In the Silence

A MEDITATION

1.March.1953

Gangadhar

I. Self-Knowledge is Bliss; the confusion, due to ignorance, is sorrow.

II. To comprehend in a deep seated silence the real existent,—as it is,— is the best way to enjoy the happiness and to become free from the misery.

III. There is a Reality, wide as the sky, which acts in and through all beings. All are its becoming and manifestation. There is nothing but that. That is all-

It manifests at the same time as the One and the many, in and beyond creation, as the moving and the motionless. It is that which has been worshipped as God by the religions. It is not a mere guess or fantasy, but a reality that can actually be experienced. When, as a result of a life of tapasya, there is a blooming of the inner life and when desire and ego are destroyed, this supreme Reality can be realised, in a deep silence, by all aspirants.

IV. The presence of the Divine is there always, at all places, continuous and full. It is the egoistic individual consciousness that stands as the main stumbling block in realising it; and when the ego is destroyed, none else but the Divine can be seen in this world.

V. The Real is integral.

Every philosophy, which declares the Real as a unity or as a multiplicity, a void, Maya, or nothing else but the visible Nature, and so forth,—whatever be its brilliance or boldness,—'does not explain the integral nature of the Divine. What we call the Divine, our idea of the Divine in its full stature includes all the truths found separately in the different religions of the world, philosophies, spiritual codes, the teachings of the ancient texts, all the truths realised till now and are going to be realised hereafter in their entirety.

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VI. It is not by a study of the texts, or by philosophical arguments, or by diligently observing certain religious disciplines, that the supreme truth can be realised. "This is the truth. Such and such is its nature". Clear-cut statements like these cannot be made by anyone. The supreme Truth cannot be known by the sense-organs. It can only be known as a high spiritual experience.

VII. Like an artist who gives shape to his piece of work, from deep layers of thought, we give a form to Truth, with what we have seen, heard, experienced, read and talked about as the basis. We then try to concretise this imaginary form of truth; and still more we declare that this is the supreme Truth and that there is and can be nothing else beyond this. Such a belief may be useful, to a certain extent, to the sadhak at the early stage. But this may lead far away from his goal the sadhak who, with the awakening of his inner being, is intensely in quest of the spirit. Our ideal is not to concretise our fancies and imaginations: it is to see the Real as it is. Is it possible to experience, by means of the mind and its formations, the supreme Truth, which can be realised only in a consciousness beyond that of the mind?

The mind is narrow and restless and, only within certain limits, is able to dissect and analyse events. How is it possible, then, to comprehend, with its help, the ever-living, limitless, infinite, supreme Reality ?

If we want to have a full experience of the supreme Truth, the ever-present and ever-living, we must go beyond the mental concepts, thoughts, ideas, likes and dislikes. We must be free from the clutches of what we have seen, heard and talked about; we must be pure as the sky, without any of the mental constructions, and without being affected by anything. We should not determine beforehand the what and how of Truth. We shall only be cheating ourselves by such preconceived notions. Our heart must become calm and firm like a rock which is not affected by anything. It will be enough if we make our subtle and physical organs worthy enough to experience the supreme Truth, accept what is experienced, and manifest it in life. In course of time, we shall realise,—according to our state of preparation,—what is the supreme Truth.

We shall also find a thorough change of all our present conceptions of the Divine. We shall realise, by experience, that the Divine is not someone sitting high above the sky, but an omnipresent, all-becoming supreme Reality.

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VIII. Though all worldly appearances emerge out of the one supreme Being, we cannot conclude that each is the same as the other. Though the fundamental reality behind each is the same, there is a great difference in the growth of each and in manifestation of the reality lying within. The seed and the tree cannot be absolutely the same. The ordinary human being lives in the surface consciousness and, separated as he is, by his egoistic individual consciousness, is whirled in the darkness of ignorance and struggles in the storm of desire. He cannot in any way become equal to the seer who, as a result of a life of tapasya and the descent of the Grace from above, becomes pure, egoless, calm and immersed constantly in the bliss of the Divine. As the sweet smell emerges only out of a full-blown flower, the supreme reality that lies dormant in all manifests in a truly realised soul—then, one with the Divine, he becomes a pure vessel of His Light and Power.

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