CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI - JANUARY 1968 - PART 1

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CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI - JANUARY 1968PART 1

HISLOP: We do not perceive life with absolute clarity, and yet we are acting all

the time, and unclear action makes for a confused life. We are unhappy about

that confusion, and in an effort to remove it we accumulate ideas of Truth, God

and Reality. But those imaginings do not remove the confusion. Life is still

confused. So, the question is: what is the big factor that prevents us from

seeing the Truth of life clearly?

SAI: You say that Truth, God and Reality are imagination. Why do you think they

are imagination? They are not. Time, work, reason and experience; these four in

harmony together, that is Truth

An example: yesterday you came to Bangalore and from there to Puttaparti by car.

Travel is work. It took you four hours to come from Bangalore. That is time. You

came here to see Swami. That is the reason. Having seen Him you felt happy. This

is the result.

On the other hand, last night you dreamed you were in America and were shopping.

In this, the four factors were not involved. There was no work, there was no

time expended, and where is the result? This is untruth. That experience was

imagination, only mind work. This is the difference between truth and

imagination.

H: But truth, that is, in terms of work, time, reason and result – you look

around the world and you see those things in operation; and the world is in a

mess. So, there must be more to it than that?An example: yesterday you came to

Bangalore and from there to Puttaparti by car. Travel is work. It took you four

hours to come from Bangalore. That is time. You came here to see Swami. That is

the reason. Having seen Him you felt happy. This is the result. On the other

hand, last night you dreamed you were in America and were shopping. In this,

the four factors were not involved. There was no work, there was no time

expended, and where is the result? This is untruth. That experience was

imagination, only mind work. This is the difference between truth and

imagination.H: But truth, that is, in terms of work, time, reason and result –

you look around the world and you see those things in operation; and the world

is in a mess. So, there must be more to it than that?

A small example: while suffering from malaria, you eat a sweet but feel it has a

bitter taste. It was not that the sweet was bitter, but in your experience it

was bitter. It is not the fault of the sweet. Ignorance is also a disease like

malaria. And the cure for this disease of ignorance is Sadhana. Man has doubt

only when he does not know the Truth.

Once you experience the Truth, doubt will vanish. Truth is one and for all time

Truth is Truth. Whatever changes, know that as untruth. Once you were small and

you grew bigger. That is also untruth. Where is the body of the ten-year-old?

All has merged into the present body. First untruth; then, when we have the

experience we know the Truth. Darkness and light are not different; they are

one only.

A small example: last night you ate some fruit. In the morning it becomes stool

and you pass it out. It was fruit yesterday, but the bad and the good are the

same, only one. In one form it was fruit; in the other form it was stool.

It is the same with light and darkness. When the light comes, the darkness goes.

But really, the darkness does not go to any place and the light does not go to

any place. When one comes, the other is unknown; it does not go anywhere.

H: This mixture of light and darkness, of ignorance and wisdom which creates

unhappiness, which creates trouble – Swami says that the mixture which creates

confusion fades away with the right experience. The question is what is the

basic factor that prevents us from having that right experience?

SAI: We don’t have the intensity that is required. How much effort is needed

even to study books and come to the stage when we can read difficult books. How

many years, how many hours of toil we put into it. If you have the same

intensity in spiritual practise, you will surely know the Truth. But we are not

as intense as we should be on the spiritual path. We do not apply concentration

and one-pointedness. Full concentration is needed even in the world, in

walking, talking and reading. We cannot do anything without concentration. We

must concentrate even in small worldly tasks. But when we try to think of God,

we get restless, and the mind becomes unstable. Why do we do the things of the

world with full concentration? Why? Because we are fully interested in it. And

with God we have these doubts. We have full concentration in whatever work we

love deeply. Concentration is not full when we do work that we don’t love

deeply. A small example: you are driving a car. At the same time you are

talking to some passengers. The road becomes narrow and dangerous. You say,

“Please let us not talk now, I must give full concentration to the driving.”

Why do you say this? It is because you deeply love your life and you must

concentrate thoroughly to avoid an accident. Because you have this love for

your body, you concentrate on its safety. When you have profound love for God,

then concentration on Him will come automatically.H: But that is the point,

there is the whole point.

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