1.

M. (to the bhaktas) — Are the people in the Math all well? Did you talk to any of them?

The Younger Jiten — Ananga Maharaj asked me to spend the night in the Math as before. He said that I must atleast go there sometimes, if frequent visits are not possible.

M. — Did you have any talk with anybody else?

The Younger Jiten — No Sir. Sudhir Maharaj was having a sweet discussing on Brahman with Ananga Maharaj.

M. — Why did they say?

The Younger Jiten — Sudhir Maharaj said that Brahman was the highest. By givine it any adjective or talking of it in some other way, you diluted it’s greatness. Everything was small compared to Brahman. Ananga Maharaj didn’t agree. He said that all was Brahman - sarvam khalvidam Brahman. It was the biggest of the big, and the smallest of the small - anoraniyam mahatomahiyan. The Puranas, the Bhagavata and other holy books talked of It alone.

M. — Very good, Ananga is in a beautiful mood. (Smiling) A frog in a well asked a frog of the sea: How big was the sea. It replied that it was bery big. The frog of the well made a jump and asked if it was big like that much. The ether said, ‘No, bigger than this.’ The frog of the well then took a jump from one edge of the well to the other. When told that the sea was even bigger than that, the frog of the well called the other frog names and said, ‘Not one of your fourteen ancestors has ever seen a sea. There can be nothing bigger than this well.’ (All laugh). We are all in the same state. God is an infinite sea. One can not reach it’s end by saying anything one may.

"Thakur used to say: ‘He is without form and without attributes. Besides He is with form and attributes for the bhaktas.’ The same one has different conditions. Talking of Him in this way, He remains big. He is always big. You see, He is also what we call small, reason: sarvam khalvidam Brahman (All is Brahman) and then there is that great saying of Thakur: ‘I see the Mother has become all.’

"He who is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss-Absolute, beyond mind and apeech, has become the world through His Shakti to enact His play. ‘Brahman and Shakti are indivisible’, so said Thakur.

"Thakur experiences pertain to different stages. At one stage one likes this and at another that.

"Sudhir Maharaj is a great sadhu - how much of tapasya has be practised! He has translated all the books of Swami Vivekananda into Bengali. Ananga too is great. On the one hand, he is an M.A. in Philosophy, on the other, he is practising tapasya. Infact, he carries the burden of the whole math on his shoulders.

"One is able to hear the thoughts of such great sadhus by going to the Math. Besides, one also sees dhyana, bhajan and tapasya being practised. What a great privilege it is! Yes, the Math is so near. It is because of the advent of Thakur that all this arrangement has become possible. People can’t realize what a great luck it is. So they don’t take advantage of it. Just think over it, you get the news of the priceless wealth without any cost.

"And then what is the subject of these thoughts? Aren’t they concerned with the highest ideal? One says and acts as one thinks -from thought, action and speech all that emerges is that one Brahman. All these thoughts are the sweet sayings of the sadhu-bhaktas.

"What are the other people living with day and night? They think low, talk of other things, their sight fixed to the tummy. Their desire for name is limitless. And the sadhus, well they only think of God all the twenty-four hours - this is their whole time job. They are not amateurs in religion. Their whole day is spent now in thinking over Him, now in (religious) actions, now in rendering service, now in meditation and singing His glories. What a longing they have! How to attain Him is their constant effort."

M. (to the Younger Jiten) — Did you discuss anything with the sadhus?

The Younger Jiten — No, Sir. Formely I did, now I don’t.

Swami Shantananda — Bhubaneswar is a very nice place for sadhan-bhajan. I feel that the Bhubaneswar Math is the most suitable place, for sadhan-bhajan, of all our Maths and ashramas. If one climbs to the second level, one has a view of a vast distant plain and the hills beyond it.

M. — During the age of Buddhism, a lot of tapasya was practised there. Also Puri is near it. Such places are always very suitable for carrying out tapasya. It is very good that a Math has been established there. Rakhal Maharaj (Swami Brahmananda) was very keen on it. It is due to his efforts alone that it has come about Oh, he has departed. He was so fond of this spot.

"Kashi, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Uttar Kashi are all places of tapasya too. The bhava of tapasya prevails in the very atmosphere."

M. (to the bhaktas) — A Math has been established in Bhubaneswar. It is said that it is very nice for sadhan-bhajan. It will soon come awaken when sadhus and bhaktas visit it. (To Jagadish) Did you go there?

Jagadish — No Sir. We heard Khoka Maharaj (Swami Subhadhananda) say that a spring has gushed out in a well in Bhubaneswar and it is giving a lot of water of very good quality. Khoka Maharaj will go there to see it.

M. (smiling) — Khagen Maharaj (Swami Shantananda) came here this evening accompanied by a brahmachari. He said, ‘A Thakur’s ashrama has been established in Sarisha.’ He asked me to visit it. I said that it was possible only if I lived for another twenty years (all laugh).

M. — Why? It is possible in another way. What happens when one breaths one’s last and is united with God, one can’t say. But if a person goes to another loka (world) he can see from there."

M. (to the bhaktas) — Aha! What a wonderful life of lyengar Mahashaya! Slowly he was doing everything and then suddenly he embraced complete sannyasa! Is it a small lesson for the house holder? He was a Depty Commisioner, he had no wants. But he gave up all! It is with his money that the Bagslore Math has been set up and he has also arranged for its monthly expenses. He has donated almost all of his property.

"His younger son and son-in-law came here. I could see that the boy was good - like father, like son. He was fifteen or sixteen. The son-in-law was a congress man, a leader, very well-informed. When I was in the Gadadhar Ashrama he was there for two days.

"I said to him: ‘What is the sannyasa of today like? Leaving this room you live in that one. Like living in a boarding house.’ (Laughter). Spending two pice on a post card you can get all the news from home. Besides there is the railway, the telegram. One can see one’s people at times and come back. What is difficult about it? When living at home, one has to do some work. Here one has not to do even that. Just this. Earlier the sannyasa was very difficult. One had to roam for twelve years without keeping a destination in view. It is not so now. So why worry?

"He was very pleased on hearing this from me. The next day, he came and said, ‘We were very happy to hear it from you last night.’ He was a little unsympathitioc as the burden of the household would on fall on the son-in-law."

M. (to Jagadish) — There is a story perhaps you have not read. A person had a bull and a horse. The bull had to work for the whole day. That man could umberstand the language of the animals. The bull said to the horse, ‘I am in a great trouble, brother. I have to work the whole day with the plough on my neck? The horse said, ‘Why! You can do one thing. Tomorrow when he comes to take you to the field start stamping the ground with your foot.’ The next day as soon as the man came to take the bull, it began to stamp the ground immediately. This was conveyed to the master. He said, ‘Alright, then you take the horse in its place.’ The horse had to labour the whole day. So it realized that it had put itself in pretty pickle. It went to the bull and said, ‘I hear that they are going to deliver you to a butcher. If you wish to save youself, do not stamp the ground any more.’ (laughter). The horse saved itself. Leaders and barristers can plead for both the sides - for one party as well as for the other." (All laugh).

A certain Bhakta — Will only reading of the Gita do it? One needs the power to understand it as well.

M. — Yes, it’s better to hear than read; and better even to hear from a sadhu.

"One should hear from those who have realized the Self. Why? Because it is a moksha-shastra (the book that delivers the soul). Not just any other literary or intellectual book. Those who have passed through that state can only understand the inside of that state and its essence. It is a matter of direct experience. If you can’t find such a person then hear it atleast from a sadhu. Sadhu means the one who has taken to God for ever, giving up everything else, and who has had indirect experience and is eager for His darshan. To hear from his mouth and to hear from the mouth of the householder pandits, there is a difference of heaven and nether worlds. Amongst sadhus the one who has had direct experience is indeed rare! If one can find such a sadhu nothing like it. If not then hear it from the sadhu with indirect experience.

"The Gita talks of complete renunciation - renunciation for achieving God. Just think, the one whose mind is in the pleasures of the world and has had involved in them - may be not continuously but indulges in it sometimes - how can he understand the meaning of the Gita. But the sadhus have forsaken that pleasure. If you say the mind still desires those pleasures though one has renounced them from outside, then the answer is: They are standing away from the items of sensory pleasure and are trying to go towards God. That’s why they are in a convenient position to understand the shastra. Besides they keep holy company. Maybe there is somebody in that company who has been able to shake off sensual desires from his mind. The virtue of such a sadhu dries up the sensual desires of other sadhus like fire drying up wet wood lying close to it gradually. This is the difference.

A particular Bhakta — Isn’t it possible to practise the sadhan of Gita while one is living in family?

M. — Why not? But it’s very difficult. Thakur used to say, that it was possible if one entered the householder’s life after practising tapasya and attaining the love of God. In any case the daily company of sadhus is a must. Why? You see, that water plants always cover up the water beneath. It is the same here.

(To Ashwini) "You must have seen in the ponds that a slight push to the water weeds makes the water visible. And soon thereafter, the plant returns dancing and covers the whole of the water. The same happens in the household life moha (affection) never leaves one alone One tries hard and succeeds in freeing oneself from it for a while but then it soon covers up the sky of the mind hiding in an instant the sun completely. That’s why daily company of the holy is essential. Association with the sadhus is the right watch., and family life is the wrong one. It comes to correcting your watch daily with the former. One can even live with the wrong (family life), if the idea of the right namely the knowledge that the aim of life is God-realization is not forgotten. You know that the aim of life is to see God - to become God by attaining Him. Brahman vaid brahmaiv bhavati. Just as living with the wrong, a person himself becomes wrong, similarly by living with the sadhus, one becomes a sadhu. Sadhu - that is one who has attained God. Our only duty is to keep the company of those who are yearning to attain God and have taken to the life of a sadhu giving up all.

A Bhakta — But Lord Sri Krishna asked Arjun to attain moksha while living in family.

M. — He who attends to all his duties while he is in the household but doesn’t enjoy the fruit thereof is the one who attains moksha. This is a person known as Karmayogi. It is to imbibe this that one goes daily to a sadhu. The sadhu himself has renounced the fruit. While living amongst sensory pleasures the mind gets imprinted with it. One begins to think that it is nishkama karma (selfless action) that on is performing. But still the desire lurks within. One gets held up while doing so. The daily company of sadhus awakens one’s consciousness - one begins to realise that one has only the right to serve night and day like a faithful servant and no right to enjoy the fruit. One will have to content oneself with whatever the master gives for keeping the body and soul together. That one is working for a relative, not for oneself, this too is moha, and ajnana. That one is working for attaining God, for God who is present before oneself in the form of the relative, this is like a maid-servant in the family - this idea should be made firm in the mind. This is jnana, said Thakur. It helps one to attain moksha. The daily company of sadhus awakens this disposition of the mind. The sadhus have this disposition already awakened. How much work they do for the Math and ashrama, but they do it in the spirit of a maid-servant. The Lord Himself is the master of the ashrama, and the sadhus are His servitors. Even the least traces of name and fame are wiped out gradually by the virtue of the company of sadhus. What a big fire of renunciation is burning there - its flames lapping up all, night and day. Its heat dries up one’s desires - it drops down by itself. The mind is then purified - purified by the conviction that the Lord is the doer and the man a non-doer - this wisdom becomes firm. That’s why it is compulsory duty of a householder to keep the company of sadhus. By going to the sadhus, their desires also dry up gradually only it takes longer in their case. Why long? For the householder is a little far from that burning fire of renunciation.

"So there is no other way than the company of sadhus. To understand the Shastras, you have to go to them. They are the living embodiment of the Shastras, their living commentary.

"Scholarship is one thing and medha another. Medha that is to say the competence to manifest the hidden meaning of words of the guru and holy books. The power to retain one’s hold on that bhava and translate it into one’s life, this Thakur termed as dharma.

"The learned only stick to the meaning of the word. The sadhus, on the other hand catch its essence through their spiritual competence. And manifest it in their personal life and develop it. The former is superficial intellection, the latter deep concentrated intellection, conviction. There is a vast difference between the two."

Morton School, Calcutta

Friday, the 25th July 1924,

The 9th of Shravna,

The ninth day of the dark fortnight, 1331 B.Y.