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Talks in Eerde Castle, Holland, 1926
THE RIVER AND THE OCEAN
I have thought out for myself what it will involve. To me it seems that to give up the physical -the ordinary physical comforts, physical well-being, wealth, family relations-will be comparatively easy; what will be much more difficult and much more serious and much more worth giving up, much more sacred and holy, will be to give up my separate self, and identify myself with Him. Identifying yourself with Him means that you must set aside your own predilections, your own prejudices, your own particular inclinations, and all such things. That is much more difficult, and yet that is what you will have to do. You will have to forget what you are and become like Him.
Have you ever noticed how a small hill will hide a whole range of snowy mountains, so that you think that that little hill is the whole view and forget the tremendous vista stretching far away -mile upon mile behind it? It is exactly the same with us. We think that by giving up little things we have succeeded. Little things do not matter; we need not give up the little things; it is like standing in front of the little hill -we must go beyond that little hill to see the giant peaks. It is no good clinging to your own particular line, your own particular attitude, your own particular form of devotion or worship. The stars sparkle, brilliant and beautiful, before the moon comes out, and then they all give way, and go into the background, before the one queen, the one ruler of the sky. So must you all before Him who is our Ruler. It does not mean that you must throw away your individuality, but that you must become like Him; and you can only do that if you are able to look at everything in life from His point of view.
To an artist who looks at a cloud or the skies or a tree, these have a different meaning; he looks at them from the point of view of how he will paint them, of how he can reproduce them as a symbol to the world -not necessarily by copying them, but by sharing with others what he has perceived in them. That is exactly what you have to do. You have to destroy all the things that bind you and climb to that altitude where you become a part of Him; and from there you should look at yourself and at the world. It is no good always surrounding yourself with particular delights of your own. You must go up to that height and from there direct your minds and emotions and physical bodies, and that is the only way in which you will be able to follow Him.
How many of you, I wonder, will really understand, really follow, when the moment actually comes, the moment when you hear that Voice which you recognize as the absolute authority, whose command is final? I wonder how many of you, even though you may obey, will mingle yourselves with Him as a drop of water that disappears in the sea, a river that flows into the vast ocean? You are all much too narrowly individualistic; you have your own particular God, your own particular delight, your own particular way of speech, way of thought, way of expression. To follow does not mean that you should blindly accept; but to follow means that you must keep your eyes open and your hearts clear, free from all prejudices, all preconceived ideas, and so be able to lose yourselves in the Eternal. That is the only way in which you should follow, the only way in which you can possibly create. If you live in that Eternity, at that stupendous height, you become a genius, you become that which each one of you really longs to be, and then you will be happy. It is in forgetting the separate self, in destroying that self, in mingling with the Universe, that you can find Happiness; and when you make distinctions by talking about particular groups, particular temperaments, particular types, you are wandering away from reality, not realizing that these are but marks of distinction, mere indications of your special environment. They do not solve the problem; the only solution is in the forgetting of the separate self, in becoming part of the Eternal.
Follow the Eternal, which is perpetual, immutable, not the fleeting and the momentary. You will obtain a true perspective of your purpose, if you realize that you must give suitable opportunities on the physical for the education of the soul. We always talk about educating the physical, but forget the education of the super-physical. The ego desires to evolve and attain perfection; and here on the physical, if you have in view the longing of the soul, you, the lower mind, will realize when and how you must yield to the cravings of the greater Self.
You ought to develop that habit of living in the Kingdom of Happiness, because I do not think you sufficiently realize how expansive it is, how this Kingdom stretches mile after mile if you once enter its borders. I do not think you understand that Happiness, real Happiness, is above all things in the world, physical or spiritual. It is the only state worth entering, the only Kingdom worth conquering and possessing. And I would take you all into that Kingdom and let you see the beauty of it for yourselves, because once you have seen it you will not abandon it, you will no longer desire the transient, changeable things. I am sure that more and more, as time goes on, it will be borne in on you that this is the only Truth worth having, the only Truth worth giving.
You must also have culture, the culture which comes from reading, the culture of the ordinary attainments in the physical, the culture of consideration, of happiness, of that intense, serious joyousness. If you can have the culture from all these things, imbibe it, make it a part of your nature; you will then become His real followers. Without culture, without refinement, you cannot become part of the more refined and the more cultured, which is He; nor can you stand with Him and cooperate intelligently and enthusiastically with Him. A man who is an artist, who is creating, who is suffering, who stumbles, will be nearer to Him than the one who is merely satisfied and worships at his own particular altar.
You must be such an artist, and cooperate with Him, and give to the world what each one of you really understands. And when you are in that state you have no idea how the sense of loneliness, the sense of depression, all those things which hinder us, which kill our spirit, which weaken our sense of well-being, disappear. When you are part of that one Kingdom that matters in life, when you are with that Life that lasts through ages and ions, you forget whether you are lonely, whether you are depressed, whether you are great or successful. What most of you fear is loneliness, lack of love and personal friendship for each other. Those things, though they are pleasant for the moment, though they have their value, you do not miss, because you have companionship with the Eternal. Every tree, every bird, every blade of grass, every shadow, gives you something which is worth more than the passing physical satisfactions, for it is part of the Eternal. That is why you must have your life centered there, and thus gain your outlook from the Eternal.