Do you meditate now?

    Suppose I say yes or no, how will it help you? Look here, an actor acts in all phases of life on the stage. His nature has become centered in acting. When you develop would you not like to dip into the sea of immortality? We can. Even outside, Master's inner vision is wide awake. Even while working outside, he's enjoying. That comes in due course.
    Once Ramakrishna Paramhansa--perhaps you have heard his name --the guru of Swami Vivekananda, had one plate full of honey. He said, "Well, look here, Vivekananda, if you were a bee, from which side would you eat this honey?" He replied, "Well, I would eat from the corner." "Okay, why?" He says, "I'm afraid my wings would get entangled and would get stuck. Then I would drown." Ramakrishna told him, "Well, it is a sea of immortality; plunge headlong into it. You won't die." So develop that vision all around. Man is in the make but that's the ultimate goal. I also like to cut off from outside and enjoy fully but I'm only a puppet working in the hands of God, you see; His Grace working. So as you are enjoying this, I also enjoy. He is in you. You follow me, what I mean to say? Even if you get for only a few minutes, dip into it. It is all an ocean of intoxication. Is there any place where God is not? Is there any place where God is not? It is all His apparition, you might say. All this came into being from one Word of His. 'I am One and wish to be many.' It is all His expression. When the inner eye is open, then naturally you enjoy. A fish is in the water and asks where is water. He becomes conscious only when he is in the water. Our very life is water. May I give you an example? There are so many insects here, in this atmosphere, which you cannot see now because they are more etherialized; we are not at that level. If you see through a microscope, that magnifies--700 times more than it is. The tiny things which are not visible to us, can be seen as insects. When your inner eye is open, you see Him outside, inside. Like a fish you enjoy. Don't you follow? So that can be had. That is the fate of everybody whose inner vision is open. You see Light inside and you see all is the expression of God. It is all Ringing Radiance going on. Ringing Radiance, I would say. Radiance which gives out ringing. You'll live like a fish in the water and enjoy even the outer things. That's the ultimate goal of this course. This is awaiting each one of you. Little work has to be done, that's all.
    Even at work you enjoy it. We have not written of this finiteness. Just like a microscope, you see the forms there; when you have got that single eye open, you see inside and outside also. So, we're all children of Light. Only we have become indentified with the outer things so much so that we have forgotten ourselves. For ages and ages, we have been identified with these things. Now it is time to rise above them. This is the first step. We are light and the same thing within is also light. But it is denser light, you might say. You'll find out. Strange enough He's here in us and we are in Him and we don't know.
    Somebody asked Master, "Well, is there a God? .... Where's God?" He asked him, "Where is that place where He is not?" It is all His expression, you see. The ideal man sees Him in everything and everything in Him, then he's enjoying the Radiance, the Ringing Radiance.
So the ideal is to become an ideal man. We are already really men but we have forgotten; we are identified in the outside so much so that we have forgotten ourselves, that's all. You are princes. You are sons of God. You are micro-Gods; there is no doubt about it. But unless you realize it, you should not affect (others), as this is misguidance. Masters say, God is manifested in them, but never, they never say They are God. They See and They help others to See. He gives them something to start with, which is to be developed from day to day.
    So That Power never leaves us; we are swimming in Him, that Power is the very life, just as water is the very life of the fish. When a child starts to read, in the beginning, he learns A. B. C. D. He then learns to just join letters and to read words, then he goes on to learn the lines from day to day, remembers them, next day he forgets. Again he remembers, then he becomes adept, and he speaks. I tell you when I was a very small child, reading in the third primary, one man came up and gave a lecture. I looked into his face and thought; from where is he reading this? I'm telling you my state. Now I see it is a very natural thing. But in the early stages we wonder how can that be. The Master is working, digging, doing this and that thing, still He is in There; how can that be? It is something like that you see. These things are learnt only in the company of a Master. How many things can you write about? Main things, salient points are given, that's all. So that is why the physical presence is important. It gives you 100 times more that you get from a book. Maulana Rumi says, "If you sit by a Saint for an hour you'll learn more than what you learned in a hundred years of meditation.'' Because you get everything. You ask questions, you learn and you have got that Radiance.
    So, how can you learn that thing: By silence. One third is given by word of mouth and two-thirds by radiation, through eyes. I never questioned my Master throughout my life except one or two questions of course. "What is the proof that this science shall remain alive after you?" That was a very impertinent question of course. But still He answered, "Yes that will continue, but only to whom I will order." I simply learned by sitting, that's all. You learn many things like that. So, physical presence cannot be underrated. Sit by him in silence; silence of the heart and mind--No ramifications, no current of thought running through. Still. You'll have it. Learn many things by radiation. Do you follow what I mean to say? That becomes a question of receptivity, I would say. You're as good as I am. That very power is within you. You have not yet directed your attention towards that, that's all. One Saint said, "Well, how far will you be playing with the dust?" You are princes. It does not behoove you to be rolling about in the streets and enjoying only dust. Well, this is the time, man body is the time in which you can see God. It is already there. You have to become conscious of It, that's all.

Master?

    Yes?

When I'm doing my diaries, the last few clays it seems I don't have much to put down and I felt that can't be possible, that I must not be looking hard enough.

    I would say that's good if you've got nothing. What more do you want? When we can put nothing down then it's all right. But, still have self-introspection. Later you won't need it. On the way, we still need it, now and then something creeps up.

When you say "self-introspection," you mean watch everything we do all day as we're doing it, to see what we're doing?

    To see if you have love for all, no attachment, no ill-will against anybody. Naturally if you have no harsh words, you won't backbite; you won't call names; you won't strike anybody, is it not so? You feel and see God in every man, they're all chaste. You see Him in everybody, you'll love everybody. No hatred. You'll be of service to others. When you're serving man, you're serving God, then? This is what you have to come to, is it not? Diary is a blessing, I tell you, for all. I have been keeping one from my student life, too, you see. Firstly the number of failures grow more. Don't be afraid of that. It is not growing more; it is only that you are now becoming more conscious of those failures which you are doing. So, don't mind; there may be hundreds. Then weed out. When all failures are shorn, you'll have blessedness. You'll feel purity. You'll kiss your body. Body is the temple of God. Just as Saint Paul says, "It is not I, not now I, but Christ lives in me." So blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Purity means, to have no thought other than God. Then? This is true purity. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see . . . What is purity? Not only to be chaste, you see. But not to have any ill-will, any hatred. Don't deceive anybody. Don't usurp anybody's rights. Where you have love, all these things follow. But there's one difference between love and charity. Love begets attachment sometimes. You're bound. You're caught. But if you have got charity, then? That's the difference between the two. You now understand what is purity? Whose heart is pure, in which no other thought than God comes up, while eating, drinking, sleeping, anywhere. That's the ultimate, you will have the Ringing Radiance. It is going on already. But so long as these ripples are in the mind, in the reservoir of mind, you cannot see your face. If you are still, you can see your face there. So these are things on which you can keep notes. You won't find them given very clearly in books.
    There's something very beautiful in what the Masters say. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. So purity lies in that thing. In few words, no thought other than God arises within, that's all. That's it, purity, true purity. When there's otherness also, that is not sufficient; there is duality.

Master, I've heard of different aspects of your life from childhood but everything seems to be perfect, something like you have to be perfect all through life in order to reach God.

    Love beautifies everything. When you see through the eyes of Love, that beautifies; even the darkest thing will appear to be very beautiful. But really, man is in the make. Some come as made, some are made here. This fate awaits everybody. Every Saint has his past and every sinner a future. If you continue to have only thoughts of God, say for a few days, you'll feel blessedness. When you eat, thank God that you're remembering. When you go to sleep, all right, "I'm going in Your Lap." You're not to leave or go into the wilderness. We have to learn swimming in water, not on dry land. To be aloof, cynic-like, you won't learn then. That is why in the lives of very great Rishis there were failures. A cobra or a snake is very harmless but when you make him angry?--You must be air-conditioned, that's all.

You mentioned a cobra just now. I live near a river and we get rats to come in the house. I would prefer to get them out without killing them, but I don't know how to do that. Must I kill them?

    Look here, obey the physical laws; abide by the Health Department instructions, that's all. For instance, rats come, they eat your crop, then? If you have a lot, give them something. Rats don't usurp; they want something. They've no homes where they store food. Just try for a few days. Keep some grain aside in one place. Rats won't run through your rooms. They will simply go there. They have to eat. Buy, borrow or steal, what to do? Is it not? Buy, borrow or steal, you don't share with them. They're also the younger brothers, you see. Rats and reptiles and everybody--we've got it set up like that. If you give them something; they won't harm you. It is because we reserve ourselves, we don't like them; we kill them. Still they will buy, borrow or steal, that's all.

We have fire ants, little ants that sting very bad and they're all over the garden. I have to poison them.

    Go by the instructions of the Health Department. Finish off. For higher things you have to sacrifice small things. It is a sin to breathe even, I tell you. We kill so many insects in the air. You trample so many under feet. Then? How can you be saved by accounting? It is only a matter of Grace. Do your best and leave the rest. Only don't have the intent of harming anybody, that's all.
    So that's the first qualification if you'd like to meet God. Don't harm anybody. Harm comes through thought. Through word and through physical action. Very simple things you see. We have made it hard to understand.
    As for hornets--if you keep some separate thing for them, outside, they'll go there and won't enter your rooms. Because we don't share, the same principle works, you see--buy, borrow or?? They do their best. How can they live without food? It is a pity. All these creatures are the members of the family of God, some lower, some higher. You love everybody, they will love you.
    Last night, one man--I was just told--came from the village to Manav Kendra. Some dog was barking at him and began biting him. He cried. But it is all wilderness--nobody heard. Then he called my name. "Oh Master, save me." The dog left him. Even the dogs have the sense for something higher. Why not a man? Last night, the day before last night, that's the statement of a man who was crying out for one half hour. Nobody could hear because of the distance. So I've asked them to have some guard during the night there from today on. But he cried for the Master, loudly, and the dog left him. They have got some sense too. So, we're all brothers and sisters from the reptiles to man. All are younger brothers of one family. This ultimately will come too. "Peace be unto all the world over under Thy Will, O Lord."
    In 1948, I was living the other side of the Ganges, in the jungle. There were scorpions. So big. They never hurt me, neither did the snakes. They have senses after all. Why not a man, you see?
    You follow what I say? Very simple thing. No philosophy. No drawing inferences. Hard facts. So, truly speaking, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." They shall see God--where? In and out. He is already there, you have not to create Him. Our inner eye is open to see, to find. So you can regain your Godhead day by day. It is there but we have lost it.
As I told you the other day, a strong man revels in his strength and the weak man wonders how he got it. You see? Time factor is necessary. Every man is in the make. Some come as made. They also become Saints. Others are made here. When a man becomes, an M.A., whether he has got that degree here or from the past, he is transferred as an M.A. to some other department. That makes no difference. He is an M.A.
    Lectures don't give us much. These heart-to-heart talks give you more--Digest. All these talks, if they're recorded, will be a very helping factor. Very informative. All right, you enjoy your meditations during the day. It is getting 9:30 now. Time flies away, you see. That's all right. God bless you all.