Foreword

“The greatest men in the world have passed

away unknown. Silently they live and
silently they pass away and in time their
thoughts find expression in Buddhas or
Christs, and it is the latter that become
known to us.” Swami Vivekananda
Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwara Maharaj was surely one of those
saints. He was born in 1888 in the village of Pathri in southern Maharashtra.
He had a formal education of merely two years but this was no reflection on
his acumen, which would later shine so brightly. He became a disciple of Shri
Bhausaheb Maharaj from Hinchgiri, North Karnataka. Shri Bhausaheb was
an exponent of tradition meditation and his disciples were expected to follow
a strict regime of daily and long practice. Shri Siddharameshwara Maharaj
proved to be exceedingly determined and devoted, and rose up to be one of
his foremost disciples.
After his Master’s passing away, Shri Siddharameshwara Maharaj
renounced his family duties and dedicated himself to a spiritual life. Some
two to three years later and after very arduous practice he attained Final
Liberation. Later he began teaching but his “way” was different from the
tradition of his Master. However, when once asked if his Master had this
understanding, he admonished the questioner and replied, “If the well had not
been full of water, the field would not have been watered.”
He believed that the goal of meditation could be easier attained if the
mind was understood. This is the path of Knowledge. Rather than force the
mind to be quiet, if the mind is taught the reasons for its restlessness then it
will itself become still. By the path of Knowledge the mind of the seeker is
taught the true nature of the world and of thought. Shri Krishna had said,
“Mind is your bondage and mind is your liberation.”
This book contains a collection of some of the teachings of Shri
Siddharameshwara Maharaja’s way of Knowledge. This way of Knowledge
is not new and indeed numerous scriptures of Knowledge exist. The
Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Vasisthta and a Marathi text, the
Dasbodha are but examples. These scriptures answer the questions that have
dogged man from the beginning of time, questions like, “Who am I? Who is
God? What is the meaning of this life?”
But it is Shri Siddhareshwara Maharaja’s ability to convey these
sublime, profound and often hidden answers of non-duality in a fashion that
all could grasp, that is unique. His lectures are full of clarity, courage,
outspoken-ness and most important of all, the stamp of Self Experience.
By carefully reading this book it will become clear just what the
difference is between the traditional path of meditation and this path of
Knowledge. Shri Siddharameshwara Maharaj teaches the importance of
proper thinking, for such thinking induces the mind to be quiet. It is said that
the main requisites for the goal of Liberation are devotion/bhakti,
renunciation/vairagya and knowledge/gnyan. In the teachings of Maharaj, the
true and essential meanings of these are explained. For example, real
renunciation is in fact the renunciation of the thought of sense objects and
without this, the external renunciation of sense objects is very difficult.
The first part of this book is a translation of a Marathi book of
Maharaj’s teachings that was compiled and edited by Shri Sadguru
Ganapatrao Maharaj who was one of his disciples. And the second part is the
translations of a collection of lectures given in 1928. It is said that the first
sadhana/practice of Knowledge is shravan, which means, to listen - to listen
to the words of the Master and delve into and extract the meaning that they
convey. The words of the Master are therefore priceless and the meaning
within is Liberation, the end of the endless cycle of births and deaths.
Shri Siddharameshwara’s gratitude for that Grace bestowed upon him
was evident by his devotion to his Master and the devotion he had for his
own disciples. That he left behind such an unusually large number of Self
Realized disciples, is a testimony to his greatness. Liberation is the Sadguru’s
Blessing and it is gained by understanding and it is the Ultimate
Accomplishment.

“By giving the explanation of this subject, the disciple’s mind no

longer moves. One accomplishes the meaning of one’s existence
when that Kingdom beyond the workings of imagination is
gained. The guru takes his disciples to the abode of their own
Bliss and sets them free. This is the guru’s blessing.” -Shri
Sadguru Siddharameshwara Maharaj
 Jai Guru!
/ Victory to You!

The
Ultimate
Accomplishment

The Teaching of
Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj

Part One

“Before the world, there is brahman.” This

means that before the thought of the world
comes in our minds there is the thoughtless
natural state. Therefore, the world and
brahman are not to be looked for anywhere
outside; they are only within yourself. The
thought within us is the world and before our
thought or after our thought there is
brahman.
 Chapter One

The Importance of this Human Body

This human body body has been gained after so much hardship. Only
1
after having endured 84 lakh births and being in the service of mankind
have you got this birth. The mango grows on the tree and is offered to man.
The shade provided by the tree is useful to people and so too is the wood it
provides. In many ways, trees and all kinds of living beings strive to serve
mankind, for they all regard man as God.
This hard-earned human body has been achieved and now for this body
there are two paths that can be taken. One is the path of liberation (ie. Self-
realization) and the other path leads that Supreme Self through this endless
cycle of births and deaths. If liberation is achieved then, one becomes the
God of gods. But if this is neglected then that Supreme Self/paramatma falls
again into this cycle of worldly existence where it has had to endure birth
after birth of being a horse, a donkey, a dog, a pig, etc.
Having acquired this human body, the only duty remaining for you now
is to become God and thereby obtain Supreme Bliss. Eating and sleeping are
common to both beasts and humans, but Self-knowledge is only possible in
this human birth. Thus it is only Self-knowledge that will set you apart from
the rest of the animal kingdom and therefore it should be gained. Otherwise it
will be simply a case of, “He came as he went” and this human birth will be
wasted. So ask yourself, “Who am I? Where have I come from? Why have I
come here and where am I going?” If you come to know the answer to all
these questions, then only you can be called a human being. Do not waste this
precious human body without knowing these things. If once you do not get
something to fill the belly it is no loss; for animal births were passed in eating
only. Now that you have got this body, use it for more than just eating and
achieve this knowledge of the Self.
Perform your worldly affairs but utilize this life to gain Self-knowledge.
You are that Supreme Self so do not devote this life only to worldly affairs.
That thoughtless Self has taken itself to be a body and has become no better
than a horse. But don’t use this horse just to gain worldly objects; be its rider
and attain Self-knowledge. Otherwise, you will become just like a horse and
you will get beaten. Mankind will sit upon you and when you are thirsty they
will give you grass to eat and when you want to eat they will place water
before you. Previously that Self did not heed the Saints and therefore, it has
2
become a jiva and has had to endure so much beating. What have you to
learn from all this? Look around and see this condition of remaining as a jiva;
listen to what the Saints are saying and use this body to become wise. In this
world, misery has been kept before you so that you may become wise.
Therefore at this very moment awaken. Awaken!
But if you are too lazy to acquire this knowledge then, what will happen
tell me? Well, one day you will yawn and with your mouth wide open you
will pass away. Your millions are not useful to you when you are dying. And
neither your loved ones nor relations, nobody will be able to save you. The
only use your wife, brothers and others will be then is, to weep for you.
Understand now this world is only interested in the taking and giving of
pleasures and nothing else.
You make so much effort to eat and drink well but you do nothing for
3
this Ultimate Accomplishment /paramarth. On account of your laziness, you
4
become bored with these discourses and bhajan and then after, when you
return home, what do you do? Only eat and sleep and snore – anything else?
Here we are speaking of the knowledge that will liberate you from this cycle
of birth and death, but you cry like a child that has to take bitter medicine
from its mother. I am speaking of something that will rid you of this disease
called worldly existence and though you are standing on the gallows of time
still you can’t stop looking at your watch.
The value of this human lifetime and of the spoken word is simply not
understood. Only at the time of death will you come to understood. If a very
rich man is dying and there is a doctor available who can make him live
fifteen minutes more and make him speak a little, then his relatives are ready
to spend tens of thousands of rupees for those fifteen minutes and two to four
words. Now just calculate from this just how valuable is this life that you are
letting pass by in useless hopes and schemes and empty talk. Then you may
realize that this precious life is just being thrown away, if you make no effort
to know your Self!
 Live to become immortal

This human birth is not to be spent in just worldly matters, going round
5
and round like a bullock yoked to the oil-mill. This human body is to be
used to achieve that your immortal Self. So do not pass your life, just for
death. On the funeral pyre, the bones burn like a stack of wood and the
hair burns like a bundle of straw. Do not live for this death. Learn how to
die and attain that immortal state.
One day you will have to die but tell me, what will you get in return for
such a death? Well, the jiva gets born again as a jiva and gets 8.4 million
births in return! If you take yourself to be this body then, no one can release
you from that. Therefore, instead of living just to die, live and be that
immortal Self. “Who am I and why have I taken this birth?” Always think
about this. Otherwise, it will just be another case of, He came from the
womb and went to the tomb.
Every human being disregards their only real duty that is, to make the
6
man/nara into God/narayana. And by engaging in countless troublesome
affairs, they waste this human body that is more precious than gold.
7
Everybody should take the solace of their own original ‘speech’. This is said
to be the ultimate objective of a human birth.
Listen carefully to this story of a drunk and awaken yourself from your
ignorance. Once some men had their half-witted friend drink liquor to his
heart’s content and when they saw that he was completely drunk, they all
pretended to cry. Then they said to their drunk friend, “Oh what to do! Seeing
your terrible plight we are choked with grief. We have just been to your
house and learnt that your wife has become a widow.” On hearing this, the
drunk started crying loudly and lamented to everyone, “My wife has become
a widow. Oh! A mountain of miseries has befallen me.”
One should realize that this rather ridiculous story does not apply to this
drunkard only. Every human being is reeling around in a drunken stupor.
8
Though we are ourselves of the nature of satchidananda, still we
continuously whine, “How will I find happiness?” Believing that we have
fallen into great difficulties, we beg to God in a pitiable voice, “Please God,
show me some mercy.” That Self has come to believe that it is a small
helpless creature, but its own true state is not at all like this. Due to the
intoxication of this wine of ignorance, it says, “I am a mortal.” This mistaken
concept that has been accepted by you has to be totally cast off from your
mind and you must have unflinching faith that you are the Self. Do not harbor
any fear about any matter what-so-ever. Have the unwavering conviction, I
am the Self, pure, never-changing, eternal and the Light of all lights.
It has been said, “In this world, this ‘I am’ has to wander around as an
ignorant jiva with a dead body.” And this truly cannot be denied because
living in ignorance is the same as being dead. Who is eating, drinking etc.
and who is serving who? Neither that Supreme Self or even this ‘I am’ have
been understood and so that thoughtless Self that is hidden within this body
9
made up of the five elements, has to serve this gross body and carry a bundle
of accumulated sins and virtues around with it. On account of a lack of proper
thought this Supreme Self has become an ignorant jiva living a mundane
existence.
Only the one who gives up this body consciousness and realizes their
own Self makes life meaningful. Then the ancestors of seventy-two
10
generations are filled with happiness, for they have all been watching and
waiting for such a one to come and uplift them. This is the only reason why
11
in India, sweets are given out when a son is born. The glory of Self-
knowledge is immeasurable and that shines like the full moon amongst the
hundred thousand stars.
Whoever gains that Supreme Knowledge of brahman is truly blessed.
Their mother and father are also blessed because someone who will uplift the
family has been born. Otherwise, there will be a hundred brats like the
12
kauravas. And of what use are they? Or there may be those who attain the
so-called higher studies like B.A., M.A., etc., but all these degrees are only
for filling their bellies. But those who acquire the Knowledge of brahman
have not only liberated themselves, they have uplifted their ancestors and
they have shown the way to the coming generations. They truly are the
blessed!
 Chapter Two

Worldly Existence versus that Ultimate

Accomplishment
Worldly Existence

Every individual/jiva comes into this world crying and leaves this world
crying. The jiva lifts up and sets down objects made of the five elements; that
is what it does in this worldly existence; it lifts and sets down, lifts and sets
down. The sadhu/Saint having understood the nature of these five elements
and the Supreme Self remains forever detached.
There is a large rodent called a gusha and it spends all night scratching
and digging holes. It is as if it sees gold very close by and keeps trying to
reach it. But then, as soon as the sun rises it stops digging and keeps quiet.
The ignorant jivas are nothing other than the relatives of these gushas
because they also, in the darkness of ignorance, are just digging holes.
That Self is completely independent. It is not possible that anything or
anyone belongs to it. But as a husband, it says, “My wife” and as a wife, it
says, “My husband” and then, does he belong to her or she to him? It is not
possible for one object to belong to another. Oh fool! Though you say that
they are all mine, have they become yours? Only as long as there is this need
to be doing something, will there be this pretence of relationships and
relations. But those whom you believe belong to you and whom you are
serving, can only go up to your grave side when you die and then they can
only proclaim that you have died. If you take yourself to be a body then, you
take friends and family as your own and then, you place that Self in so many
troubles and strife!
One ‘wine-devotee’ sincerely believed that wine was the best reliever of
hardship and it could eradicate all suffering and so to free all from suffering,
he opened a wine bar and gave away wine free of charge. His sincere goal
was to free the whole world from its suffering by getting everybody drunk
like himself. Now, if his action is considered benevolent, then the actions of
mothers, fathers, teachers and masters etc., who are all blind-drunk on the
wine of ignorance, can also be said to be benevolent. They tell their children
and those who want to escape from the bondages of this worldly life, “Oh
dear ones! Behave as your elders have behaved; take a wife and rear children;
undertake back-breaking toil for them and thus live a ‘happy’ material life.
That is the only true accomplishment in life. That other way called
paramarth/Ultimate Accomplishment, is nothing but lies.”
However, the Saints are the only true benefactors to the people of this
world, for they remove the intoxication of ignorance by carefully
administering this balm of knowledge upon the eyes of the blind. Yet, those
who slam a pair of handcuffs upon someone who was happy and free by
forcing them to marry and thus help yoke them to the grinding stone of
worldly life are considered as benefactors. That is why the Saint who gives
understanding and says, “Break this noose of illusion/maya and be free,” is
considered dangerous.
Sometimes by chance, a sacred basil plant/tulsi is found in a field full of
marijuana or a diamond is found in a coal-mine. It is rather similar to a child
born from the womb of a thief who grows up good and honest or a girl, born
to a dancing girl, who grows up virtuous and chaste; their mothers will think
that they have begotten a brat who will be a blot on the family name. Such
was the case for the demon king, hiranya-kashyapu. He was deeply saddened
13
when in his God-despising family a son called prahlad, a great devotee of
God, was born. Almost everybody amongst us belong to this family of
hiranya-kashyapu.

The Ultimate Accomplishment

The jiva’s turning from this worldly life and towards

paramarth/Supreme Accomplishment is unavoidable. maya beats us, over
and over, for she is always trying to lead us towards the Self. On receiving a
slap or two from maya the wise and right thinking individual turns to Self-
knowledge but, other stubborn unthinking jivas have to get so many slaps,
birth after birth. Still in the end, we all ultimately return to our own original
14
form/swarup and even after terrible suffering, still it cannot be avoided. So
is it not wiser, today itself, to joyfully admit and accept this?
There is great meaning in the marathi saying, “The one who becomes
tired of doing this and doing that, starts worshipping God ie. puja.” jivas
make so much effort and endeavours in this world but still in the end, they
get totally exhausted. Unless they seek the shelter of their own original form,
they can never get complete rest. Taking the shelter of your formless swarup
is the real worship of God ie. puja.
The question was asked, “Is this worldly life an obstacle to that Ultimate
15
Accomplishment?” The reply to those who have gained knowledge is; their
Ultimate Accomplishment/paramarth cannot be hindered by this worldly life;
they will find worldly life easy to perform and while doing that, they will be
doing paramarth. But, if this cannot be done then promptly say, goodbye, to
your worldly duties and accomplish your spiritual duties. That is more
beneficial but you have to decide for yourself. Only you know your own
capability.

Chapter Three

Devotion to sadguru
Only the child of the guru escapes from this ever-turning wheel of
worldly existence: One day while they were walking along a road,
Ramananda Swami, the guru and Kabir, his disciple, saw a woman grinding
wheat on the verandah of a house. Seeing this sight, Kabir began to cry and
when Ramananda Swami asked him why, Kabir replied;
Kabir weeps at the sight of the two grinding stones turning round and
round; caught between these two great stones, no one can
16
escape.
When this ‘I am’ gets caught in these ever turning wheels of this
worldly existence then, the jiva gets crushed like the flour of the wheat grain
and nobody can escape. On hearing this, Ramananda Swami led Kabir to the
house of the woman and asked her to lift up the upper grinding-stone. And
there, close to the axis, five or six grains were seen. Then Kabir understood;
17
just like those few grains, the ones who take refuge in sadguru’s form are
not crushed by these turning wheels of this worldly existence. However if one
does not surrender to sadguru and keeps away from Him because of pride
then, one will surely be destroyed…. “She had a quarrel with the oil merchant
and as a result, she had to sit in darkness.” Will it not be something like this?
It is said that the craftsman, mason, carpenter etc. can make the temple
and the idol of God, but that the consecration of the idol cannot be done
without the brahmin priest. In just the same way, the caretakers of this body,
like your mother, father, relatives, friends, teachers etc. are the craftsmen but
truly, the only real brahmin is sadguru and only He can establish the
Self/atma in this temple we call a body. The guru gives you your real name
when He shows you, ‘You are He’. He gives you a ‘second birth’ and you
become ‘twice-born’. By giving the understanding, ‘You are the brahman’,
18
the guru bestows the sacred thread of knowledge on you.

Complete surrender to sadguru

19
Your father and mother involve you in this worldly life. Only the son
of the guru who surrenders to the Master is freed from this bondage. A true
disciple serves Him by understanding ‘I belong to sadguru’ and maintains the
conviction, ‘The guru is my mother, father, family, friends, wealth, etc. –
everything I possess.’ Only the one who has given up the pride of the body is
to be considered the son of the guru and only the one who comes in total
surrender, rises to the stateless state of brahman. “This ‘I’ is a servant of the
servant of the guru.” The one who has such unwavering faith is the only true
devotee to that Ultimate Accomplishment. It is only in this field of devotion
to your guru will there will be this harvest of knowledge. Otherwise you say,
“I am somebody, this is my wifee, I have a family life etc.” and then your ego
remains and as long as this remains, you can never be free.
Only after you have acquired this power of ‘I am’ can there be that
desireless devotion to the guru, but those caught in illusion/maya cannot
understand that thoughtless Self. How can a slave to maya understand such
faith? On the other hand, with faith, even the dog in the house of the master is
20 21
respected by all. Therefore do not give up your devotion/bhajan to
sadguru. By this desireless devotion/bhajan, God is attained. By the power
and authority of that Supreme Self, you will become immortal, omnipresent,
 22
imperishable and beyond knowledge/niranjan. The six glories of
23
knowledge are also gained and finally the one who renders desireless
devotion to the guru becomes one with the guru.
It is the nature of the intellect to become one with the surroundings it
24
is kept in. If kept in the field of sadguru’s worship/upasana and thereby in
the company of detachment and Self-knowledge, then it becomes like that
only. Therefore, do not give up sadguru’s worship (ie. make your mind, His
25
mind) and perform His puja by offering everything to Him. For this,
undivided faith (ie. no-otherness) is required. The guru is that Supreme Self
and only the one who has faith in this ‘I am’ can achieve that Self. Just as it is
not possible to get pearls from a cob of maize, so too, without full faith in the
26
guru, nirguna Knowledge will not be achieved.

If devotion/bhajan to the manifest/saguna is given up, then that Knower

will meet with failure – dasbodha. This means you must worship the guru
after acquiring this knowledge ‘I am’. By His grace the jiva has gone and
27
shiva has been established. Therefore now, as an act of gratitude, be
devoted to the guru. Only the one who has love, faith and respect for the
guru, has love for the Self. And only the one who values this knowledge, will
value his Self and have boundless love for the Master. Their love will be
apparent in their conduct; for devotion is the ‘thermometer’ of one’s love.
The sadguru imparts the knowledge which gods like indra, chandra
and kings are not able to give. Effortless ‘knowing’ is this great favour that
He gives to you and this understanding brings great love for Him. The value
that you give to this knowledge (knowing) is an indication of your devotion
for your Master. Therefore have faith in your Self by surrendering all at the
feet of your Master. The one who worships sadguru after having acquired
28
this Self-knowledge will become the greatest of the great!
Do not break your faith in the guru. Otherwise you may start to think,
“I am brahman, so now what is the need to maintain devotion/bhajan?” If
such faithlessness arises, then the guru’s orders are being disregarded and
then this knowledge will surely be lost. Let this body live just to worship the
guru. One should hold such dedication. If given one cup of tea you say,
“Thank you,” then, for sadguru who takes you beyond birth and death, how
much gratefulness should you have? No, how much surrender should there
be? Give a thought to this.
Then if someone gives any respect to you, understand, he gives it to
sadguru. A diamond will be set in gold, no one will set it in brass or iron. In
the same way, it is only through devotion to the guru that Self-knowledge is
established. If there is no devotion, then this knowledge cannot stay and the
ego will force its way in between. Without the support of this worship ‘I
am’/upasana, that Ultimate Accomplishment has no foundation. By
devotion to sadguru one lives free of all pride. To be desireless devoted to
this manifest ‘I am’ is your eternal ‘food’; without this you could not live for
even a moment and this is called knowledge. And the one who embodies both
this desireless devotion/bhajan and that Knowledge of brahman is the
Master.

Chapter Four

Discrimination between Self and non-Self

Through careful investigation into the difference between the Self and
non-self, we come to understand, who I am and who I am not. This body of
bones, flesh, blood etc., is made up of the five elements – but I am not that.
Then, ‘I am the Knower of all, the witness – I am the Self.’ One should keep
this understanding. This means, the doer and enjoyer is that Self/atma and
whatever is seen and perceived is non-Self. Now after this, give the same
thought to the universe. Whatever is in this universe is made up of these five
elements and I am not that. That Self is within every creature and He is
within this whole creation pervading as this ‘knowing’. In one body He is
called the Inner-Self/antar-atma and in His universal form, He gets called
29
ishwara.

The life-principle residing in all is the Inner-Self

 A husband calls his spouse, his wife, but he is actually addressing this
living presence residing within his wife. A wife, because of this ‘I am’
residing in her husband, calls him her husband. The mother and father say,
‘Child,’ to their child and the child says, ‘Mother’ and ‘Father,’ to them but
they are all addressing that living presence residing within each.
Just remove that life or ‘I am’ and it will be immediately understood
that, the husband, the wife and the mother, father and child were all in the care
of this inner living presence. Then you will at once understand to whom you
are giving your love.
Though you may say the parent’s love the body of the child still, if
the child is without this ‘I am’ then, the mother and father will not let the body
stay for more than several hours in the house. From this, is it not understood
that the ‘I am’ is the mother, that the ‘I am’ is the father, that the ‘I am’ is the
husband and wife and the ‘I am’ is the relatives, kith and kin and everything?

The play and the disguises of the Self

Due to the presence of that one Self within the body the child says,
“Daddy” and that Self replys “Yes.” But when it sees an enemy, it becomes
30
like an incarnation of narasimha. On seeing his wife it becomes her
husband and becomes uncle to a nephew. If called “Dear Sir” by a neighbour,
it assumes the air of a “Dear Sir.” When in its home, it lovingly enjoys a
child’s pulling of its mustache and the same Self-principle seated in a court
and taking up the important role of a judge becomes merciless in handing out
the punishment of hanging, to the accused. Only one single Self-principle is
assuming many roles and is performing the various acts suitable to its
different roles. This Self only is play-acting in many different guises and after
31 32
all the limiting concepts are set aside then that pure Knowledge remains
and that is the Supreme Self.

This Inner-Self is the real God

He sits within and protects every beast, bird, god, devil and human
being etc., by becoming this life-principle ‘I am’ within them. If that Self was
not there then, every jivas would be like a lump of dead wood. If He is there
then there is the glory of this ‘I am’ and on account of our union with this ‘I
am’, there is this worldly existence (when you look outwards) and there is
that Ultimate Accomplishment (when you look inwards). As long as He is
there, then there are gods and man, and purity and impurity etc. etc. and it is
this Inner-Self that also grants Godliness to God (‘I am the witness’). But as
long as this Self continues to think of worldly matters then, He is a jiva; and
if He understands knowledge then, He is shiva. And when both jiva and shiva
are no more then, there is parabrahman. When that one Self assumes the role
of a man and performs some lowly job then, He is a jiva and when the one
Self gives out justice like a judge then He is shiva (ie. remains the aloof
witness) and when He retires from all this and abides in His original state
then, He is parabrahman.

Children are amused playing games with stones

A child takes a stone and that Self says, “This is a cup.” Taking a
second stone, that Self says, “This is a plate” and taking a third stone, it says,
“This is God.” The ignorant man worships God in a similar fashion by
making a stone image of Him. He has not understood this living-principle ‘I
am’ and this knowingness that are the real image within that real God. A
stone image is inanimate and that is why it is said that idol worship is for the
foolish only. So be it. Still, how much better it would be if, that One purush
whose images are being worshipped, was recognized?
How to describe this amusing play of the Inner-Self?
First you place some food on the altar before a god and then due to
this living-principle and knowing, that offering gets eaten by you, the real
God. And just as the installed image requires the support of that Supreme
Self throughout its life, so too, this Inner-Self of ‘I am’ and knowing, requires
33
the support of that Supreme Self throughout its life also. First, this God
takes a bath and gets dressed and then that god (ie. the idol) is washed and
dressed later. In truth, every creature, either knowingly or unknowingly, is
devoted to this Inner-Self, however when that Inner-Self worships without
understanding it is a jiva and only when it worships with understanding does
34
it become shiva. Shri Ramdas Swami calls this Inner-Self, the fourth body.
This Inner-Self or ishwara is constantly moving, but parabrahman is totally
steady and to understand that formless swarup of both is called pure
Knowledge.

‘I am the universal Self’

Cultivate this divine vision of knowledge. Everywhere I look and

everything I perceive is pervaded by that Supreme Self. That endless Self
is this ‘I am’ and these many eyes, hands, legs etc. All the faces, the hands
and the feet of the elephants, monkeys, gods and demons etc. are within this
divine vision of knowledge. When you feel ‘I am that universal Self’ then,
you are seeing with knowledge; then you are seeing with understanding.
When you do not see the many differences and distinctions then, everywhere
is your own form. When that One swarup is understood then, duality is gone
and there is no sin and no virtue. You never object to your own spit in your
mouth, do you? In the same way, you never object when, ‘I am in my own
Self everywhere.’

Chapter Five

The Conviction that brahman is in All

God is the doer, dedicate everything to Him
35
“Only you Janardana are in my body. Ekanath has ran away and
now you function through this body. It is you, shri guru Janardana who
abides here now. Whatever actions are done, are due to you. Whatever
objects the vision sees are understood by your eyes. You are the eye of the
eyes. Because of your hearing, the ears hear. The tongue tastes due to union
with you. The intellect knows by its union with you. Whatever the mind may
say is said due to your power. In wakefulness, I am awake due to union with
you. Dreams are because of you and sleep is because of you. Whatever
sensual enjoyments I enjoy are yours only. It is due to you that people
recognize me as Ekanath. They do not say Janardana, they say, Ekanath. But
by assuming the name Ekanath, only you are.”
paramatma is within every body, He is this ‘I am’ body and He is the
doer-enjoyer and He is that non-doer and non-enjoyer also. He is the one
saying, “I” but, in fact, this one given a separate name, does not exist. This
Truth had been realized by Shri Eknatha Maharaj.
As long as the son accepts his father’s authority, he may spend his
father’s money anyway he likes and still his father says, “It is all his only. Let
him do with it whatever he pleases.” However, if the same son defies his
father’s authority and with his inflated ego announces, “I am the owner” then,
due to the father’s displeasure, the son will lose the property that he would
have naturally acquired as his inheritance. In the same way, as long as you
36
respect the authority of God/vishnu then, you can behave in whatever
manner you please in this world. For the one who loves God is loved by God.
But not respecting God’s authority brings the ego and then the jiva says “I am
doing everything.” This makes God angry and then, that Self will have to
suffer many miseries and be deprived of its own natural Bliss.
All the great efforts made in this worldly life, even the ones that met
37
with failure, should be dedicated to krishna (vishnu). During the holi
festival, no matter how one may play, that should also be offered to krishna.
Once upon a time, a man ran into the forest to hide from a band of robbers
and unwittingly he discovered a buried treasure. Your offering of everything
to krishna is like this; for though your actions had been improper (ie. “I am
doing everything’) still, when you offer them with this knowingness then, He
is doing. If your husband beats you, offer it to krishna. If your wife slaps you
in the face, offer it to krishna. Putting on a coat and shirt or dressing in a
traditional dhoti, offer all that to krishna. Even a dish prepared from bitter-
gourd (which can be very unpalatable) should also be offered to krishna. If
the flour is spilled, offer it to krishna. To offer everything to krishna means
to offer everything to this knowledge. Such an offering brings no suffering to
your mind. This effortless action of simply knowing is the same as that
38
living-principle and this has appeared upon that Supreme Self. And this
knowledge will also get dissolved in that formless swarup when, with firm
conviction, you offer everything to krishna.
If five rupees gets taken from your pocket then say, “It was taken by
the Self” and do not say, “I have been robbed.” If you understand that
everyone is the Self then you will be full of joy and there will be the
attainment of that unattainable. Understand, whatever has to go will go. Now
whether it should be given up willingly or given up painfully, that you should
think about. Whatever is to happen will happen but you, for no reason, take
39
that upon yourself again and again. Therefore practice vivek and with the
conviction that everything is the Self, live in Bliss.

Practice and gain the understanding, ‘God is in

everything’

A devotee of God triumphs by losing. However, it is the nature of the

jiva to think, “I should always win and at no time whatsoever should I have
to face disgrace. Whatever I say must happen and anything like retreat or
defeat, in any matter, should never happen to me.” And because of this
stubborn insistence the jiva losses that Perfect Contentment. On the other
hand, if one learns to accept defeat and give up this insistence that, “It must
happen the way I say,” then there will be no disturbance in that Perfect
Contentment.
The one who refuses to lose thinks he is the victor. However, this
means that he will not let go of being a jiva. Only the blessed have learned to
accept defeat and have the good fortune of becoming shiva and they only are
the real devotees of God/vishnu.
If you have a feeling of hostility towards someone then, make them
your friend by looking upon them with the conviction that, they are the Self.
We say that somebody is bad but there are those who say that that person is
good. So they are not bad and such hostility really just means that we have
not been able to get along with them.
Nobody is good and nobody is bad. Each one behaves in a way that is
agreeable to them. We should not impose our ego upon another. One likes
this and another likes that but why should you care and judge unnecessarily?
If your mind should think ill of someone then, strive over and over to
cultivate good thoughts towards that person. And in the mind, even an enemy
should be praised. The one who knows that for them, this earth is enemy-less
has become the Lord of the world (ie. witnessing purush).
When one understands that within this whole creation made up of the
five elements, He (Lord of the world) is there, then that is making the bhajan
of God. Then even if you see some behaviour that is contrary to your thinking
still, in your mind, you should not feel that it is wrong. Even if your mind
feels someone is wicked still, you should understand that he is God’s form.
The devotee who makes God’s bhajan in this way, will not reply with harsh
words and will forgive the ones who has been hurtful. The one who is
devoted to this knowing (ie. bhajan) will not encounter obstacles of any
40
type; on the contrary, the entire world assists them.

41
Have the conviction that you are that Inner-Self

That witness is within the five elements. Hold firmly to the

42
understanding that, I am the witness of this ‘meeting place.’ Keep this
one thought in your mind, ‘I am the Knower, I am the Self/brahman.’ If
you know that brahman is within this knowledge as the witness then, you
must behave accordingly. If someone spoils something then say, “He is the
Self” and forgive them. Maintain this understanding that the Self/brahman
is within these small children. The nature of a jiva is to think, what others
do is wrong and to feel, what I do is right. But the gnyani understands that,
even this ‘I am’ is false. Up until this day you have felt, “I am right,” and
still you are unhappy. Therefore, from now onwards think like this: “What
I think is wrong and what you think is right.”
Being egoless has first to be practiced in the house. But it is far
easier to exorcise a ghost from the house than it is to get rid of these family
connections. “This is my mother, this is my father, uncle, wife, son etc.”;
all these connections are not being broken. If you talk to your uncle taking
him as your uncle, then this connection will not be loosened and the
intoxication of ignorance will never leave. However, once there is the
conviction that all your relations in the house are the Self then, this feeling
will spread outside. In this way, first conquer your house then, conquer the
world!
 The one you regard as the servant is also God and the one whom you
regard as your wife is also that Supreme Self. There must be a change in
43
your way of ‘seeing’ for there cannot be any change made in the forms.
Therefore, ‘Whatever is seen right now, in that very shape, at this very
moment and in this very situation, is brahman.’ Then here, there,
everywhere, ‘All is truly brahman.’
First behave with your loved ones with the understanding that they are
brahman, then understand that others are brahman, then your enemy is
brahman and finally, ‘All is truly brahman’. And if it is understood that this
entire world is knowledge and that this knowledge is brahman, then by the
same rule, you also are only brahman (ie. first understand ‘I am’ and then
understand, I do not exist)
Leaving off every thought, you understand ‘I am everywhere.’ Once
this feeling that everything is brahman is imbibed then, you should also
44 45
surrender this ‘I am’. One should crush the shame of public opinion and
do that prostration. All these imaginings of the mind and even this knowledge
beyond these imaginations are that One Supreme Self and the one who sets
aside their creative cleverness and who naturally maintains the conviction of
being the Self/brahman, is the only one whose bhajan is true.
First there is this assertion, ‘I am that Supreme Self who is seeing this
whole creation’ and afterwards, this thought also goes away when you realize
that this ‘I’ is the cause of separateness. It has to be imprinted upon the mind
that this ‘I am’ is that Supreme Self and this will remain only as long as it
believed to be true and that, in truth, from the beginning there has only been
46
that One Supreme Self. This knowledge that comes with the feeling ‘I am’
is, in truth, that parabrahman and it is within that parabrahman that this
original ‘I am’ thought has appeared.
Afterwards, this ‘I am’ thought is completely destroyed when it enters
into that thoughtless Self/brahman. This knowledge is brahman and this ‘I’ is
also that brahman. In that thoughtless Self even this subtle inspiration does
not remain and without this other of ‘I am’, how can anything else be
created? Our-ness and other-ness are absorbed when this ‘I am’ gets absorbed
and then in brahman, desire, purpose, achievement and the ‘end of the
seeing’ become that One swarup.
Question – At times, you say that Supreme Self is the non-doer and
non-enjoyer and at other times you say He is the doer of all and enjoyer of
all. How can these two statements be in concord?
Answer – These are two aspects of that One Self. The first is that
complete Supreme Self/paramatma and the other is called the conditioned
47
Self. When the Supreme Self is hidden within this mula-maya, then it gets
called knowledge. This conditioned knowledge is manifest and at that time
there is the appearance of this ‘I am’ thought. The whole worldly existence is
48
contained within this thought and the action of doership-enjoyership is here
in this knowledge. This is the limited and conditioned aspect of that Supreme
49
Self and this can be called that Supreme Self with gunas.(ie.saguna)
50
When this original ‘I am’ feeling gets dissolved, then this knowing
also gets destroyed. Then there is only that natural thoughtless Self and there
doership and enjoyership are also not possible. This is the complete aspect of
the Self and that is called the Supreme Self without gunas/nirguna.

Chapter Six

maya
To take only that which is seen as true, is the sign of an ignorant jiva
and to think carefully about what is seen and decide what is true and what is
false, is the sign of a gnyani. For example, on seeing a mirage, a deer
understands it to be water. This is its ignorance. A right thinking person,
while seeing the mirage, thinks and concludes that there is no water but
merely the appearance of water. In the same way, to see the world and
believe it to be true is ignorance and searching the root of this world and
knowing its true nature is knowledge.
51
A hypnotist puts on a magic show and makes something which is not
at all there, appear. He can create the delusion that a mere piece of wood is,
for example, a horse. In the same way, our calling a particular object in the
world by a particular name is our ‘show of magic’ or restricted vision. In
wood there is no object known by the name of pillar but it gets called a pillar
when the intellect’s vision is restricted and then, a non-existent pillar stands
before that Self. This false notion of a world is imposed upon that true Self,
due to this restricted vision of the intellect. But by the grace of the guru,
correct ‘seeing’ is acquired and this magic is destroyed and then it is only the
Self which sees.
In past time and future time, this world cannot be seen and therefore
does not exist. But in this present time is this world that is seen, true or not?
The answer is; if this world in the present time is believed to be true, then at
the time of a dream, when the dream-world is also in the present, it should
also be taken as true. But just as the dream is proved to be false upon
awakening, so too, when the aspirant perceives this knowledge then, all the
activities of this world will appear as false as the dream. When the world
appears false to that purush then, all thoughts of the world dissolve in that
thoughtless swarup. And when the concern for the world disappears only
then does thinking cease. For that aspirant who has tasted this kingdom of his
own Bliss, what care is there for the world? For that one, all the pleasures of
the mind have as much worth of a door-mat!
Everything/sagale is perishable. The Marathi word sagale reveals this.
See how! saha means, in the company of and gale means, that which goes
away. Therefore everything is in the company of that which goes away. Here
is another example. You may ask, what is the cause of dukha/misery? Well, if
we break this word dukha we can understand. dusare means, another and
khane means, to eat or experience. So the word dukha means to take the
experience of another. In other words it is this experience of duality that is
the cause of misery.

brahman

Where (space), when (time), what (object) – these are very much on
this side of brahman’s formless swarup. But in that parabrahman there is no
distinction of space, time and object and therefore, there can never be even
the slightest of appearances of that parabrahman.
Letters have no support without the paper. Without the letters
however, the paper is not diminished, for it can remain in its own pristine,
original form. The paper containing the letters can be read but when there is
the paper without letters then, the speech stops. In the same way, on that
Supreme Self, the world appeared just like the letters on the spotless paper.
The objects and concepts of this world are like these letters on the paper and
in this place of the letters, all the ranting and raving goes on. But if the letters
are erased, the paper is not erased and in the same way, even if the world
goes off, still that inexpressible, clear and pristine Supreme Self remains just
as it is. Except there, all talk has ceased.
Inside the space of the theater and on a small corner of the stage, a
scene of a play is being watched. That spacious theatre is also clearly visible
but, the audience who are watching the drama, are oblivious to the theatre;
which indeed is a wonder! In the same way, why does that Supreme Self
disappear from view when the countless worlds appear? And even when you
understand that this visible world is only knowledge still, this knowledge is
seen only on a minute part of the Supreme Self. And it is indeed a wonder
that our attention does not go to such a vast ever-arisen Supreme Self.
Has the reflection in the mirror split the mirror and entered inside it and
occupied some space there or placed its weight on the mirror? Nothing like
this ever happens. Many reflections may appear but still the mirror is totally
52
unaltered. parabrahman is like this. Countless universes may come and go
but in that parabrahman there is nothing happening and that is forever pure.
The eyes can see colourful objects but it is not possible to see a
colourless object. So the one who wants to see with these eyes, that Supreme
Self, that has no colour and no shape, must be a really wise person or not?
Question – You say that parabrahman is beyond name and beyond
form. But is He the name, parabrahman, that has been given to Him? Also,
those who have given Him this name, would they not be prior to
parabrahman?
Answer – The child may call his father, “baba” but the father (ie. who
is prior) is not this name “baba” that he has been given. In the same way, that
parabrahman is not the name but for identifying that formless swarup, you
and I say, parabrahman, just as the child for its own cognition calls his father
“baba”.

maya – brahman
 Whatever can be spoken by words is maya and after leaving aside the
words, that which remains is brahman. Whatever can be conceived in mind
and be meditated upon is maya and after setting aside the mental retention of
53
meditation, that which remains is brahman. The experience that can be
spoken of is maya and that which is hidden within this experience but cannot
be told is brahman.
That which is first understood (ie. knowledge) and then seen by the
54
eyes (ie. gross) and that which is known when one tries to know or is
remembered when one tries to remember, is maya. That which becomes
known without trying to know and that which is there before remembering is
brahman. If a thing can be remembered by remembering then, it can also be
forgotten by forgetting, but if that does not need remembering, it is Self-
existent and there is not the fear of it being forgotten.
In this act of our knowing there is the feeling, ‘something is there’ and
55
the feeling, ‘nothing is there.’ These feelings of ‘is’ and ‘is not’ is all maya.
And after removing the understanding of ‘is’ and ‘is not’ then what remains
is brahman. maya and brahman are like our own front and back. If we look in
front then it is maya and if we leave off looking then what remains is
brahman.
He says with his mouth, “I am sorting the rice.” But actually he is
56
picking out the stones with his hands. Now once the stones have been
discarded, the rice need not be sorted out at all. In this very same way, to
select that brahman, only the illusory objects need be sorted out and when
those are discarded then what remains in your possession is that Self.

Chapter Seven

Destruction of the Four Bodies

The ‘art’ of Listening

Though they have come to this discourse, many listeners forget to

bring their ears and heads with them or before sitting down to listen to the
discourse they take these off and leave them aside. That is why they cannot
listen or understand properly!
What reward should the guru give to the disciple who pays no
attention to the instructions in the sadguru’s discourse and fails to act
accordingly? Instead, the disciple simply recites “guru brahma, guru
57 58
vishnu…” and does puja with frankincense, lamp and food-offerings.
Suppose a master orders a servant, “Bring some water,” but the servant
neglects to do this and instead starts dancing around the master saying “Oh
master, how handsome you are, what a fine body you have. Master, you are
wonderful.” If the servant should act like this then, what reward will he get
from his master? In the same way, if the disciple only makes the sadguru’s
puja with sweet words then, how can the sadguru be blamed?
When you eat a banana, you are not eating the letters ba, na and na but
you are accepting the thing that is indicated by the word, banana. In this same
way, leaving aside the words of the discourse, the inner meaning that the
words convey should be accepted.
To know is one thing and to understand is another thing. Knowing is
the appearance of something once it has been seen. Understanding comes
after the known thing is thoughtfully examined. For example, a house
becomes known at once, but only by thinking is the house realized to be
merely dust. And that is what is meant by understanding.
It is said that shankasura stole the vedas. If you break the name
shankasura and you will see it means the ‘demon of doubt’. It means, doubts
59
steal away this knowledge ‘I am’ that is imparted by the vedas. And it is
said that God incarnates in the form of the guru and then kills shankasura.
This means, the guru is the only one who has dispelled the doubt, “How can I
be God?” and He is the only one capable of showing His disciples that
doubtless Self.

An investigation of the gross and subtle bodies

Everybody’s condition is like the fools in the story of the ten

travellers. One traveller forgot to count himself after crossing the river and
only counted the other nine travellers. Then they all started crying because
they were sure one of them had been drowned. In the same way, we say,
“This is mind, this is intellect/buddhi and this is life-energy/prana.” But the
one who counts all these, is the Self and he neglects to count his own Self. “I
have been lost” he says, “Where and how can I find myself?” With this hope
he goes off on various pilgrimages, observes many vows and strictly
performs many religious duties and continues the cycle of 8.4 million forms
of births. Still, after all that searching, he could not find this ‘I’ and once
again arrives in a human body. Here, by his good fortune he meets the guru
and He tells him, “You are the Self that you have been searching for.” Only
this understanding appeases that ever restless jiva.
A potter riding home upon his donkey was drinking and he began to
feel that he himself was the donkey. In the same way, the jiva, having drunk
the wine of ignorance and due to the company of the body, starts to say “I am
the body.”
Ahi-ravana means, “I am the ego ravana and my faces are the ten
senses” and mahi-ravana means, “I am the great ego ravana and even this
60
knowledge is mine.” It is said that ahi-ravana and mahi-ravana kidnapped
61
rama and his brother, lakshman so that they could sacrifice them to the
goddess. The meaning is very profound. ‘I and mine’ takes the knowing Self
and this attentive mind and sacrifices them in front of the goddess maya.
sadesati means seven and a half. According to Hindu astrology it is a
period of misfortune or Saturn’s return which lasts for seven and a half years.
However the real misfortune is the human body that measures seven and a
half vita (the distance from the thumb-tip to the tip of the little finger when
the hand if fully extended).
Childhood, youth etc. are states of the body. These states appear on
62
account of the life-force or prana, but this life-force/prana is neither young
nor old. Then tell me, how can that Self, the force of all life-force/prana, be
these states?
The mind is the doer. Whatever has been done with the mind can be
said to have been performed. What is done only by the body is as if not done.
For example, if someone trips on the carpet and falls in front of a god, has a
prostration before that god been made? No, because it was not done by the
mind.
Before the world, there is brahman. This means that before the
thought of the world comes in our minds we are in that thoughtless natural
state. Therefore, the world and brahman are not to be looked for anywhere
outside; for they are within yourself. The thought within us is the world and
before our thought or after our thought there is brahman.
63
The intellect is the seed of the world. From this seed, a tree in the
form of the world has spread all over. That which is not in the intellect is not
in the world and whatever is in the intellect becomes a conviction and only
that much is the world. If the intellect has the conviction that brahman is this
64
gross world then, it appears like that.
In order to kill the mind, the authors of the scriptures wield many
weapons in the form of various spiritual practices. But still they have said
things like, “The mind is a terrible demon” or “The wind may be tied up or
the sky may be folded, but the work of killing the mind is an impossible
task.” In this way, they have painted a formidable image of the mind and
scared the seeker half out of his wits. But mind simply means, to say
something. The one who understands the significance of this point will not
fear the mind, nor will he make any effort to kill it either. Because he
understands, killing the mind means to just remain still and silent.
65
vritti means to rise up. And after you have arisen from your state of
equilibrium, then this arisen thought takes the form of either a pleasure or a
pain. But these both are boils that have appeared on your formless swarup. ‘I
am not the pleasure form and neither am I the painful form. I am this bliss
form/ananda and the support of the thought of happiness or suffering.’
The eyes, nose and ears are the tools of this knowing. And through
this knowing that purush knows (ie. triad of Knower, knowing and known).
And like these sense-organs, the intellect is also a tool of this knowing and
therefore, like the inner sense-organs, the intellect is also to be considered as
gross and inanimate.

Rejection of this Causal body ie. Ignorance

All activity takes place on the support of this bliss of ‘I am’ and
unknowingly all jivas dine on the nourishing food of this bliss during deep
sleep. That is why in the morning they are refreshed and again are able to
perform their activities with renewed vigour.
By saying “I am not,” you do not prove your non-existence. On the
contrary, by saying “I am not” the meaning “I am” is conveyed. A thief was
hiding in the darkness and when the householder came searching for him, the
thief said, “There is nobody here. Why are you unnecessarily taking the
trouble of looking?” However, these very words of the thief, “There is
nobody,” gave the understanding that “Somebody is” and the thief was
caught straight away. To say, “I am not” is like someone saying “I have no
tongue, I cannot speak” or it is like the student who wrote a note, “Our child
is sick and bed-ridden” and then went to the school himself to deliver the
note.
A wife asks her husband “Is there anybody in the room?” The
husband replies, “Nobody is here. Come in.” Someone inside says, “Nobody
is here.” The reason he said this is that, our own being-ness is self-proven and
there is no need to again say to that being-ness, “I am”.
All the differences of pleasure and pain etc. are only in the gross and
subtle bodies. The states of the causal and the supra-causal bodies are without
such differences and divisions. So if there is no trace of place, time and
object in the causal body, then how can these possibly be found in the supra-
causal body and in that formless swarupa, beyond knowledge?

Rejection of the Supracausal body: The understanding of that swarup,

beyond these four bodies.

The meaning of aum is this ‘I’. When someone calls you, this initial
inspiration aum appears as “Oh”. In the body of every creature this
proclamation ‘I am’ is going on day and night and when every moment one is
aware of this ‘I am’ then, that Reality can be understood. In every jiva there
is that ever-arisen Self and this ‘song of being-ness’ going on. First there was
a jiva, then that became shiva and afterwards when the feeling of being a jiva
and of being shiva both go away then, that original state remains. But the
experience of not being can never be there, at any time.
In this original inspiration or supra-causal body there are the
unmanifested five basic elements (space, wind, fire, water and earth) and
three gunas. This is called the eight-fold creation or prakruti and being an
unmanifested potential, it is just like a seed. This has been given the names
like, the original illusion/mulamaya or the illusion of knowledge/vidya-maya.
In this state, the three gunas are in equilibrium and therefore it is called
prakruti with the gunas in balance (ie. potential). Due to the agitation of these
66
gunas, a sprout bursts out of this seed state and the five elements and three
gunas become clearly manifest. Then the three bodies of the jiva are created
67
(ie. causal, subtle, gross). This is called amongst other things, the illusion of
ignorance/avidya-maya and the ‘agitation of the gunas’.
68
It is said that while praising parabrahman, even Lord shesha
became speechless. Lord shesha is the one who remains hidden within the
supra-causal body of knowledge when the gross, subtle and causal bodies
have been forsaken. He is the one we call God. There Lord shesha is
knowing Himself but His knowingness does not work in the realm of
parabrahman. There even shesha’s understanding fades away (ie. the triad of
Witness, witnessing and witnessed does not remain) and in that formless
swarup, both knowingness and ignorance do not exist.
Observe how there are four bodies in a peanut. The outer shell is the
equivalent of the gross body. The thin red skin on the nut is like the subtle
body. The peanut kernel is like the causal body and in between the parted
kernel is the small sprout which is the equivalent of the supra-causal body.
As long as the sprout is there then, even if the shell, skin and kernel are
destroyed, still the peanut will surely grow. In the same way, as long as the
seed, that is the original word ‘I am brahman’ in the supra-causal body is
there then, rebirth cannot be avoided!
Understand the meaning that is hidden within this story of
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gopichanda - In order to understand life’s purpose, King gopichanda’s
mother sent him to the foundry fire pit. His mother was very wise and so she
had four statues made of gopichanda and had them placed above the fire pit:
the first of iron, then one of copper, then of silver and the last of gold. Each
time a statue got placed in the fire-pit the question arose “Who are you?” And
each time when gopichanda answered “I am gopichanda,’ the reply came,
“You will be burnt to ashes.” One by one the four statues got burnt until
finally King gopichanda himself stood on top of the fire-pit. This time when
his sadguru asked “Who are you?” he replied “I am gopichanda,” and this
time from within the fire a blessing came “Son, you will be immortal.” What
is the meaning of this story? The four statues from iron to gold represent the
gross, subtle, causal and supra-causal bodies and they have increasing
importance, like the four statues. In these bodies, King gopichanda said “I am
gopichanda.” This means he had taken pride in each of the bodies and at that
time his sadguru reprimanded him saying “Let your pride for this body be
burnt to ashes.” After all the four bodies were destroyed, gopichanda
understood his real Self and at that time he received a blessing from His
guru: “Son, you are beyond the four bodies and are the immortal Self!”
The supra-causal body is the pure sattwa guna. This is also known as
the power, the witnessing, the life principle/chaitanya, the original inspiration
and knowingness etc. Then within this there comes the mixing of the three
gunas and that brings the many shapes and forms. This supra-causal body is
of the nature of knowledge and is also known as saguna brahman. And
where there is not even an iota of any one of these gunas, that is the nirguna
paramatma, beyond all these four bodies.
When this knowledge of objects ends then, the knowledge ‘I am’
remains. In this original thought ‘I am’ there is the feeling ‘Nothing is there’
and at that time, only you alone are. But because you cannot have knowledge
of your own form/swarup, you are saying to your swarup, ‘Nothing is there’
and so at that time, when you are knowing this feeling ‘nothing is’, you have
become knowledge. But when there is neither the knowing of ‘nothing is’ or
‘something is’ then that still and silent swarup remains. That is beyond
knowledge and ignorance and that thoughtless Lord is your true Self.
To kill the feeling of “I am a body” the feeling of ‘I am brahman’
though useful, is still a feeling. In the realm of parabrahman, beyond all
feelings, it is also an impurity.
This satchidananda (existence, knowledge, bliss) experience comes
due to the original thought. This satchidananda is the experience of
knowledge in the supra-causal body. The thoughtless Lord however has
neither existence nor bliss.
There can be a quarrel between one brother and another brother but
has anyone known of a quarrel between the fathers? No! Because there is
only one father and so there can be no quarrel. The Marathi word bhava
means brother, but it also means, a state. Thus within the fourth body (ie.
pure sattwa) there is the state of ignorance (tama), the state of false
knowledge (raja), the state of knowledge (sattwa) and these states bring so
the many different names and forms. These states are just like brothers
quarrelling with each other and it goes so far until one brother climbs upon
another brother’s chest and kills him. But in that Supreme Self, the father of
these four bodies, there are no quarrels, for He is beyond states and He is the
abode of complete rest.
A sculptor working on a square block of stone with his chisel easily
shapes it into an idol of god. This is because the chips removed by chiseling
do not return and stick to the stone again. But in this human ‘block’ there are
four bodies and really a stone is easier to work on than these. The sculptor, in
the form of sadguru, uses his chisel of instructions and removes one by one
the chippings of these four bodies. But these removed chips return and stick
again to this ‘block’ and because it keeps going on in this manner, this
‘human-stone’ does not become God very easily at all.
Space is not the fifth element, it is knowledge. The supra-causal and
causal bodies are also not bodies but they are this knowledge. Thus there is
actually only the four elements of earth, water, fire and wind and the two
bodies, the gross and subtle. The concept of space is relative to the other four
elements and the concepts of causal and supra-causal bodies are relative to
the other two bodies. These concepts are only meant to make understanding
easier.

Chapter Eight
The Unreality of the world
First understand that this worldly existence is false

Taking this world true you carry out all these worldly activities. But
you should feel that this is unreal. That, which has become unreal, is your
real swarup and it should be understood. When your innermost being
understands that this world is totally false then, that thoughtless swarup will
appear. Here, only the truth and falsity of this original thought has to be
changed. This original thought or knowledge that you had taken as true now
has to be taken as untrue. That is all! But to live in this worldly life with the
understanding that it is false, is truly an act of great courage. Still once you
start practicing the renunciation of the false then, this experience ‘I am’ will
come.
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The mind is a promise, but it will not keep that promise. Therefore,
in whatever condition you may be in, start this practice of renunciation. With
the conviction that the objects of the world are false, remove your thoughts
from those objects and fill the mind with the thought of the Self. Outwardly,
you may do any work but, you must have the firm conviction, ‘Everything,
even this knowledge, is false.’
If a human being is to become God then, let there be no longing for
objects in the mind. This means, ‘I am the Truth, the Supreme Self and all
these objects are completely false. Whether they come or go, it is all the same
to me.’ There should be this conviction, ‘I am brahman’ and this yearning
should be there day and night. If you do not give up this begging from maya
then, tell me, what have you achieved? When knowledge asks for anything
then it becomes a low caste beggar (ie. body consciousness).
That Ultimate Accomplishment is very easy. The attention which is
focused on this side is to be turned to that side. That is all! You worship
ganesha, you present flowers and offer sweets to him. You do everything but
you do not pay any attention to what he is telling by the small gesture of one
of his hands. He is saying, “Your mistake is really this small. Just change
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your attention!”
The real Self has been forgotten. Now place your attention there and
let this maya be forgotten. Understand this world is completely unreal. Not
only is this world false; only brahman is true! This must be indelibly
stamped upon your mind. Once the attraction for the objects has gone from
the mind then you are that self-existent brahman. Then liberation, peace and
repose stand at your door with folded hands just waiting to serve.
Either God becomes yours or this worldly existence becomes yours. shri
krishna said, “I am on one side and my army is on the other side; you take
whichever you want.” The kauravas took the army and that means they chose
the worldly existence and the pandavas, they choose God. This worldly
existence is false; that must be impressed on your mind. However, without
the company of a Saint/Truth (satsang), this does not sink in.
 One should leave the longing for objects

This love in your heart for objects is maya. The hope in your hearts is
maya; know this, oh beloved of God! (from eknath bhagawatam). And for
the one who feels, ‘Of this world, I want nothing at all,’ his maya has gone.
After hope has departed for the ‘unattached’ swarup then, the world is
like a blade of grass. It would be like handing out elegantly waxed mustaches
to women; they would be valued as much as a piece of straw. In the same
way, the one who feels that these objects of the world are as worthless as a
piece of straw has destroyed maya.
To be in your formless swarup, even this longing to know should be
given up. Understand that without your swarup this ‘I am’ could not be
spoken and therefore even this speech ‘I am’ should be made silent. But first
leaving aside the vedas and other scriptures, scholarly pride, arguments and
counter arguments, this conviction, ‘I am the Supreme Self’ should be held
firmly in the mind. And by continually increasing this understanding of being
that Supreme Self, this root of mind’s longings and hopes is destroyed.
The happiness of worldly life is like the happiness of a dream. There is
always a tinge of sorrow in it, for the wealth of these objects of this world is
no wealth at all. The glories connected with the Self like tranquility and
independence are real wealth and a disciple should concentrate on achieving
only this wealth.
The objects themselves are not of the nature of bliss and it is only when
there is a deep desire for an object that there is bliss on acquiring it. And if
you do not have a longing or attraction for the object then, even if someone
was to give it to you, still there is no bliss on acquiring it. But the Self is not
like that. It is the bliss that naturally exists when the thought of and the desire
for objects disappears. The Self is the very nature of bliss and so the need for
desires does not arise there.
The one who gives up the fond dwelling on these objects is truly
powerful and brave. This worldly life can never be made straight and the one
who says they will make it straight is a fool. However much one may try to
make it straight, it remains bent, just like the tail of the dog. If you address a
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tiger respectfully, still that tiger will eat you and if you were to insult it, still
the tiger will eat you. What then is to be gained by showing her respect? Be
indifferent and abandon her.
You can pretend to be a rich person. However you cannot bring
prosperity in the home by merely making a show. It’s the same with giving a
loud lecture on renunciation. It may appear as if the speaker is endowed with
renunciation, but to create even a drop of dispassion in the mind is difficult.
Just as in a game of chess the king should not be checkmated, so too,
the Self should not be checkmated by anything. Therefore leave aside your
worries, hopes, friendships and enmities and attain peace/shanti (shaha-
checkmate, anti- end of). Saying “The miseries of the world should not come
to me” is one checkmate. “Happiness should come to me” is another
checkmate. All the objects in the world are like the pawns on the chessboard.
They appear harmless enough but they are very dangerous and you should
never be checkmated by these or by the rook or castle of respect and
disrespect etc.

The secret of abandoning maya- Be the non-doer

Because you always want to be doing something, you become

miserable and it is only when you have no duties that you are happy. As long
as one has work to do, he is a labourer, even if he is the King. But within
every action there is the Self and He is the non-doer. In this world, you
cannot escape doing something but if you extract that essence through vivek
(proper thinking) then, you become the non-doer. Remove all the thoughts of
this world and fix them on the Self. Always remember, the objects are false
and brahman is true. Do this much only and then be in any way you choose!
However, for the one who does not want to dance, the floor is always uneven.
But the one who is determined will acquire this Knowledge of
brahman, somehow or another. The demon king told his son, prahlad, “Do
not utter the name of God.” prahlad replied, “Your control is only on this
body, you have no rights to my mind!” Like this, though actions are
unavoidable still, keeping your thoughts on brahman, do the work just for its
own sake. ‘I am the Self, the non-doer.’ Say this and the work itself becomes
the Self.
Acquiring supernatural powers and performing extra-ordinary miracles
is just like creating another dream within this already completely destructible
and strange dream called the world. These ‘miracles’ can only take place if
one has become separate from their swarup. Therefore, the aspirant who
seeks the Self should not fall into the madness of supernatural powers.
People attempt to master maya and destroy her. However maya is full
of many tricks. She is riding upon those who say “I have defeated her.” She
arranges it so well that they dance to her tune. You will ask, “What should
one do after realization?” The answer to that is, “After realizing, there is no
duty.” Let the body, the house and the worldly life be as they are. If you do
something then that is maya. If you say that “I will put everything in order
and then become a sadhu (Saint)” then, until the day you die, my child, you
will be putting things in order. Look! In a dream, you encountered a bear;
you knocked it down, sat on its chest and killed it. And just at that moment,
you awoke, morning dawned and there was no bear; there was nothing at all.
It was all delusion only!
Sometimes you throw down this bear called maya and sometimes she
throws you down. This has been going on for so long. Then you meet
sadguru and he says to you, “Dear child! Why are you remaining in this
madness? Even this knowledge is the doer-ship of maya. Be brahman and
stay as the non-doer.” But however much they get taught the seekers think
only of that which is illusory and ask, “What should I do now, maharaj?” It is
like the guru telling the disciple not to sniff snuff and the disciple going and
sticking his whole nose in the snuff-box. It is something the same when a
disciple, having been told that everything is false, asks, “What should I do
now?”
When the mind places its attention on the numerous different forms (ie.
gross objects) within this limiting concept ‘I am’, that is called the maya of
ignorance. And when it places its attention on this ‘I am’ then, the objects are
left aside and this is the maya of knowledge. God does not have to do
anything. He is within the temple and outside there are stones, but when this
God goes out and sits within one of the stones then, He becomes a jiva. The
one who understands that ancient, non-doing God who is residing within this
body, is the Knower. Who is the true son of the guru? The answer is the one
who has come to understand the tenet, “There is absolutely no thing like
maya.” And no matter how long this wrestling with the bear called maya
continues still, the tenet is, “It is completely false!”
As has been explained, the one who undertakes all the troubles and
strife of maya is a jiva. Therefore do not try to do anything. It is maya that
makes you into a seeker and then she makes you do something. Really, she is
an expert at such harassment. maya has two arms-length horns on its head.
Go in front and she strikes with the horns. Go behind and she kicks you.
Therefore to do nothing at all, of any kind, is the only means to destroy maya.
Understand, there is nothing to do and there is nothing to leave. But those
who have not understood this maya involve themselves in a riotous clamour
of doing many practices/sadhanas.
The jiva has the habit of doing something. “What should I do and
where should I go?” He is never happy. There is a saying, “Having done
everything again and again and having become exhausted, one starts to
worship God.” That is really the only truth and it is only when all doing is left
off that there is the real worship of God. Otherwise, I must do this, must do
that, arrange for this and arrange for that etc. To make one do something is
the ‘attention’ of maya. You always feel that, “I must do something and only
then will life be fulfilled!” But this is the greatest obstruction to being
complete. Everything is false, so drop all interfering. Whatever is your state,
remain like that only. It is said, “Remain quiet, just like God.” When you
understand with your innermost being that, nothing is being done then, you
will be just like God.
A business-minded person will ask, “How much will you take to do this
particular job?” But the sadhu will ask, “How much will you take to sit
quietly?” That is because the sadhu knows that doing nothing is ‘being God’.
In your swarup there is no action, no cause and no doership. You and I and
good and bad are of the nature of maya. Knowledge and ignorance, jiva and
shiva, appear within doership. Methods/sadhana, practice and study etc. are
all maya’s beguilements. When one has gone beyond maya there is freedom
from all duties and then the practice/sadhana of being that original thought
(‘I am’ or ‘He is’) does not remain.

Chapter Nine

The falsity of ‘I’-ness

 Standing in the court witness box every witness says, “I swear before
God to tell the truth, the whole truth and tell no lies.” Taking such an oath,
one man swears that “My name is Dhondopant, my father’s name is
Dagadopant, my age is this, my caste is that, my address is such and such.”
However, even after taking this oath to tell the truth, he still tells nothing
other than lies. But he knows no better, so what testimony can he give other
than this? In court there was no mention of any punishment for all these lies
that the witness told. But he will surely receive his punishment in the form of
this endless cycle of birth and death.
He has no name and has no father; He is birthless and therefore His age
cannot be told; He has no caste, creed nor occupation and because of His
omni-presence, he cannot say, “I am from such and such place.” That this
Supreme purush, devoid of any distinction of place, time and object, should
give such false witness. Well! Such is the great power of maya.
There is only brahman and on that, ‘I and mine’ have attached
themselves and therefore a jiva appeared. Of all the letters of the Marathi
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alphabet there are no letters more twisted than “a” and “ha” which combine
to make aham/‘I am’. To achieve that ever-existent brahman, the only
requirement is that this ‘I am’ feeling should subside. Lord shankara had
given a boon to the great demon ravana on account of his devotion. He
promised him that he could only meet his death at the hands of a human
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being and that neither gods nor animals could kill him. The meaning of this
is that only in this human birth, if there is vivek, is the destruction of the ego
called ravana possible. ravana was said to have a kingdom of fourteen
provinces. This refers to the 10 organs, (5 action organs + 5 sense organs)
and the mind/mana, intellect/buddhi, reasoning/chitta and ego/ahankara.
Truly only this ‘I’ must go away. This means that first this “I am Mr.
So and so” should be put an end to. All the pains taken by vedanta are for this
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only. “I” is this demon rahu and he has swallowed that Self that shines like
the sun. But the wonder of it all is that, this “I” is only an appearance!
Everything everywhere gets done with the authority of the Self but this ego
says, “I did it.” Who is this “I” who has appeared on that Self? His name is
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gomaji ganesha. He is a jiva and imposter; he is a thief who has gained
entry into the King’s court. This “I” was given a post and then he conspired
to dethrone the King or Self. However, when the scriptures initiated an
inquiry into his whereabouts then, he disappeared without a trace and the
royal seal of the Self has re-established.
That Self has accepted hundreds of demeaning concepts like, “I am
small, a sinner, in bondage, a woman, a man, etc.” That Sun of knowledge
has been totally eclipsed and everywhere has been plunged in darkness and
all these concepts conceal our real nature. It is customary here in India, at the
time of the eclipse, to give away something in alms as this act is said to dispel
the eclipse. The real meaning is that by giving away all these accepted
concepts, the shining Self will again be revealed.
At the many sacred places, devotees plunge beneath the waters of the
river for their atonement and a brahmin priest loudly calls out to them, “Cast
off your concepts.” But these jiva instead do the opposite and hold on tighter
to concepts like, “I am sinful” and “My nature is sinful” etc.

The practice for casting off the ego

For the ego of the body to go, you have to do practice. Therefore do not
assign greatness to the body. Give it as little importance as possible and expel
this body-ego. Only the purush who acts courageously can destroy this ego of
the body (ie. purush means witnessing; I am not anything that I can see or
perceive).
In the temple, there is a tortoise of brass or stone embedded in the floor,
at the entrance to the god’s sanctum. This is symbolic and it means that, like
the tortoise which contracts its limbs, one who approaches God should reduce
this body-sense because without doing that, one cannot enter the place of
God.
What is the indication that brahman has been reached? There is
complete destruction of the feeling “I am somebody.” But the ego does not
go because it does not listen to what the guru has instructed and continues to
behave in a contrary manner. The guru tells you to throw off this ego but you
say, “I am like this and I am like that” and in this manner, you attempt to
increase this body ego. The more you use your intellect, the more you
increase your ego. But if you give up your meddling in this world and act in
accordance with the guru’s instructions, then only will the ego be destroyed.
Therefore, leave your ways and live according to sadguru’s teachings. For if
your ego has not gone and you say ‘I am brahman’ then, understand clearly,
you are calling your ego, brahman.
Understand that this worldly existence is illusory and give up any
respect for it. I am not the body and this is not mine, for I am brahman.
Therefore what do I want from this world? Due to the feeling that you are
the body you say, “I want this, I want that.” But, the feeling should arise that,
“If I am brahman then, what need do I have for these things? Why should I
want a house, property and wealth?” This understanding should be firmly
established.
If someone says, “You are great etc.”; understand such praise is of the
body and thus you are being demeaned. And if someone tries to belittle and
says, “Hey you, God!”; understand that there is only God and therefore He is
being praised. In this way, when the mind turns towards the swarup then, that
steady state devoid of any disturbances and full of bliss is attained.
If you are abused then understand that it is the body that is abused. If,
due to someone’s anger, you don’t get your lunch then consider fasting as
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beneficial for spiritual upliftment and make this day your ekadashi. If
someone is beating the body but you understand that, it is only by the beating
of this body that one turns to the Self then, why not endure that beating?
Thinking in this way, the poison becomes the cure. Then you will endure
suffering with joy and understand that this suffering has come only to
strengthen my practice.

The great blessing of seeing your own death, while

living

‘I’-ness should be left but it is not being left. If however an enquiry is

made then, we discover that this ego is merely a concept and the scriptures
have shown us many different tricks on how to leave it. The one who has
seen his own death is truly blessed. However, every jiva is striving to
increase its ego. “I should be wealthy, I should be an officer, I should be
famous” or “I am a seeker, I am realized” and “I am like this” and “I am like
that.” In this way, you end up increasing that which should be stamped out.
yogis and sages take pride in saying, “I am a yogi,” “I am a sage.” Even
krishna told them that their status was great because he knew that they were
not at all willing to leave their body-consciousness. maya says, “I nurture big,
big animals in my circus. Those who say, I am a Saint, I am a yogi, I am a
sage, are all my pets.”
Seeing one’s own death is achieved only by those who are very
fortunate. One’s own death means the ego’s death. The death that brings
merely a change of body or a change of form cannot be truly said to be death.
One should die such a death that there should be no more coming back. Such
a ‘great death’ comes to the virtuous purush who possesses knowledge. That
‘great death’ will not even glance at a sinful man. Why is death such a
calamity for the ignorant sinners anyway? For they only take birth to die and
die for to take birth. This unbroken cycle of death and birth is going on for
that unbroken Supreme Self and it is only the one who gains Self-knowledge
who kills this ego and remains beyond the ‘end of thoughts’.

Understand the Implied Meaning

shukracharya was the guru of the demons. This means, he is one who
has expert knowledge of this body that is born of seminal fluid/shukra. The
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real pindadana means to sacrifice your body consciousness and by this
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offering of your body, you are lifted out of this ancestral lineage. However,
this worldly pindadana is of no benefit other than giving the crows a feast.
It is said that when you die, the world is drowned. This means that
when the body-ego dies, then the feeling of a world is automatically
destroyed.
It is said that you can never see heaven without first dying and this
means that after killing your ego, you will attain Self-bliss (heaven).
It is said that Tukaram Maharaj went to heaven with his body. How is
this possible? It means that by means of this body and through understanding,
he achieved that Supreme Self and became free from the sense of being a
body (ie. jivanmukta). Then the jiva dies and the one who remains is shiva
(ie. Knower and known, purush and prakruti).
 Chapter Ten

The practice of being brahman

You are brahman, so be brahman and stay

Shri Samartha Ramdas Swami said, Realize God by being one with
Him. That is devotion. Due to this devotion, His glory and power is ‘at that
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time’ accepted. God should understand Himself by being a devotee. This
means that it is God who has become the devotee and thus the devotee is
indeed God. When this is understood then, Godliness is attained. One should
understand, ‘I am God.’ The jiva and shiva are not separate but, if you say “I
am a jiva” then there is a jiva and if you say, ‘I am shiva’ then, shiva appears.
If the King says, “I am a soldier,” then he becomes a soldier and starts doing
parades and drill. For the one who has become a jiva, the first wretchedness
is birth and death, the second wretchedness is happiness and misery, the thirst
wretchedness is hunger and thirst, etc.
In this world, there is no guardian other than sadguru. The disciple
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should render service to the guru and have that pride, ‘I belong to the guru.’
In this way achieve the state of immortality. But if one forgets that one has
taken refuge in the guru for the great purpose of becoming immortal, then
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what is the benefit of being a guru’s son in name only? One should remain
always as brahman and have the glory of being the guru’s son. To remain
continuously seated in the kingdom of your own bliss is your greatest wealth.
For such an ever-contended son of the guru, the riches and objects of the
world have no worth whatsoever. Of what use are gold, silver, diamonds,
pearls and rubies when one is always absorbed in that formless swarup.

Disciple: I have come, Maharaj.

Guru: Who are you?
Disciple: brahman.
Guru: So be brahman and stay.
Then the glories of brahman are imbibed and one is eternal, pure,
awakened, liberated, nirguna, formless and omnipresent.
 Don’t just simply say, “I am brahman.” Be brahman and stay in the
glory of your swarup. We are God, but if we do not behave like God then we
are God in name only. Therefore like God one should be nirguna, desireless,
free of the bondage of this worldly life and void of any anxiety. Merely by
saying “I am brahman,” the deed is not achieved. Therefore be brahman and
remain as brahman. ‘I am all-pervading, without any gunas and without any
blemish.’ If your thought becomes like that then, you go on acquiring the
Self’s glory and from that you get so much joy. The more time spent with
one’s attention fixed on your formless swarup, the better that day. The vedas
and scriptures sing the praises of that swarup. If the glory of brahman is the
cause of happiness then, why do you not stay in brahman and why do you
hold on so adamantly to body-consciousness?
When Kabir was asked, “Where are you from and where do you live?”
He gave the answer, “I dwell in that country where nobody can reach. I was a
crow and it become a swan by losing caste, family and race.” But we say,
“We are from Mumbai.” However the cause of your being able to say, “I am
from Mumbai” is that you are always residing in this ‘I am’ and truly you
never cease being the Self. Therefore, in the aspirant’s living, talking etc., the
Self/brahman should be clearly discerned.
“Who am I?” When that is known then, you must behave in a manner
worthy of that. If this thought, ‘I do not exist,’ is to be established then your
behaviour has to be in accordance with that. Every morning on waking up,
bring your awareness to your formless swarup. ‘I am brahman.’ Therefore
should you not live your life with His glory and majesty? Being brahman, ‘I
am desireless, I am nirguna, I am without shape and I am the highest form of
bliss.’ To live with this majesty is your duty. Therefore, being among the
people, do not become like the people and sit idling in the body like them.
One should not pay any attention to the people’s talk and by remaining
separate from the people always fix your attention on your swarup.

Break the habit of being a jiva and remain with the understanding
of brahman

“God himself has become the devotee” or “The devotee has become
God.” Tell me is there any difference in these two statements? Though it is
true there is no difference between the devotee and God, still by saying, “God
has become the devotee,” the ego is destroyed, but by saying “The devotee
has become God,” then the pride of the ego arises. After the jiva has
disappeared and God remains then His glories are imbibed. This brings
assurance, unselfishness, triumph and pervasiveness along with freedom from
care and boundless joy.
But the one who lives as a body has to endure the body’s miseries and
this body is but a house of worries. This being so, if the aspirant covers
himself with jiva-hood then it is indeed strange. For though you are the King
still, you want to remain the master of a gutter! What is the meaning in that?
Therefore, breaking down the old habit of saying, “I am a jiva,” remain
always with the understanding of brahman. After having acquired
knowledge, do not obstinately hold on to the ego of the body. brahman you
are, so enjoy the glory of brahman.

The practice of ‘I am brahman’/aham brahmasmi

Be God and revel in His Godliness. To say “God is somebody else,” is

wrong. Do not ever think that somebody else will make you brahman. If God
was given His Godliness by someone else, then the giver of that Godliness
would have been greater. One has become a jiva by one’s own wish, and by
one’s own wish only, one has to become shiva. In short, the matter of you
becoming God is in your own hands.
In truth, you are God experiencing through the sensory organs. And
when you truly become God, then you will feel ashamed to call yourself the
body. If you are a man and if someone offers you fancy bangles for your
arms then, how will you feel? Embarrassed, no? The same principle is
applicable here also. You are that purush and should be embarrassed to wear
this body. The one who has achieved Godliness, will feel, “This worldly
living, this wife, this husband, this property and money, what is it for?” To
feel ashamed of being a jiva, is itself the sign of having attained brahman.
One will say, “I am ever-happy; for me what is the need of the objects of
sense-pleasure?”
Day and night the aspirant has to examine the type of thoughts that
arise in the mind. Do thoughts of this material world occur or thoughts of the
world of brahman? This should be observed and examined. I will tell you the
nature of the thoughts of the Self state – ‘I am all-pervading, completely
perfect/paripurna, present in the inner heart of the all, I am ever-free and
completely full of bliss.’
With regards to others, the aspirant should think, “What have I to do
with the affairs of the world?” By wise council, we alone should set ourselves
free. One should not speak about others’ affairs. One should not indulge in
such detrimental thoughts like, how much has renouncement and knowledge
been imbibed by other aspirants? Towards somebody who is being egoistic
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think, “Let them show off their talent for these four days.” Once and for all
get yourself freed from this world and this ghost in the form of body ego and
pride. Discard all these objects from your mind and by the mantra, ‘I am
brahman,’ exorcise this ghost of “I”.

Imbibe the conviction of your own Natural State

In the Self there is no sleep, no awakening, no sitting, no time, not even

a moment. So if the thought comes, “I was late in getting up today” then,
immediately reply to that by saying, “But how could I sleep in the first place?
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I am there in all the three states.” Whenever such situations arise, you
should immediate reply from that state of the Self. If someone tells you to
wash your feet then, think at least in your mind, “Where have I got feet to
wash?” When you remember the Self then there is only the Self. Therefore,
always have that Self conviction.
“I am not the body. I am the Self. But…” maya has so much love for
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this “but”. This ‘I am’ is an attention in that attentionless Self, still, one
should stay there only. “But”, creates form and this worldly existence and
when they have been destroyed then only, you are a true gnyani. “Why, oh
why have I got involved in this worldly life?” One must feel like this.

Destroy the thought of sense objects and have the thought of

brahman
 There is a saying that you should arise only after having seen a
beautiful face. What this actually means is you should get up with the
conviction, ‘I am the Supreme Self.’ Do not arise with the thoughts of a
beggar, “I want this and I want that.” You yourself have to decide who you
are. It is a matter of your own choice. “Am I the King?” or “Am I a guard?”
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Once the Self becomes a jiva then it lives in the body and takes satwai as its
wife. And she makes incessant demands like, “Bring me this and bring me
that” and will not allow her husband to have any peace at all. Alternatively,
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there is goddess lakshmi. She is ready to offer you the Knowledge of
brahman and that Ultimate Bliss. Whom you marry is up to you.
If we harbour any feeling of being a jiva then, there is the making of
endless worries in unending births. Otherwise you can say, ‘I am that nirgun
brahman.’ If you teach your mind the habit of that brahman-thought then,
you can attain complete freedom from all worries. Understand that one does
not become a jiva by the mere experience of the sense objects. It is due to the
attachment to and the contemplation on these sense objects that one becomes
a jiva. Therefore, destroy the object-thoughts and maintain the practice of that
brahman-thought. The tree has to be watered until it takes root. In the same
way, practice until you are established in that place of brahman.
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Those cow-dung cakes from which the sound ‘vitthala’ emanated
90
were Muktabai’s cow-dung cakes and the rest were just cow-dung. In the
same way, the one from whose mind there comes the sound ‘I am He/soham,’
is liberated; and the rest are motivated by the impulse of a body ego and are
bound (“I am Mr. so and so”).

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The establishment of nididhyasa – Be connected to the
Self

“Maharaj has come. Two matters need to be discussed.” Therefore you

come here and those two matters are not idle chitchat; they are ‘I am not the
body’ and ‘I am the Self.’
The sadguru’s teaches you that you should keep your mind always
engrossed in your formless swarup. ‘I am the Self. I am nirguna, completely
perfect, ever-free and the nature of Supreme Bliss.’ Such a connection should
always be there. This is the attention of a true aspirant/sadhak . Be in the
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home but be separate from the home. Be with people but be separate from
the people. Once you start getting this experience then, maintain that
understanding and detachment will be imbibed. It has been due to your
constant contemplation and connection to this false story of the world that the
false seems to be real; so if the aspirant contemplates on the real, which is
one’s own Self then, what is the wonder if one becomes That?
So much change comes about in your mind when pride is taken in a
cricket team, so how great will be that change when you take pride in being
brahman? But this conviction needs to be thoroughly accepted. The jewel in
the crown of practice is when the saguna thought ceases in the nirguna. –
dasbodha.
The greatest practice of all practices is when this ‘I am’ thought ceases
in that nirguna swarup. But for that to happen, the very last remnant of
worldly life must be left. Without giving up your human-ness, one can never
become God. The mind should be indelibly stamped with, ‘I am brahman.
Even if two hundred thousand rupees are offered to me still, I will not hold
the body conviction.’
How much time have you served the guru? And how much time have
you spent serving these sheep? How much has brahman been established?
Keep an account. In a day, how many hours is the brahman-thought there?
Maintain a diary of this.

Cast off the attraction of the world, and keep your connection with
the Self

Once the jiva leaves its body-ego then that jiva becomes shiva; then the
man/nara becomes narayana. If you say that this stone has become God, then
why cannot a man become God? Truly you are parabrahman but then this
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infatuation with prakruti took place. You became her husband and
hankered after her so much that you came tumbling down into this body and
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ended up as a distressed jiva. The purush who takes vitthal’s medicine must
observe the proper regimen and this means He must discard the company of
prakruti. Therefore be detached from the objects of the world and be always
established in that Self connection. Where the world is awake, there the
sadhu is asleep and where the world is sleeping, there the sadhu is awake.
The sadhu is asleep to maya and to the formless swarup he is awake. The one
who with full determination forgets the world and says, ‘I want no respect, no
honour, not even the king’s throne,’ is the accomplished sadhu. Who are truly
wealthy? Those who say, ‘I want nothing from this world.’ They only have
truly renounced and they are truly wealthy. The worldly wealths and even
this glory of knowledge are for the beggar.
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ekadashi is said to be an auspicious day for fasting. ekadashi means
protecting that one state, ‘I am brahman.’ On that day it is said, one should
eat only fruit. This means that the fruit (ie. ‘I am’) that was been given by the
guru should be swallowed up and one should be like brahman. It is said
someone observing the ekadashi fast should not touch anyone. This means
that there should be the experience, ‘I am one without a second, free of any
company.’ That Ultimate Accomplishment cannot be bestowed upon you by
another; one has to accept one’s own title. ‘We are not worldly people; we
are gnyanis, we are sadhus/Saints.’ Have this unwavering conviction. That
Supreme Self meets anyone who wants to meet it; however maya meets
everyone, even if one does not want to meet her.

Be fearless in this worldly life

Though he was the King, he believed he was happy in a prison. In the

same way, you are that Supreme Self confined to the body and you believe
that there is happiness in it. And however much you are told, “You are the
King” still you are not listening. You, who are pervading the whole universe,
beyond happiness and sadness and are the nature of pure Bliss, have become
full of misery, full of thinking and full of anxieties. And staying like this, you
are not ready to give up your pride for the body.
But my dear seeker, don’t do like this. Establish that connection with
the Self and stand fearlessly before this worldly life. What is its value after-
all? This worldly existence is nothing but the childish imaginings of four
days. Act according to what you have been taught and if you start doing that,
then you will rise above this worldly existence and then you will sit upon it as
its King. But if you feel “This worldly existence is too over-powering, how is
it possible to be the King? Then, what can I do?” Then it becomes the rider
and you become the horse. So be it. Whatever you see and perceive is false
and you are brahman and that is the only Truth. Therefore hold the sword of
‘I am brahman’ and the shield of ‘The world is false.’
The word, jagat/world is a combination of the two words jaga,
creation and gata, gone. See how the word itself indicates the destructible
nature of this world we see before our eyes. And the word, nasha/destroyed is
a combination of na, not and asha, to be and it shows us that something gets
destroyed because, in truth, it is not there (ie. only an imagined concept).
Now if one was to say of such a destructible, non-existent world, “I will
protect it” then, is he not a fool? How can this foolish “I” who will protect
this false world be that eternal Self? Therefore, the understanding of the
aspirant should be, ‘Whatever is going to be destroyed, then with my
blessings, let it be destroyed.’ Then that still and silent Self need not be
involved in the vain and empty discussions of this world.
Just like the purush in deep sleep; be brahman and stay. What have
you to worry for now? Should you worry for this body? No! Why would you
worry for how this material life will pass by? Having a wish to enjoy the
Bliss of brahman and entertaining worries of worldly life is like one who has
the wish to be the King but behaves like a beggar.
It is said that, “As long as the butcher keeps pulling; the goat is getting
dragged to its slaughter.” maya is just like this; and she keeps pulling the jiva
towards endless miseries. Therefore one should lovingly remember God’s
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name. Leave aside the pull of this worldly existence and stay always in
brahman. Calm the racing of the thoughts. Think of all the reasons why you
are running around: someone has died, someone has gone away, the monsoon
has left, the train has gone etc. – all meaningless running. Don’t be pulled and
then you are brahman.

Worshipping God (ie. bhajan) means to have that connection

with the Self
 By this worship/bhajan of God, maya is kept away. Worshipping God
means understanding, with full conviction, ‘I am the Self’ and then to live
accordingly. “What is going to happen?” If this worry comes then, ask
yourself, ‘Who am I; am I a body? No! I am brahman. Then why should
brahman worry for the body?’ The one who has such vivek, day and night,
stays as brahman. This is what is called conviction.

The power of conviction

If a money-lender has twenty thousand rupees he remains in the

exhilaration of that. Anywhere he goes he thinks “Where should I sit?” and
then he sits with the air of twenty thousand rupees. While walking, he walks
with that swagger and even when he goes to the toilet he goes with the
importance of twenty thousand rupees. Since you are brahman, the greatest
of all, then be brahman and exist in that exalted state. Why do you behave as
if you are an insignificant body?
Seeing an image of God before him, the devotee is filled with love and
feels, “Let this body be offered to God and caste off.” But it is not possible to
wave this body before God, in the same way one waves an arati flame in
front of an image; so then what should one do? If such doubt exists then, the
offering of this body is not being accomplished. It is only that purush who
has attained unity with God who understands very clearly just how the body
is to be offered to God and caste off.

Final Liberation

The attainment of that Supreme Self is greater than knowledge. You

are that Supreme Self and You have become a body that sees through the
senses only. Therefore enjoy your grandeur (ie. knowledge). It is indeed great
to know, ‘I am brahman,’ but to enjoy that Reality is even greater. The vedas
are singing Your praise. The whole world worships only You. mahadev and
vishnu come together (ie. when nothing is there, He is there) and merge in
knowledge and this knowledge takes complete rest in Your swarup. Lord
brahma and the other gods are the minstrels of knowledge and this
prakruti/maya is a servant of that God and she labours hard to please Him.
Pervasiveness, glory and majesty belong to knowledge. If You speak this ‘I
am’ then that Reality can be understood. Anyone who sees You (that Reality)
will be purified. Therefore you should taste only the grandeur (‘I am’) of
Your swarup. Then you are not a human being; then You are that most
blessed purush. What then remains as Your duty? You have to lift out those
who are entangled in maya.

Chapter Eleven

Dissolution of Knowledge

To climb up the tree is easy but to climb down is difficult. In the

same way, being a Knower is to go up and it is easy, but dissolving this ego
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of knowledge and to become that which is beyond knowledge is very
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difficult. But it is both the invocation and the relinquishment of god that
makes the worship/puja complete. In the same way, without the
relinquishment of knowledge in beyond knowledge, there is no Complete
Contentment.
The one who has been in prison has the joy of release. However, one
who does not know prison, for him, how can there be any thought of getting
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release or any joy of release? That is why bondage and liberation are twins
which take birth together and die together.
Where there is unity there is division; where there is nirguna then
there is saguna; where there is non-duality then there is duality; and when
there is non-activity then there is activity. Such mutual pairings come
together when there is this power (ie. knowledge/prakruti) and that purush.
And when that purush always remembers this power then, there will be the
dissolution of this knowledge also; because such remembrance can only be
done by forgetting everything.

That imagined purush must be destroyed

 ‘I am’ is an understanding and that purush has to leave this
understanding. Then, be just as you are and stay. Do not fall into any doubt.
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“Have I left my swarup or not?” Leave such delusion. The Supreme Self
has never been spoiled and by effort, it does not become new. When that
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imagined purush is gone then there is only that One Supreme Self at the
root.
You are; that is your experience. How can another give you the
assurance that you are? So when there is only beingness, what practice is
required? And if you try to meet that then, there is separation created. And if
the Self tries to achieve its Self then it will never be achieved or if you try to
lose it still, it cannot be lost. That cannot be dropped and even if discarded,
still That has not been discarded. That only is and has always been.
‘Knowledge is brahman.’ Such is the last of the four great statements
of vedanta. It means that this ‘knowing’ of that witnessing purush is indeed
the thoughtless brahman only. But this knowing within that place of brahman
has brought a holder of this ‘I’ (imagined ego) and then, that Self does not
appear to be there. However once this ‘I am’ is gone then, the work of
witnessing is not required and only that Supreme Self remains.
If the ego is completely destroyed then the jiva becomes brahman.
However as it is the very nature of the aspirant to expand himself (‘I am
everything, everywhere’), this ego is not destroyed. But it one serves the
sadguru with the conviction of ‘no-otherness’ then, this ego will be
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destroyed. Then you are that parabrahman. Therefore always keep the ego
on zero (I do not exist)!

The experience of ‘I am brahman’ is also incomplete

When the aspirant starts the practice ‘I am brahman,’ then the “I”
which was on the body, that much gets up and sits on the brahman. The small
“I” has become a big ‘I’. Only this much is the change. Just as a tomcat after
eating the small kittens swells with audacity, in the same way the jiva
swallows the kittens in the form of gross, subtle and causal bodies and leaves
the “I”-ness that was on them and starts saying ‘I am’ to the supra-causal
body. Therefore not only does that ego not die but it starts roaring, ‘I am
brahman.’ Without killing this ‘I’, the ego is not destroyed. Though we may
kill everything else, the killing of own self still remains to be done and that
task is very difficult without sadguru.
By the grace of sadguru the aspirant drops all the four bodies and
when even ‘I am brahman’ has been left behind then, that natural state
remains. There is no understanding whatsoever there, for it is beyond
understanding. It is said, ‘God is hungry for understanding.’ However such
understanding is within this original thought ‘I am”. In the natural state there
is no God and no man or anything.
Once the sadguru has given the understanding of that ‘concealed’
purush then, you want to meditate upon that natural state. But when you
understand the Truth then, there is nothing to do whatsoever. Still we have to
use the word, do/kara, but this doing is derived from the word kahara and it
means to cause distress. In that natural state, not to speak this ‘I am’ even, is
His praise and not to do anything, is His worship/puja!
The pride of an ignorant jiva is towards the external objects, while the
pride of the Knower/gnyani is within. But both are prides and both have
‘fallen’ from their natural state because activity has not ceased. Non-activity
is beyond these and there cannot be even a touch of pride there. Then only
has the blessing of the Saint borne its fruit.
The guru tells the aspirant, “Dear one, do not look within and do not
look outside either.” By looking outside, this original thought ‘I am’ becomes
like the many objects and by looking within, that thought is the Self seeing its
Self as its own object. While seeing outside the objects are the seen and you
are the seer and while looking inside, you are seeing yourself and this also
brings duality. Therefore it is the act of seeing that creates this duality and so
if seeing is given up then, that natural state of non-duality remains.

Beyond Knowledge is that Supreme Abode

A rubber band gets stretched by stretching. But when stretching is

stopped then the rubber band naturally returns to its previous state. Nothing is
required to be done to bring it to its previous state. On the contrary, by doing
something, its earlier state is altered. The state of total non-activity is
inherently natural and therefore nothing is required to be done to come to this
state. If one tries to do something then this original thought will arise and the
natural state will be spoiled.
“I am someone” or ‘I am not someone.’ The limit of words and
experience are only up to this “is” and ‘is not’. When “is” and ‘is not’ are
gone then whatever remains has no words nor experience.
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The meaning of experience is that which has appeared afterwards.
Now, whatever appears afterwards will be smaller and so it follows, that
without becoming small, experience cannot happen. It is to be clearly
understood then, that as long as experience is there then, the one who
pervades the experience has not been understood.
samadhi means adhi-in the beginning and sama-to be the same. To
become the same as one was in the beginning is samadhi.
‘I am’ is this perceptible saguna experience. Still, from the beginning
you are that unattached, self-existent Supreme Self/paramatma. You are the
ever-present, ever-shining shiva. You are the ancient and original brahman;
therefore what practices do you have to do? Becoming brahman by
practicing! How is that possible? Therefore do not bake again the baked
bread and do not cook the cooked rice more.
Ignorance and knowledge, bondage and liberation, the gunas of the jiva
(raja, tama, sattwa) and the guna of shiva (pure sattwa), pleasure and pain;
all these pairs will be there as long as mind is there. These pairs can be
understood as the right and left sides of the mind. If the mind is turned away
from the Self then there is ignorance, bondage, being a jiva, the three gunas
and misery. This is the left side of the mind. When the same mind is turned
towards the Self, then in that there is knowledge, liberation, being shiva, the
guna of pure sattwa and happiness. This is the right side of the mind. That
place where both these sides are not is the Supreme Abode.

Chapter Twelve

Conduct after Self-realization

After acquiring knowledge, one does not become still like a log. On the
contrary, now all activity is accomplished with the support of that brahman
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state. Some may say, “This sankalpa should not arise in you,” but that is
the understanding of a lifeless stone. What does it know? Sadguru Shri
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Hansaraja Swami has summed it up by stating, “As long as the mind is
there, then this sankalpa will be there.”
Saints want that this sankalpa should arise and that the jiva should
abide in this pleasure of knowledge and therefore they make only this
demand to God, “Let there not be any obstruction of this sankalpa at anytime,
by anything. In this arisen sankalpa, let there be hundreds of poor and foolish
thoughts, but they should not obstruct this sankalpa.” Now, this sankalpa is
the original inspiration and it is the form or manifestation of that Self. It is the
Self remembering its Self, free of obstruction. Just like the waves on the
water can only be water, so too, on this knowledge there has appeared the
arising waves of imagination but, they are only knowledge.
When one cannot see the gold without melting the ornaments into a
mould and making them into a lump or when one does not accept the
understanding of that thoughtless state without killing these thoughts that
appear from knowledge, then that Self has become blind. That one who can
see the gold in the ornaments and the thoughtless in the thought has the
divine vision of the purush. This is explained in this dialogue.
Knower – Without opposing the senses, prana, mind and speech, I am in the
thoughtless state for twenty-four hours of the day.
An enquirer who obstinately asserts a log-like samadhi – If the sensory
experiences have appeared upon that ‘I am’ thought then, how can you be
thoughtless?
Knower – Let’s imagine the gold to be the place of that thoughtless and the
ornaments to be the thoughts and upon that thoughtless there has appeared
the ornament of a thought. Now tell me, how much time does the gold remain
as gold in the ornaments?
Enquirer – What is difficult about that? The gold remains continuously in the
ornaments, by its being gold.
Knower– So then tell me, for how much time does the actionless remain in
the action and that thoughtless remain in the thought? That you should
understand without having to be told.
 The activity of the Knower is without the jiva-feeling

It is a real, poisonous snake but the snake-charmer, having removed

its poisonous teeth, uses that deadly snake as a means for his livelihood. This
worldly life is like that also. Though it is a giver of pain still, after the
poisonous teeth of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ have been removed from it, this life
becomes joyful.
You undertake all these worldly activities to get contentment. You
have done all this willingly and now you say that these actions you’ve
undertaken are troublesome and spoil your own contentment. So you need to
find some remedy. By holding on to this limiting concept of your being a
jiva, this worldly life becomes destructive and by holding the limiting
concept of being brahman, the worldly life becomes joyful. Therefore hold
on to the concept that is free of the jiva-feeling.
“I am somebody” is your stubbornness and “I will not do this” is only
your obstinacy. When you think, “This particular thing is good but that
particular thing is not acceptable” or “If it is like this, then I will be happy but
if it is not like this then I will be unhappy” then, you live and behave with
stubbornness and obstinacy and that Supreme Self has become the
understanding of someone in bondage. But if you give up this stubbornness
and obstinacy then, your actions become the action of the Self and if you
remain in this natural state then, there is the understanding of the siddha (The
accomplished One).

The Knower functions with an unreal ego

From time to time guests visit and go from your house. As guests, it is
not possible for them to become the master of your house but for the purpose
of showing respect to them, you cordially tell the guests, “This house is
yours.” However your inner understanding is quite different. In the same
way, from within that natural state there is the coming and going of this
thought ‘I am’ and though you behave by identifying with this, still there is
no break in that natural state. This is the experience of the ever-liberated.
The actor, who is in the guise of a woman, knows surely, “I am not a
woman.” Still at the time of the drama, if he does not act suitable to the
woman’s role then the drama will be uninteresting. In the same way, the
Knower has the perfect understanding that, ‘I, not being a body, am that
Self,’ but nevertheless conducts the worldly activities with a pretense of
body-attachment. Yet while performing these actions, that Self-connection is
never spoiled.

‘Having left here, one cannot return. That is my Ultimate

Abode.’

Having gone to that Ultimate Abode one should not presume that the
Knower does not return again upon the thought ‘I am’ or does not take a birth
again. Once a girl gets married and goes to her father-in-laws house then, her
home is now the house of her father-in-law. Still, it is not that she does not
visit her parent’s house. After the marriage she goes to their house but she
goes with a different demeanour. The place where she is now entitled to
dwell is at her father-in-laws house. Having perfectly understood, with every
fiber of her being, where her place is, the girl then comes to the parent’s
house with the assertion that her place is the father-in-law’s house. Therefore
this going from the place of the father-in-law to the place of her parents is not
anymore a return. In the same way, the Knower understands ‘I am the
ageless, deathless Supreme Self.’ If He starts dealing in worldly life or if after
the end of his body, He takes another birth by His own volition, still His
every action and also His birth have the stamp of immortality. His action is
never an action and His birth is never a birth.
Then the Knower of brahman whose mind has the absolute conviction,
‘I am the ever-free Self,’ may at the time of death, because of feverish
delirium, be babbling anything; but still He is ever free. Whatever has been
His understanding during His life will be His understanding at the end and
therefore He will remain in His royal state. Then at the time of death, it is
only this knowledge that is babbling.

Chapter Thirteen
 The establishing of That State after acquiring
knowledge
When one tries to hold it, one cannot hold it;
When one tries to leave it, one cannot leave it;
Here and there, it only is; That is parabrahman -
dasbodha
brahman; what is that Supreme Self? If you try to hold it then you
miss it, because the one you are trying to hold is your Self. Everyone has
their own uninterrupted union with brahman; therefore being brahman
ourselves, how can we meet Him? If our Self sets out to meet our own Self,
then during that whole lifetime, where and how can that meeting ever take
place? Have you ever lost yourself? No! Only when money is gone and the
house is lost, do you make a complaint. But have you ever registered a
complaint in any court saying, “I am lost?”
In truth, without meeting there is that meeting with our own swarup,
all of the time. If one tries to meet it then, there is a passing by of each other.
If there can be no forgetting of your Self within your Self then, what is there
to be remembered? And if you try to get an experience of your swarup then
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you become small. You are that natural God and if you try to do something
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then you spoil it.
brahman cannot be throw away, forgotten or left the way the elements
can and yet the more you can forget these elements, the more apparent
brahman will become. If you give up trying to understand Him, He is
understood and if you attempt to understand Him then, He disappears
because He cannot be perceived by the mind or the intellect. The one who
says he has known Him, has never been to that place because there is no
knowing nor not knowing of brahman. There is you and only you.

This wondrous action of knowledge

The nirguna has made the nirguna; this is the accomplishment of all
accomplishments - dasbodha
 When the one who is without gunas/nirguna knows that, ‘I am
nirguna, I am not a jiva nor saguna’ then, there is the attainment of your own
formless swarup. For so many days, you have been taking this outward
disguise as ‘I’ and thus, by trying to derive joy from this body, that Supreme
Self has been made to suffer countless bondages and undergo so many
miseries. Being yourself the King you became engrossed in serving others
and though you believed you were experiencing yourself, you actually were
experiencing a stranger. But after a very long time, you found your Self and
that earlier jiva was reduced to nothing.
To the one who is devoted to the guru, this world appears as their own
swarup. But if one starts seeing with the eyes of the jiva then, many forms
appear. This world is really a reflection of the one who is seeing it. If you are
good then, the world is good and if you become brahman then even this
knowledge will become brahman. But if you become a jiva then, there are the
many appearances due to the many imagined divisions. So be it! The sadguru
gives the third eye, this ‘eye of the knowledge’ to those who are devoted to
Him and because of that, this veil of maya is moved aside and their vision
becomes undivided.
Then the five elements run away and the sufferings they had caused
vanish. Then the nine planets have gone and what is more, Mr. So and so, has
fled. The monkey in the jungle had been eating only bitter and sour fruits,
108
leaves and flowers but when he met rama, his sadguru, he became maruti.
As maruti he was so powerful that he could lift up a whole mountain and toss
it far away. That meant that after learning from his Master how to think
properly, his mind (monkey) destroyed its ignorance and tossed away all the
concepts that had become as big and gross as mountains and then what
remained was this knowledge ‘I am’. When this knowledge is acquired then,
the sins and virtues accumulated by endless rounds of births are destroyed.
When it becomes known that all the evidence being used in the courtroom
was taken from a dream then, the judge had to release the accused. In the
109
same way, after realization, chitra-gupta and yama had to declare that,
“The sins committed and the one who committed them had only been
imagined. He and the Knower of this knowledge (ie. gnyani) have no
connection what-so-ever!” Once this gnyani awakes from this illusory dream,
He is freed from the bondage of karma and naturally He becomes the God of
gods. Then, who knows who this body belongs to?

The gnyani is not affected by karma

Once Self-Knowledge, the fruit of this fruit ‘I am’, is obtained then,

one is whole and complete. Now there is no need to be involved in karma.
But if after becoming a barrister, one once again sits in school with a slate
and pencil then, he is but a fool! In the same way, after acquiring knowledge,
who will make puja to who? Why will the real God go on a pilgrimage to
bow down to a stone idol? He is Completely Perfect and Whole/paripurna,
for the egos, “I am the body” and ‘I am brahman’ are both gone.
When there are the thoughts of the dream within the dream then,
know that you, the thoughtless Self, is lost in this worldly existence -
dasbodha. Being unborn and immortal, you fell asleep and dreamed. And in
that dream you had another dream. That dream is this dream of a worldly
existence. But then you went to the guru and discriminated between what is
the essence and what is the non-essence. Truly, to be motivated to think about
what is true and what is false in this long dream, is a matter of great fortune.
Then upon listening to the guru’s teachings, you got the experience
aham brahmasmi (‘I am brahman’) and having awakened from this second
dream, only your first dream remained. How to understand that One swarup?
If you say, “This experience has come to me” then, you have become
someone. Whereas the Self’s own unique understanding is, ‘In the Self, there
is no being the Self.’ For example, if a mango says, “I taste sweet” then, it is
not a mango. Similarly, the thought ‘I am brahman’ is also a subtle ego and
that formless swarup is completely natural and any type of ‘I’ is a thorn there
and must be removed. When limitedness and differentiation are removed,
then you become that all-pervading Self. In short, the ego ‘I am brahman’ has
come due to knowledge and due to beyond knowledge/vignyan this goes
away and then you are completely awakened even from your first dream.
Take your own experience of this subject I am speaking on. Be that
pure Knowledge and not merely a phonograph. If you have been listening to
this ‘I am’ then, investigate further and take out that pure Knowledge. Those
110
who recite the puranas announce beforehand that, “While this purana is
being told, do not ask any questions.” This is not the case here; for here deep
thinking is required. I am expounding the ancient ‘story of the Self’; this
111
purana makes a jiva into brahman, which even harihara is not able to
explain and only a Knower of brahman can explain this Supreme Truth.

When there is the conviction that you are that Self then, as you
move along this path of knowledge your divine power will keep
increasing. You are the One within everyone and your ‘aloneness’ should
never be broken - dasbodha
When there is the totally firm resolve, ‘I am brahman’ then, two kinds
of glories come. One is the glories of that swarup and the other is the glories
of this limited or conditioned state. Now, the glory of that Self is to be
everlasting/nitya, completely perfect/paripurna, beyond knowledge,
immortal etc. This is the acquisition of that ‘spiritual power’ that is beyond
all limiting concepts. That Knower of brahman remains immortal by placing
His foot on the head of Time. Then there are the glories of this conditioned
state of knowledge and they include success, fame (ie. pervasiveness) and
authoritativeness. At the same time, many other ‘spiritual powers’ are also
effortlessly acquired. Due to this knowledge of ‘I am’, power will come; but
do not go and see whether it has come or not. “If you don’t beg, you will get
pearls but if you beg then, you may not even get alms.”
‘I am as big as the world (saguna) and I am the Lord of the world
(nirguna).’ This should be your over-riding conviction. Then the spiritual
powers will come of their own accord. But do not wait expectantly saying,
“The power should come, let that power come.” An impatient bridegroom
will wear the bashing (the ceremonial head-dress for marriage) to his
112
knees. Let not any such condition arise. ‘I am the King. For what should I
ask?’ Have no desire for anything; this much is all that is required. Therefore
one should remain with this understanding that, ‘I am that completely
perfect Supreme Self.’

Conclusion of the discourse and blessings

Knowledge is brahman and that only is your formless swarup. Why

are rama and krishna Gods? Because having understood, ‘There is nothing
other than the Self in the world and so everything is my own swarup,’ they
stayed and behaved with that understanding. That only was their capital and
that only was the reason for their Godliness. If you purchase a cow the milk
also comes with it. In the same way, by understanding that ‘I am everywhere’
then the glories such as success, pervasiveness and authoritativeness come
automatically. That purush who has the understanding, ‘All is the Self,’ is an
incarnation of God. Knowledge of brahman makes the servant into Lord
113
shankara. Then that which was in the prana and got born in hell, becomes
the Lord.
In the end, this complete teaching has been told to you. Now remain
with the understanding that ‘I am the spontaneous natural Supreme Self.’ If
one is given a mango, but says, “It pains my tongue when I eat it,” then what
can be done? When this ‘I am’ understanding has come then, there is no need
for practices like japa (mantra repetition) and tapa (austerities). When the
cloth is clean, there no need to wash it again. When there is that Self-existent
God then, why does that need to be to purified? ‘I am the ever-open and ever-
114
arisen.’ To effortlessly ‘know’ is the worship/puja of that swarup and
when you become that Lord then, your account of sins and virtues do not
remain. When everywhere is that God of the gods then, how can auspicious
or inauspicious remain? And even when the King goes out hunting still, He is
the only King and for Him there are no laws. There is only, total freedom!
115
Happiness is for shiva and suffering is for the jiva. Saturn distresses
only those who are ignorant, but no one can look towards that Lord with an
‘evil eye’. Wherever that Lord goes, there will be only Bliss and more Bliss
and there, success and pervasiveness overflow their limits. Then all the
deities of the world are at His service. There is one truly unavoidable
principle and that is, you become whatever you believe you are.
Therefore, do not forget your own Self. ‘I am that Supreme Self and
everything takes place by my authority.’ Increase this Self-conviction and do
not descend from the King’s throne. When the King sits upon the throne then,
effortlessly His sovereign authority is carried out. That means, whatever you
say will happen and the eight spiritual powers will roll at your feet.
My instructions will prove useful to the one who follows them for they
will lead you to the divine wish-fulfilling tree (ie. knowledge ‘I am’). The
devotee of the guru is the one who churns this ocean of worldly living until
this nectar ‘I am’ comes out and then drinks only of that. Now, if you act
according to what I have said then, my blessings will always be with you.
And just as infant does not need to ask its mother for feeding, so too, the
devotee will not need to ask for the blessings of the guru. But if you should
transgress these orders, then you curse yourself. So be it! The grace of the
guru is dependent on you cherishing your duty. Does the student who
carefully studies at school, have to plead to pass the examination? No!
Whatever was needed to be told has been told, now the light of your
intellect will surely guide your ship to its destination. Then you will reap the
fruit of your devotion and acquire that Knowledge of brahman.

rajadhiraj sadgurunath shri siddharmeshwar maharaj

rajadhiraj sadgurunath shri ranjit maharaj
Notas

[←1]
One lakh- 100,000
[←2]
jiva- Individual body consciousness; shiva- Universal body consciousness.
[←3]
To know the ultimate meaning of life: paramarth: param-ultimate, artha-
meaning, wealth, accomplishment.
[←4]
bhajan- devotional singing/worship, however Shri Siddhrameshwar Maharaj
explains in Pt.2 Lecture10, that real bhajan means to know your own true
form/swarup in every action.
[←5]
Generally they also had their eyes blindfolded.
[←6]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj – The man/nara enjoys the woman/nari; narayana is
nari/prakruti and ayana/to enjoy; narayana is the only one who enjoys the
whole creation/prakruti.
[←7]
The para speech is the first of the four forms of speech ie. ‘I am’. Afterwards
words and thoughts start to take form until finally they get blurted out in idle
gossip.
[←8]
Existence, Knowledge and Bliss.
[←9]
The body and the whole creation are said to be made up of five elements: earth,
water, fire, wind and space. That Supreme Self/paramatma is beyond all this.
[←10]
According to the scriptures, thirty-six on the maternal side and thirty-six on the
paternal side are uplifted. Shri Ranjit Maharaj said with regards to this, “A little
incentive is required, no!”
[←11]
In India so much importance is put on having a male child and Shri
SiddhareshwarMaharaj will explain in Lecture Eleven the reason for this. But a
son/putra in vedantic terms means one who has come to the sadguru and
through his teachings is ‘born’, not of the body but of the Self/atma.
[←12]
The kauravas are mythological characters in the epic mahabharata and represent
the countless objects of desire.
[←13]
vishnu himself incarnated to protect prahlad from his father when he tried to kill
him.
[←14]
swarup: swa-own, rupa- form. In dasbodh it says, your own form means that
formless that remains after the elements have been cast off.
[←15]
Knowledge is the understanding of that original inspiration ‘I am’. On that ‘I
am’ feeling or existence, the whole world has appeared.
[←16]
Kabir is a very popular Saint and his verses are well known. This is one of these
verses.
[←17]
sadguru’s manifest form is the feeling, ‘I am everything, everywhere’ ie.
knowledge.
[←18]
There are four castes in the vedantic culture. Now-a-days only brahmin boys get
initiated by the guru and are given the gayatri mantra. At that time also they are
given the ‘thread of knowledge’ to wear over their shoulder and this ceremony is
called, their second birth. However, the deeper meaning of this ritual has nothing
to do with this caste system and it should be understood.
[←19]
Ie. one who understands, ‘I am that purush, I am the witness and untouched by
all this.’
[←20]
The dog is the body and the master is sadguru.
[←21]
bhajan- to remember your own true form in every action is bhajan. See Part
Two, Lecture 10
[←22]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- anjana is the balm applied to the eyes that brings this
‘vision of knowledge’; but this is beyond knowledge even.
[←23]
Authority, capability, pervasiveness, wealth, knowledge and detachment, are all
qualities of knowledge.
[←24]
upasana: upa-near, asana- to sit. When the mind that is seated with the objects
is lifted and placed near God; Ref. Pt. Two, Lecture 4.
[←25]
See previous chapter; to seek shelter in your swarup. See chapter 13; puja
means, to effortlessly know.
[←26]
nirguna\ saguna, purush\ prakruti, brahman\ maya etc. The unmanifest is
present within the manifest. The nirguna is formless and devoid of the gunas
and upon that, creation has appeared. Creation is saguna and it has form and the
attributes/gunas. The gunas are knowing/sattwa, the mix of knowing and not-
knowing/rago, and not-knowing/tamo. To use Shri Ranjit Maharaj’s terms,
saguna knowledge is the understanding ‘I am He’ and the nirgun Knowledge is
the understanding ‘I do not exist.’
[←27]
The ‘I am a body’ thought becomes the ‘I am’ thought of shiva\shakti. This is
witnessing.
[←28]
This is called mukti varila bhakti (devotion after liberation). It is mentioned in
the Shri Ranjit Maharaj arati. It means, I do not exist.
[←29]
ie. God, purush etc. There is but the one Self or atma and it is forever free and
unattached. However through the power of maya, He appears as many and gets
called by different names due to His association with maya’s different limiting
concepts.
[←30]
An incarnation taken by vishnu to destroy the wicked demon king and protect
prahlad.
[←31]
upadhi eg. the understanding ‘I am jiva’ and ‘I am shiva’ are both limiting
concepts.
[←32]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- Pure Knowledge means no knowledge.
[←33]
ie. before, during and after the gross appearances of this world and the
appearance of this ‘I am’, you are there.
[←34]
There are four bodies or covering on you, the Self: gross made of blood, flesh,
bones, etc.; subtle made of mind, intellect etc.; causal which is ignorance; supra
causal which is knowledge.
[←35]
Shri Janardhana is the name of the guru of Shri Ekanath.
[←36]
vishnu means to know. Therefore the one who has respect for this knowing has
respect for God. Therefore, only the one who forgets everything and remains in
this effortless knowing is showing respect for God.
[←37]
The holi festival is a day of uninhibited childish fun.
[←38]
chaitanya: Then one ‘sees’ this one living moving principle.
[←39]
vivek- To discriminate between the true brahman and the false maya.
[←40]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- When you do not care for yourself then the Self takes care
of you; for the Self is everywhere.
[←41]
‘I am the witness’.
[←42]
Where all names and forms disappear and everything is seen as one moving
form or knowledge.
[←43]
See with the ‘eyes of knowledge’.
[←44]
sashtanga- eight bodies, namaskar- to bow down ; I surrender all eight bodies.
There are the four bodies of the jiva/individual and four of the shiva/universal.
[←45]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- You care for what the people will say!
[←46]
This is the birth of maya. This original thought has three aspects of sat/‘I’,
chid/knowledge and ananda/bliss, but it is one only. Like the light, heat and
roundness of the one sun.
[←47]
This original illusion/maya is the subtle creation of duality or knowledge. This
knowledge is the seed of infinite potential from which a gross world of imagined
names and forms can appear.
[←48]
mula maya and it is the triad of witness, witnessing and witnessed. From this
saguna brahman of existence and knowledge there comes many names and
forms when this triad is forgotten.
[←49]
No one English word can convey the meaning of guna. These gunas are
responsible for the creation of this world and the world beyond ie. knowledge. In
this world, the three gunas are in constant flux. They mix together to create an
objective, imagined world ie. you see something and that is knowledge, but you
don’t know what it is and that is ignorance. Then the mind gives it a name. And
if we stop objectifying then, there is this pure sattwa guna and on account of this
effortless knowing, the world of ‘I am’ appears.
[←50]
Ie. both knowledge and existence are destroyed simultaneously.
[←51]
Hypnotism : drusti-seeing, bandha-restricted
[←52]
atma, ishwara, brahman and purush are different names for the same thing. So
too, paramatma, parameshwara and parabrahman are all different names for the
same thing.
[←53]
anubhava is the experience or understanding ‘I am’.
[←54]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- When you awake you say, “Oh!” and that is
satchidananda, then thoughts of the world come.
[←55]
They are like the two sides of the one coin. When ‘no things’ are there then, one
thing (knowledge) is there. And when many things are seen then, this one thing
(knowledge) is not percieved.
[←56]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- You say, “I have killed him,” but it was the hand that held
the gun.
[←57]
Obeisance to guru
[←58]
puja- The ritual of worshipping idols and images of gods and of the guru,
performed with many articles. But Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj has explained
earlier in Chpt. 2 that real worship/puja is taking shelter in that swarup.
[←59]
Finally the scriptures could only say, neti, neti. Ie. when nothing remains then,
knowing is there.
[←60]
They are the two guards of ravana’s palace doors
[←61]
lakshman: laksha- concentrate, attention, mana- mind; attentive mind
[←62]
prana is life-energy and it makes the body move and is the cause of breathing.
Outside of the body it is known as the wind element/vayu.
[←63]
The intellect/buddhi is the mind when it has a conviction. Once made, the work
of the intellect is finished and the mind holds that conviction until the intellect
changes. See Pt.2. Lecture16.
[←64]
If the intellect says “It is this and it is that,” then, a gross world of names and
forms appear. And if the intellect understands it is the Self and keeps quiet then,
it is the Self.
[←65]
Knowing; the original intent. From out of brahman there arose a desire to know.
[←66]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- In a sprout of knowledge, the whole world is there.
[←67]
The causal body is the forgetting of the supra-causal body or knowledge and the
cause of objectification ie. a world and a jiva etc.
[←68]
shesha means that which remains. He is symbolized as a serpent with 1000
heads and He is the couch and canopy on which vishnu ie. knowledge reclines.
He is said to be the upholder of this gross world, which sits on one of his heads.
shesha is the witnessing purush and upon Him, knowledge spreads its legs and
with a small part of this knowledge the objective world has been created.
[←69]
According to the story, an astrologer warned that if gopichanda ever met his
guru then, he would die. Fearing this, his mother had his guru buried in a pit for
many years. But her son insisted on meeting him and so she first had 4 statues
made in gopichanda’s likeness.
[←70]
ie. “not now, later.” Shri Ranjit Maharaj- tomorrow never comes.
[←71]
In reference to the hand gesture/mudra, where the hand is open but the tip of
thumb and tip of first finger touch. This gesture could mean a very small
amount, a pinch.
[←72]
maya is depicted as riding on a tiger. Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj- my guru told
me that I am timeless, spaceless, without attributes. Why should I have anymore
fear? Suppose you meet a tiger; the tiger is going to eat you in any case,
therefore there is some chance that if you attack the tiger it may run away, so
why not take the chance?...Death is inevitable, so why don’t you accept what the
guru has told you? Death cannot affect That which you are.
[←73]
The first and third last letter; a + ha= aham ie. ‘I’-ness/ego. In Amrut Laya, Shri
Siddharameshwar explains, the second to the last letter is ksha, a+ksha= the
eye; whatever the eye sees falls within the range of these two letters. And the
last letter is gnya, ie. knowledge; that which cannot be seen by these eyes.
[←74]
To such a great being as ravana, the human beings were insignificant; therefore
this boon from Lord shankara would appear as the gift of immortality
[←75]
rahu is said to be the demon that swallows the sun during the eclipse.
[←76]
Due to a bureaucratic hoop-hole this shrewd fellow made a fraudulent stamp by
the name, Gomaji Ganesha and in time it acquired more authority than the
King’s seal.
[←77]
Considered as an auspicious day for performing penance.
[←78]
pindadana: pinda-body, dana-offering; traditionally, it is a ritual wherein there
is the offering of this rice cake pindadana, made for the liberation of a recently
departed soul.
[←79]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- yes arjuna had a duty to kill his relatives. But how to kill
them? Say they are the relatives of the body and not my relatives. Then they are
killed or not?
[←80]
The significance of this word tatkala ‘at that time’ should be understood. Shri
Siddharameshwar Maharaj explains in Pt. 2. Chpt.10, that though the
Knowledge of brahman may have come ‘at that time’, still if it is not maintained
then body consciousness will return. Thus without steadfast conviction, Final
Liberation, like the salt dissolved in the ocean, is not insured.
[←81]
Devotee/bhakta: to be one with, or not separate from.
[←82]
Service means, to follow the guru’s instructions/teaching and get one’s own
direct experience.
[←83]
Please understand this term putra/son from vedanta’s point of view. Like the
term purush, they are not referring to man or male. It means one who
understands knowledge. ‘I am the witness’ and it is this understanding that
brings one near to the guru.
[←84]
This is like saying one’s life is so short or our whole life is spent it thoughts of
our yesterdays and tomorrows.
[←85]
Three states: waking, dream and deep sleep
[←86]
The Self is attentionless; maya means to have attention.
[←87]
This goddess is said to visit the house of a new-born child, to write its destiny on
its forehead.
[←88]
Lord narayan’s spouse
[←89]
Patties made from cow-dung and used like firewood
[←90]
Gnyaneshwar Maharaj’s Self-realized sister. Once there was a dispute in the
village over the ownership of the cow patties. This was settled, for when
Muktabai’s patties were brought close to the ear, one could hear ‘vitthala’.
[←91]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj had said this is natural meditation.
[←92]
Home means, the body.
[←93]
prakruti is the original maya. These two of purush and prakruti are inseparable;
that purush is hidden within the other and when He no longer cares for her then
she will disappear and then, He will also stop being her witness and then, only
One will remain. But should He pamper His infatuation with her then, sooner or
later, He will seek the pleasure of the objects of this world and take body
consciousness.
[←94]
Another name for that witnessing purush, atma, ishwara etc. His medicine is,
‘Nothing is true.’ It will only be effective if we follow the instructions of the
doctor/guru.
[←95]
eka-one, dashi-state.
[←96]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- nam:na-not, aham- I am; I am not.
[←97]
When knowledge/gnyana is dissolved then there is that beyond
knowledge/vignyan.
[←98]
Traditionally, at the beginning of the worship/puja, a priest will request or
invoke the god into the idol and after the worship, the god is asked to leave.
[←99]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- when the cloud moves away and no longer shades the sun
then, you feel happy. But why should the sun feel happiness. He had never left
Himself.
[←100]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- ….the mind will ask, “Am I there or not?” Forget it!
[←101]
The imagined purush is the Knower of this ‘I am’ understanding. When the
witnessed is gone then, where is the need for a witness?
[←102]
Shri Ranjit Maharaj- To go beyond knowledge the Master is required…You
cannot kill yourself!
[←103]
anubhava: anu-afterwards or very small, bhava- to be. It is the ‘I am’ thought.
[←104]
san- with, kalpa- thought: The original ‘I am’ inspiration/thought.
[←105]
He is the author of the marathi commentary on the sanskrit work by shri adi
shankaracharya, the sadachara.
[←106]
anubhava means to become small (anu- small, bhava- to be) and this is
knowledge.
[←107]
bighadate means something else happens (bi- another, ghadate-happens).
[←108]
The monkey is the mind and fruits are pleasures and pains of past actions and
the leaves are the many animate and inanimate bodies/objects and the flowers
are sensory experience. And the jungle is this worldly existence where even ram
ie. Self had went wandering and had gotten lost. He sought help from this
monkey maruti or hanuman who was devoted to Him
[←109]
He is the god who keeps the accounts of everybody’s sins and virtues. yama is
the god of death.
[←110]
purana- mythological stories of the gods.
[←111]
harihara – vishnu/knowing and mahesha/not-knowing come together to form
one God. This God is knowledge (Forget everything and He is there)
[←112]
Because the young man who is impatient to get married is so young, the long
head-dress which normally falls to his shoulders, would fall to his knees.
[←113]
That unattached Self takes the prana/ breath as itself and then holds body
consciousness.
[←114]
sadodita: sada-always, udita-risen.
[←115]
Believed to herald coming misfortune.