that it may disappear. If someone says, “How are you?” he may take it away. But once you assimilate it into your system, it has become yours. Again, it may happen in meditation that while you are receiving, you are also assimilating. So when it is time to stop meditating, it is all assimilated.

In the past, when we used to hold meditations in Manhattan, right after meditation the disciples would go to a restaurant and eat. Everything they had received they gave to the restaurant. Here, at least, the disciples cook and the disciples serve, so we are able to maintain some of the spiritual light and power that we have received. We feel that the soul has received spiritual food during the meditation and now after meditation, we want to offer something to the vital and physical. That is why we have food and mix together. If you leave the Centre and immediately go to a cafeteria, it will be a different consciousness. You have to feel that here at the Centre you have real spiritual brothers and sisters with whom you can mix and exchange sweet words. You speak about innocent things concerning your daily lives or spiritual life. Just looking at one another’s faces, you get joy. This very joy perhaps you may not get from your physical brothers and sisters if they don’t follow the same spiritual path. So when you mix together, you get a little vital joy. This vital joy has nothing to do with the lower vital. Far from it! This joy strengthens and energises your dynamic vital quality. And in mixing together you can all feel true oneness.