University of Delaware; Newark, Delaware, USA

Smith Hall
16 Janaury 1974

Dear seekers, dear sisters and brothers, this evening I shall give a short talk on
meditation and education. Since my subject will be meditation and education,
with your kind permission I wish to meditate for a while. I shall be extremely
grateful to each of you if you would join me in my meditation.
Meditation and the inner education. Meditation is a vast subject. Being a
spiritual man, I know a little bit about meditation, and I can speak on this subject
for hours. But I wish to tell you, with all the sincerity at my command, that if we
can meditate soulfully even for a fleeting minute, the result of our meditation will
far surpass the effect of any talk given by anybody on earth on this subject.
But since we have to convince our physical mind, we talk and we listen. We
are in the mind, and we feel that we are of the mind and for the mind. Such being
the case, at times it is of paramount importance to give talks on meditation; but
meditation is best done in utmost silence, in pindrop silence.
Since we want to convince our physical mind, let us try to know what
meditation actually means. Unfortunately, in the West, many people have
misconceptions about meditation. They think meditation means living a life of
self-abnegation, and that meditation cannot be applied to our daily needs. They
think meditation is for those who want to live in the Himalayan caves, for those
who want to shun society. But I wish to say that these notions are all ill-founded.
A seeker who knows how to meditate properly, effectively and soulfully is a
practical man. Meditation is not theoretical, but practical. Since God is Himself
practical, a seeker of the highest Truth cannot be otherwise.
In this world either we desire or we aspire. At each moment we are given
ample opportunity to possess and grab the world or to become inseparably one
with the world. Meditation teaches us how to become inseparably one with the
world at large. When we cry for the Vast, for the ultimate Truth, meditation is
the immediate answer. When we want to achieve boundless Peace, boundless
Light, boundless Bliss, meditation is the only answer. The world needs one thing,
and that is peace, and meditation is the only answer. Everybody meditates. If you
tell me, “No, I do not know how to meditate,” unfortunately I cannot see eye to
eye with you. Everybody meditates, but there is a difference between my way of
meditation and your way and his or her way of meditation. Since the dawn of
Heaven and the creation, everybody has been meditating, but we all meditate
according to our capacity and receptivity. When we think of God and meditate on
God, this is one form of meditation. When we cherish or treasure a good thought,
even for a fleeting second, this is another kind of meditation. Anything that helps
us to our self-expansion is meditation.
In the West, we most often speak of prayer, while in the East, especially in
India, we speak of meditation. The Western belief is that prayer can and will do
everything. In the East, we feel that meditation can give us everything, that
meditation will help us to grow into the ever-transcending Beyond. Prayer and
meditation are bosom friends. When we pray, our entire being climbs up high,
higher, highest and reaches the ultimate Truth. At that time we offer ourselves
to the Supreme, the ultimate Source. With our prayer, we commune with God, we
establish a free access to the highest Absolute Father. When we meditate, we
make our mind calm, quiet, vacant and tranquil, and we receive Light from Above
in infinite measure.
Meditation and prayer are two different types of conversation, but they serve
the same purpose. When we pray, we talk to God; we tell Him all about our needs
and all our soulful expectations. Through our prayer, we ask God for anything
that we want; and anything that we would like to offer God from our very
existence we offer through our prayer. But when we meditate, we remain silent,
absolutely silent, and we beg of God to work in and through us. He dictates and
we try to execute His express Will.
In the beginning, we see and feel on the strength of our meditation that God
alone is doing everything, and that we are mere instruments. But, in time, when
we go deep within, we come to realise that He is not only the Doer but also the
action itself, and He is not only the action, but also the result thereof. To simplify
the matter, we can say that meditation means God’s conscious and compassionate
Dictates to us and prayer means our soulful conversation with God. When we
meditate, God talks to us and we most devotedly listen. When we pray, we talk
to God and He most compassionately listens.
Meditation and the inner education are one and the same thing; meditation is
the inner education. To be a proper human being, we have to be integrally
educated. To be a proper divine being, we have to be supremely liberated in our
inner life and in our outer life. The outer education tells us what the world is
doing. The inner education tells us what we can do. The outer education helps us
make a decent living. The inner education helps us live for God in the heart of
man. The outer education is an observation, an observed fact. The inner
education is an experience, an experienced reality. With our outer education, we
can at best knock at God’s Door. With our inner education, we can not only enter
into God’s Room, but actually sit on God’s transcendental Throne. The outer
education is the fulfilment of the physical mind, the vital and the earth-bound
consciousness. The inner education is the song of liberation, salvation and divine
freedom.
Each human being has two teachers. As there is outer education and inner
education, even so, is there a teacher for us in the outer world and a Teacher for
us in the inner world. The teacher in the outer world tells us, “Accept me. If you
do not accept me, you are bound to remain always a most deplorable fool. So the
sooner you accept me, the better for you.” The Teacher in the inner life tells us,
“Accept me, please, for if you do not accept me, I shall always remain incomplete.
You and I are one. If one part of my existence remains unlit, obscure and
unaspiring, then I myself shall remain imperfect. Therefore, I beg of you, O
seeker, accept me, for I wish to become complete and perfect with your kind
acceptance of my reality’s Light.”
The outer teacher tells me, “Follow me. I can show you the goal. If you do not
follow me, there is no goal for you. It is I alone who can show you the goal, so
follow me.” But the inner Teacher tells us, “Believe me, once and for all, the
supernal Light is in you. The Transcendental Light is of you. The Eternal Father
is for you. Finally, O seeker, I wish to offer you this message: you are the way and
you are also the Goal. Believe me, once and for all.”