Bulletin No : 2016.78 - Friday, 2 December 2016

Conversations with Daaji, Part 7, November 2016

New Jersey

Table Tales

You are already there! Become aware of it.

One morning, Daaji spent some time speaking with a group of abhyasis at the breakfast table. Here are some excerpts from this discussion:

Abhyasi: Omar Khayyam said, "I did not ask to come. I do not ask to go. I do not know why I came. I do not know where I go.."

Daaji: You are already there. There is nowhere to go! You have to become aware.

I want to share an incident with you all. Beloved Babuji Maharaj visited our centre in Ahmedabad in the month of February 1981, on his way to South Africa. He was almost 82 years of age and was struggling even to walk. The centre had organized a gathering for the abhyasis.

Our preceptor at that time asked me, "Kamlesh bhai, why don't you give a talk?" I was a student studying pharmacy at the time. I said, "Bhaiyya, hum kya bole [what do I speak about]?"

He said, "Speak whatever you like."

The venue was an abhyasi's residence with a big living room area that opened up to an outside garden, and adjoining this living room was a small bedroom. Babuji was listening from inside the bedroom where he was lying on his bed. I spoke on constant remembrance and it went off well. Then Babuji said, "Call that boy inside," so I went in. I sat for a few minutes and then my preceptor said, "Now you go!" [Daaji laughs]

In the room was another brother who said, "No, you sit. "

There was a tussle between these two brothers: one said "Go" and one said "Stay", and Babuji was in his own oblivious state, lost in deep contemplation. But finally I left, because when someone says, "Go", I go.

That evening, he gave a message for our centre. The entire message was a couplet:

Raahe talab mein aise bekhabar ho gaye,
manzil pe aake manzil ko dhundhte hai

You were so bewildered in the search
that even when you reached the destination
you were still looking for it.

Another way of saying it is: you are already there, become aware of it.

The message was so intense and saturated with his love, giving us the assurance, "Don't worry, I am with you."

When I heard this I was flying [Daaji laughs]. On that day, perhaps, I wished it were my last day on the planet. I was finished that day.

[Pause at the table]

Q: Why do we keep searching?

Daaji: It is your habit of searching! There is a nice story about this. It is a story about how we make efforts that don't take us anywhere. The story goes like this:

When all the books in the library of Constantinople were destroyed, one book with a few tattered pages somehow survived. One fellow picked up these pages. He thought it was very precious because the title of the book read 'Secret'. He took the book and started reading it. Carefully he assembled the broken pieces of the book and figure out the secret.

It asked him to visit an island. Along its coast were pebbles, and among them was one special pebble, the Alchemist's stone, which was hot to the touch, and turned other things to gold. So he took the hint and went to that island to look for that pebble. He spent two to three years looking for the hot pebble. In the daytime, the pebbles were all hot, so he had to wait till night to search for the one that was still hot even at night. As he kept moving along the coast, he saw that the small mountains of pebbles he was collecting made it difficult to identify which ones he had already examined. They kept getting mixed up.

So he started throwing them into the ocean; he would take each pebble, and if it were cold he would throw it in the ocean. He kept on throwing pebbles night after night for years. One day he landed the hot pebble! But years of habit had taken over and he involuntarily threw the hot pebble into the sea! Now how was he going to get it from the ocean? He jumped in, and that was the end of it.

This is what we do with our lives. Out of habit, we take the moment for granted. You don't know which moment will take you off, so you have to be prepared. Be aware.

In that moment, summon all your intensity and desperation and that moment will deliver you. But if you say, "I am going to do it next time," that has already diluted your mind and efforts. Leaving it for the future means dilution of our investment in it.

Become nothing

Q: Daaji, great saints and other great people had their Masters. You know when Rumi met the eyes of Shams Tabrizi, he said, "Split me, tear me apart, fling me across the fabric of space and time. Make me nothing, and from nothing make me everything again."

Daaji: Remove that last phrase, "make me everything again." Here we strive to become nothing! Our prayer should end with a request to become nothing. In religion, we begin with beliefs, we have dogmas and we have rituals and pilgrimages, which are all outside.

Now, in spirituality we don't have any more beliefs, and we experience things. We don't have dogma, we have conviction, because it is the experience that translates everything. We do not have rituals to be performed because we are absorbed in Him 24x7. There is no pilgrimage outside, as the journey is inside as we move from one chakra to another. These are our stations, these are the holy spots in our system; the universe is within.

Now, the role of Sahaj Marg is not just spirituality, as it transport us into Reality. The role of religion does not end. The role of spirituality does not end. You are building one thing above the other. In Reality, then all these experiences end. You are in a simple state of being. That's all. There is nothing to be experienced there. All experiences end there. Now you are craving for the state of non-being: "Abhi kuch nahi chahiye [now I do not want anything]." Then true bliss comes, when you do not exist, and that takes you to nothingness, and after that you do not know what to say any more. The journey does not end here [Daaji made a reference to the recent article on
qualities and experiences at this point].

Why creation?

Q: Why did God even choose to start creation?

Daaji: You can use so many arguments while discussing it. Let's discuss a couple of them. Perhaps speaking to some college students, Babuji once said, "When you keep some power sealed in a bottle, it will lose its potency." Automatically, there is a tendency for the universe to go towards entropy.

When you study physics, you will see that entropy is the rule of the universe. If you do not take care of something that is in a state of order, it will move to a state of disorder. That is its natural tendency. So, from that perspective, if you have sulphuric acid in a bottle, it is bound to go to waste at some point. This can be explained using chemistry, but what about the power, the Ultimate, the Absolute? That is also threatened. If it is not utilised it will be destroyed. In a way, creation was the way to prevent destruction of the Ultimate power. That is one way of looking at it.

The second way of looking at it is more ennobling to the heart actually. A mother gives birth to a child, and the child grows up, learns things from teachers, finds a spiritual guide and the chain of growth continues. The mother wishes her child to be better than herself. The father also wishes the same thing: may my boy or girl excel and surpass my abilities. That is how it works. The teacher who taught you may be just a matriculate, but you can become a PhD. When you meet him, he will only be proud of you and say, "My boy, I knew you would become this." It makes him happy and he is not jealous. Parents are not jealous of their children's success. Good teachers are proud of their students' success. And the Guru is ever eager to push you forward, more than himself. The Guru fervently wishes, "May my associates progress further and give my message to God."

In every creative thing there is a desire to surpass its creator, in anything and everything. So it is a logical conclusion that God wanted to see his world better than he created it.

The third explanation from Babuji is: "You see, God was lonely, so he created company." [Saying so Daaji laughs]

From the desk of Daaji

In this section, we share with you excerpts of emails sent by Daaji to abhyasis in various parts of the globe.

Context:

There was an email from an abhyasi sharing her journey of growing faith and devotion for the great Master. The abhyasi comes from a part of the world in great strife and turmoil right now.

Daaji's reply:

Dear sister,

The people of your land are very special to the Hierarchy. I am not saying this just to please you. It is what it is. The circumstances of life over there have made it so. It is one thing to pursue a spiritual dream and another thing to pursue it despite all odds. All the sincere seekers, even if they have not formally been introduced to the path of spirituality, shall always have their hearts fulfilled and more. Nature knows well who deserves and who does not. It is automatic. Just because someone is introduced to the path does not mean the gates of paradise will open up for them just like that.

The introduction to the path makes us eligible. This dream can only be fulfilled by our pure intentions, fuelled by intense craving and burning desire. The Lord is always waiting for such a seeker with a garland in His hands to welcome such an individual.

May all the sincere seekers be facilitated in their search to the final Destination.

With love and respect,

Kamlesh