Part 38 (1/2)
A very strong mind, however, can transcend all physical difficulties and attain to God-realization Many saints have ignored illness and succeeded in their divine quest St Francis of assisi, severely afflicted with ailments, healed others and even raised the dead
I knew an Indian saint, half of whose body was once festering with sores His diabetic condition was so acute that under ordinary conditions he could not sit still at one time for more than fifteen minutes But his spiritual aspiration was undeterrable ”Lord,”
he prayed, ”wilt Thou come into radually becahteen continuous hours, engrossed in the ecstatic trance
”And,” he told ht blazing within ot the body Later I saw that it had beco incident concerns King Baber (1483-1530), founder of the Mogul empire in India His son, Prince Huuished determination that he receive the sickness, and that his son be spared After all physicians had given up hope, Humayun recovered Baber immediately fell sick and died of the same disease which had stricken his son
Humayun succeeded Baber as Eine that every spiritual th of a Sandow The assumption is unfounded
A sickly body does not indicate that a guru is not in touch with divine powers, anyhealth necessarily indicates an inner illumination The condition of the physical body, in other words, cannot rightfully bequalifications ht in his own domain, the spiritual
Numerous bewildered seekers in the West erroneously think that an eloquent speaker or writer on metaphysics must be a master The rishi+s, however, have pointed out that the acid test of a master is a man's ability to enter at will the breathless state, and to maintain the unbroken SAMADHI of NIRBIKALPA {FN21-5} Only by these achieve prove that he has ”mastered” MAYA or the dualistic Cosmic Delusion He alone can say from the depths of realization: ”EKAM SAT,”-”Only One exists”
”The VEDAS declare that the ignorant htest distinction between the individual soul and the Suprereat norance, one sees all things as distinct fro is seen as the Self, then there is not even an atoe of the Reality has sprung up, there can be no fruits of past actions to be experienced, owing to the unreality of the body, in the sareat gurus are able to assume the karma of disciples Sri Yuktesould not have suffered in Kashmir unless he had received permission froe way Few saints were ever more sensitively equipped isdom to carry out divine commands than my God-tuned Master
When I ventured a feords of syaily:
”It has its good points; I aet into some small GANJIS (undershi+rts) that I haven't worn in years!”
Listening to Master's jovial laugh, I remembered the words of St
Francis de Sales: ”A saint that is sad is a sad saint!”
{FN21-1} It is a mark of disrespect, in India, to smoke in the presence of one's elders and superiors
{FN21-2} The Oriental plane tree
{FN21-3} Many Christian saints, including Therese Neumann (see chapter 39), are familiar with the metaphysical transfer of disease
{FN21-4} Christ said, just before he was led away to be crucified: ”Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to ions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”-MATTHEW 26:53-54
{FN21-5} See /chapters 26, 43 NOTES
CHAPTER: 22
THE HEART OF A STONE IMAGE
”As a loyal Hindu wife, I do not wish to complain of my husband But I yearn to see hi the pictures of saints in my meditation room Dear brother, I have deep faith that you can help hily ata short visit at her Calcutta home on Girish Vidyaratna Lane Her plea touched me, for she had exercised a profound spiritual influence over ly tried to fill the void left in the family circle by Mother's death
”Beloved sister, of course I will do anything I can” I sloom plainly visible on her face, in contrast to her usual calm and cheerful expression
Rouidance A year earlier, my sister had askednotable progress