When ego, ahamkara, being aware of itself, resides just as easily in the mundane as in the spiritual, without attachment to either, in a perfect condition of self-functioning awareness known as sva-tantra, or perfectly individuated consciousness, it is free of all limitations of the personality. Now, able to stand resolute in the face of the whole truth of existence, it may be said that the final goal has been attained.

When the young sage Ayapa inquired of his Master, Vinayagananda Swami, about the best way to attain this perfected condition of Self, the Master was rather incredulous.

When God Comes into the World

Excerpt from Ch. 2: Stone & Steel
Two Idiots & a Man
Vol. 1: In Search of the Steel

“[This] world of death. Nobody remains. If you feel… Everybody feels death, huh? Everybody knows death. And everybody die, too. Christ, Rama, Krishna, Buddha. Kaun idhar? (Who else?) Nobody.

“The wealth? His grace. The sad? His grace. Everything should be existed. Aaah. So, enjoy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy. Be happy! Whatever it comes, happiness comes. It’s happiness. It’s happiness always. Feeling sad? It’s very hard to know something. It’s body. Body and spirit—not separated. Also separated.”

“What happens to the people around when God comes into the world?” Duncan asks. “Does everybody see Him, or does—I mean, as He incarnates in a personality?”

The master tersely throws up his hands, reaches for his shades, and replaces them on his face before answering.

“The great wide world, accha? Big world. When Rama was here, did you see?”

When Duncan hesitates, Babaji repeats the question in the tone and cadence of a reproachful school master.“Did – you – see – Him?”

“No,” replies a humbled Duncan.

“Aaah. Who was that lucky man to see Him? Nobody. Accha? Because nobody knows about Rama. Only knows through book. Accha. So, the God coming [as] Swami Vinayagananda to be your Guru.”

Pointing above, the master begins to chant the Guru Mantra.

“Gurur Brahma | Gurur Vishnu | Gurur Devo Maheshvarah | Gurur Sakshat | Param-Brahma | Tasmai Sri-Gurave Namaha.”[1] That’s the God in front of you. That’s the same Krishna in front of you. Same Ram! Can you feel it?!” he asks—his voice burning with a heat that would surely melt a less practiced man.

“Yes!” Duncan answers with a healthy laugh, and Babaji taps him on the leg.

“Sometime doubt!” the master admonishes. “Sometimes doubt. That’s a man. Keep it again,” he says to Duncan’s laughter, waving him off.

“We had a lot of talk about God this week,” Duncan says to someone off-camera, still laughing like a schoolboy who’s just been busted for misbehaving.

“Just keep it again,” Babaji follows up. “Don’t speak about God. Stay still, Duncan. Stay still, Duncan. It’s enough. Don’t go further. Mentally you will be disturb. Why to disturb the mentally?

“‘I am God. I am Krishna.’ The same words were spoken by Christ, too, saying, ‘I am the King.’ Somebody don’t like—put Him on the cross.”

The master’s words land like a stone, and Duncan is transfixed in the stillness of the Swami’s gaze. 

“Right? So, I, too, say the strong words. Maybe sometime bad. Do you think so?”

Duncan allows his affectionate smile to answer for him.

“I don’t know bad. It also exists in me. I exist in everywhere. In this way I see God. Possibly [this is] a psychological life, with a chain. I am for that purpose only.

 “I feel good. Much happiness with you,” he says, patting his student tenderly on the leg.

“Aaah, never to doubt [that] the God only comes in certain ideas, because everybody is God. That God—is ignorant God. Sometimes I can say. I am little awareness, heh? Ignorance has question. Awareness has no question. All is the same. Thik hai, Ayyappaswami?”[2] Duncan just smiles silently.

“It is far enough—two and a half hours! I am not a cinema actor to be always in that.” They share a laugh and Duncan gives him a playful shove.

“At your pleasure,” Duncan replies, while searching the group for further questions.

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[1] The Guru Mantra: Transliteration: “Guru is Brahmā | Guru is Viṣṇu | Guru is Maheśvara (Śiva) | Guru is the supreme Absolute before your very eyes | To that Śrī-Guru, reverence.”

Meaning: The grace that flows to us through the lineages of Gurus should be regarded as expressing all three aspects of the Godhead: creation, sustenance, and dissolution. The Gurus that manifest in your life — the teachers who aid your awakening and liberation process — are proof of divine grace and evidence of the One’s infinite love for itself. Therefore, let there be reverence for the auspicious Guru-principle, and for its embodiment as all our teachers!

[2] Duncan’s given name in the lineage tradition. Ayyappa—a South Indian deity, like Skanda—is considered the son of Śiva and Mohinī (Viṣṇu in female form). Lineage is one of the three pillars integral to the tradition of classical yoga. The other two are scripture, and the living teacher who can interpret that scripture and guide the student’s synthesis of direct experience. Receiving a name and a mantra is often part of the rites of dīkṣā—spiritual initiation.

It needs much energy, to feel a man to be a God. It’s easy to be a ghost. It is easy to be anything except a God. Attain Self. Know yourself. Not this and not that. If you don’t know you, you don’t know anything.”