The World is a Mirror

Hislop: Swami mentions Vedanta [one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy]. What is the correct use of that word?

Sai: Vedanta is metaphysical enquiry of the divine, the world and the valid experience of each. Metaphysics begins where physics ends. Vedanta proves by experience that which has been formulated. Philosophy is the fruit that has all the parts, whereas Vedanta is the sweet juice. Philosophy takes you to the edge of truth, gives you a vision of truth. Vedanta takes you into the heart of truth. Philosophy is a way of intellectual enquiry.

Hislop: Swami speaks of the divine, the world, and the indi­vidual. What is the relationship of Swami to the individual?

Sai: Swami is the activator of the individual. He is the ‘I,’ the Self in you and in everyone else. Sun is reflected in the water and the water becomes warm. Yet, warmth is not in water’s nature.

Hislop: What is the difference between God and the world?

Sai: Only in words, in the mind, is there a difference. When one is fully devoted to God, desiring Him only, the verbal and conceptual differentiation will cease, and the world also will be seen as God. The sequence should be experienced and seen as God, life, world. But most people see the world, life—and God is far distant.

A Visitor: Why is creation? What is the reason for it?

Sai: First ask, ‘Why food?’ No reason. ‘Why marriage?’ No reason. Then children. ‘Why children?’ No reason. It is your wish. Creation is God’s wish, His sankalpa [inner thought, resolution]. There is a seed of a tree. It sprouts and there are many twigs and branches—and more and more. Thousands of leaves grow, and hundreds of fruits. There is diversity. All from a single seed.

Visitor: But what is behind creation? What is the reason?

Sai: First ask, ‘Who are you?’

Visitor: I am a nobody.

Sai: No. No. Who are you? First find that and then you will find the answer to your question.

Visitor: Is there life on other planets?

Sai: Creation is endless.

Hislop: Is it that man creates his world by projecting concepts? For example: ‘table’ is not real. It is the wood that forms the table that is real, yet we accept the concept ‘table’ as being real, and we act according to that concept.

Sai: The table is wood, and ‘table’ is a projection of the human mind, and ‘table’ is only temporary. But the image in the mind is in the nature of an archetype. Likewise, castles in clouds are passing phenomena, but God is their base; just as waves, spray, bubbles arising from the ocean fall away and disappear, but the ocean does not disappear.

Hislop: Swami once said that the world emerges outward from man, just as human beings emerge outward from the body of the mother. Does this mean the entire world of which we are aware, everything?

Sai: There is one exception. There is one thing that comes into man from the outside. That thing is the ego, which is formed by attachment to outside objects. With desire for the world cut, ego automatically vanishes. Impressions that are taken into man from outside, if taken as reality, are harmful. Because man looks at something outside and then creates, he thinks he is reproducing the outside. Whereas, in fact, the outside thing seen merely recalls to memory that which is already within. When the eyes are open, one sees creation. All beings are created by the help of the eyes. The source of all that you see is the eyes. All so seen is impermanent. The three letters in ‘eye’ represent the three gunas [qualities]. But with ‘I,’ the Self, one can see something quite beyond the transient.

Hislop: Would Swami please explain his statement that the world is a mirror?

Sai: The world is a mirror and life is the reflection of God. If the mirror is pure, only God is seen. The opposites, good and bad, are no longer seen at all. There is only God. If the world is not seen, then there is neither mirror nor any reflection. We have the idea of the world only because of the mirror effect. The mirror (world) exists only as long as our desires exist. ‘World’ means the inside sense world. We apprehend the world through the senses. These senses are seen outside. It is only because of the illusion of the senses that there appears to be a body. A corpse is burned when the wood is set afire. The inner senses correspond to the wood. When they are burned through enquiry and sadhana [spiritual effort], the body automatically disappears. Both enquiry and practice are necessary.

Hislop: But, Swami, our experience is that objects exist inde­pendent of our consciousness of them.

Sai: For us the world exists only if we are there to see it. If we are blind, we do not see it. If we are in a faint, it does not exist for us. For us, the world is as we see it. It takes shape for us according to our viewpoint. If our viewpoint is that all is God, then everything we see is God. Suppose we take a picture with a camera. Do the trees enter the lens and impress them­selves on the film, or does the camera reach out and grasp the trees?

Hislop: The trees impress themselves on the camera.

Sai: Wrong! I take a picture of a person who does not want his picture taken. Will the refusal prevent the picture? Or, put it the other way. The person wants his picture taken. Will that result in the picture? The heart is like a film that can capture the image of Swami. If the film is latent and clean, it can capture Swami even if he does not want. But if the camera is without such a film, if the heart is impure and clouded, then Swami’s image cannot be there even if he wants. The body is the camera, the mind is the lens, the intelligence is the switch, and love is the film.

Hislop: But Swami’s image in the heart is His form. Krishna says, ‘The devotee need picture the Paramatma as unpicturable, that is enough.’ What does that mean, and how does it apply to the image of Swami in the heart?

Sai: The image need not be that of Swami. It may be love, which is Swami. First, God is realized in form. Then He is seen everywhere in that form. Then God may be realized without form since all form is impermanent. A child, learning, sees an elephant statue. On the statue, ‘elephant’ is written in words. The child cannot read the words, but he learns about ‘elephant’ from its name as he hears it. Once he has learned to read, then just the word remains and from that he understands ‘elephant.’ The statue, the form, is impermanent, but the word remains as long as the language endures. The word ‘elephant’ represents elephant in its formless state. Likewise, once the devotee learns the language of divinity, then God need not be pictured; the word is enough. But one learns about God through form and name.

Hislop: We see here the form of God as Swami. How are we to understand that form? Does God appear only as that one form? If the question is improper, may Swami please disregard it.

Sai: The question is all right. Wires in the room are every­where, but only one bulb is connected into the wires. Only the one light is seen in full power. The same current is in all the wires. The Avatar [incarnation] is one only, and this one body is taken by the Avatar. Of course, a brilliant light spreads outward into rays, but the rays are not different from the light.

Hislop: Swami, please go a little deeper into ‘form’ and ‘form­less.’

Sai: The body is not the truth we attribute to it. An example: For 30 years a man worships the mother who gave him birth. He massages her feet, prostrates before her, gazes into her eyes with love, listens to her voice, is warmed, and made happy by her affectionate and loving regard. At age 60, the mother dies. At once the son cries out, ‘Mother, Mother, why have you left me?’ To whom did the man cry out? The body he worshipped was there, the feet he massaged daily were there, but he cried out that his mother was not there, that she had left him. We have to conclude that even though the man had for the past 30 years regarded the body and mother as one and the same, yet when mother died, he instantly knew that mother was not body and that mother had departed even though body remained. So, of what value was the body that never was mother even though for a time it had been regarded as mother? Contemplating this mystery, it is apparent that had it not been for the body, mother could not have been known. It was only through the medium of the body that the man had been able to experience and thus know the tender, loving, sublime quality of mother that resulted in love rising up in his heart. The formless, timeless quality of ‘mother’ could be known and attained only through the impermanent form.

Hislop: Swami! This is wonderful! This explains the real signifi­cance of form!

Sai: The same is true of the formless, transcendent divine. Without form, it is non-existent for us. We become cognizant of the divine through the medium of form.

Hislop: Sai has told us the secret of form and formless! How is transition made from worship of God in form to worship of the formless divine?

Sai: Transition is made by full adoration of God in form, then seeing that beloved form in everyone, then God is in every place and loving others comes naturally and easily.

Hislop: When Swami is present, His form is easily seen and may be worshipped, but when Swami’s physical person is absent, should one form a mental image of Him so that one may continue to see His form?

Sai: Yes. One should have a mental image of a form of God, fully developed, the mind poured into that form. When the image of God is seen outside, it is qualified dualism. When seen in the mind it is qualified monism. When the form is absorbed into the atma [soul], that is Advaita, non-dualism. The two preliminary steps are not separate stages; they are contained in Advaita, as buttermilk and butter are contained in milk. The image of God seen outside should be taken into the mind and then into the soul.

Hislop: What is the best way to form the mental image of God?

Sai: If you wish, the form you see can be taken as an image. Or a photograph can be taken.

Hislop: If a photo of Swami, or the directly perceived image of Swami is taken as the mental image, no doubt the concentration should not waver from the chosen image?

Sai: The mind should be steady on the one chosen image of God. When an image is made of silver, the eyes, hair, mouth, skin—all are silver.

Hislop: Please say that again?

Sai: The mind is poured into the mold of the image so that the mind is the image of God.

Hislop: I see. That is most enlightening! But Swami, we feel happier when in Swami’s physical presence and not so happy when Swami is away.

Sai: You are identified with your physical form and so you look to the form of another. When you are less attached to physical form, your happiness will be even more.

Source: Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba