The most natural Way

VI

Some people say that they don’t need any Master. Well, they will have to rely on books, the Holy Scriptures. These scriptures are, of course, more reliable than the intellectual commentaries on them by the learned. If the commentators have seen the Truth, they will interpret the scriptures correctly, but if not, they will confound and confuse the reader in spite of all his wits and will lead him nowhere.

When you rely solely on books, you ultimately rely on some Master, for the scriptures were after all written by somebody. Instead of this indirect approach, would it not be better if you could meet a man of realisation directly? He has practical experience of what the scriptures describe and can give you much more than you can ever get from books; He can give you first-hand experience of the Reality itself. This aspect has been stressed by all the Saints. They enable us to understand how we may have that experience in our lives.

In the Gospel of Matthew we have, 

All things are delivered unto me of my Father,

and 

No man knoweth the Father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal Him.

Thus, the son knows the Father and the Father knows the son, and all others to whom the son reveals Him, for he becomes a Conscious Co-Worker with the Father, on the Divine Plan.

This is why Christ said:

I and my Father are One. It is not I that am doing it. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If you had known on me, ye should have known my Father also.

In what a forceful way He has put it: Through the man Who has known the Father – God –, you can also know God.

The alphabet of the teachings of the Masters starts where the world philosophies end. That is the beginning of True Religion. It begins when you come above body consciousness and not before.

Naturally, the man Who has experience of the Truth is the only Wne competent to put you on the Way. You may be able, in the company of such a righteous man, to understand the true nature of things, the real significance of what is highly abstract.

So all Masters Who have been coming from time to time have been giving out the Truth. The question now arises: what sort of yoga – Spiritual Discipline – do They teach? We have so many yogas, so many ways of coming to the Home of our Father, to reach the state of unchangeable permanence, all peace, all joy, all happiness, which never decays and is not subject to dissolution or Grand dissolution.

That was the goal which we set before us in our first meeting. I also gave quotations from different scriptures. The Ultimate Goal of all religions is God. We are worshippers of the same God, no matter whether we belong to one country or the other, East or West, to one religion or another; for that makes no difference.

All religions say the same thing.

Love God,

and further, as God resides in every heart,

love all humanity.

This is the best way of leading our outer life. If followed naturally, the Kingdom of God would surely come on earth – for which we so often pray but are disappointed.

Next we have to enter into the Kingdom of God, reach our True Home. The way to it starts when we rise above body consciousness. But how are we to achieve this? All scriptures speak of the Way that leads back to God. We have to find this Way.

There are so many different methods that we may follow! But which of them is the most natural, the most easy and can give us the quickest results? – so that we can realise the Truth in this very life and not have to wait till after death.

I met a man in California who came to me and told me that his Master had said that his Inner Eye had been opened. I asked him if he saw anything within, to which he said, ʻNo.ʼ I asked him, what made him believe this? He replied that his Master had said so and therefore it must be so. I advised him not to follow blindly but to see things for himself.

Another man came up and said,

My Master says I will have salvation after death.

But I asked him,

Where is the proof that you will have it?

People are after Truth, I tell you. I quite see the search for Truth everywhere in the world. Men have been seeking for Truth for years and years, through books, through rituals, and through countless other means. But they have not gained practical experience of the Reality.

I met a very learned man in San Francisco; he is the organiser of all the international religions conferences that are being held now in Japan, France, Germany, and other places. He heard one of my talks in which I dealt with this subject. At the end he admitted that what I said was true and that he had not seen the Light within. The people are after it, no doubt, and many of them are quite sincere, broad-minded and open to conviction.

The question arises: Of the many yogas, which is the best, the quickest and easiest, and the most suited to our times? The Masters teach you the most natural way. Natural ways are always the easiest. Easy things can be followed by anyone anywhere. Even a child should be able to see the Light of Heaven within.

There are so many yogic practices. We have Hatha Yoga. It gives us physical fitness, a strong body, for one thing; and for another it prepares the way for another type of yoga, the Prana Yoga. Prana Yoga gives control over the respiratory system in the body, and enables one to withdraw the motor and sensory currents together to the seat of the soul within. The body is simply left as a clod of earth, without breath or motion; this is technically called kumbhak. When we achieve this withdrawal of the pranas – vital airs –, we see the Light of God and hear the Voice of God within. This is a difficult and arduous way. Everyone is not fit for it. Everyone cannot follow it. The body must be sound and strong. For this we have to take to the Hatha Yoga practices for a long time to make our body fit, and then we can take it up. Those who are physically unfit, if they take it up, they fall a victim to different diseases.

Next there is Laya Yoga, which is concerned with the awakening of the kundalini or the serpentine power. That is also practised through controlling one’s breathing. We have to awaken all centres in the body and go up step by step.

There are other forms of yoga as well, which enable one to control his mind. They ask us to visualise within some outer object so that we may have something to concentrate our thoughts upon.

Then there is Jnana Yoga for grasping the reality within by the sheer force of intellect – a very difficult Path indeed, I may say. 

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says,

To grasp the infinity by the finite intellect is as impossible as to quench thirst by taking wine or to extract oil from sand.

How can the finite intellect grasp the all-pervading Reality within its narrow compass? That is a sheer impossibility.

This is why Confucius said:

The Reality is something which cannot be grasped, cannot be understood and cannot be comprehended.

This is why he turned from the spiritual to the ethical side of life.