Devotee: But what exactly is this chidabhasa?
Swami: Chidabhasa means the “I” awareness conditioned by the consciousness (chit) that One became three, the
three became five, the five became many. The “I” awareness (purity, sathwa) became three on account of contact
with passion (rajas) and ignorance (thamas); in these three, the five elements (bhuthas) arose; and through those five, the manifold happened. This is what causes the illusion that the “I” is the body. Speaking in terms of ether
(akasa), there are three: chidakasa, chitthakasa, and bhuthakasa.
Devotee: What is chidakasa?
Swami: That is the Atma.
Devotee: Chitthakasa?
Swami: Its deflection. That is to say, the mind stuff (chittha). When this mind stuff changes into mind (manas),
intellect (buddhi), and ego (aham-kara), it is called anthah-karana, a word that means the internal senses (indriyas). The “I” awareness conditioned by consciousness (chidabhasa) having the mind stuff (anthah-karana) is the
individual soul (jiva).
Devotee: And bhuthakasa?
Swami: Atma (Chidakasa) conditioned by mind stuff (chitthakasa). When it sees the elemental ether (akasa), it
is mind-ether; when it sees the object, the real, it is pure consciousness (chinmaya). That is why, my dear fellow,
it is said, “The mind (manas) alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation.” The mind manufactures any
amount of delusion.
Devotee: How can that delusion disappear, Swami?
Devotee: Can everyone adopt this path of inquiry?
Swami: No, my boy. It is only for those whose mind stuff (chittha) has become ripe.
Devotee: Then what should we do to reach that ripe stage?
Swami: Now we have come to the place from which we started! Don’t you have things like soft prayer (japa),
meditation (dhyana), worship, and breath control (pranayama) for this? Steadily, through these, you become ripe
and become capable of understanding the “I” by inquiry into reality. For ripe people, the Atma is not something
different from themselves or yourself. All is Atma!
Devotee: But Swami, You mentioned only soft prayer, meditation, worship, and breath control. Some advanced
persons adopt the vow of silence (mouna). Of what use is it? What exactly is silence?
Swami: The illumination of the soul is silence! How can
there be silence without the Atma being illuminated?
Without that, merely keeping the mouth shut is not silence. Some adopt the vow of silence, but they communicate
by writing on paper or a slate or they point successively to the letters of the alphabet on a chart! All this is pseudo-
silence! It is only another way of talking without interruption! There is no need to attain silence. Silence is ever
with you. You have only to remove all things that disturb it!
Devotee: But many people don’t open their mouth to speak. You mean that this is useless?
Swami: Who said so? If you don’t use your tongue, if you are silent in order to keep out the external obstacles to
spiritual exercise, you certainly can develop your thoughts, you can desist from disturbing others, you can escape
criticism and worry from others, you will get concentration. Your brain will be saved from unnecessary burdens,
and it can improve much. With such a brain, you carry on remembrance (smarana) of the Lord’s name better. You
will realise all these advantages when you do spiritual exercises.
Devotee: Then for the fully wise person (jnani) all this is unnecessary?
Swami: There is no fully wise person in the world! Such a person is in no need of the world itself, so why would
they need all this?
Devotee: If that is so, who are those people called wise people?
Swami: The silent men I spoke about just now. “Spiritually wise one (jnani) is a term applied by courtesy; a full
jnani is non-existent in the world. The jnani must know “All as one”! Your jnanis are all either experts in logic or
experts in knowledge of world; they haven’t known the Reality.
