Letters to Ma Dharm Jyoti

FIRST PUBLISHED IN OTI 1 SEPTEMBER 1990

Beloved Dharm Jyoti,

Love. Don't ever repress the mind.

Repression is a disease.

And that which is repressed will never be completed.

It comes back again and again to attack you.

The mind is to be understood.

Finally, only understanding the mind becomes the solution.

Repression is merely postponement of diseases.

The path is neither in indulgence nor repression.

The path is in understanding.

Hence know your own mind in all its forms.

Live consciously.

Live wakefully.

Then what is meaningless disappears on its own.

And its energy is transformed into the meaningful.

Otherwise we create a vicious circle for ourselves.

A so-called saint was sitting alone before his dhuni, his holy fire pit. Someone came by to test him, saying, "Babaji, is there any fire in the dhuni?"

The saint said, "There is none."

He said, "Please stir it, perhaps there are coals."

Raising his eyebrows the saint said angrily, "I told you there is no fire."

The man provoked him again, saying, "Babaji, surely there must be a few sparks?"

Leaning forward on his fire tongs the saint said, "What kind of idiot are you anyway?"

Then the man said, "Babaji, I see a few sparks."

The saint said, "What? Am I blind?"

The man said, "A few flames become visible now!"

Then the saint completely lost his senses - his eyes filled with sparks and his voice with flames.

Picking up his fire tongs he started chasing after that man to beat him.

Fleeing for his life the man said, "Babaji, look, now the fire has taken flame totally!"

Only a repressed fire can burst into flames.

And a repressed fire can burst into flames at any moment.

Repression is self-enmity and a self-deception.

In the middle, between indulgence and repression is the door to peace, to liberation, to strength, to truth, to samadhi.

Search for this door.

September 7, 1970

Beloved Dharm Jyoti,

Love. Sa'adi has written:

We were on a long journey. The route was rarely traveled and filled with innumerable troubles.

A Sufi dervish had also joined us - he hadn't a single coin with him, nor anything else for that matter.

We were all on camels, but he traveled on foot.

Nevertheless, his joy knew no limits and he went on saying: "I am not a load on any camel - nor is any camel a load on me. I am neither anyone's master, nor anyone's slave. I have no worries of the past, no worries of the future. The present is enough for me. My life is just moment to moment.

Fully I breathe - fully I live life."

But the most worried among us, a businessman, advised him to return. He explained the difficulties ahead. He related his experiences of journeys in the past.

And when the dervish didn't listen to him he said, "by your own choice you are going into the mouth of death with little food and the exhaustion of traveling on foot, you are certainly going to die."

But the fakir just went on Laughing - he kept on singing his song and moving ahead.

Every day the journey became more difficult.

All our faces were filled with lines of worry and despair.

The businessman had gone almost completely insane.

But the fakir went on laughing and singing:

"Fully I breathe - fully I live life."

And then each and every step of the journey became impossible.

The words of that experienced traveler began to seem right to us all.

The journey became a total nightmare.

But the fakir went on singing his songs.

The radiance of his face increased with each difficulty.

In his eyes, flowers of an unearthly joy seemed to blossom.

And one day the businessman died from these extreme hardships.

And the dervish standing near the dead body of the businessman said: "Beloved! I have not died from the hardships of foot travel - and you have died riding comfortably on a camel? Fools burn lamps during the day, and at night they wonder why they have no light!"

February 21, 1971

Beloved Dharm Jyoti,

Love. God is calling each and every moment.

But this mind of ours is busy with itself.

Unless our minds become unoccupied we will not be able to hear his voice.

Only the unoccupied mind is meditation.

As we become empty - silent - wordless, his music fills our being to the brim.

Be silent - and know.

Many candidates were invited to interview for a position as wireless operator at a telegraph office.

They stood in a long line outside the office waiting for their names to be called.

But that waiting was not silent.

Conversations were going on, and either outside or inside, all were lost in their own thoughts.

Just then, a man standing at the very back left the line and went into the telegraph office.

Perhaps no one saw him go.

People saw him only later, when he came out carrying an appointment letter in hand saying, "I have been appointed to the position advertised in the papers.

So for you there is no need to stand in line here, you can go home."

A great hubbub arose when they heard this.

They shouted slogans like: "Favoritism," "Kill him."

People started complaining, "When this man had already been selected what was the need to call all of us here?"

But a big official from the telegraph office came out and said, "Your conclusion is wrong.

This person was appointed only because he successfully completed the test.

Through a loud speaker on top of the telegraph office we broadcasted in telegraph signals: 'Whoever understands this message, immediately come inside your appointment letter is ready.' But if you were occupied with your conversations and couldn't hear the tapping, what fault is that of ours?"

Ah! One day won't God say the same to each of us? So many are his calls - but amidst all our noise, has not his call become like the tapping of that telegraph signal? Be silent - and know.

October 17, 1970

Beloved Dharm Jyoti,

Love. One night a king was dreaming. He dreamt that a king he had known was in heaven and a mystic he had known was in hell.

Naturally, the king was shocked. And in the dream itself he asked: "What is the meaning of this? Why have their places been switched?" An unknown voice responded: "The king is in heaven because he was always seeking out mystics and sitting in satsang with them. And the mystic is in hell because he didn't do anything his whole life except chase after kings."