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Philosophical investigation can be compared, in a way,
to medical diagnosis and investigation. It is a subtle and in-depth understanding
of the basic components of experience, similar to the investigation of
various methods of medical application.
The beginning of philosophy is the struggle of the mind to rise above
the mere human perspective. One can become a professor of philosophy,
but not easily a philosopher. A philosopher is one who has an insight
into the substantiality of things, and not the appearances they put on
in their mutual relationship.
Philosophical insight is an awakening of a new light from within, with
whose aid one can illumine the dark corners of the earth, and endeavour
to see things in their true colours, rather than be carried away by their
chameleon-like shapes and presentations.
No point of view can be called absolutely correct. It is therefore futile
and foolish to stick to one's own opinion wholly and unconditionally,
without giving any credit to the opinions or feelings of others. All points
or view are expressions of aspects of the manifestation of truth.
Because we have some characteristics of God in us, we are aspiring for
Him. If we had been totally cut off from divinity in every way, then there
would have been no longing for liberation. Something of the eternal speaks
even in the mortal frame of our personality.
The relativity of things in the world is a pointer to the possibility
of the existence of something that is not relative. The idea of relativity
cannot arise unless there is something that makes us feel that things
are relative.
At a particular stage in our spiritual pursuits, we find ourselves in
a dark night of the soul, as the mystics call this condition. This plight
does not befall us in the earlier stages of spiritual life, when everything
seems bright as daylight. But when we go halfway, we see darkness ahead
of us.
Wisdom consists in understanding the process of connecting one's activity
with the Whole to which it belongs. Any kind of selfishness or emphasis
of one's own particularity or finitude in the process of engaging oneself
in an action would not be a Yoga, but a passage to one's bondage.
The fruit or the consequence of an action is decided by factors beyond
the comprehension of the human individual, and therefore to expect a particular
fruit would be the height of ignorance. We are not supposed to pass judgements
on action because success and failure are not to be regarded as the criterion
of the correctness of an action, because they are valuations from our
standpoint and not necessarily from the total standpoint of the purpose
of the universe.
All shall be for the best for that person who has ceased to be a person
any more. That person has become an "im-person" and therefore
everything is welcome, everything would be all right.
When we ask for a cup of tea, what we are asking for is not that little
drink but a freedom from the agony of finitude, the sorrow in which we
are sunk by the limitations of our personality.
I do not exist for myself, and you do not exist for yourself. Nothing
exists for itself. Everything exists for everything else.
Everything has to be done with great caution, leisure, and composure inwardly,
and we will not be losers if we take time in this, because it is wiser
to take time to understand each step, than to rush up and lose everything
that was gained.
Love is only the recognition of the presence of the Self in that which
we love; if the Self is not there, love is unthinkable. All love is Self-love
in various connotations of the meaning of 'self.'
If we forget the presence of the mighty Absolute even for a moment, action
becomes our action, and it rebounds upon us, and we shall be responsible
for its consequences. We are, therefore, to perpetually maintain the consciousness
of our inseparability from the Supreme Creator. Even when we perform a
charitable deed, it should not be done as if it is a prerogative of our
effort. Our good deeds are not supposed to be "our" deeds, they
do not belong to "us," for no action can belong to us, really.
When knowledge dawns, there is a spontaneous dropping out of all relationship.
The highest form of detachment is not sundering oneself from anything
existent, but the raising of oneself to a consciousness of the pervasive
character of the Reality that exists equally in the subject and object.
We cannot yet understand any aspect of reality that is not in space, which
is not in time and which is not causally related.
Thinking is not some isolated activity taking place within our heads.
When we think, we do not privately think inside our skulls; it is a vibration
that we create in us. The vibration of a person is not merely of the physical
body-it emanates like an aura to a certain distance from the body of the
person.
Everything is all things, and anything is everywhere. There is no such
thing as a particular individual or a particular body.
What we call death is the departing of life from a particular body. So
death is not the death of the life principle itself. Life itself does
not die. The vitality is transferred from one location to another.
What is inside the seed of a plant? It is a great wonder. You may say
that you cannot see anything there; it is practically invisible and non-existent.
This apparently non-existent something, the very little, subtle essence
there inside that little seed, has become this vast tree in front of you.
For all practical, outward purposes, the liberated man and the bound man
look alike. They both speak in the same way, eat in the same way, live
in the same way. The distinction is within. It is that the liberated one
knows what he is, whereas in the other case he does not know what he really
is.
One is free to the extent of one's knowledge. So, knowledge is power.
Wherever there is real knowledge, there is also power to the extent of
the operation of that knowledge. Complete control of a particular thing
is exercised only to the extent of the absorption of that particular thing
into one's own Self. Anything that is one with us is controlled by us,
and of that we are master. We are not masters of anything that is outside
us. So, in the realm of the mind, we should be masters.
All those who have died since ages, millions and millions of years ago,
and all those who have not yet come into being at all, but are to manifest
themselves now or in the ages to come-all these forms are capable of being
perceived in one's own heart.
We know very well how much slavery there is in bodily individuality. The
conditions of the body, which are the outcome of the way in which the
physical laws of nature work, are limiting us. Thus, there is no freedom
except in a state of universality. There is no freedom as long as there
is a body. Yet, the consciousness of the existence of the body is not
necessarily an evil, provided it is experienced in the proper perspective.
The mere presence of the body will not be a bondage if it is known in
its reality.
We are told that the great Ramatirtha had a peculiar technique of his
own for self-control. He used to make a list of all his desires. It was
no joke. It was an honest investigation into his own mind. To some extent
we can know what our desires are.
The discipline of brahmacharya, of which the Upanishad speaks, is the
discipline of dealing with the desires. What are you going to do with
your desires? Are you going to just swallow them, or oppose them and crush
them, or fulfil them? A very dexterous method has to be employed-neither
subjugating, nor crushing, nor fulfilling, in the literal sense, but tackling
them in the manner they should be tackled, under the circumstances in
which you are placed.
There is no such thing as an unspiritual life finally. The idea of "I-ness"
and "my-ness" is the cause of this peculiar notion in the mind,
of there being a distinction between the ordinary life and spiritual life.
Put a question to yourself: 'What kind of person am I?' Go to your room,
shut the door, put down the telephone, close your eyes and think for yourself.
A revelation will emanate from yourself, which is contrary to what you
thought.
There is really no such thing as renunciation of anything, because nothing
in the world really belongs to you.
Who attains salvation, finally? Neither you nor anybody else attains,
taken in our individualistic sense, because the Atman Itself attains salvation.
You have to keep good company. But, if you are compelled to live in the
midst of incompatible people, you have two choices. You can exert your
power over the atmosphere of dissident individuals and bring a kind of
transformation among them, and turn them round into a good way of living.
If that is not possible, ignore their existence, and be concerned with
them only as a practical means of doing day-to-day work.
I am looking at you, and when I look at you I am seeing your eyes; they
are outside me. But that is not the proper way of looking at you. You
have to look through my eyes and I have to look through your eyes, so
that instead of myself and yourself being face to face, we stand in parallel
collaboration. One enters the other.
Total disconnection from every kind of work is a sort of unhealthy complaint.
Without some activity one cannot exist even for a moment. If God does
not speak, the devil will start speaking. An idle brain is the devil's
workshop. Do not imagine that when you are doing nothing, divinity is
working through you. The other thing also may be at work, equally.
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