1. UK 80-9 Gururaj. Beautiful. Questioner. Vivekananda said “The soul can only receive impulses from another soul and from nothing else" and to quicken the spirit, the impulse must come from another source. Could you comment on this? Gururaj. That is very true and that is what we are all about. Now what are the mechanics of this? Firstly, why are souls differentiated? Now there is a universal soul and this universal soul comprises of the universal mind. So in this context, the soul is the mind, as distinct from the Divine spirit. Now it is because of the various impulses created in this universal mind, that it started to differentiate itself. And by this very process of differentiation which is necessary for the universe to remain in motion, this differentiation has to take various forms through various stratas of existences until it solidifies itsel f as an individual mind. But apart from the individuality that man perceives, there is still this thread running through all those beads, as the universal mind. So what man has to do is to combine the individual mind to the universal mind. Good. Now to achieve this combination from the individual mind to the universal mind, another mind is required. If your car is stuck and it won't start, it needs someone else to give you a push. Now, the pusher of the car has to be a strong person. He has to be a person that knows the individual mind as well as the universal mind and he knows how this differentiation took place. So when man started having become conscious of himself, he assumed the 'I' position, that I am John, I am Jack, I am James, whatever the case might be. So, although consciousness is the thing that leads us on to total consciousness of the relative universe, it can also be a stumbling block. And that is why I said 'God cries' because this very beautiful tool that was given to man, his present state of consciousness, is not used to find the universality of himself but he clings to his individuality. Now, this very act of clinging to the individuality has reasons and the main reason is this, although deep within him he knows that, although not on the conscious level, deep within him, he knows, that I am universal. And it is that knowingness that's deep within him that goads him on to preserve his little 'i' because he confuses the little 'i' with the Big 'I'. Man assumes to himself that 'I do this' and 'I do that', and everything is done by me. So when he says everything is done by me, then naturally this 'me and mine' comes into play and that forms the individual ego. Now the ego is part and parcel of the individual mind. The individual mind contains all the samskaras or impressions gained through various experiences that produces the sense of 'I' and that 'I' is synonymous with ego. It never says that I am part and parcel of the universal mind, that I am the universal mind. But this very clinging, this very clinging to that personal sense of himself becomes the stumbling block and which is the cause of all misery in this world.

2. UK 80-9 So, when a true Master comes along that has experienced all this, his duty is to make man realise that what you think is you is not really you, it is just an outer expression, like a bubble in a pond. And as we know the water in the bubble is the same water that's in the pond. The pond could be likened to the universal mind while the bubble is, because of its inflated self because of the sense of 'I' that man has created for himself, he thinks "I am the bubble" but he does not think that I am the pond. Now these bubbles are necessary. But how this individual bubble, this individual mind is used, there lies the whole crux of the matter. So when a great soul comes along, a true teacher, he teaches this and that's his first teaching, that let go of yourself, let go of this pettiness, because you are far greater than the pettiness that you have assumed, you are far greater than this little world you live in. And because of the creation of this ego or the individual mind, he finds that everything is against him. Ninety nine percent of the world's population suffer from some sort of paranoia. They do because they are constantly afraid to lose power, in whichever way. Sometimes in the home the wife is dominant or the husband is dominant without any reason whatsoever. Good. A man expresses his ego in his job and of course within himself he is very frustrated. Now what has brought on this frustration in the first place is that he has added so much importance to hi mself and he has created this frustration. Now to get rid of this frustration he tries to take it out on others and it does not work because it rebounds back on him and he becomes more frustrated. So all the ills in this world are created by that sense of individuality, sense of individuality, which in turn brings about the sense of self-preservation. Now self- preservation in itself is not a bad thing, man has to preserve himself. But what is he preserving, that is the question. Is he preserving a mind that could be all encompassing? Is he preserving his body and treating the body well or is he preserving an idea that 'I am Mr so and so, Mr Big'? Is he preserving the idea and in reality he is preserving only the idea that he is this and he is that. He is preserving nothing else. He's not preserving his body because he is still going to become a dead box - what do you call it - a dustbin in this country. No. Another thing. So he is not preserving himself, his body. He is not preserving and not having created the sense of a deeper self within him, but he is preserving an idea. Now how much is this idea worth? How much is this idea worth? He goes through all trials and tribulations and all kinds of miseries and unhappinesses to preserve an idea of himself. So when the true teacher gives off that impulse, he ignites a flame that will burn up the idea, not burn up the man and neither his spirit and neither his mind. They're needed but he burns up, because of that strong spiritual impulse, he burns up the idea, the idea that 'I am this'. Because man must eventually go back in a round circle to say 'I am this' but as you would know in sound, when sound is at a very low level it is inaudible to the ears and when it is at a very high pitch, it

3. UK 80-9 is also inaudible to the ears. But look at the range of that low sound and that high pitched sound, they are of different stratas. So from the idea of self-preservation, which is animalism this man has inherited when he was an animal, because an animal acts instinctively for the purpose of self-preservation but this self-preservation did not have consciousness. It was not consciously done so. It was, he was following, the animal was following the law of nature, which required it to preserve itself. But now this has been carried over into the kingdom of man and we are acting more in the animal kingdom than the human kingdom. When man decides to himself that I do not need to preserve the idea of myself, then man finds freedom. The man is unfettered, he is unchained from all the various kinds of desires that will stop him from clinging. Now this clinging is totally opposed to what we call non-attachment. You can enjoy something totally and yet be non -attached to it. Good. So when man becomes non-attached, firstly to the idea, then he becomes non-attached to all his surroundings because the very sense of attachment brings about the sense of expectation and expectation is the mother of disappointment. But if you do not have any expectations, you will not have disappointments, come what may, so, come what may. I deserve it whatever happens to me. I deserve it and I will make the best of it. Why should I frustrate myself, why should I despair, why should I become despondent? Because the real I within man is totally untouched by any of these happenings, by any of these polarities of pleasure and pain. So the true teacher ignites the flame, burning up the idea of the little self so that automatically you start recognising and realising the real self within you which is totally un-attached, non-attached. And that filters through in one's daily living and makes life smooth and happy because the real self within man is but Divinity itself. And once one is in touch with that Divine force, then what else can really matter. It does not mean that man must make no effort at all. Oh yes, he has to make effort but although he exercises his little 'i' he exercises it with a sense of the Big 'I' that is within him. So here with the ignition, with the impulse given by the true teacher, man gradually establishes himself in the Big 'I' and being established in the Big 'I', he infuses that to the little 'i' whereby every action and every desire becomes joyous. A teacher teaches in school. Now there are two ways of teaching. Good. You can teach and regard the job to be a drudgery or you can teach with so much love that you are pouring your heart out to the children you teach. Like that, even if you are a typist or any job you do, the attitude changes, the perspective of life changes, because you have got rid of the idea that I am a teacher. You have got rid of the idea that I'm the teacher and I'm the boss here. And if a child does not

4. UK 80-9 behave and of course in some countries you are allowed to use the cane, and then in using the cane, what are you doing, you are just letting off a lot of sadistic tendencies which you might have in you and not for the benefit of the child. That rarely happens. Sometimes it's good to use the cane but do they really use the cane for the benefit of the child or is it to vent their own personal frustrations? You see. Now if the idea of one's self and most people have a wrong idea of themselves. People always imagine themselves to be better than what they really are. They live in a fool's paradise, in a daydream. For example, if I am a musician and I might be very mediocre in playing the piano but while playing the piano, I am thinking of myself as sitting in a vast orchestra and I am the leading pianist - that's how people think - not thinking that 'Look, I am playing the piano, I accept my limitations and let me improve on it'. They don't think that way. They fly away into a dream which is unreal, because of the idea they have of themselves that they are this and that. So when the true teacher as a human imparts that impulse, then this idea shrivels up. The true teacher brings man to realise what he really is, at his level. Good. A true teacher, although he'd be very encouraging, but his first duty would be to show the person that you are in standard five, remember that and you must progress to standard six and standard seven and onward. So what happens is this, that it is first to bring the person to the realisation of where he is at. That is the first realisation created by the impulse that is imparted and this would be done very lovingly, very lovingly and very encouragingly. Good. After that, the chela, if you would like to use that word pupil, is led on slowly but surely according to how fast the person can progress. And that is what is meant that as a human, you impart that impulse to another human. But only a qualified teacher, a qualified guru, can give that impulse. Because it is not the words only that are important, it is not only the intellectual understanding that's important but there has to be another force, another power at work. There has to be this spiritual force that enters the heart, enters the heart, expands the heart and at the same time with words gives an understanding of what is required and what you have to do. Now that is what is meant by Vivekananda that an impulse has to be given. Now if you have a highly evolved person just on the verge of enlightenment, he too requires that little impulse, that little push, that little booster to a battery that might be flat. So if you read the life of Vivekananda, he, Ramakrishna just put his foot - because Ramakrishna was sitting on his bed, Vivekananda was sitting at his feet and Ramakrishna put his foot on Vivekananda's chest and Vivekananda went away immediately into the deepest NirvIkalpa Samadhi where he became totally one with all that is. But Vivekananda was ready for it. So, Vivekananda too had so many pupils, so many chelas, why could he not do that to them as well - because they were not ready for it. It is a question of preparation. All the practices we do, all the knowledge we gain is

5. UK 80-9 nothing else but a preparation. And in the final end, when the chela is ready, the Master will just touch the forehead or anywhere and you are gone. Yes. You are gone. You are gone to that sphere of total realisation and then truly you could say "I and my Father are one." And for that, the impulse is necessary. Now if you take the life of Christ, if you take the life of Jesus Christ, we find there is a gap of thirteen years, which you all know about. Where was he, what was he doing in those thirteen years? He travelled India, he travelled Egypt and those countries and he met great Masters who gave him the impulse, who gave him the impulse for him to start his mission. And you'd find that, with all these great teachers. There is a saying in one of the Indian languages, 'Guru benag gnama nahi'. It means that without the teacher, the pupil could never have that knowledge or Divine knowledge because that impulse is required. Now there are few and very rare cases, one perhaps in millions and millions and millions, that could reach there without that. But what about the rest? They do need that impulse from whatever true guru you could find, you need that impulse. For what do we mean by impulse, what do we really mean by impulse? Impulse is that spiritual force that is imparted, that really awakens your pulse and makes you pulsate in Divinity. So Vivekananda is very right. Vivekananda was speaking from his own personal experience how he got the impulse from his guru because he was just ready for it. The candlestick was ready, the matches were ready. It took a long preparation to make the candle and matches but it just had to be lit. And the guru lit it. You see. So, once, not once, many times I've had this experience too, where a person comes to me and he says "You know I read in a book, in Ramakrishna's book, where he put his foot on Vivekananda's chest and Vivekananda became enlightened. Why can't you do that for me?" (Gururaj laughs) So I tell them "Look I am not a good guru. How can I do it, how can I do it?" I tell them that. Now if the person had any real sense they would first ask themselves "Am I ready for it or not?" You see, what can you tell such a person? And then after joking, I started explaining him that there is a lot of preparation required and you will have the impulse. And once that spiritual link, that spiritual bond is formed and the guru does not exist in his physical body anymore, he will still impart that impulse because to the self realised man, the man who is totally one with God, he does not even need a body. He does not even need a body, because what is the body, it is just a vehicle, it is just a vehicle and you can do without the vehicle, you can do without the vehicle. I am referring to the self-realised person. He can do without the vehicle because having become the master of the universe, he can assume forms and shapes at any time. A true master can come to your door in any form, shape or size. He can come to your door as a cat or a dog. He can come to your door as a beggar. He can come to your door as just any stranger or he can even enter your very neighbour, your husband or wife and provide that impulse if you are ready. Do you see? Because he has control over all the elements that make up the universe. He has control over the spiritual self that he is, because he is not an entity. He might assume,

6. UK 80-9 like Ramakrishna or Buddha or Christ, he might assume a body for a particular purpose. But do not think that these great Incarnations are only here, they are everywhere at the same time because they are the total embodiment of that manifested Divinity and they have realised that manifestation and the Manifestor are but one. They are non-different and not separate at all. The Manifestor being still, requires to activate itself which is the nature - that's a wrong word, English could never or any language could never define it - it is beyond words. It is, so we use the word nature - it is the nature of the Manifestor to manifest. Now what is the Manifestor manifesting? The Manifestor is manifesting himself, for the Manifestor being totally still, has to assume a kinetic energy. He has to become the energy for this universe to exist. And in that manifestation as that energy, various forms are assumed and yet he does not wilfully assume forms. The Manifestor does not. It's like winding the clock and the clock runs on but first it has to be wound. So this energy that emanates from the Manifestor goes through various laws. Now who creates these laws is the manifestation itself, for the manifestation is forever recreating itself. It is recreating itself not in expansion but within itself. And that is why we have all these forces of nature, like the three Gunas we have spoken about many times, always in a state of flux. So here from stillness came flux, here from stillness came motion and that motion we call vibration, in simpler terms. Now this motion is at such a subtle level that it has to grossify itself and the totality of this motion is, as we talked of this week, the personal God. Now the personal God can have will and his will, because of his will we have what we call creation. So first there is the manifestation and then there is creation. Now whenever there is creation, there has to be laws to govern it. Now who creates the laws? Creation creates the laws itself. This is a very important point to remember because many people have the idea that there is someone sitting up in the clouds creating all kinds of laws. He has no parliament up there. So the very act of creation for its own self-preservation creates its own laws and that is why man today wants to preserve himself. So this goes back since the beginning of time. But the idea to reach that stillness again away from the motion, we has to uncreate. And the way I always put it, is to come back to that stillness, to come back to that stillness gradually, to unlearn that which we have learnt. So in this universe, laws are being created all the time. The universe becomes self-perpetuating and yet empowered by the underlying stillness that is forever there. So the Manifestor is omnipresent and that which is manifested, is omnipresent too. So the true Master has conquered all these various aspects of manifestation and he has become a Master of it. And all the changes that takes place, all the flux that goes on, all the re-creation of laws that are there, he finds are happening within himself. Do you see? Now that is the higher self, the higher self not the highest self, the higher self and

7. UK 80-9 by that I mean the totality of the mind where all these waves are taking place. And then of course the higher self is the stillness, the Manifestor. Now this is given to the Avatars. Right. Man reaching self-realisation becomes one with the Avatar, he merges into the Avatar because the Avatar being the totality of manifestation where else can a self-realised man go. He merges away into the Avatar. And that is why as we said the other day Jesus said "No one goes to the Father but through me". Do you see? That is why Krishna says "You come to me" - being an Avatar. Right, so once you have merged away in the Avatar, through the impulse given to you by your guru, you merge away into the Avatar and once you merge away into Krishna, or Christ or Buddha, once you merge away into the Avatar, then you have merged away into that motion as well as the stillness. You have merged away into the personal God and at the same time into the impersonal God. So as I said a few minutes ago, the Manifestor is non-different from manifestation. You see they are but one, they are but one. I cannot say my hands are different from me. I cannot say my feet are different from me. It is all one. Now that is the oneness man has to realise. Now this might seem a very arduous, difficult long journey but it is not. It is not because you contain within yourself the totality of the universe, because the personal God or the Avatar or the Incarnation permeates every cell of you. Every cell is permeated by that Avatar. So once you realise and become one with the Avatar, then you cognise the fact that 'I am the universe.' Now having that totality in you as it is, it is not difficult, it can be achieved in one lifetime. Oh yes and to achieve it in one lifetime, as our principles, remember that the principles of our organisation, just did not come about, they were not premeditated or planned, they were given. Tomorrow, if we have some time, because it would be a different question altogether, it will just take about fifteen minutes, I want to explain to you teachers how all these practices are interlinked, how one helps the other and the other helps the other, they're all totally interlinked. So now to get back on to the subject. The precepts of our organisation were not thought out, were not deliberated upon, but they were given. They were given and this is the way for today. Create in man an understanding and not only understanding but give him some tools to work with and teach him how to help himself so that he could help others. And when all that is there, gurushakti is there, always there, because gurushakti is permeating every cell of your body. It’s just to awaken, just to awaken. When you are fast asleep and totally unconscious of that which is around you, does not mean that you are not alive. You are living, you are alive. But just to wake up to that force and everything will fall in its place, as you want it. As you advance in your practices through the impulse, you will find that you just need to think of a thing and it will come to fruition because

8. UK 80-9 you have that power within you. You have that. And this is the impulse we are trying to impart. This is the impulse we are trying to impart. But then don't think that it’s going to work if you have any selfish motives. Don't think 'I want a million pounds tomorrow' - you won't get it. You won't get it. But if your thoughts are conducive to the laws of nature for the benefit of mankind, for the benefit of yourself. Now when I mean benefit of yourself, that does not mean selfishness. The benefit of yourself means to reach that Divinity within. That's the real benefit. Not selfishness, because asking for a million pounds or a half dozen Rolls Royces, that is not benefit. That is not benefit, that is ego boosting, not that you don't need it. If you need it, why not use it, if you have the means, enjoy it but say that ‘This does not belong to me. This Rolls Royce or this mansion does not belong to me. It belongs to Divinity and I am only passing by and I am just making use of it. It's on loan to me." See. And that is how the idea of that 'I' disappears and that's the impulse which the true guru tries to impart. A nd the rewards are so great, unbelievable, indescribable. How could you ever describe it? How could you ever describe it? I like the words of Tagore and I must have quoted it somewhere because I am so fond of it. He says "Lord, let me be like a hollow reed and may you blow your music through it so that the whole world can enjoy Thy splendour." You see. So if we regard ourselves as hollow reeds, instead of being stuffed with the sense of 'I', let us be like the hollow reed instead of being stuffed with a sense of 'I', then that music will flow through or else the music can't come through. You can't enjoy it. You are blowing, blowing, blowing, wasting your time and no one else around you can listen to the music. You see. Now that is the impulse. All this happens by the impulse a true teacher imparts to his devotee. Right, where are we? It was more than an hour, wasn't it? Okay, fine. I think we'll leave it at that now. (Tape Continues) path, there's no turning back. It takes many lifetimes perhaps. It doesn't matter. In any case, the entire universe is just a flicker of a second. It is our minds that tell us of all these ages and thousands and millions of years. There's no such thing in reality. So you are already enlightened - each and every one is already an enlightened being but that enlightenment must now be realised. Even the Avatars, the Incarnations, they too take up to thirty years to know themselves. Then who is the ordinary person - it might take him some lifetimes but he is already enlightened. If he was not already enlightened,

9. UK 80-9 then how could Divinity reside in him because Divinity is enlightenment itself and what is Divine? That which is within, it just cannot stay within, it has to permeate your mind. It has to permeate your body so your body is Divine, your mind is Divine, for the spiritual self is you. Therefore I always say the service of Divinity is the service of mankind in his physical form, in his mental form, in his spiritual form. See that Divinity even in the leper, even in the cripple, even in the blind. It’s easier to see it in your beloved. Start there. You see? So the signposts are there but it’s not necessary to see them or know them. You are still on the path, on the path, a pathless path. It is just unveiling, unveiling of all the dirt that has gathered around you. It’s taking a bath and once the dirt is washed off, you are clean, pure, naked as the innocent child. No wiles, no fancies, no whims, just love. Good. Thank you. END