Mr. Cohen, a resident disciple, has been for scme days past thinking about a book called “Nirvana” written by a prominent Theosophist, wherein the author claims to reach Nirvana every night after going to sleep. He claims to see his own Master and other Masters of the Theosophical Society as bright lights within the ocean of light which is Nirvana. He asked Sri Bhagavan how it could be possible, considering the teaching that the Nirvanic experience is the same as that of the pure consciousness of Being.
M.: Nirvana is Perfection. In the Perfect State there is neither subject nor object; there is nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to know. Seeing and knowing are the functions of the mind. In Nirvana there is nothing but the blissful pure consciousness “I am.”
D.: How then can a prominent T. S. leader, who claims clairvoyance of a high order, praise the author for his supposed correct and vivid description of Nirvana, and why is the T. Society so much obsessed by the idea of “Service”?
M.: Well, Theosophy and other kindred movements are good in as much as they make a man unselfish and prepare him for the highest truth. Service, like prayers, , and even business done in God’s name, lead to the highest goal—Self-Realisation.
D.: But after how long? and why should a man who is ready for the Absolute knowledge stick to the knowledge of the Relative?
M.: Everything happens in its own time. The one who is ready for the absolute knowledge will be made somehow to hear of it and follow it up. He will realise that Atmavidya is the highest of all virtues and also the end of the journey.
D.: Then he asked about the difference between external and internal nirvikalpa samādhis, referring to article 391 above.
M.: External is holding to the Reality while witnessing the world, without reacting to it from within. There is the stillness of a waveless Ocean. The internal samādhi involves loss of body-consciousness.
D.: Is loss of body-consciousness a prerequisite to the attainment of sahaja samādhi?
M.: What is body-consciousness? Analyse it. There must be a body and consciousness limited to it which together make up body-consciousness. These must lie in another Consciousness which is absolute and unaffected. Hold it. That is . It exists when there is no body-consciousness because it transcends the latter, it also exists when there is the body-consciousness. So it is always there. What does it matter whether body-consciousness is lost or retained? When lost it is internal samādhi; when retained, it is external samādhi. That is all.
A person must remain in any one of the six so that sahaja samādhi may be easy for him.
D.: The mind does not sink into that state even for a second.
M.: A strong conviction is necessary that I am the Self, transcending the mind and the phenomena.
D.: Nevertheless, the mind proves to be a cork against attempts to sink it.
M.: What does it matter if the mind is active? It is so only on the substratum of the Self. Hold the Self even during mental activities.
D.: I cannot go within sufficiently deep.
M.: What does it matter if the mind is active? It not in the Self? Where should you go? All that is necessary is the stern belief that you are the Self. Say rather that the other activities throw a veil on you.
D.: Yes, it is so.
M.: That means that the conviction is weak.
D.: I understand that the ‘I’ is only artificial (krtrma), my attempts at realising the real ‘I’ are unavailing because the artificial ‘I’ is brought into action for realising the other.
M.: “Viveka Chudāmani” makes it clear that the artificial ‘I’ of the vijnāna kosha is a projection and through it one must look to the significance (vāchya) of ‘I’, the true principle.