“You say that you exist. But where is your I? The moment you try to catch hold of your I, it eludes you. Where is the I – is it the breast or the head or the limbs? If any limb of the body is lost, you do not lose any part of the I, which exists just as strongly as ever. So what is the I? You cannot define it. The combination of all the parts put together is the I of the body. And yet it is so elusive.
“You can only see the objects of the world when you forget your I for a while. For example you look at a flower and you see and feel the flower only because you forget your own self for a while. If you see a truly beautiful object you lose yourself in its beauty to such an extent that you cease to think of your own self. In a like manner when you look upon God with Love and see His Beauty, you lose all consciousness of this world and become merged into Him.
Renounce all thought of my and mine
And from a drop become the sea
Lose thou thyself in Truth Divine
And know thou art Infinity
“There are two I’s – the real I and the false I. The real I is the I of the soul. The false I is the I of the body. The real I is of the same essence as God. This is like the real I of an actor and his stage I. He works with his stage I but knows that his real I is quite different from his I on the stage.
“After his part is over he sets aside his stage I and goes to his real I. It was his real I which gave rise to the stage I. The relationships of the stage were produced by the stage I, but deep within, the real I of the actor knew that the stage I and its relationships were non-existent.
“The actor plays his part to please the director of the play, and once his part is finished he stakes off his stage I and goes home to receive his prize from the director.
“A person who has realised that his soul is of the same essence as God plays his part in the drama of the world, unaffected by the turmoils of the stage I. There is, in fact, no sorrow and no happiness in the drama. Everything is the Will of God, the Director of the Play. Such a person remains absorbed in God consciousness all the time while he does his works fully and actively in the world to please the Director of the Play.”
Shri Nathji explained this as follows:
“Think of a mother who has left her child behind at home while she goes to the well to fetch water. She hangs her bucket into the well with a rope, she fills the bucket with the water, she pulls the bucket out, and she walks back – but even while doing all these works, she has the thought of her child in her mind!
“Such is the extent of absorption in God of a devotee who performs his tasks in the world while remaining lost in God consciousness.”
“In the initial stages of the evolution of the soul it must first think of itself as separate from God. In this lies prayer and devotion, – bhakti. As the soul is impelled onwards towards God by the thrust of Nature it ultimately so purifies itself that it finds God within itself. This is the journey of the dew-drop to the ocean.