Journey of a Master - Satsang Download

Section IV

The Teaching

Satsang

Verily that is whole; this is whole. From wholeness emerges wholeness; yet wholeness remains.
Prayer Verse of Isha Upanishad

The words of the mystics have always been difficult to comprehend. The Bhagavad Gita states that, of the few who have had the cosmic vision, those who attempt to communicate this essential Truth to others are rare indeed. It is not easy to translate the Transcendental Reality into terms of everyday understanding. It becomes therefore a tough, and often thankless, task for the one who makes an attempt.

The idea of an essential Divinity in and through everyone and everything is not one to which human minds can easily relate. But the truth is there have been many persons in every era who have verified the same fact: We are Divine Beings.

Why don't we know it? Because it is experienced in another state of consciousness. For example, suppose there were many people who did not dream and they were the vast majority. So the minority who did experience the dream state of consciousness would report it to the rest of the population. According to the reliability of the reporters, the number of reports, and the similarity of the experience, the non-dreaming population would begin to trust that there is a dream state of consciousness. They might even be open to the idea that it is a potential experience for human beings. Certainly, there would be some who would want to investigate the possibility for themselves.

Likewise, the fact that we can know our essential Divinity has been reported again and again by some of the wisest, most respected individuals in the history of all religions. Each spiritual master, in directing his words to the needs of the specific community that he addressed, gave variations of detail, emphasis and interpretation, but the essence remained the same. To give these reports in a language that could be understandable to the modern educated agnostic was Swami Chinmayananda's mission in life.

The most meaningful and delightful moments with Swamiji were each day as everyone gathered around him—on a long veranda, in a sunny sitting room, under the shade of a tree or on the floor of a temple—to unload their questions on him. Hindus came with not only spiritual and personal difficulties, but with questions concerning their heritage and customs. During these informal gatherings, Swamiji's true genius for understanding life and applying spiritual truths to living shone most brilliantly.

In the traditions of the great teachers of India, Swamiji applied the tenets of the scriptures to the needs of contemporary society. Established in the Knowledge of Knowledges, he could engage anyone, anywhere, any time, to point them to the higher vision. He was willing to use any technique available to push people beyond their petty concepts of themselves: praising or joking, mocking or insulting, laughing or feigning tears. The self-conscious, sensitive ones he praised and encouraged; the egoistic, aggressive ones he cut down to size.

He was always quick to note the idiosyncrasies of the questioners whom he knew in the group and would use his observations to respond with quips and taunts intended to evoke laughter from both the group and the questioner. His sense of humor could be mischievous, but it was always backed with a purpose. When the student's mind was relaxed from the laughter, Swamiji would strike him with an immaculate logic. He thereby brought the student to a higher level of awareness as he cleared each doubt from the web of the mind.

The following section contains a series of excepts from these informal satsangs, or discussions on the Truth. The questions were not from one person, as in an interview, but from different people in the group, who brought up their own point of view, doubt or misunderstanding. Everyone then would wait with abated breath for Swamiji to shed light on the dilemma.

Often in the quest for freedom, we reject the yoke of the do's and don'ts of traditional religions, yet we go to a Guru expecting to get specific, absolute answers—a new set of rules. The Guru is dedicated to addressing the universal Truth and the techniques of reaching that Truth. Then the student must proceed in the indicated direction; the path to freedom is an individual quest.
Swamiji had a flair for serving the ball to the seeker's court and always stressed independent thinking for his students. He gave personal guidance for individual problems, but the time arrived when the student had to take the leap to that other state of consciousness for himself—with no guarantee other than the words of the countless sages who have gone before that he would land safely.

Religion

Question: Swamiji, what do you consider the purpose of religion?

Swamiji: A mature man who has lived his experiences intelligently and has maintained an alert, critical attention upon the incidents of life that he will come to such an inner maturity that he will feel a certain unrest. He has the necessities of life, but not a complete satisfaction. He sits back and listens to muffled questions from within. "Where did I come from?" "Where will I go (as one day I must)?" "Is life an empty and meaningless accident? "Has life a purpose?"

Religion is for this man; it provides assurance and guidance in his endeavor to answer these inner questions.

Q: You make religion sound so positive. But so many injustices and wars have occurred in the name of religion that the mature, intelligent, critical person rejects it.

S: It is true the villainy, cruelty, ambition, madness and even wars have repeatedly reached the arena of life clothed in the cloak of glorious religion. Even today it is a regrettable fashion to go mad in the fury of war and loot, kill, plunder, rape and dishonor ourselves in the name of religion. Thus religion has come to signify a danger signal to the peace loving and the honorable. But this is not religion. What prompts these fanatics to draw out their weapons and murder the weak and the helpless is not their faith in religion, but their own base and low animalism, disguised in the pious robes of religion.

Q: What you say is true, but what about those who are working in church organizations, yet never seem spiritual; that is, they lack the qualities of love and compassion. Actually, they are rather narrow-minded.

S: Remember, I said religion is for the mature person who has conscientiously lived and examined the experiences of life. Of course, the majority never questions the why of the sorrows of the body and the torments of the mind. They just hurriedly discover a new set of excitements and a fresh pattern of distractions to engage the momentary fancy of the mind. They may even turn to God in the usual formalistic religions—visit churches, give to charitable causes or even build a temple. They will even run to their pews on Sunday or go to the temple for daily prayers. But all of these are only a variety of distractions to keep the mind from looking at itself, thereby escaping from its unhappiness.

Q: You have referred to religion as a philosophy which gives the answers to life, yet even in India the majority of the people who call themselves Hindus do not know the Vedanta philosophy.

S: Yes, that is true. Hinduism has in its vast amphitheater preserved and worshiped many ideals as contained in the Puranas [epics], the numerous scriptures including the Vedas and the 1,001 interpretations of these scriptures. All of this overgrowth has so effectively concealed the real beauty and grandeur of the tiny Temple of Truth that today it is hidden behind its own banners.
A true religion has two important limbs: the ritualistic injunctions and the philosophical support. Most of us generally accept the former as religion. But the rituals and formalities are mere superstitions without philosophy; philosophy reinforces the external practices of the formalities and blesses them with a purpose and an aim. Even so, philosophy without any actual practice is madness. Ritual and reason must go hand and hand.

Religion promises no magical change in the nature of the material objects or in the pattern in their various arrangements. The world will remain the same and circumstances will continue to function according to the Eternal Law, whether or not one has spiritual insight. Religion only lends the faithful ones a psychological balance and spiritual poise to enable them to face the inevitable vicissitudes of life.

Q: Then a person who condemns other religions cannot have a true spiritual insight.

S: No. ALL religions have the same goal. Once the individual realizes this goal he can never ridicule others nor fanatically proclaim that his is the only way. Humility, not fanaticism, is the character of one who has realized the Truth. We are all One; there is one God.

Q: How does one acquire the faith that you mentioned?

S: Faith springs from understanding. It is a conviction that grows from understanding. Therefore, one develops it by study of the scriptures and reflection on the ideas given there. As the conviction grows, desire to experience the highest state grows.

Q: Is faith really necessary?

S: Yes, just as it is necessary for any endeavor in the world. You must have faith that the work you are now doing will bring results in the future—at least the paycheck. But faith is already in everyone; even Ravana [a demon king] had faith in his power to gain glory for himself.
So having faith in the Lord; you gain the Lord. It cannot be a vague, wandering faith, but based on a true intellectual understanding of the goal to be reached.

God-Realization

Question: How exactly would you define enlightenment, this final goal of life that all of us are seeking?

Swamiji: Enlightenment is liberation; liberation of the individual personality from the embrace of the world of matter. Give up this sense of the individual "I"; it is the only way to wake up. The truth is we are Narayana [God], but the precious stuff has been rotting in the sense world for so long that it looks like iron. Gold oxidized with sensuality has to be rubbed and polished until it is clean. That's all.

Q: You say that we are pushed around by our desires based on past experiences from which we gained a bit of joy, so we repeat the same situation to repeat the joy. But what about the desire to get liberated, where does that come from?

S: It just happens! After tasting the joys and sorrows of the world, you drop all desires for the world, then divine bliss is there—your essential nature.

Q: So you would consider the desire to obtain liberation is an "okay" desire?

S: True, it is an ego-centered desire, as are all desires. However, this is a higher desire, so you may keep it. When all desires have been removed, it will die of itself because it can not exist when all desires have disappeared. Do you see? Carefully now. All desires are gone. Then how can there be a desire to remove desires? If all desires are gone, you have reached the goal. It is the same with sleep; the desire for sleep dissolves with sleep.

The great Sri Ramakrishna, who had such a genius for telling practical stories to point out spiritual truths, gave this example. You are in a jungle and you get a small thorn in the flesh of your arm.

You look around and find a larger thorn. You pluck it off the branch. Then with the larger thorn, you dig out the smaller splinter. Now when it is removed from your flesh, will you keep the larger thorn? No, you'll toss away both of the thorns. So you use this higher desire as a tool, but, when the goal is reached, you won't keep it.

Q: What is samadhi like?

S: Sama-dhi—the "dhi", intellect, becomes "sama", quiet. At this time the karma drops from you. The world of experience—and therefore the one who experience it—is not there.

It is not in the cosmos, not in a place in the universe. It is a different realm: no time, no place.

Q: Why doesn't the mind stay in samadhi?

S: Mind can never be in samadhi; mind is a thought flow. So your question contains a contradiction in terms. It is like asking why doesn't a living body lie down dead? After you have the insight that Brahman [God] is ALL, the state of samadhi is not necessary. To the God-realized one there is no going in or coming out of samadhi.

With Iswara darshan [the vision of the Lord] comes the true Knowledge that God Is. . . that the I-concept is false. The devotee, in a flash of illumination, realizes the Divine play of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching is also nothing but the manifestation of Brahman. When the ego dies away, nothing remains but an infinite homogeneous Bliss Experience, which is God.

Q: So realization in an actual experience that, no matter who experiences it, will always be the same.

S: Yes, exactly the same. If you stick your finger in the light socket, what is your experience? Will it be different from his or hers? No. All experiences of the finger in the light socket will be the same. But you must do it for yourself!

The Guru has experienced God-realization and his experience will not do you one iota of good. You must contact the Divinity for yourself, the Divinity that is one and the same in everyone.
Remember. The finger must be put in the socket! [He makes a gesture of putting his finger into an overhead socket.] But you want to sit there with your pencil taking notes. "Let me see what voltage did you say this socket is?" "Will it be the same experience if I put my finger in a socket in a different country?" I tell you it is the same—Indian electricity, British electricity, African electricity. It is all the same everywhere. Having experienced American electricity, you will not have to go to India and experience it there. Upon experiencing American electricity, you have experienced electricity everywhere.

Electricity yoga! Yes, you must make direct contact, but you sit there and watch another brave fellow. He approaches the socket, then he slowly. . . and carefully. . . sticks his finger into the socket. "Oh! Ouh! Aah!" he shouts as he is knocked away by the force. Sitting there you think, "This is the secret. This is the experience: Oh! Ouh! Aah!" Then you stupidly sit there and repeat this new mantra—Oh, Ouh, Aah—thinking that it is going to give you some benefit. No, I tell you—never! You must approach the socket, lift the finger, and make the contact. Only then will you know electricity yoga. This is the only way you will benefit.

Q: How can I be sure that there is a benefit? After realization won't I have the same nagging husband, demanding mother-in-law, whining children?

S: They will all be the same, but you will see them differently. Once you realize the Truth within you, you will also see that all the plurality and diversity of creation springs only from that very Truth. Having that knowledge, nothing can ever really disturb you again.

Q: How will I know if I have reached the Highest? Couldn't one make a mistake?

S: Where there is God, there the I-sense cannot be. Where the I-sense is, there God is indeed far away. In fact you will not reach the Highest because you will not be there to experience it. Only God meets God.

Q: Can't you describe your personal experience, so we will know when we have had the true experience? I remember several holy men have told of some cosmic experiences.

S: I have nothing to say of personal experience because it is ridiculous to do so. It is only yogis who claim various experiences en route, not at the time of nirvikalpa samadhi. In Pure Being there is no experience.

Q: But there must be some indication of a realized person. . .

S: Here is the golden rule: you will know "All this world is my consciousness in different forms." It is like entering a dream in full waking consciousness. You have been dreaming, but you awaken from the dream. Then you re-enter the dream state knowing that you are the waker, the person who has awakened. What will be your attitude towards the comings and goings in the dream? In such a position, you are not compelled to do or not to do; you are just being entertained in the dream world.

By no other sign can you say that one is realized.

Q: Once realized; always realized?

S: Yes.

Q: But there are some teachers who do such self-centered, foolish things, even though they seem to have insight that would only come from direct, personal experience.

S: Then it was a partial experience. Take an example: I have lain down on the sofa for a nap and am just going to sleep when the phone rings. I shake my head a couple of times, get up and answer it: "Hello."

Hearing my sluggish, sleepy voice, the caller questions me: "Were you asleep?"

"No, I had lain down, but I had not yet gone to sleep."

"Oh, then you were awake?"

"Well, no. I was not really awake."

"What do you mean, you were neither asleep nor awake."

"Well, you see I was no longer awake, but I had not really quite gone to sleep yet. I was at the doorway of sleep, but I had not completely entered into it."

Sleep is a condition of the mind when it transcends completely into a different consciousness. The transcending must be one hundred percent. It is the same with the Transcendental Experience; you completely merge into your true nature of sat-chit-ananda [truth-consciousness-bliss].

Q: If we are sat-chit-ananda, why did we leave it?

S: You never did!

Your looking for God is like a ceramic vase looking for clay! Narayana [God] says that he is with us 365 days of the year, but we do not recognize him. It is because we are only looking outward at the sorrows in life.

It's a mental adjustment. About face! Look within!

Q: Why do some realize this Truth, while others do not, even though they both seem to be putting forth the same effort?

S: The effort is made at preparing the mental apparatus. If too much will power is used, it is fighting against nature. Neither can there be suppression. Suppression is not perfection. So the mind and intellect are prepared before the actual attempt to transcend them is made. The mental machinery must be carefully adjusted to receive the higher message; otherwise the result will be like one of our Indian rocket experiments. The countdown is complete, the button is pushed, there is a blinding light, and a great mushroom cloud billows forth. When all the smoke clears, there is the rocket still sitting on the launch pad!

In America the rockets take off and in India they make a lot of noise, light and smoke. What is the difference? It is the amount of work and effort that was put into the machinery itself. Not that in India, rockets won't work if they are properly prepared. So it is necessary to have an integrated, pure, disciplined mind.

Q: I have been meditating for four years. I now think that I have been wasting my time because I knew nothing about the Reality you are speaking about in the classes. Does this mean I just have not purified the mind enough?

S: It need not mean that. You have detached your mind from the world of objects, but then you had no knowledge of how to direct it. You have to know what you are searching for to set your course. You are now learning how to take off!

Q: When will the rocket take off? That is the question.

S: When it happens! In the text [Gita, Chapter IX] the teacher indicates what is behind the flux of the world of matter. When you see this unity, that is the first rocketing. The objects of the world dissolve into the Oneness when you reach the higher state; that is the second rocketing. In full realization, you see both modes: the One in the many and the many in the one.

Q: Where does the concept of God's grace fit into the picture?

S: We all have it equally. When the car is going along the highway, it may break down, even though it has plenty of gasoline. Will you curse the gasoline? No, the problem is in the vehicle itself.

Sunshine is everywhere, giving its light to all—the rose garden, the songbird, the mosquito and the garbage dump—without any discrimination as to type, race, color, usefulness. The sun's grace is there, but you sit in your house with the shutters closed complaining that it is dark. Open the windows, and the blessing of the sun will flood in.

Q: Do you experience this divine state all of the time?

S: Experience is of the body, mind and intellect. I am being; I am not experience. I allow experience to exist around me. I am subtle like space, untouched by anything.

It can't be said that I am in it or out of it, but I am never away from it.

The Spiritual Student

Question: When should one begin on the spiritual path?

Swamiji: NOW. . . We exile ourselves from spiritual practice by our own fears. The Christian feels: I am a sinner, born in sin, packed and labeled for sin. This negative mind is in the majority of us. Because we are foolishly waiting until we are good enough, we never begin. So spiritual practices are meant to make us as good as we want to be.

Q: But I mean are there certain qualities that a person needs to ensure success?

S: The seekers must have the necessary courage to inquire. We must not just accept all statements of truth merely because some ancient and learned sage has declared them. Both our head and heart must assimilate any new ideas before they can really be our own. We hear or read an idea, then we must reflect on it until the light of understanding dawns in our own bosom. In fact, only by this contemplative process can any philosophical creed readily reach the heart to guide us in our day-to-day life and its transactions.

Q: But some of us come and listen to you and make an honest attempt to live up to the ideals, but we fail to experience this true Reality that you are pointing out. Perhaps we were not ready for the spiritual path.

S: Certainly, as in any field of study, the candidate for Self-realization also must have certain preliminary qualifications if he is to benefit from discourses on Vedanta. When we hear the grave term—"the four-fold qualifications" necessary for a student of Vedanta—spoken of, we are apt to feel uncomfortable. Upon a closer analysis, however, we shall find that we already have developed these qualities in facing our ordinary life. They now must be refined and focused in another direction—toward spiritual endeavors.

The first of the qualifications is a capacity to discriminate the Real from the unreal, the True from the false, the Essence from appearance, the object from its shadow. Who doesn't have this ability? We are not mere worms and animals. We are a cultured society of men and women who are continually applying our power of discrimination in our everyday life.

The second qualification is detachment; that is, the quality of the mind that enables one to be detached from false and painful things. Do not be frightened away with some weighty concept of dispassion. Who among us doesn't have it? When the intellect has come to a sure and definite understanding, and is consequently fully aware that a given thing is but a shadow and valueless, the mind naturally detaches from it. For example, you marry a lovely princess in a dream. When you awaken you cannot maintain your love and attachment for her. The moment you are awake, you realize your dream-love was a falsehood. This detachment, gained as a result of personal knowledge, is dispassion.

These two qualifications—discrimination and detachment—are necessary for an understanding of Vedanta. When they are present, the other nobler qualities of humankind, which are the third qualification, automatically arise and link up with the fourth qualification: an eagerness to experience your own essential Divinity.

Q: So we have these qualifications to some extent, but maybe they are not developed enough.

S: Yes, now you must apply these qualities to the higher realms of thought. The purpose of the Upanishads and the Gita is to guide us from the outer levels of our personality into the innermost sanctum, the seat of the Infinite, reigning in all glory.

A student of Vedanta will start his inquiry with the external world: From where has the world come and where it will go? Once we understand the outer world, our inquiry will be into our physical body and its five sense organs. To a man born blind, there is no form. To a deaf man, the canon appears to be only smoking, not roaring. In order to enjoy tastes and smells, one needs a tongue and a nose. If we were to take away the five senses, there would be no world for us. That is, our concept of the outer world is gained through the gateway of our sense organs.

Next the inquirer will start to investigate the function of his or her mind and intellect. So step by step, he continues examining from the gross outer world to the subtler realms within. These external coverings can be said to encase the Reality within. Our physical body, with its sense organs, is the grossest encumbrance; then there is the vital air sheath, which consists of the breath and the subtle powers the body uses to maintain itself. The mental sheath is even subtler, then we have the intellect sheath, then the bliss sheath, the seat from which the joy element bubbles forth.

One attempts to reach and recognize face to face, the subtlest of the subtle, the Self. This is the moment of true meditation when the robes of these gross layers of our personality vanish and our true Nature is recognized.

Q: But what if one just honestly does not have the qualifications to understand Vedanta that you mentioned. What can be done?

S: There are spiritual exercises given in the scriptures, such as in the last chapter of Kaivalya Upanishad. After the teacher has imparted the entire Upanishad revealing the One behind the many, a student is sitting there with a blank face, wondering "When is the Upanishad going to begin." He hasn't understood a single concept.

In his infinite compassion, the teacher tells this student, "I am going to give you this one very special verse. You chant it throughout the day as you are doing all your activities, whether you are walking, bathing, eating or even taking part in some sensuous pleasure. You just go on repeating this verse, for it is an antidote for all sins. If you repeat this verse continually for thirty days, it will wipe your mind clean of all its past." The teacher knows that when the student is able to accomplish this exercise he will then have the mental purity to understand the Upanishad.
Q: What about the path of devotion? Where does it fit in?

S: All spiritual disciplines are to make the mind meditation worthy. For the body, you have karma yoga. You do your work with all actions dedicated unto the Lord. For the emotional mind there is bhakti yoga. You give your love to the Lord; only he can return love in equal measure. For the intellect there is jnana yoga. You study and inquire into the scriptural ideas. There is not even one question that the intellect can ask that Advaita [non-dual] Vedanta cannot answer.

Vedanta covers all possibilities, so that the intellect is finally blasted beyond logical thinking.
In the path of devotion when you have the attitude, "I surrender all to him," the Lord comes down to you. In the path of the intellect, you attempt to reach the Lord with your understanding. "I'll do it myself; I'll come to you" is the attitude. But this coming up or going down is all the same. If you are moving closer to the Lord, the Lord is coming closer relatively to you.

Meditation

Question: Swamiji, why is it important that we meditate?

Swamiji: Man is mind—meditation works on the mind itself. Realization is the long-term goal of meditation. You will wake up from the dream of the ego into the Infinite.

Q: But my mind never seems to be quiet enough to meditate.

S: Meditation is for making it quiet. When you meditate look at the depth of silence between your thoughts, just as if they were two waves of the ocean. When you are repeating your mantra, you are constantly looking to that silent depth between each repetition. Even in our daily life, we jump from one thought to another, never noticing the silence between the thoughts. Use any two thoughts; even any two vulgar thoughts will do. The substratum of silence remains the same.

Q: But we are still the observers, that is, we are observing silence.

S: You've been reading too many books. How can there be an observer when there is nothing to observe? Dive into the gap; it is your gateway.

Q: What about the vasanas [innate tendencies]?

S: What vasanas? Who's got the vasanas? You have to go beyond these intellectual concepts. Intellectual study is only for the purpose of finding out that there is a Truth beyond the intellect. In satisfying the questions of the intellect you get thrown beyond it. As the pole vaulter goes over the top, he does not keep the pole. He lets it go.

Just sitting still with the body motionless will calm the mind, at least, a relative quiet. Drop all worries, they will be there waiting for you afterwards. It is just like after you have slept, you wake up to the same old problems.

Q: But some days it is so difficult even to sit still!

S: You must watch your mind during the day. If someone has hurt you or criticized you, meditation will be difficult. Your mind will go back to that situation when you sit to meditate. With intellectual discrimination, you must let the mental bruise go at the moment it happens. Tell yourself that the insult is not true of your true Self; it is only true of the material that hangs around you. Why bother to defend it? Let it go.

Q: If I know the Higher, I don't really need to meditate. But if I don't know it, how can I meditate on something I don't know?

S: All scriptures say God cannot be described, so all scriptures attempt to explain the inexplicable. Even though all use the same words to describe this higher Reality, they are not exact descriptions; they are indicators. You hold your mind in the indicated direction that is meditation. The mind ends.

Q: When should I start meditating twice a day?

S: If my child were to ask me, "When should I eat my supper?" My answer would be "Not now, my son." The very question clearly indicates that my child is not hungry. If my son runs to the dining room and demands supper, threatening to stuff himself with cookies if the food is not served, then I will say, "Son, it is now time to eat." When I hear from you that you have already started an inspiring session of meditation in the evening, I shall send you permission to meditate twice a day.

Q: But is meditation for beginners?

S: No, meditation is not meant for beginners. They will be sitting to sleep, that is all. Of course, the resulting rest may be of some physical benefit, especially to you restless Americans, but not spiritual.

Beginners must strive to make their mind and intellect quiet, calm, serene, single-pointed and sincere. This can be achieved in your daily activities, by performing them with care and attention.

Be a mirror! Reflect everything; keep nothing. No matter what passes in front of the mirror, no image remains. KEEP NOTHING!

Vegetarian Diet

Question: This may be a trivial question, but. . . Is vegetarian food essential for the spiritual path?

Swamiji: First of all, no question is trivial. If it is a question that is bothering you, it is an important question to you. It is therefore important for the teacher, since his job is to help you discover and solve your own misunderstandings. If he brushes aside any sincere question as trivial, he is not doing his work as a teacher.

This is not a license for the student to sit down and manufacture questions. You should first think about your doubt and crystallize it is your own mind. In this way, many times you find the answer within yourself. If it does not surface, you should not feel shy about asking the question.
Now, to return to your question about diet. It is not essential that you eat only vegetarian food for your spiritual evolution; however, the experience of many seekers of Truth indicates that vegetarian food helps in keeping the mind balanced for contemplation.

Q: So it can be an aid in attaining peace of mind?

S: Yes. Food has certain effects. Not only is our physical body built and maintained according to the food we eat, but out inner nature is also conditioned by it. The gross part of the food produces the energy for the physical apparatus, while the subtle part contributes to our thought energy.
When you have a nightmare, the first question the doctor will ask is "What did you eat last night?" Rich, spicy, hard to digest foods produce mental roaming and confusion, which manifest in wild dream thoughts. Also, it is a long established practice in all the religions to fast for a period to enhance meditation power. No food; no thought. It is a technique to get a sample of the meditative state.

If on a particular day you are having a difficult time controlling the mind, eat fruit on that day. Test for yourself what the result is.

Q: It does say in the Gita that to have a sattvic [pure] mind, one should eat sattvic foods that increase strength, health and life force. So it would seem that we should make the effort.

S: Yes, the diet can be used as a means of self-control and discipline. As you progress in spiritual contemplation, you will become more sensitive to life—all life in all forms. One day as you are looking at a piece of chicken floating in a bowl of soup, you may suddenly think: "Hey, this is the same chicken that I was feeding in the backyard yesterday. How innocently it looked up to me as its provider and friend, never realizing the ulterior motive behind my generosity." You may begin to feel that the chicken is accusing you as a traitor—you who have seized it and buried it in your stomach.

Once this type of sensitivity arises in you own mind, you need no explanation of how or why for maintaining a vegetarian diet; you simply stop eating non-vegetarian food. So it is not a question of right or wrong; it is question of your own sensitivity.

Q: [a Hindu Gentleman]: Actually, even Rama ate meat.

S: Yes, so this is your chance to be better than Rama! Several of our ancient rishis did eat meat. They were living in the cold climates of the North, so that was the food available to them in the winter. That animal energy was necessary to combat the cold climate. Now there are trucks carrying food to the mountains and better heating is available, so meat is not necessary.
I must warn you against any fanaticism in regard to food. Religion is not a matter of the kitchen. More important than external purification is inner purification. Sri Ramakrishna put it very succinctly, "If a man loves God, though living upon the flesh of a pig, he is blessed; but wretched is the man who lives on milk and rice, but whose mind is absorbed in lust and gold."

Temples

Question: Why do we have temples, or churches?

Swamiji: Where is the Government of India, please? Is it not everywhere, supporting every one of you? It is a democracy, of the people, by the people, for the people. But to contact the Government of India, one has to go to the offices in Delhi, even though the Government of India reaches all corners of the country. In the same way, God is everywhere—all pervading—but if you want to contact Him, run to the nearest temple.

Q: So if you are not able to find God everywhere, that is the place to look?

S: Temples are places where you practice what you have studied in the scriptural textbooks. They are gymnasiums for the mind. If you tell me, "Swamiji, every day I go to the gymnasium and come back, but my health is still not improving," I will respond, "Go for another six months."

Then if your health still has not improved, I will inquire, "What do you do there in the gym?" And I will know exactly what the problem is when you reply, "Swamiji, I go into the gymnasium and sit down there and watch everybody." Similarly, you may go to the temple, or church, and watch everyone to see what they are wearing and what they are doing. Then there is no chance for your mental ailment to improve or cure itself. You have to go there and apply your mind to the ideal. Remember, it is a mental gymnasium, not a physical one. Surrender the mind in devotion unto the Lord. He will purify it and return it back to you.

Q: Give it back in better shape?

S: Yes, definitely. Lord Krishna says, "Surrender your mind, I will clean it and give it back to you." But we are always occupied with asking God for some solution to our problems. "Hey, Krishna! My father is not well, Make him all right!" "Oh, Rama! Please give me the promotion this time." Our mind is soaked with our own petty problems even when we are in the presence of God in the temple.

A temple is a place where his presence can be contacted directly. Think! A receiving set is necessary to hear the broadcast from Delhi. The sound waves are available in the ether everywhere. But if you want to enjoy the music, you must have a radio and tune in properly to that particular station. The temple is a place conducive for fine-tuning of your mental equipment in order to receive the Divine Message.

Guru

Question: What is the role of the spiritual teacher?

Swamiji: Your individual innate desires are your own personal debt. The total of everyone's innate desires is the national debt. Spiritual teachers function only at this total level. They come in response to the crying of the people for an escape from suffering and for an understanding of the meaning of life. The teacher comes to guide them.

When I point out the direction to the bazaar, you must get up and go. If you sit here and hang on to my pointing finger, you will never experience the joys of the bazaar. When the teacher directs you, you cannot sit there hanging onto his words.

Everyone has to go in that direction for himself; no Guru can do it for him. When you put sugar in your coffee, you must stir it in or the coffee will still be bitter. I am putting the spiritual ideas into your mind, but to get the sweetness, you must stir them with the process of your own independent reflection, away from the support of a teacher.

Q: Is it necessary for a Guru to give us a mantra?

S: If you understand Vedanta, it is not necessary. It would be like a person reading Shakespeare who suddenly asks his teacher to teach him the alphabet.

Q: But Gurus can give some experience of that reality beyond comprehension. There are many such reports.

S: Experiences through a teacher are dependent on the teacher—a tourist visa. But the customs officials are always there at the gate. You are trying to sneak through with your load of vasanas [innate tendencies]. They will catch you and kick you back out. You have to make it on your own. You must become a citizen of that consciousness.

So it could be that the teacher provides the environment so you are able to have some experience to make you wake up. In this way, you will have the courage to start the spiritual practices for yourself.

Q: But how do you choose a spiritual teacher? We don't really know enough to judge who is a true teacher.

S: Yes, that is correct. Students can only measure the divinity of the teacher by their own divinity. It is the same with music or dance. You have to know your subject before you can distinguish who is a master. For this reason Adi Shankaracharya has described the qualifications of a guru in Vivekachudamani.

Today, many who teach do not know the ultimate experience themselves. Many know more of Shankara's commentaries than Shankara himself. He may have forgotten something he wrote, but not these people; they are like tape recorders. Will a tape benefit from the words recorded on it? They never start spiritual practice themselves; they just talk about it. But don't worry, you can still benefit if you listen to their words and apply them to your life and sadhana. The words of the scriptures themselves are the Guru.

Q: What about these new techniques that some teachers have come up with?

S: Avoid them! Sanatana Dharma has no new techniques. The ancient sages discovered the laws of nature with their immaculate logic and sacred inspiration. These laws have never changed and never will. If, in your university physics class, a professor expounds his new theory of relativity, you will listen as if it is a joke, to humor him. But when you take the state exams, you will use Einstein's reasoning, not the crackpot professor's personal theory. If any Guru tells you of his great new technique—"Take off your clothes and dance"—you run!

One year this self-proclaimed teacher has one technique and the next another one. We don't need new techniques. We need only to apply the knowledge that has been verified by generation after generation of sages. The problem is in ourselves; we want things to be easy and fun. That is why we run after these new methods. So spirituality is turned into a pursuit of sensual pleasures. You never improve, and the Guru gets a couple of new cars. What has been accomplished?

Q: In your early discourses, you said that your teacher, Swami Tapovanam, was speaking through you. Was that true?

S: It was a means to keep me detached. The ego is ever ready to jump up and spoil any endeavor, particularly a spiritual one. Therefore by constantly giving credit to my Guru, there was nothing with which to build up my ego. From another point of view, it is true—it is his wisdom speaking through me—his commentaries, his stories. My wisdom is not separate from his. Anyway, all true wisdom is one. . . not mine nor his.

Q: Did you have a choice about your mission of teaching Vedanta?

S: No, no choice. Not on one level. It was not really my plan or my decision. But that is not to say that we do not have free will. I could have said "No" to the urge.

Ego

Question: What about the ego? Where does it fit in Vedanta?

Swamiji: Ego is not a noun, but a verb. It is nothing but a bundle of past actions and reactions. Who are you? Only this record of actions and reactions from your birth until now. So you carry this stinking bundle on your shoulders and accuse the world of stinking. The Lord is only asking you to give this bundle to Him, nothing else. Throw the bundle down and look at the world without this muddy poison. Drop this ego. Where it is dropped, divine experience arises.

The Ego survives in us only so long as we entertain thoughts. Any amount of removing the negativity will not completely cleanse the mind. All dictations from within are from the mind and will be conditioned by the residual desire-prompted thoughts. Even our desire to lead a spiritual life can bloat the ego it we begin patting ourselves on the back at how good and positive we have become.

When all thoughts are dropped, the ego is dropped. Only then the dancer's steps will be in unison with the background music. The rhythm of our actions will be pure and divine if deep within us is the constant detachment from the idea that "I" am performing this action, and "I" am to reap the rewards of this action.

Q: What about the techniques we have in the United States, such as the est Training? There is a definite experience of "I created the whole thing—I am totally responsible."

S: Yes, it is an enlightenment. However, there is no preparation of the mind; therefore, it is not the real thing. It is something gained, an experience of power. This is an illumination of the ego. Enlightenment is never gained; it comes.

Q: I have noticed that many of the graduates of the est Training do not have the love that the scriptures talk about.

S: Yes, look how disturbing they are to others—just like the rakshasas [extroverts] in our Puranas. However, est has enabled many to have the courage to face life and make a success of it. Vedanta is not contrary to having a successful life. Worldly success can be a necessary step. These methods of the West are very useful as a means on the path, but one must not confuse the means with the goal. One must beware of all these new techniques. That is the value of Sanatana Dharma as taught by our rshis. It has been tested and re-tested throughout the ages.

[This afternoon Swamiji was sitting in his cottage in the Sandeepany ashram. He leaned back and looked out of the window at the bright orange blossoms of a gulmohar tree.]

S: We have such lovely flowering trees in our ashram garden. It is indeed nice to look out and see the lovely flowers.

Q: The sight of flowers gives us sublime happiness!

S: Yes. If we cannot find the sublime happiness within ourselves, then flowers are a means to invoke it. Yes, Vedanta explains that these bits of bliss are only a small reflection of the one great bliss, our Real Nature.

Q: If that's so, why do I fog it up?

S: Because that is what that "I" is for. Go beyond the ego.

Q: Is it possible for a Self-realized person to become re-attached to the ego?

S: Yes, there are several examples of it in our Puranas, but the attachment is temporary. When one wants, one can get out of it easily. However, an ordinary individual working in the world finds it difficult to drop the attachment when some circumstance hooks his mind to the lower ego. He must always be cautious of that "devil."

Q: You Hindus are always harping on the ego! What's wrong with it?

S: What's wrong with it? You tell me what's wrong with it! It is an obstacle. It limits you.
Put a wooden beam one-and-a-half feet wide and thirty feet long on the ground. You will walk across it; even bike across it. But raise it to the fifth floor between two buildings and you will not take a single step on it, even if we were to offer you one hundred dollars. You would look down and you would become afraid.

What is it that fears? What is it that inhibits? THINK!

Why is it that in the parlor of your own home you can talk on a subject with your own friends for hours—rattling on until you even bore them. But put you on a platform in front of five thousand people to speak on the very same subject, what happens? You freeze up. You only have to put your thoughts through your mouth; you are only to repeat the same words you spoke in your own home. Such intelligence you were displaying for your friends! But where is all of your intelligence now? You have the knowledge, but when the moment comes to use it, it is not available.

Take another example. A doctor is to operate on his own son. He has performed this same surgery hundreds of times. But the thought—this is my son—comes into his mind along with anxiety for all the possibilities of all the things that might go wrong. Because of his emotional reaction, he is unable to perform the surgery and has to turn the knife over to an associate. He has the knowledge, but at that moment what happened? If it were you or I on the table, he would have taken the knife to us without a second thought. He would not even have imagined any future complications. Later, he could even claim: "The operation was a success, but the patient died!"

To live and act in the world without ego and ego-centered desires is the secret of success. The Gita is a practical manual, an instruction book, to enable us to make the inner adjustments necessary to conquer this universal ego disease. In the Eastern cultures, it has been through an inner adjustment that happiness has been found. In the Western cultures, happiness has been sought by making outer adjustments: continuously rearranging the world with the idea that some particular combination will bring happiness—new wife, new car, new children, new job. It's endless! The inner adjustment must be made so that the intellect is available to do any work, or to face any crisis.

Q: But I do feel like I should do something to improve the world.

S: You improve yourself! That is the real challenge! Wanting to help others—that is ego too. You think you are going to bring the experience of the Ultimate down to the physical reality? It is already here! That is like wanting to go to the moon to bring space back to Earth.

Question: Swamiji, just how do we purify our mind from all these negative tendencies—anger, for instance?

Swamiji: It is as if the mind is made up of soft matter. So, as each thought passes through it, an impression is left on the mind stuff, just like a scratch. Then when similar thoughts are repeated, the scratch deepens into a canal. Every subsequent thought wave has a tendency to flow through that ready-made canal. So if the canal is made up of good thought waves, then a good character is maintained and strengthened by the subsequent thought waves flowing irresistibly in that direction.

Let us take a concrete example to examine the working of the mind. If you have a tendency to get angry and want to eliminate that tendency you should first feel sorrowful or repentant about it. Then you will have already conquered the anger to some extent. If you merely suppress it, the potential pent-up anger will come forth at a later date.

But, if you are intelligent, you will divert that anger—energy into some profitable activity. You should not succumb to the anger-weakness by meekly saying, "It is on account of my karma."
Carve out a new canal in your mind with continuous good thought waves. Repeat to yourself: "I love all. I am very, very tolerant." Go on repeating the self-suggestive thoughts: "I am kind. I never get angry. I am always tolerant." Afterwards, in a very short time, you will observe that you have no anger at all in your mental make-up.

So first, you must recognize your mental tendencies (vasanas). Be fully aware of your weaknesses. Man is mind. Personality is the very composition of the mind. Because of these vasanas of the mind, we live in a state of constant reactions to the outer objects. The quality of one's experiences depends upon the mind that is brought to the circumstances. The mind is what it is, only as ordered and set by the various impressions it has gathered in its various transactions in life. Thus, when we have purified and chastened the motives and thoughts in the mind, we have purified our mind.

Q: What is the role of truthfulness that spiritual teachers often emphasize?

S: The path to Truth is laid with truth. When you lie, there is psychological split caused between the mind and the intellect. For example, because you are feeling lazy, you call the office to say that you are sick. The intellect knows one thing, yet is hearing another. This causes a self-cancellation, so that when the intellect states something, the mind says the opposite. Eventually when you desire something, the opposite happens. Mind and intellect are to be your servants, but they must work together to produce the desired results.

Q: When I set a goal, life seems to set up obstacles to make it difficult.

S: Yes, life can test you to see if you really mean it. You have decided to study hard and achieve the high grades you need on your exam so that you will be admitted to Madras University. As soon as you have determined your goal, a cousin's wedding comes, friends drop by, free movie tickets are offered—they all come to take you off course. You have to say, "No, this week I'm studying, next week I'll be available." You must connect with that goal and always keep it in your mind.

Q: It seems like many times when I am wanting something very much that it doesn't happen. Then when I say to myself, "Never mind, I really don't need it," what I wanted comes along.

S: Your mental energy must have been tied up; you were too tense. When you decided that it did not matter, the mind relaxed so it could do its job.

The mind is your servant. But we don't treat it like one, so it becomes the master. When I was in college in Lucknow, three of us were living together in an apartment. We decided that if we pooled our money we could easily afford to have one servant between us. We found a suitable person and hired him.

On the first morning, one of my roommates arose and asked the servant to draw him some warm water for a bath. Then, as the servant was heading for the bathroom, I, having just discovered that I was out of cigarettes, came out of my room, handed him a rupee note, and told him to run down to the corner for some cigarettes. There he was—stuck halfway between the front door and the bathroom—not knowing which way to turn, when the third fellow emerged from his room.

"Quick, get me some breakfast. I'm late for my class!" he ordered the servant. Now what could the poor fellow have done under the circumstances? He could only quit—he walked out on us!

In the same way we are constantly giving too many, and often conflicting, orders to the mind. That is why you must pick your goal, give the mind its orders, then go quietly about your duties until it has time to get the assignment accomplished. So relax, this is what you did not do.

Q: It seems like whatever one is doing, but particularly when attempting to practice a spiritual life, the attitude of the mind is crucial.

S: Yes, keeping the mind in balance enables its best performance in the outside world, while at the same time it lessens accumulation of agitation that make spiritual practices difficult. Spiritual devotion is the easiest method for maintaining a balanced mind throughout the day. Do your work in a prayerful surrender to the Lord. This is the best method for a peaceful mind, whether you are a Christian, Moslem or Hindu. Tune your mind to Him, then the knowledge, that you have will flood through you. Everything you do will have a special beauty.

In this complex world, mind becomes confused, then becomes overwhelmed and agitated. It needs an anchor to hold on to. Surrender to a higher ideal, silently. No need to tell anyone what you are doing.

Q: My mind never stops running. What can I do?

S: Mind does not stop because it is the mind. Mind is a thought flow. If it were to stop-no mind.
If it runs out all over the place, tell it, "never mind." If it still keeps running, let it run while you watch what joy it really receives. When it gets bruised and sad, tell it with the intellect: "Didn't I tell you there was no real joy in it! But I let you see for yourself."

As it gains more and more joy from the spiritual life—the reflection on the wisdom of the Upanishads and meditation—the mind will seek pleasure less and less in the outer world. The gap between the intellectual knowledge of what you should do and the actions of your body depends on your own innate vasanas. Until you have understood the true values of life, do not trust the mind. You have been leading a sensuous life and your mind has had the upper hand for many years; it will justify any behavior for you. This devil-mind can speak as the voice of God. The true inner voice must be cultivated carefully.

Question: Swamiji, are you able to read our minds?

Swamiji: God forbid! Who would want to waste their time raking through the garbage in your minds?

Q: But there are times when we have a question in our minds and you do answer it, either in the satsang or the lectures, even before we have enough nerve to ask it.

S: Yes, that may happen. That's the way the universe works. When a lesson is to be learned, the appropriate situation arrives.

A question is there, then the answer comes.

It's not from an effort or some trick on my part; I'm an instrument. Sometimes the solution could come from a stranger on the bus. But because I'm a Swami, everyone thinks I'm using some special power. Because of a strong desire of some student, the answer spontaneously manifested through me. It just looked like reading of the mind.

Q: What about the times when you say something and it happens that way? It does appear as if you do know the future.

S: I mentioned something and because it happened to correspond to your desires you all got together and accomplished it. Think of how many times I have suggested projects that no one has carried through.

Q: But miracles can happen. What about those yogis who can levitate, be buried alive, all sorts of far-out things?

S: There was an incident between Sri Ramakrishna and one of his disciples. It seems the disciple came to him one day proclaiming: "Master, Master. I have learned to walk on water. It took me three years of constant concentration and work, but I have mastered it." Of course, he was expecting some great complimentary words from the master.

"Fool," replied Ramakrishna. "You can get across the river by paying only a nickel to the boatman. If you had spent that same time and concentration on investigating who you truly are, you would now know your divine birthright."

For one who knows there is no creation—why would he bother to manipulate the creation?

Question: Swamiji, why did God create this world?

Swamiji: What world?! What makes you think I see the same world that you do?

Q: Well, I don't know about that. But there is a creation here. Why?

S: This is an incorrect question, yet you are not the first to ask it. Even in the Upanishads, it has been asked again and again. "Why" is never answered in scientific inquiry. Science inquires into the how and what of things and phenomena. Why gravitation force? Why electricity? Why this earth? Why the sun? These questions are never answered by science. To question "why" is to question the motive, and motive hunting is not the job of science.

My advice to you is to write this question on a piece of paper, go straight to God, and ask him why He created this world! I guarantee you that when you are there you will not remember this doubt! Any question about God and his motives assumes the existence of a questioner different from God. When the seeker reaches that state of God-consciousness, this world is no longer seen as different and separate, as something to be understood—the question and the questioner disappear along with the entire world of creation.

Q: That is very difficult to comprehend.

S: Think! It is a change of consciousness. It is like in a dream when you don't know you are dreaming. You form your dream experiences from your mental impressions gathered in the waking world. As a dreamer, this dream world of various joys and pains is very real. Suppose the dreamer wants to know why all this variety exists in this dream world—why these misgivings, these sufferings, these confusions? The only answer to give him is: "Wake up and discover that the entire dream creation is in your mind alone. Realize that you are the waker!" Once awake, the waker realizes the total unreality of the dream world.

In the same way, this waking world of plurality is like a dream of All-Consciousness. Once you realize that you are nothing but the Supreme Consciousness, which is One-without-a-second-one, this creation with its questions and answers dissolves itself.

Since this question "why" is a most speculative region of thought, no final answer can be given. One hypothesis is that the creation is a consequence of God's nature as love to provide a new quality of consciousness. The creative activity of God includes embryonic beings, you and I, having a simple consciousness, even though we are still infinite and eternal. The maturing of these beings, so that they come to know their inherent divinity—it is already there, but they do not know they possess it—could be the basis of the whole cycle of creation.

How can they know their Infinitude if they do not know the finitude? How can they know the meaning of Immortality if they do not know mortality? How can they know Omnipresence if they do not know limitation? This very special knowledge of their true nature has to be won by a process of descent into the prison of space and time. Then there is a gradual ascent, in which Knowledge and ultimately Omniscience, is won.

Q: But how did this creation happen?

S: When someone asks me how it happened, it clearly shows me that they are not yet fed up with life and are not ready to come out of it. There you are helplessly flogging around in a cesspool and you are wondering, "Who pushed me in?"

"How did this cesspool get here anyway?" you question me. You get out of it first! Then you won't have to worry about how you got in.

Q: But the Hindu scriptures do explain creation, don't they?

S: Yes, there is the explanation of the process: there occurred a grossification of elemental material from space, to air, to fire, to water, then earth. The gross only comes from the subtle as a tree comes from a seed. But the question remains: From what raw material did these five emerge?

In our scriptures, there is not just one creation story. Each sage told his bluff story in order to clear the confusion of a particular student. He pointed only to the apparent creation—the creation in the student's mind. These explanations were to clear a particular question and for that purpose alone. That is why there are so many different theories. Adi Shankaracharya claimed that he counted eighty-two different versions in the scriptures. No theory is correct. They were a kind of lullaby to set a mood, to soothe the student's mind. No mind—no creation.

Q: So you could say that they did not understand creation themselves?

S: It's not a matter of understood or not understood. For the realized sage there is no creation. Ask a sage who is unbound how bondage came and you will never get an answer. He will reply, "What bondage? Who is in bondage?" On the other hand, ask a person who is still bound by the world and how can he answer—he isn't out of it himself. So there you are—no answers available!

Q: You say creation is ordered by the innate desires, or vasanas, of those in the creation. I can see how one desire leads to another, but when did the first vasana appear?

S: When? That is an aspect of time. Vasanas are the footsteps of experience—in time. For example, you are walking on a beach by the sea. You place your foot on the wet sand, then you put your other foot on the sand. At this moment, there are no footprints. Only awareness is present, or a sense of "I". Then I raise my foot up and place it down again. This action leaves the first footprint—the first impression, vasana, has manifested. As this very moment, there is something other than "I".

Carefully now. Time has not begun. Time is the interval between two thoughts. Now there is only one footprint impression, so an interval has not yet occurred. So when I lift my other foot and leave the second footprint, time begins. That is why the first unit of time is called a "second," not first.

Or you could put it this way. The creative Power had an urge to create. The first thought was "I", just as when we awake out of sleep, our first thought is "I". Only then do the rest of our thoughts, emotions and objects of our world begin to roll out into existence. In the same way after this first thought of "I", the Lord manifested all aspects of himself. Then He identified with these many aspects. That is the reason we each have the essential Divinity within us.

Q: So our particular creation is unique to us and created by us?

S: Your creation is a play of your mind. Roll it up, carry it under your arm and move in the world as a master.

Q: But the world is so real, I can't understand why you call it a dream.

S: It is not a dream, but when you wake up into the higher level of consciousness, it is like a dream. Whether the world is real or not depends on your standpoint. Try to tell the dreamer in a dream that he is only dreaming. He will never understand. He has to wake up from that dream consciousness.

Q: What about dreams? Are they really helpful in getting insight into one's mental creation?

S: Dreams are regurgitations of the mind. Why would you want to pick through that rubbish? Mahatmas never dream because they have no undigested experience! Dreams come from incomplete actions and thoughts during the day. They are suppressions and reparations that have gone into the mind undigested. There is no need to dream if you consciously and completely face each situation during the day. Neither should you sit imagining during the day, giving power to the mind. If you do something bad, don't go around feeling guilty because of some concept of middle-class morality. Get to the source of your mental bruise and let it go. Until you have the ability to accomplish this continuous mental cleaning during the day, you can complete two rounds of the japa beads with your mantra before you go to sleep at night. This practice will bring up all the undigested thoughts of that day.

In this way, you will go directly from the waking state into deep sleep without passing through the corridor of the haunted house. The brain only rests during deep sleep, so if it spends the night roaming about from one dream to another, it never really recoups its energy to work at its full intellectual capacity. A mind working constantly day and night becomes dull, or mad.
Neither should you bring your dreams to the waking world, there's already enough confusion in your waking life. Forget them. You must keep your mind available for the work you are doing. Have you noticed dreams are always remembered by idle people? "I dreamed I had an accident; I keep remembering it," you tell me. You have more faith in the dream world than this waking reality. So have an accident in your dream, but don't bring it into this level of consciousness!

Q: But life is such circus! I can't accept that it is my creation—it really has no sense so it.

S: You only have one life. Why don't you live it like a king? You call it a circus, but it's all for your enjoyment. Why don't you enter the show with a front-row ticket whenever you want? You can sit there in your cushy box seat with popcorn, cotton candy, Coca-Cola and watch the show-your creation. Then get up and walk out whenever you want! But if you are the buffoon, always going around like a clown, everywhere you go will be a circus.

Enjoy life! But step out of it to the peaceful environment of your inner Self whenever you like! You are the master!

Question: Where did evil come from?

Swamiji: In the beginning there was no evil. God did not create evil—it was man's contribution. Evil is equal to selfish, self-centered actions. The moment you feel that you are only a separate individual functioning in the world for your own happiness, any activity you perform will be poisoned by selfishness.

All the great religions of the world-all of them-declare that there is a greater intelligence that created the world. But none of them have any answer when you ask: "If God is perfect and beautiful and he created the world, where did evil come from?" No religion in the world has a convincing answer. They would say it is the Devil's work, as though there are two forces in the Infinite: one is a good and the other is bad. In such crucial points Adi Shankaracharya's contribution in logical analysis has been most satisfactory. Even today the most scientific of men find it convincing.

His theory is that creation is only a projection of the mind. The Infinite ever remains one-the eternal Existence "is" as it always has been, is and will be. Although the changing phenomenal universe is only a projection of the mind, it appears to the mind that this world of plurality is real. The convincing arguments by which Adi Shankara induces the seeker to reject the names, shapes and forms in the search for the subjective essence and reality are spectacular. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence who follows Shankara's logical method cannot help but be convinced.

Adi Shankaracharya was extremely practical; he gives a relative reality to this world. Using the ocean as a model, he points out that its waters include the constantly changing waves that rise and fall against each other and crash on to the shore. Yet beneath the moving waves abides the pure water from which the waves rise, which supports the waves, and into which the waves disappear. The changing surface and the changeless depths are all intrinsically one essence.

In wisdom alone can this oneness be recognized. It can not be comprehended by our sense organs. We can only observe the waves on the surface of the ocean. However, when we contemplate the fundamental substratum of the ocean, we come to realize that it is only water itself that lends existence to the multiplicity of waves, their thunderous roaring, and the froth and foam produced by their clashing. They are all only expressions of the very dynamism of the silent columns of waters that constitute the depth of the ocean.

Q: You have said in class that sin is nothing but agitation in the mind. If I kill somebody and it does not leave any turbulence in my mind, does it means that I have not sinned?

S: If I kill a person I am branded a murderer; I am arrested and punished. But if a doctor kills a person during surgery, he is not arrested. Why? In the case of the doctor, the killing was attended by the motive to save a life. The action born of the desire to serve another does not leave any agitation in the doctor's mind.

If you kill someone, it will be out of some self-centered motive; the fellow was wanting your girl, or disturbing your peace, or destroying your property. The motive makes the difference.
In fact, sin is the measure of the angle of deviation between the desires of the mind and the intellect's best judgment. The intellect chooses what is right and points out what is wrong. But if the mind is not synchronized in agreement with the intellect and follows its own inclinations towards the purely pleasurable, then the actions that follow will be the complete opposite of the intellect's advice.

Q: Knowing what is good, why does man go on and do the opposite?

S: There are two separate distinct paths in life: shreyas [good] and preyas [pleasant]. Man is confronted with the choice of pursuing one of these paths at every single moment of his life.
The path of the pleasant, as the name suggests, pleases, fascinates and entices us. It caters to our sensual nature, and, therefore, produces immediate pleasures. Ultimately, these trifling satisfactions will putrefy into ripples of disappointments and sorrows.

In striking contrast, shreyas is detested by the mind in the beginning. Even so, since it is based on sound religious precepts and injunctions, it leads to greater happiness and a genuine sense of fulfillment. We are mature people who have tasted life, and know the path that leads to a fuller happiness. We must live these convictions.

Q: So if sin is the deviation between the desire of the mind and the conviction of the intellect, then desire must be the culprit. How do we get rid of it?

S: Desire. . . The wavering of the mind, expressing as an uncontrollable impatience to gain something is called "desire." This desire is the very devil in us that compels us to compromise with our own values and tempts us to perpetrate sins. The greater the desire, the stronger the power of the pull toward the sinful and the low. Whenever the mind's instinctive cravings are not synchronized with the intellect's discriminating ability, there will be turmoil and sorrow. So desire enshrouds our wisdom.

Q: So you could say that the path of the good is the realm of the intellect, and the path of the pleasant is of the mind?

S: Yes, you would be correct. So how can a true integration between the mind and intellect be brought about? Only by surrendering this ego, with its sense of ME and MY wants, to a higher goal or ideal maintained by the intellect. This merger and harmonious integration is called yoga. Only when the mind and intellect join together in accord does peace prevail, only then does man become fit for the contemplative flight, which transcends both these mental instruments.

Q: What about those times, when in spite of one's intellectual convictions, one just cannot control oneself. We are just bound and determined to do something that we know will cause sorrow, but seemingly cannot help ourselves?

S: You take the attitude that it is just an experience to teach the mind its lesson; you stand back observing as an uninvolved witness. Afterwards, when the mind starts its whimpering over its pains and disappointments, you just tell it that you gave it what it wanted—now it can just suffer. You have no sympathy for it whatsoever! You are the observer of the drama.

Q: You say that God is within us, so every action whether it is bad or good is done by God. Why then are we punished?

S: We are punished because we are not performing the action with the full realization that the Lord is acting through us. God can only do divine actions. Divine actions can have no bad reactions, which you call punishments.

Bad actions are done when the actor is motivated by likes and dislikes, selfishness, lust and greed, which are attitudes that develop as a result of ignorance of the fact that the Lord resides within each of us. When you act as a separate egoistic entity, you are punished. When you surrender to the Lord in you, and thus allow the Lord to act, there is no punishment. Kill this little "I" and live, see, think and act as the great "I". All actions preformed by such a perfected agent of action can only be divine actions.

Also, your question contains a contradiction. You say that every action-good or bad-is performed by the God in you, and in the very same breath you wonder why you are punished? If God is the doer, why not accept that God is the one who is punished? Shouldn't the one who performs the bad actions be the one who is punished? In self-surrender, when the ego is completely eliminated, there is neither an independent actor nor sufferer in you. Then only is your proposition that God is the doer true. This conclusion can be verified by your experience, when in self-surrender, you have completely eliminated the ego.

Question: Is God responsible for all? How can there be such a character? I can't buy that this creation is all a cosmic joke. From where I'm sitting, it's not that funny!

Swamiji: When I am driving a car, there are two forces: a blind force of gasoline and the discernment of the driver controlling and steering the vehicle. Now when the driver drives at 80 miles per hour on these terrible Indian roads, he will of course go off the road and crash into a tree. Can we say that the crash is the responsibility of the gasoline by the grace of which the car was moving?

In the same way the Life Principle gives us life, but what we do with it is up to us. If we are wanton, useless fellows, the life energy curses us. If we evolve to know the Truth, the life energy blesses us. So force is the same, we are free to do what we want with the energy—it's up to us. It is self-effort based on free will.

Q: If it is true that the reality is only the Pure Infinite Self, why are we here?

S: Everywhere I go I hear this question, especially from you teenagers. And I myself must have asked this question of my teacher a hundred times. It is a natural, logical doubt. If there is a kind, all merciful Lord and the total phenomenal world is projected from that Lord, then why are we suffering in it? The general answer is that the question is wrong; therefore, the answer is not available.

The other day a friend and I were going along the road talking of the latest politics and the upcoming elections—the topics of the day—when somehow the subject moved to philosophy. "I wonder why we are here in this world," my friend mused and I could not answer him.

As we were walking alone we came to a movie theater that was playing the latest film. When I saw it, I asked him: "Have you got enough money for a ticket?" Since he replied "Yes," and I also had enough money in my pocket, I said, "Oh, boy! Let us go to the movies." We purchased our tickets and entered the theater.

The movie had already started, so we did not have to wait in line. When we stepped inside the theater, we found ourselves in utter darkness. The usher approached us and looked at our tickets, then with only a pencil of light he carefully guided us down the steps to a particular corner where he pointed to our two seats. We sat down. My friend was very interested in the film; therefore, he started looking at the picture and getting lost in the drama. Remember, this is the same fellow who was just asking: "Why are we here?" When he was fully engaged in the plot, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, friend, why are we here?"

Who compelled us to go to the movie theater? Isn't it a fact that if we, in the movie theater, remember the world outside, we cannot enjoy the movie? We must completely forget home, husband, wife and children. If there are lights in the theater, neither will the film have any meaning. Think of it: it must be in ignorance, in total darkness, that we sit down and watch.
Now 873 people are there in the theater on that day. Do you think that all of them are seeing the same picture? Some are there to enjoy the plot; others for the beauty of the scenery; others are interested in the gorgeous costumes the actors are wearing; still others want to observe the techniques of photography. Distinctions are made: some identify with the hero, some with the heroine; another is getting excited because the murderer is going to murder. Each observer, according to his personal interests, interprets and appreciates the picture.

Now the more I ask my friend, "What are we doing here?" the more he tells me, "Keep quiet!" He doesn't want any disturbance at all. Again I ask him: "Why? Why are we here?"

It can only be for two reasons. Number one, we go to the movies for entertainment. So for our enjoyment, we go to the pictures. Or I may go to the movie if I feel that I may study something that I don't know—to learn something. Enjoyment and education are the only two reasons that you go into the dark place called the movie theater. You pay your hard-earned money voluntarily!

Once you are watching the movie, you may realize that the picture is boring, or it is filthy. You accept that you were fooled by the colorful advertisements. My friend, you have the right to get up and walk out. Under the Constitution you have all the freedom to get out of the show—at any time. But none of us will go! Even if we leave, we will just get a cup of coffee and a tasty cake and come back for the next show. We don't want to miss anything!

Fun and learning, these are the two things for which you and I have come here. We have come voluntarily; nobody has pushed us. You thought it would be a wonderful experience, for "I" am Infinite, Eternal, Immutable. What is the use of this power? I will express myself and make myself into many.

So you look at the wide screen of life and go on imagining-lovely pictures. There is only a blank movie screen. Nothing is moving; only images, coming and going, produce the illusion of movement.

The more you think about it, the more you realize probably this is the reason there is so such fascination for movies. They duplicate what we are doing every day. We generate image after image. "This is my enemy number one." "This is my beloved." And within six months, "That beloved is now my number one enemy, and that enemy has become my beloved." These projections and subsequent agitations occur because the Truth is not known.

Q: So that is why the word karma just means action—the apparent action that keeps the show going?

S: If there is no desire, there is no action. If there is no action, there is no fruit, or result, of an action. Neither is there an actor to receive the result. Only when you put yourself on the level of "I did this" and "I did that" do you pull yourself down into the web of cause and effect.

Stand above it. Observe consciously and alertly the play of nature. Don't worry, the world will play on without you!

So our actions will have but two motives: first, by doing something, I hope to gain a reward; or by not doing something, I plan to miss a punishment, that is, to avoid some suffering or pain. Don't forget even meditation is karma, an action; meditation also drops away.

Q: What about the practice of karma yoga for spiritual evolution?

S: When I put a pinch of salt in a tank of water, it will have no salty taste. When I am acting only for the sake of myself and my wife, then the bond of karma is stronger; if I am acting for sake of the nation, then desire gets diluted. Eventually, even the desire for working in the nation will drop away. Just as when I maintain a desire for sleep in my mind, I automatically drop all other desires and go to sleep. The desire for sleep ends in sleep.

Karma yoga is a practice to exhaust the innate vasanas. There is less agitation if I am thinking of my nation instead of my family.

Q: How do we know there are these vasanas?

S: How do I know everyone has different tendencies? I just ask each one in the room to write down his three greatest desires. They will all be different. The swami wants an ashram. The teenager wants a motorcycle—his desire is to make some noise and attract attention. [Laughter] Yes, it's natural desire for a teenager.

The Lord says, "Don't blame me! I'm only the contractor; you gave me the blueprint." If you complain about your life, He'll just pull out the blueprint and tell you, "Sir, I did it according to your plan."

So you have to change the blueprint. That is self-mastery.

Q: Swamiji, what about accidents?

S: There are no accidents. For each effect there is a cause. Sometimes we do not immediately recognize the cause, but if we examine the situation carefully we will see there was a unique series of incidents contributing to every accident.

One bright, sunny morning Mr. Rao and Mr. Bose suddenly met each other in their respective vehicles at the southwest corner of Connaught Circle precisely at 10:06 a.m. The attending officer called it an accident. But was it? Upon examining the evidence, we note that Mr. Rao had slowed down to admire a beautiful girl on Park Street or he would have been past that spot at 10:06 a.m. Whereas Mr. Bose was happily driving along, singing cheerfully, when he realized that he was late. He pressed the accelerator, thus arriving at the intersection exactly at that time. Actually, their meeting at that precise moment was the result of a hundred such incidents, Mr. Rao's wife did not serve breakfast on time, Mr. Bose drank a second cup of coffee, and so on.

Q: What about when a hundred persons are killed at one time, like in a plane crash?

S: Why do you wonder at the death of one hundred when thousands are dying every minute? It is only because they are not in one place that you never notice it. But when one hundred die together, it will make the newspaper headlines and everyone notices.

Q: Does an enlightened person have karma?

S: I, having committed a crime in the South, move to the Bombay area, install myself in an ashram and live here contentedly hidden away as a swami. However, the clever police in Kerala discover that this very same Swami Chinmayananda, now decked out in the orange cloth of a sannyasi, is the one and very same scoundrel who robbed a bank in Trivandrum last year.
A police officer is sent to the ashram early one morning to arrest me. Upon inquiring at the gate, he is directed to my cottage where he finds Shivaram, my personal assistant, at the entrance. When the officer shows Shivaram the warrant for my arrest, he is obviously shocked, but very politely he asks the officer to wait a moment while he calls me. He comes and knocks on the door of my bedroom and calls out, "Swamiji! Swamiji! An officer is here to see you." When no answer comes from my room, he quietly puts the extra key into the lock, opens the door and slips into my room.

After a seemingly long delay, Shivaram returns to the veranda and assures the officer, "I'm sorry. I'm afraid he is not here."

"You mean he is gone?"

"Yes, he is gone," replies Shivaram.

"Where will I find him?" The officer has added some urgency to his voice.

"Well, he is here."

"You just said that he was gone!"

"Well, what I mean to say is that he is here, but he is gone," answers Shivaram in his meekest tone.

"Let me see him this minute!" demands the officer.

So Shivaram quietly leads him through the door to the bed where lies the dead, cold body of the swami. What can the officer do? He returns to the station, marks "File Closed" on the bundle of records and tosses them in a box.

Laws are for living creatures, not dead ones.

Q: So the law of karma is in the dream too.

S: Yes, certainly. However, the life of the body goes on. The sages have described it as an arrow shot from a bow. Birth began the course of this life. Just as you cannot catch an arrow in mid-air, for it will continue toward its target, the body will not suddenly disappear at God-realization. Certain experiences that the body experiences are referred to as prarabdha karma; they are inevitable because the arrow has been shot and it is heading for its target—death of the body in this case.

Q: So the realized one is not affected. It's all the same to him?

S: That's right. You go to sleep tonight and dream that you are in prison with no decent food, no decent clothing and no decent heating. You wake up. You realize you were dreaming; you know that you are the "waker." Right?

Q: Yes.

S: Then you go back to sleep and go back into the same dream, but this time you remember that you are the waker and this is only a dream. What will your reaction be to the cold and hunger now? You may still groan and fuss about them, or maybe not. It's all the same.

Q: What about this good karma that we hear so much about?

S: Both good actions and bad actions are for your own happiness—I want to help the poor because it makes me so happy—that attitude. An ego is involved. The gold chain binds just the same as the iron chain.

Q: What about predestination?

S: Accepting predestination is fine as a mental attitude-if you accept everything as destiny. But we call failure destiny, and success we call "I". Destiny is what you meet in life; your free will is how you meet it, the attitude you have and the action you take.

Question: Swamiji, what happens after death?

Swamiji: What? Here I am sitting in flesh and blood-at least I think I am, will someone pinch me please-and you ask me about death. My boy, Vedanta is a science of life! [He turns to the rest of the group.] This fellow already knows about life—he has discovered it's useless. Now he wants to know if there is something better after death! [After the laughter dies down, he continues.]

Okay. . . Where will each of you go after you leave this satsang? We will disperse according to our own individual desires, some will go home, some to the coffee house, some to the liquor store. Likewise, when you drop the physical body, the remaining mind-intellect personality will be propelled by its most powerful desires to experience enjoyments not available to physical human beings. The time spent in that particular place, which you call heaven, depends on the punya, or merit, you have earned on earth. When you go on a vacation you stay in a five-star hotel—for how long? You enjoy until the money in your pocket is depleted. Money gone; you return. Punya gone; you return according to your unexpended residue of vasanas.

Q: It is strange. We know that we are going to die, yet somehow we never really believe it.

S: Some people come to me and tell me that they will not do a certain thing, like driving or flying, because they are afraid they will die. "How stupid! How can you be afraid you are going to die? Of course you are going to die," I tell them.

Do you think that by avoiding this or that you will be able to avoid death? We are going to die, all of us—it's inevitable. One of our great sages has labeled it the most curious idiosyncrasy of mankind. Even though we see death all around us, we never think that it will happen to us. Therefore, we never bother to prepare for it. [After a thoughtful pause, he adds with a chuckle:] Everybody goes. Some go quickly and some not quickly enough!

Q: Swamiji, just how is it that the subtle body [the mind-intellect personality] separates from the physical body?

S: Okay, if you insist! But I assure you that I'm on firmer ground when I am talking about life!
Actually, to understand the process of death, first one needs to understand life's processes. You and I are living as long as Consciousness illuminates our subtle and gross bodies. We are dynamic and energetic as long as the Life Principle manifests in us.

After death the body does not function, but not because the supreme Consciousness has ceased to exist. To say that Consciousness does not exist at the time of the body's death is to violate the basic tenet that Consciousness is omnipresent.

At death the illumination of the Consciousness that lends its sentience to the life force in the gross body ceases. This withdrawal reduces the body to biodegradable matter, which in the course of time rejoins its source—the five elements of earth, water, air, fire and space.

Q: So the gross body has been eliminated by this withdrawal of Consciousness, but the subtle body remains. Where?

S: The subtle body is composed of the mind and the intellect. The mind and the intellect manifest as thought flow. A flow or movement automatically implies a direction.

Now think! The direction of our thought flow is dictated by the vasanas left by our previous actions. Thus it is these tendencies that determine the time and place of our next birth when the mind and intellect will transfer to the new body.

Q: My son died at the age of fifteen. Why?

S: Now think carefully. Because of a desire to see a movie, I went to the movie theater. I buy my ticket, enter the auditorium, and sit down. Suddenly I realize that I have already seen this film. Won't I get up and leave? Or suppose that I suddenly remember that Mr. Murthi, who owes me twenty-five rupees, is going to meet me this very evening to pay me. Again, I will get up and walk out.

Now, how do you know whether these fifteen years were all the experience needed in this environment? How often does a person change cars? When he considers that it is used-to a rich man that may be every year, to a poor man every ten years. So when the use of a particular vehicle was accomplished, the child left. He didn't cry at going. No one does. We who remain feel sorrow because of our loss or inconvenience.

Q: Is it true that if you repeat the Lord's name when you are dying that you will achieve liberation?

S: Yes, it is said in our scriptures: Your last thought will determine your next birth, or escape from rebirth. But who, after living a greedy, self-centered life, will think of the Lord at the moment of death. No one, I assure you. It is for this reason that so many Hindus name their children by one of the Lord's names—as insurance. So when you are on your deathbed, you may not think of the Lord, but at least you will call your son to your side: "Oh, Narayana!" But this will not work either, for it is a state of mind, not some words, that the scriptures are referring to.
So the best insurance is to pass your life in contemplating the divine qualities of the Lord and seeing his beauty in and through all of creation. Then you will be sure to think of the Lord at the moment of your death.

Question: Swamiji, is it necessary to believe in reincarnation?

Swamiji: First, reincarnation is not a belief, it is an assumption of Hinduism. Religion must be supported by a philosophy that logically explains what I see and experience around me and its relationship to the Higher Reality. It is not necessary to accept the theory, but how else would you explain the differences, the injustices, that you see in the world. If the explanation for one man being born as a leper's leprous son and another as a king's kingly son be the free-will of God, then God becomes a power-mad, lusty, partial Lord who blesses and curses according to his eccentric whims and fancies. This is against the observed rhythm and order that exists in all of nature.

Q: So reincarnation is a theory to explain why one man is born a king and another a beggar.

S: Yes. Man is a rational being who inevitably seeks a cause in every effect, and expects an effect from every cause. When man sees about him types, modes, kinds and classes without number and observes that the experience of life as lived by two individual organisms is never the same, he naturally seeks a reason for the diversity. A Buddha, a Rama, a Ravana [a demon king]—all had their own individual experience of life, even though they were all sons of their respective royal fathers. Thus to every given set of external circumstances, each entity reacts differently and each undergoes his unique experiences.

When the disparities in life do not arise from any visible cause they must be the effect of some invisible past cause or causes. Thus we arrive at the theory of reincarnation. If actions performed in the past bear fruit in the present as experiences, then we can conclude that we must have had embodiments in the past also.

Q: Why don't we remember any of our past lives?

S: Luckily, through the infinite mercy of God, nature has put a veil on the details of the past. Now, I ask you a question: What did you have for lunch last Saturday at noon?

Q: It must have been some vegetables and rice because that is what I always eat, but I don't remember precisely.

S: So you didn't bother to remember? So when we eat, at that time we enjoy the food. Afterwards we forget because we have better things to do in life than to remember what we ate last week. You are the product of all that you have eaten, but, fortunately, the details are not available. In the same way, we don't remember all our previous births. Thank God that we cannot remember! One wife and the present children are enough of a problem! Can you imagine having the concern of 1,000 wives and 10,000 children?

Although you do not remember all the thoughts and experiences you had in the last birth, the subtle impressions they left are still with you. They have, in fact, provided a motivation or a driving force for another manifestation, another birth as a human. So you are a product of all your past experiences; it cannot be otherwise. It is not by accident that you are what you are, and I am what I am. We are all products of our own past. We Hindus believe in the reincarnation theory to explain these differences. But you do not have to extend the cause and effect pattern back to past lives. You can just look for the pattern in your present life. That's enough.

Q: I am not happy with my job because I have discovered that my boss is corrupt. He is requiring that I mislead some clients.

S: Walk out!

Q: But I have to think of my family. Jobs are difficult to find these days.

S: If you have to work in this environment for the sake of your family, surrender all to the Lord. You follow the boss's exact instructions only. Carry out the tasks assigned to you exactly as he instructed, then mentally drop it. Don't worry about it or talk about it.

If you were really an honest person, you would not have been the one asked to do something dishonest. Corrupt, dishonest people quake in the presence of honesty. If you had been totally honest, the boss would not have had the guts to ask you to do something dishonest. Goodness has a positive beauty about it. Remember, it was your own past impressions that brought you to this situation. Now you have an opportunity to improve your attitude. All is for Him alone, good or bad.

Question: Swamiji, is there really a God?

Swamiji: Those denying God are only denying their own misconceptions of what God is. Some investigation into that which you are denying is necessary, or the denial is useless. This is a scientific age—on what evidence do you base your denial?

It's easy to say you don't believe a "rakatah" exists. I ask you what is a "rakatah." And you tell me you don't even know. It is just some sound.

The word God is only a sound. What does this sound symbolize? That is what each one must investigate for oneself.

Q: What would you say God is?

S: God is Truth. God is that which remains constant in past, present and future; all else is false.

Q: But is God really running the show?

S: If God is sitting and writing our individual histories-all these sorrows and tragedies—he must be a mental pervert. Right?

This idea of God is a poetic point of view; it has no philosophical support. The creator endows the mental and physical equipment and situations in the creation according to your own instructions, so that you can expend your own desires.

The three great Hindu acharyas [teachers] accept the Upanishads as authority. They agree that the goal of life is God-realization, not experience in this finite world. All agree on the path and the goal; they only differ in the relationship between the individual and the Divine. Sri Madhva, the dualist, says that you are eternally separate from the Divine. He is correct: When you are identified with the body, you are eternally separate from God. Sri Ramanuja, the propounder of qualified dualism, claims that you are an aspect of God. You are a drop of the ocean, but the drop can never know the ocean. He too is accurate: when you are identified with your mental self, you are a part of the Whole. Adi Shankaracharya, the preceptor of Advaita Vedanta, declares that you are identical with the one. According to him, you are the eternal, essential Divinity transcending both the physical and mental instruments.

Your relationship with God depends on your point of view. When you are standing on a mountain peak looking down at the temple in the valley, you are separate from the temple. When you go down from that mountain and enter into the temple gates, you become a part of the temple complex. However, when you enter the sanctum sanctorum, you and the Lord of the temple are one.

All three standpoints define your relationship to God. The relationship may change, but God remains the same. We cannot say that only Shankara's non-dualism is valid. Remember that Ramanuja and Madhva also based their philosophy from the same fount of Hindu scriptures. Their interpretations seem contradictory because their philosophies were addressed to a certain society in a particular era.

This elasticity is the strength of a perpetual, healthy culture. A culture cannot be ironbound; it must have the freedom to express itself according to the environment and circumstances in that culture at that historical time. The community must be able to look to the cultural values for solutions to its problems. Those problems will change because the world continues changing.

Each one of us is composed of a physical, mental and intellectual personality, yet our physical demands can be totally different from the needs of our forefathers. Our emotional concerns may be different from those of our fathers; our intellectual aspirations can change completely in each generation. When these internal requirements shift, a condition is created in which the old modes of living in society are no longer useful. Only an efficient, flexible culture can establish a new means of satisfying the current needs in order to generate contentment in the community.

The ability of our culture to accommodate, contain and provide solutions to new problems is the brilliance of the Hindu culture and the reason for its long, long history. This enduring quality is not because of the masters who have come from time to time, but rather the true vitality of the culture has been its capacity to produce such geniuses. They were the means through which the culture was expressed and interpreted to the society.

We at Chinmaya Mission faithfully follow Adi Shankaracharya's logic that establishes man's relationship to the Fundamental Reality, which lies behind the plurality, but we do not ignore the other points of view. Dualism and qualified dualism are necessary because, not only are we to appreciate the intellectual vision of "One without a second one," we have to reach out and go there. This has to be accomplished in our own bosom and we must slowly plod on from our present level.

On some days you may be in a mood of the dualistic type where you feel that God is something to be worshiped. At other times, you may feel that you are indeed a part of God, like the qualified dualists. The moments that we can soar into the heights of non-dualism to personally apprehend the oneness of God and ourselves are rare indeed.

Q: But duality does exist. Right now I am this and That is That.

S: Of course, duality exists. You are observing it every day. Can you deny the nose on your face? When you are at the level of the body, there definitely is duality. Pleasure and pain are in duality. So are spiritual pursuits. When a Buddhist monk sits under a tree to reach nirvana, then nirvana is something other than himself—that is duality too.

Q: But just what is the relationship of God, mankind and the world?

S: It is very difficult to find words to express the exact relationship. Words are finite, and finite words cannot express fully the Infinite. Therefore we must attempt to convey the truth through an illustration, which can only bring forth the principles. Then we have to mentally chew and digest the imparted ideas, so that the illustration may yield its sacred sweetness to us.

The relationship that exists between the individual, the world and Creator is explained by the example of a piece of cloth in which a decorative pattern is woven, like one of the tapestries we use for wall hangings. Now this piece of cloth is made of threads passing in and through it. The threads make up the patterns in the cloth, for example, a family sitting at tea on a long veranda with trees and sky in the background. Now, for the sake of our model, this scene would be equivalent to our total conception of the world, with its oceans, mountains, continents and individuals. The pattern constitutes our world.

Now the existence of this cloth depends on what? Has it any existence other than the thread? If we were to remove the thread would there be any cloth? No, because the cloth is only the thread. However, since we look only at the patterns of the thread, we only see the portrayal of the family at tea on the cloth. But there can be no pattern without the thread.

The thread here is the symbol for the Creator—without whom there would be no creation of tapestry or its designs. Thus the whole world is established by and patterned in the divine principle. If we take away this divine principle, the entire pattern the world would necessarily melt into nothingness, just as the piece of cloth would end if all the threads were to be removed.
Now let us analyze this principle further. What is the cause of the thread? If it were not for the cotton, the thread would not have existed, nor the cloth, nor the figure woven on it. In cotton, the three—the thread, the cloth and the pattern—exist. Out of cotton all the three appeared, and into cotton they return when they perish. The true essence of this cloth is nothing but cotton. Remove the cotton and try to give me a piece of cloth, please!

The all-pervading Supreme Reality in itself has not undergone any alteration. Just as cotton remains cotton; it only changes its form in the tapestry. According to its stage of modification, we give it the name "thread," the name "cloth," then the name "pattern."

Thus the relationship between the created, the creation and the creator is that there is no relationship possible because relationship connotes that at least two things exist. If we sincerely seek the exact relationship between the Supreme Reality and ourselves, we have to conclude that there is no difference at all. Just as there can be no difference between the cotton and the cloth with its pattern.

Another example used in the scriptures is the spider and its web. The spider creates the web out of itself—material of the web is the very substance of the spider. In short the web is nothing but the modified form of the spider itself. Similarly, the Supreme Reality is the lock, stock and barrel of this atrocious looking mechanism of samsara [the creation].

"There is only Reality. Wake up and discover who's suffering!" says the dream guru to his dream student. Then the individual, the world and the creator all merge into that One.