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Religion robbed of the spirit of yoga has become a matter

of morality only, thereby losing its soul.

Morality is negative.

Life cannot be based on negation,

negation cannot nourish life.

The emphasis has to be on attainment

not on renunciation.

It is not a question of renouncing ignorance

but of attaining understanding,

it is this that has to be central.

Practice has to be positive

and this sadhana can happen through yoga.

In my talks with Acharya Tulsi,

Muni Shri Nathamaljee and others

I have stressed this point.

Many letters have come from Rajnagar and Rajasthan

in this connection; as you have said

it seems some fruitful work has been accomplished

by going there.

One thing is very clear:

people are eager for a spiritual life

and current forms of religion do not satisfy them.

If however the right religion is given to them

it can revolutionize human consciousness.

I think of you.

May God grant you peace.

My love and regards to all.

12. My respects to you.

All your letters arrived in good time

but as I have been busy I could not reply sooner.

I have been out most of the time

and I have just returned after speaking in Jaipur, Burhanpur,

Hoshangabad, Chanda and other places.

How thirsty people are for spiritual life!

Seeing this

I am surprised that some people say

man has lost all interest in religion.

This can never be.

No interest in religion means no interest in life,

bliss, the ultimate.

Consciousness is by nature God-oriented

and it can only be satisfied by attaining God –

the state of satchitananda,

the truth-awareness-bliss state of being.

Hidden within one in the form of a seed

is the very source of religious birth,

therefore whilst religions may come and go

religion can never die.

I am glad to know that you feel patient

about your progress towards the light.

Patience is the most important thing of all

in spiritual life.

How long one must wait after sowing the seed!

At first all the effort seems wasted,

nothing seems to happen, and then one day

the waiting ends and there is actuality –

the seed breaks, pushes through the earth, into a plant!

But remember that even when nothing seemed to be happening

the seed was working away under the soil.

It is the same with the seeker for truth –

when nothing appears to be happening

much is happening.

The fact is that all growth of life-energy

is unseen and unknown.

Only the results can be observed not the progress.

I am in bliss.

I want you to come closer to God.

Forget about results, just keep going on your path;

let the fruits come by themselves.

One day one wonders: What has happened!

What was I!

What have I become!

Compared to the results all the effort seems negligible.

My love to all.

13. My respects to you.

I have just returned from Rajnagar in Rajasthan.

I was invited to a religious function there

organized by Acharya Shree Tulsi.

I put four hundred monks and nuns

through an experiment in meditation.

The results were extraordinary.

In my view, meditation is the essence

of all religious practice.

All the rest –

such as non-violence,

renunciation of wealth, celibacy etc. –

are just its consequences.

With the attainment of samadhi,

the culmination of meditation,

all these things come by themselves,

they just happen naturally.

Since we forgot this central sadhana

all our efforts have been external and superficial.

True sadhana is not just ethical,

it is basically yoga practice.

Ethics alone are negative

and nothing enduring can be constructed on negation.

Yoga is positive and can therefore form a base.

I want to convey this positive basis to all.

1964

14. Love.

I have received your very affectionate letter.

You write that my words ring in your ears;

what I want is for their echo to carry you

into that space where everything is silent, empty.

This is the way from words to emptiness.

There one meets oneself.

I am in bliss.

Take my love.

I have nothing else to offer, it is my only wealth.

The marvel of it is that the more of it you give

the more it becomes.

Real wealth is like that –

it grows as you give it away;

and if it diminishes – it is not wealth at all.

Write again,

for not only do you wait for my letters,

I too wait for yours.

15. Love.

On returning from the meditation camp

I had to leave town again.

I returned only last night but I thought of you all the time.

I cannot forget the thirst for God I saw in your eyes

and the striving for truth in your heart.

This is a blessing because no one can attain

without passing through this anguish.

Remember, thirst is a prerequisite

for the birth of light and love.

Together, light and love are God.

When love has no limits

its flame becomes smokeless and so divine.

I have seen the seeds of this growth within you

and it fills my soul with great joy.

The seed is there, now it has to become a tree.

It could be that the time is at hand.

God-realization cannot happen without meditation

so you must turn towards this now

with courage and perseverance.

I have great hopes – will you fulfill them?

My regards to other friends there.

I wait for your letter.

Remember what I said about the blank paper?

Everything else is fine.

I am in bliss.

16. Love.

I received your letter.