Within us is our goal

In the physical world the mother tells the child who his father is. In the spiritual world our aspiration tells us who our God is. Who is God? God is an infinite Consciousness. He is also the self-illumining Light. There is no human being who does not own within himself this infinite Consciousness and this self-illumining Light.

If we want to see anything in the outer world, in addition to keeping our eyes wide open, we need light — either sunlight or electric light or some other kind of light. But in the inner world we need no light whatsoever. Even with our eyes closed we can see God, the self-illumining Light.

God is not something to be obtained from outside. God is that very thing which can be unfolded from within.

In the ordinary life each human being has millions and millions of questions to ask. In his spiritual life, a day dawns when he feels that there is only one question worth asking: "Who am I?" The answer of answers is: "I am not the body, but I am the Inner Pilot."

How is it that a man does not know himself, something which ought to be the easiest of all his endeavours? He does not know himself precisely because he identifies himself with the ego and not with his real Self. What compels him to identify himself with this pseudo-self? It is ignorance. And what tells him that the real Self is not and can never be the ego? It is his Self-search. What he sees in the inmost recesses of his heart is his real Self, his God. Eventually this seeing must transform itself into becoming.

The other day one of my students said to me, "I can't think of God. My mind becomes restless."

"What do you do then?" I asked.

"Why, I just think of the world."

"Now tell me, when you think of the world with all its activities, can you even for a second think of God?"

"No, never."

"So, my young friend, is it not absurd that when you think of God, restlessness takes your mind away from God, but when you drink deep the pleasures of the world, restlessness does not take your mind away and place it at the Feet of the Lord? No, this should never be. If you have genuine hunger for spiritual food, the same restlessness, or what you may call 'uneasiness,' will take your mind speedily and dynamically and place it in your heart where it can drink the Nectar of divine Peace and Satisfaction.

"To be sure, your mind cannot do two things at a time. If you are thinking of God with an implicit faith, if the flame of aspiration is burning within your heart, your outer restlessness-monkey, however mischievous it may be, will not dare to touch you, much less pinch or bite you. You cannot look with full attention at both your shoulders at the same time. Similarly, when you clearly see your God within, you cannot see the ignorance-tiger of the outer world."

What we have to do first is to see the ego, then touch and catch the ego and finally transform the ego. In the spiritual life, when the ego enters into us and bothers us, we have to think of ourselves as the Brahman, the One without a second, and we have to feel ourselves as the all-pervading Consciousness. Then the ego disappears into nothingness.

We all know that the mind plays an important role in our outer life as well as in our spiritual life. Therefore, we must not discard the mind. Rather, what we should do is be always conscious of the mind. The mind becomes restless, but that does not mean that we have to punish it all the time. If the master of the house comes to learn that his old servant has recently formed the habit of stealing, he does not immediately dismiss the servant. The servant's past sincerity and dedication are still fresh in his mind. He waits and observes unnoticed and unconcerned, feeling that his servant will turn over a new leaf. In the meantime, the servant becomes aware that his master has come to know of his misconduct, and he stops stealing. He goes one step further: to please his master, he works even more sincerely and devotedly than he did before. Similarly, when we become aware of the mind's restless activities and tricks, we have to be silent for some time and observe the mind quite unconcerned. Before long, we shall see that our mind, the thief, will feel ashamed of its conduct. We must not forget that during that time we have to think of ourselves as the soul and not as the body, for the soul alone can be master of the mind. The soul alone is our true identity. At the appointed hour, the mind will start to listen to the dictates of the soul.

Action and inaction. According to the Gita, we have to see action in inaction, and inaction in action. What does this mean? It means that, while acting, we have to feel within ourselves a sea of peace and serenity. While we are without activity, we have to feel within us a dynamo of creative energy. Let us not think of actions as our own. If we can do this, our actions will be more real and more effective. When a servant cooks for his master he does it to the best of his capacity. Why? To get his master's appreciation and favour. In the same way, if we act to please our soul, the Inner Pilot, we shall be able to act most devotedly and most successfully.

Our Goal is within us. To reach that Goal we have to take to the spiritual life. In the spiritual life, the thing that is most needed is awareness or consciousness. Without this, everything is a barren desert. When we enter into a dark place, we take a flashlight or some other light in order to know where we are going. If we want to know about our unlit life, we have to take the help of our consciousness. Let us go deeper into the matter. We know that the sun illumines the world. But how are we aware of it? We are aware of it through our consciousness, which is self-revealing. The functioning of the sun is not self-revealing. It is our consciousness of the sun that makes us feel that the sun illumines the world. It is our consciousness that is self-revealing in everything. And this consciousness is an infinite Sea of Delight. When we drink even a drop of water from the earthly sea, it tastes salty. In the same way, during our meditation, if we can drink even a tiny drop from the Sea of Delight, we shall definitely taste Delight. This Delight is Nectar. Nectar is Immortality.