DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA

SANSKARAS

30th March, 1926

The whole world is enmeshed in the grip of lust for women and wealth, while the real aim of life is to achieve the Truth. Unless God is realized, the purpose of acquiring a human body is frustrated, and the real object of life remains unfulfilled.

But Realization is impossible until intelligence is purified and freed of imagination. This can only be achieved by keeping the company of saints. For this reason, intimate contact with a Master is essential for Realization. But such Real Heroes [Perfect Ones] are very, very rare, while the world abounds with fakes and hypocrites who pose as divine guides. How can one who has not had the Experience of Truth guide others toward it?

Lord Meher On-line page 647

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.787

19th May, 1926

While explaining about sanskaras, Baba stated:

By keeping company with a God-realized being, a person's worldly sanskaras get burned up through the Master's spiritual heat. That is why those near a Sadguru derive great spiritual benefit, and the merit of those who serve the Master is indeed immense.

But their contact can only be formed if you have good sanskaras and deep devotion — the preparedness of past lives. Whatever we are, it is because of our sanskaras. When we are completely free from the bindings of sanskaras, we realize God.

Take the example of a ball of twine with many knots in it. The twine itself is in illusion because it finds itself bound by knots. The knots are the sanskaras and the twine is the soul. Because the soul is unconscious of its own Self as God, its attention remains focused on the knots. To be freed from its knots, it must be taken hold of at both ends and twisted in the opposite direction — then all the knots will automatically come undone. The instant the twine is free of knots, it becomes conscious of the reality that it is twine (soul) and not knots (sanskaras), which had formed a snare of the body and mind.

Lord Meher On-line page 656

Lord Meher Vol.3 p.796-8

28th November, 1926

Baba commented about sanskaras:

It is the same with sanskaras. Every thought, word and action of a human being creates sanskaras. Good thoughts, words, and deeds create good sanskaras, and bad thoughts, words, and deeds create bad ones. But either way, sanskaras are being created. They can never be eliminated unless one is lucky enough to incur the grace of a guru and become Realized.

Even the great yogis with their years of penances — even those who have reached the sixth plane — are unable to rid themselves of their sanskaric impressions. What they can do during meditation and samadhi is to stop the production and growth of new sanskaras. But what of the past store of sanskaras accumulated for years and ages? They remain. Even a great yogi [of the fourth plane] cannot destroy them with all his might and powers. They can only be destroyed by the grace of a God-realized Master who destroys them by uprooting the mind and making a person Realized.

When such great yogis cannot manage to destroy their past sanskaras, what of you ordinary human beings? It is for this reason that a Persian poet has said: "If you ask my advice I would say, 'Do nothing.' And if you do anything, do it without caring about the result."

Over the ages, you have collected a mixture of good and bad sanskaras, like the black and white hairs on one's head and beard. Yogis can erase sanskaras superficially as done when shaving, but a Sadguru can root them out completely; and when they are plucked out permanently, advancement on the Path is possible. All sanskaras must be eradicated in the mind so that they may not reproduce again.

So to stop the creation of new sanskaras and to destroy the past ones, have the company and sahavas of a guru who is Realized. A guru who is God-conscious is like a living furnace, burning away everything — good, bad, past, and present — all sanskaras.

Lord Meher  O/L p 748