Discourses-----Day
4
October 12, 1939
Sushilda was back in ashram today after collecting
information on memories of previous births. He described his findings in detail
to Sri Sri Thakur’s great enjoyment. At one time he said, “I examined the horoscope of two such persons (those who
could remember their previous births), and I found that both had been born in
the same astral combinations as they had previously died in!”
Sri Sri Thakur and Gopalda jumped up simultaneously. They
shouted joyously, “Is it so, really ! The very thing we guessed !”
Sri Sri Thakur said, “Gopal,
now you must look into this thing thoroughly, I said so a long time ago. After
all is said and done, we have not been able to discover the key to
memory-continuity. The question remains, how is it possible to remember
incidents of previous births ? This is the only problem in the world. And it
doesn’t seem to be something unsurmountable. If one can find the trick, the
thing is done. If man achieves this, what he does not know. As long as the
conscious entity remains, it is not difficult to
invade the beyond.” To Sushilda he said, “Tomorrow please
start writing letters to all the people concerned. Try to find the book, Buddhistic
Meditation.” (This book is supposed to
contain a method of reviving memories of previous births).
Sushilda mentioned a sadhu who lives only on leaves. Thakur
said, “We make such fuss about our food ! How
easily this great problem can be met !”
Thakur
seemed to be in a state of great excitement today. Again and again he was
calling for Sushilda, hearing the story about previous births over and over
again and making others listen too. In the evening Sushilda described in detail
the reappearance of Papaji in a human body after his death. Thakur said, “That would seem to be
nothing else than the ectoplasmic body.”
I asked Sri Sri Thakur, “Is
it a fact that you remember your previous life?”
Thakur answered, “I don’t
know whether it is just imagination or not, but it seems as though I clearly
remember my Grandma and myself are sailing on a river in a boat, and that there
are lot of turtles all around. I asked Grandma about it, but she brushed it
aside. I also seem to remember that I once lived at the foot of a hill. I used
to sit on a rock. A rivulet flowing eastward was before me. Pretty, red paths
ran through the wood. I had a wife. She loved me very much. It seems to me she
would know me even now if I went there. About this present life I remember I
was born in a room. A very dim lamp was burning. Mother said it was so. Many
things occur to me, and they all seem real. Things flash in the mind. I did not
discuss them before ; now I occasionally give them out.”
When every one went away, I asked what an
ectoplasmic body is. Sri Sri Thakur said, “It is the
one beyond the germ plasmic body. When steam begins to condense into vapor, it
becomes just visible to us. The ectoplasmic body is like that. It is nothing
more than a condensation of very fine matter.”
I said, “Swamiji is said to have seen Thakur
Ramakrishna many times after his death.”
Thakur said, “Swamiji may have seen, or someone else may have seen,
but what use is it unless everyone in the environment can see him in a normal
way? Personally I don’t like anything that isn’t concrete. I do not feel
comfortable unless I can realize things along with my environment by means of
some instrument or other. That is probably why it seems that philosophy, religion,
science and art have all merged into one another in my thinking.”
When I asked Thakur to speak about some
particular vision, he said, “I was going along the Cossipore Road
one day. There were heavenly lights all round, Gods and goddesses were singing.
I remembered a couple of lines of the music for a long time. I told others
about it. Now I can remember only recall the word, ‘Swagatam’ (welcome). I got
into a cane forest one day while walking along the road. Beside myself, I
walked on and on. I walked straight on without seeing the course of the road. I
came back to my senses when someone else pointed out my condition. Many a time
even now I have a feeling that it is I that has become a certain tree.”
I had heard that the marks of a whip were once
found on the back of Sri Sri Thakur when he saw a horse being whipped. When I
asked about this, he said, “We feel pain when we see a man stumbling. This is
something like that. Imagination is so strong that without physical stimulus
nerves become irritated. As in night pollution, one has a feeling that sexual
intercourse is going on, but actually it is not. Still semen is discharged.”
“Those who follow Swastyayani (the five
observances for well being) find that talismans made from flowers used in the
Swastyayani ceremony are potent in bringing about desired results,” I said.
On hearing this, Thakur said, “They are in a position,
probably, to give others a vital push.”
Satyada is unwell. At night Sri Sri
Thakur said to Birenda, “Can you find out a medicine for Satya? I want it to be an
absolutely infallible one.” One remembers in
this connection that all the medicines of the Satsang Chemical Works originated
in just such an active sympathy and serviceable attitude. Why only medicines ?
All the centres of activity have come into being by keeping in sight the
material needs of some individual or other. Centering itself on the dominating
problems of individual lives and progressing by the intrepid onward march of a
loving soul, a nation-wide programme of unique movement comes into being.
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