Swamiji's Amaram Day:
I Speak That Love Which Is Knowledge

Swadarshana: …I was appreciating how much you have given us. You have given us the knowledge of how not to remain human beings, and that is the greatest gift anyone can have.

Swamiji: It is written somewhere that the one who is able to take his ego, or ahankaar, back to the Source — which is the Self — is called God. That is the definition of a human being and God Consciousness. Since we keep the point in our minds that this is the age of the spread of scientific know-how, and perhaps they have all decided that the word "God" should be eliminated, so God is to be understood. That very egolessness, wherever it is, that is God — you may not say it is God, you may call it the liberated state, or liberation.

A human being is there. As his eyes and ears are there, so his mind and ego-sense are there — then he is considered to be a human being. He cannot do otherwise: Just as if you ask someone to give you his eyes, he would not like to, for he would not like to break his eyes or make himself blind, so the ego is that rigid that if you ask someone, " Can you give me your ego?" [laughter] he just cannot give that ego, because he is a human being and he is made like that. For thousands and millions of years, this has gone on. But among human beings, some are in manifest form with the awareness that they have this tool but they are not this tool. This tool has to have an ego in the same way as it has to have eyes, so such people know, "This tool has to have an ego, but I am not that ego. So what am I? I am the egoless Being." Thus, even if you do not use the word "God," you have understood the point.

All of you understand That. That which is other than That is called the ego, the body, maybe the sky or chidaakaash, maybe mountains and all those things — but they are all in the category of "other." This means that human consciousness is totally vipreet, ultaa, "opposite," "against." You are supposed to become that which is the opposite of this against, totally opposite consciousness of a human being — opposite to opposite. That is what you become. The work that has been done has reached that.

But among many of the people, there are some who do not succeed in achieving egolessness, so they have to form a different type of group. There is the Gita verse [Chapter 4, Verse 7] Yadaa yadaa hee dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarat — "When, Arjun, there is adharm, which means egolessness is gone and egofulness has started and became rampant, then things will not be conducive for a human being to live At that time, even if there are no scriptures and no one to guide him, this incarnation will be given the charge or consciousness that under all circumstances he will have dreams, constant dreams every single day, and in his dreams he will be given this knowledge poured into him, who is a body and an ego-mind, and he will be transformed in such a way that he will know that these forms, which the I says are there, are not — other than That. This means, That alone is."

But a human being sees what he thinks is other. He, just like a dreamer, sees that forms are other. In the waking state he also sees that forms are other. But the other is not in reality. It is Oneness. It is original Space, where these world elements have not manifested … [but when a human being] is born, he forgets That and says, "It is me who is the first one." So that which is other he calls first, and for him that which is first is not anywhere. [laughter] When you are reminded of that, it is a big work. Thank you.

Bhakti Nath: …I’ve done a lot of travelling throughout India, and wherever you go, whether it be a simple or most elegant house, there is always a picture of Krishna and Arjun in the chariot on the battlefield, and this verse, Yadaa yadaa hee dharmasya written underneath it. It seems to be the most popular verse in India, and everybody reads and understands it. I can see why, because without the manifestation of the egoless being, those who want to become egoless would have absolutely no chance. So thank you so much Swamiji for giving us more than just a chance, for giving us the knowledge which brings us there.

Swamiji: The word "egoless" is used so that you can understand in light of the ego. But it is not that: it is neither the ego nor is it that which is opposite to the ego. But you can understand through the expression of opposites. So this is other. Now, that which I have just spoken about is first and foremost, sookshm ateesookshm, or subtler than the subtlest, where the mind cannot go. This means that this other cannot reach there. It has never tried to reach there by itself, because it cannot reach there — it has no ability to do so. Therefore, somebody has to push it, push it, push it, [laughter], bring it, and make it finer and finer, and then you come to know.

Now it is much easier for me and a great delight that you have worked for it and at least you have begun to understand it, and that is your realization. But because you have been working in this other field with the senses, including the mind — and they do not allow you to grasp That because they have no ability to — this has become so perpetuated that it is not only little snowflakes that have become grosser, it is the whole iceberg. [laughter] So it takes time. Bhakti Nath said the right thing that this verse has become very popular. But it does not mean that if you write Amaram Hum Madhuram Hum everywhere it will become Amaram Madhuram. How many times is the Aum symbol written —Aum is written in everything — but nobody knows what it is. [laughter] If the ability is not there that one can grasp That, then that ability has to be unfolded. …

We see a very good calendar, or a photograph on the canvas of an artist. He said that in every home there is this calendar, or Krishna's photograph, and a verse is written there, Yadaa yadaa hee dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarat. A calendar is in every home, but the picture on the calendar has not even become the paper, let alone the home. [laughter] To see it for the benefit of our ideal meaning, we have to see that the verse, the picture on the paper, the whole natural scene on the canvas, the photograph, or the painting, does not even become the canvas, let alone the life in it. …

It is such a thing that although all the material to make it is there, a temple cannot go there and sit down. [laughter] Thus, you can have all kinds of words, talks, languages, and even your body, but you don’t become that which is your aim and object. For that which is Guru Consciousness, the Highest Consciousness, the Supreme Consciousness, has to be linked properly. Such as if an iceberg is there, you can melt it, succeed, and become water. But if those ingredients are not there, and you have not come to know how the body has come out of that which is Knowingness to become this physical self, then the body will not become Knowingness — because the Krishna calendar has not even become paper. So the body is printed on that Knowingness. Knowingness is always there on the body, because paper is always there on the calendar. The photo of Krishna is always there, but without that canvas, the photo of Krishna cannot be there. In this way, without the Knower, or Knowingness, your body cannot be there. But how should that body, a photograph, now become the Knowingness? That is where the work lies. You have to work for that, that the unfoldment should take place where you begin to feel, "Oh! Knowingness is my Reality. Knowingness is Me. Knowingness is there, and this is the photograph, the ideal, Krishna, a calendar." So watch, everybody is a calendar. [laughter]…

"Hirdaya Hamaaraa Ghulataa Jaayay, Nayh Tumhaaray Shyam" ["My heart is being melted in your love, Shyam," the chorus of the last song sung] — here hirdaya [ordinarily translated as the heart] means man, the mind. Now, the mind is such that it comes up daily. There is nothing wrong with it. But then why do we feel that it should be melted in your love? How many times do we have parties, dinners, tea, coffee, and the shaking of hands, but why is it that hirdaya hamaaraa nahin ghulataa, "the heart has not been melted"? [laughter] The reason is, we divide into two. Why? We say that nayh, praym, or love, is not gyan [knowledge], ras, or essence. The moment you say essence, or science, then it is not love. So even when all this is happening, the division still remains intact. You are to come to know that gyan and praym are not two different areas.

You say, "Well, your love is such, Swamiji, that my heart is getting melted." Now, the word nayh inspires you so much that you feel, "It is really getting melted and I am getting into the Space." But what has happened? I never go there and shake hands with you. [laughter] I hardly look at you. But I speak that love which is knowledge. But the moment that you use the word "knowledge," love is gone, and the moment that you use the word "love," knowledge is gone. Now, how can it be made that knowledge and love is one and the same? It's just like sky-space and the earth — you can never think that it is one. Therefore, it appears that there is something which should be done.

Then we go beyond nayh and gyan. This sense of two — it's a very serious point — is our existence on the level of our understanding. Call it on the level of love, of seeing, or of hearing, but it is always two. Now, how has this two come about? Two could never be there if one were not there. Right? So how did one become different and two become different? If you analyze this so deeply — that two is one and one is two; that figures are not there, that state is there; that sound and words are not there, that state is there — then you reach That in your analysis, in your praym, or in your gyan. …

We began to call this duality. Duality belongs to the mind, and the mind's cause is agyan [ignorance]. Agyan's product is the mind, and the mind is the cause of agyan. See! Both are just the same. Ignorance is the root cause of the mind and the mind is the root cause of ignorance. [laughter] So it is actually never getting melted. [He quotes the song's Hindi chorus again] It feels good. But as soon as the melted ice cube gets frozen, again it's ice. That freezing should not take place — then you are forever That. In That there is neither one nor two. Because if there are two, call it duality, then it's based on one. And if you say one, it's the cause of two. [laughter] So it doesn’t work if you say Oneness or duality, it is just the same. …

One or two is where? In the Knower. Therefore, defeat and victory is where? In the Knower. The whole banyan tree with branches is where? In the seed. The seed is where? In that Space — it was never a seed. So once this seed of ignorance came, then the world came into existence. Now we are trying to figure out where there has been anything wrong. From your very childhood, you did everything right. But it appears that it needs to be melted completely. When ignorance goes away, then the sun shines. When the night goes away, then the sun comes. Enlightenment will be when ignorance and the mind transform into Light, or Pure Awareness. …

Ras is that which is always one without a second. The ocean, Shyam sindhu, Pure Consciousness, Infinite Being, is called Ras when, as a human being, one is tuned in on the level of his mind to That, which is the Source, and the mind is here. Now, the Source and the mind cannot be two things. Such as, there is the seed of a banyan tree. Year after year, the whole banyan tree is still the same seed. But now it doesn’t look to the seed that it is the same, or to the banyan tree. So it never becomes understood by a human being that we are that infinite Ras. If you do saadhana and somehow unfold the awareness, you come to know that the world is nothing but that Ras. But the Ras could not be seen, known, or realized without this world. Therefore, many, many thanks to you. …