Dear devotees, the following passages give a picturesque demonstration of the gross mind's predicament and how Sri Bhagwan subdues it, even during the conversation, His Presence Itself making the questioner see the error of his ways, and thus turning the questioner's gross mind into a subtle one.
"Once a few followers of a faith which vehemently condemns the use of idols, came to the Sage and started questioning him. Their aim was to obtain from him, an admission that it is wrong to worship God in an idol. Their spokesman asked the Sage, "Has God any form?" Bhagavan replied, "Who says God has form?" The questioner then said, "If God is formless, then is it not wrong to worship Him in an idol?" The Sage said, "Let God alone. Tell me if you have a form or not?" The questioner promptly answered, "Yes, I have a form, as you see." The sage said, "What? Are you the body, which is about three and a half cubits in height, dark in colour and moustachioed and bearded?" "Yes", came the answer. "Are you this in dreamless sleep also?" "Of course! For on waking, I find myself to be the same." "Also when the body dies?""?Yes." "If so, why does not the body say to the people when they are preparing to take it away for burial, "No, you must not take me away. This house is mine and I want to remain here?"" When at last the disputant realized his error, he said, "I was wrong; I am not the body, I am the life that dwells in it.""
"Then the Sage explained, "Look here, until now you quite seriously believed that this body is yourself; but now you see that you were wrong in this; understand that this is the initial ignorance, out of which grows inevitably all the ignorance that enslaves men. So long as this primal ignorance remains, it does not matter much whether you regard God as formless or having form. But, when this primal ignorance goes, then, with it will go all the rest.""
Dear devotees, I posted some content of the above conversation before also, but I again posted this to demonstrate as to how Sri Bhagwan zeroed on this disease of bondage to our desire and fear as stemming from the root ignorance that the body is the self. This is confirmed by the observation that desire and fear arise because of the body. Therefore, the assumption that we are the body is absolutely untrue. We are the Life Itself and not the contents of the Life. Mind as we know it, the body, the world, time, space, et al, are only the contents of the Life. Self is the only Life and only Existence, Being is the Self, and we are That. This, Sri Bhagwan has taught, is the whole Truth
Pranam,
Anil