QUESTION 1

FIRST of all I am perplexed about my thought
What is that which is called "thought"?
What sort of thought is the condition of my path?
Why is it sometimes obedience, sometimes sin?

Answer

WHAT a light there is within the heart of man!
A light that is manifest in spite of its invisibility.
I saw it in the constancy of change,
I saw it both as light and fire.1
Sometimes its fire is nourished by argumentation and reasoning, 5
Sometimes its light is derived from the breath of Gabriel,
What a life-illuminating and heart-kindling light!
The sun is nothing in face of a 'single ray of this light.
Conjoined2 with dust, it is above limitations of space;
Chained to the alternation of day and night, it is free from the bonds of time. 10
The calculation of its time is not through breath,
There is none like it in seeking and discovering.
Sometimes it feels exhausted and sits on the shore,
Sometimes a shore-less ocean is in its cup.
It is both the river and the staff of Moses, 15
On account of which the river is divided into two.3
It is a deer whose pasture is the sky,
Who drinks water from the stream of the Milky Way.
Earth and sky are its halting places,
It walks alone amid a caravan, 20
Some of its states are: the world of darkness and light,
The sound of the trumpet,' death, paradise, and Hourie.
It gives both to Iblis and Adam opportunity to develop,
And provides them, a chance of expansions.5
Eye is impatient at its sight, 25
Its charms even beguile God.
With one eye, it sees its own privacy,
With the other eye, it looks at its apparent lustre.
If it closes one eye, it is a sin;
If it sees with both eyes, it is the true condition of the path.6 30
Out of its little stream, it produces an ocean,
It becomes a pearl and then settles at its bottom.
Soon it takes a different form;
Becomes a diver and catches itself again.
In it there are noiseless commissions; 35
It has colour and sound perceptible without eye and ear.
There is a world hidden in its glass,
But it reveals itself to us piecemeal.7
Life makes it into a lasso and throws it,
To catch everything low and high. 40
By its means it ensnares itself,
And wrings also the neck of duality.8
One day the two worlds fall a prey to it,
And are caught into its beautiful lasso.
If you conquer both these worlds,9 45
You will become immortal even if everything else dies
Do not set foot in the desert of search lazily;
First, take hold of that world which lies within you.
If you are low, become strong by conquering the Self.
If you wish to seek God, get nearer yourself. 50
If you become proficient in conquering Self,
Conquering the world will become easy for you.10
Happy is the day when you conquer this world,
And pierce the bosom of the skies.
The moon will prostrate before you,11 55
And you throw over it a lasso of waves of. smoke.
You will be free in this ancient world,,
Able to fashion the idols to your purpose
To hold in. the grasp of your hand all the world
Of light and sound, of colour and smell; 60
To change its quantitative aspect,
To mould it according to your purpose;
Not to be captivated by its sorrows and delights
To break the spell of its nine skies;
To go down into its heart like the point of a arrow, 65
Not to exchange your wheat for its barley;
This is indeed the-true kingly glory,
This is the State that is linked to religion.12

[Explanatory Note] [See Notes]