The inner and outer Man

II

So is there any hope for a man becoming happy? We are all after happiness, is it not? We are earning money, we are having possessions, we are having buildings, we marry, we have children, only for what? For the sake of happiness! But we do not find happiness, still it is there. Real happiness is within you. So with all these advancements we have not been able to be happy.

The reason is, the third side, our own self, the spiritual side is uncared for. If we say certain prayers, read certain scriptures or perform one way or the other rites and rituals, these are good actions. Reading scriptures, advancing intellectually is only a diet or a food to your brain, to the intellect. And from the physical food you give to the body, you become physically and intellectually strong. What have you given to your own soul? There is a bread of life and water of life. If we can have that, we can also become spiritually strong.

From where can we have that bread of life?

Tulsi says,

Well, you should sit at the feet of a Master, so you can become happy.

You will have the bread of life and the water of life.

I hope you remember Jesus Christ when He went to a well, there was one Samaritan lady who had a pitcher full of water on her head. He asked her to give Him some water to drink.

But she said,

Well, strange enough, we are Samaritans. You people (the Jews) have nothing to do with Samaritans, why you ask me for water?

He said, had she known who He was who asked her for water, she would have given it to him.

Then He told her,

Well, this water that you are carrying that only stills your thirst for a while. Again you thirst, again and again. But had you come to me, I would have given you the living water of life which would have finished your thirst forever.

Then again He said,

I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life and this bread of life has come from heaven. Whoever eats me and drinks me has everlasting life.

Joh. 6,48–58

So a Master – you may say, at the Human Pole God is speaking, Who is the mouthpiece of God – He can give you the bread of life and the water of life. And what is that bread of life or water of life?

You will find (in the Gospel of Saint John),

Word was made flesh and dwelled amongst us.

And what is the Word? God is wordless. Absolute God that has not come into being as yet. When it came into being, into expression, into action, that God-in-action-Power is called Word, Naam or Shabd. That is the cause of all creation.

In the beginning was the Word, Word was with God, and Word was God. The whole creation came up after the Word.

And where is that Word?

Thy Word is settled in heaven.

This Word is the bread of life which has come from heaven, you see. Where it has manifested, materialized in some Human Pole (Master), He can contact your soul and withdraw it from the mind and matter and give that bread of life to you. So you can be happy only if you have the bread of life and the water of life. I am quoting to you these things from the Bible because you people are more conversant with the Bible (than with other scriptures). Exactly the same words we find in the sayings of other scriptures, too – in their own language, of course.

So unless or until we have got spiritual progress, and have got the food of life, the bread of life, we are not happy. We have made so many inventions, and we are now in danger of atomic war. Thank God, that by His pity it has been shunned by now, you see. But still our own intellect has gone against us. Had we known our self first, well, all these things would have gone to help the humanity. Because we have known little or nothing about our own self, these very things are now hovering around us. Any moment it (such a war) starts, the world will end.

In a manbody only we can have this bread of life. Who can give you this bread of life? Who is Word-made-flesh. It is the God-in-man, God-in-action, manifested in man which can give you a contact with God, the Word, you see. For this purpose we have joined various religions. These are the basic teachings given by all Masters whenever they came. Those who met them, they had the bread of life and the water of life. How could they have it? By rising above body-consciousness, by analysing oneself from mind, body, and outgoing faculties. It is a matter of pure self-analysis.

Religion truly means: re means back (in Latin), ligio comes from the root ligare – to bind. To bind back our souls to God again; this is what is meant by religion. One is the social side of religions. They have got their own customs, their own rituals, rites, and their own modes of prayer. These are all good actions. They lay down that we should read scriptures of our own.

Well, what are scriptures? They are fine records of the findings, of the experiences of the Masters Who came in the past, that They had with God and in knowing Themselves, what things stood in the way, what were the helping factors. So this is a fine record of all that. You might say, past Masters (are) speaking through books. That creates in us an interest to have the same experiences that They had in Their lives. And unless we have got the same experience, we cannot be fully satisfied. That creates an awakening in us, a desire or a craving in us to know God. They can create an interest, but cannot take us to have these … experiences that They had.

Saying prayers and performing certain rites and rituals, they are good actions, they develop in us love and devotion for God. They are good actions, they are for the preparation of the ground.

Kabir says,

Well, it is a pity, that manbody we have got, the highest in all creation, the golden opportunity we have got (but we do not use it).

He said,

O soul awake! If you do not awake now in the manbody, when will you awake?

Old Vedas say the same thing:

Awake, arise and stop not until the goal is reached!

The very words they are using! Rishis used the same words thousands of years back and Kabir only five hundred years back, you see.

The same words were expressed by Guru Arjan Dev. He says,

Awake, stand up; awake, stand up, you are on the way back to God. Why you delay?

So what is this awakening? We are asleep. Where? At the level of the manbody and the outgoing faculties by identifying ourselves with that so much so that we are awake outside and asleep within. And that controlling power which is keeping us in the body we don’t know. He is also within us.

Guru Arjan says,

Two brothers are living in the same house, but alas! The brother does not talk with the other brother.

And who are they? Our soul and Oversoul above. He is the controlling power keeping us in the body.

Another Saint says,

Soul and Oversoul – God – are asleep in the same bed. But the soul is just identified with the outgoing faculties, enjoyments so much so that she is awake outside but asleep within. And God is waiting for her when she opens her eyes.

God is anxious to have us. But we are quite ignorant about it. Child is playing outside in dust with the children like anything and mother is waiting for the child to come back and to have the food. It is something like that, you see.

That is why Masters say, Be like little children, for the Kingdom of God is for the children. Children have love for all. If the child of a king and the child of a man going by in the street, if they both are let alone, they will embrace each other, they will love each other and enjoy themselves. There is no duality, no question of high or low, no distinction. And we people? We are rich, we are more learned, we are higher, the others are lower. So this is what is meant by we should be (like) a child, you see.

I mean to say that the ultimate goal before us is to know God. For that purpose we have joined various schools or colleges of religions. We have to see whether we have attained that object or not. In all religions Masters have come, you see. By a parallel study of religions you will find that all said the same thing, of course in Their own language which was prevalent at the time.

So to say that one religion has only the reserved right to know God, actually history does not prove it. Well, They say the same thing, that you should have respect for all men! And what are the Masters? They are speaking – it is God speaking through Them. I and my Father are one. So They have known the Truth, that God-Power is working through a manbody. Well, He who knows the Truth, can let others know the Truth.

Son knows the Father and others whom the son reveals.

Tulsi said,

If you want to be happy, then sit at the feet of a Master.

What is He (the Master)? He is a man like you, having the same two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, born the same way, inner construction of the body is the same. But there is a vast difference between Him and an average man: (Unlike Him) our souls are under the control of mind, mind is under the control of the outgoing faculties, and the outgoing faculties are drawn by enjoyments outside. We are not at our will and pleasure, we are not free, we are dragged like anything.

Guru Arjan refers to an instance:

Suppose there is a house, and there is a houselady there. And she has got some maid servants, four or five. And no maid servant obeys her orders. What will be the state of the house, if nobody is caring for the houselady, what she says?

So the first thing is that those servants given to us, they must obey our orders. We should not be dragged down by them, but they should be under our control. We are the indweller of the house – the houselady, you see. There are five servants given to us: these outgoing faculties. There are five conscious outgoing faculties working through the gross outgoing faculties: Sight through the eyes, audition through the ears, smell through the nose, taste through the tongue and touch through the skin.

These five servants have been dragging us outside, every moment of life. Sometimes you feel – we don’t like to do something but we are drawn like anything to these outgoing faculties. So we must control these servants first. You must see, but at the same time with your eyes remaining open you should not see (if you do not want to see). Have control over your sight! You have got open ears, but you must have control over your ears! Even while sitting in multitudes you should not hear …

You know what is that will? Attention is the outward expression of our soul, you see. So from attention these outgoing faculties work. You must have got this experience from from day to day life: Sometimes you are sitting in some very absorbed state of attention, fully riveted in some thought. Somebody calls you, but you do not hear, although your ears are open. Sometimes your eyes are open, but you don’t see.

(It is said that) Newton was sitting by a roadside solving certain mathematical problems. He was absorbed in that so much that when a playing band went by him (he did not hear anything). Later on somebody came up and inquired, Well, Newton, has there a band passed by? – No, I don’t know.

In daily life you find something that when you are very much absorbed, and somebody calls you, you don’t hear, although your ears are open.

Similarly, somebody comes and sits by you – comes and goes away, you are so much riveted that you do not know who came and who went away. What is that? That is our attention, the expression of our soul which is riveted, controlled, that other outgoing faculties even do not work.

So first thing is to have control over our outgoing faculties. That you control with one thing: your attention. If you can control your attention on some certain subject in a certain disciplined way, what will happen in that case? Your outgoing faculties, these servants won’t drag you away. Now we are letting our eyes pass, see a beautiful scenery, and something will drag you like anything. You have become aware of the habit of going somewhere for seeing some sceneries, some cinema or anything. Actually you don’t want to go, but your legs go that way. Habit becomes nature.

So this is the natural way. We must have control over these senses, then only we will be able to withdraw from outside within, to find God.

Where is God? We seek Him in the scriptures. In scriptures there are given the experiences of the past Masters Who found God. Where? They say, Tap inside. He is the very soul of your soul. You are residing in the body and that very controlling power is also residing within you.

Wherever a thing is – if you would like to find it, you will have to go there where it is. So the nearest approach of God is within us. He is the Power direct controlling us in the body. When can we invert to see Him? We must withdraw from outside! And to withdraw from outside we must be able to concentrate our attention in a certain way to have it under control. You see? This is one thing. If you come from the burning sun and enter a vestibule of a building, you feel refreshed. Of course you feel refreshed, but that is not sufficient. You have to rise above the senses. There you find God.

First you have to withdraw from outside. For that the best way, and the easiest and the natural way, the God-made way is the controlling of your attention, withdrawing from outside. But you cannot withdraw from outside. It is a difficult thing. I will give you an example. A child is shut up in a dark room. What will he do? He will break the doors and cry. But if the child finds something very interesting, very attractive, very fascinating within, he will keep quiet.