HOW BHAKTI LEADS TO JNANA

Knowledge of Non-duality is the highest; but God should be worshipped first as a master is worshipped by his servant, as the adored by the adorer. This is the easiest path; it soon leads to the highest knowledge of unity.

Though the non-dualistic Knowledge is the highest, you should proceed in your devotion first with the idea of the worshipper and the worshipped (i.e., with the feeling, " God is the object of worship and I am his worshipper"), then you will easily attain Knowledge.

Brahman Itself sheds tears of grief, being caught in the trap of the five elements. You may close your eyes and convince yourself saying again and again, " There is no thorn, there is no thorn." But the moment you touch it, you feel the prick, and you draw your hand away in pain. Likewise, however much you may reason within yourself that you are beyond birth and death, virtue and vice, joy and sorrow, hunger and thirst—that you are the immutable Atman, the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute—nevertheless, the moment the body is subjected to ailments, or the mind encounters the temptations of the world and is overwhelmed by the transient pleasures of wealth and sex, and in consequence you happen to commit any sin, you become subject to delusion, pain and misery—become deprived of discrimination and good conduct, and gel overwhelmed by utter perplexity. Know therefore that none can have Self-realisation and liberation from all miseries unless God Himself shows mercy to him, and Maya unbars the door. Have you not heard it stated in the Chandi, " This same Goddess, the bestower of boons, when propitiated, removes the bondage of human beings. Nothing can be achieved unless the Divine Mother removes the obstacles from the path. The aspirant can never realise God unless Maya takes pity on him, and moves aside from his path. The moment She bestows Her mercy on the aspirant, he becomes blessed with the vision of God and escapes from all miseries. Otherwise, however much you may go on with your discrimination and other spiritual practices, they will be of little use. They say each grain of Ajowan (Ptychotis) helps one to digest a hundred grains of rice. But when the digestive organ goes out of order, even a hundred grains of Ajowan cannot make one assimilate a single grain of rice.

The Jnana Yogi longs to realise Brahman—God the Impersonal, the Absolute and the Unconditioned. But, as a general rule, such a soul would do better, in this present age, to love, pray, and surrender himself entirely to God. The Lord saves His devotee and will vouchsafe to him even Brahma-jnana if the devotee hungers and thirst after it. Thus the Jnana Yogi will attain Jnana as well as Bhakti. It will be given to him to realise Brahman. The Lord willing, he will also, realise the Personal God of the Bhakta. The Bhakta, on the other hand, will generally be content to see and realise the Personal God, the Saguna Brahman of the Upanishads. Yet the Lord makes him heir to His infinite glory and grants him Bhakti as well as Jnana, and the realisation of God, Personal as well as Impersonal. For if one can manage to reach Calcutta, will he not succeed in finding his way to the Maidan, the Ochterlony Monument, the Museum and other objects of interest, and know which is which ?

Q. Does a devotee ever attain the state of absolute union with God ? If so, how ?

A. It is possible for human soul to attain the condition of absolute union with God; and it is then only that one can feel and say, " He is the same as myself.' An old servant of the house in course of time, may come to be counted as one of the family, and the master of the house, being extremely pleased with his work, may one day seat him in his own seat of honour, saying to all around him that from that day forward there is no difference between him and the servant. The master may say, " He and I are one; obey his commands as you do mine. Whosoever will not do so will be punished," Though the servant may hesitate through modesty to be thus honoured, the master will by force raise him to the seat of honour. Such is the condition of those souls who realise the state of oneness with God by serving Him for a long time. He graciously endows them with all His glory and attributes, and raises them to His own seat of universal sovereignty.

The Bhakta, as a rule, does not long for Brahma-jnana (the realisation of the Impersonal); but remains content with realising the Divine Person alone—my Divine Mother, or any of Her infinite forms of glory, such as the Divine Incarnations like Sri Krishna and Chaitanya Deva, the visible revelations of God. He is anxious that the whole of his ego shall not be effaced in Samadhi. He would fain have sufficient individuality left to enjoy the vision Divine as a Person. He would fain taste sugar, instead of becoming sugar!

My Divine Mother (the personal phase of Brahman) has declared that She is the Brahman of the Vedanta. It is within Her power to give Brahma-jnana, which she does by causing the effacement of the lower self. Thus, in the first place, you may. my Mother willing, come to Brahman through right discrimination (Vichara). Again you may come through Bhakti. The essence of Bhakti consists in unceasing prayer for light and love and self-surrender to Her. First, come to my Divine Mother (the Personal God) through these. Take my word for it that, if your prayer is really heartfelt, my Mother will respond to it, if you will only wait. Pray to Her again if you want to realise Her Impersonal Self. Should she deign to grant your prayer—for She is omni potent—you will be in a position to realise Her Impersonal Self in Samadhi. This is precisely the same thing as Brahma-jnana.