M: Trust the teacher. Take my own case. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense 'I am' and to give attention to nothing else. I just obeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense ‘I am', it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears. Just turn away from all that occupies the mind; do whatever work you have to complete, but avoid new obligations; keep empty, keep available, resist not what comes uninvited. In the end you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, of inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real.

Questioner: Are we permitted to request you to tell us the manner of your realisation?
Maharaj: Somehow it was very simple and easy in my case. My Guru, before he died, told me:
Believe me, you are the Supreme Reality. Don't doubt my words, don't disbelieve me. I am telling
you the truth -- act on it. I could not forget his words and by not forgetting -- I have realised.
Q: But what were you actually doing?
M: Nothing special. I lived my life, plied my trade, looked after my family, and every free moment I
would spend just remembering my Guru and his words. He died soon after and I had only the
memory to fall back on. It was enough.
Q: It must have been the grace and power of your Guru.
M: His words were true and so they came true. True words always come true. My Guru did nothing;
his words acted because they were true. Whatever I did, came from within, un-asked and
unexpected.
Q: The Guru started a process without taking any part in it?
M: Put it as you like. Things happen as they happen -- who can tell why and how? I did nothing
deliberately. All came by itself -- the desire to let go, to be alone, to go within.

Q: You made no efforts whatsoever?M: None. Believe it or not, I was not even anxious to realise. He only told me that I am theSupreme and then died. I just could not disbelieve him. The rest happened by itself. I found myself changing -- that is all. As a matter of fact, I was astonished. But a desire arose in me to verify his words. I was so sure that he, could not possibly have told a lie, that I felt I shall either realise the full meaning of his words or die. I was feeling quite determined, but did not know what to do. I would spend hours thinking of him and his assurance, not arguing, but just remembering what he told me.

Q: What happened to you then? How did you know that you are the Supreme?
M: Nobody came to tell me. Nor was I told so inwardly. In fact, it was only in the beginning when I
was making efforts, that I was passing through some strange experiences; seeing lights, hearing
voices, meeting gods and goddesses and conversing with them. Once the Guru told me: 'You are
the Supreme Reality', I ceased having visions and trances and became very quiet and simple. I
found myself desiring and knowing less and less, until I could say in utter astonishment: 'I know
nothing, I want nothing



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M: All happens by itself. Neither the seeker. nor the Guru do anything. Things happen as they
happen; blame or praise are apportioned later, after the sense of doership appearing.

M: They help in dispelling ignorance. They are useful in the beginning, but become a hindrance in
the end. One must know when to discard them.

M: When the time comes, faith comes. Everything comes in time. The Guru is always ready to
share, but there are no takers.

Q: Why am I so engrossed?
M: Because you are interested.
Q: What makes me interested?
M: Fear of pain, desire for pleasure. Pleasant is the ending of pain and painful the end of pleasure.
They just rotate in endless succession. Investigate the vicious circle till you find yourself beyond it.
Q: Don't I need your grace to take me beyond?
M: The grace of your Inner Reality is timelessly with you. Your very asking for grace is a sign of it.
Do not worry about my grace, but do what you are told. The doing is the proof of earnestness, not
the expecting of grace.
Q: What am I to be earnest about?
M: Assiduously investigate everything that crosses your field of attention. With practice the field will
broaden and investigation deepen, until they become spontaneous and limitless.


Q: Words should serve as a bridge to cross over.
M: Word refers to a state of mind, not to reality. The river, the two banks, the bridge across -- these
are all in the mind. Words alone cannot take you beyond the mind. There must be the immense
longing for truth, or absolute faith in the Guru. Believe me, there is no goal, nor a way to reach it.
You are the way and the goal, there is nothing else to reach except yourself. All you need is to
understand and understanding is the flowering of the mind. The tree is perennial, but the flowering
and the fruit bearing come in season. The seasons change, but not the tree. You are the tree. You
have grown numberless branches and leaves in the past and you may grow them also in the future
-- yet you remain. Not what was, or shall be, must you know, but what is. Yours is the desire that
creates the universe. Know the world as your own creation and be free.