July 25, 2023
It is by watching the actions of an enlightened person that we realize that our images of an enlightened person are mostly wrong. Krishna in The Bhagavad Gita specifically cautions against building such images. "The wise man must live in exactly the same style as the unwise man." So there needn't be this external distinguishing mark where one is shaven, the other is not shaven; one wears this kind of dress, the other wears another kind of dress.
In the ignorant man there is attachment, in the enlightened man there is no attachment. The moment you hear the words "attachment" and "non-attachment", you are once again slipping into some sort of an image. It is possible to understand these only when this inner light is bright and it prevents the arising of any false identification in the sense of false relationship with other beings. "This is my view" or "I have no view" — is it possible to drop all all views, to drop even the dropper? Only then can one understand how an enlightened one behaves.
In Gurudev Sivananda there was absolutely no ego-consciousness, so that he could change from moment to moment as if it didn't matter at all. Only he could know what he was.
Holiness is something like the aroma of a flower which comes from within. The aim of yoga, if there is an aim, is to enable us to be exactly what God meant us to be, and do exactly what He meant us to do without ego interference.
There is no answer to the question, “What does God want us to be or to do?" That can only be discovered by discovering God. To discover is to take the cover of the ego off! "I want this, I want to be like this." That can be removed. When that cover is removed from all departments of our life, then the light of God shines brilliantly in His own way.
Finally, it is only by guru’s and God’s grace that it may be possible, because eventually it is only by grace that this ego can be lifted and the inner light be discovered.