Questioner: Why
does the mind not sink into the Heart even while meditating?
Sri Bhagavan:
A floating body does not readily sink unless some means are adopted
for making it do so. Breath-control makes the mind quiescent. The mind
must be alert and meditation pursued unremittingly even when it is at
peace. Then it sinks into the Heart. Or the floating body might be loaded
with weights and made to sink. So also association with the wise will
make the mind sink into the Heart.
Such association is both
mental and physical. The extremely visible being (of the Guru) pushes
the mind inward. He is also in the heart of the seeker and so he draws
the latter’s inward-bent mind into the Heart.
This question is asked
only when the man begins to meditate and finds it difficult. Let him
practice breath-control just a little and the mind will be purified.
It does not now sink into the heart because the latent tendencies stand
as obstacles. They are removed by breath-control or association with
the wise. In fact the mind is always in the Heart. But it is restive
and moves about on account of latent tendencies. When the tendencies
are made ineffective it will be restful and at peace.
By breath-control the mind
will be only temporarily quiescent, because the tendencies are still
there. If the mind is transformed into the Self it will no longer give
trouble. That is done by meditation.
(Pages 185-186,
Eighth Edition 1989)
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Questioner:
In the West there is a crisis. Scientific knowledge is far advanced.
Such knowledge is used for generating destructive forces. There is a
movement for making them constructive, when thus diverted it will be
for the good of the world. The leaders of this movement are the redeemers.
Sri Bhagavan:
By “spiritual leaders” we understand those who are “spiritual”
as opposed to “physical.” Spirit is unlimited and formless.
Such too is the spiritual center. There is only one such center. Whether
in the West or in the East the center cannot differ; nor has it any
locality. Being unlimited it includes the leaders, the men, the world,
the forces of destruction and of construction. There is no differentiation.
You speak of contact because you are thinking of the embodied beings
as spiritual leaders. The spiritual men are not bodies; they are not
aware of their bodies. They are only spirit, limitless and formless.
There is always unity among them and all others; nay, they comprise
all. The spirit is the Self. If the Self is realized, these questions
cannot arise at all.
(Page 329,
Eighth Edition 1989)
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Questioner:
The realized being also knows that there are wars being waged in
the world, just like the other man.
Sri Bhagavan:
Yes.
Questioner:
How then can he be happy?
Sri Bhagavan:
Is the cinema screen affected by a scene of fire burning or sea rising?
So it is with the Self.
The idea that that I am
the body or the mind (that one is the body or the mind) is so deep that
one cannot get over it even if convinced otherwise. One experiences
a dream and knows it to be unreal on waking. Waking experience is unreal
in other states. So each state contradicts the others. They are therefore
mere changes taking place in the seer, or phenomena appearing in the
Self, which is unbroken and remains unaffected by them. Just as the
waking, dream and sleep states are phenomena, so also birth, growth
and death are phenomena in the Self, which (itself) continues to be
unbroken and unaffected. Birth and death are only ideas. They pertain
to the body or the mind. The Self exists before the birth of this body
and will remain after the death of this body. So it is with the series
of bodies taken up in succession. The Self is immortal. The phenomena
are changeful and appear mortal. The fear of death is of the body. It
is not true of the Self. Such fear is due to ignorance. Realization
means True Knowledge of the Perfection and Immortality of the Self.
Mortality is only an idea and cause of misery. You get rid of it by
realizing the Immortal nature of the Self.
(Page 468,
Eighth Edition 1989)
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