The higher Values of Life

II

Unless the student opens his own consciousness, the teacher can impart nothing. He can only direct, counsel and define. But understanding cannot be imparted. That must come from within, and through self development. Of course, he gives you some experience of how to know yourself, how to analyse yourself from the body. You have to start with that, no doubt. But working that way, in accordance with the guidance and the help given by the Master, you will one day come to realise that Reality is within you.

Souls are all divine in nature. They are so many drops of the Ocean of Divinity, but are hemmed in by the mind and matter. They cannot, as they are now, know themselves, differentiate themselves.

What is the greatest study of man? Is it theology? I would say no. Is it knowing the law of Blackstone and other great men who came in the past? Even then the answer will be no. Is it the study of works of men like Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Burns? No. Is it occultism or Buddhism or Christianity or Sikhism or any other social religion that we may study? Are such works the Greatest Aim of man’s study? Again I would say that the answer is no. Why?

If you become conversant with all the scriptures left by the Masters, what do they speak of? They speak of man.

Man, know thyself.

So, knowing man, both his outer and inner aspects, is the greatest study for us. The greatest study of man is man.

Pope, the English poet, has said:

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.

Until you know man, all else is mere ignorance and superstition. The more you study the outer phase of the scriptures, the more you realise that it is all nothing but accumulation, hoarding up of ideas and opinions expressed by others.

Suppose you become fully conversant with all the scriptures we have today. What does it matter? As I have said, we in the twentieth century are fortunate in that all. Masters Who came in the past left for us Their experiences with Themselves and with God. What particular things helped them on the way, and what stood in the way of realisation? That forms the subject of all scriptures. Even if you know all that, are you satisfied? That is only having something, merchandise just hoarded in your brains – such and such a Master said this, such and such a book said that, such and such scriptures said so. That is not Divinity. That is only knowing facts about Divinity, about our Divine Nature, the Masters had experienced Themselves and with God. Even if you study all the books, you will not be able to know yourself. Of course, you will get some information, you will be able to quote so many things from various books. But will you be able to know yourself? No.

Eliot, the poet, says:

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

Knowing the self is a result of self-analysis, in practice, not in theory. We see many people asserting emphatically:

I am not the body. I am not the intellect. I am not the vital airs or pranas. I am not the sense organs.

That is all right. But have we ever analysed ourselves practically by transcending body consciousness and seeing for our own selves that we are something besides the physical body, the intellect, the vital airs and the sensory organs, all of which go to make the outer man apart from the Inner Self? Have you ever risen above body consciousness, had a first-hand experience of your own Self? You will find very few persons who have really accomplished this.

So your study of man just consists in hoarding certain information in your brain. Sometimes you read the scriptures. The purpose is that by reading the scriptures you get enough information from the study that the Masters made of Themselves and of God to help you in just finding your own Self, and nothing more. The reading of those scriptures will create some interest in you to know yourself and to know God.

I do not mean that the scriptures are not to be read. They should be read, and read intelligently. The reading of the scriptures is the first elementary step that goes to create interest in us that such and such Master saw Divine Light within Him. Can we also see the same? Yes, we can also see, for what a man has done, another can do; of course, with proper training and guidance.

I quoted you also that Masters did see the Light of God. Those who followed Them, and lived up to what They said, also had the very same experience in varying degrees in their own lives. You should be able, while possessing human life, to see the Light of God. When you have seen that Light, your whole life will be changed. And that you can see only when you rise above body consciousness. It is a practical question.

Now what is to be done? What can be done by understanding the Truth, i.e., by just knowing our own Self and having a first-hand experience of the Self and Overself? That alone will make us free. These things we can have only when we really have risen, we have been born anew.

Christ says:

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

He then goes on to clarify:

Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

In 1 Corinthians we have:

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Peter explains:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

It is clear that unless we are born anew, we can neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God, nor can we inherit it. In other words, we cannot have a first-hand experience of our own Selves nor of God. We cannot have our Inner Eye – called the Third Eye or Single Eye – opened, enabling us to see the Light of God.

Reading the scriptures alone will not help. But study the scriptures carefully because they speak of the practical experiences that the Masters had with Themselves and with God. Unless we study these scriptures under the guidance of Someone Who has had actual experiences Himself as are recorded therein, we will not be able to follow the right import.

What does Plutarch say? He says:

The same experiences that the soul has at the time of leaving the body are had by those who have been initiated into the mysteries of the beyond.

You have to leave the body, of course, some day. That is, I think, a very clear proof or testimony that you are not these bodies about which you have known so much. By knowing the Self is meant knowing the Inner Self, the Spiritual Self, the Spiritual Entity which leaves the body at the time of death. You may say that this physical body may be knocked down by death – the great final change. But you do not die. You must one day leave the body and all things connected with the body, whether you wish it or not.

So the greatest wisdom lies in what? In knowing your Self, who you are, what you are. Unless you know your Self, you cannot know God. He who knows himself comes to know God, too, because it is the infinite soul alone that can know God and not the finite intellect. One cannot grasp Him within the finite intellect.

How can the less the Greater comprehend? Or finite reason reach Infinity?

John Dryden

We cannot see Him. He is unsearchable with our intellect, with our sense organs, with our outward faculties. With all the imagination, the highest stretch of imagination, He cannot be grasped. It is soul alone to which God reveals Himself. Unless we analyse ourselves, see our own Self – know ourselves – we cannot see God.

Self-knowledge precedes God-knowledge. For that let us see what help may be had.