[continued from previous message]   
      
   So I said, "First, I have read that true mystics used to remain absorbed in   
   samadhi. They found it very difficult to maintain physical parallelism. You   
   are the first person who gives samadhi and yet is never affected by it.   
      
   "Second, I found that other philosophers and mystics repeat the same ideas   
   many times. Yet, You never repeat the same idea twice. Even when we request   
   you to repeat something, the repetition always has added fragrance, so it is   
   very difficult to take the    
   latter and leave the former.   
      
   "Third, on numerous occasions You have stopped delivering a speech before it   
   was completed because the audience could make neither head nor tail of it. In   
   short, your knowledge has no end.   
      
   "For example, when You go to the south of India You select very abstract   
   topics."   
      
   He said, "Not the whole south, only Madras."   
      
   I continued, "Baba, when you deliver lectures in front of intellectuals, You   
   first start in a tough language with a tough subject. Later, when the   
   listening intellectuals surrender, You tell it in an easy, understandable way.   
   At the end You stress the    
   importance of devotional sadhana." Except a few, all His lectures followed   
   this pattern.   
      
   In the first week of January 1968, in Jaipur, Baba started explaining the   
   origin of the swastika and its meaning.   
      
   At least a dozen PhD's and heads of departments of different universities were   
   present. The subject was very abstract. After a short time, Baba stopped   
   abruptly. Later, when I asked why, He said, "Nobody was following."   
      
   I still remember the main points of this lecture. Baba explained that the   
   first tantrics (spiritual scientists) observed the horizon and drew a   
   horizontal line to represent the Supreme Cognitive Principle (Shiva). Then he   
   gave a vertical line crossing it    
   to represent the causal matrix or Supreme Operative Principle (Shakti). The   
   cross later entered the Bramhi Khraosti scripts as the symbol for the sound   
   "ka". The English letter "k", and "ka" in Hindi and Sanskrit also have similar   
   structures like a cross.   
    When clockwise handles are added to the cross, the swastika of India is   
   formed. It symbolizes the preservation of Creation. The arms represent the   
   anti-clockwise movement of kundalinii. In temples of Shiva, the parikrama or   
   movement around the sanctum    
   is done anti-clockwise to symbolize this, while in other Hindu temples, it is   
   done clockwise.   
      
   I remember the subject was very abstract. Until 1979 He delivered most of His   
   discourses in Hindi and English. Some of these were not preserved because of   
   the shortcomings of His disciples. Only a portion of His long life, the twelve   
   years from His    
   release from prison in 1978 to 1990, was meticulously recorded. This is only a   
   portion of the total years He spent touring and teaching in different parts of   
   India and overseas.   
      
   Coming to Terms with Supernatural Phenomena   
   I used to wonder why Baba did not personally give microvita sadhana to   
   everyone. In my opinion He often selected people for this sadhana who worked   
   very hard and had less time for their spiritual practices. For some, too, who   
   had more fear than love for    
   the Cosmic Consciousness, microvita sadhana was one of the special means by   
   which Baba aroused this love in them.   
      
   This caused me to think deeply over the connection between internal spiritual   
   dynamism, i.e. always thinking of Parama Purus'a, and external dynamism, i.e.   
   remaining extremely active in service work.   
      
   Finally I met a sannyasii who had both internal longing and a desire to work   
   hard for Baba. He was torn between the two. Once, when he was alone with Baba,   
   He demonstrated many spiritual experiences.   
      
   First He asked the Dada to sit in siddhasana and do dhyana. A sweet smell   
   began to pervade the room that filled Dada's mind with bliss. Soon Baba   
   interrupted, saying, "Don't get lost in this, there are still higher   
   realizations." Next Dada began to see a    
   divine light. His mind again experienced waves of bliss, but Baba repeated His   
   warning. Then he heard the beautiful sound of crickets. This was the subtle   
   anahata nada vibration, which starts with this sound and progresses through   
   various stages. The    
   second sound is like the rippling of a mountain stream; the third like the   
   call of a celestial flute; the fourth like the roiling of tropical thunder;   
   and the fifth like the roar of ocean surf. Of course, these descriptions are   
   very inadequate    
   approximations of the actual sounds which can only be experienced in deep   
   meditation.   
      
   Dada later told me that when he heard the last sound he felt like entering   
   into an unbreakable embrace with the Cosmic Consciousness. In this way Baba   
   united sound with love.   
      
   Sound is the first, most subtle tanmatra (sensory inference); and love is   
   beyond all tanmatras. If a special dish is prepared with wonderful spices but   
   without salt, it will not taste delicious. Love, like salt, is the essential   
   ingredient which    
   transforms the bondage of Cosmic devotion into liberation. If a drop of water   
   falls into the ocean, it does not worry about losing its identity; rather it   
   becomes the ocean by expanding its limited awareness to infinite awareness.   
      
   Baba was omniscient. He could transport a person's mind to both the future and   
   the past. He performed these kinds of demonstrations until 1971. I had the   
   unique opportunity of joining Ananda Marga in 1964, and until 1971 I   
   personally witnessed dozens of    
   demonstrations. I was most interested in the psycho-spiritual and spiritual   
   aspects of the anubhuti (direct spiritual experience).   
      
   Baba used to read the past of different people through Acarya Dasarath. Once   
   He took this devotee's mind back more than 15,000 years. Baba explained that   
   all the tanmatric vibrations of the past are eternally present. An A-grade   
   sadhaka (spiritual    
   aspirant) can reassemble and experience these vibrations, but it is extremely   
   difficult. Only Lord Shiva and Lord Krs'n'a were able to give this capacity to   
   others, which is beyond even the occult powers. On one occasion in Ranchi in   
   July 1968, Baba    
   explained that many centuries ago Tulsi Das sang the Ramayana while composing   
   it. He then touched His stick to the ajina cakra (centre of the forehead) of a   
   nearby sadhaka and asked him to concentrate. The sadhaka could hear the voice   
   of Tulsi Das    
   singing.   
      
   The five stages of onm'kara (the uncaused or "seed" sound of the cosmological   
   system) were all made audible to various sadhakas in 1968. Baba permanently   
   gave this siddhi (occult power)[9] to Jaidhari, an illiterate man who used to   
   look after Baba's    
   garden (he is still alive as I write this).   
      
   Recently Jaidhari told me that when he listens to instrumental music, a   
   sympathetic vibration starts in him and it is very difficult for him to   
   maintain psycho-physical parallelism. He becomes lost in a trance.   
      
   Not once in His life did Baba make a public exhibition of His siddhis. Great   
   gurus never exhibit these powers because they can be misleading to spiritual   
   aspirants. However in Ranchi during the Sadhana Year of 1969, He demonstrated   
   siddhis to a small    
   group of His disciples. He did this to illustrate the nature of knowledge and   
   how the boundaries of knowledge can be expanded through the use of siddhis.   
   Great gurus help their disciples through spiritual experiences in order to   
   elevate them and to goad    
   them along the path of spirituality. The wise do not consider this to be a   
   mere exhibition of powers, but rather as a fillip to help others move ahead.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)