Atma And Brahman Are Identical With Each Other

May 1977, Summer Course 1977, Brindavan

Published English.

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Being the tiniest among the tiny particles, and being the biggest amongst the infinitely large things, and being present and recognised as a witness to all the living and the non-living things in the creation, is identical with and is identical with .

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You cannot ascribe a time for to come or go and thus place limitations on it. It is permanently present everywhere, and it has neither good qualities nor bad qualities. It is present as the smallest thing in the small things and as the biggest thing in the infinitely large things.

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Like the burning power of the fire and the shining strength of the sun, is all-knowing. It has no sorrow, it has no attachment, it has no special feeling like any of the five senses which man experiences. It is present in all living things. It endows all living beings with an amount of wisdom called .

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is not visible from outside. is neither visible nor invisible. It has no special form attached to itself. It is all pervading. This cannot be something which is either seen or not seen, either experienced or not experienced. It is something which is neither manifested nor unmanifested. It is above all this and beyond all description or even comprehension.

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cannot be what we can hear with our ears; what we can feel with any of our sensory organs. These can only be a means or instruments, in a limited sense, for understanding the .

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It is not right to describe this body, which in that manner depends upon various ancillary instru-ments, as . We now recognise that the mind, the intelligence, the body, the and the are all distinct from the . Intelligence has been given a special position, a position which is higher than those of the senses.

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Here is something which can be called a clear piece of glass or stone. It is incapable of self-luminescence. Since it has no shining or effulgence of its own, it can shine only when it is close to light. In a similar manner, effulgence is natural to , and when the intelligence is close to it, it acquires the capacity to shine; otherwise we see that intelligence has no shining in it.

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Moon does not shine by itself. The rays of the sun fall on the moon and the moon shines by reflection. In the same manner, intelligence is not self-effulgent. As the knife can take sharpness with it, so also the knife of intelligence can take sharpness with it. Thus intelligence is also an instrument and the sharpness, which it gets, also goes with the instrument. In that context also, we cannot identify with the body or the senses.

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In order that we may discover and understand , this container, the human body, can become in-strumental and can be helpful.

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In the very first instance we should try to understand the nature and attitude of the mind. Many times, I have explained this to you. This is a door and there is a lock on the door. To open the lock on the door, we put the key inside the lock. If we turn the key towards the right, the lock opens. If we turn the key towards the left, the lock gets locked. In the same manner, our heart can be compared to a lock. Our mind is like the key. If we put the key of our mind in the lock of the heart and turn it towards , we get detachment; if we turn it towards the world, we get attachment. We should, in that context, make an attempt to put the key of our mind in the lock of our heart and by using our intelligence turn the key towards .

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There is no doubt whatsoever that even by remaining a part and parcel of this creation, we can experience the divinity in our heart. And as we mentioned earlier, if we get a tree, the fruits from the tree are important. While the fruits on a tree are important, in order to get such fruits we have to protect the tree, the leaves and the branches. In a similar manner, the is most important for us, but we have to protect the body and the sensory organs which help us to recognise the . In this tree of creation, what is it that we are looking for? We are looking for the fruits of liberation or . In this tree, as well, there are so many branches and leaves in the form of our relations and attachments. The leaves which are the ideas are present in a large number on the tree. Our thoughts and our desires are like the flowers that blossom on the tree. On the same tree is also the fruit of liberation or . If we really want to get this fruit of , we can do so only if we protect the leaves and the branches as well. However, this is not enough.

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While having the desire to reach the fruit which is visible on the tree, what we have to do is to take care of the invisible roots of the tree and we have to water these invisible roots. These roots, which are invisible, can be compared with our faith and our belief in the . On the roots of faith in this is based the entire tree with all its leaves and branches. It is only when we undertake to water the roots and protect the tree, will we be able to get the fruit of .

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The sweet , or the juice that can be extracted out of the fruit of , is our character. If this juice of character and the faith, which is the root of the tree, are not present, then the tree becomes useless. Young people, if this faith does not exist in the form of roots, if the character does not exist in the form of juice, then it is no longer a tree; it is as bad as firewood. The first thing we must do is to promote our faith in , faith in one’s own self, and then we must try and reach the fruit of liberation.

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, and regarded this as important. Faith in is identical with faith in , and is identical with faith in .

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In the story of , just as was closely following , so also was closely following . Such was the inseparable connection that existed between and . If was not present, would not be happy at all. In the same manner, if was not present for a moment, would be in great sorrow.

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Like , was also easily excited. When saw , his anger was so much that he caught hold of her hair and pulled her towards . was prepared to kill . On that occasion, advised that if he wants to get the grace of , he should refrain from doing such harsh things. said: “Could I not have punished my mother for her guilt? But if comes to know that we have been cruel to our own mothers, he would send us away and would not show grace to us.” We should see here that and were prepared to cause hurt and harm to their own mothers, but they were not prepared to displease by their acts.

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and were always following because was the embodiment of and they were always wanting to please Him and earn His grace. , , and were the embodiments of the four great qualities of , , and .

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In order to experience , man goes about searching for several methods. If we really want to experience we have got to understand what peace or means. If we want to follow the path of peace, we will have to accept the path of . If we want to follow the path of , we will have to accept the path of truth. Here is a small example. Let us take as the shining light. If we want to experience this shining light, we should have a bulb. If we want the bulb to glow and experience the shining light, we should have a connection to the bulb. By just a connection of wire to the bulb, the bulb is not going to glow. In that wire, we should have an electric current. Here we see that the electric current can be compared to the truth, the wire can be compared to while the bulb can be compared to or peace. If we have all these three things, then only we will get , the light. We may have a good new bulb, we may have a wire, are we going to get light out of that? Unless there is current inside the wire, we cannot get the bulb to glow.

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That is how and were following and and were demonstrating their ideals in life to the people. In this manner, when became the King and when was the Prince and while the kingdom was being happily ruled and after all the in were destroyed, a very powerful son of by name was still alive. was the eldest son of . He had the grace of . He had acquired the from . Depending upon the power of his , was giving a lot of trouble to the and other good people.

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The could no longer bear the atrocities committed by , and they came running to and begged Him to protect them and kill . knew that this kind of prayer from would come. He looked at who willingly accepted to go and destroy the enemies. was a very strong person and had many good qualities. Devotion and faith were his strong points, but unfortunately, in , ’s qualities were not described to the people in a prominent manner. As soon as this was known to , he went and touched the feet of . He told that by His grace, he could undertake the task and destroy the enemies. knew very well that was a powerful person and so he smilingly blessed . Not only this, explained to the secret of the weapon, .

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He told that the was present in the house of this rakshasa. Every morning this rakshasa goes to the forest to gather food which primarily consisted of meat. advised that the rakshasa must be killed before he returns home and begins to eat his meal. In this manner, having obeyed ’s orders and having secured the blessings of , started. Overnight he rested in ’s . It may be regarded as his special fortune that in ’s , had just at that time given birth to and .

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saw and the two children. But in his mind, he thought that this news should not be conveyed to as he felt that it was not proper and kept it a secret. As soon as he left, he thought of and in his own mind and went to face , the rakshasa. In the forest; he fought and destroyed him.

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After destroying , he returned to , touched his feet, and expressed his desire to spend the rest of his life at the feet of . did not agree to that. said that he should become the king of the area that was ruling earlier.

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For twelve years he ruled over the kingdom of in a manner that was giving great happi-ness to the people, the and other inhabitants. was unable to bear the separation from for a longer period, and he was returning to .

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Thus, while returning to , he again spent one night in the of . By this time, and were twelve years old and made these two boys, and , sing the in a most attractive manner. When was listening to the songs recited by the two children, he forgot himself in that happiness. He was in such an ecstasy that he looked at and with great pleasure. He could not believe that he was . He behaved as if he was not con-nected with them and returned to .

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After returning to he described to the great peace that he experienced in ’s . In spite of the fact that was in a hu-man form, He was all knowing. He knew everything. He also enjoyed and experienced the narration of . But he told that he should not speak about this secret in just at that moment.

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Every act of an has to be taken into consideration in the context of the situation and the time and the happenings at the time in which the lives.

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All the knew that was an of God; but in order that the story of may progress, they did not give this secret out to others. knew very well that was an . and also knew very well that was an . But if they gave out the truth, then the main purpose for which had become an would not be achieved. In the same manner, it is not possible for any to proclaim to the world that the is come, and, if so, for what purpose. That is the of God.

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, the mother, even after she had the vision of all creation in the open mouth of Lord , yet on account of she forgot the divine vision and she began to think that she was the mother and that was her son. In the same manner, , and all other kept the secret of . But when they were alone and when they got together, they were singing the glory of amongst themselves. When the were sitting alone, amongst themselves they used to describe the qualities of the Lord and they said, “Can we understand you, Oh Lord? Can we explain what you are, Oh Lord? You are smaller than the smallest thing, you are larger than the largest thing, you are present in all the 84 of different living . How can we understand you and explain to others what you are?” Man is steeped in in this manner and he cannot free himself from . He forgets his origin and he does not understand . However, if this situation does not exist, there is no reason why should come as an at all. What exists as a reality is only one, but what we see is mani-fold. This one thing appears to us as if it is many. What is real is the . This is the . There is a small illustration for this.

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We have a candle light here. We cover this candle light with a pot which has ten holes in it. On this we also put a thick Turkish towel. In that situation, the light that is inside the pot is not seen at all from outside. But if, slowly, we take off the towel with which we have covered the pot, uncovering each hole one by one, then we can see one light, another light, as the holes come out one by one. But if we remove the towel completely and throw it away, we look at ten different holes, and ten different candle lights. In spite of the fact that we can see ten different lights, if at that time we break the pot and throw it away, then we realise that all these ten lights are only from one single candle. Earlier we did not see any light, but once when the cover on the pot has been removed, we have seen ten lights. If the pot is broken, then we again see one light. This is the basis of your life. There is inside, as we all can see, the or . The has been covered by the human body with ten holes in it. We have put the thick cover of worldly desires on it. If the desires of the human body should be broken, then we will have the vision of the one , i.e., . That has also been called the . This is the of the . is the embodiment of bliss. You can only experience the embodiment of bliss, and it is not possible to exhibit it in any other manner.

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Many people have tried their best to find whether this exists. If it exists, where could it be found? Since time immemorial, it has been the attempt to find out one’s and to know what is and where it is? What is the evidence for us to accept the existence of the ?

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To establish the existence of the , we cannot take even the as the . The have only dealt with people in certain aspects relating to the world, and have explained what they should do in this world through various . This is the subject matter of the . It has not been possible for the to establish the nature of the .

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Here is a small story. In , , and went to the of . In that , following the ancient practice, the women, the , were sitting on one side; the men, the , were sitting on the other side. Unlike the manner in which people sit together nowadays, when , and entered the , went and joined the women and and went and joined the . As and lived in the forest, they were wearing clothes suitable to life in a forest; and their shining faces were similar to those of the . The situation was such that they were not able to make out who was and who was . On the other hand, could be recognised easily. was alone and the recognised her and began talking to her. They were asking questions about her life in the forest. The men, on the other hand, went on explaining the and the discussions centred round the .

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On the other hand, the women began asking questions and whispering. They came to and asked her, “Has your husband also come with you?” replied, “Yes, I cannot come alone, I cannot live without Him. He has come along with me and He is sitting along with the .” The second question which was asked of was, “Who is your husband? Can you find him out among so many of the ?” was a very noble and modest woman, and could not stand up in the midst of all those present and point to her husband and say who her husband was. She simply bowed her head down and kept quiet. Even then the women did not keep quiet. They began asking more questions such as: is that man, wearing such and such clothes, your husband? Is that man, who is having a peculiar hair style, your husband? The women started pointing at several of them and asking if any one of them was her husband. But whenever a wrong person was shown, she would reply in the negative. Locating should proceed in this manner.

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Today, many young people may have the ambition that they should get a wife like . A young man, who wants to have a wife like , should make an attempt to be like .

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If he behaves like , he will not deserve a wife like . If a girl wants to have a husband like , she should endeavour to be like . If she is like , how is she going to deserve a ? So, in every family, the husband should be like and the wife should be like . If one will assist the other, at times of difficulties as well as at times of pleasure, like and , they will be happy indeed.