Lecture delivered at Allahabad on 15-9-1966
I am very grateful for this opportunity of
meeting you all and for the opportunity of
exchanging a few of my thoughts in the presence
of my Master.
My Sadhana, the evolution of my Sadhana,
which started nearly 45 years ago, is an
important event in the life of most of the young
men. I belonged to the First movement of
non-cooperation. My activities then made me
think of our aims, this country's goals-and I
remember arriving at my own axiomatic thought
that through Spirituality alone can this country
be raised.
My very first attention was drawn to the work
of Svami Vivekananda, and naturally to his Guru
and Master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Then
rapidly it was shifted to the thoughts of Svami
Ramatirtha when his books came to me where I
was. I then spent some of my time between
spinning and Yoga. Then I came across 7 volumes
of Sri Aurobindo's "Arya". It was an event of
very great importance. Sri Aurobindo's language
and thought are some of the most difficult for
most people. I read, or rather drank, those
volumes of the 'Arya'. As I said, Sri
Aurobindo's language is very difficult. It is
couched in an obscurity of style, which is
difficult to follow. But not so for me. His
style was no bar to me. I feel even today the
remembrance of those 7 volumes.
Then I went on to study Philosophy in
College. It was my good fortune to have had some
of the most advanced and fundamental thinkers of
those times as my teachers. They also enabled me
to get a thorough grasp of Western Philosophy.
Then Sri Ramanuja attracted me. I spent a few
years on the study of Sri Ramanuja's metaphysics
and his theory of knowledge. In this connection
I must mention one small incident which gave me
great conviction. It is unusual for a man
equipped with Western methods of Philosophy to
do research on Sri Ramanuja. I was attempting
this, and I had consulted an astrologer whether
I would make good headway in my research on Sri
Ramanuja. I then asked him how this prediction
could come true when I couldn't find anybody
even to teach me the Sri Bhashya! 'Surrender to
Sri Ramanuja'-he said! I took him at his word. I
quietly stood up and prayed to Sri Ramanuja to
help me in the work. That surrender had
immediate effect. It was my very first
experience of surrender to a man, and that too
to one who had lived about 900 years ago! He
began to operate immediately, and in such a way,
I will tell you! I wrote my first paper on Sri
Ramanuja after 10 months of research work. A
great savant read it and said "What it took me
20 years to learn, you have grasped in 10
months"-and he added the very important sentence
"You have the Grace of Sri Ramanuja".
Now you see, this was a natural contact with
such a great Seer. Such surrender to a person we
have not even seen is perfectly possible. I
could say nothing is impossible if you can
devote yourself to great rishis of yore by true
surrender.
Later I went on to several other things and
on to other great Saints of South India to get
their guidance.
Finally in 1954 December, at a most important
moment, at a crucial moment in my life, I came
across a book "Reality at Dawn" by Shri Ram
Chandra, who is here, a great personality. I
found in that book a deep and profound
Spirituality and a willingness to experiment.
Unlike the other books and Philosophies, here
was one that was not burdened and labouring
under dogma and other things. It was full of
Spirituality of the highest order.
The system of Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga which
it expounded was discovered, or rather
re-discovered, by Shri Ram Chandraji of
Fatehgarh. It is due to his great Master Shri
Ram Chandraji of Fatehgarh that he (Shri Ram
Chandraji of Shahjahanpur) has been made to
develop and carry out a forgotten technique of
Transmission. This is a technique of awakening
in each individual the spiritual force that is
in him, by transmitting into his body that
highest Ultimate force of the Divine. That was
my first contact with this unique system, and
with Shri Ram Chandraji, my Master.
Younger men are fortunate in getting this
contact at a much earlier age. But the great
thinkers of the past have really contributed to
my make up. They have been responsible for
keeping my aspiration for Reality awakened, in a
state of awakening. Though apparently they have
stated different positions or aspects, all such
differences and barriers are taken away. In my
case I had no confusion, no difficulty. On the
contrary I found an integrative process taking
place, and I could enter into each system with a
wonder that God pervades all of them. That is
what I found. But our difficulty is that one
good system corrupts.
We live unnatural and artificial lives. We
all appear to be something that we are not. We
look happy, cheerful, at least most of us. But
who knows what we are inside where no one can
see us? Most of us are composed of volcanoes,
seething inside, ready to burst at a moment's
notice. Modern living conditions all go towards
such a makeup of man. So what should we do? We
should think of the modern world as a trial to
help us to awaken us from a mentally depraved
mankind.
To rectify this unnatural state of affairs my
Master has said that it can be done by a proper
type of meditation. We must try to become
natural. Normally every struggle to become
natural makes us only more unnatural. If you try
to untie a knot, you only make more knots. To
ask you to get back to nature, original nature,
is a great call indeed.
I can understand why this system by this
great Master is to make every one get back to
naturality. What it means is the Original
condition from which we came down and got
involved in the grossness. The theory is that we
have an Original condition of peace and
equilibrium, but some movements have pulled or
taken us away from that state of Shanti. We have
been thinking that this state of non-peace and
non-equanimity is the real state. This has come
about from our experience of the variegated
phenomena of this world in which we live, a
world full of objects of enjoyment supposedly
created for man's enjoyment; a world of
beautiful things to be acquired, beautiful women
with their vices, handsome men with their
weaknesses; that all this is for man's
enjoyment. Yes! It is a magnificent world! But
then why should it be mixed up with so much
evil, so much corruption, so much misery? This
question is unanswerable, why there should be so
much misery and ills. The great writer Somerset
Maugham has asked this question. So have others.
I don't think anybody has an answer to the sins,
the ills, the injustices, the torture of the
human spirit even at the lowest strata of
mankind. Man cutting man; man robbing man; all
this we see clearly.
Would you consider that this is the State of
Nature? You may remember Hobb's definition that
Man is red, tooth and claw. He is in perpetual
conflict with Nature and his existence is one
long tale of suffering, misery, violence, hate
and passions. The least that is to be achieved
is a rationality under which men will at least
not kill each other. All these experiments in
human associations have been made and are
continuing to be made. But the Psychologists
will tell you where we have got to, or rather
where we have NOT got to.
India has ever been the land of Dharma, of
right conduct, of right action. Dharma is the
Indian way of life. It meant, in a word,
regulation, and so meant our safety. That is
what the Sanatana Dharma has given to us - the
safety of self-regulation. We may still be
maladjusted, ill-disciplined but there was in a
total way, this Dharma, this self-regulation
which helped us to live peacefully and grow with
a little amount of happiness.
If you can share with Thoreau the idea of
living with Nature, you might be able to see how
nature is capable of being moulded to our own
needs for growth and development.
So we have a higher nature, each one of us.
It is to this, the Atma, that we have to address
ourselves to. Please note that no cliches are to
be bred. Our connection should be sought to be
established directly only with Reality, the
Ultimate Reality. I use the word Atman not in
its philosophic sense. In fact I would rather
say higher nature, our Self, for Atman.
It demands harmony, a peace, which life in
Society and in this body hardly provides. Back
of you all, when alone, when thrown upon
yourself, you find yourself isolated, your real
nature comes out. How can I improve this Self?
How can I add to the quantum of this Self and
diminish the attention to lower self? Be
prepared to die for this, or that, or the other!
What is it He wants you to do? Surrender! Let it
be for a great Cause. Surrender to an extraneous
cause is no use. It cannot help us. That has
been amply proved. Then what? Can you die? And
everybody must die. All must die. Why not make
use of it? Put this body to the use of Dharma-of
Swadharma-for nature.
Who am I? The problem is what is that which
is my Self, which I have got, to know. In this
search it is better to be objective rather than
subjective, for you are your own object! You are
not that now. You have to grow into it. Tell
yourself 'I shall not spend all the 24 hours in
looking after this body'. It is only an
instrument -
Sarira Madhyam khalu Dharma Sadhanam
All look after the body. Do, but you are not
doing even that properly. It is also
unconscious. The material is Nature. How to come
to terms with it unless you see true and
original nature, the creator of the organic
body? This is the concept of original Reality,
which is called as TAM by Shri Ram Chandraji.
That or Tam is not a Hindi abbreviation of
Tamas. It is Tam - that, or the object - the
second accusative case of 'Sah'. And precisely
that is 'Tat Tvamasi'-the object. If you know
the object, then identify with it. Then you
begin to draw the sustenance of the Source.
'Tatwamasi' is more important than 'Sohamasmi'.
But let that be. We are not concerned with that
now. But remember one thing, Sohamasmi is
ancient, but just because it is ancient it is
not true, and just because something is modern
it is not false.
You must be led to divinisation of your
nature. If you reach this, then everything
follows. You can develop a Philosophy if you
want. You can have an experience.
But for Shri Ram Chandraji it is a Reality, a
most natural and outstanding reality. It is that
which makes us most natural, most divinely
natural. Now some of you may ask, is it a
philosophical arrival at this truth? How do you
expect us to come into this contact with that
Reality? It is a question that has to be asked.
We know of the Christian concept of the
sinner. Man is born in sin! So they have
baptisms and other things as well. That is the
first thing. Now most of us here are under
another Cosmic illusion - under Maya. Everything
is Maya, we say. In this illusion all problems
are solved! I don't say my ignorance covers me,
is me etc. I don't. How am I eligible? I can't
get rid of this world. It is too much with me.
That is what we say.
But if people are in sorrow and misery, I
suggest you like sorrow and misery and all the
others that go with them. I say if it is there,
you like sorrow and misery and so they are with
you! That is what I suggest. Even sorrow is
pleasant! Whether this is sadism or masochism it
need not concern us. All that matters is you
take delight in it. Mankind is not willing to
give up its sorrows and miseries, or even to
have an idea of the higher. How can religion
help in overcoming this obsession for these
things?
Religion has created idols or ideas. The
mentals worship ideas, others worship
systems-Advaita, Visistadvaita, etc. Concepts
have become opaque to our understanding. Idol
worship is no worse. We have any number of
idols-Sri Krishna has 'said in whatever way you
may worship me, in that way I shall come to you
- To Gopis, a lover; to warriors, a warrior; to
Saints, a saint'. So you could remain what you
are! But while all this is alright, have you
known that gamut of experience that Sri Krishna
was? As Badarayana says, 'You must know me in
the transcendent form Janmadyasya Yatah'. We
must know the history of the great leela of God
in all His manifestations, as the antaryami, as
Virat, in all. Have we penetrated the idols? We
can have idols, all idols, but they are not
amenable to experience.
The real nature is the Transcendent which
alone can give meaning and Reality to our
existence. Idols can be smashed to pieces. Our
conquerors have proved this to us. You may say
you can put new idols in their place. But then
we also know that all material things have to
go. If not today, to-morrow or the day after.
Even Cosmic personalities like Brahma also have
to go. So what remains? Only the Cosmic Spirit.
Who can connect me directly with that Cosmic
Spirit? Because out of that connection alone
there is Yoga. That is what Yoga means.
Connection with the Ultimate, the Tam. Anything
less is of no use to us.
Sri Aurobindo, if I may humbly state, fell
into that error. During my study of his system I
found the weaknesses of the system. Sri
Aurobindo stated that the Supermind alone can be
connected with you. That is the Vyuha form, and
not the Para form. That is what he meant. He
thought the body will be torn away if connected
to the Ultimate!
Now, of course, there is something in that.
We all know the story of Bhagiratha. He wanted
to bring Ganga down to the earth. He went and
prayed to her to come down to the earth. She
agreed, but said that if she came down by
herself the world would be utterly destroyed by
her very descent. Therefore, he had to find
somebody to bear her and transmit her down to
earth. So he prayed to Siva, and we all know the
story of how Siva bore her descent on his matted
locks and led her down to earth. Therefore,
Shiva is taken or represented as the First Guru,
as in the Ramayana. Shiva rolled up Ganga and
flowed her down through his hair.
Shri Ram Chandraji profoundly told me that
Tam can come. What it has made it cannot
destroy, and what it has made, it can perfect.
So don't be afraid. If it could be done once, it
is possible again and again. This connection is
made possible in the system known as the Sri
Ramchandra's Rajayoga. By Tam alone can you
reach the Tam. Nothing less than the force of
the Guru can help. God can be known only through
Himself. He cannot be known through anything
less. He cannot be known through any
intermediary.
"I give them my own body" that is what He
says. 'Not only do I choose the man, but having
drawn him, I give Myself unto him'. That is what
is meant by Grace. Grace - it is a much
hackneyed word - it is a modern cliche. But
Grace is not merely some kind of mercy. It is a
real transforming force as a Christian mystic
put it. It is a real force that is put into your
body, and which takes you up to the 'unground'
of Boehme, the dark infinite.
Well, that is the way. No human being can go
to that point alone. That experience is of such
tremendous impact that every cell and atom of
your being gets transformed and charged into the
movement of that ultimate vibration. I can
testify to that experience in my own humble
life. In the Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga the
transmission of the Master makes Divine Nature
our own nature. Our humanity does not get
abolished, but it functions as the instrument
and organ of higher consciousness. It becomes
dynamic without parallel. That is why this
system is much more significant.
To my mind other systems put the cart before
the horse. They talk of vices. How am I to be
saved from them? I am unfit. That is what the
other systems make man say. They make us
vice-and-misery conscious. But about the abhyasi
God knows. It is for Him to judge. You shall not
be the measure of your own adhikara. We want to
appear to be what we are not. The sinner wears
his sin to prevent God from coming to him. So
also a worldly man. He wears his possessions and
worldliness to prevent God from coming to him.
We say, let me see if I can increase our wealth.
My Master has been able to pick his men from
all strata of society. I say 'pick' even though
it seems to us that we walk in. When we contact
him then a direct relationship, after a
preliminary cleaning, with the Divine is
effected. Thereafter you are taken care of
fully. Your co-operation is needed only to
permit your transformation. You see, conscious
obstruction is easy to handle, but the real
difficulty is with unconscious opposition. It is
possible to have unconscious opposition even
though there is conscious acceptance.
But once Transmission is given by Master,
sooner or later it will penetrate and disperse
the ignorance and tamas of the abhyasi. I say
this in the presence of the Master. It is Sahaja
because it is simple. It is Sahaja because it is
natural, Divinely natural in the human
existence.
Divine man appears to be unnatural, and so we
have martyred some of our greatest masters.
Psychologists will say that such great people
are monstrous mutants, and so they were
destroyed.
But to know the Supreme is to be the most
natural.
Svami Vivekananda said "Indian Religion is
distinguished from Western Religions by the
emphasis on liberation from lower functions of
nature". Westerners have never been anxious for
liberation. They know only one way, the way of
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the great
slogan of the French Revolution. But we find
that this is irreconcilable in the modern
concept of practical democracy. In such a
democracy Liberty is impossible. Equality has
produced more inequality. Inequality was there
always, but in Varnashrama there was organized
inequality. In the modern context there is only
chaos. Liberty is in a precarious suicidal
state. Everybody wants liberty. Fascism,
anarchism, Catholicism, all are agreed on this.
To suppress Liberty and call it liberty! That is
our paradox.
Our Master says Liberation is possible even
when you are in this body. This is in a sense an
answer to Visistadvaitins who talk of Videha
Mukti, in the sense that liberation is possible
only after death, and not during life. Then we
have the Advaita concept of Jeevan Mukti - but
here the soul is free but bound by the body with
its prarabdha and sanchita karmas! Now my Master
tells me that Liberation is possible and
absolute, even in this body. It combines two
things, your function in this physical body with
a higher spiritual function. There is no
prarabdha. And you can feel the Liberation even
now. When you reach Tam you can live in this
body with freedom. Even the body offers no
limitation or impediment.
Sri Aurobindo's statement that we will have a
perpetual body is not included here. Please note
that. But by practice a natural growth is made
possible and peace gets established. You feel
evolved into higher nature. This system of
Pranahuti by injecting the Supreme Force, the
Supreme Presence, the activity of the very
Divine Himself, achieves this.
I have told you a little of my autobiography.
I have told you some of the philosophy and
metaphysics of the system. I have also asked you
to practise it. You can build up this by
striving to attain to this. Please try to be a
Rishi, a Divinised one, with happiness and
Divine existence. All of you can do this.
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