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[The following is a discourse given in response to questions asked by Nikhil as to why there is no uniformity in the preachings of different human incarnations as regards the ultimate goal. Even if they preach at different levels, can they not all agree on what the ultimate goal is? All science teachers, teaching at different levels, universally accept the highest concept in their science even though they may be teaching a lower concept to their students.]
Every human incarnation knows the whole truth and the whole concept because the same God enters every human body in the case of each human incarnation. The revelation of the complete or partial truth depends on the level of the human beings who receive that knowledge. For a scholar, revelation of the whole truth is sufficient...
From the beginning of the creation of this world, man was searching for God. Some people were satisfied by realizing the existence of God, which was experienced by them through some items of creation and through some important incidents in life. They never claimed that they have detected God [known Him completely]. They had only analyzed the entire creation and found that no item of the creation is God. They declared that nobody could detect God [know His real nature]. Therefore, they concluded that God is unimaginable. But they said that God exists because they have experienced the existence of God...
Lakshman asked about the existence of ‘I’ [I-thought] in deep sleep as referred to by Shri. Ramana Maharshi.
The existence of ‘I’ requires the existence of awareness, which is nervous energy. In deep sleep there is no existence of the nervous energy and therefore there is no question of the existence of I in that state. The I requires the awareness of itself. This awareness or nervous energy is only a special form of inert energy. The inert energy produced by the chemicals in the brain and flowing through the nervous system becomes awareness...
[This is the Maha Maha Satsanga—Great Great Discourse, which was given by Swami on February 26, 2006, on the occasion of Mahashivaratri]
Whenever you think about God, the thinking itself is a form made of awareness or mind, even though you claim that you are thinking about formless God. You can never think anything which is formless, because your thinking itself is a form. The form may have some specific boundaries like a statue. Alternatively, the form may not have specific boundaries like air or water. But the air or water also has some regular or irregular boundaries, since even the air or water has certain limits. You call space as a formless object. But space has some limitations somewhere and you do not perceive...
Lord Shankara has said “Chaitanyam maya upahitam Brahma, Maya avachhinnam Iswarah, Avidya upahitam Atma, Avidya avachhinnam Jivah”. This means “Pure awareness (Mula Maya) associated with Maya is called Brahman, integrated with Maya is called Ishwara, associated with Avidya is called Atman and integrated with Avidya is called Jiva.
This concept needs to be clarified for better understanding. Let us take an example. Assume that pure standstill water is Mula Maya. Vibrated pure water (water with waves) is Maya. Assume that the water has the property of awareness. When the standstill water is aware of itself, it is Brahman. If the vibrated water is aware of itself, it is Ishwara. This is the explanation given by scholars...
If a Christian loves another Christian as his brother, there is no greatness in it. Similarly, there is no greatness if a Hindu loves another Hindu as his brother. The greatness comes if a Christian loves the Hindu as his brother and vice-versa. A true Christian must love a true Hindu as his brother and should treat a wrong Christian as an outsider. Similarly a true Hindu must love a true Christian as his brother and must treat a wrong Hindu as an outsider. Suppose you are in a white dress. An outsider is also in a white dress, but your own brother is in a blue dress. Based on the colour of the external dress will you treat the outsider who is in the same colour of the dress as your own brother? Will you treat your own brother...
[Krishnashtami Day 3] What does Parabrahman mean? It means something, which is other than Brahman. This word does not directly tell us anything about the nature of Parabrahman, since it is impossible to know Parabrahman. Sages have indicated Parabrahman by negative analysis, which means, discarding every item of the creation (Neti Neti—Veda) [as not being Parabrahman]. The reason for this is that all the Vedas and the Gita say that Parabrahman is so unimaginable that we cannot use even the sentences like “It exists” or “It does not exist” (Nasattat Naasaduchyate—Gita). In that case, why can’t we say that the Parabrahman...
‘Adhyatma’ means the knowledge of the substance, which controls the soul. Atma means the soul, which may indicate either the individual soul of a human being or the Lord. Atma also means the human body. Jivatma is the individual soul controlling the body. The body is made of five elements. Jivatma constitutes the mind, intelligence, chittam (memory) and ego. These are called the four antahkaranas or the inner instruments. Lord controls both the soul and the human body. The soul, which controls the body, pervades all over the body. Atma means that which pervades. It is just like the electric current pervading the wire. The Lord pervades the human body of the human incarnation. The Lord also pervades the entire world...
[Evening message on Guru Purnima Day] Even Bad Qualities are Helpful In Spirituality: Every religion in this world wants you to get rid of your bad qualities, before giving you admission into that religion, at least from that point in time. This is practically impossible. The reason is that these bad qualities within you have grown as large as hills over the past millions of your births. This small human life is insufficient even to move them; what to speak of removing them! People can control the bad qualities...
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