Satsang – Volume 6, Number 2: January 31, 2003
Swamiji's Amaram Day:
The One Who Is Seeking Is He Himself
The Self is always immortal, always blissful. We have never seen that it was born. Our parents have seen that we were born, but we have not seen that we were. That is why the Space remains hidden—as a challenge to you, the manifest aspect of the same Space, to try to get it. This is the purpose of human life, and we have ventured on realizing it. On the way, we not only grew in our bodies, thinking, and intellects, in our work situations, professions, and families, we also grew in the unfoldment of the awareness that has enabled us to know that whatever way we had been seeing and saying about ourselves was not very correct. We had been following the line of thinking and communication that we were only human beings who would stay here on earth for some time—maybe for one millennium, maybe for more than that, or maybe again and again for the same period. But this was not the correct communication to be given to every single child—especially to all of us.
We are beyond time, beyond space, for That was never born as time or space. No one on earth has ever seen the beginning of time, and no one has ever seen the end of time. Things and forms have all been seen as objects, but they are not permanent. When the sun comes, we say that day has come, and when it goes away, we say that night has come, but neither night nor day have come. We, the human beings, are left with nothing but to learn the language which says that the sun arises and sets and that day and night arise. In the same way, we know that the human form arises and the human form sets, whereas the truth is that the Self—the Aatma, Brahm, the eternal, infinite Reality, Shyam Space—never arises, never takes birth, and never dies. Every single day and every moment, we, the human beings, are supposed to live on earth with a grand celebration so that we may not become miserable; whereas nature as a whole has planned for us to become miserable by birth—at the time of birth and at the time of the end of bodies. Miseries are given to us by the changing weathers of prakriti, or nature.
Now we have succeeded in transcending the natural laws which belong to the body and the obvious reality, for they have never touched the Knower, never touched the Self. That is what you are. We welcome you on this day, which for all of you at this moment is an awakening. It is the birthday of a human being who appears sometimes in the time and space dimension and for years after years continues to be seen. But that which is the immortal, blissful Knower has not been seen. …
That Space itself has come on earth, and its child is the sky-space, the gagan. In that gagan, the praan, or air, has been introduced. In it, the vision of seeing all the forms has also been introduced, which is tayj, or the sun and form. In it, love and affection, or the neer, or water, of love, has also been introduced. The garlands all came to your hands and then came to my neck, and we all experienced their fragrance. Although these are flowers, we are experiencing fragrance. Fragrance is not seen or known, fragrance is immortal, but that fragrance is this earth—the earth is made of gandh. In this way, all these five elements [space, air, fire, water, and earth] got together. But whose elements are they? They are the same Shyam Space, and that has never taken birth. It never appeared, for it is always there. It is said that it is unborn: why should it be born, increase, or decrease when it is always there?
This is the day of your awareness where you joined me, heard me, and expressed your delight, or aanand, joy, love, and affection. In any way, we are always worshipping ourselves. But it looks like someone is elder, a mother, or a father. These bodies are seen with these eyes, but the inner eye is seeing, understanding, and knowing that there is a third eye, or another eye of understanding, and that is the eye of Shyam Space. When it is opened, then it is said that you are opened, and, in Uma's [Roop Verma's daughter's] words, "It is cool." [laughter] That does not need a body; she, as a young person, knows that the body is not necessary for being cool. Cool is the body, and it is always that Shyam Space.
That Space has vision, so we call it the consciousness of seeing and knowing, and it has existence, which makes all the existences, so we say that is satta, or existence. So chaytan is the eyes and knowing, and satta is the existence. Then there is the power of experiencing the delight of the forms—which you can well understand. You can imagine how delighted I am. When you see one person, you are delighted that much. And I see so many persons with that same fervour, joy, and delight, with the same respect and reverence, and that is all filled in my heart. So I welcome all of you as my Self, and I thank you very much. Sing a song, Aa-ay, aa-ay, aaj Shyam ghar aa-ay ["He came, he came, Shyam came to our home today"].
We will have a few minutes inside our Being, at home, where the sense of immortality and bliss is. Having come together in this age, at this time, we actually have not to do much except to make ourselves the laboratory of examining where we are. Many people think they are walking on earth and living between the space and earth. They also eat food and work in situations with their bodies and senses. But many people have not dared to examine where I am, or where that I is which knows that "I am," which knows forever that "I am"—whether the body is or is not.
We speak language; we are not mute, we do not stand like trees. In language, each one identifies as a person and has to be like that. It is inevitable that the progeny of each species has to say "I am." And it's alright. But, as human beings, we are so fortunate that we have parents, wise parents, who have trained us to know language and to know that we have bodies, senses, friends, homes, and all the prosperity. But they also said, "You," and left us in this wild space, this forest or jungle, where everything is found and you can make a search for it and get it. Yet you don't find that which your parents called "You." Even when you began to search the body, you did not find You.
You have become a friend to someone who is just like You, who has been You, who has always been You—whether the body has been or not. Having realized that You, he was fully in harmony with your ambition or wish to research and find it. He informed you that "You are that which has never left this body, and this body is that which has never left You." When you examined this, then you found that the Seer or Knower, the vision and audition, the bulk of your whole body and one little tiny atom among forty-five trillion cells, are You. And when these things are not found anywhere, that is You.
I salute, admire, and appreciate that vision with which you saw You. You had the love for having the vision of You. You realized today: you experienced that there is no difference. This has become a great moment of celebration. It has become the day of appearance in front of your eyes, and your appearance is in front of my eyes, and many hundreds and thousands of eyes are being seen. When we tried with these eyes to locate vision, we could not find it. But when we closed our eyes for a while, we found it—and we do not have to struggle. Your friend had to tell you, your Self had to speak to you, that the one who is seeking is he himself, that the vision which is open and watching is You. But that vision has no form, such as leaves, flowers, rain, clouds, or sky. That vision is realized only when you close your eyes. Acquaint yourself with it. You did this and answered that it was nothing. But your friend never, never believed in your incompetence with which you said that it was nothing. With all patience, he kept saying that you are Space, and that Space is free, Space is forever, and Space brings you that joy or coolness, that strength and awareness, with which you lose the fire of difference, or duality. You become as calm and cool as the moonlit night—forever cool, forever realized. That is what you are realizing now.
Realize it, know it, and get established in that Sarvaatma, all-Self. Then thank the Creator, and the Creator's mother and father, your friends or informer, that with this body it has been possible as a human being to reach there where millions of people have been working millions of times to reach. You did not boast or have such pride to say that "I got there." You closed your eyes and became silent, and in that silence, You, the silent Being, is fully aware and watching. That is immortal, that is blissful. Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum. … [Songs and speeches for the occasion of Swamiji's Amaram day follow.]
It's good that I get the credit of everything, but you must know that in my awareness each one of you make me. It is like a centipede: you know how fast he walks, but it is not with one leg. [laughter] So no doubt I seem to have gotten the credit, but this is just an occasion. All of you deserve to receive my thanks and my love and affection. I pray to the almighty God to bless you with great awareness, great strength, and a great sense of achievement, that you may achieve whatever you want to— but mostly you are one-sided people who have seen what realization is and what Me is. Still, I'm always there. … [Roop Verma directed his son to study sitar with Ali Akbar Khan, who guides him] In the same way, wherever you feel off key, I am there to give you that. And it will be there. …
[The birthday song is sung to Swamiji] After experiencing the love of your heart expressed through your lips, I feel as if my heart has gone down deep in the ocean of your love, joy, and happiness, and I am overwhelmed. At this moment, I would not like to respond to your expectation of a speech, because the atmosphere of love doesn't need a speech. The lips are closed, therefore words will not come. The heart is full, therefore thoughts will not come. The sea of Sat Chit Aanand, Absolute Bliss Consciousness, is evenly spread, so there will be no wave. Therefore, I will only say that I would like to abide by my commitment and see you happy and ever-free from disease, sickness, and the sense of death. Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum.