Trance Trance 
Things Worth Knowing ;
A Few Words To The Distinguished
“Come, O come, don’t ask any question, you had better take away all the answers. You’ll then get novelty after your heart.”- The original works of Ma-Mahajnan will be assessed anew all the time. Take it as literature or philosophy, spiritual science or cultural studies—from either angle, every line of her sublime creation, expressed in a state of “Conscious Trance”, abounds in facts and ideas. Yet her decent manner and style of speaking do not cause the slightest difficulty for the common man, so far as knowing and understanding goes. The most venerable lady may be judged by every standard so long she is in her human frame.
Much earlier, for a span of eight years, apart from domestic duties and devotees’ problems, she dictated everyday for eight hours, the matter for more than one hundred original and precious volumes. She doesn’t think fit to revise and blot even a single word. She observes, a correction is needed only where one makes a slip. Where ornamentation amounts to a travesty of truth, can correction in such places claim to reveal the truth in exact form? She, even today at the age of 76, often guides us to remain engrossed, amidst adverse situations, in thinking and reasoning. Naturally, we expect you to be, at least, once with us in her ennobling contact.
Asokananda Prosad, a life-long disciple (since 1963) of Great Ma-Mahajnan, has imbibed the essence of her philosophy, sitting at her feet. He was invited to join the literary symposium of Frankfurt Book Fair, where Focal Theme was “ India—Change in Continuity”. Four of his articles, based on the Philosophy of life of Ma-Mahajnan, were written on that special occasion. Possibly they were of some avail. Prosad was given an opportunity to read out on that occasion some well chosen extracts from the Works of Ma-Mahajnan to offer the audience a glimpse of her personality and highly original approach to all things under the Sun.
However, let me commence with the conclusion of one of the Mother’s songs, sung in a state of ‘Conscious Trance’, entitled “The Blessed Beginning”—
Sometimes you’ll see
In your mind’s eye
A mighty tempest has sprung up.
Sometimes you’ll weep, my child,
All by yourself.
So would you just realize once,
Why in vacant mood
I keep on gazing at the blank sky?
There are innumerable things of great interest which will help growing inquisitiveness among the philosopher, the scientist and the litterateur. But unless one struggles hard and keeps up the spirit, one cannot settle oneself in the realm of non-desire. The more we adjust and control our emotion, passion and sensual pleasure and sacrifice ourselves for the good of mankind, the more we will understand such beautiful lines of her philosophy of life. Needless to say, hardly a few could ever find their right of entry into the world of realization, which remains open truly to the dedicated soul. You are, so far we believe, one in isolation.
Now, how can you know more about what I say or would like to, in future? You are most cordially invited to pay us a visit and realize everything all by yourself and in your own way.
( This is just a preamble to the creativity of Great ‘Ma-Mahajnan’ )
Realization develops power of reasoning,
Helps attainment of perfection.
[To begin with this caption we are apt to meditate solely our ones realization and as a result we do appreciate the expression, one effortlessly shows, irrespective of time and place, people—high and low. Having gone through the scriptures of the prophets in the past, so many things crowd in our mind. We may not follow them—may even criticize, but we can, in no way, ignore the statement of facts of their life and living. Since we have not urbanized our power of reasoning which in reality helps us in attaining truth, we find no way but to accept them, directly or indirectly. Thus, being conventional and prejudiced, we fail to cultivate what lies within.
To put it in another way, power of reasoning and sublime thoughts of an awakened soul, (emerged from catechism and discourses, songs and sermons) are, indeed, the outcome of deep realization. It enumerates an ideal philosophy and a fine piece of literature, as one and the same. Let us look into the matter in the light of the almost unlettered Ma-Mahajnan, who happens to be a matchless genius, in the world of spiritual science. Admiringly, the philosophers and the litterateurs are likely to invite the scientists to delve deep into her realization.]
Ma-Mahajnan : What do you want to make known anew? He, who knows, needs little help to know. He, who doesn’t, never does. Well, you’ll of course say in reply how to help one, who doesn’t know. You’ll seek the means of how to make others known. All right. Now, what are those means where lies that easy way?
To live in the realm of non-desire is difficult. Very true. Man is all the time sunk in seeking and getting. Well, he again can attain to that state of humanity—that super manhood. Now the easy way is to lessen down within him that craving for seeking and getting. How is this ‘lessening down’ to be effected? He can’t do it all by himself. If somebody can, very good, nothing can be finer. But if he can’t, he has to take help of somebody who can. You want to find out what kind of help that’s going to be. So you request me to suggest a few ways for rendering this help.
Well, what is meant by ‘duty perfectly done’? Who is greater—ideal house-holder or ideal ‘sanyasi’- a monk? No house holder is an ideal one. No home appears to be an ideal, indeed. In the name of ideal they pursue, it’s the very reverse.
We may love something but don’t take that away into our home. Everybody loves truth. This is very true. But what sort of love is that? Well, when we walk about the streets of a town, we love everything green that we see on either side. When we are about to take one of the specimens into our home, we ask ourselves—is it worthwhile, should we take it, should we? So many questions to answer! Where such ordinary things assail our mind in this way, how is it possible for us to tackle what is extraordinary? Even if we love it, we cannot possibly get a hold on it. How can we bring it home? We cannot. Nobody can. None can make their way across the jungle.
Prosad : The theme of non-desire is vast in its scope. But with such great power as you possess, you alone can possibly condense it within manageable limits and pass it on to the sphere of desire. Through such means it may be possible to bring the individual desire under control. If I didn’t come into your life, I couldn’t have developed this view about religion or truth. As soon as it comes to religion, a man faces or makes an impossible situation either in world or in society. This is what I’ve realized during my long stay in your ennobling contact.
Ma-Mahajnan : Not that, why do you make a mistake? Religion is just to measure the normal steps, to build up the household in an orderly manner. That’s indeed, religion, pure and simple—religion in its original state. From this originality one can reach into the eternal. It is in the matter of this beginning that man finds himself falling short of the standard.
The perfect household. If it happens to be not so perfect at all—the kind of perfection I’m talking about—it doesn’t matter. You won’t even find perfection, judging by the ordinary standard. What very little a man does keeps him all the time busy. Why are they so much engaged, what’s the cause?
Of course you can here bring in another question—that of intellect. If a man is lacking in that, what can he possibly do? That’s all there’s to it. But intellect? I don’t find any reason in its support. In support of intellect, I mean. Do you follow?
If I can’t lead my own life following a certain pattern, would I be called at all a human being? Mind—it must rush alone with the speed of the wind. But what I desire is to hold it in check.
Prosad again interferes as he could often and Ma-Mahajnan has had no problem even being in a state of Trance.—No, it is the canal-water which can be trained to follow a course. What happens in the case of a mountain torrent? The idea of building an embankment is a farce.
Ma-Mahajnan: No, why do you say like that? It starts from the very beginning. It’ll be of little avail, if you make such a late start. It all begins with the parents. They come first. Once you are aware of this fact, you’ve to exercise your judgment from the very beginning of conception. So you have to. Why? How to bring forth a noble child? Next, how to bring it up and on what lines? There lies, indeed, the duty of the parents, their charge.
That duty and that charge they have cast into the ditch. Strangely, the ideal is no more than a word with them. In fact they follow the beaten track like a herd of sheep.—“Haven’t I got to eat, dress, rest and sleep? How can I take time off to bring up a child in that way?” They don’t care to do that. They can’t. They won’t. But if one brings up one’s child on the right lines, it doesn’t prove to be too taxing.
As you say, if you can manage to bring a child’s life under some sort of discipline—reduce it to a certain pattern, its heady passion and excitement of youth are a good deal curbed, they are kept away. At that time of life the blood heaves up like a tidal wave, but the embankment has been built in such a way that it holds back the tide washing up against it. Why so? Well, the embankment has been firmly built. But if it isn’t there, when a youth feels passion, it swamps the bank. He can no longer resist. The result is, if he comes to understand at all, it happens a good deal later. Huh, how brief is his remorse! He then says, what was to happen has happened. He was to act like that, so he has. What does it matter after all? But in the last hour, the cruel truth comes home. The last hour teaches the bitter lesson; it doesn’t pass without doing it. If one lives an orderly life, the last hour has no such lesson to teach.
If you don’t form the character from the very first, but try to form it getting maturity, how can it be at all possible! Form yourself in an ordinary way. If that is done, the extraordinary will come of it. The eternal will follow in the footstep of the extraordinary. There’s nothing to worry about. But if you turn your eyes towards the eternal all at once, what effect can it produce! That’s not wise at all. That’s a mistake.
When does Religion
Show us the Way to Reveal Truth?
[From the point of view of theoretical progress and practical application of Ma-Mahajnan’s co-ordination of worldly-cum-spiritual striving, once we went all out for bringing out her works through established newspapers and periodicals—approached a few of the publishers as well. Relying solely on the heart-felt blessings of the Mother, we fairly launched this boldest of venture almost without resources. We were aware of her ‘Conscious Trance’, wherein once it was clearly stated that ‘Mahajnan’, the Unfathomable Knowledge, is helpless before the intoxication of our desires and wishes.
Driven by an irrepressible hope, we failed to admit in any way that the Ultimate Truth would remain ever unattainable. Always we were buoyed up by the thought–if there be anybody who could remove darkness by a flood of light, it was obviously none but Ma-Mahajnan. It is only through her abounding grace that we can hope to attain perfection to a great extent and realize the Unknowable. Now, let us get the point in brief.]
Ma-Mahajnan: We speak of truth, religion, justice, moral principles, eh? Similarly, in order to master them for ourselves, we should possess right judgment, conscience and reason. Now, who stands at the head of the whole lot? Well, it is intellect. Who is there beyond it? Knowledge. Well, you understand then a slight glimmering of that light has stolen into this realm of ours. By dint of which innate knowledge, conscience, judgment—we feel all, derived from that. It’s in that realm of seeking and getting. It comes here too.
But is not one thing quite true, it can’t be pulled up by the roots? Can’t we uproot it and cast it away? That can never be. We have to retain side by side both the realms. Do you follow? What then? In between the two there flows a vast river. As it is, one cannot, standing on one bank, know and understand very much of what there is on the other. But if you come near the edge- it’s not that you can’t get a glimpse of the things on the other side. That you can.
It’s not that the light of that realm does not strike upon this realm. It does. It must. If, however, you take that light to be something very grand, you’ll be in the forest. (Have you seen a ‘lata’ forest? In the jungle, there are a number of bramble thickets. That area is called a ‘lata’ forest.) Once there, you’ll go round and round in circles, still you can’t find your way out. You may get into very much the same kind of predicament.
The light strikes at such an angle—the light is to strike, it must. O yes, the light must strike. But when it strikes, huh, you may think it is a great light. You feel elated that you’ve such a splendid light as that—you think it is a very bright light and plenty of it. But if you stop short when you see that light—if you think a bit seriously—where does it come from, why does it come, how does it come, in that case, that light you’ll get the great shining light of truth. Then why don’t you get it?
(Smilingly) Why not? Isn’t the reason like this? There’s this realm on this bank. A vast shadow from here has fallen across that light; beside that light has first struck across the river. The little light that is reflected from river dose not reach the land properly. Over there, we have – whether you have right or wrong in what you say (Ma-Mahajnan said laughing) –God (Iswara)! Who is God? What is God? Where is God? Well, who is He, can you say?
The Essence And The Existence Of God
(A Divine Play Followed by Co-ordination of Truth and Reality)
[In the question of observances and the right path to follow, a preceptor is to remind his disciple every now and then about truth and uprightness. It is after all the basic conception of any meditative life. In other words, the very A B C of spiritualism. A worldly man walks along the checkered path of light and shade. There, too, only the wise is to show the way. Where can we find an ideal guide—a great prophet, who would lead everybody along the path of righteousness—irrespective of caste and creed, nationality and religion? Being led by the divine ideal of Ma-Mahajnan, most earnestly did we cherish at heart a desire to find solution for everybody for all ages avoiding procrastination, which is a thief of time?]
Ma-Mahajnan: What we understand by God is that knowledge. What’s that knowledge? When you make a mention of knowledge, you take it in a word to mean the ‘Knowledge’. I have knowledge, He, too, has. The ‘Knowledge’ that lies beyond all knowledge is called Unfathomable Knowledge (Mahajnan). It is this Unfathomable Knowledge who sheds the light. He bears the name of God. Here reason fails; here the human brain does not function. He is there above and beyond them. We have given Him different names in this line of thought to suit our convenience. We have tried to bring out His attributes in different pictures. We have projected Him in different ways. (There are many a Form and simply Formless.) All this is just to make Him easily understood. But He remains at one with that Knowledge.
In order to get that knowledge, whoever seeks within himself will find it, may find it.—‘Why ‘may’? ‘May get’ you say. That implies doubt.’—‘No, no, no, I don’t imply any doubt. ‘May get’. Then what does it actually mean?
You see this vast realm. You have to pull up by the roots all that grow here. Then you’ll get a vast plain. But you can’t again throw them away. There’s a pond nearby. You’ll have to drop those plants into it. You drop them there. At any moment you may have to replant them. If you work on these lines you may attain Him.
Well, hence ‘if’ is used. If one has enough doggedness, in that case one will find Him. Can you follow? That’s why I’ve raised the question of possibility. You’ll get it inside that—inside the human frame, never outside. Make no mistake.
Then will the plant you replace in the soil, sprout its twigs and branches once again? No, how can it? If its very roots are pulled out, then in case it is replanted—so sorry, why say ‘replanted’ - it has to be planted over and over again. Don’t you get the point?
Well, am I not talking for a long time? Why should I carry on any more? Why do you ask me to keep on speaking? No, I won’t. Off with you. I’ve spoken a lot. This is not the time for me to talk. Why should I then? No, I won’t any further. I’ll, later on. Not now. Let it remain undone. I’ll do it later. O yes, I am to state. But why should I now? Is there anything so serious? Then? No, I won’t keep up ongoing.
There was an interruption. Goutam, one of her sons, said, ‘So, you’re laying aside your work.’
Ma-Mahajnan: I’ve laid aside my work! No, no, I haven’t at all. Ah! I won’t talk because I don’t have the will to. I go by my will—when I talk, when I work, when I move. I haven’t come here to talk at anybody’s word. Nobody can make me talk. What do you mean by laying aside my work? That’s my work. I’ve laid it aside. I’ll do it. Can anybody make me do it?
This is my play. I play. I’ve a lot of work to do. That’s why. I’m to perform many duties. If I get through the work, that’s all. Is there anything to object to? I may be scolded if I lay aside my task. Why should I do that? I’ll only take it up later.
Well, if it so happens, I tell you, the people in reality, that I’ll take up the thread of talk where I left it, then? God will of course open my book for me. The one you call Allah, Bhagavan. One who goes by the name Divine Mother. What other name can you think of? You have a number of such names, haven’t you? He is that Bhagavan, that Iswara, that Guru, that again Divine Father, who is ‘Parama Bramhan’, The Omni-potent.
Father, may I go now? Why do you say so? Why, may I not, eh? Why should I speak—speak at your bidding? I won’t. Any problem? No, I won’t, at your bidding. Clear?
I’ve with fond care bound Thee
With the bonds of my mind;
I wear Thee as my necklace.
So know I well, indeed,
Where wouldst Thou stay?
I’ll pluck the strings of my own self
And give forth music
It’s Thy necklace, Father,
Thine ‘tis, indeed.
My ‘mantras’ (spell) tuned in me,
Thy knowledge and my conscience
All tied together—
Fastened in the same bond.
That’s my firm belief.
Always do I feel in my heart
Softly speaking my Mother—Come, O come.
Those eyes brimming with love—
That’s a vision full of affection.
It’s only I and I alone
Who conceive them sincerely.
O my Fiery Father,
Thou with Thine flame-like-self!
I bow to Thee.
Thou’dst call me, know I well,
And call me again.
I won’t talk. Why, why did you ask me to talk? More to tell? I won’t talk further. I’ll go away. I’ll tell (laughs the mother). Could I say anything? Say, could I? No, I won’t talk.
Well, what do they all say? I hear. I’ve heard everything they say. Listen, I hear everything. They all talk about litterateurs—there’re so many litterateurs, many a writer—they all talk about so many other things. Oh! How he writes. Ah! How he speaks. Then, you know, I give them my reply. What do they say? I just listen to them. They should of course speak the truth. But they don’t. Hast Thou, indeed, taught me? What hast Thou?
Say, whom I have been speaking to. It’s that Knowledge. O yes, it is nothing but Knowledge. The One, who is just like a solid ball of fire. It’s, indeed, that Unfathomable Knowledge. On one side of that there is the cool shade of peace—ice cool—ice, cold. A pair of mild soothing eyes is approaching towards me! That’s my Mother. Do you understand? My Mother. I won’t talk further. Go away.
They say, I’ve left aside my work. (Mother laughs heartily) My child, do you think I’m going away leaving my work undone? Well, I’ll then later finish for you—the work that remains incomplete. I’ll get everything completed. All right, you let that alone.
Do you care to know the truth or literature, eh? Which will you know? Tell, O tell—we want to know the truth. Nothing but truth. Well, that fellow (litterateur) doesn’t get so much attention as a lowly serf gets. Do you know what a serf is? A man-servant, a maid-servant, a bond-slave. Truth doesn’t offer to a litterateur even such scanty courtesy as is due to such a fellow. He goes from door to door just for a kind word or look. Do you know this?
Search for this truth, literature will come as a matter of course. Literature, apish! Is literature possible without truth? They only crack a few silly jokes.
( Being interrupted several times the Great Mother answers all the questions, put to her. The Divine Play of Ma-Mahajnan draws attention to “The Blessed Beginning”, one among the most outstanding ‘Conscious Trances’. Each and every one of them stands matchless. )
[Ma-Mahajnan is a matchless novelist. She, who made a start as a successful story-teller, in what far horizon of philosophy she is going to end—that remains an eternal question. But what is the most wonderful is this. This vast work will run into about sixteen or seventeen volumes, each comprising of some five hundred pages. That again, whenever she dictated, she could, indeed, without a stop and the matter, as had been taken down from time to time from the tape-recorder, was the manuscript. Before getting printed none of them required any correction. Unfortunately only the first volume has been published. Due to scarcity of funds we could neither publish the other volumes nor preserve the tapes. It is very much disappointing. Hence our appeal to you.]
[Original in Bengali by Ma-Mahajnan;]