BOOK II
II
SADHANA AND GRACE
D: Research on God has been going on from time immemorial. Has the final word been said?M: (Keeps Silence for some time).
D: (Puzzled) Should I consider Sri Bhagavan's silence as the reply to my question?
M: Yes. Mauna [?] is Iswara svarupa. Hence the text:
मौनव्याख्या प्रकटितपरब्रह्मतत्त्वम् । 1
D: Buddha is said to have ignored such enquiries about God.
M: And, for this he was called a sunya vadin (nihilist).
In fact Buddha concerned himself more with directing the seeker to realise Bliss here and now than with academic discussions about God etc.
D: God is described as manifest and unmanifest. As the former He is said to include the world as a part of His Being. If that is so, we as part of that world should have easily known Him in the manifested form.
M: Know yourself before you seek to decide about the
nature of God and the world.
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D: Does knowing myself imply knowing God?
M: Yes, God is within you.
D: Then, what stands in the way of my knowing myself or God?
M: Your wandering mind and perverted ways.
D: I am a weak creature. But why does not the superior power of the Lord within remove the obstacles?
M: Yes, He will, if you have the aspiration.
D: Why should He not create the aspiration in me?
M: Then surrender yourself.
D: If I surrender myself, is no prayer to God necessary?
M: Surrender itself is a mighty prayer.
D: But is it not necessary to understand His nature before one surrenders oneself?
M: If you believe that God will do for you all the things
you want Him to do, then surrender yourself to Him. Otherwise let God alone and know yourself.
D: Has God or the Guru any solicitude for me?
M: If you seek either — they are not really two but one
and identical — rest assured that they are seeking you with a solicitude greater than you can ever imagine.
D: Jesus gave the parable of the lost coin, wherein the woman searches for it till it is found.
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M: Yes, that aptly represents the truth that God or the
Guru is always in search of the earnest seeker. Were the coin a dud piece, the woman would not have made that long search. Do you see what it means? The seeker must qualify himself through devotion etc.
D: But one may not be quite sure of God's Grace.
M: If the unripe mind does not feel His Grace, it does
not mean that God's Grace is absent, for it would imply that God is at times not gracious, that is, ceases to be God.
D: Is that the same as the saying of Christ, "According to thy faith be it done unto thee".
M: Quite so.
D: The Upanishads [?] say, I am told, that he alone knows the Atman whom the Atman chooses. Why should the Atman choose at all? If it chooses, why some particular person?
M: When the sun rises, some buds alone blossom, not
all. Do you blame the sun for that? Nor can the bud blossom of itself, it requires the sunlight to do it.
D: May we not say that the help of the Atman is needed because it is the Atman that drew over itself the veil of maya [?]?
M: You may say so.
D: If the Atman has drawn the veil over itself, should it not itself remove the veil?
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M: It will do so. See for whom is the veil.
D: Why should I? Let the Atman itself remove the veil!
M: If the Atman talks about the veil, then the Atman
itself will remove it.
D: Is God personal?
M: Yes, He is always the first person, the I, ever standing
before you. Because you give precedence to worldly things, God appears to have receded to the background. If you give up all else and seek Him alone He alone will remain as the I, the Self.
D: The final state of Realization according to Advaita [?], is said to be the absolute Union with the Divine and according to Visishtadvaita [?], a qualified union, while Dvaita [?] maintains that there is no union at all. Which of these should be considered the correct view?
M: Why speculate as to what will happen some time in
the future? All are agreed that the `I' exists. To whichever school of thought he may belong, let the earnest seeker first find out what the `I' is. Then it will be time enough to know what the final State will be, whether the `I' will get merged in the Supreme Being or stand apart from Him. Let us not forestall the conclusion, but keep an open mind.
D: But will not some understanding of the final state be a helpful guide even to the aspirant?
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M: No purpose is served in trying to decide now what
the final state of Realization will be. It has no intrinsic value.
D: Why so?
M: Because you proceed on a wrong principle. Your
ascertainment has to depend on the intellect which shines only by the light it derives from the Self. Is it not presumptuous on the part of the intellect to sit in judgement over that of which it is but a limited manifestation, and from which it derives its little light?
How can the intellect which can never reach the Self be competent to ascertain, and much less decide the nature of the final state of Realization? It is like trying to measure the sunlight at its source by the standard of the light given by a candle. The wax will melt down before the candle comes anywhere near the sun.
Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you.