In the Samvat year 1876 on the third day of the bright half of the month of Magh, Shreeji Maharaj was seated on a wooden bedstead laid on the platform under the neem tree in front of the temple of Shree Vasudev Narayan in the Durbar of Dada Khachar in Gadhada. He had put a white upper garment over His shoulder and covered His body with a white cotton shawl. He had put a white turban on his head: Tassels of yellow flowers were hanging from his turban. Bunches of white and yellow flowers were studded over His ears and garlands of yellow flowers adorned His neck. Saints and devotees from various places had gathered before Him in an assembly.
Then a Brahman who was a follower of the Vedanta philosophy arrived and took his seat in the assembly. Shreeji Maharaj addressed him and said, “Your philosophy establishes only o n e and absolute Brahm and considers all other things like soul, Ishwar, Maya, universe, Veda, scriptures, bran, Smriti, Itihas to be mithya [unreal]. But I cannot follow your philosophy and I am not prepared to believe in it also. Please explain t o me its soundness. You must base your answer on the authority of Veda. Scriptures. Puran, Smriti and Itihas. I am not going to be convinced if you rely on the authority of some imaginary volumes. I will be convinced only if you base your answer on the authority of the words of Vyas. because I have a firm faith in his words.”
The Vedanti Brahman then tried to justify his philosophy by various logical arguments. But Shreeji Maharaj raised doubts in everyone of his arguments and the poor Brahman could not satisfy Him. Then Shreeji Maharaj said, “Now listen to me. I will explain your philosophy properly. Many souls have been redeemed by worshipping God. Their state of redemption falls into two categories: savikalp and nirvikalp.
Just as the person standing on top of the Meru-mountain can see other mountains. and trees, and the floor of the earth which supports them, everything separate and distinct from one another; similarly the men of knowledge who can go into a saviklap kind of trance can perceive jeev [soul], Ishwar and Maya and which are sustained by Brahm and which are separate from one another.
And just as the person standing on the Lokalok mountain also can see other mountains and the trees and floor of earth but he sees them as one earth only, and not separately. Similarly those who can go into a nirvikalp kind of trance can perceive jeev. Ishwar, Maya and Brahm, but they see all of them as one Brahm only. They cannot see their separate existence distinctly. Whether one’s opinion is to be considered to be true or untrue depends on the kind of state he has attained, i.e. ‘savikalp’ or ‘nirvikalp’. One who has attained the “savikalp’ kind of state will say that all that is said in Veda, puran and scriptures is true. And one who has attained the ‘nirvikalp’ kind of state will say that all that is untrue. Thai is because, due to his ‘nirvikalp’ state he cannot perceive jeev, Ishwar. Maya, etc. separately. Hence he will say all of them are untrue, and unreal. But in fact they are not untrue or unreal.
There is nothing like night for a person who is riding the chariot of the sun God. But for those who have to live on the face of this earth. day and night are a reality. Similarly for a person who has attained the ‘nirvikalp’ kind of state. jeev, Ishwar, Maya, etc. do not exist at all. But for a person who has attained the ‘savikalp’ kind of state, all of them are a reality. If we try to interpret Brahm in this way, there should not arise
any contradictions in the words of the scriptures. Otherwise we will come across many contradictions. If one cannot understand these contradictions because he has not attained
that state of mind and like a fool simply tries to establish the reality of only one absolute Brahm, on the basis of the words of the scriptures. and says that preceptor, disciple, jeev. Ishwar, Maya, this world, and Veda, scriptures and Puran are all fictitious; then he is a great fool and at the end goes to hell”. With these words Shreeji Maharaj concluded His address to the Brahman and said, “This is my explanation. If still you have any doubts, please speak out.”
There upon the Vedanti Brahman said, “O Maharaj, O my master, my Lord, You are God incarnate, You have revealed Yourself on this earth for the good of the world. What you say is absolutely true and there can be no doubt about it.” With these words the Brahman expressed his rejoice. His misunderstanding was cleared and he became the follower of Shreeji Maharaj .
