M. (to the teacher) — Well, why don’t you speak in the Satprasang Sabha? I am thinking of appointing you and Gopen Babu assistant secretaries. You will get some allowance. You will also read from the Gita.

The teacher (humbly) — I feel shy of speaking. When I don’t practise myself, how can I ask others.

M. — But why? You can always say: Thus spake Bhagavan Sri Krishna. You may not instruct in your own name. In fact, the proper thing for us is to say: He says all that. By doing so you instruct yourself too. It is not preaching others. It is a special art of teaching.

M. (to Gopen) — Yes, Gopen Babu, both of you will have to speak in the Satprasang Sabha. (Pointing towards the teacher) I have asked him to be ready with it. You will read from the Gita and the Bhagavata. When the bhaktas read from the scriptures, the Lord Himself comes there.

M. (to all present) — One can talk of spiritual matters in two ways - either as a guru or as a servitor. Those who have received His command can speak as a guru. The others should do so as a sevak - as service to the gross, subtle and causal bodies. All these matters are the food of the causal body. We have all these three kinds of service in our Math - the hospital, dispensary and relief work are all services to the gross body; the school and college, they serve the subtle body; while preaching is the service of the causal body, to preach His name to others as a sevak, not as a guru. ‘The Lord has all these forms, I talk of His words to Him, I am only an instrument,’ - preaching in this manner it does not harm. One includes oneself. Then it amounts to reciting His name and His glory. Then alone one develops humility."

M. (to Gadadhar) — Please tell Jagabandhu when he gets up that these have to be sent to the Vidyapith. Let him wake up first, then only you will tell him. Tell me what I have said you.

Gadadhar — When he wakes up I will tell him to send these to the Vidyapith, Deoghar.

M. — Yes, you will not wake him up to say that these have to be sent there. Do you understand? (To others, smiling) Perhaps he is listening (M. and the devotees laugh loudly).

M. (to Lalit and others) — Yesterday I was with the Sikhs at four places - Mechhua Bazar, Cotton Street, Cross Street and Harrison Road. It was the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh. Oh, how beautifully they had decorated everything! One spot was decorated with flowers. What a faith, what a devotion! Whether it is a Gurudwara or any other place, the Guru is God. If one has devotion for the Guru it is understood that one has devotion for God. The Guru and the ideal Deity are one and the same. The Sikhs have supreme faith in the Gurus. It is infact the same faith as the Hindus. Had the Gurus not come at that time, there would not have been any traces of Hinduism left. They would all have become Muslims. Didn’t they forcibly convert so many to Islam? When Guru Arjun Dev opposed it Jahangir murdered him. Jahangir said, ‘Either make a Muslim pir (a Muslim divine) of him or kill him.’ Seeing his common sense, selfless work, complete renunciation, a firm faith in God, a magnanimous heart, patriotism and religious faith, dazzling jnana and yoga power, the Hindus formed a community in his ashrama. Even the rajas and maharajas took his help and consulted him. He was the first to organise a community of the Sikhs. Guru Granth Sahib is his compilation - an immortal work. Oh, what great things I heard yesterday. How they bring solace to the soul! His love matches his depth. Gurumukhi language had no script. He invented it. He was killed in Lahore very cruelly by the order of the government. He was made to sit in an iron cauldron with fire below, and they poured hot sand over his head. Despite such cruelty he did not lose his spiritual wisdom and faith in God. They sing of his glorious deeds in every home of Amritsar and Tarantaran.

"Yesterday I heard some readings from the Sukhmani. What a sweet language, how great its ideas! It was written by Guru Arjun Devji. Like the Gita it is also daily read or chanted in cadence in every home. It appears he was also an authority on music. Reason? The whole text of the Guru Granth Sahib is sung in high classical music. The Sukhmani also sings the spiritual importance of association with sadhus and recitation of the Name - in other words, the greatness of the rupa (form). The whole of the Guru Granth Sahib is full of matters concerning the company of sadhus and service. That’s why there is so much devotion for sadhus and service to them in the Punjab.

"Doubtlessly Guru Nanak is its principal initiator. These people take Guru Nanak as an incarnation of God. He was a contemporary of Chaitanya Deva. He was sixteen years older than him. (Smiling) Somethings Thakur would say, ‘The Sikhs tell me that I am Guru Nanak.’ You know, so many Sikh devotee soldiers of Damdama used to come to him. Thakur prayed to the Mother shedding profuse tears: ‘Mother, pray redeem them.’ Even when they had recess for two-three hours they came running there.’ Thus he said to the Mother, ‘Mother, You will have to redeem them. See how they come running to you. How earnest they are!’

"Wherever there is true manifestation of God’s power, one finds a longing for Him. The external practice of religion has always been there and will always be so, but when the avatara comes there is a greater yearning. This is a new phenomenon but it recedes gradually.

"Once I lived in a locality inhabited by the Sikhs in Kurukshetra. I was a guest of a family. I took my meals with them and so on. It was a very hospitable family. This too is the last lesson of the gurus. You see, Kurukshetra is in the Punjab (it is now in Haryana, formerly a part of Punjab)."

M. (to Bholanath) — Do you wish to visit the centres of pilgrimage? Thakur didn’t talk much of them. He said, ‘It is enough if one goes to Kashi and Vrindaban. The former is the place for jnana and the latter for bhakti.’ He said it to a person who was very fond of going on pilgrimage. He said, ‘Just tell me what has happened to me. I don’t encourage the devotees when they wish to go on pilgrimage. They want me to speak in favour of their proposal.’ How can the devotees understand him? Only he knew who he was. He knew that it was no use going on pilgrimage leaving him out. Vijaykrishna Goswami, in reply to somebody said, ‘At some places God’s manifestation is jut an anna, at others it is two annas. But here (in Thakur) it is sixteen annas (full 100%).’

"Places of pilgrimage are lit by His light. When He makes a place fit for His advent, it becomes a centre of pilgrimage, and when He assumes a human form He is known as avatara. These centres are always there. But if one can meet the avatara here why undergo the trouble of going to those centres? It is very difficult to catch him, to recognize him, for he is not recognized even by those who live quite close to him. He keeps himself veiled with his own maya. If he is gracious enough to let someone know a little of him, he may then be recognized. Unless he wills it nobody can catch hold of him.

"(Trying to peep into the past) Did anybody go on pilgrimage during his lifetime?"

Lalit — Swamiji (Vivekananda) went to Bodh Gaya.

M. — Yes, he went there for five or six days.

Lalit — Yes, Rakhal Maharaj (Swami Brahmanananda) sometimes went to Vrindaban . . .

M. — Yes, just once. When Thakur saw that he couldn’t do without it he sent him. He said to the Mother, ‘Mother, don’t let him sink.’ Oh yes, Suresh Babu (Suresh Mitra, called Surendra by Thakur) went to Prayag during the Kumbha festival. With him was R. Mitra. And Baburam (Swami Premananda) also went to Vrindaban.

M. (to the devotees) — Let us go into the room.

M. (to the devotees) — Why is Thakur taking us to different places? To show us that he alone has become all. What the Sikhs are celebrating, it’s he; for whom it is being celebrated (Guru Gobind Singh), it is he; and he who is celebrating is also he (Thakur). Didn’t Thakur say, ‘I can see that it’s Mother who has become all.’ And sometimes he used to say, ‘The Mother has entered this pillow-case,’ - in other words he was an incarnation of Brahman-Shakti.

"He has put such glasses on our eyes that we see everything red - everybody is our own. Yesterday when we went to Gurudwara, I felt as if I was in Amritsar. In Amritsar, in the Darbar Sahib, they are always celebrating. What jnana and bhakti have been imparted to them that they are so mad! Day and night puja, reading, arati and singing of hymns go on there. Add to it the distribution of holy food, the karah-prasad (holy pudding of flour). Man remains bound by the five elements. And he also gets freed with their help. Just by turning them towards God, this is achieved. One can worship Him by seeing, by tasting, by smelling, by talking and by touching - one can worship Him with these. How beautifully they had decorated the Gurudwara with flowers! One should offer Him what one likes best. Making an offering and then taking it as prasad gradually brings liberation. Just enjoying it without making an offering only increases the bondage."

M. (to the Elder Jiten) — What has been read just now, we saw it all in Thakur. The way he looked upon his intimate disciples, the same way he looked upon Raske (Rasik), the sweeper. He used to offer pranam to Rati’s mother, a prostitute, taking her as another form of the Mother of the Universe. A black woman from the western region used to assist a master-mason as a porter. He offered her also his namaskar as yet another form of the Mother. He took upon himself all the sins of Girish Babu and purified him.

"It was enough to go to him. He used to hint that just as the body is cleansed by bathing, similarly the mind is cleansed of its dirt by going to him. He would ask others to take to the recitation of the Name and austerity but never insisted upon it. On the other hand he used to persuade bhaktas to meet him more often.

"(Smiling) Once Hazra was telling his beads in the south-eastern verandah. In the state of bhava, Thakur snatched the string from his hand, broke it and threw it away. Said he, ‘That you should tell your beads even here!’ He meant that one could get enlightment there in no time. That He was standing in front of him. Telling of beads and practising austerities etc. are done only to see God. There He was standing before him in a human body. What need was there of all that - so Thakur thought.

M. (to all present) — The Vedas say that one can have a feel of Brahman. Thakur said, ‘No, not merely the feel of Brahman. He comes assuming a form and talks.’ And then Thakur told everybody about it. There was a room full of men - mostly sceptics - Vijay Goswami was also there. Thakur said: ‘Verily, verily I say the Mother has come.’ And he said to the Mother, ‘Mother, You have come in a sari with a red border; your bunch of keys is dangling from your shoulders.’

"One can see Him, touch Him and talk to Him - not merely see Him.

"The men of the Brahmo Samaj said that it was all hallucination. When he heard it, Thakur said, ‘How do they say it? Whatever the Mother says is confirmed (in real life).’ Whatever Thakur told the bhaktas actually came to pass. Therefore he said so. Had it been hallucination, how could it all come true! It was not only once, whatever he ever said tallied with truth. Not a single word has proved to be wrong till today. How could it be otherwise? He said, ‘The Mother talks through me.’ If that was so, how could his words be wrong? There can be no mistake in the word of God."

M. (to a child devotee) — Just see, how he takes one to so many places. He sends one to the Brahmin-jnanis, the Christians, the Buddhists and also to the followers of Nanak. And, of course, he sends one to the places of worship of the Hindus. Having seen all one must sit at last at one spot and recite His name. Is it enough to eat the fruit from the top of the tree? No, one must also eat the lower ones. What will it avail to merely sit and shut one’s eyes? One should see all.

M. (to all present) — A bird was casually sitting on the mast of a ship. When the ship went into the sea the bird realised it. Then it hovered, to the east, west, north and south. But, it could find no land with flowers and fruit. At last getting tired, it again came to sit on the same mast. Likewise one should see everything. And when one is tired, one should sit in a corner and repeat His Name.

"It is certain to happen. It all comes out of the Adya Shakti (Primeval Power). It is Adya Shakti who makes one see all this, that the world resides within the mind. The Adya Shakti is both within and without. It is She who directs one’s intellect from within before one can do anything. He who works knowing this is called a jnani.

"There is a belief that it was all in the mind. The Vijnanism of the Buddhists has it. Nagarjuna preached shunyavad (nihilism) in the first century. It was based on a saying of the Buddha: sarvam kshanikam kshanikam shunyam shunyam - this is also like ‘the world is an illusion’ of Vedanta. There was also a reason for such preaching. Some five hundred years after the Buddha a lot of pollution had entered Buddhism. The reason for it was perhaps Ashoka’s aggressive propagation of Buddhism. It brought it’s reaction. It was then that Nagarjuna came on the scene. He wiped clean and raised it. He preached that the world was a void. This belief reigned mightily for two hundred years but the devotees could not keep their minds so high. Thus appeared in the third century Asanga and Basubandhu. They came and said, ‘The world is in the mind. It is the creation of the mind.’ This belief lasted long. Hiuen-Tsang believed in it. He was a great scholar. As was his scholarship so was his spiritual bent - he was a highly spiritual individual.

"The idealism of Berkeley of the modern times also accepts vijnanism.

"But Thakur’s system is different. Whenever he saw this worldly play, he would call out `Ma, Ma’, and go into samadhi. Didn’t he see that it was the Mother who was directing all making man’s intellect as the medium. What is the meaning of samadhi? Just to see that all is centered in God."

M. (to Antevasi) — Guru Nanak was a shop-boy. He was employed in the shop of his sister’s husband. He was very young. It was a grocer’s shop. Once a number of sadhus were passing that way. He called out to them and gave them some wheat-flour free of charge. When his sister’s husband came to know of it, he rebuked him severely. Said he, ‘How will this business last?’ He replied, ‘Why? This is profitable. The shop is being run for profit. Giving to sadhus is giving to God. Because, the sadhus are nothing but God’s forms. One enjoys forever the profit of giving to God, one gains immortal bliss. The parents, the kith and kin of Nanak tried hard but could not bring his mind down to the earth. So they said that Nanak had gone mad. As soon as Nanak had his consciousness awakened, he took the vow of a wandering sadhu and left. He went to many countries - he even went to Mecca. Thereafter he became what we saw yesterday - seated telling his beads, while two intimate disciples are seated on both sides of him. One of them Mardana, a Muslim; the other is Bala. Why to tell beads? To teach humanity. One cannot understand the significance of the deeds of a spiritual personality. People see it in one way, but in reality it is different.

"(After thinking for a while) I saw Thakur with the string of beads in his hand. But as soon as he had told his beads once or twice, he became unconscious and went into samadhi. Who was there to repeat His Name? The string fell from his hands. This is the climax of renunciation - the world is totally lost - one gets absorbed in Brahman."

M. (to the bhaktas) — ‘When I behold Your effulgence with my mind’s eye’ - it is samadhi then. In it one loses one’s external consciousness; forsaking the world the mind gets absorbed in the infinite. This is the one aim, the summum bonum. Thakur was in this state day and night.

"Oh, just see, with what powers the man is endowed! How weak he is! But he can penetrate this veil of the infinite. So much grief, pain and want he has, yet he can penetrate it’s mystery inspite of them. Thus the holy books say, ‘Even gods come down as human beings to realise it.’

"It is by His grace that lust and anger can be overcome and one can remain stable amidst grief and pain. Without His grace it is impossible. ‘Lighting the lamp of spiritual wisdom at home, see the face of the Mother, the manifestation of Brahman.’

"The avatars come to make you see it, to grant you fearlessness. Saintly persons are not under the control of anybody. Outwardly they look like ordinary men. But their inside is empty, only the Mother of the Universe filling it. They are men of the joy of yoga, they have reached the Everest of yoga. In that state, woman and gold and pleasures of the body look like the droppings of a crow. They alone penetrate the veil of Maya. Like a he-pigeon they take their beak away from worldly matters. The she-pigeon becomes soft when the beak is put in its mouth by other pigeon, but the he-pigeon recedes immediately after the beak is put into the its mouth. Sensuality becomes tasteless, one gets absorbed in the bliss of Brahman.

Morton School, Calcutta,

3rd January 1925

Saturday, 19th of Paush 1331 (B.Y.)