Swamiji's 92nd Amaram Day

Our Shyam Is—
And Has Brought Us The Knowledge of
—Amaram Madhuram

This you have to know. That little girl is only two or three years old, while we have learned, become grown up, and now each of us thinks of himself as name and form and with age, time, place and family. With eyes, you began to see the world with name and form, yet, when the eyes are closed, the world is not there. We are not able to account for this, or examine why it is that with eyes open such a big world is seen, yet when the same eyes are closed, in a split second the world is reduced to nothing, including your body, as well.

But then there are the eyes of memory. The eyes are closed, but how do you remain knowing the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower or California bridge, your city or the whole atlas? Intelligent persons have no chance to use their intelligence and inquire why the world is not seen, and then the world is seen; why your age is not remembered, and then your age is remembered. Today, Jugal Kishore’s [Swamiji’s brother] son came and gave me a photograph from when I was a student in the sixth or seventh class. I saw that, and I saw this, for in front of me there was a mirror. How is it that the mirror was the same, and in the mirror there was me and the photo?…

Earlier, I was looking at the photographers and their cameras. A photo is not one years old, two years old, or ninety-two years old. A split second passes, and then a photo is there. That photo does not change. Once it is there, it is the same. On this day, we can talk to you that your eyes change, but the mirror reflecting any form does not change. Forms come and go and change, but the mirror never changes. That which never changes is not going to become old and die. It is not even born. Anything that is born will change, but that which is never born will never change. We, as human beings, have no time to examine what it is that when a child was not there, no words, speech, eyes, senses of perception, senses of action, mind or intellect were there. All that happened after one took birth. When all of you became great and big, long and short, and knowledgeable with different types of intellect, how did the differences take place? And where is there no difference?

We have talked about this for many years. But whatever has happened, all of you have come to know that with these eyes, which are the eyes in the head, faces and the world are seen. With the eyes closed, faces and the world are not seen, and the memory of them slowly and slowly fades away. Yet, that which is the truth, which we call Supreme Realty, remains. Why? It does not change. It remains unchanging. Among you who are listening, there are persons who have changed and who will change. But what is in you that never changes? Somebody should tell you. Why is it that a one-year-old child, a three-year-old child, and a seventy-year-old child or person know the sameness, and know multiplicity and varieties? If all of you do not know and examine these questions, then you will remain whatever you have learned. And you have learned that you are born, you are changing, and that you will not be there. Still, a person has the sense that he is unchanging. He does not want to change. How do you know this, and who knows it? That is you Inner Being, the mirror in which knowledge exists. All the reflections appear in the mirror, they come and go and change. But the Inner Being remains forever. I call it Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum.

All of you have come to know that you are observing the day of birth of a person who is ninety-two years old. But the voice that is coming in him is the same as that of the one-day-old child, who spoke or cried yet nobody knew from where that voice was coming. This tradition of not knowing has been made in the world. The tradition of knowing cannot be made. Yet all of you have succeeded in making for yourself, not a tradition, but the very truth—that Supreme Reality, Pure Awareness or Eternal Existence, which does not take birth, thus which does not change and does not end.

Two things are always going on. A child who is not born was unborn, but now he is born. How can there be two things? His mother never sees or knows that this child was unborn and at the same time she knows he is born. The sense of duality is obvious in manifestation. So if your eyes remain aware of manifestation, you will have the awareness of change, birth and death. But when you close the eyes, there will be no impact of the eyes. Then, what remains?

We begin today with closed eyes, just to establish in each one that that which is unborn is very obvious, but not manifest. It is formless, soundless, colourless. Its representative, each person, comes to know that that is, and that is not. Thus, for a few minutes, you can know that you never change, you are the same, you are not born, but your body is born—and this duality becomes a cover on the Unborn. It covers and hides in such a way that all human beings are seeking that someday, somewhere, someone should say that you have two persons: one is unborn and one is born. What is born will end. The Unborn never does.

You will not be confused after opening the eyes, because I have spoken to you and these words have gone to your Inner Being. That Inner Being takes the sound and figure of everyone and records them. And when the figures and sounds are gone, it remains ever the same. Call it information, call it a message, call it repetition, call it a mantra—Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum—with the meaning that Immortality never takes birth and never becomes mortal. Only someone has to be there who should point out that that is you, as against what your mother has made you, as a form with name, and religion has made you, with so many different colours.

You now know what Amaram is, who is talking about Amaram Madhuram, and who listens to Amaram Madhuram. It is one Being. The moment you say duality or oneness, difference will arise. This differentiation is eternal and also exists for a hundred years as a human being. After that, no person remains who knows eternal or non-eternal—both are cancelled. If you have succeeded in knowing, you will thank your stars that you are born for the purpose of getting knowledge, and that in this incarnation you are lucky enough to get it. You will be using the senses throughout your further life, but you will remain Pure Free Forever. Pure Free Forever has no impact of bondage or of a knot of any kind. It is one Being. There is no example that can be quoted for that one Being, who is all-permeating. You hear this, and you cannot get it. So practise. Practise. You have done it. And when I and you, too, together open the eyes, assume that Being exists forever.

There is the Being in you, who is always the Knower. And there is a knower in you who is always forgetful. As soon as a child is born, his knower immediately slips into the state of forgetfulness. Yet the hidden Knower, who also knows this knower, remains obvious. In satsang, Sat Guru informs you that that is one Self, who has never become anybody more than only one sun. There are millions of cities, but the sun is one. It is possible. There are millions and millions of people millions and millions of times, but One is always One, One never even becomes two. Even if it spreads like a light, it remains Oneness. How fortunate we all are that we are filled with the attraction and love of that Oneness. We came today and joined beyond happiness, beyond unhappiness. A thousand percent joy is indescribable. That is why I close the mouth. … [Meditation]

Our meditation tradition has been established of not seeing the world—and soon, of opening the eyes and seeing the world. We cannot call it a bad world, and we cannot call it no world. Yet words are not there when you were not born, I was not born and millions of people were not born. That is soundless.

Now, only those people, who will still be caring, will slowly and slowly be increasing that worry. Those who come to know never interfere in the maker’s show—how did he make it, when did he make it, whom did he make, from where did he make them, and what is that which is made. They will always be free from any kind of deception, which is always rampant in time and space and places, for everyone, sentient and insentient.…

I will never interfere in any way. Because we are made such. You are meditating, and there is no interference. You will open the eyes, nobody can interfere, because you are that Being which weapons can never reach, fire can never reach, water can never reach, air can never reach. So when we open the eyes, we begin to sing, Mangal Sat Guru Roop Nam Hayn (The Eternal Guru has the Name and Form of Indivisible Bliss) … [Song]

Millions of years have passed, millions and billions and billions of people have come on earth and have gone, but that which is Mangal (indivisible Bliss), Sat-Chit-Anand (Existence-Consciousness-Indivisible Bliss), remains. There is a great silence on its description and the subtlest possible observation of it. That Observer is ever present—it is not millions of years, not the number of millions of people. It is Beyond. It is Transcendental Being. And all of you are that. See the tragedy of humanity. They do not say “That.” They always open the eyes and say “this.” This is like lightning that shines in a cloud and does not last for many minutes. Human life is like that.

Therefore, all of you are worth hundreds of thanks, you deserve thousands of thanks, that you are doing that work, you have done that work, and you have reached That. It is your own freedom to keep it, to pass it on, or to leave it. I said that seven songs will be sung today, and the first song will be announced now, so feel free and start chitchatting with each other. … [Applause, then the first song.]

I was hearing [the song Shyam Hamaray Amaram Walay, Shyam Hamaray Madhuram Walay, Our Shyam is, and brought us the Knowledge of, Immortality and Bliss]. But I was thinking what a nice thing it would be that I should be Shyam, who is owned by everyone! [Laughter and applause]. Many persons are seen in the market. They are selling gold, silver, iron, wood pieces, cloth, milk and radishes, and they all say that whatever things they have, those things belong to them. So Shyam Hamaray Amaram Walay. I was thinking why should I not be that person who always has Amaram in his pocket, in his heart, in his eyes, in his ears, in his stomach, in his action, in his talking, and Amaram Madhuram in all the persons who are sitting over here? [Applause]…

A river flows and creates sound. The river was not seen before, but it appears from its source, creates sound and action, and continuously keeps running towards the ocean. A human being too has appeared from the source, is creating sound and action, and is flowing. He appears as good as a river, which is birthless, along with which so many things flow and go away. But when the same river reaches the ocean, where has its sound gone? Where has its name gone? Where has its form gone? Where has the name of the source of the river gone? At that time, nothing is visible.

The same happens in your meditation. When everything is happening outside, the moment you close your eyes and you are in the ocean of Shyam, you become Shyam Amaram Walay, Shyam Madhuram Walay. In that ocean, there is no birth, no change, no death, and no visibility of the figures, forms, things and ideas of the mind. Even though it is difficult, all of you have reached there, so it is possible for me to get along with your song Shyam Hamaray Amaram Walay.…

[More songs. Swamiji comments on each. Then the song Adbhut Hayn Gurudev Hamaray, Our Guru is Indescribable, is sung, during which Swamiji plays the chameetas, a percussion instrument.]

I will give you one shortest formula, you can call it a trick, technique or know-how. That which is called adbhut was defined as indescribable, and hearing that you became quiet. If you expect me to reveal the secret and not to continue, then continue to say it is indescribable. But for how long will you say this? Everybody is anxious to know why it should be indescribable.

When a human child is born, the mother sees him or her, feels strange, wonders from where the boy or girl came, and does not know. I want to reveal to you that when a person becomes older, he has the ability to close the eyes. After closing the eyes, nothing is indescribable. And after opening the eyes, nothing is describable. It takes one minute, or one second: close your eyes, and all your doubts are gone. You are neither a great devotee, a short devotee or a big devotee; not a big person, a big mother or a small one; not pravitti or nivritti (a householder or not a householder); not a Gyan yogi (yogi of Knowledge), a Brahm yogi (yogi of the Self), or a bhranti yogi (yogi of delusion)—you are not any kind of Yog. It has been possible now, in such a short period, for you to remove all that uniqueness which is making everybody think, “What is that uniqueness?”

Today, I will be quiet and much shorter than what I have said. Close your eyes: all the instruments and instrument players have gone. And now, open your eyes: all the things and forms, from earth to sky, have appeared. Why is this unique? Your true nature, your supreme reality, is forever the same. To keep remembering this is dependence on one sentence. Air flows, and all of you forget no flow of the air. So when a child is born, he forgets no flow and begins to flow as a river, as a person, and he remains flowing—unless Guru comes and tells him, “Look, you have the power. I am giving you that technique of power.”

Power does not mean gas, water or air. Power. Power is Shree Bhagwan (God as the Whole). So immediately, whenever you close the eyes, you are Bhagwan and Bhagavati (Absolute Self and manifest Self as one) Open the eyes and you are Abhaya and Co. [those who sang the song]. I am sure all of you must have come to know how to sing Adbhut Hayn Gurudev Hamaray. Why? Nobody on earth can tell you such a short secret, in a short period, in short understanding, so that through it all your smallness is completely removed—because you are Unborn. Knowing this, there is no need to question, “Should I have faith? Should I have confidence? Should I have doubt? Should I be doubtless?” Now it is almost one o’clock, and you are supposed to sing the Gita verses. … [The seven Gita verses are sung, Bhagavad Gita 2:17-25]

In the history of humanity, nowhere in any country, in any world, will you ever find a highest being like Krishna, who revealed this adbhut secret only to Arjun. He laid it down in that tradition. We are also born, and we are not other than Krishna himself and Arjun. So to those who have forgotten, I am telling you that death does not exist. Death is nowhere.…

If you look at a person who has eyes, you will be delighted—just by that. Immediately, a thought will come, “What nice eyes he has!” Automatically. All over the world, no one’s eyes have become bad. Maybe you can criticize their faces and features, but not their eyes. [Laughter] So thank you very much, everyone. God bless you. Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum. It has been a wonderful time. It is one o’clock. We had decided we would remain in the procession of singing up to one o’clock. After that, we take good leave and we will see you tomorrow. I am hopeful we will meet next year also, because you have seen that I am not yet that old! [Applause and the singing of Jai Jai Guruji Jai Jai] People have heard the word “attraction.” If anybody has to experience it, it is found just here, in satsang.