Quest:— Well, whenever man accomplishes some scientific invention, he starts enjoying its advantages from that very moment, for example, radio, telegraph, electric lamp; we don’t have any difficulty in understanding the benefits of these. But man is yet to understand Dharma properly, let alone the observance of that in life. Despite the advent of so many great men, man is still groping in the same darkness; death, decrepitude, sorrow, disease have remained as they were, haven’t they?
Beloved the Lord:— Dharma means that by observing which man can live and can grow; and that is so tangible that if I take arsenic or prussic acid, I shall die instantly; if I venture near a snake without proper tactics, I have to pay the price straightaway; getting into deep water without learning how to swim may prove too costly. So dhārmik or the performer of dharma is the one who abides by and advocates the principles of living.
Quest:— But man can hardly observe all the disciplines of dharma, can he?
Beloved the Lord:— Even he can’t follow all, he can follow a few, rather he invariably follows at least those, with the help of which he can live, adequately, otherwise how has he remained alive?
Quest:— But what about Nobel laureate Dr. Alexis Carrel’s saying that man shall not be able to achieve his dharma properly until he be able to comprehend in an efficient manner the interrelation of the science of the material world, physiology, psychology and spirituality, and unless he can control all spiritual factors not merely with the mind but with the material science too!
Beloved the Lord:— Quite right! And if we proceed on the path of love and culture, then one day this will surely happen.
Quest:— But what is Christ’s kingdom of heaven we hear about? Where is that? Where has His Father dwelt in? In which world is that heaven? Will it ever come true within the real world of all people?
Beloved the Lord:— He discovered the kingdom of heaven within His own self, and so has He given its whereabouts; and this kingdom of heaven exists in everyone, the only thing what is needed is to open it by moving in that direction.
Quest:— But if it is inside, not outside, then isn’t it a hoax?
Beloved the Lord:— If the kingdom of sorrow and grief is hoax, then that one too is so, and if the kingdom of sorrow and grief is real, then that too is real.
Quest:— Should we, then, sit out only with this truth? Will this kingdom of heaven remain a nice dream forever? Won’t it come up within the reach of everyone— in education, society, health, industry and life ever?
Beloved the Lord:— Sure, it will! As our physical change takes place, so we see the change in the physical world. When I become joyful, I find the world too in that light, and coming in my contact my environment too gradually becomes like that.
Quest:— The way things are happening, since time immemorial, it seems that the guiding principle of the universe is Satan, not God,— otherwise why have so much pains to be taken to establish good and truth?
Beloved the Lord:— Ignorance means nothing but lack of farsightedness. Those who have no farsightedness, become easily inclined to whatever apparently seems of happiness and life to them in order to avert imminent sorrow or death; they cannot apprehend that perhaps the thing they become inclined to, gives birth to death with ease, and this very ignorance is Satan.
But man has inner hankering after life and lift, he wants to live, and by whichever means that may be. If he gets any such embodied Ideal as may lift his life and growth through service and help, and if he can understand that through repeated use, then he will invariably cling to Him. And so long as such kind of good does not embrace them in various ways and means, is there any other way than Satan remaining their guiding principle?
Quest:— Will this kingdom of heaven, then, ever blossom on this earth inhabited by fifteen hundred million people?
Beloved the Lord:— We can, at best, call this kingdom of fifteen hundred million people on earth a kingdom of man, if we may call this a kingdom at all. There does hardly exist any kingdom here at present, but of course, everything can happen.
Quest:— Another thing arises in my mind, it is heard that you know astrology, I mean, you abide by it and believe in it, and in that case you are a fatalist, aren’t you? If man’s growing up is pre-destined, and if the life is pre-determined, then why do you say all this about excellence and upliftment?
Beloved the Lord:— I think, I acknowledge the laws of Providence, i.e., the way a thing should be done to get desired result,— and I abide by that because there is no other way, and in the process of abiding by that I’m compelled to abide by anything that may fetch the desired result. Man’s life may be pre-destined; again it may be regulated too. If we can properly observe the laws of being and becoming, then I do believe that this being and becoming may not forsake us.
Where there is the life of the world, the life of every individual lies also there. This life may be transformed by astrological influence. But knowing the laws of what we want if we observe that, then we can get that too. And through that our environment, be that astrologically or earthly, may be regulated similarly, of course if we do not forsake the urge of being and becoming,— this is my belief.
Quest:— I’ve another question to ask, was C. R. Das your initiated disciple?
Beloved the Lord:— Yes, he took initiation from my mother. We were then staying at Maniktala (Kolkata). One day Mr Pal said that he had gratified Satsang by joining it. Hearing this mother got offended, and at that moment Das-da came. We were on the terrace of the building. Das-da said that he didn’t visit the temple (Jagannath) even if he went to Puri. He had a pique, ‘If Jagannath be not merciful on me, then why should I go? If only Jagannath calls, shall I go.’ This was the point of his pique.
After various conversations he said, ‘I can’t hope that I shall have the fortune of taking initiation. I know I’m unworthy of that.’ He went to meet mother. No sooner did he meet her, than mother said, ‘Don’t do any such thing; Pal has gratified us. By taking the name of God man becomes gratified, it is not that taking initiation one may gratify God. Only the one, who has such sentiment in him, should come this way, not others. After some days, some will say that these people are wicked, cheats, and eventually you too will say the same.’ Mother continued, ‘Why do you want to do harm to us for nothing?’ Listening this Das-da in moistened eyes said, ‘Chittaranjan doesn’t bow head, but nobody has ever heard that he has once bowing his head taken back.’
Thus melting mother he took initiation from her— one-and-a half years before his death, after his return to Kolkata from Sirajganj conference. Then he sent Bhombal (Chittaranjan’s son), he too became initiate. After retiring from politics he would make a cottage here to pass the last part of his life therein— this was his wish.
Quest:— Don’t you yourself initiate anyone
Beloved the Lord:— I imparted initiation one or two before,— but at present I don’t.
Quest:— Sri Sri Arvinda is pursuing austere asceticism restraining his outer activities,— what is your opinion of him?
Beloved the Lord:— There are different types of people. Their hunger is appeased in different ways,— for some it may be by taking rice, for some by eating bread, while others may be content with fruits, this too is like that.
Quest:— I shall ask you another question. Is whatever you told regarding the reformation of the nation applicable only to Bengal, or it can be applied to all the nations of the world of the present time? Can it bring any solution to the hostilities going on between nations throughout the world?
Beloved the Lord:— I’ve not said anything keeping specifically in mind Bengal, India or Europe and America, or in terms of Hindu, Muslim or Christian. We are human beings, and what I understand about man’s needs, i.e., the way man’s being and becoming can move on unimpaired, I have said only that.
Quest:— Well, how comes that there is no mutual friction between the Muslims, Hindus, and others of various communities, who are thousands in your Satsang? How has this cohabitation of people of different sects been possible here?
Beloved the Lord:— If many follow one common Ideal, i.e., love him and try to fulfill him only, then this is what happens; in fact, can happen in a much better way.
Quest:— But this institution of the name ‘Satsang’ you have built up,— the streams of education, health, finance, society, science, industry and arts that have ensued out of you, and the branches of this institution which are extending in Assam, Bihar, Burma and other provinces,— is also a kind of sect, and like other sects, one day it will also create conflict with others, won’t it?
Beloved the Lord:— I think, those who are Heroes or Great Men, who seek the welfare of living beings and the world, have never done anything with a view to forming sects. Though I don’t reckon myself as someone like them, still I feel that whatever they have done, they have done only to embrace good. I too wants my good, and this very urge has made me like this.
What I’m doing is for the good, keeping in consideration of myself and of them, by whom my existence exists. Satsang, perhaps, has become like other sects or may become so. Whenever or if the followers or admirers of Satsang, in order to establish themselves and disobeying what I have said or am saying, forget or will forget to render admiration and service towards previous Guides, Great Men, Heroes and their admirer and followers, then it will certainly be no more than a narrow circle.
