1. There is No Distance
(Darshan given on January 1st, 1998)
Swamiji: In the quantum mechanics theory, there is no distance. From the most distant stars to your location here, there is no distance. It is a vital connection. Even if you sneeze here, the stars will know you are sneezing. This is the real ecology. Can you be in harmony with the stars, with space, which itself is supposed to be the substance of all the objects in the world? The objects are only configurations of space. This is what Einstein is saying. So you are a configuration of space only. You are not a human being. You are a kink, like a puckered form of the space itself, so you don’t exist really. Physics today has gone to such an extent to delve into the Upanishadic truth that nobody exists except the One Reality. Physics says only space is, and the Upanishads say God only is. You call it by any name. Let space alone be, or God alone is. Either way, you are not there. What do you say?
You are asserting yourself so much: “I am so very important.” In one minute, knowledge dispels the ignorance of self-individuality and arrogance. You become the humblest of the humble, a kind of non-entity of the universe. The might of the universe is such that you will be frightened by even thinking of it, but still people think they are very important. This is stupidity. It is not arrogance, it is stupidity. It has no meaning. So may God bless you with wisdom. Om Namo Narayan. This is my message of the New Year.
[Later on] An ashramite: The substratum of thought is the consciousness which Swamiji has been telling us. So, most of the time you think that this body and mind and world and all this are nothing but consciousness appearing in these things and ever-changing, and they are not reliable. “I am that only,” like that if you have got thought, Swamiji, if you think you are in bondage, then only liberation comes, moksha. If we don’t think that we are in bondage, there is no thing to be in bondage because the bondage…
Swamiji: In the Brahma Sutra it is mentioned that rules and regulations don’t apply to a person whose mind is sunk in God. For example, in the Gita it is said we must depart in the daytime – Uttarayanam – but the Brahma Sutra says this does not apply to a Brahma-jnani, one who is sunk in God. Even if you die at midnight, you can get moksha. This is only for ordinary people, he says, this Uttarayanam and so on.
Ashramite: Then, Swamiji, there is no question of liberation.
Swamiji: If you are thinking only of God the whole day, whole day, whole day in this way or that way, it will take place. A miracle will come at the last moment – a miracle suddenly, unexpectedly. But the whole day, daily, this is the only thought that should be there. All other things are distractions, some kind of means of exhausting prarabdha. That you have to undergo. Nobody can escape it. But the thought of God is the primary duty. Always it should be there. You must brood over it early morning, daytime, when you are working, when you are eating, when you are walking, when you are sleeping. Always the same thought of the great Almighty must be there in your mind. That will have a tremendous effect at the time of passing, and it can do such things which you cannot imagine now at this moment. It can bring about a tremendous revolution in your life. In an instant it can do that. Impossible things will become possible at that time.
But you should not have any doubt. Day and night you must think only this, no other thought. Though secondary thoughts may be there, this is the primary thought.
Ashramite: Foundation-like, substratum.
[Later on] Swamiji: Everything has got some deep value.
Ashramite: Because it comes from God only, because all things are…
Swamiji: There is nothing which is not connected with some great meaning in life. Even if a scorpion moves, you cannot say it is some wretched thing God has created. It is not a wretched thing. It is a very beautiful thing. It has got a tail and so on, and it all is very useful. You have got teeth and hands and a mouth, and scorpions have got their own way. For their status they have got their necessary apparatus. Nothing is meaningless, only it should be seen in its proper context. If you put it out of context, then everything is hopeless.
Ashramite: Just like Swamiji used to give the example of ink.
Swamiji: You know an ink pot – you can write, paint a beautiful painting with ink. But suppose an ink bottle falls on your shirt, will you like it? So the ink pot is good or bad? Dung is great manure. They spread it in the field. But the same dung, if I keep it on the dining table, will you like it? Now, it is a good thing or a bad thing? It is the context.