36. A Gift from God
(Darshan given on July 11th, 1997)
A visitor: I have heard, and I feel, that the experience of God is a gift. But is there a way to hurry up the gift?
Swamiji: You are right. It is a gift from God. You are perfectly right. But why are you in a hurry? Why don't you wait for some time?
Visitor: Well, I seem to have waited a very long time.
Swamiji: The whole life, even if it be a very long life of a human being, is like one second before God. So He will say you have waited one second only. You are saying it is a very long time, but it is less than one second. Centuries may pass, cycles of creation may come and go, but before God they are like flashes of a split of a second, so you cannot say you have waited very long. From His point of view you must see it.
If you are expecting a gift from God, and you are thinking of only that in your mind always, you have done everything that is necessary to be done by a human being. Don't do anything else because God will know what you are thinking. Are you living a spiritual life?
Visitor: As much as I can.
Swamiji: A person who is expecting a gift from God is certainly a spiritual person. No other effort is necessary.
Another visitor: What is your interpretation of God?
Swamiji: The only thing that exists, that is called God. That which passes away, that which is perishable, that which is today and is not tomorrow, that which has a beginning and that which has an end, that is not. But that which will never pass, which is perpetually existing, eternity, beyond time and space, comprehending everything, all-being, perfection, glory, magnificence, wonder of wonders, this is God.
Another visitor: There is a feeling that I have to do something.
Swamiji: You don't have to do anything. Spiritual life does not mean doing things. It is an absorption of all doing into being – Universal Being, Pure Being, Complete Being. The more you are able to touch being, the more you are spiritual. It has nothing to do with doing. Doing is an aberration from being. Being is what you are, and it has to be expanded into cosmical levels – Absolute Being. The consciousness of that Absolute Being, this is the highest peak of spirituality. No doing. Don't do anything. Be happy within yourself.
Visitor: I feel that when the mind is satisfied, it seems to go somewhere.
Swamiji: When the mind is satisfied it will not go here and there. It goes here and there when it is not satisfied.
Visitor: Well, it seems to not be there when it satisfied.
Swamiji: When you are united with your own self, and to the extent you are united with your own self, you will be happy. To the extent you are dissociated with yourself and you are thinking something outside, to that extent you are unhappy. Are you satisfied with yourself? Then you will be happy. If you are not satisfied with yourself and you are wandering here and there thinking of anything which is outside, it will not give you happiness.
Visitor: But sometimes I think that this body is myself.
Swamiji: If you are thinking your body is the self, what can I do for that? Okay, you go on thinking that your body is the self.
Visitor: I don't want that thought to be there, but it comes.
Swamiji: If the body is not the self, then what else is the self? If the body is not the self, the self must be something else. What is that something?
Visitor: The self is what is eternal.
Swamiji: Okay, you meditate on that. After years of practice and meditation, you have come to the conclusion that the body is the self. How such a thing is possible?
Visitor: That's not my conclusion. I'm saying that the feeling of body consciousness comes.
Swamiji: Let the body consciousness come. It will be there in everybody's case. But you have to expand it to a wider dimension of your true self.
If there are unfulfilled desires of any kind, desires which are connected with the physical existence and social existence, and if these desires have not been satisfied or sublimated, they will come again and again and prevent any kind of higher meditation. If they are minor, silly desires, like wanting to have a cup of tea, you can take the cup of tea. But if there are other desires which will devastate your spiritual aspiration, they must be sublimated. There are destructive desires; they must be sublimated. If there are desires which are very mild, they can be tolerated. You have to use your discretion.
Your meditation is perhaps not up to the mark, which is why you have all these distractions. You should study such literature where methods of raising the consciousness are described.
Visitor: But there are so many different methods.
Swamiji: No, there are not so many methods. It is a simple method only. The lower mind is telling you all these stupid things; the higher mind indicates that you are a representative of a wider realm.
Great effort is necessary, and unnecessary childish enthusiasm is no good. Meditation is not some kind of child's work. It is a very serious matter. Your heart should be in it. You should not have any kind of extraneous desire. Your desires should be sublimated in the love of God. If your mind is willing to do it, it is not a difficult thing, but if it is unwilling to do it, it is an impossible thing. If your mind is wanting it, it will certainly be successful. Your mind is not wanting it fully; that is why it is oscillating. If you want a thing wholly, your mind will get absorbed into it. But if your mind does not want it wholly and is only experimenting with it, it won't come. Deep study is necessary together with your effort in meditation.
Visitor: What do you recommend to study, Swamiji?
Swamiji: There is nothing greater than the Bhagavadgita. A hundred times you must read that, a hundred times, and it will inspire you.
Visitor: Can you suggest a commentary?
Swamiji: No commentary is necessary. If you persist in reading it again and again, the meaning will come out. You don't need a commentary. But many times you have to read it; then some divine interference will take place.
Another visitor: I meditate on various forms of great people.
Swamiji: Why do you meditate on great people? You meditate on God.
Visitor: As I meditate and do japa with the mantra in which I was initiated, I am getting these forms.
Swamiji: So what is your difficulty?
Visitor: Is it correct that these various forms are coming?
Swamiji: It is not correct. You should not have any forms except God's form. It is all right, but there is something more than that.
Visitor: How to overcome this?
Swamiji: By concentrating on something higher than that. You must desire it. If you want it, it will come. But if you are satisfied with the lower, it will persist.
Visitor: So formless…
Swamiji: No, it need not be formless. It can be a form, but the one Universal form, not a human form. Divine form. God is not a man. You should not think of human beings. It is the Maha Purushottama. The Lord is called Purushottama in the Gita: Supreme Person. On that you meditate.
Visitor: But in what form?
Swamiji: That is left to you. You find out. When you think of God, what do you think in your mind?
Visitor: Formless?
Swamiji: Why formless? It can be a form also. You cannot think the formless. But some form, the Supreme Person who created the world you conceive in your mind as you like – as Rama, Krishna, Purushottama, Narayana, Vishnu, whatever you like. That will help you.
Visitor: What about the Guru?
Swamiji: You think of God. You transcend the Guru also. God is the highest Guru if you want real benefit.