sai_pranam

Q: We do not perceive life with absolute clarity, and yet we are acting all the time, and unclear action makes for a confused life. We are unhappy about that confusion, and in an effort to remove it we accumulate ideas of Truth, God, Reality. But those imaginings do not remove the confusion. Life is still confused.
So, the question is, what is the big factor that prevents us from seeing the truth of life clearly?

Baba:
You say that Truth, God, Reality are imagination. Why do you think they are imagination? They are not. Time, work, reason and experience; these four in harmony together, that is truth. When the four are found to be not in harmony, then you feel it is untruth.

An example: Yesterday you came to Bangalore and from there to Puttaparthi by car. Travel is work. It took you four hours to come from Bangalore. That is time. You came to see Swami. That is the reason. Having seen Him, you got happiness. This is the result.

On the other hand, last night you dreamed that you were in America and were shopping. In this, the four factors were not involved. There was no work, there was no time expended, and where is the result? This is untruth. That experience was imagination, only mind work. This is the difference between truth and imagination.

Q: What is the truth we have to understand in our life , Swami?

ANSWER: Life is temporary; youth and wealth are temporary; kith and kin too are temporary; it is only truth and reputation that are eternal. Hold on to truth at all times. It is by dint of truth alone that you can acquire reputation. So, you must adhere to truth throughout your life and protect it as well.

Q: But truth, that is, in terms of work, time, reason and result, you look around the world and you see those things in operation; and the world is in a mass. So, there must be more to it than that?

Baba:
When you don't have absolute faith in the result, then doubt arises. An example: Now it is daylight and the objects in the room are seen clearly, and there is no doubt in regard to them. At night when it is fully dark and you have to grope around and do not see any of the objects, there is no doubt about that situation. But at dusk, when it is half light and half dark, doubt can arise and you may see a rope and imagine it to be a snake and have fear. Light is not full and vision is not clear. Full light is wisdom, and full dark is ignorance.

Doubt arises when there is half dark and half-light. The half-light is wisdom, when there is half-and-half, there is doubt. Now you are in the middle stage where you have this little bit of wisdom and also some ignorance, where ignorance and wisdom are mixed. You are not fully experienced. When you have proper experience, the doubt will vanish. Because you are not experienced you are having this doubt.

A small example: While suffering from malaria, you have eaten a sweet but feel it has a bitter taste. It was not that the sweet was bitter, but in experience it was bitter. It is not the fault of the sweet. Ignorance is also a disease like malaria. And the cure for this disease of ignorance is sadhana [spiritual practice].

Man has doubt only while he does not know the truth. Once you experience the truth, doubt will vanish. Truth is one, and for all time truth is truth. Whatever changes, know that as untruth. Once you were small and you grew bigger. That is also untruth. Where is the body of the ten-year old? All has merged into the present body. First untruth; then, when we have the experience we know the truth. Dark and light are not different; they are one only. A small example: Last night you ate fruit. In the morning it becomes stool and you pass it out. It was fruit yesterday, but the bad and the good are the same, only one. In one form, it was fruit, in the other form it was stool.