It seems to be a mistake that we believe in Maya but we haven't yet seen the higher planes.

    Maya is defined as a delusion. What is Maya? It is delusion. You do not see things in their right perspective, that's all. Come out of this delusion. You will come out of the physical delusion when you rise above the astral body into the causal, . . (break in tape)... Whatever enjoyment you have outside, is it real enjoyment? We are under a delusion. I will give you an example: If a dog is eating bones but there's really no taste in bones, his own blood trickles, and in tasting that, he thinks it is due to the bone. It is not, you see? So long as you are attached, you feel joy, but when you are withdrawn, or the thing of enjoyment is withdrawn from you, then by disengagement, you feel a loss of bliss; do you follow? But the real bliss is within you. You yourself are all-consciousness, all joy, all bliss. When you are absorbed in something outside, you enjoy your own bliss by concentration there. Really, there is no joy outside, you enjoy your own bliss by concentration there. Really, there is no joy outside, no happiness outside as we are a drop of the ocean of all-consciousness, all-happiness, all-joy. If we engross our whole attention into the Over-attention, then we enjoy true bliss, for real bliss lies within our own self. It can be enjoyed by concentration, or coming in contact with the Overself. Outside enjoyments are merely due to your attention here. If you are not engrossed there, you feel no happiness. No joy.

Is it correct to neutralize the negative thoughts with the positive thoughts?

    For instance?

Some bad thought comes in, and you just reverse this as nothing, and then you substitute it with some other thought... ?

    Well look here, you are changing your center of enjoyment from one place to another. They are changing. The more they are changing, the more they are missed when you withdraw from them. You'll feel grief.

There should be complete stillness?

    That may be taken as a training ground if you like. Be absorbed in your own work, for work is worship. It is a kind of training, but by absorbing your whole attention into the Overself or God, you will have a boost of joy. That you cannot get from outer things. You may have absorption only for the time being you are engaged, and when those things are withdrawn, you feel no joy.
We have been tossing about seeking joy here and there, everywhere. But we are not satisfied because outer things are not permanent, but are only the temporary, changing, panorama of life. You must have something to stay with which is eternal. God is all-bliss, all consciousness, all-joy, all-intellect, and we are a drop of the Ocean of All-consciousness. He is ever-existent--do we think we will ever die? We never dream of it. With all this, we know that people leave the body, but still we feel we cannot die. Even in a child that reflection is there. Because God is All-wisdom, we consider that what we know is also all-wisdom. Even a child will say, "I know better!" Is it not so? This is the reflection of that all-wisdom. Everyone is seeking joy, but the difficulty is where to find permanent joy.
    So the Masters advise us to come in contact with something which will never end, which is everlasting; and that is God. He is already within you, and for this reason he (the Master) gives you contact with Him. The more you come in contact with Him, the more joy you will feel, the more happiness. When you get greater bliss, naturally you withdraw from outside. You enjoy these outer things only when you are engaged or absorbed in them, and if they were permanent, it would be all right, but they are ever-changing.

But sometimes, maybe after a particular experience, you can see what will happen.

    That's a foreshadow of the coming events, that's all, and foreshadows of coming events are not a part of spirituality. It is only because of the clearness of your mind that it can be a reflector of the coming events, that is. Whether a thing is lasting or not, is to be considered. If man wants permanent peace, permanent joy, never-ending, then the soul must be absorbed into the Oversoul which is eternal, which won't die. You will not feel the separation or withdrawal from that, as He is the very life of you in this very manbody. Those who want permanent peace and joy let them contact something that is lasting, that's all, because the worldly things are all changing; they don't last long. After all, man has to leave the body; everyone has to leave sometime. If you are attached to outward things, relatives, possessions, naturally when you withdraw, you feel grief.
    Do you know what is at the bottom of this? All-bliss, All-joy, All-happiness, All-wisdom, is within you, and at present you have a reflection of that. As I told you, even a child says, "I know so much." Everybody says what I know, nobody else knows. That is due to the reflection of All-wisdom within you. God is eternal, and nobody believes He will die. But if you really come in contact with That, then you will have permanent joy, permanent wisdom; everything. These are very simply facts--common sense. Everybody wants joy--permanent, not temporary, is that not so? We have been seeking amiss, thinking perhaps each thing will last, but nothing lasts in this changing panorama. That permanent, lasting abode is within you, and that is the very Controlling Power within your body, but we are attached to outside things so much so that we have forgotten ourselves. We must withdraw from outside to know our own Self. When we do this, by withdrawal we see that that Power is controlling us within the body. So the body is the temple of God, and all this grief, misery, and strife is due to ignorance. We've been seeking amiss. That is why the Upanishads ask, "What is that, by knowing which, you need to know nothing else, you see, by having which you need nothing, to develop nothing more?" This is the underlying principle living under it. Everybody wants permanent peace, do they not? But we are seeking, we are engaged only in the impermanent. Why not seek that very Power which is within you? That will never leave you. That is the very controlling Power in the body, permeating all creation. This explains Spirituality in a few words. Everybody wants bliss, happiness, joy, for long, is it not? Even if you get outside, you have to leave the body. Now these things are connected with the body. Even then you'll feel grief. Why not come in contact, become engaged and absorbed in the Power which is lasting, never ending, and which is within you, keeping you in the body? Do you follow what I am putting before you? We are misfitting our attention. We enjoy a little outside happiness only for the time we are absorbed in it or our own attention is absorbed in that. When that thing is taken away or we are withdrawn, we feel grief. Furthermore, for outer enjoyments, you have to spend money, but for the inner bliss and joy, we have to pay nothing.

[Disciple asks about being sick and meditating]

    Even the darkest cloud has a silver lining somewhere. There is bliss even in the form of disease. You get more time. Nobody presses you to go to the office or to business, etc., and earn money. Your household members say, "All right, he is sick." They do not detain you. So why not look at the better side of it?
    Other people are helping you. Instead of sighing and grieving, all right, "God blessed me." Withdraw your attention from outside to within you. You have got a contact within you. How blessed you are.
    So many years ago, I remember it was perhaps in 1914, I got a fever for three months, then six months. I had a very blissful time. Nobody was telling me to go to the office and this and that, and I was served by everybody. So naturally I was in my meditation much of the time, and once I withdrew from the body; the people around me said, "Oh, he's dead." But I was not dead. This is the golden opportunity that God gives. Our angle of vision is wrong. What I'm telling, is it not the truth? When you're sick, do you have to exert for yourself?. Others come to your help and will sympathize with you saying, "All right, have this, have that." All these outer things come in a garb to give you an opportunity to get something higher, but we don't utilize the chance, that's the pity.
    So have you understood the principle of permanent happiness? You have got the contact within, why not have it permanently? Out of the 24 hours each day we fritter away at least twenty hours, and will not find time, even three or four hours, for that most important purpose. This is really our own work. All other work is connected with give and take, and when that is finished, it will leave you or you will have to leave. So the permanent relationship is there within you, to which Masters unite you. Such a relationship which never ends, even after death. What a great concession it is I tell you!
    I do not mean that you should sit idle and doing nothing. Earn your livelihood by the sweat of your brow; stand on your own legs and help others. We have only to take one or two loaves, one or two, that's all, nothing more. How much do you need to earn for this? One thousand dollars? You need for your own living 20, 30, or 40 dollars and the rest is not your share, mind that. If you don't share with others, you will have to leave it all behind, and people will be fighting over it--"This is our share, this our share." What has to be taken from you eventually, why not share it with others now? Is this not wise enough? Your self will expand. Love God and love all others. God resides in them; love knows service and sacrifice. Love without service and sacrifice is no love, I tell you. It is selfishness. You want to keep everything for your own self and you can have only a little of it--the rest will be left behind you. And people fight over it, going to the courts, "This is our share, this is our share."
    Kabir says that the word "dhe" in Punjabi means body. The word "de" also means to give. So he says, "As long as you are in the body, de, de, de." As long as you are in the body, always give, give, and give. He then asks why. Because when you leave the body, nobody will ask you to give. When you share with others, your own self expands, does it not? For the love of God you love others. So share with others because God is within them. We are all brothers and sisters in God. Your self expands, otherwise it remains congealed, with the result that you take nothing along with you when you leave the body; even so, how can you take outer things? That is why Christ said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
    The whole perspective is changed, do you see? The Godmen who come here give right understanding. Right understanding. This is right understanding, you see. The personal work is therefore to withdraw from outside and rise within your own self, know yourself, that's all. You are All-bliss, you are All-wisdom, All-happiness. Outward happiness comes only on account of you yourself when you are engaged or absorbed in various things. You have frittered away your own bliss and enjoyed the outer happiness. If you come in contact with that higher happiness, then...?
    Go on with your meditations and all outward things will become very clear. I mean we are wearing colored glasses, but with clear understanding, the glasses become clear. If it is dark glass, you will see darkness. If it is blue, you will see blue, but right understanding gives you right thoughts, right thoughts result in right speech and action. Why is all the wrangling and fighting going on? Because there's no right understanding.
    Once my father was involved in a court case with some relatives on account of some land dispute. It was I think in 1915, many years back. Previously, those who were now fighting in the courts lived together as cousins. They ate together, yet in the courts they could file suit. Anyway, my father won the case. I was there, and when the other party came to my father, they met all right and he welcomed them. I asked them, "Why have you come?" and they said, "We have lost the case of course, but have come to see if you have got some share for us." I then asked my father, "Well, dear father, have they really any right to anything, although you have won?" Old people were very wise in those days, and with all that he said, "Truly speaking I have to die. They will have some share, even though I have won." Then I asked, "How much do you really consider they have to get?" He said something like nine "bighas." A bigha is about one-fourth of an acre. Then I asked him, "Well then, how much do you think had you lost the case, would you like to have considered your share?" He replied "Fifteen bighas." So I said, "All right, add half of that and it makes twelve." So even after the case was won, my father gave them twelve bighas of land.
    This is truthfulness. Don't deceive yourself. Sometimes in the outward court cases you see, you may win, but that is not your true share. Christ was very strong in advising people not to leave the house for the court. If you have left your house, and are on the way, don't go further; return. Even if you reach the door of the court, don't step inside. If you step in, then you are no longer true to yourself, you will have to say one hundred false things to prove you are right, and all your time will be engaged in nothing practical. All the time you will be thinking, "He is such and such a man," and so on. When consulting with one man, then another, one's whole mind is disturbed. Added to this, you have to spend money. Why not keep the half-share and stay at home? In Punjabi we have got a saying--It is better to have half a loaf of bread rather than the whole by fighting. Would it not seem that if you are true to yourself, then there is no need of these courts? The reason for these courts is due to us, you see. If there are two brothers, then whatever the father has left should be shared. Everybody wants to be exorbitant, wants to get more. It is only the angle of vision that should be changed. Nearly all that trouble is on account of ourselves; I think ninety percent. Ten percent might be due to reaction of the past. We squeeze the blood of others. The stain of blood on a cloth can be washed away by water, but when you squeeze the blood of others, you will have to reap the results of that. So your earnings should be fair and honest, first of all. The other thing is, it should pass through the hands of someone who has a good life, or that infection will be there. Even from the one who cooks. Those who serve food also have an effect. We don't feel it because we are already overladen with filth. These are simply different ways of living. No philosophy is required, just common sense; everyday experience you see at work in life. So all outward enjoyments are not really enjoyments, because of your own self, you are absorbed in something and are enjoying your own blood. Why not attach it to the higher self which is All-wisdom, and thereby enjoy more...?
    You have to learn these things. Having one social religion or the other makes no difference. That school is better from which many students come out successful, that's all. When you're attending a certain class in which there may be Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians, all are reading in the same classroom. And the teacher is a man, the same as you, who is enlightened, who has solved the mystery of life. Which student is most dear to the teacher? Whoever lives up to what the teacher says, surely, though he may be a Christian, Sikh, Mohammedan, or a Hindu. All are dear to him, but he is more dear who lives up to his words.
    So I say, make the best use of the advice you are given. You have nothing to pay, nothing to worry about, and this is nothing new--just stand on your own legs. Is is a golden opportunity whereby you can go back to your home. Make the best use of all other things to enable you to reach God.