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CONVERSATIONS WITH ANNAMALAI SWAMI

THIS PRECIOUS HUMAN BIRTH

AS: Bhagavan once said, ‘To correct oneself is to correct the whole world'. When one has corrected oneself completely one finds that there is no one other than oneself to correct. One becomes quiet and peaceful within and one spontaneously radiates happiness to all beings. 

If a powerful light is shining it need not say to the darkness 'Please go away'. In the presence of such a powerful light, all darkness immediately vanishes. Similarly, the jnani spontaneously radiates a spiritual light which automatically dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance. 

Q: Why did God make this world so imperfectly? What is the purpose of a world in which everyone is continually suffering? 

Why is there darkness for the jnani to dispel?

AS: The ultimate purpose of life is to inquire about the nature of the Self and to stabilize firmly there. 

Of all births, this human birth is the most precious because in this birth we have been given the faculty of inquiry. Through this faculty, we are able to inquire about the true nature of the Self. 

This precious birth is not given to us to be wasted in sensual pleasures. It is given to us only to know our true Self. 

Saint Tayumanuvar sang in one verse: 

“I came to this world just to realize myself 

but I forgot the purpose for which I came. 

My mind became deluded 

by accumulating riches and by indulging in sensual pleasures. 

I was deluded, lost in this maya, searching for the transient pleasures of wealth and women. 

To kill this delusion 

my Guru gave me the beautiful sword of jnana.”

- Living by the Words of Bhagavan p. 281

Beyond Right and wrong

BEYOND RIGHT AND WRONG

Q: What does it mean to fail in Yoga? Who is a failure in Yoga (yoga bhrashta)? 

Maharaj: It is only a question of incompletion. He who could not complete his Yoga for some reason is called failed in Yoga. Such failure is only temporary, for there can be no defeat in Yoga. This battle is always won, for it is a battle between the true and the false. The false has no chance.

Q: Who fails? The person (vyakti) or the self (vyakta)? 

M: The question is wrongly put. There is no question of failure, neither in the short run nor in the long. 

It is like traveling a long and arduous road in an unknown country. Of all the innumerable steps there is only the last which brings you to your destination. Yet you will not consider all previous steps as failures. Each brought you nearer to your goal, even when you had to turn back to by-pass an obstacle. In reality, each step brings you to your goal, because to be always on the move, learning, discovering, unfolding, is your eternal destiny. 

Living is life's only purpose. The Self does not identify itself with success or failure -- the very idea of becoming this or that is unthinkable. The Self understands that success and failure are relative and related, that they are the very warp and weft of life. Learn from both and go beyond. If you have not learned, repeat. 

- Nisargadatta Maharaj, I AM THAT ch 29, P. 93

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"Do not be afraid. There is no thing in the universe that can possibly hurt you. Everything is all right. If you believe in a God, see that God as omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. Realize that that God is your true nature, that God is you, no one else, but not as your ego, not as your body, not as your mind, but as you. 

You are That. Understand the true meaning of the Self; unalloyed happiness, pure intelligence, ultimate oneness. You are That. You focus your mind on God, by realizing 'I am.' I am not this nor that, just I am. I have always been and I will always be. 

Do not pray for things. Spend your time identifying with your Self. Praying for things is a waste of time. You may get the things, but you'll be sorry afterwards."

~ Robert Adams (20th century American Advaita mystic)

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