Ones of Divinity – compiled from the talks given by Ratan Lal
LOVE AND ATTACHMENTS
The "I"
concept disappears when the attention is shifted to its source.
The perfect
non-attachment is when previous tendencies seeking enjoyment no longer arise.
The perfection of knowledge is when the "I" sense no longer pertains
to the body. The perfection of solitude is when thoughts subside through
dissolution in the Self and no longer turn outward.
Bhagavan Baba often
reminds us that we are be born through a physical mother, but we are children
of God. He also says; "Marriage is a temporal relationship."
The physical relationships are all attachments, not love. True love is love of
God, since it is ever expanding and not confined to a specific being. Knowing
one's true reality, enables one to see the reality of others. In married life
the husband and wife expect many things from each other; when the expectations
are not met, there is a sense of being hurt.
In life, one should
not expect anything from anyone. In life, one should try to give more than one
receives. Divine Baba gives an example. Prior to marriage, the boy and girl are attracted to each other. The
boy feels that he cannot live without the girl, and vice versa. There is so
much physical attraction. They are married. After they get married, they go for
a little walk.
He notices a small
thorn and says to his newlywed wife, “Darling, be careful, there is a thorn.
Do not step on it. You will hurt yourself.” He draws her closer to him, and
they walk. After one year, when they go for a walk, he says to his wife,
"Be careful, there is a thorn." The attachment has faded a little.
After two years, when they go for a walk, the husband does not even care to
look for thorns on the path. When· the wife steps on one, he exclaims, "Are
you blind? Can you not see that there is a thorn?" This is how our
attachments, which we mistakenly call love, keep changing. Today, you may hurt
the same person you thought you loved ten years earlier.
The Divine Atman is
Reality without form or name. Without a doubt, when one begins spiritual
practice, it is very useful to choose the name and form of a particular God,
or·a guru, which pleases one and gives one peace. This will facilitate
concentrating on him. It is a good start to the practice of Devotion. However,
the Devotion or Love for this form must be an expanding Love, in which God will
expand without limit. It must not be a love limited only to that particular
form. Often, Divine Baba says, "Love is expansion, not
contraction." An example of limited love is the love between husband
and wife, brothers, father and son. Limited love is like passing clouds. Before
you were born, where were your parents? Before you married, where was your
husband or wife? Bhagavan calls these relationships attachments, not love. For
Him, true Love is only the Devotion that one feels for the Divine, who is
everywhere. That is why He says, "Love All, Serve All." We
must see God in everything, because the essence of all is Divinity, the common
link that connects all humanity.
People come here from
different parts of the world-Russia, Japan, Columbia, etc. The essence of all
is one, Divinity. Even though man has some natural functions similar to those
of animals, man is the only being in all of creation that, with the mind or the
intellect, can realize his Divinity. Animals cannot understand it.
The human being is the highest manifestation of God. According to the
Upanishads, to be born a human is the greatest gift from God, and it should be
used properly. We will make good use of this gift if we direct our mind and
intellect toward the Divinity within us. Man has the
ability to develop discrimination and detachment (viveka and vairagya).
Armed with only these two important qualities, can 0ne proceed on the spiritual
path.
The Gita expounds
renunciation in action, not of action. Act, but without attachment to the
fruits of the action. Do actions that lead to Divinity. First, one must make
the mind steady. It is very important to have a balanced mind.
Ideas appear and disappear in the eternal presence of Consciousness. From all
the thoughts, the first that appears is the thought "I." All the
other thoughts are based on this "I." The technique of Self-inquiry
suggests that one holds the attention·concentrated on the first thought,
"I"; in this way, all thoughts and ideas will vanish automatically
without leaving a trace. In the end, even this idea of "I" will be
reabsorbed. What will remain will be the state of absence of thoughts, which is
Consciousness. In the waking state, one experiences the Self in the interval
between two thoughts. From this position, one can observe the thoughts and
desires, and one can find the point where they appear or disappear. One must
now simply remain steady for as much time as possible in this state. Study,
read, meditate, and practice; the time will come when one will understand.
What about the
stories regarding where one goes after death-that one passes through a tunnel
of light, that one's relatives that have died await one, and that at the end of
this tunnel is God?
All this is fantasy.
There are a lot of books that deal with this subject.
Do not occupy yourself
with these fantasies. Whether they are true or not, whether they are in the
world or in the mind, in what way will it help one in one's spiritual practice?
Death means forgetting one's true nature. You want to know what you will be
after death. What were you before birth? What are you now? Try to know what you
are now.
A foreign woman spoke
about the Tibetans and the experiences that one may have after death. One will
have to pass through a hell of ice, water, fire, etc. Kindly explain this.
These hells and
heavens are only thoughts of the personal "I." Do not think you have
to be condemned to hell or raised to heaven forever. No matter how bad a child
of God is, He will forgive it. This is similar to a father forgiving his child
and giving him the chance to connect himself. God will not condemn it forever.
Finally, what matters is that one is reborn according to one's last thoughts
before death. Therefore, if at the moment of death one keeps to one's
Consciousness, thinking about the real Self or God, one attains what is known
as liberation, and one stops being reborn and dying. There is birth only for
the mind with which one wrongly identifies.
When the mind is busy
with many thoughts of every nature, it weakens; and in a weak mind, thoughts
and words cannot be steady. Consequently, when one manages to rest the mind in
the Self or Consciousness, it attains peace, strength, and concentration. A
mind that is at peace with itself functions with greater efficiency. Despite
all this, in the beginning people think "If I lose my mind, what will
happen to me? I will become an idiot!" One does not lose the mind totally.
The mind simply remains at its source and resides more and more at its own
Self. What it loses is its tendency to limit itself to the personality as a
particular body, but it functions. In other words, the thinking and feeling
faculties are not lost. Therefore, one must not be afraid of what is called "destruction
of the mind." One should not be afraid to allow it to reside in its
Source. This will allow the mind to function with greater efficiency in daily
life and will contribute in a greater extent to spiritual progress.
It may take a long
time to obliterate the wrong concept, "I am the body-mind." The time
taken depends on the ripeness of the individual. When one is convinced that one
is the Self, the Divine Atman, which is not isolated in a particular body, then
everything else is simple. One may think that by seeing and listening, or by
repetition of God's name, one will have a direct experience of Reality. It is
not so. The Real, the Direct is that which makes us capable of speaking and
seeing. In some cases, even with our eyes open and in the midst of many people,
for example, in the market place, focusing our attention on the Self, the
Spiritual Heart, will let us see that our interest in the outside world, which
is so attractive and full of colors, is slowly being reduced. At the same time
it will remain more and more in the Reality. For this reason, one's attention
has to be centered on one's own Self, for long periods of time. Due to the
temptations, attractions, and entertainment of life, people wrongly let their
attention become focused externally.
Is that the Lord's Leela,
his sport?
Not His sport, but
your sport! Because your mind, just like everyone's mind, is so hazy from the
wrong actions, impressions, and tendencies of the past, it is not easy to
direct it toward God. You are more attracted to the world than to God. The mind
thrives with the interest in names and forms. It then becomes difficult to
focus it on its Source, which is Consciousness or God. This is the work one has
to do.
Why did God create
us? What is its aim? Why were we born? What are we doing here? Why do we have
to go through all the suffering? Why? God knew everything from before; His
creation is perfect! Why then does all this seem so complex?
Even though the words
are different, the question is the same. Previously, the aspect of creation has
been discussed. The purpose of life according to the divine Baba is to realize
our inner Divinity, which is the same in every being. The indwelling divinity
is the same. God created us to evolve ourselves and realize our true identity
which is the indwelling divinity in everyone. We were born because of our past
tendencies. We should understand that we are human beings and not animals.
Apart from satisfying biological needs, we have to finally· experience Divinity
in ourselves and in everybody. The divine law of actions prescribes that we
have to experience the consequences -of our good and bad deeds performed in the
past, hence happiness and unhappiness, including suffering. All this creation
seems complex to the mind. Reality is behind and beyond mind. Purify the mind,
then the light of divinity will be reflected in the mind as its basis.
According to Vedanta,
the direct perception is not that which one understands, because the mind and
body get their strength from the Divine Atman, so that the speaker can speak
and the audience can listen. This Divine Power is necessary and is the same
everywhere; because without it, nothing can exist or have any meaning. The
question is: What can one do in order to experience the Divine Atman? Simply,
turn one's attention from the seen to the seer.
