YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED | SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

|| CHAPTER 6 | THE HIGHER SELF ||

When the Higher Self does all your Magazine Department work , it is a cosmic action taking place . The whole world will throb when you go into the office . Actually you are not going to the office ; you are entering into yourself only . The office is your own self . . . ~ Swami Krishnananda

SWAMIJI : When the drop dissolves in the ocean , at that time , what does the drop think ? That experience is the Higher Self . Do you understand ?

Malaya : But I am thinking that I am a drop only , Swamiji .

SWAMIJI : No . Who asked you to think like that ? Otherwise , what is will power ? A person has feeling , understanding , and also will . Do you know what will is ?

Will is determination : We determine that " it " is like " this " . You have sunk into the ocean , and this ocean is your Higher Self .

Malaya : The ocean cannot see itself ?

SWAMIJI : Why do you want to see ? How can you see what you are ? You can see somebody else . How will you see yourself ?

Malaya : The process of thinking is there , Swamiji .

SWAMIJI : There is no thinking . As long as you are a drop , thinking is there but the ocean doesn't think , because there is nothing to think . What is there to think ? Only " itself " is there . All the drops are inside it , so what will it think ? That is the Higher Self . The drop is the lower self ; the ocean is the Higher Self .

But it does not mean that the Higher Self is separate , just as the ocean is not separate from the drop . You are not applying your will . Perhaps you are not fully interested , also . The heart is not eager . Will is nothing but the application of interest .

Malaya : Understanding is there , but . . .

SWAMIJI : No , no . Interest , not understanding . There is a difference between understanding and interest . When you are interested in a thing , you will not forget it . If you are not fully interested , you will have so many excuses .

You cannot break a mountain . However much you may try , it will not break . But if you apply dynamite , it will split the mountain into pieces . That is , dynamite is the will , you have to acquire it . It will split the egoism ; the whole thing will break .

If you do not want it , that is a different matter . If you have a suspicion that it is perhaps not possible for you , then it will not be possible , also . But , if you say , " No , it is certainly possible for me " , then it will be possible .

What you feel you are , that you really are . You should not say it is difficult .

To carry yourself is not difficult ; to carry another person is difficult : Oh , a very heavy person ; who will carry one ? But you can carry yourself , whatever be the weight . Even stout people carry themselves , but they cannot carry another person . So , likewise , there is no problem in handling yourself .

Malaya : Swamiji , in practical life . . .

SWAMIJI : There is no such thing as practical life . You are unnecessarily creating differences . That " practical life " is an activity of the lower self , and the lower self is included in the Higher Self .

Thus , the activity also is of the Higher Self only . Then , who is telling me that there is practical life ? There is no such thing as isolated practical life . It is the Higher Self only doing all these things .

Do you understand the implication of it ?

Malaya : Yes , Swamiji .

SWAMIJI : When the Higher Self does all your Magazine Department work , it is a cosmic action taking place . The whole world will throb when you go into the office . Actually you are not going to the office ; you are entering into yourself only . The office is your own self .

Wherever you go , you find yourself only , just as in the ocean , wherever you go , you find the ocean . Whether you go to a station , or market place , or dining hall , you are actually entering into yourself only . You should not say that you are going to the dining hall , and all that . There is no dining hall .

You are entering into yourself , in various forms .

Malaya : There is no . . . . , Swamiji ?

SWAMIJI : That is entering of the self . The self enters into the Self . It is a metaphorical way of speaking . Everything is taking place within one thing only . You have to exercise a little bit of thinking on what it actually means .

Do not say that you are going to the market , etc . You are going to yourself only , even when you go to the market . The market is inside yourself .

You think over it ; a wonderful experience will come , and a miracle will take place . But , if you are doubting , then nothing will happen .

" GOD is somewhere , and daily life is something else " — this is the argument of everybody . This is a silly argument , because the mind is not catching the point . " Practical life is something else " , you are telling me . There is no such thing as practical life . It does not exist . It is your own self moving within itself .

The huge ocean is there , and tremendous waves are dashing over it . The ocean will not say , " I am sitting quiet , but the waves are practical life " . The waves are not the practical life of the ocean . There is no practical life for it . The ocean is itself the waves . The waves are the ocean . The Self itself is all this practical life .

There is no such thing as secular life and spiritual life . There is no distinction . People make a distinction between earth and heaven , GOD and world , spiritual and secular . These do not exist , really .

They are all tricks played by the mind , so that you may not do anything worthwhile . " I am working in a factory every day and I have no time to think " — you should not say that . You are not working in a factory ; you are working in yourself only . There is no factory outside yourself .

Is your mind catching what I am saying ?

Malaya : Yes . Swamiji .

SWAMIJI : You will be a different person in one day . You will not be what you are . For such a transformation to take place , it may take one day , or even less than one day . The whole earth will tremble , if you think like this .

Malaya : The mind has to . . .

SWAMIJI : There is no mind there . It is consciousness . You are not a mind , nor a body , because in the state of deep sleep you have no mind , and you have no body . So , your real nature is pure consciousness , as it is in the state of deep sleep .

So , dont say " mind " and all that . That is another " practical life " you are bringing in . There is no such thing . You have seen in the state of deep sleep that the body and mind are not there . Then , who was there ? It was not Malaya existing there . Malaya , also , was not there . Who was there ? That thing you grasp and cogitate .

In sleep , you had no parents , relations — nothing was there . Just , you were there . And , the state of sleep brought you such a joy that you would not like to have any other joy compared to it . Even a ruler cannot be so happy as a person who has entered into deep sleep , because one has entered the Self , the ocean of Self . And , you had no relations , no property , no friends , no body , no mind at that time . What was there ? " You " were there .

This is what I call the ocean . Do not make a distinction between practical life and factory life , office life etc . There is really no such thing .

See , this is a very interesting and important point . You must be always happy , blissful — everything is fine ; nothing is wrong . Everything is good ; all is well with me . Why should it not be ? It must be . Nobody can create trouble for you . Who can create trouble ?

You are creating trouble for yourself , because you yourself are the trouble . So , why do you complain ? The mind is very subtle . It cannot think like this . If it starts thinking thus , it will become giddy , and you will fall into sleep , again .

This is the highest purificatory process that I am suggesting . Your mistakes and your sins are all completely washed off by this kind of meditation .

All the sins of many lives that you have lived are all cleansed , as hundreds of years of darkness vanish in one second when the sun rises .

The darkness might have been there for hundreds of years , but removing that hundreds of years of thick darkness requires only one minute of the rise of the sun .

So , whatever be the mistakes that you have made in many lives , they have no consequence before the light of this kind of experience . All your old karmas are like mountains of straw .

They can be burned into ashes by one matchstick .

SOURCE | SATYAVEDISM.ORG