Part I — Discourses

Simplicity, sincerity, purity and divinity¹

Simplicity. Simplicity is the soul, and the soul is the direct representative of God. For a few minutes, let us feel that we do not have a body, a vital, a mind or even a heart. What we have now and what we are is the soul alone, the direct representative of God. Please try to feel that you have become the soul. Do not give any form to this idea. Just repeat in silence, "soul, soul, soul," and feel that you have become a conscious and direct representative of God.

Sincerity. We all know what sincerity is. In the outer world, telling the truth is the highest form of sincerity. In the inner world, sincerity is seeing the Truth through God's Eye, feeling the Truth through God's Heart and growing into the Truth of God's transcendental Vision and universal Reality. This is inner sincerity. Now let us feel that we have grown into inner sincerity and that we are seeing everything through God's Vision, feeling everything through God's Heart and growing into God's transcendental Vision and universal Reality. Let us become inner sincerity.

Humility. There are many roads that lead to God-realisation, to the ultimate Truth; but the path of humility is the short-cut. We start on the road of our desire-life. That is the longest road. Then we become half spiritual - half desire and half aspiration. This road is not as long as the road of desire alone. The next road is the road of aspiration only. That road is a very short one, and humility will shorten it still more.

In the inner world, humility always reminds us of what we were previously, of what we are now and of what we are going to become. It was by virtue of our humility that we accepted the spiritual life. Humility is also eager to complete the game.

Each individual has two realities: the higher and the lower. The lower cherishes a sense of separateness from the higher, whereas the higher feels that without the lower it is incomplete. But it is the lower that has to grow into the higher. When we want to grow into the higher reality, we immediately see how far away we are. But if we are really humble in the inner world, then we make immediate progress. Then, when we dive deep within, we see how far we were six months ago and how much nearer we now are to divinity. We also see how different we are from our friends of the past. We are not criticising them; but we see that our friends have not cultivated the inner cry to grow into divinity, into a higher consciousness.

It is humility that cultivates within us the eagerness to know and to grow into our higher reality. Everything is within us. But just because we are humble, the higher reality gets the opportunity to fulfil itself through us. The moment we lose our humility, we feel that we have nothing worth showing, that we have nothing that can be of any use to God. Let us meditate on our sincere inner humility for a few minutes.

Purity. In a broad sense, physical purity is cleanliness, vital purity is an open heart and mental purity is the absence of undivine or unhealthy thoughts. But if we really want to know what purity is, our gratitude-heart can tell us what it is. In the inner world, gratitude is the only purity. It is through gratitude, constant gratitude to the Supreme in us, that we expand our consciousness and come to know our higher vision and reality. If we can sow the seed of gratitude, it will germinate and grow into a tiny plant and then into a giant banyan tree. Then, under this huge banyan tree, in our gratitude-heart thousands of seekers will be able to take shelter and grow into their own divinity.

Our gratitude-heart is the pioneer-seeker, the path-finder, the God-server. For a few minutes, let us feel that what we are and eternally will become is nothing but a gratitude-heart.

Divinity. As we all know, a flower signifies beauty. Beauty is simplicity. Beauty is sincerity. Beauty is humility. Beauty is purity. Beauty is divinity.

What is divinity? It is the supreme form of art. It is the Supreme Art within each individual, created for God's sake. Unless and until we have discovered this truth, we shall not be able to become inseparably one with God's Will. If we do not become one with God's Will constantly and incessantly, then the animal and the human in us may forgive us. They can forgive us because they are not constantly crying for divinity. They say, "You tried and you failed. It is a difficult task, so whatever you have done is enough. Whatever divinity you have attained is more than enough for us." God Himself will undoubtedly forgive us as well, because He is all Compassion. But the evolving divinity within us will not forgive us. Our own soul inside us will not forgive us. Our inner mounting flame, our utmost sincere cry, will not forgive us. It cannot forgive us, for to it, forgiveness is nothing short of siding with ignorance.

The animal in us and the human in us are very clever. They do not consciously, soulfully or constantly care for divinity. At times they become one with divinity, but at other times they want to preserve their sense of separativity. But the evolving divinity within us will never find any satisfaction unless and until we can become inseparably one with God's Will. For this reason, the evolving divinity is very, very strict with our spiritual life or inner life, which is our real existence.

The vital, the mind and the body are subordinate realities. The soul is the most important reality. The vital, mind and body are the younger members of the family. The soul is the eldest member, and God has asked it to take care of the younger members as its bounden duty. Unfortunately, the other members do not listen to it. When they do not listen to the soul, the soul cannot manifest its divinity, and it has to come into the world-arena again and again to manifest God's Will.

The soul cannot forgive the younger members of the family when they do not listen to it because the soul has a task to accomplish for God. If the soul allows its family to be careless, then the soul will not be able to fulfil God's Vision on earth. God, out of His infinite Bounty, will forgive the body, vital and mind because He deals with Eternity. But the soul knows that each human incarnation is the golden opportunity to manifest God in and through the physical, vital and mental consciousness. Each second that the body, vital and mind do not listen to it is a missed opportunity. When an opportunity is missed, the soul feels that God-manifestation is a far cry and the road, instead of becoming shorter, is lengthened. Again, each second that the younger members take the side of Truth and Light, a new world of higher Truth, brighter Divinity and more illumining Immortality dawns on earth.

The spiritual life is the life of the soul. We have to become consciously one with our soul. It is only when we feel our oneness with the soul that true satisfaction can dawn in our lives. We can never be truly satisfied with our own outer satisfaction. We can only be permanently happy when we satisfy God in God's own Way. God is our highest Reality. The more we listen to the soul within us, the more we grow into the highest Reality within us, and only then can we be eternally satisfied.

Now let us meditate on divinity, our own highest inner divinity.