the way of the bird

Glossary

The glossary covers most of the terms that Maharaj used on a regular basis in his talks. A quotation follows the definition of the term to provide an example of the context in which he used that word or phrase.

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absolute: the final reality that is prior to both knowledge and ignorance, and all duality See also final reality, He, Parabrahman.
Context: "Yourself is He, without self, Absolute reality."

address: an analogy for the correct knowledge given by the Master. Once the correct knowledge has been received, the aspirant must go in and take possession of the house, which is the Self.
Context: "You can get the address, Master gives it to you, but he cannot come there with you. You have to go there and enter yourself."

aspirant: a spiritual seeker who is ignorant of his or her true nature and who practices or follows a particular path.
Context: "Due to ignorance you say that I am a Master and you are an aspirant but in fact the reality is you!"

awakening: See realization.

birth and death: concepts that arise through identification of the Self with the body and mind. See also forgetting your Self.
Context: "Due to ignorance you say "I've got the birth and I will die." Body dies you don't die."

body: the temporary covering of gross matter. One of a long series.
Context: "Many bodies have come and gone for you. Why you should worry for this body?"

bondage: the concept that "I" exist as an individual and am not free. Compare with liberation. See also seeking.
Context: "Nobody puts you in bondage. You take it on yourself."

Brahman: the all-pervading aspect of knowledge or consciousness. Reality considered in the relative sense. Compare with Parabrahman. See also knowledge, power.
Context: "Brahman is knowledge."

causal body: the realm of complete absence of thought from which thought arises and into which it disappears. The causal body is pure ignorance or forgetfulness. It is called the causal body because, without it, thoughts and objects could not appear, that is, there has to be "nothing" in order for there to be "something." It is a peaceful state, due to the absence of disturbance. It is perceived as emptiness or void by the ego. See also ignorance, zero.
Context: "In the causal body, any thought may come at any time."

consciousness: a synonym for knowledge. Not used much by Maharaj. See knowledge.

creator: the power that allows the names and forms to be projected by the mind on the screen of the Self. See also God, power.
Context: "From knowledge everything happens. Knowledge is the creator."

die: to come to the end of ignorance through Self-knowledge. The destruction of the ego as a center of volition.
Context: "To die means to forget everything. When you are living, die in that way."

doer: the imaginary entity that the ego takes itself to be by thinking "I did it!"
Context: "Ignorance is in thinking you are the doer."

doing: the false concept, maintained by the ego, that it is responsible for what happens.
Context: "You simply must get rid of this notion of doing, which is imprinted in your mind."

doubt: the absence of certainty that prevails when Self-knowledge is not there.
Context: "Doubts are ignorance."

dream: the spontaneous arising, in ignorance, of images and concepts, which are then taken to be true.
Context: "Life is nothing but a long dream."

duality: the separation of "I" and "the rest of the world" that occurs when the body is taken to be the Self. This false sense of separation disappears when you know yourself to be the one reality. See also knowledge.
Context: "Duality makes you."

ego: the concept or assumption that "I" exist as a separate individual. The ego is the embodiment of ignorance. Ego actually has no existence. It is merely imagined. However, where there is a belief it exists, it does exist. The cause and the effect are the same.
Context: "The ego is like the barren woman's son. It doesn't exist but still you say "I've done it."

final reality: the unmanifest oneness that in itself is not aware of itself. It becomes aware of itself through knowledge. In the final reality, knowledge is in the unmanifest state and exists only as potential. See also Parabrahman.
Context: "On one side, the whole world is there. On the other, final reality."

final understanding: the understanding that "I" do not exist and that therefore there is no one to understand and nothing to be understood.
Context: "The final understanding is that you don't exist and He is always there."

forgetting the mind: a state in which there is only awareness of oneness. The ego and the world are not true. Forgetting the mind means remembering one's Self.
Context: "There is only one way, forget this and you know Him. No words for it."

forgetting your Self: the original cause of ignorance and knowledge. Forgetting the Self means remembering the ego.
Context: "The source of consciousness itself is the forgetting or ignorance of the final reality."

God: the manifest, or creative aspect of reality that pervades and gives life to everything. See also creator, power.
Context: "God and his creation are not true when knowledge goes off."

gold: an analogy for the all-pervading nature of reality or pure knowledge. Just as there are no ornaments without gold (no forms without the underlying substance), gold (substance) does not manifest without form. Substance is pure knowledge/universal consciousness/Brahman, but that substance in itself is not a thing. It manifests through form. Therefore the whole creation is Brahman.
Context: "All the ornaments are nothing but gold."

grace: the power to accept the Master's teaching. The mind cannot control this power and so it appears to come from a higher level. Actually it is one's own power, one's own Self. The Self is seeking Itself through the seeker.
Context: "What the Master says, accept it. That is the grace."

He: the manifest aspect of reality, the pure knowledge or universal consciousness that is the substance in all forms. See also Brahman, power.
Context: "Understand the power. You are the power. You are He."

I: the Self or final reality. However, "I" is appropriated by the ego to refer to the imaginary entity that it takes itself to be.
Context: "You never forget yourself. You're always there. But you misrepresent the "I."

ignorance: an imaginary state, characterized by a belief in what does not exist. See also ego.
Context: "Ego is ignorance. By understanding you can overcome ignorance."

illusion: See ignorance.
Context: "Whatever can be experienced is illusion."

kick: the identification with objects that makes them seem real and important.
Context: "You say it's true because you are in the kick of ignorance."

knowledge: the power, the consciousness that pervades everywhere. Knowledge is misinterpreted in the body and mind as the illusion of individual existence as a person, who then becomes an object. This false knowledge arises from ignorance and is the mula Maya, or original illusion. When this knowledge arises, in early childhood, and also every morning when the body and mind "wake up," the whole world appears. There is no knowledge in deep sleep or in the final reality. See also Brahman, power, pure knowledge.
Context: "That knowledge is yourself, one should understand that. Then you become the creator of the world."

liberation: the understanding that there never was any one to be bound. Compare with bondage.
Context: "Bondage and liberation is also mind's work. Why do you want liberation? No need for it."

mahakarana body: the realm of pure knowledge. A self-illuminating or self-evident presence. Self-knowledge. This state is realized when the aspirant understands that he or she is aware of the nothingness of the causal body. See also pure knowledge.

Master: a realized person who gives the true facts about illusion and reality. The Master who appears as another human being points to the fact that the true Master is the Self, and is not other than the aspirant.
Context: "The Master is everywhere. He is never away from you, you and he are one."

Maya: illusion, from the Sanskrit "that which is not." See ignorance.
Context: "Say it is not true, then an end comes to that knowledge, and that ends Maya."

mind: the subtle level in which thoughts appear. Thoughts can be of the illusory "I" or they can be the correct thoughts given by the Master. See also thought.
Context: "The mind is your greatest enemy and your greatest friend."

name and form: the illusory aspects of the world, for example, the attributes of body and mind that are assumed at birth and dropped at death.
Context: "Only the name and form which are illusion disappear."

no-mind: the condition of stillness and openness that the mind comes to when it accepts the correct thoughts and is no longer dominated by ego.
Context: "Reality is oneness, non-duality, no-mind."

not true: a superimposition or appearance only, without existence apart from the underlying reality. Everything that happens is appearance only, like a reflection in a mirror. The reflection is not the reality, and so reality remains untouched by anything that appears. See also gold.
Context: "The world you see is nothing but a reflection of reality. Reflection cannot be true."

oneness: the condition of non-duality, in which there is no sense of separation between "I" and "the rest of the world." Compare with duality.
Context: "There is only oneness, so whatever you see and perceive is He."

Parabrahman: the final reality that is the attributeless aspect of Brahman or pure knowledge. Para means beyond, so Parabrahman indicates non-relative Brahman, or Brahman considered as the absolute. Compare with Brahman. See also final reality, He.
Context: "Parabrahman is He, and He is everywhere."

power: the all-pervading knowledge or universal consciousness that is the manifest aspect of reality. The sense of self-existence that animates a form, like electricity when it is connected to an appliance. See also creator, God, He.
Context: "If you understand you're not the body, then you are the power that is in you. You are everywhere."

pure knowledge: the abstract, all-pervading aspect of knowledge. The principle that inhabits all forms. Knowledge is experienced in its pure form in the mahakarana body, where it is free from any trace of ignorance. See also He, mahakarana body, power.
Context: "Pure knowledge is not ego. Pure knowledge is He."

reality: See final reality.
Context: "Reality is not a state. It is stateless."

realization: the final understanding of one's true nature. A permanent change of being that includes the understanding that there is no "doer." Spiritual seeking ends with realization, because it is understood that one has always been what one was seeking. See also Self knowledge.
Context: "If you want to be realized, you have to throw off the mind."

realized person: one who has understood that he is reality and that nothing exists apart from Him. He may not appear different to anyone else, but inside he has complete conviction of his own nature and that of the world, and is at peace, without need of anything.
Context: "Try to understand the realized person, what they say. They say they have not done anything in their life."

sat-chit-ananda: the being-knowledge-fullness which is playing in everything and enjoying itself through all the various forms. See also He, pure knowledge, power.
Context: "Sat-chit-ananda is everywhere. It is the original seed."

screen: the original condition of permanence and oneness, the unchanging background against which the show of the objective world appears. See also Self.
Context: "Reality is ever there, just like a screen. Pictures come and go, and the screen doesn't care."

seeking: the condition that arises with the concept "I am bound and must therefore seek liberation." See also bondage, liberation.
Context: "Kill the seeker! Nothing to be sought."

Self: (with capital S): the eternal subject that is the underlying reality to everything that appears. (Same word with small s signifies ego.) See also final reality, Self-knowledge.
Context: "Body is not Self. Mind is not Self. Knowledge is not Self. Final reality is Self."

Self knowledge: the absolute conviction that I am He, the reality. The knowledge of one's true nature. This knowledge means the end of seeking and the end of ignorance. See also realization.

Self realization: See realization.

sky: the causal body or ignorance from which knowledge arises. See also causal body, zero.
Context: "The sky is zero. A big cyclone comes in the sky. It makes havoc, then it goes."

source: the stateless state or no-mind condition that is prior to the appearance of knowledge or thought. See also final reality.
Context: "When I go to the source of myself, I disappear."

subtle body: the realm of the mind.

supra-causal body: See mahakarana body.

thought: a concept, image, or belief that arises. There is no separate thinker. The thought itself creates the thinker.
Context: "Bad and good thoughts come and go on you. They don't remain. Thoughts are like the wind."

touch: taking something in illusion to be true and identifying oneself with it.
Context: "You take the touch of the body and you say I'm this."

understanding: an inner transformation that occurs when the aspirant sees the truth of one of the Master's teachings. A combination of emotional force from the heart and logic from the intellect.
Context: "With wrong understanding you become wrong. With right understanding you become right."

universal consciousness: the impersonal, pure knowledge that inhabits all forms. See also power, pure knowledge.
Context: "When you understand that you are not the body, your consiousness becomes universal."

witnessing: a quality of knowledge in the mahakarana body that sees the objects that appear but does not identify itself with them or say "mine." In the final reality, witnessing is not true, because in oneness there is no seer and no seen.
Context: "If you forget the witnessing, then you don't remain, otherwise you are still there. The one who witnesses always remains."

zero: ignorance and what is perceived through ignorance. Whatever is not the one reality. Whatever does not exist. See also forgetting your Self, ignorance, Maya.
Context: "You forget yourself and that means zero and then everything starts."