A visitor asked: “Sri Bhagavan said last night that God is guiding us. Then why should we make an effort to do anything?”
M.: Who asks you to do so? If there was that faith in the guidance of God this question would not have arisen.
D.: The fact is that God guides us. Then what is the use of these instructions to people?
M.: They are for those who seek instructions. If you are firm in your belief in the guidance of God stick to it, and do not concern yourself with what happens around you. Furthermore, there may be happiness or misery. Be equally indifferent to both and abide in the faith of God. That will be so only when one’s faith is strong that God looks after all of us.
Mr. Chopra asked: “How shall I secure that firm faith?”
M.: Exactly. It is for such as these who want instructions. There are persons who seek freedom from misery. They are told that God guides all and so there need not be any concern about what happens. If they are of the best type they at once believe it and firmly abide by faith in God.
But there are others who are not so easily convinced of the truth of the bare statement. They ask: “Who is God? What is His nature? Where is He? How can He be realised?” and so on. In order to satisfy them intellectual discussion is found necessary. Statements are made, their pros and cons are argued, and the truth is thus made clear to the intellect.
When the matter is understood intellectually the earnest seeker begins to apply it practically. He argues at every moment, “For whom are these thoughts? Who am I?” and so forth, until he is well-established in the conviction that a Higher Power guides us. That is firmness of faith. Then all his doubts are cleared and he needs no further instructions.
D.: We also have faith in God.
M.: If it had been firm no questions would have arisen. The person will remain perfectly happy in his Faith in the Omnipotent.
D.: Is the enquiry into the Self the same as the abovementioned faith?
M.: The enquiry into the Self is inclusive of all, faith, devotion, jnāna, yoga and all.
D.: A man sometimes finds that the physical body does not permit steady meditation. Should he practise for training the body for the purpose?
M.: It is according to one’s (predispositions). One man will practise for curing his bodily ills; another man will trust to God to cure them; a third man will use his will-power for it and a fourth man may be totally indifferent to them. But all of them will persist in meditation. The quest for the Self is the essential factor and all the rest are mere accessories.
A man may have mastered the philosophy and yet remain unable to control his thoughts. He may have a predisposition () which takes him to practise . He will believe that the mind can be controlled only by and so he will practise it.
D.: What is most suitable for gaining facilities for steady ?
M.: It depends on one’s . One may find suitable and another man nāma japa, and so on. The essential point is the —enquiry into the Self.
D.: Is it enough if I spend some time in the mornings and some time in the evenings for this ? Or should I do it always—say, even when I am writing or walking?
M.: Now what is your real nature? Is it writing, walking, or being? The one unalterable reality is being. Until you realise that state of pure being you should pursue the enquiry. If once you are established in it there will be no further worry.
No one will enquire into the source of thoughts unless thoughts arise. So long as you think “I am walking,” “I am writing,” enquire who does it.
These actions will however go on when one is firmly established in the Self. Does a man always say, “I am a man, I am a man, I am a man,” every moment of his life? He does not say so and yet all his actions are going on.
D.: Is an intellectual understanding of the Truth necessary?
M.: Yes. Otherwise why does not the person realise God or the Self at once, i.e., as soon as he is told that God is all or the Self is all? That shows some wavering on his part. He must argue with himself and gradually convince himself of the Truth before his faith becomes firm.