1.

M. (to the devotees) — Pained by the degradation, indiscipline and deceit of the Jews, Christ said, ‘Ye vile and adulterous generation, ye look for a sign.’(e.g. St. Matthew, 16:4). That is to say that you need a proof that I am the son of God; that is why you ask: I should work some miracle!

"(To a bhakta) What do you say? (To all) A sensual man wants to see a miracle. Why should he show one? Why should he work a miracle for those who are down with grief and pain? Christ said, ‘I shall show you a real miracle.’ What is that miracle? - ‘walk on the upstream path’ - always to remain full in the bliss of Brahman.

"The bhaktas walk the path upstream. Everybody else floats with the current. The spiritually great ones, the bhaktas, walk in the opposite direction. They do not walk in the direction other’s walk, that is, in the direction of the world of senses. They walk up the upstream path. What happens when one holds the beak of a male pigeon. (Showing with his hand how the beak is pulled back) It frees itself like this. And when you hold any other pigeon, what does it do? It gravitates towards sensual enjoyment.

"I will have none of it - like a bare sword. No compromise.

" ‘He alone is man who tastes the bliss of Ram.’ The others hold on to something else - some sensual object of pleasure.

" ‘My Lord, I do not want money, people, pretty women or poetry; grant that I may have selfless devotion to you, O Lord.’

"Just see this, this is what Chaitanya Deva said. He wanted nothing - wealth, woman and so on, only selfless devotion, selfless love for God.

"Aha, how beautiful Nanak Deva spoke: ‘May my mind remain at the lotus feet of the bhaktas.’ What a great saying! His teachings are contained in the Japaji - ‘Who can describe the greatness of the holy’ - what a realization!

"Only he knew how great the devotees are? Thakur also said, ‘The bhakta and Bhagavan are one and the same.’ And he said, ‘The bhakta is like an elephant, when it dies it is still worth one lakh of rupees.’ That is to say that all about the devotee is priceless.

"(To a particular person) For example you people. You yearn for God. Such persons are bhaktas.

"The rishis perform the homa for such bhaktas. Having made an oblation they say, ‘Come devotees. O Lord, pray send them.’

"The oblation for the Brahmacharis! Otherwise how can they cool the breath of their life? The rishis who remain mad for God night and day pray in this way. Thus, Nanak Deva also said, ‘May my mind remain fixed at the lotus feet of the bhaktas.’ The other Gurus also felt the same way."

M. (to the Younger Ramesh) — You didn’t go there. Do go tomorrow to both these places. It will inspire you. On the Harrison Road itself, there is a banner: ‘The Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Gobind Singh.’

M. (to all) — What a liberal heart Nanak Maharaj had can be seen just by this one incident in Puri. He had gone for the darshan of Lord Jagannath. The priests thought that he was a Muslim. So they didn’t let him enter the temple. It was then the time of arati. What to do? He sat outside and began to sing a song of the Great one. He composed it there and then and sang. Here is the song:

M. (to the youngman) — It is said that as soon as he began to sing this song, all the people came out of the temple to listen to him. The temple was empty. Just see, what a plan the Lord has to add to the honour of the devotees. Had he allowed Nanak to enter the temple how could have this immortal song been composed? It has become a classical song. It is sung in all the gurudwaras. Its original is in Gurumukhi. Ravi Babu (Rabindranath Tagore) perhaps adapted it into Bengali. What a high spiritual mood! As if he saw the entire universe performing the arati of the Lord.

The Youngman — One finds the same mood in Emerson.

M. — No, there it is somewhat different - that isn’t so high bhava. Nanak saw nature as though it was absorbed in praying to the Lord with joined hands. While the former is imagination, the latter is actual vision.

M. (to the devotees) — I remember another incident of Guru Nanak. Mardana was his close disciple. He was always with him. He was a Muslim. Nanak always preached that all happened by God’s will and that all is pre-destined. Mardana’s faith in it did not go so far. This is what happened at the time when Guru Nanak was setting out for Mecca. One day Mardana showed a grain of corn and asked Guru Nanak, ‘Guruji, who will eat this grain?’ He answered, ‘A hen in Kabul.’ Mardana took that grain and immediately put that in his mouth. While he was devouring it, the grain instead of going into the stomach entered the nasal tube. Though he tried hard it did not come out. Then both of them reached Kabul on their way to Mecca and stayed in an inn. A hen was roaming about on a mat in the courtyard. Mardana then sneezed forcing the grain to come out. Like an arrow the hen came and pecked it. Guru Nanak laughed and said, ‘Have faith. God has arranged everything in advance.’ One sees and hears so much and yet does not believe.

"God has arranged food and clothes for all. Taking the incident as the base he gave the following immortal verse:

"Nath means nose; khasam means the master meaning that the jiva has a rope through his nose. That rope is held by God like that by the master of a camel holding rope through its nose in his hand. Kreet kreet dhakka de, that is to say, pushing the man into various states, God makes him understand this truth only. Man’s mind falls from yoga (union with God) because of the worries of food and clothing. So he says, ‘One will get his food and drink where He has kept it for him.’ This is a great truth. Nanaka meaning Nanak the man, or any jiva. He is called Nanak or Guru Nanak by his bhaktas.

"Christ also said the same to Peter. He would often say to Peter, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fisher of men.’ (Matthew 4:19). Peter was a fisherman - he used to catch fish. On hearing this daily, he said one day: Lord, you are asking me to give it up and follow you. From where will come food and clothes?’ He told the reality. Its a great truth from the point of view of the world. Christ then said, ‘O ye of little faith, He knows all you need. He will supply your need.’

"And what happened to Narendra? Falling on evil days he was so confused. He asked Thakur to ask the Mother of the Universe for it. Thakur said, ‘The Mother has already arranged ordinary rice and cloth for you. Don’t worry.’

"All these are a type of men. So they speak out what is originally in the mind of the people. He who has faith in God is always at peace. The others have to worry for their food and clothing. But how many people of faith are there? Almost all belong to the other type. That is why these people speak for others.

2.

M. (jokingly to Upadhyaya) — Come, do come in, this side (to M.’s right). Please be seated.

Upadhyaya — To sit on the same seat with you!

M. (pulling Upadhyaya’s shawl) — No, no, sit here. You deserve to sit. Where are you these days? Aren’t you here in the Mechhua Bazar?

Upadhyaya — No, I am in the parlour. By your grace I have recovered. I am well after bathing in the nectar of words showered by you. I didn’t have to take any medicine.

M. (to all present) — Once some of us, friends, visited a lunatic asylum. One of them talked rather well - on sociology, science, philosophy - on all these subjects. Then he said, ‘Sir, I have three-four of my children at home. They caught hold of me on other people’s asking and shut me here.’ My companions listened to such talks and then saw the dance of another lunatic. He danced well. The first lunatic said, ‘What are you seeing, a dance?’ Saying so, he himself began to dance. Oh, what a terrible dance!

The Elder Jiten — Stark naked! (All laugh).

M. — Yes, the man thinks that only the lunatics dance so. That he himself is a lunatic too, he does not know. Men dance the dance of the shameless, taking hold of woman and gold, Thakur used to say.

"He has arranged all. But the man says, ‘I, I.’

"Has He arranged only the external? No, there is arrangement for the internal too. Just see how much one has - teeth, the tube within the throat, lungs, what not? This pillar of external and internal desires! There are so many classes of desires. His senses work, his mind works and so does his intellect and then he has his ego. x x y x z is one of the outer series, and a x b x c another series.

"A combination of these two has generated this ‘I’, this strange consciousness. The aggregate effect of both these series is this strange consciousness - I.

"And, is that all? When you look into the properties of all that, you discover infinite series.

"The rishis had direct experience of all this. So in amazement they said God exists and anoraniyam mahato mahiyan - He is the smallest of the small and biggest of the big. So they say that the infinite is within us. That infinite within the finite! Besides, the finite is within the infinite. This consciousness of ours does so much. When both the series do not conform, it is called death.

"Just see how beautifully He has made! The attraction of the form, taste etc. comes from the external. To receive it we have eyes, ears, nose, tongue and touch - all these.

"The infant has no awareness in the beginning - what is what, he doesn’t know. When he hears a word he puts his ears in the wrong direction. He does not know fire - seeing something red he tries to catch it. The moment he sees something beautiful he is attracted by it. But no sooner does he put his hand in the fire and feels it’s heat, he immediately pulls it back. As his hand touches a rose and the thorn pricks him, he says ‘Oh’ and takes it back. As he goes on doing so his mind is superimposed with these impressions. In this way a strange consciousness, of I, of ego, of individuality makes its appearance gradually. The ‘I’ is a combination of all these.

"Then how to reach the unlimited consciousness with this limited consciousness? When this limited consciousness becomes one with the unlimited consciousness only then. Thus Thakur said, ‘As I was peeling an onion, I saw that nothing remained at the end.’ That is to say the salt ball becomes one with the sea.

"All this is superimposition. You always live in the terms of the finite. How can you understand the infinite?

"Thakur used to say so, to join this very limited consciousness with the unlimited consciousness. He used to say, ‘Build a relationship as a servant, a son, a friend and so. Or build a relationship of Soham (I am That) as in Jnana Yoga’ - this is joining this small ‘I’ with that great ‘I’. One has to graft this unripe ‘I’ with the ripe ‘I’ - just as it is done with plants. This is the only way to control this ‘strange consciousness’ (ego), the cause of all pain.

"How great is God, how can the intelligence of man know it? Thus, how much can a man describe His glory? The song goes thus: Shiva even with his five mouths cannot fully describe His glory. (To the bhaktas) What is after this line: ‘The five mouthed Shiva sings Him’."

M. — See, Shiva with his five mouths cannot fully sing His glory. The next line is: The Sheshanag cannot fully describe His glory with his hundred mouths. (Humming the tune) His beauty enchants yogis - and then such an attraction and enchanting power. When one has see His vision - nothing else looks better.

M. (to Upadhyaya) — The rishis said, He is durgam, means difficult to know. Yogibhirgamyam - that is even the yogis do not know Him. If that be so how can the jiva struck by grief and pain know Him with his limited consciousness?

A Bhakta from Vivekananda Society — A little earlier it was said that the man can penetrate the veil and now you say, even the Yogis do not know Him.

M. (in a firm voice) — Yes, both are true, ‘For Your devotees, O Mother! You have a form. When the body made of five elements dissolves itself in the five elements You become formless.’ The Yogis do not know Him means that He cannot be known by the calculative intellect. If You want to know Him, take to tapasya and you will know Him by His grace. When the mind is purified by tapasya, He grants His darshan by His grace.

"He has a form and He is also formless. When you climb the roof you can understand that He is both. Thakur would sometime say, ‘There is nothing, nowhere.’ And then he would say sometime ‘He can be experienced a little.’

"He talked to us about Chaitanya Deva. When he was in Puri, his feelings were of God-without-form. He used to see Him then as God-without-form. And at other times he used to see Him with a form like Sri Krishna in the Rasa group."

The Elder Jiten - Sometime Thakur used to say that he did not like images (of deities). Which was that state?

M. — Yes and he also said, ‘I don’t like the sunshine, the flowers and so on.’

"One cannot understand all this by sensory knowledge. Thakur saw everything as His manifestation - whether it was God-with-form or God-without-form, they were all Sat-chit-ananda for him. He had a mind too pure, to have the least touch of any stain.

"Aha, I shall never see again such a state of Paramahansa. Having immersed himself into the sea of joy of yoga (union with Him), he comes out absolutely fresh. He does not look like anybody, and then he gets mixed with everybody.

"He lost all the experience of the world while in samadhi - a totally new state Thakur was in. No superimposition on him then - ‘The parrot comes out of the wood wearing a golden crown.’

"When Brahman enters in a man, Brahman meaning the most expansive - it works riot within, like an elephant, when it enters a mud and straw hut, destroys everything inside."

M. (to the young man) — A tree is known by its fruits. Thus one can understand Thakur by seeing his ‘fruits’. What is that fruit? Just see what great things have happened in a short time in the world on his account. Here was an illiterate brahmin priest; and see, the great men of the world are showing such reverence to his words. Max Muller wrote his life. This alone makes us understand who he was - an avatara.

M. (to the Elder Jiten) — Many big men have entered the Math these days - all B.A.s and M.A.s. I saw it in the Vidyapith in Mihijam. And so many of them are practising tapasya in the Himalayas. Can we compare the other B.A.s and M.A.s with them? If they are the Himalaya, the former are mustard seeds. If they are ocean, the former are water puddle made by the cow’s hooves - so much of difference there is.

"Some have been brahmacharis for twelve years, the others sixteen. In other people money, the desire for transitory name and fame are running riot. Day and night they worry about woman and gold. On the other hand what do those in the Math have? How to have the vision of God, this is what they yearn for. When necessary, Brahman-jnanis go to the Kalighat to sit fasting there like the Holy Mother. They are ever ready to do anything which can make them attain Him. They sacrifice even their life.

"All gujiyas (a kind of sweetmeat made from dried milk) look alike, but some of them are filled with cream, the others with lentils. It is the same with men though they may look alike. But are they the same though similar they are in the looks?"

M. (to the bhaktas) — It was 9 p.m. in the evening. There was nobody there. Suddenly says Thakur, ‘Let no bhakta think that I am indispensable. that is, for teaching people And then he adds, ‘It is like a water pipe. If one pipe gets out of order the engineer comes and changes it. Similarly, the Divine Engineer will come immediately and fix a new pipe. His work does not stop because of anybody.’

"The devotees are like different pipes - water comes out of them all. They all propagate His bhava in different directions. Thakur had infinite bhava."

The Elder Jiten — Had there been no avatara it would have been so different.

M. — It is like the hollow and crest of a wave. Why is there a hollow? So that there may be a crest. All this happens by His will - the rise and fall of dharma.

"Do the bhaktas think that if the avatara did not have his intimate followers his work would stop, it will not go on?"

M. (to the devotees) — I am reminded of a scene whenever I think of Kashi - some are bringing water on their head and all others are standing in a row with water pots on their shoulders. He is Swayambhu and I, His servant. This is the meaning of saying Shambhu? Among them there is a dancing sadhu. That ‘Shambhu’ is getting mixed with the anahat sound.

"When one enjoys repeating His name, all lust and anger disappear."

M. (to the bhaktas) — O, how Thakur used to dance on hearing this song. He would go into samadhi. This is the way he would answer what I have told about ‘I’. He impedes the struggle. Surrenders himself, dissolves into the higher, true ‘I’. In other words, superimpositions open out. Now there is ‘no thread on the reel’. Only the yogis who are in that state can experience the joy of yoga.

Morton School, Calcutta

Saturday, 3rd January 1925,

19th Paush 1331 (B.Y.),

The 9th day of the bright fortnight, 36 dandas / 6 palas.