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39. By Itself Nothing has Existence

Questioner: As I listen to you I fnd that it is

useless to ask you questions. Whatever thequestion, you invariably turn it upon itsel andbring me to the basic act that I am living in anillusion o my own making and that reality isinexpressible in words. Words merely add to theconusion and the only wise course is the silent

search within.Maharaj: Ater all, it is the mind that createsillusion and it is the mind that gets ree o it.Words may aggravate illusion, words may alsohelp dispel it. here is nothing wrong in repeatingthe same truth again and again until it becomesreality. !other"s work is not over with the birth o

the child. #he eeds it day ater day, year ateryear until it needs her no longer. $eople needhearing words, until acts speak to them louderthan words.

Q: #o we are children to be ed on words%

M: As long as you give importance to words, youare children.

Q: All right, then be our mother.M: Where was the child beore it was born% Was itnot with the mother% &ecause it was already withthe mother it could be born.

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Q: #urely, the mother did not carry the child whenshe was a child hersel.M: $otentially, she was the mother. (o beyond

the illusion o time.

Q: )our answer is always the same. A kind oclockwork which strikes the same hours again andagain.M: It can not be helped. *ust like the one sun is

re+ected in a billion dew drops, so is the timelessendlessly repeated. When l repeat "I am, I am", Imerely assert and re-assert an ever-present act.

)ou get tired o my words because you do not seethe living truth behind them. ontact it and youwill fnd the ull meaning o words and o silence --both.

Q:)ou say that the little girl is already the mothero her uture child. $otentially -- yes. Actually --no.M:he potential becomes actual by thinking. hebody and its a/airs exist in the mind.

Q: And the mind is consciousness in motion andconsciousness is the conditioned 0saguna1 aspecto the #el. he unconditioned 0nirguna1 is anotheraspect and beyond lies the abyss o the absolute0paramartha1.M: 2uite right -- you have put it beautiully.

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Q: &ut these are mere words to me. 4earing andrepeating them is not enough, they must beexperienced.

M: 5othing stops you but preoccupation with theouter which prevents you rom ocussing theinner. It cannot be helped, you cannot skip yoursadhana. )ou have to turn away rom the worldand go within, until the inner and the outer mergeand you can go beyond the conditioned, whether

inner or outer.

Q: #urely, the unconditioned is merely an idea inthe conditioned mind. &y itsel it has noexistence.M: &y itsel nothing has existence. 6verythingneeds its own absence. o be, is to be

distinguishable, to be here and not there, to benow and not then, to be thus and not otherwise.7ike water is shaped by the container, so iseverything determined by conditions 0gunas1. Aswater remains water regardless o the vessels, aslight remains itsel regardless o the colours it

brings out, so does the real remain real,regardless o conditions in which it is re+ected.Why keep the re+ection only in the ocus oconsciousness% Why not the real itsel%

Q: onsciousness itsel is a re+ection. 4ow can ithold the real%M: o know that consciousness and its contentare but re+ections, changeul and transient, is the

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ocussing o the real. he reusal to see the snakein the rope is the necessary condition or seeingthe rope.

Q: 9nly necessary, or also su:cient%M: 9ne must also know that a rope exists andlooks like a snake. #imilarly, one must know thatthe real exists and is o the nature o witness-consciousness. 9 course it is beyond the witness,

but to enter it one must frst realise the state opure witnessing. he awareness o conditionsbrings one to the unconditioned.

Q: an the unconditioned be experienced%M: o know the conditioned as conditioned is allthat can be said about the unconditioned. $ositive

terms are mere hints and misleading.

Q: an we talk o witnessing the real%M: 4ow can we% We can talk only o the unreal,the illusory, the transient, the conditioned. o gobeyond, we must pass through total negation o

everything as having independent existence. Allthings depend.

Q: 9n what do they depend%M: 9n consciousness. And consciousnessdepends on the witness.

Q: And the witness depends on the real%

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M: he witness is the re+ection o the real in allits purity. It depends on the condition o the mind.Where clarity and detachment predominate, the

witness-consciousness comes into being. It is

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5either can be directly experienced, but this doesnot make it not-existent.

Q: Is it not a eeling%M: A eeling too is a state o mind. *ust like ahealthy body does not call or attention, so is theunconditioned ree rom experience. ake theexperience o death. he ordinary man is araid todie, because he is araid o change. he jnani is

not araid because his mind is dead already. 4edoes not think "I live". 4e knows "here is lie".here is no change in it and no death. >eathappears to be a change in time and space. Wherethere is neither time nor space, how can there bedeath% he jnani is already dead to name andshape. 4ow can their loss a/ect him% he man in

the train travels rom place to place, but the mano/ the train goes nowhere, or he is not bound ora destination. 4e has nowhere to go, nothing todo, nothing to become. hose who make plans willbe born to carry them out. hose who make noplans need not be born.

Q: What is the purpose o pain and pleasure%M: >o they exist by themselves, or only in themind%

Q: #till, they exist. 5ever mind the mind.M: $ain and pleasure are merely symptoms, theresults o wrong knowledge and wrong eeling. Aresult cannot have a purpose o its own.

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Q: In (od"s economy everything must have apurpose.

M: >o you know (od that you talk o him soreely% What is (od to you% A sound, a word onpaper, an idea in the mind%

Q: &y his power I am born and kept alive.M: And su/er, and die. Are you glad%

Q: It may be my own ault that I su/er and die. Iwas created unto lie eternal.M: Why eternal in the uture and not in the past.What has a beginning must have an end. 9nly thebeginningless is endless.

Q: (od may be a mere concept, a working theory.A very useul concept all the same@M: or this it must be ree o inner contradictions,which is not the case. Why not work on the theorythat you are your own creation and creator. Atleast there will be no external (od to battle with.

Q:his world is so rich and complex -- how could Icreate it%M: >o you know yoursel enough to know whatyou can do and what you cannot% )ou do notknow your own powers. )ou never investigated.&egin with yoursel now.

Q: 6verybody believes in (od.B

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M: o me you are your own (od. &ut i you think

otherwise, think to the end. I there be (od, then

all is (od"s and all is or the best. Welcome all

that comes with a glad and thankul heart. And

love all creatures. his too will take you to your

#el.

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