28: Gratitude is flowering from form to formless🔗

We relate and we worship through the idol; not the idol, understand. When you see the deity the idol is not remembered. If you remember the idol, the deity is not remembered. When you see a stone elephant, you will not see the material. If you see it as a material, you can't see it as elephant. An artist will see it as an elephant, but will not see it as a material. If there is a wooden elephant, a elephant carved on the wood, a person who is involved with the wood business, if he sees it, he will say 'oh sandalwood, wonderful wood, high cost, this must be the cost.' He will be talking about the wood, but he can never see the elephant. If an artist, if he sees it, he will say 'oh beautiful sculpture, beautiful carving, elephant, amazing.' He will not see the wood. So the moment you see the wood, you will not see elephant. The moment you see the elephant, you will not see the wood. It cannot happen at the same moment. It can happen only in the next, next moments. Even if you see wood-elephant-elephant-wood one moment you can see only as elephant, only in the next moment you can see it as wood, the next moment you can see it as an elephant. When you see this as God you will not see it as the world. When you see this as the world, you will not see it as God. If you see this whole cosmos as the world giving you fear and greed, you cannot see this as God. If you see this whole thing as God, you can't see this as the world; there won't be any fear and greed.

The whole thing happened in Ramakrishna's life; just an ordinary deity, statue, he started seeing it as God. He was never able to see it as a stone or a statue. And it might have started in a very raw level, but slowly, slowly, slowly, just because of his very intensity, the whole thing became alive and led him to ultimate enlightenment.

In India in the villages they burn the dead bodies using a big stick to turn the bodies. Once the whole body is burnt, they will throw the stick also in the same fire and that will also get burnt. Same way the Master's form or God's form is used to burn the attachment with all other forms.

When all the other attachments to the form is dropped, this form is intelligent enough to disappear by itself or to guide you beyond the formlessness. The Master's form or the God's form is intelligent enough to lead you to beyond all the forms, and to lead you to the very form itself.

This is the moment of ultimate gratitude. The Master's or God's form has liberated you from everything and liberates you from himself also. Then suddenly you will see that His form will not be there anymore in your inner space; but you know He is there, He is there, He is there, intensely present, intensely present.

As long as you feel connected with the form, sometimes you will see that He is present, and sometimes you will see He is absent. You will struggle to feel connected; maintaining that feeling connection continuously. You will struggle to feel the connection continuously.

When you are able to feel connected to Him beyond His form, you are liberated even from that form, you will suddenly see His presence is there intensely, continuously and guiding you and radiating.