In the Samvat year 1876, on the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Paush in the morning, Shreeji Maharaj had been to the residential place of the saints in the Durbar of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put on a white upper garment over His shoulders and covered His body with a large double sheet of cotton. He had put a white headdress on His head. He was seated facing the east. Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before Him in an assembly.
Then addressing the assembly mercifully Shreeji Maharaj said; ‘Though a devotee may perform his own duties perfectly, he does not experience full contentment in his heart. Full contentment is achieved by faith in one’s own self and perfect knowledge of the greatness of God. If he lacks in these two qualities, he will not experience full contentment. Hence a devotee should try to achieve these two qualities with a, firm determination. If he lacks these two qualities, there will be a proportionate failure, in his attainment of the state of trance.
Recently I sent a female devotee into trance. In the trance she so much light around her that she began to scream, “I am burning.” Hence one who goes into trance essentially needs Atmagnan knowledge of self. He should not think this body to be his real Self. Otherwise there will remain much deficiency in him. Hence I explained to the devotee; Your real Self is your soul and not this physical body which bears the name of
Ladkibai and caste of Bhat. Your soul is indivisible and impenetrable. That is your real Self.” After this explanation I once again sent her into trance, I asked her to go to the lotus having four petals which is the seat of the Ganapati and see her real Self there. When a devotee reaches seat of Ganapati in trance he hears a divine sound and sees a brilliant smile. Then he goes to the seat of Brahma, there be hears a louder sound and sees a brighter light. Above that then be goes to the seat of Vishnu. There he hears still louder sound and sees more brighter light. Thus as he goes higher and higher from one seat to another one above the other he hears louder and louder sound, and sees brighter and brighter light. The trance the devotee sees extremely intense light and hears tremendous sound and extremely loud thunders. In this condition even a man of great patience will become timid. Arjun was a part of lord Krishna Himself. He was indeed very brave and yet he could not stand the immense universal image of the Lard and screamed, ‘ O Lord. I cannot bear the sight of this immense image of yours. Please reveal yourself to me in your original human form. Even such powerful persons lose their patience when they hear in their trance, loud thunders as if tearing the universe asunder, and see a great flood of light like an ocean transgressing its bounds. This Is why one must consider one’s real self to be distinct from this physical body.
One may go into trance in two ways. One is to control the breath by a process of Yog called Pranayam. There by one can control one’s Chitta [consciousness] also. The other way is to control the breath by controlling the Chitta This can happen when chitta is withdrawn from all sides and directed towards God. But it can be directed towards God when all sorts of desires disappear from the mind and when mind desires only one thing, to realize the Lord Himself. When mind concentrates on God it cannot be dislodged from Him by any outside force.
Suppose water is drawn from a well by twenty big leather buckets, As long as the streams flawing from these buckets run in different directions, there will be very little force in these streams. But if all the twenty streams flow together through a common channel. the resulting flow will become a powerful current like that of a river which cannot be diverted by any force. In the same way when one’s mind becomes free from all worldly desires and concentrates only on God his mind becomes steady. But if one’s bind is full of desires for worldly happiness, his mind will be diverted into countless varieties of sounds through the organ of healing, into countless kinds of touches through the organ of touch, into countless sorts of forms through the organ of sight, into countless kinds of tastes through the organ of taste, and into countless varieties of
smells through the organ of smell and into innumerable different objects of physical enjoyment through the cognitive organs. Thus his mind will be divided into thousands of
directions through the ten senses.
When a devotee meditates on the Lord, and his mind thinks only about the Lord. develops firm faith in God with the help of his intelligence. and his ego takes pride in thinking that he is the soul and a devotee of God, only then he can be said to have a single desire only for God. When mind is controlled by controlling the breath, one has to do so with the help of the eight fold processes of Yog. The eight fold processes are: ‘yam’, ‘niyam’, ‘asan’, ‘pranayam’, ‘pratyahar, ‘dhyan’, ‘dharana’, and ‘Samadhi’. This sort of Yog is a means to achieve nirvikalp Samadhi (an absolute state of trance) concentrating on God. When such an absolute state of trance is achieved, inning is controlled by controlling the breath, But when conscience becomes free f m all desires and concentrates on God, then breath is controlled by such control over the mind. Thus mind can be controlled by concentrating it on God just as it is controlled by eight fold process of Yog. For a devotee whose mind is concentrated on God. the eight fold Yog is mastered without practicing it. He has not to practice Yog to control his mind.
Therefore you must secure two things which I told you just now: faith in one’s Self and knowledge of the greatness of God. You must strictly follow the path of duties because it is ordained by God Himself. It is the duty of a Brahman to bathe and wash and remain holy. He will not drink even water of the lower caste. In the same manner a Satsangi should not falter in obeying the commands of God. God is pleased with the person who obeys His commands. One must be determined to acquire the knowledge of the greatness of God and must have faith in one’s, own self and must keep detached from, the world. He must think that he has attained everything. He must think that he has achieved full contentment. With this understanding he must worship God constantly. But he should never feel proud for his achievements and should never feel dissatisfied. If one feels dissatisfied it would mean that seed mercifully sown by God did not sprout because of the bareness of the land. And if one feels proud we must think that the seed was thrown into fire and was burnt. So one who understands what I said today will become perfect in every way.” With these words Shreeji Maharaj went to His own residence.
